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User Manual - Mike Dodd`s Virginian Railway

1. Figure 2 5 Crew call page personal information area 2 4 1 How to create test crews It s a good idea to test Boomer Jack with made up crew names and e mail addresses but it s also important to do this right Before you start open the bj_flags php file in a text editor and set the value of SIMULATE_EMAIL to true then upload this file to the Boomer Jack directory on your Web site This forces Boomer Jack to display simulated e mail on the screen instead of sending actual e mail to your made up addresses Important When inventing crew names and e mail addresses do not use your own e mail address or the same made up e mail address for every crew name Each time someone marks up Boomer Jack checks the entered name and e mail address against the database If either the name or the e mail address matches what was entered Boomer Jack updates the database So if you enter John Jones with an e mail address of me mydomain com and later enter Sammy Smith and other names with the same me mydomain com Boomer Jack will find the record with that e address and change the name each time resulting in only one name in the database Also remember that creating made up crew names pollutes your database with bogus data When you ve finished testing and are ready to go live you should again run the bj_c create_my_rr sql script as you did in section 1 2 3 This deletes all database tables and the test data they contain and creates empty
2. Classroom TT amp TO Tutorial Paperwork Train Srhedule Figure 3 4 Ops session photos selection page Ops Photos Crew Call Classroom TT amp TO Tutorial Paperwork Train Schedule Timetable Rule Book Crew Info Dispatcher Station Operator Forms Waybills Neat Stuff Modes VGN pulpwood car at Eggleston 1954 Calendar Intercom Camera Car Turntable Sound Effects mi i NAAN Figure 3 5 Ops session photos page Session Date March 20 2009 April 17 2009 May 15 2009 June 19 2009 5 photos July 17 2009 2 photos August 21 2009 September 18 2009 October 16 2009 November 20 2009 December 18 2009 Friday July 17 2009 Notice that the captions and the display order are what were entered when adding the photos to this Boomer Jack User Manual Page 47 operating session Figure 2 13 Any display order numbers that were entered ahead of the caption 1 2 on the Photo Admin page do not appear here The constant MY_OPS_PHOTOS_PER_ROW in bj_constants php tells Boomer Jack how many photos to put on each row The default value is 1 but change it as desired Be careful displaying more than two photos per row because the page can be quite wide if you have large photos Not only will this cause the browser to display horizontal scroll bars it also shoves the Other Sessions button out of sight to the right It s best to display no more than two photos per row unless you fi
3. Please read the Boomer Jack User Manual for more information on integrating Boomer Jack with your Web site Boomer Jack for Generic Railroad Web Site Integration This table contains a list of operating positions from the database No Preference Train Crew Yard Crew Yard Master Station Operator Dispatcher Figure 3 2 Web integration test This page is a composite of the HTML contained in the bj_test_template php file and the PHP program code Boomer Jack read from the bj_admin_test_Web php file this way The two files work together in e bj_test_template php is analogous to your regular HTML Web pages e bj_admin_test_web php is analogous to the PHP files that Boomer Jack uses to create the crew call and session photos pages bj_crew_call php and bj_ops_photos php Open bj_test_template php in a text editor It contains this HTML text lt doctype html public W3C DTD HTML 4 01 Transitional EN http www w3 org TR htm14 loose dtd gt lt Page heading Substitute your own gt lt div align center gt lt font size sp VS lt font color blue gt lt strong gt HTML for lt font size 4 gt lt font size 4 gt J lt font gt ack lt strong gt lt font lt font gt lt div gt lt End page heading gt B lt font gt oomer d before Boomer Jack lt Page text Substitute your own if any is need COMEEMIE gt
4. lt p gt Everything on this page down to the horizontal line is in the lt setrongboj test cenplate phio lt strong gt tile anc ls EENG Everything below the horizontal line is generated by Boomer Jack If you see text above lt em gt and lt em gt below the line it proves that Woomeic Jack is reading the template file and adding its code correctly lt p gt Boomer Jack User Manual Page 45 lt p gt You ll probably want to integrate Boomer Jack s crew call page lt strong haj Crew cal lephp lt strong and ops session Photos page lt strong gt bj ops photos php lt strong gt into your Web site Here s what to do lt p gt K feg lt p gt Make two Coples Of Strong bj test template pao lt strong gt One fOr the Crew call and the other for the session photos Modify them with your regular Web site styles and HTML including appropriate headings then save the files with these names lt ul gt lt li gt Crew call lt strong gt bj crew call template php lt strong gt lt 1li gt lt li gt ession photos 2 bend ops photos template pip srrong 7 Ii lt a gt lt p gt lt p gt Please read the Boomer Jack User Manual for more information on integrating Boomer Jack with your Web site lt p gt lt End page text Boomer Jack content follows gt Figure 3 3 HTML for test page Inspect this file carefully and you ll see the te
