>We have an order entry/inventory control program that is written in VFP for a Novell Network. Now we would like to include a point-of-sale computer on the network that includes a cash drawer, bar code reader, and receipt printer.
>
>Does anyone have any information as to how to do this? I've looked through 3 years of back issues of FoxPro Advisor but can't find a single article about how this can be accomplished.
>
>Thanks in advance.

You have several possibilities.
The best one for me is using OLE for POS.
OLE for POS is standard developped by Microsoft, Epson, Siemens-Nixdorf and some other companies.
The idea is that each Brand of hardware for POS has its own OCX to control programatically its hardware.
But every OCX from every Manufacturer has the same classes with the same names and the same properties/methods.
So your application can be independent of the kind of hardware (as long as it is compatible with OLE for POS).

I know that Siemens and Epson have OCX for their products (Receipt printers, cash drawers, Barcode readers, Line Displays.)

If you use a Epson printer for instance, it doesn't matter the kind of Cashdrawer you use since the cash drawer is connected to the printer and the OCX can control it.

For the Barcode Reader, you can simply connect it to your Keyboard. Then when you read a Barcode the code is sent via Keyboard exactly as if you had typed it.
Of course if you need a more sophisticated feature you can also use an OCX to contro, the Bar code reader.

These OCX can be downloaded from the manufacturers site

If you don't want to get into the OCX, you'll have to rely on the printer and comm port.

If the printer has its Windows Drivers you can use them. Otherwise you will be able to print with the generic/text printer driver.

The cash drawer usually connects to the printer and in the printers manual you can find the control code to send to the printer to open the cash drawer.

The line display usually connects to the serial port.
Here you have two choices:

First: Control it via a Generic/Text Printer connected to the serial port and sending to the printer the commands to the line display.

Second: use a COM controler OCX (Like the one Evan said) to send the codes.