Requirements

In order to operate the VPEN requires the following hardware/software:

  1. CPU (386-25mhz or better)
  2. VGA Card/Monitor (Color recomended)
  3. Ethernet Adapter Card
  4. DOS
  5. Network Operating System
  6. Numeric Keypad
  7. VPEN.EXE

The following Boot-up strategy is proposed:

Place a copy of VPEN.EXE on the hard-drive of the server. Boot each VPEN with a floppy disk that loads LANTASTIC, and logs to the server, sharing it’s hard-drive. Set the path to include the directory where VPEN.EXE resides. Change to a directory on the server’s hard-drive that is unique to other VPEN’s on the network. The reason for this is that when you save your settings, the file VPEN.CFG is created in the current directory. This is the file that VPEN will use to remember how to behave. If you wish for other VPEN’s on the LAN to act differently, then they should have their own VPEN.CFG files.

Finally in your bootup AUTOEXEC.BAT, launch VPEN with the required command line parameter. This setting will tell VPEN where to find the file that is to be monitored for input.

When styling in EditNet for a VPEN, you will want to define a printer that is to be associated with each particular VPEN. In Printer Definitions, each printer can be setup to be Local, Global, or a File. For VPEN, you will want the printer to be setup as a FILE. Whenever you send a template to this printer, the template will really be appended to the end of this file, which will be found in the DATA subdirectory with the same name as the printer, and the .PRN extension. This is the file that VPEN will monitor.

For example; If you define a printer in EditNet named ‘Kitchen’ and set it to be a File. If this is the printer to be associated with a kitchen VPEN, then the command line in your AUTOEXEC.BAT to launch this VPEN would look like this: ‘VPEN /InFile=C:TouchNetJoesDataKitchen.PRN’ (If your operational directory is named joes).
Styling for VPEN

To create a print job compatible with VPEN, you must use special VPEN commands when building the print template. Here is a list of these commands and what they do:

    * [VPE END] – Tell VPEN that it may now take the information and place in on the screen.
    * [VPE HEREGO]$$$$$$ – Use to display any variable in the header of an order cell. (was originally designed to only display order type, but now will support any variable specified in $$$$$$)
    * [VPE TICKET]#### – Use to display the check number, #### represents the variable ‘CheckID’.
    * [VPE BOTTOM] – Tell VPEN to display this print job on the bottom half of the screen. This will only work when VPEN is running in split screen mode.
    * [VPE BEEP] – Tell VPEN to beep. By using multiples, many beeps can be sounded in order to alert the kitchen.
    * [VPE REPLACE] – VPEN will replace the check number (as described by the [VPE TICKET]#### command) with the new order. This is useful for Order-Preview or Real-Time capabilities.

The Consolidate Quantity should in most situations turned OFF, as the VPEN will usually cut from view the quantity portion of the template. This is done to allow more room for descriptors. If it is desired that the quantity display on the VPEN, then turn Consolidate Quantity ON. There is a setting in the VPEN configuration that will allow display of the quantity information.
VPEN Configuration

To configure VPEN, it is neccesary to connect a full size keyboard to the CPU. At anytime while the VPEN is running, you can now press F10 to enter the configuration section. Here you are presented with the basic setup options:

  1. Display Mode: This has the following 3 settings.
        1. 4 Cells across-LARGE Letters
        2. 4 Cells across-SMALL Letters
        3. 8 Cells across-SMALL Letters

      For settings ‘a’ and ‘c’ each description will be 9 characters long. For setting ‘b’ there will be room for all 17 characters of a description.
  2. Operation Mode: This has the following 4 settings.
        1. Normal
        2. Split-Top/Bottom
        3. Constant summary
        4. Cell/Summary Split

      While in mode ‘a’ the operation is a standard cursor/mark/bump mode. In mode ‘b’ the screen is split and treated like 2 VPEN’s. Orders can appear on the Top or Bottom. This is controlled by the template sent to the VPEN. If a line of text is found that says ‘[VPE BOTTOM]’ then the order will go to the bottom half. Otherwise it will go to the Top. Bumping in this mode is accomplished with a Bump TOP or Bump Bottom button. There is no cursor movement to deal with in this mode.

