Customization of FirstSpot

hsobers · Joined: 16 Mar 2006 Posts: 14

Hi, I have 2 questions as it pertains to customizing the FirstSpot software- customizing for printing and customizing for the log-on page.

We've just setup the software and it seems to be working wonderfully thus far. We however would like to do some customization in the following ways:

(1) Printing- We would like to provide our guest with a ticket containing their username and password along with other text that we would like to change from time to time, such as the wireless WPA key, SSIDs to use and so on. How can we go about doing this?

(2) Default home page- We would like to change the default home page of the FirstSpot, to show an image of our hotel along with other information such as text, such as disclaimers.

Can you tell me if these 2 things are possible, and if they are, how can they be done.

Thanks.

alan · **Forum facilitator** Joined: 26 Sep 2003 Posts: 4435

1) you can use the QuickAdd feature and customize it

2) you can change the default login page in the UI Customization category of Configuration Manager. Refer to Chapter 5 of firstspot_guide.pdf if you want deeper customization.
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hsobers · Joined: 16 Mar 2006 Posts: 14

Thanks Alan- however, the quick add feature doesn't help me directly. It does indeed allow me to print the username and password, however, it doesn't allow me to print additional information on the ticket. I would like to print information on the ticket such as telling the guest what SSID to connect to, the network key to use and other information from time to time.

Also, another question: we've deicided to go ahead and purchase this software. As we have the trial installed and working, do we need to uninstall the trial first, then install the full product or is it just a license key/file to load. Please let us know.

Thanks.

alan · **Forum facilitator** Joined: 26 Sep 2003 Posts: 4435

When you made the purchase, we will send you a license key which will unlock the trial version. No reinstall is required.
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hsobers · Joined: 16 Mar 2006 Posts: 14

Thanks Alan- what about the printing issue? How do we get this one done?

Thanks.

alan · **Forum facilitator** Joined: 26 Sep 2003 Posts: 4435

You need to customize the file edituser.php. The place to change is after the JavaScript function window.open.
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hsobers · Joined: 16 Mar 2006 Posts: 14

Thanks Alan. By the way, how long does it take after we order the software to get the license? We've started giving access to 2 of our guests at the hotel on a trial basis, and they are already reporting problems of being kicked out of the system when they are trying to send mail. One was using yahoo, and the other was using google- both were using the web client to send mail. I was wondering if this is because we need to get the permanent license.

Thanks.

hsobers · Joined: 16 Mar 2006 Posts: 14

Alan- me again. I need you to be more specific with regards to the printing issue. We are not Java or html programmers and do not fully understand how to get this thing done. It would be appreciated if you could let me know exactly how to do this step by step. The documentation that comes with this software is far from clear. If there is another set of documentation that is more detailed and clear, we would gladly pay for it, but I must admit that I am getting quite impatient here. I'm sorry, but I have to be honest. We are looking to put this software throughout all of our hotels.

alan · **Forum facilitator** Joined: 26 Sep 2003 Posts: 4435

1) Once the client is logged in FirstSpot, all traffic should get through without issues. Can you be more specific about your issues? What exactly do you mean by "being kicked out of the system"?

2) Well, you do need to understand HTML/JavasSript/PHP in order to customize edituser.php. Sorry, but we don't have extra documentation. It should be obvious for web programmer where to change though.
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hsobers · Joined: 16 Mar 2006 Posts: 14

Alan- thank you very much for your usual prompt responses.

Here's the error message that I get when I say we're being kicked out of the system:
"FirstSpot has disconnected you from the Internet due to connection timeout. Please login again to continue (press F5 to refresh this infobox). "

Concerning the printing, where would we put the text that we wish to print in the window.open java script. I would like to know exactly where the text should go.

Thanks.

alan · **Forum facilitator** Joined: 26 Sep 2003 Posts: 4435

1) This maybe due to idle timeout error. You might want to increase the idle timeout error to something like 60 minutes. Refer to firstspot_guide.pdf for more details on the idle timeout parameter.

2) You can add text after FirstSpot tries to print all the details, i.e. after the code:

//Request Sign Up
<?php
if (isset($rsu) && $rsu=='y') { //only show in condition if apply ACL
echo "contents = contents + \"\\n\\n<tr><td><font face=Arial size=1><strong>•<\/strong> ".get_cm_var('setcfg_users_rsu_apply')."<\/font><\/td><\/tr>\";";
}
?>

E.g. you can add:

//Addition Information
contents = contents + "\n\n<tr><td><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"1\"><strong>•<\/strong> ADDITION INFORMATION<\/font><\/td><\/tr>";

Where the keyword ADDITION INFORMATION is the content that will be shown on the ticket.

Note that you might also want to adjust the parameter in the window.open function to resize the popup.
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hsobers · Joined: 16 Mar 2006 Posts: 14

Thanks Alan- the information provided was helpful. Is there a way that you can reprint the tickets. For example, if a guest in our hotel buys a ticket to access the web through Firstspot, and they then lost that ticket, is there a way to reprint the ticket?

Thanks.

alan · **Forum facilitator** Joined: 26 Sep 2003 Posts: 4435

In that case, the administrator has to save the ticket before he closes it.
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hsobers · Joined: 16 Mar 2006 Posts: 14

Thanks very much Alan. I appreciate your assistance over these past days. It looks like we are making progress with the software. Our plan is to monitor it over the next few days. I will definitely let you know how it goes.

Thanks.

hsobers · Joined: 16 Mar 2006 Posts: 14

Hi Alan- just thought that I would let you know that we've completed our testing and we're definitely going forward with this application. If I could offer some constructive criticism though- I think the application is wonderful but I believe that PatronSoft needs to develop the documentation a bit more so that the setup and on-going administrative efforts can be a bit easier.

Anyway, thanks so much for all of your help and patience- we definitely appreciated this.