Archive
Raspberry Pi CTA Tracker Kiosk
I purchased a Raspberry Pi 3 about a year ago and finally got around to creating a fully functional CTA bus/train tracker out of it.
Parts Needed
Raspberry Pi
http://amzn.to/2lp5YOf
Micro SDHC Cards
http://amzn.to/2kYn04N
Screen
http://amzn.to/2kTArTK
Cable (Cable that came with screen was defective)
http://amzn.to/2ltoJvX
Keyboard and Mouse (any will do, but I like this)
http://amzn.to/2kNfUO5
CTA Tracker URL:
Create your specific CTA Tracker URL and save it for later
http://www.transitchicago.com/developers/diybtform.aspx
Generating XML in PL/SQL
At work we have historically been using concatenation for generating XML Data. I stumbled upon these XML functions the other day, and thought it was worth sharing. They seem to be the proper, and I’m sure more efficient, way to generate XML using Oracle PL/SQL. I’m dumbfounded that our developers didn’t use this method, but who am I to judge!
Oracle Documentation:
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E11882_01/appdev.112/e23094/xdb13gen.htm#ADXDB1600
Easier to Understand Guide:
http://allthingsoracle.com/generating-xml-from-sql-and-pl-sql-part-1/
http://allthingsoracle.com/generating-xml-from-sql-and-plsql-part-2/
Example Query for Delivery Lines
Should produce XML for a Delivery with its lines, where lines contain the Item Number, Description, Shipped Quantity, and Requested Quantity.
SELECT XMLSERIALIZE (
DOCUMENT (SELECT XMLELEMENT (
"EXTRACT",
(SELECT XMLAGG (
XMLELEMENT (
"DELIVERY",
XMLELEMENT ("DELIVERY_ID",
DELIVERY_ID),
XMLELEMENT (
"LIST_LINE",
(SELECT XMLAGG (
XMLELEMENT (
"LINE",
XMLFOREST (
msib.segment1 AS "ITEM_NUMBER",
XMLCDATA ( MSIBTL.DESCRIPTION) AS DESCRIPTION,
NVL ( WDD.SHIPPED_QUANTITY, 0) AS "SHIPPED_QUANTITY",
WDD.REQUESTED_QUANTITY AS "REQUESTED_QUANTITY",
wdd.delivery_detail_id)))
FROM wsh_delivery_assignments wda,
wsh_delivery_details wdd,
mtl_system_items_b msib,
mtl_system_items_TL msibTL
WHERE wda.delivery_id = wnd.delivery_id
AND wda.delivery_detail_id = wdd.delivery_detail_id
AND wdd.inventory_item_id = msib.inventory_item_id
AND msib.organization_id = WND.ORGANIZATION_ID
AND wdd.inventory_item_id = msibTL.inventory_item_id
AND msibTL.organization_id = WND.ORGANIZATION_ID
AND MSIBTL.LANGUAGE = 'US'))))
AS XML
FROM wsh_new_deliveries wnd
WHERE delivery_id = :delivery_id))
FROM DUAL) AS CLOB
VERSION 1.1 INDENT)
AS xmlserialize_doc
FROM DUAL;
Sending ZPL to a Label Printer Using PL/SQL
Oracle’s WMS package has some label printing capabilities, but the functionality is quite poor, and requires knowledge of XML Label printing.
XML Label printing, generally, is the ability to send an XML file to a label printer, where the XML file contains the label format to use, and the data/variables to print on the label. This allows you to have one label “template” which can be reused for printing similar data. Printing a shipping label for example. The label format never changes, but the data does. The standard solution requires a ZPL Template to be stored on a Zebra printer’s flash memory. That ZPL template can be coded by hand, or by using Zebra Designer software. One drawback to this solution is that templates must be downloaded to every printer which will be used. Centralized label template storage would be ideal.
There are several third party solutions that bolt onto the Oracle functionality and allow for a centralized label template, but they also have their own drawbacks, and can cost several hundred thousand dollars to implement, in addition to the ongoing maintenance and server costs. Even with the third party solutions, the user is still left with quite a few deficiencies with the Oracle WMS feature set.
There is an alternative to the template centralization problem which I think is ideal. Store the templates on the server which will be generating the print requests. Instead of having the Zebra printer or third party add on tool merge the XML with the ZPL template, have the same server that is generating the label print requests merge the template/date.
I’ve come up with a simple PL/SQL script which allows a programmer to send a string of text to a label printer through the network using TCP/IP protocol. It uses the same function that Oracle uses to send the XML to the printer when printing without a third part tool, but instead of sending XML, one can send ZPL. This script can easily be added to a procedure that splices data with a ZPL template.
