FocusLink: Venue Offline

Background

FocusLink is the official connector between Focus POS at the store-level and the Focus Cloud. FocusLink represents a massive leap forward in connecting the ever-reliable Focus POS store-level system to a series of truly cloud-based APIs, databases, and tools.

Problem

When attempting to perform a FocusLink based request, the response body indicated Venue Offline.

Resolution

Venue Offline indicates that the store-level FocusLink Connector is not running or the Venue has lost its internet connection. 

To resolve, you must first identify if the Venue has an active, stable internet connection. If the internet connection is down or unstable, FocusLink will not work as expected for the Venue.
Resolve the underlying Internet Connection issue.

Once you have determined at the Internet Connection is operating as expected, you can review the FocusLink Connector Windows Service status. 

1. Open the Windows Services Management Console (Start > CMD > services.msc -OR- Windows Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services)
2. From the list of Services, locate FocusLink.
3. Note the "Status" column. 
   1. If the Status is Running - select Restart from the list of commands displayed on the left.
   2. If the Status column is blank - select Start from the list of commands on the left.
4. The FocusLink Connector will now launch and be available to service requests immediately. 

Technical Background

The FocusLink Connector creates a purpose-built Secure WebSocket Connection between the store-level POS and the FocusLink API stack. The primary purpose of the FocusLink Connector is to instantly present requests and jobs for the store-level POS to handle.

Requests are presented to the FocusLink API from various sources (FocusOnline, FocusON, FocusKitchen, third-party integrators and various management services). Some of those requests require data from the store-level POS. For example, a third party integrator submitting a menu item to a check requires the item to be printed. That is handled by the FocusLink Connector.