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The ViewTouch graphical interface: Pages
ViewTouch is a USA trademark which refers to several things; in this narrative ViewTouch is a toolkit which makes use of The X Window System's Xlib primitives to build a user interface which is network transparent.
Each 'page' in the ViewTouch graphical interface is an X Window with ViewTouch 'buttons'. There are background and surface textures built right into the code itself, which helps to make the software very fast. In ViewTouch Point of Sale (Pos) there are many pages and they are, naturally, network transparent.
PoS software has a requirement which few, if any, other types of software share; the graphical user interface is incomplete and must be made complete by, or for, each user. PoS is all about pages and the buttons on them. The PoS interface must be intuitive and easy to use; this depends upon how well the layout of the pages and buttons is done. Some PoS companies offer the service of completing the interface through their representatives and some companies offer authoring tools which allow users to perform this task. ViewTouch offers both this service and integral authoring tools which users can use to maintain their graphical user interface.
The successful completion of the ViewTouch point of sale GUI in a particular hospitality setting requires that users use the integral editing tools to create pages and populate these pages with buttons to portray the table layout and to list the items in the food and beverage menu of one's hospitality setting. The portrayal of the table layout is found in the table.dat file while the list of items in the food & beverage menu is found in the menu.dat and zone_db.dat files.
The foundation of the ViewTouch graphical user interface (GUI) is an expansive collection of 'System' pages which, in contrast to the pages which list the items in the food & beverage menu and the portrayal of the tables, users should NOT alter. An exception to this is provided for when the language is not English; the F2 key provides a means to translate buttons on these pages into other languages. System pages are contained in a single file, vt_data, located in /usr/viewtouch/bin, where all the binary files are located. Each System page has an ID with a number less than zero. There are no pages with ID zero. vt_data can be downloaded here..
The ViewTouch GUI is completed when users create a collection of 'Table', 'Tab Library', 'Index' and 'Menu Item' pages. These pages are unique for each user; they contain representation(s) of a restaurant's tables and its food & beverage menu. The tools which enable users to create these pages are quite intuitive, versatile and easy to learn to use. Accessing these integral tools requires a logon using the default 'Developer' ID, 42, and use of the F1 key to both enter and leave (i.e., turn on and off) 'Edit' mode. Leaving Edit Mode automatically saves the pages and buttons one has created. Leaving Edit Mode with the F11 key will discard one's work since last entering Edit Mode in those cases where mistakes have been made and the Developer wishes to revert to a previous saved state. It's wise to save one's work frequently and this is done by simply pressing F1 twice, to save the work, then immediately again enter Edit Mode. All of the table, Index, and Menu pages require an ID which is a number greater than zero.
ViewTouch documentation is largely internal. A System page is provided which explains the integral editing tools ViewTouch offers. I typically provide the first iteration of a restaurant's table layout and menu, then provide an hour or so of personal tutoring on the use of these tools and upon completion of such a session or two a user has learned how to build and refine further pages and buttons for their own needs.
ViewTouch pages can be 'pulled' and viewed across any local network or wide area (i.e., Internet) connection with the ssh command and the X forwarding argument:
ssh -X ipaddress /usr/viewtouch/openterm
I myself use this command to bring displays from all of the ViewTouch users whom I support right to my own desktop. I also use the ssh command to redirect the output to the official Internet Printing Protocol port 631 to my browser to monitor and administer the Point of Sale printers which are handled by the CUPS printer management software. The command for this is
ssh -L 6310:localhost:631 ipaddress
The browser URL must be then set to localhost:6310