Menu Board Professional - Installation

 

Description

 

This document provides a complete guide for installing the SwiftPOS Menu Board software. The guide is broken up into steps, and must be followed in the order that they appear in the checklist below.

 

To Be Considered

 

  1. Menu Board Professional is currently ONLY SUPPORTED in Windows 10, 11 and Win 10 IoT.
  2. Note : When installing multiple Menu Boards make sure that all the Menu Boards have been configured to completion before attempting to invoke them. Not doing this may result in the Menu Boards not starting.
  3. Each Menu Board Terminal will need to connect to the SwiftPOS Back Office in the same way as SwiftPOS Touch terminals.
  4. All Menu Board data is stored in the SwiftPOS Table Tracking database accessible by a Table tracking Master terminal as well as the Menu Board application.
  5. If advertising is added to a Menu Board, then send a full update to the Menu Board Terminal.
  6. When using Available Servings the quantity remaining is checked and when the value reaches a quantity of zero (0) the price appearing on the Menu Board will read as Sold Out.  Note : By default, Product POS Keys have the available servings option set to off and the quantity assigned as -1 (always available).
  7. Call Items can be added the Menu Board, thus interacting with the Kitchen Video System and display bumped orders.

 

Pre-Requisites

 

  1. Microsoft .NET Framework - This only needs to be installed if not previously installed. To download it click here.
  2. Install SwiftPOS Touch.
  3. There must be a SwiftPOS Touch terminal in the same Location as the Menu Board(s). This SwiftPOS Touch terminal must be assigned as the Table tracking Master terminal to install the Menu Board Software and will also manage the Product updates and pricing for the Location.
  4. Install Teamviewer or some other remote support software. This maybe useful if the Menu Board display screens are not visible from where the Menu Board SwiftPOS Touch terminal is located.

 

Installation Checklist

 

The following checklist should be used to ensure a trouble free installation of SwiftPOS Menu Board.

 

Follow the steps in the order outlined below:

 

  1. Ensure the Pre-Requisites above have been met.
  2. Install SwiftPOS Menu Board.
  3. Getting Started

 

Installation Guide

 

  1. Install SwiftPOS Menu Board on the Table tracking Master terminal. Generally this would be in the same Location as the Menu Boards.

 

  1. Reseller Help - For downloading installer software information. Installers are available for the following:

    • SwiftPOS Touch
    • SwiftPOS Back Office
    • SwiftPOS Menu Board
    • SwiftPOS Kitchen Video System


  1. Unzip the downloaded SPMENUBOARD zip file and double click the .exe installer file. For example: SwiftPOS Menu Board Professional Installer v5.exe.
  2. The install of SwiftPOS Menu Board will commence with the following popup appearing:


  1. Follow the prompts of the Install Wizard to complete the installation of SwiftPOS Menu Board.


  1. Once the Install Wizard has completed, click Finish to exit the Wizard.
  2. The folders, application and settings files installed are located as per the table below.


GETTING STARTED

 

  1. Ensure a terminal of the type Menu Board is created via Terminal Records, for each Menu Board terminal required.
  2. Ensure the Menu Board terminals created above are listed as part of the SwiftPOS Touch terminals list. This will ensure connection to the SwiftPOS Back Office.
  3. Design Menu Boards using the Menu Board Designer.
  4. Create Menu Board Schedule(s).
  5. Send a full update to the Table tracking Master terminal in the same Location to get all the Menu Board data to display with pricing.
  6. To Start a Menu Board, launch the SwiftPOS Menu Board application. This can be done by double clicking the C:\SwiftPOSMenu\SwiftPOS.MenuBoard.exe file. It can also be invoked from a desktop shortcut using the following command line arguments example:

/Dn - Used to set the Display on which the Menu will be dsisplayaed. Where n is the display number. For example, C:\SwiftPOSMenu\SwiftPOS.MenuBoard.exe /D:1

/F:xxxxxxxxxxxxx - Used to specify a folder path/name that will then be used to override the default name. Where xxxxxxxxxxxxx is the path/name of the folder. For example, C:\SwiftPOSMenu\Users\{ComputerName}\SouthStandFood1

 

For command line arguments information ...

 

  1. To Access the Menu Board Settings, Right click on the Menu Board screen to display the menu below:

 

  • Online - Select to Connect/Disconnect with/from the SwiftPOS Connect Host.
  • Settings - Select to open the Menu Board Settings screen and configure the settings.

 

 Note : If Advertising is running full screen then "Ctrl + M" will bring up the Menu. S = Setup.

