Running Macros from the Windows Task Scheduler

The newest release of QwikTouchPro includes a standalone command line utility called RunMacros.exe.

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Run Macros.exe lets you run macros on local and remote QwikTouchPro hosts from a command line.

eg:  RunMacros.exe

       IP=192.168.0.1

       PORT=7777

      QME=”ShowBreakfastMenu.qme”

(QME=QwikTouchPro Macro Event, or *.qme file) 

This example would display a Breakfast Menu on the QwikTouchPro host running on 192.168.0.1.

You can combine this with the Windows Task Scheduler (or any scheduling software) to schedule QwikTouchPro Macros.

For example, if you had 2 QwikTouchPro displays - a Food Menu and a Drink Menu, you could show different menus at different times of day -

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RunMacros.exe supports any QwikTouchPro Macro Export, so anything you can do from the Macro Editor can be done from the command line, scheduling software or 3rd party application.

Video – QwikTouchPro and Keystroke with a Customer Display

This video demonstrates many new features of QwikTouchPro and how we can use them to tightly integrate with KeystrokePOS.

Link to YouTube for full screen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fwn57oIvQFc

Some of the features demonstrated in this video include -

• Multiple templates running on multiple monitors
• Dynamic templates based off of the current sale
• Data driven inventory lists
• Buttons that respond differently to different inventory items
• Electronic scale integration
• Auto scrolling inventory lists
• Restricting macros by Keystrok security level

Video - Drink KIOSK Sample

(no sound)

This video demonstrates using QwikTouchPro as a Touch Screen KIOSK to browse and print drink recipes.

Link to Video on YouTube for FullScreen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnYYSJYWLjs

Something like could be placed in a liquor store and can even print custom receipts based off the drink the user has selected (e.g. if the recipe contains Vodka, print a coupon for a particular brand along with the directions for making the drink).

The video starts out with a couple of sample “idle” templates that are cycled through when the KIOSK has been idle. 

Once the user touches the screen they can scroll and filter the list of drinks, as well as view and print the ingredients and instructions for a drink.

This demo uses only QwikTouchPro a 2 CSV Files.

Video – Using QwikTouchPro with an Electronic Scale

Introduced in v0.1.40 (Available upon request only)

Part 1 (5:58)
Creating a Datasource for the Scale

Displaying the weight from the scale in real-time

New Feature – Set Active Program Macro

Introduced in QwikTouchPro v0.1.39

Target: Programs

Action: Set Active Program (and Clear Active Program)

The Set Active Program Macro tells QwikTouchPro what program we want to send Keys and Codes to.

By default, the Active Program is whatever program (Windows application) has the focus, usually the last program the user was working with.

If we create a Key to send a stock number to Keystroke we want to make sure Keystroke is the Active Program.  This may not be true if the user switches to another program before touching the Key (maybe they were surfing the Internet or checking their e-mail).

To make QwikTouchPro activate Keystroke before sending keys to it we can add a Macro to set the Active Program to Keystroke.

This screen shot shows a typical “Set Active Program” for Keystroke.

This Macro will be run when the Template loads – we add the Macro here so it will be run anytime this template is opened. 

The Parameters are:

Program – Browse to your Keystroke Program file (or whatever program you want to set as Active).

Activation Options

Open Program – this tells QwikTouchPro to open the program when activating it.

Activate  Program – this tells QwikTouchPro to Activate the program.

* Do not use this option with Keystroke.  The only way for QwikTouchPro to activate Keystroke is to Move it.

Move Program

This tells QwikTouchPro to move the program when activating it.

* Requires a Program Window

When this template loads, QwikTouchPro will set Keystrok as the Active Program.

Before QwikTouchPro tries to send any keys or codes to the Active Program, it will first Open (if needed) and Move (if needed) Keystroke, giving it the focus.

This ensures that Keystroke is Open, has the Focus, and also ensures that Keystroke is the right size and in the right location (as specified by the Program Window).

The “Clear Active Program” clears the Active Program so that any keys or codes are sent to whatever program has the focus.



Video – Custom Keystroke Sales Screen

This 5:30 Video goes over some of the new features in QwikTouchPro and how we can use them to integrate with Keystroke to create custom sales screens -

Video (Part 2) – Using the Dataview to Show Filtered Popup Windows

This 14:09 video walks through using the dataview from part 1 to display a popup list of inventory items that will be filtered by department.

 

Part 1 of this video can be found here -

http://qwiktouchpro.blogspot.com/2011/11/video-part-1-using-dataview-with.html

Note – a note about renaming controls.  QwikTouchPro refers to controls by name.  Once you start referring to controls in the Source Control Builder you have to be careful when renaming them.

For e.g.  When we touch our ‘InventoryList’ dataview in the video, we send the stock number of the selected item from a dataview called ‘Iventory List’. 

If we rename the dataview to something else QwikTouchPro can’t find it and the macro will fail (quietly).

Be aware that copying controls (even between templates) renames them.  If you copy InventoryList it will be pasted as DataView17 and must be renamed for the macros to work.