POS Item Grid and API

[cbrew]

Hello --

Back in 2018 we opened a support ticket asking if there was a way to manipulate the Item Grid using the API.  The answer we got was that it wasn't possible.  I thought I'd check again to see if anyone knows whether or not this is possible?

We're a small brewery and we set up the Item Grid on our POS device to map to items that are on tap (so item 1A in the grid maps to tap #1 and so on).  Taps are continuously changing and I'd love to be able to automate the changes that we currently have to manually make to the POS.

Cheers!

[Donnie-M · Accepted solution]

@cbrew I think there might be a fix now with the new UI the way that the menus are handled.  1st question, do you use the restaurant POS or the class POS?

What I have done is 1 step away from the ability to just toggle on which item is on what menu.  I use the non-reporting categories now.  So I use them mainly for websites, but I could in theory, make a category called "Taps" and just assign Taps to whatever is currently available in the item catalog.  When it isn't available, just take the category off.

Then I would add a button to the item grid that is the category "Taps" and all those will auto populate when you tap it.  

[cbrew]

Thank you for the response!

We are using the "Square Register."  I didn't know that there was a separate "restaurant" POS, so I'm thinking we're not using that.

If I can get this to work using categories, that would be great?

Some questions:

- What is a "non-reporting" category?

- How, specifically, do I get the "item grid" to populate with items from a specific category?  I'm not seeing a way to do that.

Thank you again!

[cbrew]

Oh, I think I see what you mean.  In addition to items, you can add a category (or subcategory) to the "item grid."  I suppose this is a little better than what we have to do today (change the item grid constantly), but it's a little annoying that it adds an additional step (select the category, then select the item instead of just selecting the item).  I'll give it a shot though.

[Donnie-M]

@cbrew Yes exactly that, it is the "extra tap" which I agree, I prefer quick access a single second adds up over the day and week.  It is dynamic enough though to keep my cashiers out of the search bar in the library.

[cbrew]

Took me awhile to figure out that I had to upgrade my API library before being able to add multiple categories to an Item, but it's working now.  While not perfect, I think this solution will fit my needs.  Thanks again!

[Summer2024]

Thanks @Donnie-M for the great answer here! 🤗

Please let us know if you have any further questions @cbrew !