5. 2 11 Testing With real people viitsisit scieccteccensacebavscccesscecsuntanansecevasceisenciesnssedsacccesseccoessadcceveedebdeeve 42 22 E Te 42 3 Integrating Boomer Jack with Your Web Site cccccssscesseeseeesseeseeeeeeeeseeeseeeeeeeseseessaeesseesseeseeeseneeeenas 44 SB OV GIN A eege 44 3 2 Discovering how Web integration WOLKGS ccseccsseesceeseeeeeeeseeesseeeseeeesaeseeeessaeeeseesseeseseeessneneeeneees 44 3 3 Creating the HTML template files sssscssesssssssssssesnsossssecsssesssessensessoessoesserssssecseassnensesensensesens 46 A leed 49 SIRE EE 51 Introduction Boomer Jack is Web based software that helps model railroad owners administer operating sessions and automatically generates a crew call page so people can mark up for those sessions v You can schedule or cancel sessions and indicate when they ve been held v Guest crews can mark up to participate v BJ automatically sends e mail to each person to confirm a mark up or notify of a canceled session v You can create data for crew name tags printed using your label printing software word processor or spreadsheet v After a session you can record who attended and add photos of it to your Web site v You can edit crew names and e mail addresses and see how many times each person has operated on your railroad including the most recent date v You can send e mail to crews v You can import and export crew names and e mail addres
6. s Export the names and e mail addresses from your other software in a CSV comma separated values format to a file on your computer s hard drive The order of the fields is first name last name e mail address and each line must contain exactly one person s data Each field must be surrounded with quotation marks and fields must be separated by commas The text inside a field may not contain a quotation mark as this thoroughly confuses any software attempting to read CSV data Here are two correctly formatted CSV records Hobo Harry Reed hobo reed com Alpha Railroader alpha rr com Notice that the first record uses must use apostrophes instead of quotation marks around the nickname Hobo in the first name field e Once you have created the CSV file click the Import button on the Crew Administration screen Figure 2 15 Next open the file in a text editor such as Notepad then select all of the text Edit gt Select All or Ctri A and copy it Edit gt Copy right click gt Copy or Ctrl C Once copied paste it Edit gt Paste right click gt Paste or Ctrl V into the text area on Boomer Jack s crew import screen Figure 2 16 Boomer Jack User Manual Page 36 e Click the Import button to add the crew data to the database When this operation is complete you ll see a screen reporting how many names were added and how many were updated Boomer Jack updates a crew record that already exists it does not duplicate cr
7. Third Friday April 17 2009 7 30 PM 7 15 PM Third Friday July 17 2009 7 30 PM 7 15 PM Third Friday November 20 2009 7 30 PM 7 15 PM December 18 2009 7 30 PM 7 15 PM Done Figure 2 3 Session Summary 2 4 Checking out Boomer Jack Now is a good time to populate the database with some test data so you can completely check out Boomer Jack You do this on the crew call page but read section 2 4 1 before you start You can reach the crew call page by entering the URL into your Web browser or by clicking the Crew Call button on the main Administration screen The crew call URL is the one you set for MY_CREW_CALL_URL in step 2 of section 1 1 2 The crew call page can be customized to match your individual Web site see Chapter 3 but the essentials are shown in the next two figures The MY_CALENDARS_PER_ROW constant in bj_constants php tells Boomer Jack how many calendars to put on one row on this page and also on the Session Administration screen section 2 5 The default value is 2 but change it as desired Be careful displaying more than two calendars per row because the browser can wrap names and job preferences in the list of marked up crews to the right of the calendar Boomer Jack User Manual Page 16 2 positions Avallable Crews Marked Up X means Extra Board This session Is over Crews Marked Up X means Extra Board April 2009 Hobo Harry Reed Yard Crew Alpha Railroader
