Center Stage Software Forum

We give up - temporarily (no replies)

bruce — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 11:30:10 -0600

A couple things have become apparent:
1. The SIM interface (with encrypted card swipes) is not suitable for a desktop interface.
2. The VPOS interface is incomplete and Authorize.net has no announcements that they are getting it ready.
3. The Microsoft browser control used by the SIM interface is not ready for prime time either. And, there is very little documentation available.
4. There are companies that certify our customers for PCI compliance. In the default configuration, Wintix has no problems.
5. Wintix has been changed to not allow either IC Verify or PC Charge.

So, why not use the old-fashioned AIM interface? Life will be much easier for everyone.

Correspondence with a payment processor (no replies)

bruce — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 10:28:40 -0700

Dear

As we discussed on the phone, I have 2 questions. Both of them relate to PCI compliance and falling out of scope.

First question: We have changed out software to use the SIM interface for Authorize.net. Because our software does not "process, store or transmit" any credit card information, it falls out of scope. That is what we want. However, it seems that our customers need to switch from a retail type merchant account to an e-commerce account.
A) How much time does that take to switch account types?
B) Will the customers have any change in their discount rate?

Second question: We have been debating leaving in the old AIM interface as an option. We know this is not a good idea. However, the application conforms to the "Best practices" requirements. We are confident that it would be certified if we wanted to submit it to a QSA.

Most importantly, if the SIM interface does not work, our customers could use the AIM interface. They would not be put out of business.

The question is, "How serious a violation is it if a non-certified (but still secure) application handles credit card transactions?"

Please let us know.

Bruce Rowe
Center Stage Software

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Hi Bruce,

I'll see if I can help on these:

1) Understood.
a) About a day or so.
b) If they were on a retail (card swipe) rate structure before, they will move from card swipe "retail" rates to mail order / internet rates. The cost increase is usually about 50 basis points or so for the base rates.
2) I think leaving AIM is a pretty necessary option. I'm not sure of Visa's rules and penalties related to non-certified software applications. Are you already working with a QSA?

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I responded:

Ouch. "50 basis points" translates to .5%. Plus, there is an increase in the per transaction charge of 20¢ to 25¢. I guess that comes from not being able to use cardswipes. Well, we can't do anything about it.

By the way, Authorize.net will not accept a card swipe. Why don't you? You could do it either with a separate page for our software to go to. Or, you could use a little javascript to sense that the card number was scanned. It would not be difficult. And, it would give you a feature you could advertise.

> 2) I think leaving AIM is a pretty necessary option. I'm not sure of Visa's rules and penalties related to non-certified software applications. Are you already working with a QSA?

Any dealings with sensitive data is done on Authorize.net's site. All we are dealing with is the information that Authorize.net sends back. This is basically the authorization and reference number.

Therefore, we do not fall under the PCI purview.

Thank you for the information. Have a good weekend.

Bruce Rowe
Center Stage Software

Current news (2 replies)

bruce — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 11:32:35 -0700

The update has come out. It has not been as simple as planned. However the conversion is well within your capabilities. Here is a list of the changes:

* Wintix no longer supports IC Verify
* Wintix no longer supports PC charge
* There is no way to 'fool' Wintix and force it to encrypt and save card numbers. That section has been removed.
* The field cardnumber is still part of the credit card log. However, it only contains the first digit and the last 4 digits. Everything else is asterisks.
* There is a new payment type: Authorize.net SIM - PCI DSS compliant. This payment type will bring up Internet Explorer and automatically connect with Authorize.net. The card number, expiration and CVV2 will be entered there. The authorization and transaction ID are automatically entered in the credit card log and the sales record. From our testing, we have discovered that this SIM interface is at least as fast as the AIM interface.
* The current method of processing credit cards, AIM, will remain. However, it will have a warning that it is not PCI DSS compliant. The reason for this is that the SIM interface requires an e-commerce account. Switching from a retail account to an e-commerce account may take a little while. We do not want to leave our customers unable to collect money. Wintix5 does conform to the "Best practices" guidelines (http://developer.authorize.net/resources/files/developerbestpractices.pdf). What Wintix does not have is the certification. In other words, you can continue using the AIM method with confidence and proper security.

This all sounds well and good. To some extent, it is "security theatre." An absolutely secure Wintix will not help unless all the other guidelines of the PCI Security Standards are followed. In particular, keystroke loggers, are a common form of malware. Other items are personnel issues and physical security.

We wish business was not like this. Like most everyone else, we just want to do our job and serve our customers.

These requirements are now a part of any organization that handles money. Along with backing up and balancing the daily sales, taking care of security is now part of the job.

Let us know if you have any more questions.

Queries we have collected (no replies)

bruce — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 16:44:54 -0600

The following are queries we have collected during the time we have been using MySQL as a back end. Some of them bay be helpful to you.

The easiest place to enter them is in Mailing list | Generate a mailing list | Export email

* I need a list of everyone who came to more than 5 shows in the last 2 years:
This query is part of Wintix now. Click on Reports | Other reports | Count of performances attended

* What day of the week is the busiest:
select dayname(today_date) as day, sum(total_tix) as tix, sum(total_sale) as sales from mainsale where today_date > '2010-10-01' group by dayofweek(today_date);

* What time do you get your sales:
select hour(today_time) as Hour, sum(total_tix) as Tix, sum(total_sale) as Sales from mainsale group by hour(today_time);

* What month is the busiest:
select monthname(today_date) as Month, sum(total_tix) as Tix, sum(total_sale) as Sales from mainsale group by month(today_date);

* What week of the year are you the busiest:
select weekofyear(today_date) as Month, sum(total_tix) as Tix, sum(total_sale) as Sales from mainsale group by weekofyear(today_date);

* Historical data from Oldsales - by year
select year(today_date) as Year, lpad( format(sum(total_tix),0),6, ' ') as Tix, lpad(format(sum(total_sale),2),13, ' ') as Sales from oldsales group by year(today_date) order by today_date;

* Historical data from Oldsales - by year and month
select year(today_date) as Year, monthname(today_date) as Month, lpad( format(sum(total_tix),0),6, ' ') as Tix, lpad(format(sum(total_sale),2),13, ' ') as Sales from oldsales group by month(today_date), year(today_date) order by today_date;

* All sales within a date range for both mainsale and oldsales

( select master.event_type, show_date, show_time, showname, theatre, location, total_tix, total_sale,
customer.first, customer.last, company, address, customer.city, state, zip, phone, email
from mainsale
left join master on mainsale.master_id=master.master_id
left join customer on mainsale.customer_id=customer.customer_id
where today_date >= '2006-12-05' and today_date <= '2009-12-04')
union
(select oldmaster.event_type, show_date, show_time, showname, theatre, location, total_tix, total_sale,
customer.first, customer.last, company, address, customer.city, state, zip, phone, email
from oldsales
left join oldmaster on oldmaster.master_id=oldsales.master_id
left join customer on oldsales.customer_id=customer.customer_id
where today_date >= '2006-12-05' and today_date <= '2009-12-04')
order by last, first

Version 6 improvements (no replies)

bruce — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 12:10:29 -0600

Here's what has changed:
Unlimited prices (version 5 was limited to 48 fixed prices plus unlimited special prices plus comps)
Unlimited payment types (version 5 had 10 ways to collect money in a separate field. If more payment types were needed, the pay types would be put in the pay10 field).
More options for each price. Now, each price has:

Each show has 2 additional options:
Display an opportunity to donate on the final page
Send an emailed notification a specific number of days before the performance

How to Discount a Single Performance (1 reply)

jeremyhoff — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 10:48:45 -0600

Howdy,

Is it possible to discount a single performance for a show?

