His heart stopped. "What happened?"
He set up the tables: PRODUCTOS , CLIENTES , PROVEEDORES , VENTAS . The raw data was solid, like a clean kitchen counter. But the problem was never the data—it was the people . The waiters were too busy, the manager was impatient, and the new stock boy was terrified of databases.
The hardest challenge was the weekly inventory. Dozens of products, partial units, and the old method involved a clipboard and a lot of swearing. libreoffice base formularios avanzados
Elías needed more than tables. He needed advanced forms .
Elías built Formulario_Inventario_Inteligente . It was a where the master was a list of warehouse zones (Fridge, Dry Storage, Freezer). Clicking a zone loaded a subform with only the products in that zone, but not as simple fields. He used formatted fields with spin buttons for adjusting counts. A "Recalcular" button ran a SQL command via Basic macro that compared the entered count to the theoretical stock and flagged discrepancies in red. His heart stopped
"The cashier closed out ten tables in four minutes. The stock boy printed an order for just the right amount of chiles. And the new waiter found a customer's favorite table by searching 'ventana' in the client form." She smiled. "The only disaster is that we have nothing to complain about anymore."
He saved the file as Rincon_Sabor_Final.odb , backed it up on three USB drives, and finally ordered a single empanada for himself—guilt-free. The data was finally under control. But the problem was never the data—it was the people
The waiters hated the old POS interface. So Elías designed Formulario_Rapido . It was a single, massive form based on the VENTAS table, but with a trick: he used a for the sale details. A waiter would select a client number from a combo box (which auto-filled the client's name and loyalty points), then scan the product barcode into a text box.