Kiosk mode

• Start/Stop work with
  • Barcode scanner (via device camera, only works via HTTPS)
  • Barcode scanner (via USB or Bluetooth)
  • RFID scanner (via USB or Bluetooth)
  • Web NFC (see docs)
• Upon starting/stopping a record via this plugin, the user will see a short overview screen with the entries of the current week (including some statistics)
• New user profile screen for the “codes”
  • Display all codes for user
  • Generate a random code (automatically done if none is existing yet for the active code-type)
  • Re-use existing code for user by entering (or scanning) it manually
• User specific settings to configured allowed start and end working time (user can only clock in between these times)
• Supports the following 1D barcodes:
  • Code 128
  • Code 39
  • UPC-A (scanner needs to transmit check digit)
  • Code 2 of 5
  • Code 2 of 5 interleaved
  • Codabar (scanner needs to transmit start & stop digits)
• Optional: show active / inactive users in login screen
• Many CSS classes to customize the look with Custom CSS

You need to configure a non-global activity for starting the record via this plugin. This will be used for every recorded timesheet that is created using the kiosk mode.

Configuration

You have to configure the bundle before you can use it. You reach the configuration via System → Settings → Kiosk mode.

The following configurations are available:

Login modes

• Barcode via device camera:

Keyboard input

A free “text” input field with no further interactive logic. The idea is to add a keyboard or num-pad and the users enters his code and then submits the form (via enter).

Could be used in combination with any external reader that acts as “virtual keyboard” and is able to submit the code including the code for ENTER.

External scanner

Uses the Web NFC Browser API (check if your browser supports it).

Modern mobile devices with up-to-date Chrome based browsers support Web NFC. Also some Kiosk browsers have support, that needs to be enabled (see below).

Barcode via USB scanner

Receives codes from an attached USB barcode reader.

A simple “text” input field, which relies in the scanner to send the code including ENTER.

Barcode via device camera

Tries to read the barcode via an attached camera and javascript. Needs the Code format to be configured correctly.

THIS MODE IS DEPRECATED AND SHOULD NOT BE USED ANY LONGER.

It has severe limitations and should ONLY be used for test purposes. Use a dedicated barcode scanner for production usage.

FAQ

NFC Scanning Differences

There are important differences between how NFC is handled in different environments:

• Chrome/Web browsers with JavaScript NFC: Scans and returns the NFC chip ID
• Kiosk Browser: Scans and returns the chip’s stored value (the actual data written to the chip)

This difference is crucial when setting up your NFC tokens, as you need to ensure the stored value matches what your Kimai configuration expects.

Kiosk apps for Android

Many Kiosk apps exists and we did not test all of them. Most important requirement is support for Web NFC, in case you use NFC tokens.

Those apps all work the same way: they restrict access to a configured URL, in our case to the “Kimai Kiosk Login page”.

Usually you set-up a password to access the app settings and to exit the app and get back to your Tablet, e.g. for accessing the system settings.

Fully Kiosk Browser

Type: Paid
Download: Google Play

Required setup steps

This app does not submit the scanned code automatically, but you can easily fix it by adding a bit of Javascript code (only available in paid “Plus” version).

Inject Javascript

setTimeout(function() {
    if (window.location.pathname.indexOf('/auth/kiosk/code') === -1) {
        return;
    }
    
    const field = document.getElementById('barcode_login_form_code');
    if (!field) {
        return;
    }
    
    let timer = null;
    
    field.addEventListener('input', function() {
        // stop running timer
        if (timer) {
            clearTimeout(timer);
        }
        
        // start a new timer, submit 800ms after the last char was typed
        timer = setTimeout(function() {
            if (field.value.length > 0) {
                var btn = document.querySelector('button[type="submit"]');
                if (btn) { btn.click(); }
            }
        }, 800);
    });
}, 1000);

ALLNET Fullscreen Browser

Type: Free
Download: Google Play

Kiosk Browser

Type: Paid
This app also calls itself “Android Kiosk” sometimes.

Download: www.android-kiosk.com

Resolving NFC Scan Issues

If you experience NFC scanning issues with Android-Kiosk, the following solutions can help:

Screen Stay-On Configuration

The “Screen on while device plugged in” setting can cause NFC scanning problems. This setting maps to the global stay_on_while_plugged_in setting (bitmask):

• 1 = AC power
• 2 = USB power
• 4 = Wireless charging
• Combine values to enable multiple power sources (e.g., 7 = AC+USB+Wireless)

Check current setting:

adb shell settings get global stay_on_while_plugged_in

• If it prints nothing or 0, the feature is off
• Otherwise you’ll see a number like 1, 2, 3, 4, or 7

Enable for all power sources (recommended):

adb shell settings put global stay_on_while_plugged_in 7

Verify the change:

adb shell settings get global stay_on_while_plugged_in

Refresh Configuration

To avoid issues where “scanning NFC works, but not inputting in input field”, configure Android-Kiosk to refresh on idle every 30 minutes. This helps maintain proper NFC input functionality over extended periods.

Permissions

By default, these are assigned to each user with the role ROLE_SUPER_ADMIN.

Credits

The following libraries are used when using barcodes with the Kiosk mode:

• Barcode scanning: https://github.com/ericblade/quagga2 (Version: 0.0.18, License: MIT)
• Barcode generation: https://github.com/metafloor/bwip-js (Version: 2.0.6, License: MIT)