How to: Set the Kitchen Service Configuration

The Kitchen Service Configuration defines the connection configuration for the KDS, for example which web service 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 Business Central service tier, and a Business Central KDS Web Service 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 Business Central 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.
SOAP URL This is the URL to the KDS Web Service. Copy-paste the value in this field into the URL field in the LS KDS Utility.
Interval to poll Web service from KDS This value is used by the Kitchen Service to set how frequently it checks if there are new KOTs which need to be sent to the Display Stations. This value must be greater than zero.  Recommended values are 2 - 5 seconds.


The Settings section:

Debug level

Here you can choose how much information is logged in the log files that are located in the C:\ProgramData\LS Retail\Kitchen\Log\ folder. The possible values are:

  • 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 are logged. This is especially good for troubleshooting.
    When you specify this setting, the KOTs xml files are saved in the C:\ProgramData\LS Retail\Kitchen\Debug\ folder.
    Note: 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 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.
Debug Logging Set this to Yes, if you want the Web Service to log its activities. You can see the results in the KDS WS Log list in the Kitchen Display System menu. For the time being only the activity for theExpeditor Bump Printing is logged.
Log KDS Order Status Updates Set this to Yes, if you want the Web Service to log the KOT statuses coming from the Kitchen Service. For example, when a bump occurs. You can see the result in the Kitchen Order Status Log list in the Kitchen Display System menu.

Command action buttons

There are two command actions on this page:

Reset KDS Configuration If, for any reason, the data on the page is either corrupt or incorrect, the page can be reset to default values. This command will also recalculate the SOAP URL.
Reset KDS Related Tables and Info Cleans up all KDS related data in the system. All transactions must be posted/voided before this can be done. See Starting over in LS Hospitality – Resetting KDS Tables and Information for detailed information.