This project was inspired by the Cargoware F.M.S project. It was intended to be the springboard to move the Windows only Boland C++ code to a cross-platform world by making use to the excellent Qt C++ framework. It is a deeply layered project and the core of it is a set of ‘Business Objects’ I designed to abstract all the tables and ‘business actions’ required for such a large scale project.
It currently handles all the features needed for a multi-warehouse, CFSP capable W.M.S as the original Cargoware project wasn’t required to cover warehousing during its inception. The project team was made up of 3 people including myself and a developer directly employed by the client.
The client-side is a Qt ‘Widgets’ application that can be built and executed on the three main desktop platforms(Windowx, MacOS & Linux), although is mostly used on MS Windows currently. There is also an interface for smart barcode terminals based on an ANSI text interface via Telnet. The primary client elements are:
- A Cross platform Qt based MDI application.
- An interactive ‘ANSI formatted’ telnet server for barcode terminals.
The Qt Widgets application runs on the user’s desktop. The Telnet server is a ‘service’ within a backend application (also created in Qt and using the Business Objects) that was designed for scalable E.D.I and other ‘server bound’ tasks, more detail is given below.
The server side shares the SQL server with Cargoware F.M.S although doesn’t require Cargoware to be used. In Addition, there are a number of ‘services’ running under another Qt application known as SARK. This is a backend ‘processor’ application that is a project in its own right and is covered in the page SARK & SMART E.D.I. The services running include:
- Packing list processor.
- Interactive barcode terminal server.
- Automated Sales Order to Picking interfacing for Drop Shipping (Amazon VC).
- Automated A.S.N creation.
- Real-time stock checking with automated tracking and exception reporting.