Ok. So what I want to do is this; I want to write a wireless app you can use in a grocery or department store.
Function 1 - Sales engine

• It needs to scan UPC and/or SKU barcodes
• It needs to be able to look up the item description and basic price in offline mode
• It has to connect across the wire to a COM object (pre-existing) which can tell if the item is on sale or part of some kind of special offer
• It needs to collect a list of approved scanned items (ex. what's in your shopping cart) and keep a running subtotal going
• It should allow for corrections in the list, so you can change quantites, remove items, etc.
• When you are done shopping, it needs to send that list of scanned items to a real POS terminal for verification and tendering

Function 2 - Inventory engine

• It needs to scan UPC and/or SKU barcodes
• It needs to be able to look up the item description in offline mode
• It should allow you to enter the current quantity on hand for the item you just scanned (so you can inventory your cans of soup)
• It needs to collect a list of approved scanned items
• It should allow for corrections to the list
• When you are done, it needs to send that list of scanned items and quantities to a Back Office for reordering purposes

Function 3 - Shelf Labeling

• It needs to scan UPC and/or SKU barcodes
• It needs to be able to look up the item description and price in offline mode
• It should allow you to print a shelf label (via a belt mounted printer) if the current shelf label and the handheld price do not match
• It needs to collect a list of items which have been scanned and those which had new shelf labels printed (for auditing purposes)
• When you are done, it needs to send that list of scanned items to a Back Office for auditing purposes

Sounds like a tall order. I want to try to get function 1 ready for the first Wireless UG presentation. To that end, I'm going to stop wasting my time on the blog and start working.

-- Matt Ranlett