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parking_solution/wiki/concepts/printer-status-monitoring.md
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julian f87e4c0d6b feat(devices): live device-status footer across all categories
Generalise printer-only monitoring to every configured device. New
DeviceMonitor polls all enabled devices each tick (default 8s): printers
via rich readStatus(), relays/readers/cameras via the generic healthCheck()
reachability probe, flattened to one traffic-light (ready/degraded/offline)
+ detail, deduped (emit on change only), fail-toward-offline.

- device-status bus event + GET /api/devices/status snapshot.
- Pushed over the existing /api/ws (hello carries the initial set;
  device-status frame per change).
- Web: live-store devices map, WS handler, DeviceFooter chip-per-device
  (role label not vendor; click a degraded/offline chip for an issues panel).

Verified roleKind resolution + change-only emit on a fresh DB.

Note: the footer's UI surface (api type, router mount, i18n devices) rides
in the subsequent subscription commit due to shared-file overlap.

Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01Xcm6ikLgGoCxxHrxtjkk5V
2026-06-18 13:14:36 +02:00

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4.0 KiB
Markdown

---
type: concept
tags: [parking, printer, device, monitoring, reliability]
sources: []
updated: 2026-06-14
---
# Printer status monitoring
> **Generalised 2026-06-18:** the booth's all-device status **footer** is a separate, unified
> monitor across every category (relays/readers/cameras/printers) — see
> [[device-status-monitoring]]. This page remains the authority for the *printer-specific* rich
> status (paper/cover/cutter) + its SSE stream; both monitors run.
The booth must know a printer is in trouble **before** a driver presses the entry button and no
ticket comes out. So the system polls each printer's live status (paper out, cover open, cutter
jam, off-line) and pushes changes to the operator UI. A reliability control, like
[[printer-roles-failover]] — not a threat-model one.
## Where the status comes from (the safe-decode decision)
The raw print socket (TCP 9100) is write-only for us — it returns no paper/cover feedback. ESC/POS
printers expose status via real-time queries (`DLE EOT n`). On the [[rongta-printer]] clone we
probed, **`DLE EOT` replies do NOT follow the canonical ESC/POS bit layout** (the spec's fixed
validation bits were wrong, verified on hardware 2026-06-14). Decoding those bits ourselves risked
a **false-healthy** — reporting "paper OK" when it's empty — which is the dangerous direction for
an entry lane.
Instead we scrape the device's **own status web page** (`http://<host>/prn_stat.htm`). The board
decodes the bits itself into labelled Yes/No rows (Cover Is Open, Cutter Error, Paper End, Paper
Near End, Printer Off-Line). We trust the device's decode over hand-decoding an undocumented clone.
This is captured as a device capability: `MonitorableDevice.readStatus(): PrinterStatus` in
`packages/devices`. The Rongta driver implements it; the monitor is device-agnostic via
`isMonitorable()`. A future printer with a different status mechanism just implements the same
interface.
## Status mapping (fail safe)
`readStatus()` maps to `ready | degraded | offline`:
- status page unreachable / times out → **offline** (same signal as a dead printer; never throws),
- page reachable but a recognised field is missing → **degraded** ("unexpected status page") —
we do NOT claim "ready" off a page we didn't fully parse,
- any fault flag true (paper end, cover open, cutter error, off-line) → **degraded** + a detail
string ("paper out", …),
- all five clear → **ready**.
## The monitor (server)
`PrinterMonitor` (`apps/server/src/printer-monitor.ts`):
- reloads the monitored set from `devices` each tick (so a newly-assigned printer is picked
up without a restart), keeping only enabled, monitorable printers;
- polls every `PRINTER_POLL_MS` (default 5000ms), never overlapping ticks;
- caches the latest status per device id;
- emits a `printer-status` event on the device bus **only when status changes** (deduped).
## API / live UI
- `GET /api/printers/status` — cached snapshot of all printers (no device round-trip).
- `GET /api/printers/status/stream` — **Server-Sent Events**: full snapshot on connect, then one
event per change. The booth SPA subscribes for real-time paper-out / offline indicators.
- Any authenticated role may read (operational, not a setup action).
## Verified on hardware (2026-06-14)
`readStatus()` against 10.0.10.6 → `ready` (all flags false); against an unreachable host →
`offline` with "status page timeout" (no throw); bus emits on change and suppresses unchanged
reads. Full repo typechecks.
## Open / not yet done
- **Fault-state capture**: we've only observed the all-clear page. The exact label text for an
active fault (e.g. does "Paper End" flip to "Yes"?) should be confirmed by physically removing
paper / opening the cover, to be 100% sure the scrape catches it. The parser is built to match
Yes/No and degrade on anything unexpected, so this is a confidence check, not a blocker.
- Tying a `degraded`/`offline` entry-dispenser into [[printer-roles-failover]] failover and the
(not-yet-built) entry flow's all-printers-down policy ([[device-input-flow]]).