8. Boomer Jack User Manual Page 1 Packing list Boomer Jack consists of these files Check to be sure all files are present after unzipping them as instructed in the next chapter Also use this list when uploading files to your Web site to check that all are there as well Not listed here are the backup files with names starting with orig_ vw File Purpose LJ create_my_rr sql Creates the MySQL database used by Boomer Jack _ j_admin_create_sessions php Create operating sessions _ j_admin_crews php View and update crew information CH 5j_admin_delete_all_crews php Delete all crews from the database CH j_admin_email_crews php Send e mail to crews CH 5j_admin_export_crews php Export crew names to other software CH 5j_admin_import_crews php Import crew names from other software CH bj_admin_job_assignments php Assign jobs to crews for an operating session CH bj_admin_jobs php Modify the job preference list that appears on the crew call page CH j_admin_login php Login page for administration functions J bj_admin_name tags php Create data for making crew name tags Note This page does not create the actual name tags Other software is needed for that CT D admin photos php Add photos to your Web site s session photos page CH bi_admin_sessions php NEE held record crew attendance or cancel restore CH bj_admin_test_e mail php Send yourself a
9. No Preference Barry Bumbleton Train Crew Fast clock starts at 7 30pm Arrive about 7 00pm Join this session Mark off this session Job Preference o Preference Hobo Harry Reed Yard Master CT itels 4 Alpha Railroader No Preference Mike Dodd No Preference Newbie Forsure Yard Crew Sammy Smith No Preference Fast clock starts at 7 30pm Arrive about 7 00pm Join this session Mark off this session Job Preference No Preference THIS SESSION IS CANCELED May 2009 Crews Marked Up This session Is tull Crews Marked Up X means Extra Board June 2009 X means Extra Board Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Hobo Harry Reed Yard Crew 1 2 Mike Dodd No Preference 3 8 Newbie Forsure Yard Master 10 12 16 17 18 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Fast clock starts at 7 30pm Arrive about 7 00pm Join this session Mark off this session Job Preference No Preference 1 position Avallable Crews Marked Up X means Extra Board July 2009 Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa 1 2 3 4 Barry Bumbleton Yard Crew DES GE SEET eter Piper Vr ro Ee SE Sarena Else TAIN Cran 29 30 Fast clock starts at 7 30pm Arrive about 7 00pm Acid me to the extra board Mark off this session Job Preterence o Preference 3 positions Avaliable August 2009 Crews Marked
10. No el Hobo Harry Reed 2 3 4 5 No zi Mike Dodd 8 9 10 11 12 15 16 17 18 22 23 24 25 26 aalaa Arrive 7 15pm Start 7 30pm July 2009 4 Unfilled Slots Crew Attendance 5 Unfilled Slots August 2009 Crew Attendance Jeu wel ru we Th Fr Sa Hefal elalzlo ln lanlaal Figure 2 7 Session Administration screen No ei Alpha Railroader Su Mel pu We Th Fr sa a Ialalalelelsloi Notice the Earliest held sessions to show on the crew call page field at the top of the screen Often it s useful to show a few completed sessions on the crew call page to give people a sense of your schedule On the other hand the page shouldn t be cluttered with dozens of held sessions because they make it hard to find the new sessions Choose Current year only or any earlier session year then click the Update button Also notice the red Delete All button at the top of the screen See section 2 5 6 for details about deleting all sessions in the database Observe the following about these sessions March and April e These sessions have been held e The Session Not Held button beneath each calendar allows you to mark that session as not held Boomer Jack User Manual Page 24 e The Cancel buttons are disabled because it is not possible to cancel sessions after they are held e Crew attendance already has been recorded and can be seen next to each calendar The Update Atten
11. Up Hobo Harry Reed Station Operator Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Hobo Harry Reed Train Crew 1 2 3 4 Barry Bumbleton Station Operator lial Jimmy Jones Train Crew 6 7 8 9 10 Someone Else No Preference X Peter Piper No Preference 13 14 15 16 18 X Sammy Smith No Preference 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Fast clock starts at 7 30pm Arrive about 7 00pm Dvotn this session Mark off this session Job Preference o Preference X means Extra Board Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Jimmy Jones Yard Crew 1 Sammy Smith Yard Master alalslel7 s 10 11 12 13 14 15 17 18 19 20 21 22 24 25 26 27 28 29 at TTT Fast clock starts at 7 30pm Arrive about 7 00pm OJoln this session Mark off this session Job Preference o Preference Figure 2 4 Crew call page mark up area Boomer Jack User Manual Page 17 Information About You Please enter this information then click the Mark Up button to send your request My name Enter the name as you prefer to be called It will be printed on your nametag at the operating session My e mail Confirm e mail J have operated on model railroads and am familiar with operations am familiar with operations using the Timetable amp Train Order system need driving directions Comments
