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Sage Line 50 Integration

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Aug 01.2007

Hey there,

Could anyone kindly help me out please, I’m having a bit of problems finding the answer to this. I program in PHP but also VC++ and VB where necessary. I’m looking to find out if it’s possible to connect PHP (or VC++/VB, but PHP would be better) to Sage Line 50, and if it requires a developer version of Sage Line 50 or can be used with a regular version of it.

If it’s possible, what is the best way to go about it? Is using a Windows application (VB/VC++) that in turn connects to PHP the best, or is there a way to directly use PHP. Would PHP be insecure for this, as it would have to connect to an openly accessible database server on the computer running Sage Line 50?

On another note – what’s the easiest and cheapest way to implement a basic bar-code reader on Windows? What’s the cheapest hardware available to do this? I wouldn’t have a clue where to start on this, and it’s only an idea so if it’s too expensive not to worry!

Thanks for any help!

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6 Comments(s) ↴

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@ray326Aug 02.2007 — Define "connect". To what specifically do you want to connect. Better yet, what would you do with this "connection?"

How do you want to read the bar code? The simplest way to implement one on Windows is to use a wand connected to a keyboard "wedge." To the application it's just a fast typist.
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@MrSparkyauthorAug 02.2007 — Hi Ray,

I'm looking to be able to connect to Sage in order to place in sales reports on a fairly regular basis. At the moment, we pull out stock levels and do the accounts with it, but we no longer want to use Sage for so much user interaction - instead, stocks are being put in a PHP system, and linking Sage to put in regular accounts would be superb.

As for the barcode - the simplest method is all we need. It's a way to avoid having to write down details which often get forgotten - if it could be barcoded (the items are already barcoded, they'd just need to be entered) then that would be great also. What kind of cost is the hardware, and is the software easily coded in C++ or VB?

Thanks again

Mark
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@ray326Aug 02.2007 — I saw no indication Sage has an API so how do you expect to make this "connection?"

Using a wand/wedge combo means zero software has to be written to support it because it just looks like keyboard input. As for prices, searching for "barcode wand" on Ebay or even Google would be a good start.
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@MrSparkyauthorAug 02.2007 — Thanks Ray, I will look on eBay et al, was curious how hard it would be to implement - sounds like it's feasible.

As for Sage, that's half the problem - I dont' know if such an API exists, and I can't find proof one way or another. I do know other people have linked Sage successfully - but then, that's expected - but I don't know if they're using the same software, or using a Developer version that perhaps opens up certain API's. I've also seen mention of people going straight into the server (often MSSQL or similar) to 'access' Sage, I'm not sure if that's less than optimal or the only sollution.
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@ray326Aug 03.2007 — I think the word would be "trivial" rather than "feasible." ?

It's generally not a good idea to directly manipulate an application's database, especially if the database isn't properly designed with foreign key constraints and such. IIRC it looked like they offered SDK-like packages but I may be misremembering.
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@MrSparkyauthorAug 03.2007 — That's really part of my concern. If the database is all that's accessible - particular in a multi-user environment - I don't think it would be fully safe to directly manipulate that. So, there has to be another way, or other people must be using a different version or some developer extensions on top? Does anyone have any idea about this?
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