Thank you,
-jeremy h.

iPhone Application for Show Information and Ticketing (3 replies)

DaleR — Wed, 04 May 2011 23:18:47 -0600

Hello iPhone Users and Theater Administrators,

RE: Show Information and Ticket Purchases

An iPhone application is in development that utilizes RTT provided by Center Stage. The app, utilizing RTT, updates itself as the app restarts. The listing below details some of the features that are already released or currently in development. Input on what you, or others, would like to have included in the app, as well as any difficulties encountered would be appreciated.

Currently, the Cascade Theatre of Redding California has a version out on iTunes for free. Check it out at: View in App Store.

iPhone App details:

Again, please feel free to suggest what you would like to see in the iPhone app.

Dale Reed

Software Updates (no replies)

bendru — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 12:54:24 -0600

Software update announcements for Center Stage Software's Version 5 product line.

Wintix5

Tixsales5

MinTix5

Webtix5

RTT

ScanTix

After first year with V5 Wintix and Webtix (no replies)

Phillip — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 14:55:16 -0600

After one year here at Big Top Chautauqua, bigtop.org, I have nothing but praise for wintix and webtix. Though it took some effort and careful work up front (be careful to think through all the possible pricing and seating plan scenarios) once done, the systems worked very well. I am happy to share some worksheets we developed for setting up. Because our facility is a tent with an irregular layout, I'd venture our setup was a little more demanding than some venues. This very first year, Webtix sold just over 50% of our 7212 transactions, and captured emails 100% of the time! Now we have perfect mailing list data for all new sales including emails tied to sales data so we can save on our efforts to contact our customers and know we have good data. Phillip

Manoa Valley Theatre in Honolulu, HI (no replies)

diane — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 20:32:35 -0700

In case you're in Hawaii, or want to find a reason to go - READ THIS!! This is one of our customers who has just upgraded to Wintix version 5 and the Webtix rental.

HONOLULU (March 3, 2010) - "We are very excited about the just completed upgrade to our online ticket sales system," MVT producing director Dwight Martin announced today. Customers will find it easier to transact their online ticket purchases and the MVT box office "will never be closed" for customers who favor self-directed, no hassle purchasing.

Online ticket purchases are available through Manoa Valley Theatre's website at manoavalleytheatre.com. By clicking on "buy tickets" on the homepage, customers are taken directly to MVT's ticket database where purchases can be made "operator free" at any time of the day, night, weekdays or weekends. No more snags from purchasing sold-out performances, and no more 72-hour advance purchase requirement for online buys.

Of course, MVT's helpful and friendly box office personnel continue to be available by phone or at the walk-up window to assist customers during established box office hours.

The website ticket purchase module offers the following opportunities:

* purchase tickets when most convenient for you
* learn immediately of sold-out performances
* see hold-over performances the moment they go on sale
* see special promotional prices as they are available
* watch "sold out" performances yourself for availability of exchanged tickets
* receive your ticket order receipt immediately from the website to confirm your transaction

Flex-pass holders please note: Flex-pass redemptions do still necessitate a phone call to one of our box office clerks for processing.

Tickets to Hair (March 4-21), Sleuth (May 20-June 6) and Once Upon One Time (July 8-25) are available online starting immediately.

"We hope our online customers are pleased with these improvements," Martin stated. "We're always trying to enhance our customer service and we feel this upgrade will very positively impact our customers online purchasing experience."

Constructive customer feedback is always welcomed as we continually strive to make improvements to our system and our box office services. Call MVT at 988-6131 or email businessoffice@manoavalleytheatre.com.

MVT's computerized box office system has been developed by Center Stage Software in Seaside, California (www.centerstage.com).

"Manoa Valley Theatre...a wonderful way to spend the evening!"

Big Top Chautauqua's early observations (1 reply)

Phillip — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 14:47:27 -0700

We've now just begun using Webtix and the results are very preliminary as we've had little time to announce it's existence to our patrons. With just 4 of our 50 show lineup available for sale, Webtix sales amount to 56% of total sales. We are delighted that this effort is proving itself from the start to be an incredible tool that will save us untold dollars forever into the future.

The site is at: bigtoptickets.org

New Webtix user on line (1 reply)

Phillip — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 16:58:03 -0700

Lake Superior Big Top Chautauqua (BTC) has just begin use of Webtix. After working with Center Stage Software's Tixsales and Wintix products since about 1994, we had added this fine complement to our box office operations and are very excited at the obvious benefits of this product. BTC was established in 1986 as a non-profit and as such has a critical need for referential integrity between our customers, donations, sales data and addresses including email addresses. With Webtix, following a lookup using the customer's phone number, they, not BTC, will forever be upgrading contact information with a necessary accurate email address. This greatly enhances our ability to builld and execute individual targeted email campaigns based on the purchasing and donation behavior of our decades-old customers. Yahoo!

Alternatives to "FormChoice" for custom info gathering (2 replies)

jeremyhoff — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 16:56:05 -0700

I notice the formchoice option in the docs for drop-down lists.

Does Webtix support the collection of free text, such as an additional name field? We have an event where we would like to collect the names of each person in the party for purchasers who purchase more than one ticket. Essentially this is a

Venue management (no replies)

bruce — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 04:40:15 -0600

We are working on the venue registration and editing section. If you are interested in looking at it, go to [centerstageticketing.com]
Either email us your comments or post them here.

Clever use of images on the seating chart (1 reply)

bruce — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:27:31 -0700

One of our persistent questions is how to best display seats on a chart. Albert of eStockton has come up with one of the best solutions to date.

He did a couple things:
Make the grid for the seats 2 pixels wider on each side
Find images that made sense to him and do a few modifications.
He made them a transparent gif's. That way, the underlying colors would show through the images.
He used these images to display the available seats.
When a seat is selected, the displayed image changes to a solid bright yellow.

Take a look at: [boxoffice.estockton.com]

How to best handle Shows with hundreds of performances (1 reply)

mashpd — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 05:07:21 -0600

We are about to pick up a new contract that involves sketch/improv comedy.... so it is basically just the same show done 4 times a week, every week. Of course each performance is different because it is improv. Has anyone handled a situation similar to this? On the webtix side of the equation I am worried that it would be difficult for an online buyer to select this show only to have a list pop up that is ten miles long making the selection process of a performance seem overwhelming just because there would be so many performances. I have considered breaking the performances down into "show months" or possibly performing a phased creation of performances having only 3 months of viable performances at a time, and then at the beginning of each month adding a new month of performances to the existing show. On the wintix side of the equation, I am worried about the parsing of massive amounts dates and information. If anyone has some thoughts about their experiences, please share.

Best Method for Reserved Seating? (1 reply)

jeremyhoff — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 15:37:35 -0600

For a couple of our performances we reserve a section of seats for a special group. The seats are only purchased at the box office window so that we are certain to collect the proper information and get the purchaser the correct seats. The problem is that there are dozens of seats reserved, but we sell them only a few at a time?

What is the best way to handle this?

Currently the seats are reserved, and when someone arrives that qualifies for the seats we return the quantity of seats needed and then re-sell them. Perhaps there is a simpler way?

Suhosin - a definite problem? (1 reply)

jeremyhoff — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:46:24 -0700

Just curious if anyone is running PHP w/ the Suhosin patch successfully. Given the option we'd rather use Suhosin, but if it will _definitely_ cause issues we will live without it. Thank you!

Real Time Ticketing? (1 reply)

jeremyhoff — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 15:29:35 -0700

Please tell me about Realtime Ticketing.

Improvements in Wintix 5 - the changelog (no replies)

bruce — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 22:45:32 -0700

This is a list of the improvements in Wintix version 5.

