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Back office, Database format – Opticon ESL User Manual

Page 15

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Opticon ESL

DEMO KIT

User Manual




15

4. Back office

The back office triggers the ESL server application by placing a file containing either only
product modifications or a complete product database in a predefined folder. Only one file
may reside in this folder to enforce sequential handling. This means that the Back office may
only store another file, when the current file has been processed and moved to a different
folder.

To avoid read/write conflicts the database files should first be copied into the specified folder
under a temporary name (i.e. *.tmp) and renamed to the correct name afterwards. The ESL
server application will only trigger on „rename file‟-events. If any database file is placed in the
folder while the server application isn‟t running, the file will be processed as soon as the
server application is started again.

4.1. Database format

Currently the only supported database format is CSV (comma separated values) with the
following properties:

Allowed field separator(s): 1) semi-colons

Methods: 1) modification database (add, replace, delete) and 2) complete database

Each product in the database must contain a unique product ID field to allow linking of an ESL
to a product.

If there’s a 1-to-many relation between the unique product ID and the barcode on this
product, then the same product should be added to the database multiple times for each
unique barcode, but all other fields must be identical. Also any product modifications (like
price) should be applied on each record for this product.

The adding of a product barcode field to the database isn’t mandatory. However it is
recommended, since it adds the possibility to quickly link ESLs to a product by simply scanning
the barcodes on the product and the ESL using the barcode terminal.

If any, comment lines should start with ‘#’.


When using a modification database, the modification field should be located at the
beginning of each line. As modification code the characters

‘I’ (Insert), ‘R’ (replace)

and ‘D’ (delete) should be used.

The typical record format of a product modification database would be:


;;;;;;etc.


When a complete database is used (meaning any new database file replaces the
previous one), the first (modification) field of each line must be left empty.

The typical record format of a complete product database would be:

;;;;;;etc.