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Getting Started with Smart Shopping Services

Overview#

This document provides details to install a QVS Smart Shopping Services (Novos Server) test system and run transactions using, at first, the QVS test client and eventually your client. By using the QVS test client first, you can confirm that the system is installed and working to the point where you can test your client.

  • Novos Server is required to support pricing and transaction related services to client applications such as Mobile Point of Sale, Smart Shopping Carts, web shopping services, etc.
  • The installation requires software components that are installed and configured on both the Windows host and the 4690-store controller. Additionally, 4690 system configuration changes must be made, and ACE application personalization options must be properly configured.

Prerequisites#

  • Windows Windows 10
  • A 4690/TCxSky controller, or VMWare Workstation or Player version 15
  • Recent version of Node.js

Java 8 Runtime#

  • Novos requires a 32-bit Java 8 runtime to be installed.
  • Download and install java-1.8.0-openjdk-1.8.0.232-1.b09.ojdkbuild.windows.x86.msi
  • Note, the installed java.exe needs to be on the system path

Download the Smart Shopping Services system from QVS#

Contact QVS to acquire the following items:

  • Latest version of Terminal Concentrator installation package, or a container with Terminal Concentrator
  • novos-server-?.?.??-AceMB.zip: Latest version of Smart Shopping Server
  • qcdifile.mst: Configuration file for Terminal Concentrator
  • Optional: QVS Test Client (mbclient)

Install QVS 4690 Terminal Concentrator#

  • QVS Terminal Concentrator is the execution environment for the 4690/TCxSky virtual POS terminals required to support the Novos clients.

There are two ways to install the Terminal Concentrator product for Smart Shopping Services

  • 1) Apply a container provided by QVS that contains the Terminal Concentrator product from QVS
  • 2) Install the Terminal Concentrator product onto a Windows Terminal.

Discuss with QVS which method you prefer

To install Terminal Concentrator as a container#

Apply the container to your Windows or Linux computer

  • Unzip the container file provided by QVS into a temporary location
  • Start the container
  • Contact QVS regarding TC running in a container

To install Terminal Concentrator natively onto your Windows system#

  • Download the TC installer archive istc*.zip from QVS
  • unzip istc*.zip into temporary location
  • As an elevated user, from the temporary location execute the disk1\setup.exe
  • accept all the defaults
  • when the installation finishes Windows will attempt to start the QVS Terminal Concentrator (TC)
  • If TC starts sucessfully (you'll see WAITING FOR POS DIPSLAY in the window) you'll need to stop the service before continuing. You may use either the Computer Managemenet|Services And Applications applet or the command prompt to stop the service.
    • If you're using the Windows UI to stop the Terminal Concentrator service it is named "QVS Terminal Concentrator For Windows". (simply right click on it and say "Stop")
    • You can also stop the TC service from a Windows command prompt: Open an elevated Command prompt. Then execute "net stop tc"
    Once the TC service is stopped you may proceed:#

Configuration#

  • As an elevated (Admin) user, copy the edited qcdifile.mst file into the c:\tc_nt directory and restart the TC service (net start TC)
  • You should see "WAITING FOR POS DISPLAY" on the terminal concentrator window. You cannot proceed until you see message.
  • Use the Windows menu on the Terminal Concentrator window and using the "Properties" option on the menu, disable the Quick Edit mode option. If you don't do this it's very easy to block terminal concentrator from executing if you inadvertently click in the window and don't notice you're selecting text. Normally the TC service runs as a background service and this isn't an issue but for the setup of the demo it's better to be able to see what's happening on the TSNT window.

Install Novos Server (On Windows System)#

  • create directory c:\qvs\novos and switch into that directory
  • unzip novos-server-*.zip into c:\qvs\novos
  • copy novosserver.properties into c:\qvs\novos

Optional: Install Client Demo Webapp (On Window System)#

Note that the WebApp is not a requirement. However, it provides a simple "smoke test" to verify that everything is up and running.

  • create directory c:\mbdemo\mbclient
  • unpack mbclient.7z into c:\mbdemo\mblcient
  • cd into c:\mbdemo\mbclient and run 'npm install' to install dependencies

Configuring the 4690 Store Controller#

There are two ways the clients can access the store controller. Consult with QVS to determine which is better for your environment:

  • 1) Install the QVS InSight Unicast product onto the controller, and specify the controllerss ip addresses in the qcdifile.mst file on the Windows Novos Server.
  • Or 2), Configure the Windows Novos Server's IP address to be compatible with the 4690 Controller network.

1) Install InSight Unicast#

  • Download the Unicast product from QVS
  • Unzip the file, and place unicasti.286 onto the controller
  • Execute unicasti.286 on the controller.
  • Once unicasti.286 is complete (back to the command prompt), reboot the controller.
  • Obtain the IP addresses of the primary and backup 4690 store controllers.
  • On the Windows Novos Server, from an elevated command prompt, modify/edit the c:\tc_nt\qcdifile.mst file and add a new parm to specify the ip addresses of your 4690 controllers. The value for the controller IP addresses are separated by a comma:
    • tccipXidAddrList="192.168.2.1,192.168.2.2"
  • Stop and restart TC: Net Stop TC, then Net Start TC.