*7/2/07
* SeasonTx now saves Percent_SC
* SeasonTx has the Internet options button
* SalesRec will save the amount in each pay category
* New options to login: if the login is blank, it will be prompted for it - just like the password.
*7/5/07
* ShowInternetOptions saves the data.
*7/7/7
* Support for the merchants table added so multiple merchants would be used for credit card charging
* Affected ShowEdit and SeasonTx
*7/10/7
* InactiveNames is working.
*7/11/7
* SalesRecTixPrintAll.Init() will accept nulls as mainsale.TixPrnDate
* New form: Merchant data - for the data for unique merchant accounts
*7/12/7
* There is an out of balance report for the run of a show now.
*7/14/07
* proRptUnpaidReservation forms is working and in the Tixpro menu.
*7/16/07
* Customer reports by account and name now ordered by sale number
*7/21/7
* rptCustName and rptCustAcct display the abbrev with "*" + abbrev if from Oldsales
* History.scx displays the abbrev with "*" + abbrev if from Oldsales
* ListEdit.HistoryButton will count the records before going to the History form.
* AboutWin.UpdateSeatsRemaining generates a list of the results - with percentage sold out.
*8/15/7
* Report for the list of clerk permissions is working
*8/22/7
* SaleRunningTotal form was not displaying the current sale because it was not in the mainsale table.
* ShowEdit and PerfEdit were not displaying properly if there was a null value in the show_date field.
* SalesRec credit card was displaying as NULL if the card was null. Now, if isnull(audit.cardnumber),
* the field will be displayed as mainsale.cardnumber.
*8/23/7
* SaleNewST - going back to page 1 needed to display the list of ST
* SaleHistory.scx displays the Oldsales history
* Performance dates where isnull(show_date) can be sold and edited
* rptShowOutOfBalRun needed to include the SC and donation in the report
*8/28/7
* SalesRec would attempt to display a NULL if shows.show_date=NULL
* Daysales1PayType and rptDailyWhatPayTypes are working now.
* Newuser form now copies over another users permissions when requested
*8/29/7
* Domain permissions are working when selling tix.
* Sales for the run of a show and performance have PayTypeDisp() added at the bottom
*9/1/7
* Class perfchoice of generic.vcx now uses glOrderedChoice (if true) and uses DomainShows()
* This class is used as part of season ticket sales when adding performances and in the reporting.
*9/4/7
* There now is a generic search feature as part of the mailing list lookup
* The Heic galaxy galaxyheic0602.jpg no longer shows up by default. It can be anything.
*9/5/7
* ShowInternetOptions has a new button: Webtix check. This checks for a show being ready for sale on the internet.
* It checks: domain, price codes, pay types, performances, performances on sale.
*9/7/7
* Added an alt-K to the menu for logging out and in.
* New form: TixPrintTheHouse
*9/10/7
* MultiCharts are working in SaleNew and SaleNewQuick, rptPerf.
*9/11/7
* Cancelling a sale sets the visible amounts to zero as well as the mainsale table.
*9/13/7
* Run of show, performance, and Daily sales reports have had their built-in reports changed.
* The red background has been replaced with the regular background and 2 fields.
* This was done for speed.
* Daily sales for 1 clerk has the regular reporting button.
*9/19/7
* When editing a customer's record, the program checks for a sale history and allows it to be attached to another name
*9/21/7
* Audit trail in a sales record can be printed now.
*9/27/7
* Returning a sale - lookup by sale number checks for the sale date being consistent with the permissions
* when the domains are on.
*9/27/7
* Returning a sale - lookup by sale number checks for the sale date being consistent with the permissions
* when the domains are on.
*9/28/7
* EditByName now lists the show date and time in the list.
*9/29/7
* Option to save the credit card numbers is initialized as false. The option is a checkbox in InitMenu
* with a note that "you must be PCI compliant"
*10/3/7
* Wintix menu - Changed name of Seats remaining report to Seating chart count.
* rptPerfSumm, got rid of the call to UpdateRemaining(). Replaced it with an update SeatsRemaining with
* capacity-sum(total_tix). This field existed already and using it resulted in a major improvement in speed.
* rptPerfSumm can go to a spreadsheet
* SaleNew.FinalPage.Activate(10) now accounts for null show_date fields
*10/4/7
* Both the seating chart and performance report have a new function UnmatchingSeats() to check if the seats
* are orphaned.
* rptSeatsRemaining has a progress bar that uses PCDone()
* fProcess gets the seat list from the chart instead of aSeats. This eliminates a lot of code and also make the
* sales record reflect the price and categories that actually are on the chart.
*10/5/7
* K_SH_F11 - History of the sale now goes the the sale double-clicked on
* Went through the forms that called the Pending_Sales table and put all the work in the functions.
*10/22/7
* Adding a new performance will pick up the prices and chart from the first performance entered.
*10/23/7
* In MailLook, put an order by in the lookup by company.
*10/26/7
* Finished the delivery method stuff. Now, the delivery method can be entered, edited, put in as part of a
* sale, edited when in a sales record. There are 2 reports by day and 2 by performance.
* We'll see if the gang can figure out to use it for.
*11/2/7
* QuickChoice displays only the shows that have performances on sale. Respects the password permissions
* and domains also. That way, the only shows that show up are the ones that have something for sale.
*11/5/7
* Best available selection is working now in Quick sale. It always was working however the messages after
* seats were rejected appeared that it was not working.
*11/6/7
* If an ODBC error occurs while writing the sales information, the error will be displayed.
*11/7/7
* GL_Codes report includes the donation and service charges now.
*12/1/7
* New report: report | by Day | Clerks | What shows were sold - 1 clerk
*12/3/7
* Editing performance dates will replace any null values of OnSale and OffSale
*12/4/7
* Database name and login is included in the error handling
*12/12/07
* Daily report for 1 show was not appending records if sent to a file.
* Would only happen the second time it was called.
*12/16/7
* PlanNew creates plans now as InnoDB instead of ISAM
*12/21/7
* Performance summary report has a little more space for the show_date field.
*12/22/7
* About Wintix form can maximize - for the updating report
* WhatShows report now sums the categories and creates a relational link with the master and shows tables.
*1/1/8
* Report formats get saved to a new table: report_formats. This was done so everyone could use the same
* reports - no matter where they are.
* Daily sales, run of show, and performance reports have credit cards totaled.
*1/2/08
* SeatPrint() no longer returns "No seats on chart" if there is no chart attached to the performance
* Daily report for 1 show has red bars if there is unmatching seats (it was black).
*1/3/8
* What Shows report put the performances in chronological order properly when the box is checked.
*1/6/8
* Data connection section has the option to quit or try again.
*1/7/8
* CardTotalDisplay and DayCardTotalDisplay have "Discover" instead of "Diner's club"
*1/8/8
* AboutWin now displays 2008 as the copyright date. Environment button also closes the form after clicking.
*1/15/08
* A new show has the option to add the domainlist to the new shows
* A new performance has the question, "That was the first performance. Want to enter the prices?
*1/20/08
* ListAllShows stays open after a show is selected.
*1/23/08
* MaillistGenerate checks to see if anything is returned.
* Menu code: going to last sale checks to see if anything is found.
* ListEdit has buttons to allow skipping in the customer file
*1/24/08
* ShowNew will copy comain permissions now.
*1/25/08
* PerfEdit.Init has bee changed. If chart=1, capacity and seats remaining are disabled
* (information there comes from the tables) Seats remaining and capacity are enabled with
* information coming from a query.
* Updating the shows table in ShowEdit can handle .null. values in Perfinfo1 and Perfinfo2 fields.
* UpdateRemaining and a few other queries now check for .nulls.
*2/3/08
* Put in a check for isnull( total_tix ) in CatDisp(96) for an occasional error
* Added Show, cShow, cTheatre, and cLocation to rptPerf for all the old special report formats
*2/5/08
* CardTotalDisplay and DayCardTotalDisplay have a line for the totals.
* MaillistIncidents form would not add a record if there was an apostrophe in the last name.
*2/7/08
* SalesRec has the numeric field for publicity_codes_id replace with a label and a square button
*2/16/8
* Wintix.mnx has an option to open any file. Defaults to "\Tix7\Output"
* MaillistGroupSetup has been overhauled to write changes as they are written rather than saving at
* the end of the editing.
*2/18/08
* Put letters in the price codes in DomainList for easier referencing.
*2/20/08
* Download an update is working in Help | About Wintix. It requires a right-click in the gray box.
* New program: StartWintix5.exe This is a pre-program that starts Wintix. Its purpose is to check for an
* update to wintix5 (wintix5.new). If the update exists, then steps occur:
* Wintix5.new is checked for size