12. a brief welcome and orientation Friday July 17 2009 Fast clock starts at 7 30pm Arrive about 7 15pm Job preference Yard Crew You were already marked up for this session I look forward to seeing you at this session Remember to look over the Generic Railroad Web site lt http myRailroad myDomain com gt to learn how the railroad operates under the Timetable amp Train Order system The Paperwork section is a good place to start especially the pages that discuss the timetable rule book and waybills Also be sure to become familiar with the arrangement of the towns along the main line Here are directions to my house ADDRESS 93 Railroad Avenue Traintown VA TELEPHONE 919 555 9393 Drive around until you see my house Your comments to Me Looking forward to the session My Name http myRailroad myDomain com Welcome Aboard Check your e mail for a confirmation note Click this button to retum to the calendars and verify that your name appears next to the desired sessions Figure 2 6 Crew call confirmation e mail Notice these items in the e mail 1 The e mail is sent from you to the person who marked up with a CC to you Receiving a copy of the e mail in your own in box makes it easy to keep track of who signed up and to reply personally to the person if desired Your e mail address is the value of MY_EMAIL that you set in step 1 of section 1 1 2 This paragraph explains
13. com gt Sammy Smith lt sammy smith net gt Alpha Railroader lt alpha rr com gt cc My Name lt me myDomain com gt The Generic Railroad operating session scheduled for Friday August 21 2009 at 7 30pm WILL BE HELD this session was canceled but now will be held as originally planned You marked up for this session before it was canceled If you still would like to attend please visit lt http myRR myDomain com bj_ rew_call php gt and mark up again since the call board has been wiped clean My Name http myRR myDomain com Email has been sent Figure 2 10 Session restored e mail This e mail goes to everyone who marked up for the restored session before it was canceled Restoring a session is the same as creating a new one so the call board is blank As the e mail explains anyone who wants to attend the restored session must return to the crew call page and mark up again This provides you with up to date information instead of relying on the original mark ups which may no longer be valid For example someone could have made other plans and now might not be able to attend the restored session 2 5 4 Marking crew attendance Over time it can be useful for the railroad owner to keep track who attended operating sessions and who didn t To record this select Yes or No from the drop down next to each person s name then click the Update Attendance button The screen will refresh and display the updated
14. crews to came to the session Notice that it is not sent to Newbie Forsure who did not attend as shown in Figure 2 7 If photos have been added for the session the e mail includes the session photos page URL In this example no photos have been added so there s no mention of the photos page 2 5 2 Canceling sessions Click the Cancel button to cancel a session You should see this e mail Boomer Jack User Manual Page 26 Simulated Email FROM My Name lt me myDomain com gt TO Mike Dodd lt mike mdodd com gt Sammy Smith lt sammy smith net gt Alpha Railroader lt alpha rr com gt CC My Name lt me myDomain com gt SUBJ 8 21 09 GEN RR ops session is CANCELED The Generic Railroad operating session scheduled for Friday August 21 2009 at 7 30pm is CANCELED I regret having to cancel this session for which you marked up Please visit lt http myRR myDomain com bj crew_call php gt to sign up for other sessions My Name http myRR myDomain com Email has been sent Figure 2 9 Session canceled e mail This e mail notifies everyone who is marked up for the session that it has been canceled It also includes the crew call URL so they may sign up for other sessions 2 5 3 Restoring canceled sessions Click the Restore button to restore a canceled session and this e mail will be sent Boomer Jack User Manual Page 27 Simulated Email FROM My Name lt me myDomain com gt TO Mike Dodd lt mike mdodd
