phpScheduleIt2 alpha 1 feedback wanted!

[Nick]

After what seems like an eternity, we finally have an early version of phpScheduleIt2 up for feedback.

This is an early alpha version, so it's still lacking many features and is rough around the edges.  That said, we want your feedback!  Bug reports are fine but remember that not all features are complete or turned on.

The demo can be accessed here: http://www.php.brickhost.com/demo2/Web/index.php

[durana]

hello Nick,

I want to test but what should I test. If I login I can't do anything.
Maybe a sugestion: let it possible to create schedule/user etc to test the tool.

regards durana

[santiago]

I'm impressed, the GUI is well advanced,
When will are able to get the code of the alpha version?,
 I could be a beta tester

[decahedron]

Very nice.  Let me know how I can help.  I would be willing to beta test this as well.

[wenxin]

 I'd like to be a beta tester too.

[damitowl]

Congrats on the alpha milestone Nick, awesome effort.

I'm not sure what sort of feedback you are seeking. The GUI looks great & the navigation is intuitive. Booking schedule is very neat.

I would like to try adding a few resources and perhaps a few groups and users then some reservation bookings to test drive a little more.

However, even under the Admin userid, I could not seem to do any of those things. Am I missing something? I did notice that there is an 'add' function on the Manage Schedules screen so perhaps the 'add' for Users and Resources is not in the alpha as yet.

Anyway, fantastic job. Let me know how I can test the new version more for you and what bits you would like to see exercised.

Best, Damian

[lmewshaw]

After what seems like an eternity, we finally have an early version of phpScheduleIt2 up for feedback.

This is an early alpha version, so it's still lacking many features and is rough around the edges.  That said, we want your feedback!  Bug reports are fine but remember that not all features are complete or turned on.

The demo can be accessed here: http://www.php.brickhost.com/demo2/Web/index.php

Nick
How would you like us to report bugs?  Here in the forum, or on one of the bug trackers?

Also, how would we know what to test for (what should be ready) vs what to wait for?   Have you drafted any notes that describe what functionality should be there?   For example, if I wanted to test to see if one reservation can span multiple resources, it doesn't look like it supports that, but I'm not sure if that's even on the table for v2.

One last question - is the 2.0 code available via CVS?   I looked in the repo and it looks like it's old code, but I may be looking in the wrong place.

Thanks
Lee

[Nick]

What feedback are you looking for?

The short answer is any feedback that you have!  This is a complete UI redesign as well as a complete application rewrite.  Anything, positive or negative, will be helpful.

I login I can't do anything

When using the Admin credentials, you should see a new menu item named "Admin".  The drop down will contain options for managing various parts of the app (more to be added each week).  If you're not seeing this menu item please let me know.  That would be an issue.

Is the 2.0 code available via CVS?

It is checked into SubVersion on SourceForge here: https://phpscheduleit.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/phpscheduleit/development

There is no official alpha package available for download, but I'd be happy to put up a post on how to bring up a 2.0 install from the source files.  Please just let me know!

How would you like us to report bugs?

Let's start off just posting them either on this thread or within the 2.0 forum.  If it becomes hard to follow we'll figure out a better solution.

How would we know what to test for (what should be ready) vs what to wait for?   Have you drafted any notes that describe what functionality should be there?

Good question.  I haven't written anything up yet.  Let's just handle feature questions the same way that we handle bugs.

For example, if I wanted to test to see if one reservation can span multiple resources, it doesn't look like it supports that, but I'm not sure if that's even on the table for v2.

This is available!  When creating a reservation, you can choose to add other resources from the same schedule.

It's slow!

I received a couple of reports that 2.0 seems sluggish, which is likely because I still have some debugging settings turned on.  These will be turned off with the next upload.

However, even under the Admin userid, I could not seem to do any of those things. Am I missing something? I did notice that there is an 'add' function on the Manage Schedules screen so perhaps the 'add' for Users and Resources is not in the alpha as yet.

Adding schedules and resources can be done from Manage Schedules and Manage Resources respectively.  The group management is in development and should be the next big feature in the demo.

[decahedron]

Nick,

Would it be possible, when selecting the booking start time, to either:
-click the start time, click the end time -> then the dialog opens, or
-click the start time and drag the mouse to the end time -> opens dialog, or
-in the dialog, instead of having start time and end time showing start time and booking length.