* Wintix5.old is erased
* Wintix5.exe is renamed to Wintix5.old
* Wintix5.new is renamed to Wintix5.exe
* The new Wintix5 starts.
* This is a long-awaited improvement. StartWintix5.exe will need to be put into the same subdirectory
* as Wintix. The Wintix5 icon will need to be changed to point to StartWintix5.exe instead of Wintix5.
* We'll see how it works out.
3/5/08
* Changed Sales record to not move the tabs while skipping records.
* Adding a new show gives the options to copy domain permissions, price cats, and special tix formats.
*3/6/08
* New form: Look up a sales record by a generic search.
*3/7/08
* Generate a mailing list now has options for the fields to be copied and an added options for searching.
*3/15/08
* Put in new variables in ccProcessing.prg from the "Card Present" guide - for Authorize.net
* x_market_type && retail
* x_device_type && personal computer
* x_response_format && delimited (not XML)
*3/17/08
* SaleNew: Another transaction with Different person, same perf was giving a message, "Nothing available"
* then displaying the dialog to select a show.
*3/31/08
* Generic searchclass will search for character fields if "is blank."
*4/2/08
* Generic Searchclass now has the option "is not empty" for character searches.
* When a "local DBF file" is opened, there is now a menu choice to remove duplications.
*4/3/08
* When a "local DBF file" is opened, there are now a menu choices to view the file
* as a spreadsheet and export as a CSV file.
*4/6/8
* Finally got the MaillistGenerate form working with queries for the sale dates in the mainsale and
* oldsales files with a generic query.
*4/12/08
* ShowEdit and SeasonTx are sensitive to the different width price fields. Done for the 6 decimal places used in Tennessee
*4/19/08
* Class quickchoice OF c:\tix7\libs\generic.vcx uses the option glCountRemaining to force an update of the
* seats remaining by summing the mainsale.
*4/21/08
* ShowInternetOptions has a new page to edit the master.emailform for a custom emailed receipt.
*4/22/08
* Planedit has a field to enter and save the map_coordinates - for multicharts.
*4/26/08
* Made the Download update button visible in AboutWin
*5/10/08
* Got the scantix form working for bar coded tickets.
*5/13/08
* Put the Coffee bean graphic in the project so it could be a background.
*5/14/08
* Made the seats remaining report re-sizeable. Done for the operations that have lots of performances
*5/15/08
* Changed TixprintByPerf, SalesRecTixprintAll and SalesRecTixprintSelected to put TicketNumber on tickets
* The field TicketNumber is a unique field suitable for use with bar coding.
*5/24/08
* Put in 2 reports: rptPayTypeRun and rptPayTypePerf
*6/7/08
* Put in support for gcMarketType in InitMenu for AuthorizeNet
*6/16/08
* Put in a test for the ticket format being opened on another computer before opening it for modification.
* CardTotalDisplay(), PayTypeDisp(), and CatDisp() will give answers now when using the Oldsales files.
*6/21/08
* rptDailyWhatShows1Domain sorts the report by abbrev - request of Jamye
* NewAbbrev and ShowNew no longer accept apostrophes - for saving the data in Webtix.
* Perf is working again - with seating charts
*6/25/08
* BrowseDisp form will order itself according to the column when the header bar is clicked. Also, the
* payx firlds have been replaced by paid. The remo fields have been taken care of with RemoveMemoFields()
* When the report gets ordered, the green bars are turned off.
* Called by rptDaily, rptDaily1Clerk, rptPerf, rptRun, and proRptPerf
*6/26/08
* Clerk field modified to allow clerk lengths > 7. To do this, the length of the clerk field needs to be
* widened in Passlist, Mainsale, and Oldsales. This was done with a new class: generic.ClerkField
*7/1/08
* MailListGenerate automatically includes the Account field now (unless explictly turned off).
* The account field is needed for MailFileSubtract.
* Number of records in the caption taken out - speed improvement
* Limit 1 commands added to the query in MailLook - speed improvement
*7/5/08
* SeasonTix reports supports the oldsales file data
*7/9/08
* SeatPrintChart.prg is part of the program - used for reporting
* SaleGiftCard and rptDayGiftCard are part of the program
*7/10/08
* Removed references to the serial port stuff in SaleNew, Quick, and ST for the pole display and put
* in a new pole.prg. Done for the USB ports.
*7/15/08
* Finally got the partial exchange working
*7/16/08
* rptDaily1Clerk has options for mainsale, oldsales and both tables
*7/28/08
* Label formats can be downloaded from the report_formats table
* Reportformatcheck() checks for the field's existence. If there are any mistakes, it will report them and
* give an option to attempt printing anyway (it cannot evaluate expressions or commas).
*7/29/08
* Got the DownloadReportFormat working
* AboutWin.scx and StartWintix5 have been changed to handle a zipped file for updates.
*8/11/08
* Added Taxable field to the Payplan form.
*8/16/08
* Daily sales report for 1 Clerk has an option for a time range.
*8/26/08
* Browseing a report changed to have totals in the form itself.
*8/27/08
* SeasonTix reports can go to a spreadsheet in the .\Output folder.
*9/4/08
* Removed references to vfpencryption.fll from AboutWin.DownloadUpdate button. It did not seem to do any good
* and would occasionally crash the program with an Error 1691 Library file p:\tix7\vfpencryption71.fll
* is invalid - in 2003 server.
*9/7/08
* Calculations using shows.percent_sc should be working in all forms now
*9/12/08
* New seating plan screen will stop *some* reserved words from being used. Was causing a problem with MySQL.
* New button when editing a performance to edit the chartdata.
* Abbreviations can no longer include "/\$." because they were interfering with the file systems.
*9/22/08
* SalesRecResToSale uses shows.percent_sc properly
* rptDaily1Clerk had a problem when there were no records found
* rptCustName now has mainsale.account and oldsales.account in the information returned by the query
*9/23/08
* Values message changed to "Use values when editing sales records"
*9/24/08
* QuickSale supports price structures with 6 decimal places in the prices
*9/26/08
* Default changed for the credit card log to include the requests and answers.
* Widened the total of the tix in browsereport a little bit and changed the mask to make the maximum
* number of tickets to be a million.
*10/8/08
* Downloading reports and tickets have an offset calculated between the
* local time and the server time. This is used in determining whether to download an update of not.
* Internet Options button allows loading of images to the master table.
*10/26/08
* SalesReceipt creates and relates to temporary master and shows cursors for use in the custom formats.
* This way, the correct master and shows data will be available for all records in the receipt.
*10/31/08
* Rollover is now officially part of the program.
* rptDaily1Clerk defaults to the current day as the starting and ending date
* rptC_Card defaults to the current day as the starting and ending date
*11/5/08
* Removed AccountCancelButton from SalesRec
* When a sale is cancelled, the code will look for a master record where abbrev = 'Cancelled sale' and put
* that master_id in the cancelled sales record. This way, the cancelled sale will be removed when the
* cancelled sales are purged.
* Gift card reporting works - by day and by customer
*11/11/08
* Zipping and unzipping the report formats in UploadReportFormat and DownloadReportFormat
*11/13/08
* Schedule checks if there is anything returned.
* Abri is integrated - if recover.app exists. Abri will check for memo damage in the reports, tickets and labels
*11/22/08
* SeatsRemaining report has been overhauled. Got rid of some unused properties and a method. Add a check
* if ChartExists() so that it would alert to any missing charts. Got rid of the annoying maximize
* screen after the report is run.
* MultiPerfEdit has a progress bar when a new list of charts is built.
*11/24/08
* AddRec - Returns to the new sale instead of the old one
* Mintix - Saves the order selected in TixGetMulti in a public variable: gnPerformanceOrder
*11/25/08
* proRptTopCustomer will go to a text file, dbf, or spreadsheet
*12/3/08
* rptDonations will go to a spreadsheet, text file, or dbf. It will also display as either summed or itemized
* Report added: DonationsSummed. This report has their total donations and includes the customer's address,
* phone and email.
*12/4/08
* Removing shows also cleans up the audit trail and the cancelled sales.
* New table to keep a permanent record of the credit card data.
*12/18/08
* Removed the option to log the credit card numbers - they will all be logged
*12/23/08
* Overhauled the clerk permission report to make it look better
*12/28/08
* Added SearchByCompany and SearchByPhone forms
*12/30/08
* MailLook has been overhauled to allow apostrophes in the first and last names - when the button is clicked
* New permission: Edit the card number when editing a sale.
* New option in list of user's permissions: set a new password. Only for the sysadm
* Brighter colors in the Pass* forms
*12/31/08
* Off-sale shows can be sold. These are defined as performances where the onsale and offsale are out of
* range. Domain permissions are still active.
* Overhauled the inactive customer removal. New option: keep everyone entered since a specified date.
