Upgrading to Centralized Comments for Activities and Restaurants

Centralized comments replace the comments in activity reservations, special requests, and attribute assignments in dining.

To upgrade to centralized comments

Step 1 - Configuration package

Step 2 - POS setup

Step 3 - Comment priorities

Step 4 - Attributes from Attribute Groups

Step 5 - Dining Area Section attributes

Step 6 - Comments - Attribute POS Trans. Entries

Step 7 - Comments - Activity reservations

Step 8 - Comments - Activities

Step 9- Comments - Activity groups

Step 10- Comments - Activity group members

Step 11- Comments - Activity group line

Step 12- Comments - Activity member comments

Step 13 - Comments - Arch Activity reservations

Step 14- Comments - Arch Activities

If you have been using the Bookings (formerly Activity)  module, the Comment Setup upgrade process converts the contents of the Comment field in five activity tables into entries in the new LSC Comment table.

If you have been registering dining preferences, such as dining table attributes, allergies, and special requests (they are registered as attribute POS transaction entries), the Comment Setup upgrade process converts the attribute entries into entries in the new LSC Comment table. For this to be possible, you may need to create new attributes so that the program can complete the conversion properly.

For more information on the changes, see Upgrading Issues and Breaking Changes for Comments.

To upgrade to centralized comments

  1. Click the icon, enter Comment Setup, and select the relevant link.

The Comment Setup page includes a step-by-step list of upgrade steps; what needs to be done when upgrading from a previous version to LS Central version 21.4 or higher.

Upgrade information

The program inserts the Comment Setup along with the upgrade information steps when:

  • you upgrade from a version older that 21.4 to a version 21.4 or higher.

When inserting, the program examines the Comments relevant data in your database and stores the status of it in the Comment Setup Upgrade Information list as upgrade steps.

For each step:

  • The Upgrade Action field tells you whether the step is needed, not needed, or completed.
  • The No. of Records field shows how many records are in the database table connected with the step at insertion time.
  • The Manual Step field tells you whether the step requires manual action.
  • The Run as Job field can be selected, if you want to run the non-manual upgrades in a job queue. This can be useful if the size of the database tables involved is big.

Note: The steps have three font styles: 

  • Black - no action is needed.
  • Red - a previous step needs to be completed first.
  • Green - an action is required and can be completed.

Step 1 - Configuration package

This step is needed if the #COMM-COMMENTS panel does not exist in your system. The Configuration package includes new panels, data grids, POS fonts, and commands that are necessary for centralized comments.

  1. Download the Comment Configuration package, available on the LS Retail Portal under LS Central Demo Material (requires login).
  2. Click the icon, enter Configuration Packages, and select the relevant link.
  3. Click the Import action.
  4. Select the Comment Configuration package.
  5. In the Config. Package Card, click the Apply Package action.
  6. Return to the Comment Setup page. If it was open already, press F5 to reload the page. Step 1 is now completed and appears with black font.

Step 2 - POS setup

This step is needed if:

  • Font Style Mapping is missing.
  • the obsoleted commands starting with ATTR_SHOW are used in menus.
  • the obsoleted #RESPREFERENCES web template is used in panels.
  • the obsoleted fields 40 (Special Requests) and 280 (No. of Attribute Entries) in the Dining Reservation Entry table are used in POS data tables.

This step only requires you to enter a description that replaces "Preferences".

  1. Drill down in the Upgrade Action field (Upgrade).
    • The program inserts the Font Style Mapping and assigns the appropriate POS fonts to each option.
    • The program replaces the obsoleted commands with the COMM_SHOW or COMM_SHOWSALES commands with the #COMM-COMMENTS or #COMM-SALESPOSPAN panels. It also replaces the tags starting with <#MU_Attrib- with the <#MU_NoOfComments> tag.
    • The program replaces the #RESPREFERENCES web template in #POS panels with the data grid control #COMM-TOTALSALES and in other panels with the data grid control #COMM-TOTALCOMM.
    • The program replaces the Dining Reservation Entry fields in POS data tables with a column with Source Expression COMM-COUNT (returns No. of Comments / No. of Related Comments for a dining reservation entry).
  2. In the page that appears, enter the text you want to use to open the Comments panel. In the demo data, the text "Preferences" has been replaced with "Comments".
  3. Close the page, and click F5 to reload the page. Step 2 is now completed and appears with black font.

Step 3 - Comment priorities

This step is needed if no comment priority exists. You need at least one comment priority.

  1. Drill down in the Upgrade Action field (Insert). The Comment Priorities page appears.
  2. Insert at least one comment priority with the desired style option.
  3. Mark the one that is a default priority.
  4. Close the page, and click F5 to reload the page. Step 3 is now completed and appears with black font.

Step 4 - Attributes from Attribute Groups

This step is needed if attribute POS transaction entries exist including an attribute in an attribute group (allergens group). See Allergens Attributes Groups as Comments for more information.