The strange thing about this function is that it has multiple outputs and cannot be used in a SELECT statement like most functions. I’m not sure why Oracle decided to use a function rather than a procedure, but here’s how you can run it:
DECLARE
l_return_msg VARCHAR2(3000);l_printer_status VARCHAR2(3000);l_return VARCHAR2(3000);l_zpl CLOB;l_printer_ip VARCHAR2(20);l_printer_port VARCHAR2(10);BEGINl_zpl :=’^XA^FO50,300^A0N,125,125^FDTEST^XZ’; –String to send to printerl_printer_ip :=’192.168.1.10′; –IP Address of printerl_printer_port :=’9100′;l_return := INV_PRINT_REQUEST.SEND_XML_TCPIP(p_ip_address => l_printer_ip, p_port => to_char(l_printer_port), p_xml_content => l_zpl, x_return_msg => l_return_msg, x_printer_status => l_printer_status);END;
Oracle WMS Cycle Count Bug
We recently completed a Physical Inventory using Oracle WMS Cycle Count functionality and some custom programming. It was a arguably a success. I’ll post something about that in the future, hopefully, but here is something that is really aggravating me at the moment.
Two of the biggest problems we had appeared to be bugs with seeded forms/functionality. We had two different symptoms, that seemed like seeded (built in/out of the box) functionality was broken, and it took us quite some time to identify the root cause.
- The Approve Cycle Counts form would not show us a portion of the cycle count entries
- The counts were in the database
- The counts were in our report
- The counts would not show up on the form
- Recounts would not be given to users
- Initial counts would be made
- Recounts would be manually queued to users using the Warehouse Control Board
- As soon as the user would go to the telnet Directed Cycled Count Tasks screen, the task would go directly back to pending
- The user would never see the task to work on
I logged two separate SRs with Oracle. Both made little progress for several weeks.
Luckily, one of our developers identified the commonality between the records. There was an EXPORT_FLAG on the MTL_CYCLE_COUNT_ENTRIES table which was set to 1 for the offending records. I updated the two SRs with these details.
Oracle Value Set: Allow Only Alphanumeric Values
We have a problem at work which required us to only allow alphanumeric values in a DFF. No spaces, punctuation, or special characters. Here is what I came up with:
Function (WordPress will change quotes to smart quotes, you will need to change back)
FND PLSQL “declare
l_value varchar2( 150 ) := :!value ;
l_valid NUMBER := NULL ;
BEGIN
SELECT (LENGTH(TRIM(TRANSLATE(REPLACE(l_value,’ ‘,’.’), ‘abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789’, ‘ ‘))))
INTO l_valid
FROM dual;
IF (l_valid IS NOT NULL) THEN
fnd_message.set_name( ‘FND’, ‘FND_GENERIC_MESSAGE’ ) ;
fnd_message.set_token( ‘MESSAGE’, ‘Value must be alpha-numeric’ );
fnd_message.raise_error ;
END IF ;
END;
“
Regular Expression Version:
FND PLSQL “declare
l_value varchar2( 150 ) := :!value ;
BEGIN
IF REGEXP_SUBSTR(l_value, ‘^[a-zA-Z0-9]+$’) IS NULL THEN
fnd_message.set_name( ‘FND’, ‘FND_GENERIC_MESSAGE’ ) ;
fnd_message.set_token( ‘MESSAGE’, ‘(‘||l_value||’) must be alphanumeric.’);
fnd_message.raise_error ;
END IF ;
END;
“
My Three Favorite Windows Add-ins
ZBar
I love having multiple monitors! However, one problem with multiple monitors is that Windows doesn’t extend the task bar very well onto the second or third monitor. It by default doesn’t extent it at all, so to select applications/windows to make active, you have to go to the other monitor. There is an option put the same task bar on both monitors, but with that, I don’t know which program/window is on which monitor.
ZBar to the rescue. ZBar adds a task bar to the other monitor(s), and displays only the applications/windows on that monitor. It also removes the applications/windows on the primary monitor’s task bar. I love it.
WizMouse
WizMouse imitates a really nice MacOS feature; it makes the window under the mouse scroll when the user scrolls. Windows by default only scrolls the active window/frame. With WizMouse, I can scroll the list of emails in Outlook, and then move my mouse over to the preview, and scroll that, without clicking in the frame! I can also move my mouse over an Excel document which is open in the background, and scroll it, even though the Excel window is under a bunch of other windows. What a fantastic program!
ArsClip
ArsClip keeps track of my copy-paste activity and allows me to past something that I copied before the most recent copy. I’ve set mine to give me the history menu when pressing ALT+V. The program also allows me to “paste values” with a keyboard shortcut; I’ve set mine to CTRL+SHIFT+V. It saves me so much time!
ED HAYES 