*1/15/09
* Performance summary report has the default option to not update the seats remaining.
* This resulted in a speed improvement for long lists of performances
*2/11/09
* WhatClerks report has a checkbox to give the credit card totals for each clerk (especially Webtix)
2/16/09
* Out of balance report for a performance has been put in Wintix
* EditByName - has an incremental search
*2/18/09
* Sale labels and customer labels are saved in public variables so that they will default to the
* same label each time.
*2/26/09
* DailySalesReport cWhere query overhauled to use datetimes as part of the times query. Problem was that the
* records would be correct, but not the totals.
*2/27/09
* SalesRec.Page2.ReturnSeats displays a mouse pointer when counting up the seats
*3/3/09
* CatDisp displays the promotional codes in the special price totals
*3/4/09
* Authorize.net is sent the abbrev rather than the showname in the comments.
*3/24/09
* Sales records have a skip in alphabetical order if looked up that way - from EditByName
*3/25/09
* Reports have returns the letter of the category
*3/29/09
* RptDaily Automatically checks “include payment types & card” in rptDaily
*4/1/09
* New code used to make sure the customer's address is not blank.
* TicketDeliveryReport has an option for 1 ticket delivery method
* BoxMenu.scx uses Verdana 10 B as the font instead of Fixedsys.
*4/11/09
* Changed the permission list to match the permissions in Webtix.
* rptDailySummary.scx supports custom reports
*4/21/09
* PoleScroll.prg is working now.
*4/22/09
* Clerks can have longer clerk names - if the passlist.clerk field is wide enough. The default is 7.
* If this option is used, the clerk field must be changed in passlist, mainsale and oldsales.
*4/25/09
* Passuser changed to put permission 51 as the "Webtix - Access the administration page"
* DailySummary does separate summaries for Amex, Visa, MC and Discover.
*5/7/09
* Daily report for 1 Show supports reports for a range of times.
*5/9/09
* Editing a sale will display the audit trail - even if it has been sent to the oldsales tables
* File | Environment form displays the MySQL version()
*5/16/09
* Editing sales, lookup by name list ordered by last, first, sale_num
*5/17/09
* Mintixmain.SalesRec has an option for returning seats with an additional sales record - like Wintix
* proRptAccountsRecieveableBrowseDisp.scx will pay all sales in the list
*5/18/09
* SaleNewST.PayPage - changed the location of the verify card and Swipe card buttons.
*5/21/09
* Mintix will print a receipt at the completion of a sale. To do this, SalesReceipt was overhauled to pull the
* appropriate data from the mainsale and customer tables - even they may not be opened.
* TixPrintTheHouse.scx sorts the seating plan by section, row and plan_id before printing
*5/31/09
* AccountChange will default to a phone number if it is available and Numeric incrementing account is not
* checked
*6/4/09
* Mailing list lookup has a lookup for the the partner's name in addition to customer's name.
*6/10/09
* FTPBackup is working so tables can be posted to an FTP site
*6/11/09
* Backup to a local drive is working. Downloads tables to the .\Data\ and .\Plans subdirectories and zips them.
*6/15/09
* rptDailyWhatShows1Clerk.scx would not set the clerk list to a correct entry when the calendar puchbutton
* was clicked.
*6/17/09
* Adding a new show: appended a record to the master then filled in the data.
*6/18/09
* CashDrawer has a port display same as the PoleDisplay form.
* AddRec will pick up the a_agent, tour_group and exp fields and put them in the added record.
* CardSwipe has a warning for IC_Verify to change the payment to type "credit" if amount to be paid < 0
*6/25/09
* rptdailywhatshows1clerk.scx had a misspelling on the calendar button of the ending date
*7/1/09
* CopyPricesPerf and CopyPricesRun support copying cash_sc and percent_sc
* Deleting a show: put in some progress messages
*7/9/09
* EditBySale.OKtoEdit() has a better message, "Your domain, " + gcDomain + " does not have permission to edit sales for this show"
* CopyPricesPerf supports multiselect. That way, users can copy prices to a range of performances.
*7/22/09
* Mintix.TixGetMulti has a button to display the images
*7/27/09
* EditByName:
* The first 2 letters are limited to 30 names
* Everything else is limited to 250 names (rather than 100)
* First name search works the same as the last name
* A message, "Truncated at 250 names" is displayed in the list
*8/8/09
* Out of balance reports speeded up by downloading and writing only the information when necessary
*8/12/09
* WhatShows report for 1 Domain - added radiobuttons: sort by today_date, performance or none.
*8/12/09
* rptDailyWhatShows1Domain - added radiobuttons: sort by today_date, performance or none.
*8/21/09
* Put in a check in SalesRec before SalesRecResToSale gets called if reccount("mainsale") > 0
* Done to stop an occasional error.
*8/31/09
* Ampersands are no longer allowed in the abbreviation - ShowNew and NewAbbrev
*9/1/09
* TixprintTheHouse now indexes the plan on left(lcPlanName + "_id", 10 ). It has to be this way because
* dbf files can only have 10 characters in the field names.
*9/3/09
* AuthorizeNet.prg and ccprocessing.prg support track 2 data.
*9/8/09
* PlanEdit has a button to update all occurrences of the selected plan.
*9/9/09
* Editing a customer's first or last name while editing a sale also updates the mainsale
*9/15/09
* Put in codes for drawing ascii boxes (single, double, and blocks) into GetPlanData, PlanData, and PlanBlockSelect
*9/22/09
* Catdisp needed to group the special price tix by promocode + spec_price
*9/26/09
* SaleNewQuick checks for !empty(sClerk ) before starting a sale. Done in the menu code.
* This was allowing clerks to start a sale with an empty clerk name
*9/29/09
* Plandata.scx has the OK button as the default - not the cancel button
*10/2/09
* Removed reindex permission from Passuser - no longer needed
*10/10/09
* Mintix: _screen.title put before the MySQL connection is made - thefore there is not a long delay with
* Microsoft Visual Foxpro on the screen.
* Mintix: The download update button is visible
* TixGetMulti: Converting the to a character field message is removed
* Mintix closes with 1 click instead of 2 clicks
* Mintix: TixGetSaleInfoMulti will go back and edit and change a chart in the list.
* Mintix: TixGetMulti puts the percent_sc into the perflist.
* Mintix: The SalesRec.Page1.UpgradeSale button only shows up if the exe is mintix
* SalesRec has the totaltix, totalsale, and totalpaid labels blank until the value is calculated.
*10/15/09
* Perfnew will copy the prices from a selected performance (whatever the light bar is on).
*10/19/09
* RollOver: Put in ability to have a starting and ending price code.
*10/22/09
* PlanReassign can add a row to either the top or bottom of a plan
* PlanEdit.CopyPlan copies a plan and makes the primary key to be autoincrementing.
*10/23/09
* PlanReassign has a warning messagebox before cleaning up the status and price codes.
*10/26/09
* gnPerformanceOrder added to PublicVarCheck() and SaveVars(). This global is in Mintix.TixGetMulti.Init
* to determine how the performances are displayed.
* rptDailySummary has added fields pay1 - 10 if the special ticket format is checked. Done for PF.
*11/4/09
* TixSaleInfoMulti supports printing all tix as 1 print job.
*11/6/09
* Trimmed the clerk field before saving it - Done for the clerk report.
* RptPerf supports sending reports to email or PDF's
*11/10/009
* ListEdit has a checkbox for the Optin_email_list field
*11/16/09
* ShowComments will display nulls as chr(32)'s to allow editing.
* Put an Integrity report in the right-click method of the rptDaily, rptRun and rptPerf.
*11/17/09
* Moved the spec_tix and comps to the tickets tab.
*
*11/23/09
* SalesRec.Page2.Column3.Valid will total the number of tix at the bottom of the page.
*11/30/09
* Integrity reports are implemented on the Daily, run and performance reports. Dione with a right-click on the
* run report button
*12/2/09
* Put in the ability to use the 3.51 ODBC driver again. If left blank, the program will default to the 5.1 driver.
*12/3/09
* MailLook and EditByName have a limit to the number of results returned.
*12/9/09
* InitMenu has the options for numeric accounts and Capitalize mailing list entries on page 3
* ListEdit will put in phone numbers as the default account value - same as version 3
* Incremental searches will go to 10,000 in MailLook and EditByName
*12/18/09
* Put in a backup based on MySQLDump
*12/24/09
* Due to the latest XP service pack, updates to Wintix were not being unzipped. Instead Wintix5.exe was erased
* and the program would not start. This was fixed by changing the download file name to wintix5.dld and
* unzipping that file.
* In order to install the update, users will need to erase the old StartWintix5.exe and rename StartWintix5.new
* to StartWintix5.exe - after doing a download. In order to do the download from Windows Explorer,
* click on Tools | Security | Trusted sites | Sites. Uncheck "Require server verification"
* Add centerstage.com in the website line and click on Add. Close and click on OK. Downloads will work.
* Then, open the wintix5pro.zip file and copy the 3 files out. Erase the old StartWintix5.exe and rename
