Planning Basic Inventory System

[mnewbegin]

I have in the works a basic inventory system, so far it does this.

• Signup (with captcha generated)
• Login
• Password reset
• Add basic items / Update counts of items
• Display of all inventory items(alternating row color) (non-paginated) so this is 10-20 pages long when loaded. Just using junk data as a test at the momment.

I am preplanning at the momment for tables/needs

I don't want to overplan, but definately don't want to underplan. I really only need to handle 10-20 customers, and most of them will have identical products in the database. I will be looking into making invoices and adding products by barcode scanner we currently use for another reason. A symbol PDT-3100

I have never worked with more then 2-3 tables for queries, and need more education on optimizing tables for searches. This could turn into a program used for years down the line, and want to make sure I design the functionality of it right so tables are not bloated.

My main question:

Is there an existing framework of a opensource inventory or classes that I can implement to do most of the work needed.

I have no issues putting time and effort into education but just looking for a direction to move into.

[big_nerd]

mnewbegin,

There is no existing inventory framework or class.

Keep some of these items in mind when you are developing your application:

Have separate tables for: company info, users, inventory, warehouse location(s) [in case of numerous], and count(s) (if you are going to do counts)

it may be a good idea to keep a history of the variances found IF a count has been done.

As for database optimization:

Provide functionality to optimize tables,etc (if you need help, do the functions in phpMyAdmin and it will give you the queries needed)

I would take a look into Full Text Search, you can do some research on how to implement it, also read up on Database Indexing.

The PDT3100 is a DOS based unit, if I am not mistaken, so you may need to have a server available with Telnet/VT100 Emulation in order to handle the data.

Inventory applications are rare, especially since most companies will opt to develop a custom solution, or use one that is built into their ERP system.

Also, in the case that one of these companies DOES implement an ERP system, you will need to keep import/export via CSV as an option.

I would recommend you follow a strict standard with these, by allowing customer Iterator, etc.

I found an example here although I haven't even looked at the code to see if it is any good.

Take a look at what each company needs as goes for keeping inventory, there may be more than just item#, barcode#, description, onhand, planned, onorder, ontransfer, etc..

Best of luck, that is quite the project.