Open Vending

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Installation

First time installing this? Follow INSTALL.md instead — the same three steps, spelled out, plus where to put the folder, what to do on first launch, and what to check when something fails.

Step 1 — Download

Clone the repository, or download it as a ZIP from https://github.com/liewcc/Open_Vending and extract it.

git clone https://github.com/liewcc/Open_Vending.git C:\Apps\Open_Vending

Do not put the folder inside OneDrive, Google Drive or Dropbox — see DATABASE.md.

Step 2 — Run setup

Double-click setup.bat.

This will automatically download and install all dependencies (Python, Chromium, Node.js, Electron). An internet connection is required. Allow 5–10 minutes on first run.

When you see "Setup complete! Run run.bat to start.", setup is done.

Step 3 — Launch

Double-click the Open Vending shortcut on your Desktop (created by setup).

On first launch, the app will prompt for your DVends username and password. Credentials are stored encrypted on your machine.

You can also launch via run.vbs in the project folder. run.bat works too but briefly flashes a black window — a Windows limitation of .bat files.

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Usage

On launch, the app automatically downloads the latest replenishment report from DVends and displays it in the main table.

Side panel buttons

Icon	Button	Description
	Home	Return to the main replenishment table
	Re-download	Fetch the latest report from DVends
	Changing List	Items whose restock values changed since the last scan
	Picking List	Daily restock plan by machine — see Picking List below
	Settings	Configure app preferences
	Update	Grayed out while up to date — lights up when a newer version is available. Click to update (see Auto-update below)

Settings

Option	Description
Show Menu Bar	Display the Electron application menu bar
Show Console Window	Show the DOS console during data download
Close to System Tray	Clicking × minimizes to tray instead of quitting
Notify on Restock Changes	System tray notification when restock values change after a scan
Headed Browser	Run a visible browser during scan (press F9 to capture the current page)

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Picking List

Open the Picking List from the side panel ( Picking List).

Machine list (left panel)

The left panel lists every machine that needs restocking today. Each machine shows a badge with the fill percentage — the proportion of items that need to be refilled relative to the machine's total lane capacity. Click a machine to load its item breakdown in the main panel.

Item detail (main panel)

The main panel shows every lane in the selected machine along with product name, current balance, lane size, and restock quantity. Rows highlighted in red indicate out-of-stock lanes. Click any row to open a Restock History chart for that product.

The toolbar above the detail panel has two buttons:

Icon	Function
	Open the In-Transit Queue modal
	Export all queued picking lists as PDF

Adding to the queue

Click in the top-right corner of the detail panel to add the machine to the queue. The icon turns green once the machine is queued. Click on the left to go back to the machine list without selecting a machine.

In-Transit Queue modal

Click in the toolbar to open the queue modal. Each queued machine shows the total units and lane count. From here you can:

Icon	Function
	Open that machine in Edit mode
	Remove that machine from the queue
	Reload all queued entries from the latest report data
	Clear the entire queue

Edit mode

Click on any queued machine to open it in Edit mode. An "Edit mode" banner appears at the top of the detail panel and all table cells become editable. Changes are auto-saved as you type and stored in the db/ folder — edits do not affect the original report. Click in the top-right corner to exit Edit mode.

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Database

All data is stored in SQLite under db/. If you want to inspect or change it directly — or point an AI assistant such as Claude Code at it — read DATABASE.md first. It covers what each table holds, how to query safely while the app is running, and several rules that are not obvious from the schema: machine names differ between the picking and sales sides, product IDs are account-scoped, and vending.db must never be synced through Drive or Dropbox.

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Auto-update

On every launch, the app checks the remote package.json for a newer version. The icon in the side panel is grayed out while the app is up to date. When a newer version is detected, the icon lights up.

Click the icon to start the update:

1. The app downloads the latest release as a zip file.
2. A background PowerShell script is launched, then the app exits.
3. The script waits for the app to fully close, extracts the zip, and copies the updated files (preserving node_modules/, python/, db/, and other local data).
4. The app relaunches automatically via run.vbs.