* rename StartWintix5.new to StartWintix5.exe. Tell everyone to go back to work.
* In StartWintix5.exe, the program is started with the /n option. This has the advantage of not leaving a
* command window open on the task bar.
*12/28/09
* StartWintix5.exe will install a new mysqldump.exe if it does not exist.
*1/4/10
* Added a Prompt for backup. Can be turned off in the Initialization section
*1/11/10
* Wintix.mnx - changed the backup destination to .sql rather than .txt
*1/18/10
* New reporting function: PayTypeDispValue.prg
* This will generate a summary for a show or performance with the values organized by pay type.
*1/19/09
* ListEdit.CancelButton has code to check for the phone, workphone or cell phone being blank if the
* Initialization option is checked
*1/20/10
* ListEdit now has code to accommodate email addresses in a memo field.
*1/27/10
* ListEdit.Page3.Zip2.Valid supports lookups in the ZipCity table
* Added SalesWithInaccurateTotals to the integrity reports
*1/30/10
* Put a choice to use customer.address2 and zip2 as the billing address to be submitted for charging
*2/3/10
* C_Card report now works in Mintix
*2/4/10
* ListEdit.CmdCancel.Click logic changed to case glForcePhone .and. ( empty( Phone ) .and. empty(workphone)
* .and. empty(cellphone))
* This was done to make a phone number in any field be adequate for getting out of the sale.
* Previously, all 3 had to be filled.
*2/11/10
* Put the GiftCardPayment object back into Salenew for Cinnamon @ Hale
*2/15/10
* Put in a display of the spouse first and last in MailLook if the incremental serch was checked and if
* the fields existed.
*2/24/10
* SALECHARTINFO.SALEINFO.CLICK( 42 ) checks to see if the sale exists before going to it.
2/26/10
* LISTEDIT.SAVECHANGES( 13 ) checks for the customer table being selected before writing to it.
* *3/15/10
* Added do ChartlistAuthFieldUpdate to update the chartlist.auth field
*3/18/10
* Overhauled the Scantix form. Now, it only allows for selecting a show and performance then running the report
* Actual scanning is done by ScanTix.war
*3/19/10
* Reset glUseDefaultDialog=.t. in MintixMain. This was done to stop all those messages that Pigeon Forge has
* been sending out.
* Put in a select("Mainsale") at the bottom of SalesRecTixPrintAll.SalePrint() Done to stop an occasional error
* at Artisan.
*3/20/10
* Created the report for ticket scanning
*3/21/10
* Put in a function to populate the auth field with a random and unique
* character string. Done for ScanTix
*3/23/10
* EditByName has an option to search by the partner's last name
* Password section supports saving the language in passlist.stringtable
*4/14/10
* TixprintByDay will print as 1 print job - if possible. If there is a different ticket format, fTixprn
* is forced to use the different format in a different print job.
*4/22/10
* DayCardTotalDisplay uses the total paid instead of the total_sale field.
*4/28/10
* Mintix will take a deposit and put it in an additional sale
* Adding a new show trims the leading and trailing blanks on the proposed abbrev
*5/12/10
* Clerk report will report on one show
* Initmenu: Added the option from page 5 to page 2 glResDepDisp - Display
* reservations and deposits in daily reports Returned the
* reservations/refunds/deposits to the daily sales reports.
*5/19/10
* Adding new names to the customer list will set tixflag to 1. Done for the
* FundRaiser integration
* TixSetup.scx: The Lasertix cursor needed to be selected before the label was
* modified. The print preview works again.
*5/22/10
* New field in the customer table customer.website
*5/26/10
* Converting a reservation to a sale will display the service charge
* calculations easier. Also, there is a choice whether to reserve one or
* all reservations.
* The limit for the number of names returned is saved
*5/29/10
* Season ticket editing has a button for WT_Offsale
*6/1/10
* Editing domains saves its changes with a transaction now.
*6/2/10
* Environment.OKButton.RightClick will display any non-InnoDB tables
* This is necessary for Webtix
*6/4/10
* Cancelling a sale has a caption easier to understand.
* Seating plans can be inverted now
*6/6/10
* Editing a show will not delete a performance if there are sales.
* Internet Options checks the size of the images before adding it to the master table
* Daily, run and performance reports have cursors in the modify custom reports
* to show fields available.
*6/9/10
* Environment.OKButton.RightClick will return a message either way for all
* InnoDB or some non-InnoDB tables
*6/10/10
* Editing sales records by company displays the sales records by show_date
*6/11/09
*6/14/10
* Editing sales records by phone displays the sales records by show_date
*6/15/10
*6/16/10
* EmailExport form supports the data in the mainsale table. The fields are
* under the fieldlist tab.
*6/20/10
* Printing tickets by performance report now has the totals for both
* printed and unprinted tix. And, it as an addition to the header to show
* whether it is for paid or all sales
*6/28/10
* TixprintByDay was not putting in the proper prices if the seats were reserved.
*7/3/10
* Put in try / catch and a message "You must fix this error before the report can be runin a bunch of reports and ticket printing operations.
* ftpBackup has an option to upload everything
* SalesReceipt will attempt to open the proper files for modifying the labels using OpenFiles.prg
* SalesRec has a new parameter: ReadOnly. Called by SaleChartInfo to prevent editing
* SalesRec.ServiceChargeLabel has been moved to the payment page
* SalesRec: fixed a couple display problems if the record was locked
*7/6/10
* Printing unprinted tickets for a day will use the Ticket_delivery system
* Daily sales report will print the payment types at the head of each page
*7/8/10
* Email can be sent to a different port. We will see if it works with GMail.
*7/14/10
* ShowInternetOptions.Page6.Command1,2&3 - Size of graphic increased to 100K.
*7/15/10
* Environment no longer has the disk size (it was inaccurate)
* Environment displays the user's domain
* Editing performances: OnSale and OffSale times needed to be widened.
*7/20/10
* SaleChartInfo allows editing of a sales record depending on permission #12. "Allow editing of a sales record
* while in a seating chart."
*7/22/10
* prorptaccountsrecieveablebrowse had an error if the values were selected. The entire values section was overhauled.
* PlanEdit.ModifyPlanButton will create a new local plan each time. Done because sometimes the plans get re-sized.
*7/23/10
* QuickChoice.List1.refresh was not responding to the sortorder checkbox.
* PlanEdit will add and reduce the number of records as necessary to make the record count = width times the length
*7/27/10
* fTixprn: moved the try/catch for the FGL tix to apply to only the label form commands - nothing else.
*7/29/10
* SalesReceipt will print out Ticket_delivery.
*7/30/10
* AboutWin changed to not display the name of the file downloaded
*7/31/10
* Perfsales report cleaned up a little to display the total sale properly
* CatDisp() cleaned up so the the spec_tix and comps line up properly
* Customer history forms default to read-only sales record editing
*8/2/10
* PlanEdit will remove illegal characters in the plan name. Called by PlanNew and PlanNameGet
*8/3/10
* Performance report has a 4th band to clean up some display problems
* rptSeasonTix checks for a spreadsheet being open before writing to it.
* Accounts Recieveable report will go to a spreadsheet.
*8/15/10
* GenericSearch form will do a search in the inactive table. MailLook will find and display the record
* For FundRaiser, customer records marked for deletion are transferred to the inactive table
* The table inactive is created when the program starts - if it does not exist already.
*8/18/10
* Printing selected tickets makes an entry in the audit trail.
*8/21/10
* Adding a performance will not check other shows when doing a show_date and show_time check.
* Editing a show will display the master_id in the lower left corner if the form is right clicked
*8/23/10
* Reassigning seats works like Tixsales
* PlanNumber starts with 1 rather than val( cPlan.Seat_Collm )
*8/24/10
* OutOfBalance Report will not display the show_date if null()
*8/26/10
* In a chart, the leftmost and rightmost columns no longer display any seat data
* Multicharts will not display a seat image if null
*8/28/10
* Donation report will now get donation reports for the logged in domain.
* Season Ticket report had some display problems in the report forms cleaned up. Will display a text file now.
*8/31/10
* The Wintix menu supports domains when the list of shows is built.
* Domain support is also put in ShowEdit, SeasonTix and ListAllShows.
*9/1/10
* PlanPrint report changed to take out the drive and subdirectory. Instead, put in the server and database.
*9/2/10
* Sales records do not display a .null.
* Setup Receipt has a button to edit the receipt.txt
*9/3/10
* Removed a diagnostic messagebox from TixprintByPerf
*9/8/10
* Seats are listed in the following order: section, row and val(seat)
*9/23/10
* EditByName needed to have a left join instead of an inner join. This makes it possible to look up sales records that
* did not have a matching entry in the customer table.
*9/25/10
* GL_Codes reports now includes custom reports.
*9/28/10
* FTPBackup - Removed the messagebox("Finished backing up")
*
*

