Client Display Modes and System Tray
The HandyCafe client can take over the whole screen or sit at the side of the normal desktop as a panel. You choose which one on the server. The setting is pushed to every connected client.
A separate group of settings lets the customer send the client window to the system tray during a session. While the window is hidden, a small session window can stay in the corner of the screen with the remaining time and the charge so far.
Where to Find It
Open Settings, then Clients, then the General tab.
The display settings sit in one block on that tab:
- Client Display Mode with its two option cards
- Panel Width and Let the customer resize the panel (Desktop Mode only)
- Keep the taskbar visible (Game Mode only)
- Enable Hide button
- Show session info when hidden and Window style
Press Save at the bottom of the Settings page to apply your changes. Connected clients receive them straight away.
Client Display Mode
| Option | What the customer sees |
|---|---|
| Game Mode (Fullscreen) | Fullscreen kiosk with the app launcher grid. |
| Desktop Mode (Floating Panel) | Floating panel over the normal OS desktop. |
Click an option card to select it. The selected card shows a check mark.
Game Mode
The session screen covers the entire monitor, taskbar included. The customer launches games and apps from the launcher grid. The theme and layout come from the Appearance tab. See Client Appearance.
Keep the taskbar visible appears under the mode cards while Game Mode is selected. With it on, the session window covers only the work area of the screen. The operating system taskbar stays reachable for the customer. It is off by default.
Desktop Mode
The client docks as a panel on the right side of the screen work area, next to the normal desktop. The customer uses the desktop as usual and keeps the session details, apps and ordering in the panel.
Two settings appear while Desktop Mode is selected:
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Panel Width | Width of the docked panel on the client, in pixels. Choose from 300 px to 1200 px. The default is 420 px. The panel is never wider than 80% of the screen work area. |
| Let the customer resize the panel | The customer can drag the left edge of the panel to make it narrower or wider, down to 300 px. The width lasts for that session only. On by default. |
When the session ends and the client returns to the lock screen, the panel goes back to the width you set. Turning Let the customer resize the panel off also discards any width the customer picked.
The width is set in logical pixels. On a scaled display (for example 150%) the panel takes up proportionally more physical pixels. It looks the same size to the customer on every display.
Hiding the Client to the System Tray
The client installs a system tray icon when it starts. The icon is always there. What the customer can do with it depends on two operator choices:
- Enable Hide button on the General tab.
- A Send window to tray task on the Client Tasks tab.
With both off, the window can never leave the screen and the tray menu does not offer to hide it.
The Hide button
Turn on Enable Hide button to give the customer a way to hide the client during a session.
- Game Mode. A small tab sits at the middle of the top edge of the screen. Hovering over it opens a Hide window label. Clicking it sends the window to the tray. On a touch screen the first tap opens the label and the second tap hides the window.
- Desktop Mode. A Hide window button with a tray icon appears in the panel header.
The Game Mode tab is not shown while the member panel, the AI chat, an event dialog or the order dialog is open.
The tray icon and menu
The tray menu has two entries:
| Entry | When it is available |
|---|---|
| Show | Only while the window is hidden. Brings the client back. |
| Hide window | Only while hiding is allowed, a session is active and the window is on screen. |
Double-clicking the tray icon also brings the window back. A single click does nothing. A customer who brushes the icon by accident mid-game does not pull the client back over the game. The menu entries follow the client's language.
On macOS, a hidden client also leaves the Dock and the Cmd-Tab switcher. The menu bar icon stays.
When the window comes back by itself
- Session end warning. When a Session end warning task fires, a hidden window is brought back so the customer sees that their time is running out.
- Session end. When the session ends, the window comes back and the lock screen is shown.
The lock screen can never be hidden. Neither the Hide button, the tray menu nor a task can hide it.
Small Session Window While Hidden
Show session info when hidden is on by default. While the client is hidden to the tray, a small window stays in the bottom corner with the customer's remaining time and charge. It never covers the taskbar.
The window stays on top of other windows. It opens on the monitor the client window is on. It closes as soon as the client comes back.
Pick a layout under Window style:
| Style | Description | What it shows |
|---|---|---|
| Status strip | One row, least space | Station, customer name, payment type, remaining time (or elapsed time for an open-ended session), a progress bar and the time charge. |
| Timer card | Countdown first, medium | Customer name and station, an Active or Paused badge, the remaining time in large type, the elapsed time and the time charge (or the paid amount for a prepaid session). This is the default. |
| Full summary | Itemized bill, widest | Session status, customer and station, remaining time, start time, elapsed time, time charge, cafeteria charges when there are any and the total. |
Every style has an Open window button that brings the client back.
If you change the style while a customer has the client hidden, the small window is rebuilt at the new size straight away.
Starting Sessions in the Tray
The old "send the window to the tray when a session starts" switch is now a client task. Open Settings, then Clients, then Client Tasks. Add a task with the action Send window to tray.
This action can only be chosen with the Session start, Member login or Guest login triggers. It accepts a Delay before running (seconds) value.
| Task setup | Result |
|---|---|
| Session start with a delay of 0 | The session starts with the window already in the tray. The client window never appears on screen. |
| Session start with a delay | The window appears, then goes to the tray when the delay is up. |
| Member login or Guest login | The window goes to the tray after that kind of login, after any delay you set. |
A cafe that had the old switch turned on received an equivalent Session start task automatically.
See Client Tasks for how to add and order tasks.
Step by Step
Switch the clients to Desktop Mode
- Open Settings, then Clients, then the General tab.
- Under Client Display Mode, click Desktop Mode (Floating Panel).
- Choose a Panel Width.
- Decide whether the customer may drag the panel edge with Let the customer resize the panel.
- Press Save.
Let customers see the taskbar in Game Mode
- Open Settings, then Clients, then the General tab.
- Select Game Mode (Fullscreen).
- Turn on Keep the taskbar visible.
- Press Save.
Let customers hide the client with a corner timer
- Open Settings, then Clients, then the General tab.
- Turn on Enable Hide button.
- Make sure Show session info when hidden is on.
- Under Window style, pick Status strip, Timer card or Full summary.
- Press Save.
Start every session hidden in the tray
- Open Settings, then Clients, then Client Tasks.
- Press Add Task.
- Choose the Session start trigger and the Send window to tray action.
- Leave Delay before running (seconds) at 0.
- Press Save in the task dialog. The task is stored straight away.
Permissions
Settings is open to cashiers with the Admin role. See Cashier Roles.
Troubleshooting and Notes
The Hide button does not appear. Check that Enable Hide button is on and saved. The button only exists during a session. In Game Mode it is also hidden while a drawer or dialog is open.
The tray menu shows Hide window greyed out. Hiding is allowed only during an active session and only when the Hide button or a Send window to tray task is enabled. It is also greyed out while the window is already hidden.
A single click on the tray icon does nothing. This is deliberate. Double-click the icon or choose Show from its menu.
The small session window does not appear. Check that Show session info when hidden is on. The window only appears while the client is hidden to the tray.
The panel is narrower than the width I chose. The panel is capped at 80% of the screen work area. On a small or heavily scaled display the cap can be below your setting.
The customer's panel width reset. A width the customer drags is kept for that session only. The next session starts at the Panel Width you set.