Timeforge Integration - First Steps

So, first real step was taken today... to see how long it would take to get the workstation components into the POS interface, to make a homogenious environment for the POS user to update the required data for Timeforge.

In the POS Bootcamp, this is something that took about 10-15 minutes, after all the discussions... after about 45 minutes or so, I finally got things working. It turns out the manifest file gets to be quite picky. In the manifest file, you define the following (according to the POS 2009 Beta 2 SDK Documentation):

<AddinManifest>
<AddinAssembly
assembly="Name of the developer's add-in .dll file"
implementedViews="Microsoft.Rms.AddInViews.ServiceModel.IPosAddIn"
namedPermissionSet="FullTrust"
exposeUI="true/false"
addInID="b9ac2dda-1520-4a48-b8da-ac187b0ad172"
addInDisplayName="Simple POS Add-in Sample"
addInDescription="Simple POS Add-in sample"
company="AddInDeveloperCompanyName"
version="1.0"
url="AddInDeveloperCompanyURL.com"
enabled="True"
/>
</AddinManifest>

So, I did this, copied it, inserted it into the Timeforge.manifest file, and tried for over 30 minutes to figure out why it wasn't working. Finally, I looked at a few of the other manifest files, and discovered something quite interesting... See if you notice it:

<AddInManifest>
<AddInAssembly
url="http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=126931"
enabled="True"
separateAppdomain="True"
/>
</AddInManifest>

And in case you are wondering, no... it doesn't have to do with the fact that there aren't as many attributes on the AddInAssembly tag. It's all about the capitalization. The POS Beta 2 SDK documentation states to do it the former way, and the way it needs to really be written (as far as capitalization goes) is the way it looks in the latter.

So, I simply made those edits, and away I go now to start the real work on the POS 2009 implementation for Timeforge.

New Project - Timeforge Integration

Now that Microsoft Dynamics POS 2009 is finally to RTM stage, it is time to begin a new project, and one that I have been looking to work on for some time... integrating an online scheduling software package with Dynamics POS 2009.

When we headed to the POS SDK Bootcamp back in January, 2008, one of the requests I had made was to provide a method that would allow us the ability of creating a custom add-on data entry screen for common entities in the system, like Items and Employees.  Although the development team couldn't quite grasp the concepts that we needed to deal with, they did provide the necessary interfaces, and I look forward to use them shortly.

The package I am looking to integrate is called Timeforge.  It is already integrated with the Restaurant Point of Sale package, Dinerware, as well as other packages that are on the market.  Anthony Presley, one of the founders of Timeforge, was more than glad to have someone offer to do the integration, as it will save him time in hunting down a developer that can handle the intricacies of Microsoft Point of Sale 2009.

So, I look forward to start posting more about the integration, as we hope to have something that is "showable" by the RSPA show next month in Las Vegas, NV. (A trip that I have long been wanting to make)