The Webtix calculator - a sales pitch (no replies)

bruce — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 17:51:39 -0700

If you don't have Webtix yet, figure out what it is worth to you

Step 1 – Fill in the blanks and figure out what your customers are paying:

___________________________ times _____________ total = _____________
Number of tickets sold on-line per year x charge per ticket

Step 2 – Add the amount you are paying for in-house tickets:

___________________________ times _____________ total = _____________
Number of tickets sold in-house per year x charge per ticket

Step 3 – Add them together:

Total that you and your customers are paying = ____________

Here’s what Webtix will cost:
Software with one year support: $15,000.

Server: $1,500 to $2,500
Internet connection: $50-$150 per month
or
Hosted solution: $50-100 per month
Your cost: ____________________

Advanced work – Subtract the cost of Webtix from what you are paying now

Money you could be saving = ____________

Want to discuss these figures? Give us a call or send some email.

Case study – Saint Norbert College (no replies)

bruce — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 17:34:18 -0700

URL: [tickets.snc.edu]

Problems:
Overworked, understaffed central ticket office
Pressure from Administration to bring down labor costs
Several campus web sites need to be maintained with up-to-date information
A successful hockey team and legions of rabid fans
A complete performing arts schedule with internal departments needing to access reports
External renting presenters also requiring access to reports

Solutions
Center Stage Software, version 5 package
Virtualized Server dedicated to Wintix5 database
Virtualized Server dedicated to Webtix5 scripts
Customized PHP install with Fast CGI
Authorize.net

Results
The system was installed and went live on August 28, 2008. Total cost was $10,750.00. This was defrayed by a $2.00 per order service charge for online orders, and by Christmas, the upgraded system had paid for itself.

Some additional functionality was requested and implemented:
1.Display of Free events – created a unified list of all ticketed and non-ticketed events.
2.Support for iCalendar feed – school is in the process of adopting an open source calendaring solution to unify all calendaring information within the school.
3.Customized Content Management Feed – school uses a content management system to run schools primary website (www.snc.edu) and the customized feed keeps the event listing up-to-date automatically on www.snc.edu/performingarts with links that drive patrons directly into Webtix.
4.Sorting by event type allowed the hockey fans to see only the hockey season. Dance audiences only see dance events.

Now, Wintix is the only program used to maintain the websites – double and triple entry of information had been eliminated. Sales are up. The work the box office staff does is reduced. Administrators are happy that the labor budget fell for the coming year despite the coming increase in minimum wage. The ticket office makes a profit – and is the only department on campus that is able to do so. Presently about 50% of the sales come from the website.

Using Webtix5 with iCalendar (no replies)

bendru — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 09:04:57 -0700

Webtix5 now has an iCalendar data-feed. This feature was added because of numerous client requests.