 

  1. Configure the settings as required. Select the Menu Board Schedule and connect to the SwiftPOS Table Tracking database.
  2. To run Multiple Menu Boards. It is possible to run multiple Menu Boards from a single Table tracking Master terminal. This can be achieved by using command line arguments. Alternatively multiple Menu Boards can be run from a single Menu Board Display using Menu Board Switching.
  3. To Exit Menu Board right click the Menu Board screen and select Exit. The following popup will be displayed.

 

Hold down the shift key while selecting the Yes button.

 

Files & Folders

 

SwiftPOS Folders

C:\SwiftPOSMenu

This folder is located on the Table tracking Master SwiftPOS Touch terminal and holds the application file, amongst others.

C:\SwiftPOSMenu\Users\<PC-Name>\Menu Board-1

This folder is located on the Table tracking Master SwiftPOS Touch terminal and holds the settings file.

C:\SwiftPOSMenu\Users\<PC-Name>\Menu Board-1\Folders\Inbox

This folder is located on the Table tracking Master SwiftPOS Touch terminal and files are extracted from this folder.

Settings and Configuration Files

Settings.xml

Menu Board settings for each Menu Board installed. See folders above for location.

Settings_SW1.xml

Menu Board switching settings. Each time the switching command line argument (/S) is used, a file like this will be created. The switching number specified will identify the file created. For more information ...

Application File

SwiftPOS.MenuBoard.exe

SwiftPOS Touch Application. See folders above for location.

Database File

TableTracking.sdf

SwiftPOS Table Tracking Database.

 

Command Line Arguments

 

The following outlines each command line argument available, that can be used in conjunction with the Menu Board application file.

 

Argument

Description

Example

/D:{Display #}

Used to specify the monitor (#) number on which the Menu Board will be displayed.

When you are setting multiple screens up, you must start one Menu Board at a time and make sure that it has a unique Terminal ID BEFORE you try and launch multiple Menu Boards on a single computer. If you don't do this, you will get errors if more than one Menu Board has an identical Terminal ID.

C:\SwiftPOSMenu\SwiftPOS.MenuBoard.exe /D:1

/F:{FolderPathName}

Used to specify a custom folder path/name which will then be created and used, as opposed to the default folder.

C:\SwiftPOSMenu\SwiftPOS.MenuBoard.exe /F: C:\SwiftPOSMenu\Users\{ComputerName}\SouthStandFood1

/H

This will hide the display of the Menu Boards and is required if you are using the HTML browser mode.

HTML Auto Refresh must be on to use the HTML file in a browser. This will add a tag to the HTML file that will force it to automatically refresh and look for a new file if there have been updates or schedule changes. The default is 30 seconds. If you have a Video (MP4) running in the browser, the video will restart every time the HTML refreshes. A solution is to set the refresh to the same as the video length or set it much longer so the video will play in it's entirety several times before cutting and restarting.

To set the Menuboard to hide so it doesn't show on the display, add this to the command line /H
You still need to set a display number. If you are using the /H command, it doesn't matter of the display number doesn't exist.
All menu boards must have a unique display number, the display number is where the settings are stored.

"C:\SwiftPOSMenu\SwiftPOS.MenuBoard.exe" /D:1 /H
"C:\SwiftPOSMenu\SwiftPOS.MenuBoard.exe" /D:2 /H
"C:\SwiftPOSMenu\SwiftPOS.MenuBoard.exe" /D:3 /H
"C:\SwiftPOSMenu\SwiftPOS.MenuBoard.exe" /D:4 /H

C:\SwiftPOSMenu\SwiftPOS.MenuBoard.exe /D:1 /H

/S:(Switching #}:x{x = Time in seconds}

Used to specify switching parameters to enable Menu Board Switching. For more information ... Specify the switching (#) number and the time (x) in seconds the Menu Board will be displayed.

C:\SwiftPOSMenu\SwiftPOS.MenuBoard.exe /D:1  /S:1:30

 

Menu Board Switching

 

It is possible to switch between multiple Menu Boards on a single Menu Board Display. Once configured and active, switching can be paused/resumed using the Menu Board Monitor.

 

This section outlines the setup and operation required to switch between 2 Menu Boards using one display.

 

Pre-Requisites

 

  1. Each Menu Board will require a separate licence. This can be obtained via the Registration screen.
  2. Menu Board switching is not supported in HTML mode.

 

Setup

 

  1. Ensure two terminals of the type Menu Board are created via Terminal Records.
  2. Ensure the Menu Board terminals created above are listed as part of the SwiftPOS Touch terminals list. This will ensure connection to the SwiftPOS Back Office.
  3. Ensure two Menu Boards are created using Menu Board Designer.
  4. Create two Menu Board Schedules, ensuring their display times overlap.
  5. Create two desktop icons (shortcuts) using the C:\SwiftPOSMenu\SwiftPOS.MenuBoard.exe application.
  6. Double click one of the desktop icons created above to start the Menu Board.
  7. Right click the blank Menu Board screen and select settings to open the Menu Board Settings screen.

