Workspace advice

[PJBlack]

@PJBlack
I can see Gambas is not at all like VB but

... much better

I am sure i will get it in the end I assume Gambas implements this workspace how it does due to the way linux and the xserver works (or is it actually a Gambas thing?)

linux =
kernel (doing all the dirty work)
+ xserver (doing all the graphical dirty work)
+ Destktop Environment (KDE, Gnome, XFCE, Cinnamon etc., thats what you see)

windows is functionally comparable but its implementation is a mix of all of the above ... in linux you can simply change the desktop (try this in windows)

every desktop uses some kind of gui kit to draw the visible objects and to provide them with functions. the two best known are gtk and qt. gambas does (mostly) nothing but take these existing controls and provide them within its own programming environment.

Your methold works

i know ...

but none of the separate key presses are supported (as I see it the form is embedded into the fMain form so its key presses are being trigger and not the frmSignedOff etc.

thats the more detailed work i was talking about ... every key/mouseevent "goes" to a form ... if you have three forms you must care about that (charlie has one form )

@General Rant
Am I asking to much from Gambas?

NO!

I know i can Just install Windows 7 onto the customers PoS terminals but I would like to have linux on the front end for speed and security (ideally I will be moving the back office systems into Linux as well at some point but all my programs use the Windows MDI interface)

you strongly should move forward from Win7 ...

at least my 5 (euro)cent ...
choose linux will bring you speed and security and thats not depending on the optical style your programms have ... time goes on und in my opinion your look is very (maybe put one or more "very" here) oldshool. have a look at actual web pages or compare the sap r/3 client gui and the acutal fiori theme ... see und take this as a chance to modernize your applications ...

[AndyGable]

at least my 5 (euro)cent ...
choose linux will bring you speed and security and thats not depending on the optical style your programs have ... time goes on und in my opinion your look is very (maybe put one or more "very" here) oldshool. have a look at actual web pages or compare the sap r/3 client gui and the actual fiori theme ... see und take this as a chance to modernize your applications ...

compared to how the application looked when it was in Windows 2000 then this is a modern application lol

the website for the Windows application is https://www.algpos.co.uk/npos and you can see some of the screen shots

I also agree with you on moving away from Windows but as I have spent 20+ years developing my software in Windows (first off it was MS-DOS) i am finding it a little hard to move over.

and Nothing wrong with old school (a lot of my customers like how the system looks old school as they say it is less complicated then the newer Point of sale systems that are out there)

modernize your applications ...

how do you mean the system is keyboard based so I can not really do to much fancy graphical work at the end of the day it is a scanning EPoS terminal designed to scan good take payments and track sales. (IF I could I would have reverted back to MS-DOS but I can not access my Database server from DOS anymore as MySQL have lost the DOS client lol)

But I am one who always takes on comments and advice (if you do not then you will never create better applications) and i am also one to admit if someone shows me a better way of doing something and I can understand it I will implement the new way.

[PJBlack]

seeing your app in real (and yes it looks good) make things much clearer to me ... after that and seeing your product portfolio i must say:

never change a running system ... or hire me for a job

[stevedee]

...and Nothing wrong with old school...

My 10pence/10cents...

I used to design industrial machines. Although your application is running on a desktop operating system, its clearly a machine.

You probably have little or no control over where your machine will be installed, so the interface may be located in a poorly lit location (e.g. directly under harsh lighting, or maybe the sun streams through a window at certain times of the day). Either way, the user interface needs to be very clear and easy to understand at a glance. This almost always means a high contrast theme, which in turn almost always draws criticism from some quarters (often your own Sales team) that it looks old fashion. But as you have pointed out, its the users that have to use it.

I think your existing interface looks good. You can play around with fonts and control shapes, but do stick to a clear high contrast (old school) theme, and for gods sake, get someone to check your spelling: what are "feilds?"

The one advantage when basing a new system on an old one, is that you can use the old system as your specification. Then you can be confident that the new system will be functionally fit for purpose.

However, its very easy to imagine that you can take the software from one system and just convert it to another language that's kind of similar but on a very different operating system. Its never that easy. And to make things worse, it looks like you are doing this as your very first Gambas project.

My suggestion would be to list every potentially difficult aspect of the old VB design and do a series of mini-projects, not only to ensure you have a Gambas solution in each case, but also so you understand what you are working with, and recognise the strengths & weaknesses of any given solution. Only when you are happy that you have answers to all your problems and a good understanding of Gambas should you set about building your POS application...but hey! that's just the way I've always worked.

The telling phrase in one of your posts is: "Am I asking too much from Gambas?". I would answer "Did you do a feasibility study?"

I just want to help you avoid doing some horrible hack that may need several cycles of re-work to get right.

Whichever route you chose, you can be sure that the good people on Gambas ONE will continue to give their best help and advice.

[AndyGable]

Whichever route you chose, you can be sure that the good people on Gambas ONE will continue to give their best help and advice.

and for this I am very grateful.

I have had to make the move to Linux as Microsoft Windows 10 will not run at all on any of the PoS terminals that me or my customers have. (even though they are like 3GHz cpu with 4GB RAM) and Windows PoSReady 7 and Windows Embedded Standard are all coming to End of line and on a PoS Terminal you need to have the security as best as you can get it.

I like Linux (Debian) as it is so stable compared to Windows and it will run fine for DAYS and weeks at a time without needing to be rebooted.
unlike windows where we have had to add to the PoS Software a reboot command every night at 11pm just to keep windows running in a somewhat stable condition.

and Yes I know My spelling is not the best and normally i spot my errors but I think i may have missed that one

I was looking at creating the application in FreeBASIC but even that has it pros and cons. at least in Gambas I can design the forms how I want them to look and it connects to a MySQL Database (FreeBASIC did this as well but it was hit and miss as it was a new feature when I last created the application in it)