15. preference set Crew Call List to No or delete all jobs except No Preference The job preference list will still appear on the crew call page but will contain only that one item and the confirmation e mail won t mention a job preference Click the Done button to return to the main Administration screen 2 10 2 Assigning jobs to crews Click the Job Assignments button on the main Administration screen to assign jobs to crews for an operating session Select a session from the list that appears then click the Assign Jobs button to reach this screen Job assignments for the December 18 2009 operating session Update DoMore Done Train Crew Hobo Harry Reed 1 point Alpha Railroader 1 OBarry Bumbleton Cyrus Crumm 1 Yard Crew Hobo Harry Reed 3 points O Alpha Railroader O Cyrus Crumm Jimmy Jones 1 Yard Master O Hobo Harry Reed 5 points MAlpha Railroader 2 OBarry Bumbleton Cyrus Crumm OJimmy Jones Figure 2 21 Job Assignment screen abbreviated All crews who marked up for the session are listed next to each job You may assign jobs before the session is held or afterward to record which crews actually worked the jobs Check the box to the left of a name to assign a job to that crew One job may have multiple crews and one crew may work multiple jobs To reassign a job uncheck one crew s box and check another one Checked bold red names ind
16. restore it later section 2 5 Explain that the people who have marked up for this session will receive an e mail notification of the cancellation and the subsequent restoration Perform these operations and verify that the e mails you and the crews receive are correct e Complete sessions After several people have marked up for sessions choose one to mark held Tell the people who marked up for this session that they will receive an e mail thanking them for participating Mark these crews as having attended the session then mark the session held section 2 5 Verify that the e mail the you and the crews receive is correct e Crew e mail Compose and send an e mail in Boomer Jack as described in section 2 9 When e mail arrives in your in box verify that only your name appears in the TO address All other crew names should be hidden in the BCC address for privacy Ask all recipients to reply to you so you are sure they received the e mail 2 12 Going live After a successful test using real people it s time to take Boomer Jack live This is simple since all the tests used your live Web site and database First you need to clear out the test data from the database The simplest way to do this is to again run the create_my_rr sq script on your Webhosting service s MySQL administration page as you did in section 1 2 3 Boomer Jack User Manual Page 42 Next open bj_flags php in a text editor set TESTING to false to remove
17. tables in their place 2 4 2 Marking up on the crew call page This section and section 2 4 3 below describe how the crew call page works which hopefully should be self evident since this is where people sign up for your operating sessions It also explains what happens behind the scenes when crews mark up As you read through this section go ahead and mark up for some sessions using your test crew names and e mail addresses The crew mark up area Figure 2 4 displays a calendar for each operating session with the session date highlighted in yellow Calendars for completed sessions are shaded gray and those for canceled Boomer Jack User Manual Page 18 sessions include a red no entry symbol The number of positions remaining appears above the calendar To the right of each calendar is a list of people already marked up for the session along with each person s preferred job The session starting time and your preferred arrival time are listed beneath each calendar There also are two checkboxes one to join the session and the second to mark off remove their name from the session Beneath these checkboxes is a drop down list of jobs so the person may express a preference A personal information area appears at the bottom of the page Figure 2 5 This is where the person must enter a name and e mail address and indicate model railroad operating experience Of these five lines only the first two are required because they give you t
18. test e mail CT gt j_admin_test_web php Display a test page combining HTML with Boomer Jack output CT gt j_admin php Main screen for administration functions D Mammen Constants used throughout the application I beron oo pas calendar on or Weds wi operating session dts D M e Runtime configuration flags CH bj_functions php Functions used throughout the application CT gt j_ops_photos php Displays operating session photos on your Web site CT bj_test_template php Example HTML template for integrating BJ into a Web site D Muerte Contains the database name and user name and password CT bi_no_entry jpg Bar circle image used on calendars for canceled sessions Boomer Jack User Manual Page 2 1 Installation Boomer Jack consists of PHP program files that must be uploaded to your Web site and a MySQL database that must be created on your Web hosting service s server Uploading the PHP files is straightforward but configuring Boomer Jack and creating the MySQL database is a bit more involved This chapter describes the process for these tasks and provides space for you to write your choice where a decision is required 1 1 Configuring and installing Boomer Jack To begin create an empty directory on your computer s hard drive and unzip the Boomer Jack files into it Two new directories will be created here one named Program Files and the other named User Manual You will edit several files in the Program Files directory
