Cash Register Parameters and Settings

Print on Demand

Printing on Demand can be setup on Host or Smartlane registers by navigating to the Register Parameters.
Navigation:
Host Register; POS-3-1
Smartlane; POS-5-3-1
Options:
Y = Suppress printing until the cashier chooses to print
N = Print line at a time
E = Print at the End of transaction
EMAIL = Send email receipts (Host Registers only)

**note: Registers parameters are setup on each register. If they are host based registers the parameters on the host connection are used for the register. If you are setting this parameters for a Smartlane registers they will need to be done on EACH of the registers are parameters can be set differently for each register.

The purpose of this article is to cover the steps a customer can take to sell a gift card online.

The general process is to create fee codes at the desired price points, assign them to a a web catalog, and then generate the unique Gift Card/Voucher code when the order has been completed.

Pre-Requisites

1. Determine the desired price points
2. Determine the correct class code
3. If using an image, have the full image name handy

Create Gift Card Fee Code(s)

1. Navigate to POS-22-23 for Fee Code Maintenance and fill out the necessary fields
2. Add a new code (we recommend at least four digits)
3. Enter a description for the gift card
   1. This will display on the website. We recommend stating the value in the description if multiple price options are used.
4. Assign the appropriate Class Code
5. Flag whether or not the purchase is taxable (typically no)
6. Set Factor to 1
7. Enter the desired amount for Default Amount
8. Set the Voucher Code to GC
9. Enter the name of the image to display in the Image ID field (optional)
   1. Be sure to upload any image assigned to the website under the GM Images directory
10. Repeat as needed for each price point

Add Gift Card Fee to Web Catalog

1. Navigate to POS-22-5 and enter the desired Catalog ID
2. Fill out the required fields if this is a new catalog
3. Add the Fee Code(s) created above in the SKU column
4. Save your changes
5. The price points are now available for purchase on the website
   1. Customers can search or navigate through the catalog to get to the item

Order Fulfillment

When processing the transaction, the clerk will process and activate the Gift Card the same as if it was sold in a regular transaction. The only difference is that instead of prompting for a dollar amount, the fee code automatically populate with a dollar amount.

• In GM Master File (MF) maintenance, bring up an item.
• On the bottom options row, select the ‘UP=UpPrices’ button to update the cost, for the item displayed, from Store 1 to all other stores. The update will only update from store 1 to other stores. When you select the option, the process will run without any further input from the user.

Rental Customer Information Lookup

When you look up a customer for rental or for rental drop off you will see some additional information on the search display screen.

1. If a customer record has ever had a rental, then a ‘Y’ will appear under the “Rnt” column
2. If the customer currently has a rental that has not yet been returned, then a “*Y” will show, again, this is to indicate that the customer record currently has an outstanding rental

Add Image to a Fee Code

If you need to add an image to a Fee code so that you can display that online then

• Log to POS.22.23 “Fee Code Maintenance”
• Enter in the Fee Code
• Enter the image name in the Image Id: field just like you would enter the image name in the GM-MF image name
• Upload the image the same as you would a GM image.

Web Order Confirmation Status Display

To view the current status of a customer confirmation number

• Log to POS.26.26 “Web Order Status”
• Enter in the confirmation number

• You will see 3 columns, ‘Open Order’, ‘Closed Order’, ‘Associated Sales’
• 
  • Open Orders will display the open order, select O=Open Orders and then the line number with the confirmation # to see detailed information about the order.
  • Closed Orders will display if the order has been completed or if it has been deleted. If you select that option, then it will display the information from the original order.
• 
  • Associated Sales will list all of the ‘Sales’ that are associated to the confirmation number, so if the customer ordered 5 items and each item was sold on a different register transaction then there would be 5 associated sales. Select the S=Associated Sales and then the line number to view detailed information about that transactions.

It is recommended to add the BI Transaction Type to the keyboard layout or to the Screen buttons or you can manually type in the BI command in the Transaction Type field in the register.

In the Example below I have added the ‘Balance Inquiry’ button to the screen.

Select the ‘Balance Inquiry’ button, Select the ‘Gift Card’ option as a tender and then enter the gift card number or scan/swipe the card as per your normal options.

To add a Balance Inquiry option to check the available balance on a Gift Card.

Create a Transaction Type of BI, enter the description of BALANCE INQUIRY and the Category of ‘BI’ with the factor of 1 and Taxable of N.

