OpenbravoPOS FAQ

Technical FAQ about Openbravo ERP

General Questions

Does Openbravo POS support a web interface?

Openbravo POS is a desktop application because:

1. Openbravo POS has to deal with POS hardware: receipt printers, customer displays and other devices. It is more easy to deal with them as a desktop application.
2. The user interface is oriented to touch screens and Openbravo POS needs very sophisticated user controls that HTML cannot provide.

What kind of peripherals does Openbravo POS support?

These are the peripherals that Openbravo POS supports:

• Receipt printers and Customer displays: any that supports ESC/POS protocol or that has a JavaPOS driver available.
• Cash drawer: any that connects to the receipt printers.
• Barcode scanner: any that emulates the keyboard.
• Touch screen any that has a driver for the operating system where Openbravo POS is going to run.
• Scale: any that supports the Samsung protocol.
• Magnetic card swipe: any that emulates the keyboard.

Can Openbravo POS run on Windows CE?

It is not possible to run Openbravo POS on Windows CE or to port Openbravo POS to Windows CE. However, the requirements of Openbravo POS are very low and you can cut costs using low processors like VIA processors and Linux operating system.

Where can I get the source code of Openbravo POS?

Openbravo POS source code it is available from Openbravo Subversion server, there are instructions on how to setup a Subversion client to access to it. To get written access please contact collaborate@openbravo.com.

Can I run Openbravo POS using a resolution of 800x600?

The preferred resolution for Openbravo POS is 1024x768. But with some configuration changes you can make Openbravo POS work in 800x600.

In the resources panel edit the resource Ticket.Buttons and modify the value of the property cat-height to 150.

And in the configuration panel modify the value of the property Screen to fullscreen.

Restart the application and you will see the sales panel and most functions to fit properly in your 800x600 monitor. Only few panels does not fit properly in 800x600.

Any particular combination of peripherals that you would recommend?

• Touch screen: ELO 1515 LCD Desktop Touchmonitor.
• Barcode scanner: Metrologic Voyager 9520.
• Ticket printers: Epson TM T88IV with serial interface.
• Customer display: Cash Epson DM D110/D210 with serial interface.

Can Openbravo POS run with OpenJDK?

No, Openbravo POS does not run with OpenSDK that is actually the Java framework installed by default in some Linux distributions like Ubuntu. You have to use Sun's Java 2 Platform Standard Edition 5.0 or higher.

Software configuration

How Openbravo POS decides which language to use for the user interface?

By default Openbravo POS takes the language to use from the operating system. But you can also change then language in the configuration panel of Openbravo POS. In this panel you can also change the properties related to the format of numeric values, currencies and dates.

How can I change the receipts printed to include my logo and other details

Openbravo receipts are fully configurable and is based on templates, you can change these templates in the resources panel. Log in as administrator and go to Administration / Maintenance / Resources. Here edit the record Printer.Ticket that contains the template of the receipt that is printed after a sale operation is closed. There are other templates in this panel for other moments of the operation of Openbravo POS you are also free to modify.

How can I modify the reports and create new ones

In Openbravo POS 2.10 there has been developed a new structure for reports making it easier to modify and create new reports. There is a tutorial here Openbravo POS Reports and Charts Tutorial

How can I give a discount in Openbravo POS?

There are many ways to do it. For example:

• On the sales panel, type in a number (into the field that takes item code) and hit the minus (-) key. Make sure that the dropdown just below the field where you keyed in the number is set to 0% tax. The number you keyed in would be the discount amount. Similarly, if you hit the + key, that number would be added to the total amount.

• Set up a new item called "DISCOUNT" in the products screen with itemcode, say 0. Set it to 0 price and 0 tax and a new category. Then on the sales panel, key in 0 for the item code and hit Enter. Click on the "pencil" icon and modify the price. So the receipt would read "DISCOUNT" and an appropriate price against it.

• Create a new scripting button that adds a new line with the discount. An example is described in the Openbravo POS Scripting Tutorial.

In addition to this, you could as well provide discount on individual items directly by selecting the item on the sales panel and then clicking on the pencil icon, modifying the price and hitting Enter. But this would not show as "DISCOUNT" on the receipt and hence your customer would not even know that you have given him a discount.

How can I work with the restaurant module

To work with the restaurant module to be able to show the tables layout and the reservations panel. Go to the configuration panel and in the option Tickets, select restaurant.

Openbravo POS cannot print reports under Linux

Openbravo POS shows a message Error printing report, See the console for details when trying to print a report because of the java platform bug http://bugs.sun.com/view_bug.do?bug_id=6633656. You can have it work by specifying the Orientation in every printer in CUPS. Depending on your system go to System -> Printing and for each printer select the Job Options tab and specify Orientation to whatever else instead of Automatic Rotation.