      In mode ‘c’ the screen displays a summary, not individual orders. At present, there is no way to bump these items except from another VPEN. A future feature will allow individual selection and bumping of items.

      In mode ‘d’, the top half of the screen shows Cells with orders, and the bottom shows a constant summary of all items in memory.

      Because the keyboard layout is different in all of these modes, a user can find out what key does what, by pressing F1 while on the normal operation (or screen saver) screen. By doing this, a map will show the location of each key.
  3. Display Qty: This option if set to ‘NO’ will chop of the first 3 characters of every item sent. This is normally where the Quantity is kept. Note that even while it chops off these characters, it still counts them for the summary screens. If your template has ‘Consolidate Qty’ turned on, then you will want to set this option to ‘YES’ so the user doesn’t make 1-Hamburger when there are truly 3 to be made.
  4. Summarize Order Type: This option determines whether or not summary screens will display a count of Order Types. If set to ‘YES’ then these will be sorted to the top of the summary list. Changing this setting will only affect orders that are received from that point forward.
  5. Summarize Descriptors: This will determine whether or not the descriptors are counted and displayed on the summary screens. Like the previous option, any changes to this will only affect orders received from that point forward.
  6. Polling Interval: The ‘Infile’ will be checked for new data as often as this setting indicates. A setting of 1 will cause a check to be performed every 1 second.
  7. Alert Time: This setting determins how many minutes must pass before an order starts to flash.
  8. Speed Bump Operation: If set to ‘YES’, the Mark button is not required before bumping an order in any of the Mark/Bump modes.

You will also notice at the bottom of the screen, that there are two other configuration areas. These are accessed by pressing ‘Alt+B’ for Bump Action setups, or ‘Alt+C’ for Color setups.
Bump Action Setup

For situations where bumping an order should affect another VPEN on the LAN, these options are available. By setting these properly, it is possible that bumping order #32 can also make #32 disappear from another (or the same) VPEN in the network. This can be setup to happen when an order is bumped from the Top, Bottom, or both. (Note that Top Cells in split mode is the same as all other cells in a non-split mode).

The two options for each of the three circumstances are set as follows:

  1. The pathname must be specified, as to where to send the Bump message to. This is the same as the ‘/InFile=’ setting used by the VPEN that is to receive the message.
  2. It must be declared as to which set of cells to bump the order from; Top / Bottom / or Both.

From this we can see that there are a lot of possibilities. One must simply evaluate what is intended to be accomplished, and apply the settings.

‘Print To’ Field – By filling in this field with a device name such as LPT1 or COM3, when an order is bumped, it will be printed in a 20 column format to that device.
Color Setups

From here, the user can customize every aspect of the color’s that are used by VPEN for different aspects. For instance the ‘Text Color’ option can change the color of all default text on the screen. Also from this screen, the user can create 5 lists of words. These word lists can be associated with their own unique color. If these words are found anywhere on an order line, that line will be drawn with the color that is associated to the word list. Example: Any of the items in this word list would cause the line to display in red.

        * Subtract
        * Minus
        * –
        * Less
        * Tomato
        * Ketchup

Other Options

Shell capabilities

    If ‘/Shell’ is used on the command-line of VPEN, it will cause VPEN to shell out and run a .BAT file (or any other executable) every time an order is bumped. The name of the file will be the same as the /Infile option. The command line for the shell will be the Check number.

    For example: ‘VPEN /Infile=Kitchen.PRN /SHELL’ Would cause VPEN to shell out and run ‘Kitchen.BAT 23’ if the check was number 23.

MAP files

    To support custom bumpbars, VPEN uses MAP files. A MAP file is a text File containing ASCII Code pairs used to remap the bumpbar functions I.E.: to make “a” do the same as “left” (ASCII 190) put in a line that reads: 97,190 To use a MAP file, create a file named VPEN.MAP in the directory where you are running VPEN.

    Here is a sample MAP file for a bump bar that has eight buttons. The buttons only output the numbers 1 through 8 so we need a MAP file to make the buttons work.