Next on S2=Screen2 enter in |TOT in the ‘Default SKU/FEE/CLASS field and then save the transaction type.

Below are the steps that one of our customers can follow to install and setup the TCS application on a desktop computer. Ideally these steps are performed via a remote session by members of the TCS support team but sometimes that isn’t feasible.

The technical level of these steps are slightly above normal and should be completed by members of IT staff or individuals comfortable navigating directories, installing applications and copying files.

Pre-requisites

There are a handful of items that are required for a new installation of the software. In migration scenarios (switching from an old PC to a new one) the items will already be available on the old PC. It is necessary to contact TCS support to obtain files for a brand new setup.

1. OpenVPN configuration files
2. TCS application with pre-configured connection settings
3. Local administrator rights to install and configure software

Obtain and Install Required Software

1. Download the OpenVPN installer from here
   • Run the installer and select the Customize option.
   • Click the red X on OpenVPN Service and select Entire Feature will be installed on local hard drive
2. Download the TCS application installer from here
   • Run the installer and click next throughout the process. Use the default option on all steps.

Obtain the Configuration Files (Migration Steps)

If migrating from an old PC to a new PC, the configuration files can be copied to a network share, usb thumb drive, etc. and placed on the new PC.

1. Copy the C:\TCS Host (sometimes just C:\TCS) folder
2. Copy the Host Connection shortcut from the desktop
3. Copy the C:\Program Files\OpenVPN\config and the C:\Program Files\OpenVPN\config-auto folders
4. Disable the OpenVPN service
   • Start > Services.msc
   • Right click the OpenVPNService and select Stop
   • Follow the steps in the Cleanup section once the new PC is confirmed working.

Obtain the Configuration Files (New Device)

Email support@total-computing.com requesting the VPN and GUI configuration files

• Please include the name of the end user
• Please include whether this is a brand new computer or if the user is migrating devices

Place the Configuration Files

The steps below cover the scenario where configuration files are sent via email. Essentially the same steps can be followed when copying from an old PC. Just use your thumb drive, network share, etc. as the source vs the emailed zip files.

There will be two zip files included in the email, Host Connection.zip and cust-user-vpn.zip

1. Download both zip files to the destination machine and copy their contents to the correct directories.
2. TCS application
   1. Open the Host Connection.zip
   2. Copy (or drag and move) the TCS Host folder inside the zip file to C:\
      • If you use the “Extract all…” option then set the path to C:\
      • The path to the tcs.exe executable file should be C:\TCS Host\tcs.exe
   3. Copy the Host Connection shortcut inside the zip file to C:\Users\Public\Desktop
3. OpenVPN configuration files
   1. Open the cust-user-vpn.zip file
   2. Copy the contents to C:\Program Files\OpenVPN\Config
   3. Copy the contents to C:\Program Files\OpenVPN\Config-auto

Start and Test

1. Set the OpenVPN Service(s) to start automatically
   1. Start > type services.msc and run Services with admin rights
   2. Verify the following services have a startup type of Automatic.
      1. OpenVPN Interactive Service
      2. OpenVPNService
   3. Restart the OpenVPNService
      1. Right click OpenVPNService
      2. Click Restart
2. Launch and test the TCS application
   1. Double click the Host Connection shortcut
      • If any errors appear than this typically means the folder paths are incorrect
   2. Click the Padlock icon and select the Log on button
3. The application should connect and display the regular login screen. If it does not than please contact TCS support.

Cleanup (Migration Only)

Each VPN configuration is assigned a static IP address. If both the old and new computers connect to the VPN at the same time it will cause a conflict and neither connection will reliably work.

1. (Required) Navigate to c:\program files\openvpn and delete the config and config-auto folders
2. (Highly recommended) uninstall the OpenVPN software via standard Windows mechanisms
3. (Recommended) uninstall the TCS application via standard Windows mechanisms
   • Delete the C:\TCS Host folder and verify that c:\program files (x86)\tcs is removed as well.