Just suggestions. 

also, I don't see "manage approvals" in the demo menu (sorry if I its there and I missed it).  I assume that approvals are still a part of PSI?  If so will one just click the booking and approve it from the pop up dialog.

Great work.  This is an excellent program.  I know that my financial donation was small but expect more donations in the future.
:-)

[arfnewsletters]

Do you know when the beta will be released?  Are we able to download the alpha version?

Thanks

[Nick]

Would it be possible, when selecting the booking start time, to either:
-click the start time, click the end time -> then the dialog opens, or
-click the start time and drag the mouse to the end time -> opens dialog, or
-in the dialog, instead of having start time and end time showing start time and booking length.

I was playing around with the click and drag, google calendar-ish booking but couldn't get anything working well.  I'll continue experimenting with this in the future.

I did end up putting the reservation length in the dialog box.  I think this is a very nice little touch.

also, I don't see "manage approvals" in the demo menu (sorry if I its there and I missed it).

It's not there yet, but it's coming.  I'm planning on making this simpler than the current version where you have to open each individual reservation.

Do you know when the beta will be released? 

I don't have a date yet, but I feel like we're getting close.  Most of the core functionality is done, which is what I'm expecting to be in the beta.

Are we able to download the alpha version?

Yes, the source code is checked into SubVersion on SourceForge here: https://phpscheduleit.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/phpscheduleit/development

There isn't an installer built yet, but it will be there eventually.

[bgunn]

I like the new interface, but have a few comments. 

1. In 1.2 the booking detail window would appear separately over the schedule, which was helpful. With a full schedule that you are trying to cram a booking into it is nice to be able to see what is around the appointment you are trying to make.  Perhaps instead of a new page in the same window the booking detail window could appear like it did in the past (separate window: nice because it can be moved around), or better yet in a layer over the greyed-out schedule.

2. The format for making a new schedule as admin seems like a bit of overkill. The old version was simple: what increments of time should the schedule show. Perhaps you could still allow the increments to be chosen initially and then manually edited. You could have buttons for common increments or increments set in the main preferences that could populate the info, which could then be manually edited.

3. Tried deleting a reservation that was underway as the admin and the reservation was never cleared from the schedule. It spanned the previous day as well as further into today. Booking window would confirm it was deleted, but the reservation still appears on the schedule, even after logging out and logging back in as the standard user.

4. Delete user is listed in the Account menu option even under the standard user.

5. I am anxious to see what happens with groups.  I would love to be able to set permissions according to groups and hope that this is integrated in 2.0. I work with a number of different types of users and assign varying permissions, but would love to be able to batch change the entire group if I happen to add a resource or a schedule. I also hope that with something like this in place, permissions will be set for new users when they create their account according to the group they select to define themselves and the group permissions already defined. I suppose that makes at least three levels of permissions: admin, group and user. Changes made to individual user permissions could override group settings, but group settings provide a starting point and allow batch changes.

Great Work! Still the best scheduler I have seen and worked with!

[Nick]

Thank you for all of the great feedback.

1. I'll see if I can get something working.  Is there a different UI that would allow you to accomplish this without the popup.  Maybe something that displays a list of all reservations for the previous and next X hours around the currently selected time?

2. That's a terrific idea.  I'll get this in.  The reason for the new schedule slot creation is to support any configuration of time slots and to allow for named periods.  It will be very easy to provide a few default configurations that the user can choose from.

3. Interesting bug.  I'll see if I can reproduce it.  Was the reservation for a single resource or multiple?

4. I'll get this fixed.

5. This feature will evolve as I get feedback.  Right now permissions can be configured at the group level.  Additional permissions can be added at the user level (group doesn't have access, user does), but there isn't a concept of removing permissions for a user in a group (group has access, user does not).  Is this something that would be needed?

[bgunn]

1. Maybe a good merging of the two methods would be a sidebar or dropdown that appears in the calendar window that allows you to make a booking.  Just an idea, but it could be nice...

3. It was with a single resource as far as I know, but just tried it again in the admin account and had it happen again (Conference Room 2). 

5. Hmmm.  Maybe not.  Can a member be part of multiple groups though?  That would be helpful.

Thanks Nick!

[Stefan]

The new user interface is very well done. I would like to use the phpScheduleIt
functionality within another web site. Since all phpScheduleIt elements (logo,
menu bar, content, etc.) are grouped into div containers, this should be easily
to adapt.

I encountered one small issue: After taking the resource conference room 2 offline
I found no button to take it online again.

Thanks, Stefan