How do I?

Helpful questions answered here or visit the help files CC

Add a new product

There are several ways to add a new product 1. In the sales screen (Show me how) 2. Using Stock>New stock... (Show me how) 3. Using the delivery Entry screen (Show me how) The videos require an Adobe Flash plugin for your browser

How do I start from scratch?

XAMPP is a combined package for installing MySQL, the Apache web server, and certain other useful programs. Download the package from the Apache Friends website at http://www.apachefriends. org/en/xampp.html, and chose the XAMPP for Windows package. Install this and select the option Install as a service when asked. The first time you start ProffittCenter Pro, you will be presented with the Settings screen. Enter the desired fields for user name and password and then click the Test button on the lower left. If the MySQL database is available, the Create database button will be enabled, but if not, a warning message will be given. The most probable reason would be that the MySQL database is not running, so start the XAMPP Control Panel:

How do I start from scratch? (Continued)

Click the two Svc box for MySQL and then click the adjacent Start button, and then, when the service is running successfully, close the control panel, and try ProffittCenter Pro again. Then click the Create database button. The Create tables button will be enabled. Click this, and after a further delay, the OK button will be enabled. Click this to start. You can go back later and enter other values into the screen.

How do I stop Windows opening the jar file as an archive?

An occasional installation problem is that jar files have been associated with a different program to the Java runtime system - normally an unzip utility. 7Zip is a frequent culprit. You click on Start>All programs>ProffittCenter>ProffittCenter Pro and instead of a shiny new world beating EPOS system, you get to see the contents of the ProffittCenter.jar archive. These instructions are for XP but should be very similar on other systems. As Administrator: Go to Start>Control Panel Double click Folder Options. Select the File Types tab. Scroll down to the JAR extension, and select by left clicking on it. Click Change button. Select the Java(TM) Platform SE Binary, if necessary browsing to it in the Program Files folder. That's it! Close all the Windows you have opened and try again.

Continued
In Vista: Go to Control Panel and select Default Programs Under "Associate a file type or protocol with a program" you can choose .jar and associate Java In Windows 7: You can type 'Associate propgrams' in the search bar to reach the same screen.

How do I change the sounds made by the program?

From time to time users object to the sounds provided with ProffittCenter. (Too loud, too quiet, etc) Changing them can be a simple procedure. Download 7 zip from http://downloads.sourceforge.net/sevenzip/7z920.exe right click on ProffittCenter Pro>7-zip>open archive navigate to "proffittcenter\audio\" replace audio file (by dragging and dropping) with the same name as in "proffittcenter\audio\" You need to have suitable alternative sound files (.WAV) with the same name as the existing files, but if you want to close every sale with "Beam me up Scottie" you can (subject to copyright). I will try to alter the download so that provided that you do not uninstall, each update will not overwrite any files you change. P.S. Read the entry above and make sure 7Zip will never associate jar files.

How do I get the ProffittCenter source code

1. Download and install java jdk from http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html There is a button "Download JDK" This package includes the jre (java runtime environment) as well. Download and install NetBeans Version 7.0 or later. 2. Use Tools>Plugins and on Available plugins search for Subversion. 3. Install the subversion plugin. 4. In NetBeans go to Team>Checkout. 5. Set the repository to https://svn.kenai.com/svn/proffittcenter2011~subversion 6. Enter your user name and password. 7. Click next. 8. Specify folder to download to ~ try My Documents>NetBeans Projects 9. Click Get from Team Server 10. When asked Do you want to create a project, answer no. 11. When downloading completed, locate the project using File>Open Project. 12. Click Run Project. If all well it will compile and go. Note: kenai.com will migrate to java.net in the future.

How do I Re-install a nightly dump?

It is all very well having a nightly backup file, but you need to be able to re-install the database if things go wrong. Here is the process: 1. Type localhost in the address bar of your browser (Internet Explorer or the open source Firefox) and press Enter 2. You should see the XAMPP home page if all is well 3. Select phpMyAdmin from the labels on the left 4. Select the till database from the list of databases 5. Go to the Import tab 6. select the file with the Browse button (tillDumpxx.sql) where xx is day of month 7. Click Go button and wait (it takes a while) 8. Close browser and open ProffittCenter with the restored database Sometimes phpMyAdmin can give problems with large files. I have found Navicat Lite to work reliably. Here is the procedure: 9. Click Connection, select MySQL and fill in details 10. Test connection then click ok 11. Double click the connection you created 12. For a new installation, you need to create a database called till. Do this with a right click. Accept defaults. 13. Double click till then select Query, then New Query, then Load 14. Navigate to your dump file, then click Open 15. Finally click Run. It seems to die for long periods but just leave until the Run button is enabled again. 16. Then close and all is done

How do I re-install a nightly dump continued

Using the new Dropbox solution, the backup file is located in your Dropbox, in a folder with the name of your shop followed by the word Backups. There will be files there numbered by the days of the month - choose the day you last had a trustworthy backup, and run that one.

How do I change the price of a product?

If you use the Delivery Entry screen (F11) you can change the price at the time when you get a fresh delivery. Otherwise, locate the product in Tables>Product, then one of the buttons along the top will change the price.

How do I re-install an overly large dump file?

Ever had phpMyAdmin refuse to install an oversize dump file? Then switch to command line. Open up the Command Prompt (in Accessories), navigate to C:\xampp\mysql\bin (using the command: cd C:\xampp\mysql\bin ) and then issue the command: mysql -u root till < dumpfilename.sql This assumes that the file has been put into the bin directory, and that root has no password and that dumpfilename is the actual name of the file..

How do I do an offer for any three bars of chocolate for 1?

1. Open Create offer 2. Select pack offer and Tab 3. Scan product 1 4. Type 3 for quantity and Tab 5. Tab again to skip limit 6. Type 100 for 1 and then Enter to accept 7. Click the Plus sign or just type + in the product box 8. Scan product 2 9. Click Enter to accept 10. Click the Plus sign or just type + in the product box 11. Scan product 3 12. Click Enter to accept

Using a USB receipt printer

If you've decided to use a USB receipt printer with ProffittCenter (Windows OS), there's an error that you will most likely get when trying to run the point of sale called a "Port In Use Error". This problem isn't with ProffittCenter, but with Windows itself. First things first. Make sure you get the windows printer driver and the virtual COM port software installed for your printer. Assign your printer to a/the virtual COM port that was created and make note of the COM port number. You need to have a virtual COM port for ProffittCenter to communicate with your UBS printer. The virtual COM port acts like a "middle man messenger" between ProffittCenter and the Windows USB printer driver. Then test to make sure your printer is printing properly from Windows. More->

Using a USB receipt printer (continued)

Next, this is going to sound counter-productive, but you MUST delete the installed USB printer listed in your printers folder in Windows Control Panel. Windows XP: Click Start > Control Panel > Printers and Faxes. Windows 7 (or vista): Click Start > Control Panel > Devices and Printers Right click your USB receipt printer and click 'Delete' in the menu. Click 'Yes' if it asks if you are sure you want to delete it. The reason you need to delete it is because Windows 'Grabs On' to the virtual com port that your USB printer is installed on and won't let ProffittCenter 'see it'. More->

Using a USB receipt printer (continued)

Restart your computer and start ProffittCenter. Click File > Settings > Hardware Tab > Receipt Printer Port Dropdown and select the COM port that your printer is installed on. Click the green check mark button to save your changes, the program will close, so you'll have to go back into ProffittCenter. You shouldn't have any "Port In Use" errors anymore if you had them. ~ Jason