Retail Pro 8 Series

Configuring Pulse for Data Streaming

Retail Pro 3252 Holiday Court La Jolla, CA 92037 USA USA 1-800-738-2457 International +1-858-550-3355 www.retailpro.com

Retail Pro 8 Series Configuring Pulse for Data Streaming

About this Guide

This document explains how to configure Pulse for data streaming for Retail Pro 8 Series. If you believe the information presented here is incomplete or inaccurate, we encourage you to contact us at emanuals@retailpro.com. The software described herein is furnished under a license agreement. Retail Pro 3252 Holiday Court La Jolla, CA 92037 USA USA 1-800-738-2457 International +1-858-550-3355 www.retailpro.com

Copyright Copyright 2009 Intuit, Inc. All rights reserved. Redistributed by Retail Pro under license. Retail Pro 3252 Holiday Court La Jolla, CA 92037 USA USA 1-800-738-2457 International +1-858-550-3355 www.retailpro.com Trademarks Retail Pro and the Retail Pro logo are registered trademarks and/or registered service marks in the United States and other countries. Oracle and Oracle 9i are registered trademarks and/or registered service marks of Oracle Corporation. All rights reserved. Other parties trademarks or service marks are the property of their respective owners and should be treated as such.

Copyright 2009 Retail Pro. All rights reserved. i

Retail Pro 8 Series s Configuring Pulse for Data Streaming

Table of Contents
About this Guide .................................................................................................................. i Overview..............................................................................................................................1 Installation............................................................................................................................1 Preparation ...........................................................................................................................1 Configuring PulseTaker .......................................................................................................2 Configuring Pulse (Optional)...............................................................................................2

Copyright 2009 Retail Pro. All rights reserved. ii

Retail Pro 8 Series s Configuring Pulse for Data Streaming

Overview
This document explains how to configure PULSE.EXE, RPROBROKER.EXE, and PULSETAKER.EXE to use the Pulse tools data streaming feature. Data streaming automatically updates inventory and customer store credit information for all participating locations. (Additional information on PULSE.EXE, RPROBROKER.EXE, and PULSETAKER.EXE can be found in Retail Pro Tool Supplement TS23. Pulse.)

Installation
If installing from a CD: Insert the provided Retail Pro installation CD and choose PULSE and PULSETAKER as the programs to install, and then proceed to the Configuring Pulse section. If installing from a .zip file: Extract the contents of PULSE.ZIP into the following directories:
Files to extract to \RETAIL\RPRO: PULSE.EXE PULSETAKER.EXE RPROBROKER.EXE RPROBROKERSVC.EXE PULSE.CNT PULSE.HLP Files to extract to \RETAIL\TRANSLAT PULSE.MLD PULSETAKER.MLD

(If any of the above files are not in PULSE.ZIP, contact technical support.)

Preparation
1. Before configuring Pulse, perform a full polling cycle on all installations that will be monitored using the Pulse tool. 2. Delete any previous files created with Pulse. The easiest way to do this to delete the \PULSE subdirectory within the \RPRO directory. (The \PULSE subdirectory will be recreated later by the program.) 3. Enable Pulse in Retail Pro System Preferences for all participating locations (OPTIONS h SYSTEM PREFERENCES h GENERAL DOCUMENTS: Enable Pulse! document processing). 4. If you have not yet configured PULSETAKER.EXE, proceed to the Configuring PulseTaker section.

Copyright 2009 Retail Pro. All rights reserved. 1

Retail Pro 8 Series s Configuring Pulse for Data Streaming

Configuring PulseTaker
1. At the Main station, launch the PULSETAKER.EXE and select REINITIALIZE PULSE DATABASE. This clears the PULSE.DAT file of any previous transactions. 2. Select PREFERENCES, and then select the Store/Stations tabbed page. 3. Select the Retail Pro Path field, and then select to browse to the Retail Pro Path for each location (Store/Station) that will be monitored by the Pulse tool. These locations should be mapped within the server first (optionally using the UNC path). Select ADD or REMOVE to add or remove locations as necessary. 4. Enter the path to the primary Pulse database at the Main station, typically the \RPRO folder from which PULSETAKER.EXE was launched. 5. Select OK to save your changes.
Note: Read Only Field Make sure that the Read Only field is NOT checked. If the Read Only field is checked, Pulse cannot write changes and thereby update inventory quantities and customer store credit information.

Configuring Pulse (Optional)

1. At the Main station, launch PULSE.EXE. 2. Select the RETAIL PRO PULSE button in the upper left corner. 3. Select PREFERENCES. The Properties window displays. 4. Select DATA OPTIONS h LOCATION from the tree on the left. 5. Select the Path field, then select and browse to the PULSE.DAT file that Pulsetaker will be updating (typically, in \PULSE\DATA). 6. Select ADD or REMOVE to add and remove locations as necessary. Select OK to save your changes. 7. At each location, locate and launch RPROBROKER.EXE (typically found in the \RPRO directory), and ensure that the path to Retail Pro history has been properly defined. Copyright 2009 Retail Pro. All rights reserved. 2

Retail Pro 8 Series s Configuring Pulse for Data Streaming

Note: Multiple Main Environment Additional locations can be specified for a multiple Main station environment. Note: Configuring Pulse.exe
PULSE.EXE can be configured to run from any workstation, unlike configured to run at the Main station. PULSETAKER.EXE,

which must be

Note: Scheduling Start/Stop of Broker Services It is recommended that you scheduler RPROBROKER.EXE to launch at startup (using the Scheduler Tool) and to shut down during the polling cycle.

Installing Broker Services as a Network Service:

You have the option of installing RPROBROKER.EXE as a service on any workstation. 1. Make sure you have configured Pulse first. 2. Close any instances of RPROBROKER.EXE on the workstation. 3. Open up a command prompt and navigate to the \RPRO folder for the workstation that you see, for example X:\RETAIL\RPRO. 4. From this command prompt, type the following: rprobrokersvc.exe install 5. Select OK when the install is finished. Each time the workstation is started, RPROBROKER.EXE will be started as well. You dont have to run RPROBROKER.EXE as a stand-alone application. If you encounter any other message types, please contact technical support for assistance.

Copyright 2009 Retail Pro. All rights reserved. 3