        49,13 ;1=Bump
        50,48 ;2=Mark
        51,56 =Recall
        52,43 ;4=Summary
        53,52 ;5=Left
        54,32 ;6=Nothing
        55,32 ;7=Nothing
        56,54 ;8=Nothing

    The VPEN functions/keys supported are:

        Standard Operating Mode

            Summary: + (ASCII 43)

            Bump: ENTER (ASCII 13)

            Left: LEFT ARROW (ASCII 190)

            Recall: UP ARROW (ASCII 187)

            Right: RIGHT ARROW (ASCII 192)

            Mark: INS KEY (ASCII 197)

        Split Screen Operating Mode

            Summary: – (ASCII 45)

            Top Bump: + (ASCII 43)

            Top Left: HOME KEY (ASCII 186)

            Top Recall: UP ARROW (ASCII 187)

            Top Right: PAGE UP KEY (ASCII 188)

            Bottom Bump: ENTER (ASCII 13)

            Bottom Left: END KEY (ASCII 194)

            Bottom Recall: DOWN ARROW (ASCII 195)

            Bottom Right: PAGE DOWN KEY (ASCII 196)

Revisions

Version 0.00

  1. Initial Beta release. Not all features complete.

Version 0.01

  1. Addition of Custom word list / Color association

Version 0.02

  1. Addition of Bump Action Controls / Features

Version 1.00

  1. No changes. First release.

Version 1.01

  1. Bug Fix: When bumping via message to bump a check number, if the check spanned multiple cells, only the last cell would bump – Fixed!
  2. Added display of version on command-line help

Version 1.02

  1. Bug Fix: When screen saver was active for a time period, the next order received would initialize time duration to the same amount of time instead of 0:00 – Fixed!

Version 1.03

  1. Removed blinking cursor from upper left corner of screen.

Version 1.10

  1. Added ‘/Shell’ command-line option.
  2. Added [VPE BEEP] command option.
  3. Added ‘Print To: ‘ field to the Bump options screen.

Version 1.11

  1. Added [VPE REPLACE] Option

Version 1.12

  1. If /Shell was used, bumping seemed slow. Now, after bumping a cell, the screen will update first.
  2. The VPE REPLACE feature caused the Bump Action items to execute. This was a bug and has been fixed.

Version 1.50

  1. Added Highlights to the Split mode for selective bumping. See F1 for key diagram.
  2. Screen saver now has time/date/average bump time

Version 1.51

  1. When an Infile is larger than 8k, an error 6 or 15 would occur. Now the file is deleted by VPEN!
  2. Fixed a bug that caused the VPEN to stop receiving transmissions after long periods of idleness.

Version 1.52

  1. Will now allow ticket numbers in the 4 digit range!

Version 1.55

  1. The polling function occasionally bombed at 12:00AM – Fixed!

Version 1.56

  1. Fixed file locking problem that could cause system slowdown or various file access errors.

Version 1.60

  1. Added VPen.MAP support. A text File containing ASCII Code pairs, can remap the bumpbar functions IE: to make “a” do the same as “left” (ASCII 190) put in a line that reads: 97,190. See notes above for details.

Version 1.61

  1. The 4 digit ticket addition had a bug. Fixed.

Version 1.70 dh

  1. Added a new display mode called “Full Height Cells” which removes the 2 rows and makes one row of cells that are the full height of the screen.
  2. Added a new option called “Auto Bump when Full” that will bump items to make room for new orders. Useful for a setup without a bump bar.
  3. Added a new option called “Auto bump after [x] Minutes” that will auto bump cells once they’ve been displayed for the specified time. If set to 0, the feature is disabled.

Version 2.00 dh

  1. Added the Graphical Bounce screensaver to display the TMI Logo.
  2. Added touch support for bumping and basic functions.
  3. VPEN is now copy protected and requires a HASP license number 26 to run.

Version 2.01

  1. Some bugs fixed with the touch features and 40 column display mode.

Version 2.02

  1. Reduced the memory overhead requirements by making cell handling more efficient.

Version 2.03

  1. Touching the screen saver now does an automatic recall.

Version 2.04

  1. Fixed a bug that caused the Summary screen to error out when the screen was touched.

Version 2.05

  1. Added the /BakFile= Command line option. When used, VPEN will keep a backup file of the current screen contents in the specified file. If Vpen is shutdown and restarted with this command line, it will restore them from this file.

Version 2.06