About This Release
Released - July 8, 2021
This version is built on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2021, release wave 1, cumulative update 2, build 18.2.26217.26490.
LS Central 18.1
LS Central is now delivered as two apps. Some code has been moved from the LS Central app to a new app named LS Central System App. The LS Central app has a dependency on the LS Central System App. The code that was moved to the LS Central System App is a code that was originally in the Toolbox .dll and is related to the POS UI. The code in the Toolbox .dll was not public, and partners could not modify the code. The code in the LS Central System app will not be public and the LS Central System App will only be published as runtime package. The LS Central System App will, in the future, hold code related to licensing to enable LS Retail to license LS Central components in the cloud.
LS Central AL code
The source code for the LS Central app is delivered in AL files that can be modified by partners. It is, however, highly recommended to make all modifications in extensions, and if you need to alter the LS Central or Business Central behavior then do that by subscribing to events.
It is LS Retail's priority to make it easy for the partners to extend LS Central. Therefore, a special section in our Support Portal is provided where partners can submit requests for new events. These requests are given priority.
LS Central extension
The release package includes LS Central and LS Central System App as runtime apps that can be installed as extensions. To install the extensions, you first need to publish them, see Publishing and Installing an Extension v2.0. Once the LS Central and LS Central System App extensions have been published, the LS Central and LS Central System App extensions can be installed using the Extension Management page in Business Central.
Important Notices
Versioning
The versioning of the LS Central app is normally as follows: <major>.<minor>.<hotfix>.<build> - for example v. 18.1.0.12063:
Until now the build number part has always been 0. Due to a technical change in the Business Central platform, LS Central versions 17.4, 17.5, 18.0, and 18.1 will be released with a build number (not equal to 0 - or as in "12063" in the above example).
New or Enhanced Features
General
Option Added to Use Manual Session Control in EFT
- EFT Device can now be configured to use Manual Session Control. Stop automatic calling STARTSESSION and FINISHSESSION for every EFT transaction.
- StartSession and FinishSession functions have been added to IEFTUtility interface.
- EFT_START_SESSION and EFT_FINISH_SESSION POS commands have been added.
On Premises vs. SaaS Target in POS Print Utility
PrintBarcode function in POS Print Utility codeunit is now accessible for extension development.
BackOffice
Customer Order Enhancements
New Customer Order Profile
A new Customer Order profile is now available in LS Central, providing easy access for Customer Order processes. Profile ID 99009135.
Print Customer Order Picking Label
An option has been added in Customer Order Mobile picking mode to print out box IDs in HQ to attach to boxes or bags along with the ID of the order.
Data Director Cleanup
The Transaction Server has been removed from LS Central. The Distribution Location and Active Web Requests fields have been removed from the previous Transaction Server and Web Services FastTab on the Functionality profile. The FastTab has been renamed to Web Service Settings.
For Scheduler jobs in the Demo Data company the old codeunit 99001474 Data Distribution v3.0 has been replaced with a new codeunit 99008923 Data Distribution WS.
The Web Service Settings FastTab has been joined with Web Services Settings.
Importing Retail Images from .zip file Through PowerShell Script
A new functionality has been added to import retail image .zip files with a PowerShell script. This functionality is an addition to the manual import of retail image .zip files with the Import from Zip action in the Retail Image List. The new functionality imports the .zip file from a folder as defined in the script and also runs the Import Images action in the Retail Image Import/Export page.
Missing Function Added to Omniwrapper
The GetPosTransSuspList function has been added to OmniWrapper.
Codeunit used: 99009060 Retail Image Utils, Method name: ImportRetailImageFromZIP.
Web Service Cleanup
Web services v 2.0 that are no longer used have been removed. Demo data and code related to web services v 1.0 have also been removed.
LS Hardware Station
New Function: Peripheral Check
A new function, GetDeviceInformation, has been added to the LS Hardware Station API. The function takes a parameter of a device ID and returns the status of that device. If the device is not found, an exception is returned.
Add Support for Verification Changes in LS Pay
Changes to verification methods in LS Pay have been added in LS Hardware Station.
