System POS Command Reference

The system() command provides a range of escape commands to deal with the POS system itself and also to interact with the operating system.

Commnd Overview

system(Sub-Command)

system(exit)

Closes the POS and exits the application.

security(bypass)

Temporarily suspend the security subsystem controls. This command can only be invoked via quickc mode of operation and otherwise ignored. You cannot use this command generally to bypass security

system(1icon)

Acts as if the user had pressed the minimize button to iconify the application.

system(sleep,NNN)

Causes the POS to pause/sleep for NNN milliseconds. This command should not be used except on testing environments.

system(priority,NNN)

Alter the priority of the POS against the list of Windows applications running on the system. The value of NNN can be low, normal or high

system(1waitN)

Display a visible wait cursor to the user, which is typically an hourglass. This can be used during known long operations, although use of this command is discouraged as it may interfere with POS handling of wait cursors.

To start displaying a wait cursor use the command system(1wait1) and to return to the normal cursor use system(1wait0)

system(prompt)

Display an interactive screen where POS Commands can be manually entered

system(restart,N)

Restart the POS application, or calling application if possible. The value N supplies additional command line options for the program. As the POS is hosted by other programs, this command relies on support from the intiating program and may not work in all environments.

system(quickc(NNN))

Process the quickcode NNN. A quickcode is a shortform to a number of "subroutines" that can provide PosCommands or scripts.

NNN can either be the keyword "enter" or an actual Quickcode value. Only numeric quickcodes can be executed with this command.

If the quickcode NNN can followed by ",silent" to operate with minimal operator interaction or ",verbose" to have maximum operator interaction. This serves solely as a hint to the Quickcode routine as to level of interaction with the user.

system(systemcommanding(XXX))

Not documented for customer use at this time.

system(shell,NNN)

Prepare and call the Windows API ShellExecuteEx(). This allows the POS to start external applications.

NNN is a list of the following optional keywords

dir(N) - Sets the working directory of the created process. If not defined defaults to current working directory.
file(N) - Defines the name of the file or program to Windows command line. This parameter typically contains either the program to run, or the file to operate against.
verb(N) - Sets the command verb for the program, such as open or print. Not all programs require this parameter.
param(N) - Sets optional parameters for the process
show(N) - Not currently implemented
service(N) - Reserved for Fieldpine. Do not use

All Others

All other unhandled POS Commands are passed to the Windows API CreateProcess() as the lpCommandLine parameter.

Remarks

The setting PoscBlock.system can be used to disable the use of the system() command

Examples

Display a interactive screen to allow a user to enter a QuickCode

	system(quickc(enter))

Execute Quickcode 123, and request verbose mode

	system(quickc(123),verbose)

Invoke notepad to edit a file

	system(shell,file(notepad) param(abc.txt))