POS Interface

This document describes the Point-of-Sale (POS) Interface within the Hotelaro hotel management system. It covers the technical structure, user interaction flow, and main code entities that implement the POS counter, cart management, and order submission workflow. The focus is on the POS counter interface used by restaurant staff to process dine-in, takeaway, and in-room orders.

For details on menu configuration, see Menu Management. For order lifecycle, payment, and receipt generation, see Order Processing.

Overview

The POS Interface is a web-based module that allows staff to:

Select food and beverage items by category.
Add items to a shopping cart.
Specify order type (dine-in, takeaway, in-room).
Assign tables, rooms, or customers as needed.
Apply discounts and calculate taxes.
Choose payment methods or save as draft.
Submit orders for processing.

The interface is tightly integrated with the multi-tenant backend, ensuring all data is filtered by admin_uid for property isolation.

Key code entry points:

View: inc/core/Restaurant/Views/poscounter.php
Cart logic: app/Views/common_script/addtocartfunction.php
Controller: inc/core/Restaurant/Controllers/Restaurant.php (see posOrdetdata method)

System Context

Diagram: POS Interface in System Architecture

User Interface Structure

The POS interface is rendered by poscounter.php and consists of:

Category List: Buttons for each food category.
Product Grid: Selectable food items, with quantity controls.
Order Type Selector: Dropdown for "Restaurant Dining", "Takeaway", or "In-Room".
Customer/Room/Table Assignment: Contextual fields based on order type.
Cart Table: Shows selected items, quantities, prices, and allows removal or adjustment.
Discount and Tax Controls: Input for discount, automatic tax calculation.
Action Buttons: Save as draft, submit with payment method, or cancel.

Main UI Elements and Data Sources

UI Element	Data Source/Table	Code Reference
Category List	hotel_booking_item_category	poscounter.php:4, 70-77
Product Grid	hotel_booking_item_foods	poscounter.php:5, 104-107
Table Assignment	hotel_booking_table_number	poscounter.php:11, 735-737
Customer Assignment	hotel_booking_clients	poscounter.php:10, 410-419
Cart Management	localStorage, dynamic JS	addtocartfunction.php:64-246
Order Submission	hotel_booking_orders	Restaurant.php:273-339

Code Entity Mapping

renders UI, loads data

AJAX POST

insert/update

fetches

fetches

fetches

fetches

inc/core/Restaurant/Views/poscounter.php

app/Views/common_script/addtocartfunction.php

inc/core/Restaurant/Controllers/Restaurant.php

hotel_booking_orders

hotel_booking_item_foods

hotel_booking_item_category

hotel_booking_table_number

hotel_booking_clients

Cart Management and Product Selection

Cart management is handled on the client side using JavaScript and localStorage. The main logic is in addtocartfunction.php:

Adding Products: Products are added to the cart with .productpos_add buttons. Duplicates are prevented.
Quantity Adjustment: .inc and .dec buttons increment or decrement item quantities, with a maximum enforced.
Cart Persistence: Cart state is saved in localStorage under the key guest_cart.
Cart Rendering: The cart is re-rendered on every change, updating totals and item counts.
Discounts and Taxes: Discount type (percentage/fixed) and value are applied, and tax is calculated based on system settings.

Cart Data Structure

Field	Description
id	Unique cart item ID
pro_id	Product ID
pro_qty	Quantity
price	Unit price
tax	Tax rate/value
name	Product name

Order Type and Contextual Assignment

The POS interface supports three order types:

Restaurant Dining (Dine-in): Requires table and waiter assignment.
Takeaway: No table or room assignment.
In-Room (Hotel Customer): Requires booking and room assignment.

The UI dynamically shows or hides relevant fields based on the selected order type. This is managed by the showAccordingOrderType function.

Customer Search and Assignment

Customer Search: Input field with live search for customer name, email, or phone.
Customer Selection: Populates hidden fields with customer details for order association.
Add Customer: Modal form allows adding or editing customer details inline.

Order Submission Workflow

Order submission is handled via AJAX POST to the posOrdetdata method in the Restaurant controller.

Validation: Ensures required fields (customer, table/room, items) are present.
Order Methods: Supports "draft", "cash", "online", and "add to bill".
Order ID Generation: Sequential order IDs are generated server-side.
Database Write: Orders are inserted into hotel_booking_orders with all relevant metadata.
CSRF Protection: All requests include CSRF tokens.

Order Submission Flow

"hotel_booking_orders"
"Restaurant.php::posOrdetdata"
"addtocartfunction.js"
"poscounter.php"
"POS User"
"hotel_booking_orders"
"Restaurant.php::posOrdetdata"
"addtocartfunction.js"
"poscounter.php"
"POS User"
Selects products, fills order details
Updates cart, applies discounts/taxes
Clicks payment/draft/submit
AJAX POST order data
Insert/Update order
Success/Error response
Show notification, clear cart if success

Data Model: Orders

Orders are stored in the hotel_booking_orders table. Key fields include:

Field	Description
id	Primary key
order_id	Sequential order number
admin_uid	Tenant identifier
client_id	Customer ID
table_id	Table number (if dine-in)
room_id	Room number (if in-room)
employee_id	Waiter/staff ID
cartdata	JSON-encoded cart contents
totalprice	Total before discounts/taxes
totaldiscount	Discount applied
totalgrandtotal	Final total after tax/discount
order_method	Payment method or draft
status	Order status
created_at	Timestamp

Error Handling and Validation

Client-side: Required fields are checked before submission. Errors are shown via toastr notifications.
Server-side: The controller validates data and returns structured JSON responses for success or error, including updated CSRF tokens.

Integration Points

Menu Management: Product and category data are managed separately (see Menu Management).
Order Processing: Further processing, payment, and receipt generation are handled downstream (see Order Processing).
Multi-Tenant Isolation: All queries are filtered by admin_uid to ensure data isolation per property.

Summary

The POS Interface is a dynamic, multi-tenant-aware module for restaurant order entry, cart management, and order submission. It is implemented as a combination of PHP views, JavaScript for client-side cart logic, and a backend controller for order persistence and validation. The design supports flexible order types, real-time cart updates, and robust error handling.