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Building your Custom Menu

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Gene Mosher edited this page Sep 2, 2020 · 3 revisions

Building Custom Pages and Buttons

When one has the binary running the first page one sees is 'Page One', a logon page. Page One is but one of many non-editable 'System Pages' common to all users. The essential task unique each hospitality location faces is the task of building one's unique, customized restaurant/hospitality pages. One must logon with the numerical ID of the user - Developer/Editor. This ID is typically either 42 or 123456789. It can, of course, be changed to any numerical ID. Upon logon, the next page is the 'Table Page'. The table page forks either to the 'GateWay', the back end of ViewTouch, or to one's custom menu pages. To enter 'Edit Mode', the Developer/Editor user presses the F1 key. To exit 'Edit Mode' and save changes, press F1 again. To exit 'Edit Mode' and revert to the previously saved changes (i.e., to erase a mistake and all work done to the last save point), press the F11 key. Frequently saving one's work with two presses of F1 ensures that one will not lose much of one's work if/when a mistake is made !!

Every menu must have a Table Page, an Index Page, a Menu Page and a Modifier/Scripted Page. Typically there are several Menu and Scripted Pages. Scripted Pages can properly be thought of as Modifier Pages.

Every page must have Buttons. Typically these are Menu Item Buttons - placed on Menu Item Pages and on Scripted Pages. There are also Qualifier Buttons, explained in detail below.

A Menu Item Button can be one of six

  • Item Types:
  1. A Normal Item Type might be: Hamburger, Macaroni & Cheese, Spaghetti, Pepsi, Cheesecake
  2. A Modifier Item Type might be: Italian Dressing, Mustard, Cheddar, Well Done.
  3. A Non-Tracking Modifier might be: Salt, Pepper, Water, Napkin.
  4. A Substitute Item Type might be any food or drink which can be served either as a Normal or as a Modifier Item Type: English Muffin, Polish Sausage or, typically in a bar, Premium/Top Shelf liquor which makes possible a surcharge when Premium/Top Shelf liquor is used in a cocktail instead of the inexpensive, default liquor in 'The Well'.
  5. A By the Pound Item Type might be any food or drink which is sold and priced by its weight.
  6. A Admission Item Type might be anything of a limited nature which is sold at a fixed price: a seat in a theater or a pool table.

Henceforth, Normal Item Type Buttons are referred to as 'Menu Items', Modifier Item Type Buttons are referred to as 'Modifiers'. One may properly think of Menu Items as Nouns and of Modifiers as Adjectives. Qualifier Buttons are referred to as 'Qualifiers' and can be thought of as Adverbs.

Qualifiers can be placed on both Menu Item Pages and on Scripted Pages. There are 21 Qualifiers: No, On Side, Lite, Only, Extra, Double, Dry, Plain, Toast, Untoast, Crisp, Soft, Hard, Grill, < Left, Right >, Whole, Cut/2, Cut/3, Cut/4.

Qualifiers can be attached to both Menu Items and Modifiers to give them a more specific meaning. A few such examples of Qualifiers making Menu Items more specific might be: Double Scotch, Soft Poached Egg, Crisp Bacon, Plain Hamburger, Cut/2 Breakfast Special. Examples of Qualifiers making Modifiers more specific are so common as to be routine: Extra Onion, No Onion, Lite Pickles, Pickles On Side, Double Cheese, Sub Grey Goose (vodka),< Pepperoni, > Mushrooms.

Two Qualifiers have uniquely integral features. 1) Double can affect the price of a menu item when attached to it. 2) Sub allows a premium liquor to be substituted for a liquor from 'The Well' and attaches a surcharge to the price of a cocktail. Sub can allow a jump to another page where premium liquors might be found. Sub can also be joined to any other Qualifier !! Extra Pickles On The Side, Soft Poached Egg On The Side,

Allow me to make a VERY important point. ViewTouch has procedural (flow) control built into both pages and buttons. The flow control built into pages is hardcoded with one exception I will mention later. The flow control which users can build into buttons can enhance the hardcoded flow control which is integral to pages by bypassing it. Before getting into how this all works I want to stress the fact that Menu Items belong on Menu Pages and Modifier Buttons belong on Scripted Pages. The one exception to this is that Modifiers can be placed on Menu Pages if Modifier Buttons are not assigned any flow control. Such buttons have their 'Jump Option' set to 'No Jump'.

The key to a great custom menu is the layout of the buttons on the pages and the effective use of flow control (Jump Options) assigned to Modifiers. If the ViewTouch Program is not stable then one can be certain that the custom menu has buttons which violate the rules of building a custom menu. This is the inevitable effect of the vast amount of freedom ViewTouch allows in the building of one's custom menu with item and modifier buttons. Other POS systems don't suffer the risk of instability because they simply don't allow users nearly as much freedom for a versatile layout as ViewTouch does. Anyone building a menu should know that my help is always available. My email is gene@viewtouch.com. My phone is 541-515-5913.

I will greatly expand on this in the next weeks.

August 18, 2020

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