 

Alternatively, this menu can be accessed by expanding the System Tray and right clicking on the Menu Board icon.


  1. Configure the settings to establish a connection to the SwiftPOS Back Office, the Table Tracking database and one of the Menu Board Schedules created in Step 4 above. Once configured, select the Tools button and Request a Full Update.
  2. Restart the Menu Board application. The selected Menu Board should now be displayed.
  3. Exit the Menu Board and repeat steps 6 to 8 above and ensure the other Terminal ID and Menu Board Schedule is selected in the Menu Board Settings screen.
  4. To ensure switching between Menu Boards, do as follows:

 

  1. Ensure the Target (command line) for both Menu Board desktop icons includes the /D and /S arguments. For example:

    1. C:\SwiftPOSMenu\SwiftPOS.MenuBoard.exe /D:1 /S:1:10
    2. C:\SwiftPOSMenu\SwiftPOS.MenuBoard.exe /D:1 /S:2:10

  2. Double click both desktop icons. The Menu boards should now be displayed and switch between each other every 10 seconds.
  3. Alternatively the Menu Boards can be automatically started each time Windows is started, by creating a .CMD or .BAT file and saving it in the Windows Startup folder. Refer to the example below:
    The Ping command is being used as a delay after MS Windows loads. For more information google Ping command line options.

 

File Name

File Content

AllMenuBoards.cmd

Rem The -n 60 argument below will cause 60 seconds to lapse before starting the Menu Boards.
ping -n 60 localhost>null
Start "5" C:\SwiftPOSMenu\SwiftPOS.MenuBoard.exe /D:1 /S:1:10
ping -n 60 localhost>null
Start "6" C:\SwiftPOSMenu\SwiftPOS.MenuBoard.exe /D:1 /S:2:10

 

Note : The reference to "5" and "6" in the example above refers to the Menu Board Terminal IDs of the terminals created in step 1 above. 

The reason for the delay in loading the second Menu Board is because you cannot launch the second EXE file immediately after launching the first EXE.


  1. To pause/resume the switching of Menu Boards, expand the System Tray and right click the Menu Board Monitor icon. For Menu Board Monitor information ...


  1. The following provides an example of 4 Menu Boards running on 2 displays each with 30 second display time.

C:\SwiftPOSMenu\SwiftPOS.MenuBoard.exe /D:1 /S:1:30

C:\SwiftPOSMenu\SwiftPOS.MenuBoard.exe /D:1 /S:2:30

C:\SwiftPOSMenu\SwiftPOS.MenuBoard.exe /D:2 /S:1:30

C:\SwiftPOSMenu\SwiftPOS.MenuBoard.exe /D:2 /S:2:30


Menu Board Monitor

 

Menu Board Monitor is the application that will control the Menu Board switching. Once the Menu Boards and command line parameters are configured correctly, starting the Menu Board will automatically launch the Menu Board Monitor application, which will appear in the system tray. Double clicking the Menu Board Monitor icon in the system tray will open the screen below and allow the pausing/resuming of the Menu Board switching.

 

 

If you exit the Menu Board Monitor while Menu Boards are running with the command line switches, the Menu Board Monitor will restart itself. To exit the Menu Board Monitor, first exit any Menu Boards running the command line parameters, and then exit Menu Board Monitor and it will not restart.

 

Linking Menu Boards to a Web Page

 

Each time a Menu Board is refreshed, a backup JPG file is created in the following folder:

 

C:\Users\{UserName}\AppData\Local\Temp\{MenuBoardNumber}.JPG

 

The Menu Board using this JPG file can then be uploaded to a WEB page for publication. This will mean however that whenever the Menu changes the JPG file will need to be uploaded to the WEB page each time.  This will need to be uploaded to the web page each time the menu changes. This would work well for a site that did not want to design and develop a dedicated Web Menu.

 

Related Topics

 

  1. Back Office Installation
  2. Installation
  3. Menu Board Designer (Digital Advertising Screens)
  4. Menu Board Professional - Scheduler (Digital Advertising Screens)
  5. Locations - Menu Board 2nd Price Level
  6. POS - Kitchen Video System (KVS) Installation
  7. POS Touch Installation
  8. Reseller Help - For downloading installer software information.
  9. Reseller Help - For Menu Board information
  10. Table Tracking Database Installation

 

Published 13 Nov 2024