It is now possible for customers and viewers to import show data, performance data, purchased ticket data onto their personal desktop calendar as a reminder of upcoming events. Rave reviews have been received from users about the new feature. Implemented uses of the iCalendar feature are numerous. Some of the softwares supporting iCalendar are Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Sunbird, Apple iCal, Zimbra, Evolution, plus many others. It has been reported as working on Mac, Linux, BSD, and Windows.

An example client, St. Norbert College, has been able to integrate the Webtix5 iCalendar data-feed into their multi-campus calendar notification system. Students and faculty now have one central location to view their classes, lectures, sporting events, theatricals, musicals, recitals, etc.

Flex pass type of season ticket (no replies)

bruce — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 11:06:17 -0700

We had a question last week that may be of interest to others:

> We sell quite a few Season Packages as a flex package where the patron picks their own performance of each show. We are have no problem selling the package if the patron knows when they purchase which performances they want to see. We simply "add another show" until all six are entered and then print out the tickets. However, most of these patron wait and give us their dates later or sometimes one at a time. We are trying to track these better, so this year when a patron bought a Flex Season Package, we enter the sale and printed out the header which says "2009 Season Ticket. Exchange for one performance to each show in the 2009 season." Now these are beginning to come back in and people want to pick their shows and we are at a loss. Is is possible to retain that original sales number and add shows to that Season Package?
>
> I can't figure out how to get it to work. Ideally we'd like to show that they bought a Season Package AND that they have tickets for all the individual shows.
Probably the easiest way to get this information would be to do a search by name. the customer would appear along with their sales history in the mainsale file. You just need to doubleclick on the sales record to get to the information.

There is an easier way. This means entering an empty date and time for every show (yes, you can do that). No chart will be attached to that performance. Then, set up your flex pass season ticket with the empty performance dates. The empty performances become place holders. That is what you sell the patrons. It works like this:

The patrons will purchase the flex pass season tickets with one or maybe all performances having an empty date. These customers will return wanting to make reservations. You look up the empty date sale for that show. Exchange the date to the proper performance and select the seats. Print the tickets for the customer and you are done.
The slick part of this is that you can get a list of the season ticket holders who have not made reservations. Get a report | by Show | Single performance and ask for the empty date performance.

Any other comments?

Webtix 5 sites (no replies)

bruce — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 15:38:03 -0700

This is not a complete list. It gets updated when asked and when we have the time. If you want your site here, let us know.

Big Top Chataqua: [bigtoptickets.org]

North Central College: [tickets.noctrl.edu]

Venice Theatre: [venicestage.biz]

City of Provo, Parks & RecreationCovey Center for the Arts: [www.coveycenter.org]

Click4Tix: [click4tix.com]
This is a central box office for the (mainly) Seattle area.

History Theatre: [tickets.historytheatre.com]

Theatre Bay Area: [tix.theatrebayarea.org]
The central box office for San Francisco and the Bay Area. They have about 2,500 performances on sale.

Hale Theatre Centre - Arizona: [www.haletheatrearizona.com]
They had a professional overhaul of the Webtix code. The changes are subtle; but they are well done. Also, the photographs are very nice.

Hale Theatre Centre - Orem: [www.haletheater.org]

Saint Norbert:
The main website is: [www.snc.edu]
The ticketing website is [tickets.snc.edu]

Of note:

* The school colors are used
* The events are arranged into different event types
* Each event has a "Show info" button to give more information.
* Each list of performances (showdates.php) has information on the pricing and fees
* The menu for "A Knight on Broadway" is displayed when the customer selects the entree
* Looking up customers by email address and password is implemented
* Collecting donations is implemented
* Ticket delivery method and publicity codes have been implemented
* iCalendar has been implemented and the feed is used at other sites
* Several websites around campus are update from the same source of data. "Wintix is all I need to keep everything updated."

Credit goes to Paul Mashl

Plaza Theatre of Orlando: [www.2gettix.com]

Magic Beyond Belief: [172.16.23.2]

Lakewood Theatre: [lakewood-center.org]

Canton Players: [www.playersguildtheatre.com]

Cascade Theatre: [www.cascadetheatre.org]

Saint Mary’s University: [webtix.smumn.edu]

Shepherd of the Hills: [www.sheptix.com]
A 1,500 seat church

Scheduled emailed reports (4 replies)

bruce — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 22:50:42 -0700

Anyone have any comments?

The test site is: Reporting page

Wintix and Vista (no replies)

bruce — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 12:47:15 -0600

First, Wintix will work on Vista Business or Vista Ultimate. Period.

There seems to be some confusion about Vista. On one hand, computer stores are saying that Vista is all they have. On the other hand, there are stories about users paying to re-format their computers with Windows XP. Both stories are true.

You can still purchase XP - but you need to go where business computers are sold.
HP's website:
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF04a/12454-12454-64287-321860-3328893.html

Dell's website:
http://www.dell.com/content/products/category.aspx/desktops?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd

Whether you get XP or Vista, make sure it is the right edition. This means "XP Professional" or "Vista Business"

Vista will work, but at half the speed of a comparability equipped XP computer. It slows down even further after about 6 months of use. That is the main reason we prefer XP. The compatibility and drivers issues do not seem to be a problem. Most of our customers use pretty standard equipment.

The highly touted "Aero" interface is cute. But that's all. It has no advantages. It's not even original. Sun Microsystems developed a very similar semi-transparent interface for their Glassfish server.

Tip:
Want to save yourself $462? Rather than Microsoft Office, get Open Office (OpenOffice.org). It works pretty much the same as Microsoft Office. It has all the bells and whistles. And, it's free.

Improvements and enhancements (4 replies)

bruce — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 12:28:23 -0600

We have been getting some suggestions for version 5 and I need some help prioritizing. Here are some of the suggestions:

Off sale options: this display an indication as to why an event is off sale
A new price setup with options for on and off sale, with maximum that can be sold in that category
RSS feed: This would be an expansion of the Events page displayed in an XML format.
Scheduled reporting: This would run reports for the promoters once a day and email them their reports
Gift tracking with gifts and donations in a separate table
Service charges and payments in separate tables
Unique publicity codes for each show
Bar coding the tickets and scanning them at the door

What order do you think they should be in? Is there anything left out?

Graphing with Webtix (no replies)

bruce — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:39:32 -0700

This came by my radar this morning. It is a utility to generate graphs from a web site:
[code.google.com]

If you take a look at the page, you will see that all that is done is to pass some parameters to Google. Google process the numbers and generates a graph. You can have line charts, pie charts, bar charts, venn diagrams, and scatter plots.

Wintix now has limited capability to generate graphs. Webtix does not.
1. Would these graphs be useful?
2. What reports would they be used for?
3. What would your clients be interested in?

Bar coding tickets (6 replies)

bruce — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 22:56:29 -0600

We are discussing doing some work on printing tickets with bar codes (easy) and scanning them at the door (a little more interesting). The Ticketmaster system is mentioned as an example. I would like your opinions:

1. How much equipment does each person carry?
2. How many scanners are used for a performance?
3. If one person has a ticket and the other has a photocopy of the ticket and they both go to different entrances, do you insist that the system catch it? This sounds like a silly question. The situation is that in order for bar code scanners to handle this, the must be connected to a central database and validate each scan. Scanners that can do this are considered "hand held computers" and cost about $2,300 each plus the wireless network.
4. How important is it to the theatres that use it?
5. What does it do for the theatres that a torn ticket will not do? In other words, how does it pay for itself?

Thank you for your time and opinions.

Bruce

More information:
Description of Scantix
Demonstration of Scantix (must be set up by us ahead of time)