LS Hardware Station .Net Framework set to 4.61
The .NET Framework for the LS Pay integration was downgraded to version 4.6.1 allowing it to be run on older systems.
Logging Functionality
A Minimum log level option has been added to LS Hardware Station. This lets the user decide how detailed the log should be is and thus avoid making the log too large.
A Max log files to keep option has also been added to LS Hardware Station. This lets the user decide how many logs to keep before the oldest one(s) is deleted.
Management Portal: Buttons to Test PDF Printing on a Windows Printer
Two new test buttons have been added to the Printer section of the Management Portal.
- Print Test PDF File - prints a preset PDF file to a Windows printer.
- Print Test Label (EPL) - prints a test label to a label printer using the EPL command language.
Both test operations only work on a printer that can print a PDF file or understand EPL commands, respectively.
"Save to File" Option Added When Printing PDF Files
A new "Save to File" option for Windows printers has been added in the LS Hardware Station Management Portal. The option skips printing a PDF and instead save it to a file. This is meant as a workaround for customers experiencing problems when trying to print PDF documents directly to the printer. The file can then be printed manually or using a script that watches for new files in the directory and sends them to the printer.
LS Central POS
LS Hardware Station Client Changed from .Net SignalR to AL HTTP Client
DotNet Hardware Station Client has been removed. HTTP Wrapper (non-GUI) and Print Dialog (GUI) are now used instead.
Option Added to Select HTTP / HTTPS per Device
Each device in the Hardware Profile now has an option to use HTTPS to connect to the Hardware Station.
Print PDF Added to Device Dialog Addin
PDF report printing is now done via the Device Dialog when UI is available. This makes the dialog the client and enables connection to closed networks from the cloud, as long as the computer that is used is on that particular machine. If UI is not available, through the Omni server for example, the Device Dialog is not used and the old method of HTTP printing is done instead.
Replenishment
Replenishment Profile
A new LSC REPLENISHMENT profile is now available in LS Central. The profile provides easy access to Replenishment operations and processes.
Hospitality
Coursing
In LS Central you can configure your POS and KDS system with Coursing. Coursing lets you separate items into different menu courses and control the start of preparation for each course to ensure the greatest level of service for the customer.
When you have Coursing enabled, the waiting staff takes an order for the dining table for each course. The waiting staff then sends the order to the kitchen through the POS, announcing to the kitchen staff which items have been ordered for each course. At the appropriate time, the waiting staff fires a course, notifying the kitchen staff that they should start preparing the course items.
The waiting staff can mark each course as served. Other tasks can be configured, either for the dining table itself, such as Place Bread or Place Napkins, or for each course such as Pour Wine or Place Cutlery. These tasks can be set up to ensure that the waiting staff follows a certain work flow.
The waiting staff can also communicate with the kitchen staff by the means of comments sent through the POS. These comments, such as special customer requests, become visible in the kitchen for the kitchen staff to react.
New Events on Pay and Cancel in the Split Bill Panel
New events have been added in the Hospitality POS. It is now easier to react to the different events when the user is splitting the bill and transferring a table.
New Page to Show POS Transaction and Lines
A new page has been added that lets a user in the back office view every transaction that is open in the POS. For each transaction that is open you can view the transaction lines for that transaction. This new page is called POS Transaction List.
LS Activity
Add to Shift Improved - in Staff Management and Activities
This functionality in Activities and Staff Management has improved handling when assigning a new employee to a shift from the Role center. The message is less intrusive as it uses the notifications instead of a dialog window, and is also a more informative response to this action.
Enhancements on the Activity Resource Status Page
Performance of the Resource Status page has been improved and the page now loads much faster.
- The View section and filtering of the page keeps the values selected by the user between uses. You can now share the Matrix templates with the matrix view to specify which resource group, location, interval, and number of days is included in the view.
- The matrix's Caption Script can be used to determine the scripts used to present the cell values (basically decide what values from the activity are shown in the cells).
- Drill-downs, rescheduling and transferring functions are supported in the Assist Edit menu of the page cells.
- The user can enter a new booking (activity) by simply selecting the cell which presents the resource date and time, and enter an activity product code into the cell. If the resource is available and has capabilities to handle the product, the appointment or activity creation process is started.