  1. Drill down in the Upgrade Action field (Insert). The Attribute Groups page appears listing the attribute groups included in attribute POS transaction entries.
  2. Click the Create Attribute From action. The Attribute Card page appears showing the new attribute.
  3. Adjust the option value text as needed. Note: Do not delete any options.
  4. Click the Create Comment Category From action.
  5. Close the Comment Category and Attribute Card pages. The program assigns the new attribute to the Linked Attribute field for the attribute group.
  6. Repeat for each group in the Attribute Groups list.
  7. Close the page, and click F5 to reload the page. Step 4 is now completed and appears with black font.

Step 5 - Dining Area Section attributes

This step is needed if, for any dining area, the obsoleted field Din. Area Section Attr. Code is filled. In that case, you must create a new attribute with the sections of the dining area as options. See Dining Area Section Preference as Comments for more information.

  1. Drill down in the Upgrade Action field (Insert). The Dining Areas page appears listing the dining areas that have the Din. Area Section Attr. Code field filled.
  2. Click the Create Section Attribute From action. The Attribute Card page appears showing the new attribute.
    Note: Do not change the option values. They must be the same as the sections of the dining area.
  3. Click the Create Comment Category From action.
  4. Close the Comment Category and Attribute Card pages. The program has assigned the new attribute to the new Din. Area Section Attr Code field.
  5. Repeat for each dining area in the list.
  6. Close the page, and click F5 to reload the page. Step 5 is now completed and appears with black font.

Step 6 - Comments - Attribute POS Trans. Entries

This step is needed if attribute POS transaction entries exist.

Note: For each attribute in the attribute entries, the program looks for a comment category that the attribute is linked to. If it does not find one, it creates a comment category with the same Code as the attribute's Code. You can also create comment categories before running this step and link attributes to them, if you want to have the Code different for the comment categories.

  1. Drill down in the Upgrade Action field (Upgrade). The program displays a progress dialog window showing you the total number of records and the completed number of records.
  2. Once the process stops, step 6 is completed and appears with black font. The program has now converted the Attribute POS transaction entries into Comment entries.

Step 7 - Comments - Activity reservations

This step is needed if activity reservations exist (table LSC Reservation).

  1. Drill down in the Upgrade Action field (Upgrade). The program displays a progress dialog window showing you the total number of records and the completed number of records.
  2. Once the process stops, step 7 is completed and appears with black font. The program has now converted the contents of the Comment field into Comment entries. It has also filled in the Initial Record ID Text field. This field is needed for Comments page linking.

Step 8 - Comments - Activities

This step is needed if activities exist (table Activity Reservation).

  1. Drill down in the Upgrade Action field (Upgrade). The program displays a progress dialog window showing you the total number of records and the completed number of records.
  2. Once the process stops, step 8 is completed and appears with black font. The program has now converted the contents of the Comment field into Comment entries. It has also filled in the Initial Record ID Text field. This field is needed for Comments page linking.

Step 9- Comments - Activity groups

This step is needed if activity groups exist.

  1. Drill down in the Upgrade Action field (Upgrade). The program displays a progress dialog window showing you the total number of records and the completed number of records.
  2. Once the process stops, step 9 is completed and appears with black font. The program has now converted the contents of the Comment field into Comment entries.

Step 10- Comments - Activity group members

This step is needed if activity group members exist.

  1. Drill down in the Upgrade Action field (Upgrade). The program displays a progress dialog window showing you the total number of records and the completed number of records.
  2. Once the process stops, step 10 is completed and appears with black font. The program has now converted the contents of the Comment field into Comment entries.

Step 11- Comments - Activity group line

This step is needed if activity group lines exist.

  1. Drill down in the Upgrade Action field (Upgrade). The program displays a progress dialog window showing you the total number of records and the completed number of records.
  2. Once the process stops, step 11 is completed and appears with black font. The program has now converted the contents of the Comment field into Comment entries.

Step 12- Comments - Activity member comments

This step is needed if activity member comments exist for activity reservations, activities, and activity groups.

Note: If you have created activity comment categories and used them to enter comments in this table, the program creates a comment category with the same Code as the activity comment category's Code.

  1. Drill down in the Upgrade Action field (Upgrade). The program displays a progress dialog window showing you the total number of records and the completed number of records.
  2. Once the process stops, step 12 is completed and appears with black font. The program has now converted the entries into Comment entries.

Step 13 - Comments - Arch Activity reservations

This step is needed if archived activity reservations exist (table Arch LS Reservation).

  1. Drill down in the Upgrade Action field (Upgrade). The program displays a progress dialog window showing you the total number of records and the completed number of records.
  2. Once the process stops, step 13 is completed and appears with black font. The program has filled in the Initial Record ID Text field. This field is needed for Comments page linking.

Step 14- Comments - Arch Activities

This step is needed if archived activities exist (table Arch Activity Reservation).

  1. Drill down in the Upgrade Action field (Upgrade). The program displays a progress dialog window showing you the total number of records and the completed number of records.
  2. Once the process stops, step 14 is completed and appears with black font. The program has filled in the Initial Record ID Text field. This field is needed for Comments page linking.