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A. This is a three stage process. First you need to consult the documentation for
your cash register to determine from which hardware port, baud rate and data format the serial data is transmitted.
Second you need to capture a representative selection of the serial data from your cash register using a PC
or laptop connected to it running a serial terminal program like Hyperterminal. You need to use the Capture Text
file option of Hyperterminal to capture the data. With your PC connected to the cash register you need to select
the Call option from the Hyperterminal menu, then select Disconnect. Then select the Transfer option from the Hyperterminal
menu, then select the Capture Text option. This will present you with a dialog box into which you can then type
the name of the *.txt file into which the data will be stored. Once you have set the file name for the capture,
go back to the Call menu and select Connect. All the data that comes in via the serial line will now be placed
into the capture file that you have named. You will need to perform a representative selection of transactions,
cancellations, refunds, and operator logins while the cash register is connected to put data into the capture file.
This capture file is the file(s) that you will need to examine to determine the structure of the serial data generated
by the cash register. To stop the capture process you need to select the Transfer menu again and go to the Capture
Text which will then give you the option of stopping or pausing the data capture. If you need to open the file
to check its contents then please do this with Notepad not a wordprocessor like MS word so that no control codes
or other characters are added to the file.
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The third stage is to examine the cash register serial data in the capture file using a hex editor like HexEdit. This allows you to determine which control characters the cash register generates.
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