POS for .NET FAQ

  • Article

7/14/2010

Microsoft Corporation

July 2009

Contents

Installation

  • How do I install POS for .NET with my product?
  • Does POS for .NET work on Windows Vista Basic? On Windows Embedded XP?

Device Types

  • Which device types or categories does POS for .NET support?
  • Which OPOS device types or categories does POS for .NET support?
  • Which device simulators does POS for .NET include?

Service Objects

  • How do I write a .NET service object? How do I get started?
  • Where can I find the service object that I need for a specific device?

Installation

How do I install POS for .NET with my product?

You can start the POS for .NET installer from within your installer. In versions of POS for .NET earlier than 1.12, you were able to start the POS for .NET installer from within the compressed archive directly. In version 1.12, however, you must extract the files first, and then start Setup from your installer. For more information, refer to the POS for .NET documentation and Installing POS for .NET from Your Installer on MSDN.

Does POS for .NET work on Windows Vista Basic? Windows Embedded XP?

The License agreement does not currently extend to these platforms.

Device Types

Which device types or categories does POS for .NET support?

Microsoft POS for .NET 1.12 supports all the point of service (POS) peripheral device categories defined in version 1.12 of the Unified POS standard specification. Therefore, POS for .NET supports the following device categories:

  • Bar Code Scanner
  • Belt
  • Bill Acceptor
  • Bill Dispenser
  • Biometrics
  • Bump Bar
  • Cash Changer
  • Cash Drawer
  • Check Scanner
  • Coin Acceptor
  • Coin Dispenser
  • Credit Authorization Terminal (CAT)
  • Electronic Journal
  • Electronic Value Reader/Writer
  • Fiscal Printer
  • Gate
  • Hard Totals
  • Image Scanner
  • Item Dispenser
  • Keylock
  • Lights
  • Line Display
  • Magnetic Ink Character Recognition Reader (MICR)
  • Magnetic Stripe Reader (MSR)
  • Motion Sensor
  • PIN Pad
  • Point Card Reader/Writer
  • POS Keyboard
  • POS Printer
  • Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Scanner
  • Remote Order Display
  • Scale
  • Signature Capture
  • Smart Card Reader/Writer
  • Tone Indicator

Which OPOS device types or categories POS for .NET support?

POS for .NET fully supports any previously created OLE for Retail POS (OPOS) service objects for the following device categories:

  • Bar Code Scanner
  • Cash Drawer
  • Check Scanner
  • Coin Dispenser
  • Credit Authorization Terminal (CAT)
  • Keylock
  • Line Display
  • Magnetic Ink Character Recognition Reader (MICR)
  • Magnetic Stripe Reader (MSR)
  • PIN Pad
  • POS Keyboard
  • POS Power
  • POS Printer
  • Scale
  • Signature Capture
  • Tone Indicator

Which device simulators does POS for .NET include?

When you install the POS for .NET Software Development Kit (SDK), it includes several device simulators. The simulators provide a simple means of simulating a device when no physical device is available. The simulators are helpful during the early stages of development, during prototyping, and for testing configurations before deployment. POS for .NET includes simulators for the following device categories:

  • Bar Code Scanner
  • Cash Drawer
  • Check Scanner
  • Keylock
  • Line Display
  • Magnetic Stripe Reader (MSR)
  • PIN Pad
  • POS Keyboard
  • POS Printer

Service Objects

How do I write a .NET service object? How do I get started?

It depends on the type of device that you want to support. For some devices, we offer base classes that implement most of the UnifiedPOS-specific functionality; therefore, you focus on only the communications between the service object and the device. For other device categories, you can take advantage of our basic class for much of the functionally but implement certain aspects of the UnifiedPOS-specific functionally yourself. Finally, you can choose to do everything yourself. In this case, you implement the whole class based on a provided interface. To help you get started, POS for .NET SDK includes documentation and code for sample service objects. Also, we have posted a Hands-on Lab on the Windows Embedded POSReady and POS for .NET Blog.

Where can I find the service object that I need for a specific device?

You should contact the device manufacturer or your vendor to see whether they offer a .NET Service Object or a legacy OPOS service object for one of the supported legacy devices. Anyone can develop a .NET service object, and there are no requirements to register the service object with Microsoft. Therefore, we do not have a list available that identifies which devices are compatible with POS for .NET or OPOS.