Logo Setup and Installation for Epson printers

Printer Software install

Image preparation and requirements

Loading Image onto printer

Configuring POS software to print images

Printer Software install

1. Download the Advanced print driver from the Epson site
2. Start the install of the advanced print driver
3. On the first screen select next
4. Accept the terms of the license agreement
5. For the setup type select Standard
6. Click the add printer button
7. Select the correct driver for your printer and the port type (In this example I am using a T88IV on a COM port)

8. Configure the communication settings for your printer
9. After you select next you are taken back to the printer configuration page. Select the next button and continue with the installation.
10. You will be prompted to select next on the next window
11. Once the install is finished select the finish button

Image preparation and requirements

The source image can be either a jpeg or PNG or BMP

I have found that a max image width of 500px works best but the image can be of any size as you can run it through an optimizer.

The instructions below will be for a JPEG but can be applied to most images

1. Save your image to a folder or the desktop
2. In a web browser navigate to http://www.imageoptimizer.net (I use this site but almost any optimizer will work for this)
3. Upload the image to the site
4. Under the optimization options select the following (The Max height will auto adjust during the optimization)
   1. Quality: Minimum file size
   2. Max width: 500
   3. 
5. Select Optimize now
6. The next screen now shows the original width and height and the size on the left and the new width and height and size on the right
7. Select the download to your computer button and it will save your image to your device
8. Move and rename it to something that you will remember.
9. Right click the optimized image and select edit.(Works best if you do this in paint)
10. Select File then save as BMP Picture
11. 
12. Select the location you would like to save it to.
13. Rename it to something that will be easy to find(for example Logo)
14. Select the drop down and select Monochrome Bitmap
15. When prompted select Ok     

Loading Image onto printer

1. Open devices and printers and locate the printer that was installed in the first segment.
2. Right click your printer and select printer properties
3. Select the Utility tab then select the EPSON Flash Logo button

4. On the next window that opens select the Bitmap Selection
5. Select Open File and locate your image
6. In the file manager select okay and then you will be returned to the bitmap selection window
7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 if you have more images to load
8. Select the Logo Upload tab
9. 
10. Leave the settings as they are and select the Device button (The file option will generate a file that can upload the image. This option is very sporadic when uploading the images)
11. It will take a second or two but you will receive a prompt asking if you want to continue select yes
12. The upload process can take a some time and may lock up but it will show the following prompt when it is finished.     
13. Select ok and then toggle the power on the printer off then on.
14. You can then close out of the flash logo setup and continue to the next section.

Configuring POS software to print images
This section works best in a GUI connection

1. Open the TCS GUI and login to POS
2. Navigate to Hardware Configuration Codes (POS-3-2)
3. It is recommended to create a new Configuration ID but you don’t have to

For this example I am creating a copy of GUIE named GUIEI

4. Select your configuration code
5. Select Screen 2 by either typing S2 or selecting the button
6. Click the entry box next to User Font 1…. 21:

For TM 88 the current code that prints the first uploaded image is (
This may change to the proper ESC codes at some point)

HEX1d HEX28 HEX4c HEX06 HEX00 HEX30 HEX45 HEX30 HEX30 HEX01 HEX01

To print the second image use

HEX1d HEX28 HEX4c HEX06 HEX00 HEX30 HEX45 HEX30 HEX31 HEX01 HEX01

For any images following the first two replace the ## in the line below with a number above 31 ( 32- 3^rd image , 33 – 4^th image, 34 – 5^th image)

HEX1d HEX28 HEX4c HEX06 HEX00 HEX30 HEX45 HEX30 HEX##HEX01 HEX01

7. Hit enter a few times until you are back at the Hardware parameters menu
8. Now select Receipt header  POS.3.3
9. Either create a new one or select your existing header(in this example I am using a copy of MAIN named MAIN.IMG
10. Select the last line of the header and hit enter until you get the insert option at the bottom
11. Select insert
12. When prompted type 1 and hit okay

13. You will now have the following view
14. Hit the spacebar 3 times and hit enter
15. When prompted with are you deleting this data select no     
16. You will then be shifted to the font section
17. Here you will enter the font code you set above.
18. Hit enter until you are back and the Hardware Parameters Menu
19. Select option 1 Register Parameters
20. Enter your register number (In this example I am using register 404
21. Change the following options (If you changed your default header and configuration you can skip this step)
    1. Header Link
    2. Configuration Link

21. Once changed hit enter until you are back at the main POS screen
22. If you are making this change on the host or on the smartlane you can now select option 1 Cash Register and run a test transaction.

After running the transaction, you should now have an image on your

receipt. Below is an example