Media and Browser Controls

Media Controls are used to display images (“jpg”, “jpeg”, “gif”, “png”, *(“bmp”, “tif”, “tiff”) and videos ("wmv", "mp4", "mpg", "ogv", "mkv", "m4v", "avi") on a POS Panel.  Some of the Media Controls are fixed data; that is the control ID has to exist for the POS function which uses it.

Other Media controls can be defined by the user and placed on a POS Panel.  The POS Commands PLAY, PLAY_URL and MEDIA display playlists, videos or images on the first Media Control found on the active Panel. The Dual Display opening screen uses a Media Control to display images. The Dual Display Media Control then uses a Playlist to pick up the images.

Media Control Card:

The general idea is that the media control is provided with a URL or a playlist of URLs that point to video or image content:

  • Web URL:http://domain.com/path/to/image.png
  • LS Retail POS image URL: lsmedia://Item: 10000/92
  • File path: file://C:\path\to\image.png

Supported file type extensions are wmv, mp4, mpg, ogv, mkv, m4v, avi, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, bmp, tif, tiff. (Note: The video types depends on that appropriate video codecs are installed on the computer).

The Playlist data is part of the Data setup in Media Playlists. 

Media Control #ITEMPICTURE

With Media Control #ITEMPICTURE the Store’s logo and the Item’s picture can be displayed in the POS.

Some setup is needed for the #ITEMPICTURE to work in the POS.

  • The #POS panel has to include control line with media control #ITEMPICTURE.

  • The Store has to have a  Store Logo set up.

  • For the Items pictures to be displayed then the Terminal has to be setup with the field Show Item Picture selected. When the item is used the Item‘s image replaces the Store‘s Logo. When other processes are used as Total the Store Logo replaces the Item Picture.

  • The Retail Items should have a picture set up either in Picture or Images.

  • How #ITEMPICTURE looks for the picture to display in the POS with the item:
  • First it looks for the Image for the retail item and uses the first image in the list
  • If no Image is found the system will use the Retail Item‘s Picture
  • If no Picture is found the system uses the Store‘s logo

Example: Item Picture displayed in the POS.

Media Control #TIMEREGSTAFFPIC

Media Control #TIMEREGSTAFFPIC is set up in the panel #TIMEREGROSTER which can be run standalone by the Time Registration program in the Staff Management system.

Media Control Troubleshooting

The Media Control and images on buttons use the built-in NAV Web Services and therefore need to be set up in the correct way to function.

While troubleshooting, it is recommended to try the images out on the media control before adding them to the buttons, as the media control will provide error messages when something is not operating correctly.

Issues

Some images showing but not all?

The media control uses a cache mechanism that can sometimes lead to confusing results while identifying the problem, and therefore it can be good to clear the cache before trying new approaches.

  • Right click on any media control and select Clear Cache

  • Now any image that was stored in the cache will be fetched again from its source.

Is the Web Service Running?

It is necessary to have the SOAP Services (Web Services) running in order to receive images stored in the database (these images have lsmedia:// in the beginning of their URL).

Open the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Administration Panel for current version and make sure the "Enable SOAP Services" is checked. Make note of the Database Server and SOAP Port.

Are the RetailWebServices enabled?

Images stored in the database are accessed through a web service provided with LS Nav called RetailWebServices. Make sure the highlighted line in the screenshot bellow is present and enabled.

Can the POS connect to the Web Service?

To test the connection, right click on any media control and select Test in Browser:

Up to three tabs or browser windows can open, check each and see if any display a XML file similar to the screen shot below.

If none of the tabs show a XML document the POS is unable to connect to the web service. In such cases one must either go through the all the steps listed above or figure out the correct web service URL. The web service URL is constructed as follows

  • http://SERVICE_TIER_HOSTNAME:PORTNUMBER/SERVICENAME/WS/COMPANYNAME/Codeunit/RetailWebServices

The words in capital needs to be replaced with correct values which can be gathered in the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Administration tool, for the selected service tier.

The correct web service URL must be set for the distribution location for the terminal. Right click on any media control and select distribution location to configure the distribution location for current terminal:

The screenshot below shows the Distribution Location card, one must put the correct URL in Web Service URI field.

Service Tier not on the same Network or Not Using Windows Authentication?

In case the service tier is not on the same network as the Windows client one must override the generated URL that can be accomplished in the Distribution Location page for each terminal. Be sure to enter a valid URL by testing it in a browser on the POS computer.

In case NAV is configured to use other authentication methods than current Windows Login, you can also specify user and password.

Activate Debug Log

If none of the steps above resolve the issue, open the Retail Users page (LS Retail > Point Of Sale > POS) for the current user, select Debug under POS LogLevel and set a path for the log file (POS LogFile). Reproduce the problem and send the log file to LS Retail support.

Browser Controls

Browser Controls are controls which make it is possible to view data directly from the Internet.

Browser Control Card:

Browser Control #POSHTML – HTML Information for Items

On the Retail Item Card, it is now possible to define extended item information as Item HTML, containing formatted HTML text and pictures.  The information is stored as a blob in the database and the pictures can be stored internally in the blob or externally with a reference.  The extended item information can be displayed externally (example Web Stores) or at the POS.

To display Item HTML information for items in the POS the following must be defined:

  • Retail Items have to have HTML information.

  • Create POS Panel #POSHTML. The following is an example of panel #POSHTML:

  • Browser Control #POSHTML is to display the retail item‘s HTML information
  • Media Control is here to display the retail item‘s image, optional to have
  • Button Pad Control is here be able to close the window in the POS

  • On the POS Terminal Card, the Show Item Html check box must be selected.

  • The Journal Grid, #JOURNALGRID, has to have the fields Notify Data Row Double Click and Notify Data Row Selected checked.

  • In the POS, sell some items, when required select (double click) the Item line and the panel #POSHTML will open.

Note: If the selected retail item does not have any information in Item HTML then the panel will not open, nothing happens in the POS.

Media and Browser Control (Web Service) Authentication

An additional step is required if the service tier is being accessed with NavUserPassword authentication. A user name and password must be set under Distribution Location page for each terminal that has item pictures or item html enabled.