All about the Zuppler <> Pixelpoint Integration

Integrating with a legacy POS like PAR Pixelpoint can be a cumbersome process, that's what makes such an integration to be a bit difficult for people to understand and get their hands on it easily. Unlike Cloud based POS systems, Legacy POS' don't store their data on cloud servers, instead they store it on the POS machine's hard disks. This makes adding or managing integrations with other software a bit clunky and complex. In this article I will talk about everything I know about the integration and will try to make you understand how Zuppler integrates and works with the Pixelpoint POS.

• How the integration works
• Integrator's Connection with POSaaS:
• Pushing menu from the POS
• Is Zuppler compatible with Pixelpoint v20?

How the integration works

PAR Pixelpoint runs on Windows and the data is stored in the POS machine's storage. We have built a windows executable "Zuppler POS Integrator" to facilitate the data transfer between Zuppler and the Pixel software running on the machine. This app receives the menu data from the POS and sends the orders from POSaaS to the Pixel POS. The integrator app is a middleware which connects POSaaS with Pixelpoint and to establish a connection between the two, the app should first connect itself to both POSaaS and the Pixel software.

To connect the integrator with POSaaS we need to copy the configuration URL from the restaurant's POSaaS account and save it in the integrator config.

To connect the integrator with Pixel software, we need to make sure the EOI details are correctly configured in the integrator settings. The integrator automatically pulls these details when it is first run on the machine.

Integrator's Connection with POSaaS:

You can check when the integrator was last connected with POSaaS by clicking on the config URL in restaurant's homepage in POSaaS. 

The last connected time should be the current time of the restaurant, if it's not that means the connection is lost.  Here are some common reasons which could cause a disconnect:

• Incorrect config URL setup in the integrator. We need to make sure the correct config URL is configured in the integrator. 
• Incorrect EOI information setup in the URL. As mentioned earlier, the integrator pulls this information automatically but it may not always be correct. 
  • The EOI argument should be the station number on which the POS is running.
  • The EOI Windows title and Process name may change when you update the station number. The latest version of the integrator should be installed to know the correct title and process name. The latest version captures logs extensively, it would display the correct title and process name in the logs. The correct information would show up something like this in the integrator logs.
    

If the above mentioned configuration is correctly setup but still there's a disconnect between the integrator and POS, we can try restarting the Zuppler POS integrator. Reach out to techsupport@zuppler.com if that does not help either.

Pushing menu from the POS

We can't pull the latest menu from Pixel just by syncing in POSaaS, the latest menu should be pushed from the integrator first. So if a restaurant claims they updated the menu in their POS but the changes aren't reflecting online even after syncing, make sure the menu is pushed from the integrator.

To push the menu one should use the 'Update Menu' button in the Zuppler Integrator. Once, the menu is pushed successfully from the integrator it gets saved in POSaaS as an XML file. You can see all the recent menu uploads in 'Imports' section of the restaurant's POSaaS account. We can run a sync to have the changes reflect on the frontend once the menu is pushed from the POS and saved here in POSaaS. To run a sync automatically when the menu is pushed from Pixel, we can enable auto sync in restaurant's POSaaS settings but make sure a day or time is not defined for the auto sync.

Is Zuppler compatible with Pixelpoint v20?

Yes, Zuppler is fully compatible with the Pixelpoint v20. However, we recommend using the latest version of the Zuppler POS Integrator (v1.19.1.4) with Pixelpoint v20 if the restaurant is not using already. The following drive link contains the latest version installer, we can share it along with the installation instructions with the restaurants who are not using the latest version of the integrator.

Drive link with the installer file: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/16mBJY5dALMTugSc7TGzc5FbxIDooZMWA?usp=sharing

Changes:
- added TLS1.2 and 100-Continue support for TLS1.2 requirement for Windows 10.
- extensive logging/document certain error cases
- in case of a database error, an analysis of misconfigurations/non-default values of connection string
- if found, display them along with the database subsystem exceptions
- minor: display application name+version in caption, and the startup name+ver+start time

Side note:
TLS 1.2 may cause trouble to possible customers having unupgraded Windows 7 machines (hopefully this is not the case, but it is still worth mentioning).
To be 100% sure, the TLS can be parametrized using a checkbox in Settings (on/off, default on) so that users having trouble with HTTP using TLS 1.2 can revert back to the previous behavior if needed.

There is a small annoyance (not new) regarding the installer, for example if you have 1.19.1.3 installed and run 1.19.1.4 installer, it will report that another application already exists.
So to install one should
- back up at least the restaurant URL, the Station number and the EOI caption
- uninstall the previous version
- install the new version
- on the 1st start of the app, enter restaurant URL; then change in settings the Station number and EOI caption if needed
- close and reopen the application