With APG’s cash drawers and the interfaces we provide, retailers can tailor cash control and loss prevention strategies to meet their specific needs. Earlier this year, APG attended the ISC West show and exhibited at the NRF Loss Prevention show. Below is a breakdown of cash drawer interface options that can be added to a retailer’s new or existing mPOS environment.

Printer-Interface Cash Drawers (Windows driver or basic OPOS/JavaPOS)

• Each cash drawer includes a status switch that continuously monitors the drawer’s position.
• The POS application can be written to request the drawer position via the printer’s driver. This request polls the drawer status switch to obtain the drawer’s position.
• This approach is not event-based and requires the application author to develop and implement a suitable drawer status polling algorithm.

Printer-Interface Cash Drawers (OPOS/JavaPOS with Status Update Event)

• OPOS/JavaPOS environments can support the polling logic described above.
• In OPOS/JavaPOS environments, the service object can be configured to fire events to the OPOS-compliant application when the cash drawer status changes state. For example, if the cash drawer is opened with the key, the OPOS service object (or JavaPOS device service) can fire an event to the common control object (or JavaPOS device control) binding in the application.
• The OPOS-compliant POS application must take advantage of the Status Update Event model provided by the printer’s OPOS driver.
• This event alert could be used as a trigger for the exception handling procedures inside the host POS application.

USB-Interface Cash Drawers (native DLL or OPOS/JavaPOS with Status Update Event)

• APG offers native DLLs and OPOS/JavaPOS drivers that support the polling logic described above.
• Our native DLLs and OPOS/JavaPOS drivers can be configured to fire events to the host application as described above when cash drawer status changes state. For example, if the cash drawer is opened with the key, the DLL, the OPOS service object, or the JavaPOS device service can fire an event to the corresponding control object or device control binding in the application.
• This event alert could be used as a trigger for the exception handling procedures inside the host POS application.

IP-Enabled Drawers (TCP Socket Connection)

• The APG NetPro^® Cash Drawer supports the polling logic described above.
• In addition to logging all types of cash drawer events in memory on the drawer, the APG NetPro Cash Drawer can be configured to open a TCP Socket connection with a separate device to transmit events when several different types of cash drawer events occur. For example, if the cash drawer is opened with the key or powered down, the cash drawer can transmit a message over a TCP socket to another device configured with a TCP listener (such as an IP-enabled camera).
• This event alert could be used as a trigger for the exception handling procedures in the on-premise physical security system