- Actions have been added to the action pane to select next and previous date, and to change the template for the view.
Deposits in Membership Web API
The membership API can now accept payments of memberships on the web (via Omni) as deposits rather then final payment. This allows the membership invoicing functionality to create the standard Business Central invoice for the membership, rather than the Omni Customer Order process. By default, the membership API assumes the membership payment as full payment.
Improved Role Center Search
The search page in the Role Center now searches in the archived entries as well as in future activity entries.
Multiple Days in Availability View Setup
Now the Availability views, in BackOffice and POS, can have different view settings, depending on if the availability is being presented at the Web API, the BackOffice pages, or at the POS lookup views. This provides faster presentation of availability at the POS. This setting is per activity type.
New Functionality: Customer Allotments
Allotments are a new powerful functionality in LS Activity to let the user reserve a specific product for any given date and time and then assign the allotment to a customer account.
An allotment allows reservations for a specific customer to be handled gradually with guarantee of availability. The allotment can then be set to be released at either a certain date, or x number of days prior to the reservation period, if not fully used by the customer.
New Parameter in the Activity Booking API
A new parameter, Customer No., is supported in the LS Activity Web API. This parameter is the customer account, which the reservation will be assigned to and possibly invoiced to.
New Pricing Options of Components in Activity Package Offers
Package Offers can now consist of products which either have pricing set as ratio of the package price, or have a specific (fixed) price as part of the package. Note that an activity package must always have one component (package line) set as ratio pricing, and this must be the last line in the package.
POS Commands
The following POS commands are new in LS Central 18.1:
- EDITSCHEDULE - Lets the POS operator reschedule any activity already in POS journal lines for payment processing.
- EFT_START_SESSION - Manually start EFT session
- EFT_FINISH_SESSION - Manually finish EFT session
- HOSP_KOTCOMMENT - Send comments to KDS
- KDS-COURSE-FIRENEXT - KDS Coursing, Fire Next Course
- KDS-COURSE-OVERV-COU - KDS Coursing, Overview, Show Courses
- KDS-COURSE-OVERV-SEL - KDS Coursing, Overview, Select Course
- KDS-COURSE-OVERV-SEN - KDS Coursing, Overview, Send to Kitchen
- KDS-COURSE-OVERV-TAS - KDS Coursing, Overview, Select Task
- KDS-COURSE-SERVENEXT - KDS Coursing, Serve Next Course
- KDS-COURSTASK-FIRE - KDS Coursing, Coursing Task, Fire
- KDS-COURSTASK-RUN - KDS Coursing, Coursing Task, Run
- KDS-COURSTASK-SERVE - KDS Coursing, Coursing Task, Serve
See the LS Central Help and the corresponding Excel list with filters for a complete list of POS commands.
Other
LS Central Help
In version 18.0, the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Help Server was discontinued, and therefore the Business Central offline help is no longer available.
The Business Central online help, however, is available via links on the LS Central Help Home page and side navigation menu, and directly via this link.
Fixed Issues
General
Customer Order Refund and Cancellation Issue in BackOffice
An issue with cancellation and refund of a Customer Order in the BackOffice causing errors on the Statement Posting has been fixed.
Data Director: Monitor Collection Function Fixed
To fix an error in the Monitor Collection function, a DBHost field has been added to the DD Monitoring table.
Retail Sales Order with Variants or Collection
In the Retail Sales Order, when a Sales Line is created with item variants or using the collection, an issue where the Type field will not be set to blank, has now been fixed. When the Sales Line is deleted, its linked variant and collection sales lines will now also be deleted correctly.
Replenishment
Replen. Stock Demand Worksheet Filters
In the Replen. Stock Demand Worksheet, an issue where the Stock Demand entries used to create the Purchase and Transfer Orders are not filtered according to the selected Location Filter and Warehouse Location Filter, has now been fixed.
The following procedures have been deprecated and replaced with new ones with additional parameters:
- CreatePOFromPlannedStockDemand procedure with 2 additional parameters in codeunit Replen. Create Purch Order.
- CreateTOFromPlannedStockDemand procedure with 1 additional parameter in codeunit Replen. Create Transf. Ord.