Jomres Desktop Companion
From Jomres v4 manual
Contents |
Introduction
The Jomres Desktop Companion (JDC) is a Windows application that is designed to work in conjunction with a remote, live, Jomres installation. It will give you the user the ability to view room availability without having to log onto the Jomres server itself.
Note that this application is currently an experiment. Whether or not it will be extended/improved/dropped depends very much on feedback provided by our users so if you like it, say so. If you hate it, say so. If you don't use it, say nothing. We'll get the message.
Rationale
The Companion is actually a model of a device specific (eg. PC/Mobile phone) application which is intended as a guide for mobile and remote app developers who want to build their own apps to talk with Jomres and need a jumping off point. In itself, the Companion model, which is built in PHP before being converted to the Windows application, isn't intended for use on devices.
How to use it
Unzip the download and run the .exe file to install it to your Windows desktop. Once it's been installed you'll be able to run it from your start menu or a desktop icon.
When JDC first runs it'll ask you for your remote server's url and the manager's API key. Assuming that you've installed the API plugin then you should see a new connectivity icon in the Manager's toolbar on your Jomres installation. Click on it to be given your site's connection url and your manager's API key. If the API key is empty you will need to generate a new key, which can be performed (currently) via the Edit Profile area in the administrator area of Jomres. Once you're viewing/editing a profile you'll be able to click a link to generate a new key (note, this feature is new for 4.2.2 so you may need to upgrade to get it). A future version of the API functionality should add the option to regenerate the key via the connectivity button mentioned previously.
Getting started
The first time JDC runs it'll communicate with your remote (Jomres) server using your manager's API key to get your manager's property API keys. How long this takes is dependant on a few things, ie the speed of your PC, the speed of your connection to the remote server, the speed of the remote server itself and the number of rooms and bookings already on that server.
The main page of JDC is the Dashboard. It (currently) offers three tabs : Some graphs that chart the number of arrivals and departures of all bookings, a bookings overview for the next year, and a dropdown that allows you to switch your active property.
Additionally it offers an Edit Description button which uses a lightweight WYSIWYG editor to edit the properties description and a Book Rooms button you can use to remotely blackbook rooms on the property.
To minimise bandwidth usage the JDC uses a caching system, so the information in JDC may not always be up to date (the cache updates every ten minutes or so or when you switch to a new property if that property hasn't been queried for a while). If you need to manually trigger an update you can use the "resync" button in the main menu of the application.
All of the options in the application should be self explanatory, but if you have any questions, please feel free to voice them on the forum.
Troubleshooting
In the event that you forgot to install the API plugin to your Jomres installation before using JDC, or if you simply want to clear your data, you can do that by navigating to you JDC folder (for example C:\Program Files (x86)\Jomres Desktop Companion) and deleting the /temp folder. This will cause JDC to re-request your manager's API key and pull down any new data.
Source Code
JDC's source code is available once you've purchased the JDC download however be aware that JDC itself is built using a non-GPL, non-free application called "ZZEE PHP GUI" (http://www.zzee.com/php-gui/) to build the executable (if you wish to rebuild JDC you'll need to source that separately) and Inno setup http://www.jrsoftware.org/ to build the setup file.
