The Kitchen Service Configuration defines the connection configuration for the KDS. What database it connects to and various other essential parameters.
When opened for the first time, this function sets default values in the fields. The current server, running the NAV service tier, and a NAV database are set as starting values.The default values should cover most of the scenarios.
To set/modify the Kitchen Service configuration
Go to LS Hospitality – Kitchen Display System – Administration – Kitchen Service Configuration.
The General section:
| Time Style Settings | An option field to calculate when the time style is supposed to appear on the chits. If you select Percentage of Cook Time, the time style is calculated by percentage of the item cook time. If you select Time Overdue, you decide a fixed time (seconds) that starts ticking after the normal cook time of the chit or line. You specify the percentage and seconds in the Time Style Profile. |
| Default Cook Time | If Time Style Settings is Percentage of Cook Time and items have no cooking time, the KDS will calculate the time style with this default cook time. |
The Connections section:
| Kitchen Service host | The host where the Kitchen Service runs. If it is running on the same server as the NAV service, it is not necessary to change this value. If the Kitchen Srvice runs on a different server, you must change this value to the name of that host. Note: The host name must be known to the NAV server. It is not enough to set only the IP address. |
| Kitchen Service port | The TCP/IP port which the Kitchen Service listens on for incoming messages or events. By default the Kitchen Service listens on port 17750 and it should not be necessary to change that. If you do change, however, you must edit the configuration file C:\ProgramData\LS Retail\Kitchen\KitchenServiceConfig.config as well, and restart the Kitchen Service. This file resides on the server where the Kitchen Service is running. |
| Display station listen port | The starting port in the TCP/IP port range, which the Display stations listen on for incoming messages from the Kitchen Service. Each connected station is allocated a specific port number, counting up by 1 from the base number. The default value is 17800. |
| POS listening port | The starting port in the TCP/IP port range, which the NAS listens on for incoming messages from the Kitchen Service. The default value is 17900. It is important that the NAS listens on a different port than the Display stations are listening on. |
The Database section:
| DB Connection Type (protocol) | The network protocol used to connect to the SQL server. The default is Shared Memory. It can be used if the Kitchen Service runs on the same server as the SQL server, which NAS uses, is running. Otherwise, use the TCP/IP protocol. |
| Database hostname | The host where the SQL server runs. |
| Database name | The name of the NAV database containing the KDS configuration. |
| Use Windows authentication | Set this to Yes, if the Kitchen Service logon user has access to the NAV database. Otherwise, set the SQL database user in the following fields. |
| Database user | The user name of the database user defined in the SQL server. |
| Database password | The password for the database user. |
The Settings section:
Debug level : Here you can choose how much information is logged in the log files, located in the C:\ProgramData\LS Retail\Kitchen\Log\ folder.
- None : Nothing is written.
- Error : Only error messages are logged.
- Main : Minimum information and error messages are logged.
- Detail : Detailed information and error messages are logged.
- Verbose: Extra detailed information and error messages logged. This is especially good for troubleshooting.
When this setting is set, the KOTs xml files are saved in the C:\ProgramData\LS Retail\Kitchen\Debug\ folder.
It can come in handy to analyze the data which the KDS receives from the NAS.
For normal operation the Error or Main setting should be sufficient.
Days to keep debug files in folder: The number of days until the log files are deleted from the C:\ProgramData\LS Retail\Kitchen\Log\ folder.
Hours to keep order files in the folder: The number of hours to keep the order alive in the KDS. The orders/KOTs are stored in xml files in the C:\ProgramData\LS Retail\Kitchen\Work\ folder, as well as in memory. If, by any chance, the order is still "alive" in the system after the X number of hours, it is removed forcefully, as it is not sensible to keep it in the system for hours.
Log KDS data (no. of days): The KDS stores data about the KOT activity in an SQL log table. To minimize space taken up by that table, all data older than X days is deleted once every day.
No. of debug files (rotating): When a log files reaches the maximum size, it is closed and a new one is started. To limit the number of log files, the number of log files to create is set here.
Debug file size in Bytes: The maximum size of the log files. When maximum is reached, a new file is started. The default size is 5 MB.
Last status from Kitchen Service: The status message you receive from the KDS/KClient, when you use the actions on the Action menu to send commands to the client.
To send this configuration to the Kitchen Service, click Send to KDS on the Actions menu. The resulting message should be set in the Last status from Kitchenservice field.
Sending commands to the Kitchen Service
There are four command actions for communicating with the Kitchen Service:
| Send to KDS | Sends the current configuration to the Kitchen Service. It will update the configuration file C:\ProgramData\LS Retail\Kitchen\KitchenServiceConfig.config. |
| Restart KDS service | Sends a command to make the Kitchen Service restart itself. This is necessary after a new configuration has been sent. |
| Refresh KDS service | Sends a command to make the Kitchen Service re-read all setup from the database. This is good, for example, when working with the style profiles. |
| Restart all KDS Displays | Makes the Kitchen Service send a restart message to all connected display stations. In some cases, for example when changing the Order Pane style, you must restart the display stations in order to activate the changes. |