Or 2), Configure the Controller and the Windows Novos Server's IP addresses to be a compatible network.#

  • You'll need to configure the IP addressing of the controller so that it is reachable from the Windows PC. In the end, you must be able to ping the 4690 controller from the Windows side and ping the Windows side from the 4690 controller.
  • If you are using a VM controller provided by QVS, unzip the VM provided by QVS into a location of your choice. Using VmWare, open the .vmx file and before powering up the virtual machine make sure the network adapter is set to host-only.
  • Power up the controller.
  • You will need credentials to sign into the controller to make the networking configuration changes. Contact your admin or QVS for controller credentials.
  • If using a VM controller, QVS recommends that you set up the controller VM to use the host only networking adapter provided by VMWare. Multiple 4690 controllers on a single subnet can be problematic if you're not familiar with how it works. There are various broadcast messages sent and received by both the terminals and the controller that can cause headaches. For demo purposes we don't have any need for remote systems to connect, it's better to go host-only.
  • 4690 must have a static IP address assigned. This is another good reason to use host only as most likely you're in a DHCP environment and would have to reserve an address for the controller anyway.
  • You must find out what the subnet of the host-only adapter is. On the QVS system the name of the host-only adapter is Vmnet1 and we were able to use the Windows ipconfig command to determine what the subnet for the adapter was.
  • There are several ways to specify a static IP address for the controller. This is one way to specify the static IP address for the controller.
    • Log on the 4690 controller
    • Select option 7 off the main menu to get to a command prompt
    • cd \adx_sdt1
    • 'xe adxpiccz.bat'" "xe" is the default text editor on 4690. You may see what commands are available with F1. If you press F1, note that the help file is loaded into the editor. You can page around in it, but to get back to the adxipccz.bat file you drop into the editor command line (ESC switches you between modes) and enter 'qq' to exit the current file.
    • In adxipccz.bat you need to change the line that reads ifconfig lan0 xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx netmask 255.255.255.0 eloopaddr last and replace with an address from the subnet that is visible to the Windows machine.
    • 'file' is the command to save and exit the xe editor.
  • Restart the controller.
  • Once the controller restarts
    • Select '7' from the main menu to get a command prompt.
    • Type 'ipconfig' to display and confirm the controller is IP address you specified.
  • The end result must be that you can ping from the 4690 controller to the Windows box and vice-versa.

More Controller Configurations#

  • Define Operators 300-309 with passwords 300-309
  • Ensure terminal IDs 300-309 are defined in LAN terminal definitions.
  • Create terminal load definitions for terminal IDs 300-309
    • SCO-type device characteristics
    • No Java applications defined
    • Primary application r::adx_ipgm:jsiftset.386 or similar

Running the Demo Test program#

Once all the software noted above has been installed, you may run the test client by executing the following steps:

  • Start the Controller VM and confirm that you can ping the controller from Windows.
  • Start Terminal Concentrator (net start TC)
  • Start the Smart Shopping Novos Server (Windows):
    • Change directories to "c:\qvs\novos"
    • Make sure your java is 32-bit
    • "java -cp NovosServer.jar;lib com.qvs.novos.server.Main"
  • Start the test client:
    • Change directories to "c:\mbdemo\mbclient"
    • Make sure your java is 32-bit 1.6
    • npm start

Running TC and Novos Server together as one service#

  • Download from QVS the RunTCAsService.zip
  • Before apply/installing the new service, stop TC and Novos by doing the following:
    • Stop TC/Novos by executing 'tcontrol stop'
    • Stop old TC service by executing 'net stop TC'
    • Find 'QVS Terminal Concentrator for Windows' in the Windows Services Panel and right click. Select Properties. Change General/Startup type to "Disabled"
  • The zip file contains two files: RunTCAsService.exe and tc_svc.bat. Both need to be coppied/unzipped into the tc:\tc_nt\bin directory. (Elevated/Admin user).
  • To install/configure the Windows Machine to run TC and Novos as a service: From an elevated command prompt:
    • cd \tc_nt\bin
    • Execute 'RunTCAsService' - this will install the service.
    • Find RunTCAsService in the Windows Services Panel and right click, select Properties, and change General/Startup type to "Automatic"
At this point you can either reboot the machine or test manually.#

If rebooting, give the machine time to reboot and then login and verify the service, TC, and Novos are running by following steps outlined below.

To test manually, do the following:

  • From an elevated command prompt execute 'net start RunTCAsService' to start TC/Novos
  • Verify the service, TC, and Novos are running by following steps outlined below
  • From an elevated command prompt execute 'net stop RunTCAsService' to stop TC/Novos
  • Verify the service, TC, and Novos are no longer running by following steps outlined below