19. the clipboard Edit gt Copy right click gt Copy or Ctrl C Open a text editor such as Notepad and paste the data into the blank document Edit gt Paste right click gt Paste or Ctrl V Save the document to your computer s hard drive as a text file with a csv extension Launch your spreadsheet software and open the file Each person s name should appear on a separate row with the first name in the first column and the last name in the second column From there it should be a simple matter to print individual name tags from this data Another option is a specialized label printer such as those made by Brother or Dymo These printers come with software that can read CSV files and immediately print name tags from the data 2 Unfilled Slots August 2009 Crews su Mo Tu gem Fr sa LTL Ser laialsleizig Sammy Smith Savane hel 17 1 19 20 GENEE Saal TTT Arrive 7 15pm Start 7 30pm Copy and paste these lines including the quotes into a CSV file for your label creation software Click the Do More button to return to the session calendars if you need more name tag data Click the Done button to return to the Administration screen ___DoMore Page 31 Figure 2 11 Creating crew name tag data 2 7 Adding session photos Many railroad owners add photos to their Web site after an operating session and Boomer Jack makes it easy to do this Click the Photos button to reach this screen Add Operating Session P
20. the testing message from the crew call page then upload the file to the BJ directory on your Web server Create some real operating sessions as described in section 2 5 and you re ready to go Everyone who uses the crew call page will be marking up for real sessions and everything you do in the Boomer Jack main Administration screen is for real Boomer Jack User Manual Page 43 3 Integrating Boomer Jack with Your Web Site 3 1 Overview Boomer Jack s public face comprises the crew call page and the ops session photos page so you ll probably want to make these pages look like the rest of your Web site This is easy to do especially if you know enough about HTML to design your Web site in the first place Here is the the crew call page integrated with my Virginian Railway Web site Compare this to the bare version shown in Figure 2 4 in Chapter 2 Ops Photos Crew Call Paperwork Train Schedule Timetable No Preference zi No Preference Rule Book Crew Into Dispatcher Station Operator Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa 12 Forms Waybills i IEN Figure 3 1 Crew call page integrated into a Web site The trick is to create an HTML file that contains your standard Web site styles and page headings Boomer Jack reads this file then appends its crew call or photos information following your HTML Boomer Jack comes with a template file for you to copy and save a
21. the purpose of the e mail Each session for which the person marked up is listed here If the person marked off any sessions the e mail would contain a section that looks like this Boomer Jack User Manual Page 20 MARIID Olle As requested your name has been removed from the Generic Railroad call board Ze Friday November 20 2009 7 30pm I am sorry you can t make this session You are welcome to join others at lt http myRR myDomain com bj crew call php gt The your name has been removed text is contained in the SCRATCH_CONFIRM_1 constant which you can customize in step 4 of section 1 1 2 The second sentence of the I am sorry text can be customized by editing the text for SCRATCH_CONFIRM_2 but not the first sentence which changes based on how many sessions were scratched 4 In this case Sammy Smith had already marked up for the July 17 session and this is just a reminder This text is contained in ALREADY_SIGNED which you can customize in step 9 of section 1 1 2 5 This remember to look over paragraph is added if the person checks the am new to the Generic Railroad but I will box This text is contained in the NEWBIE_REMINDER constant which you can customize in step 8 of section 1 1 2 6 The driving directions are inserted when the person checks the I need driving directions box This text is contained in the DRIVING_DIRECTIONS constant which you can customize in s
22. to open a Boomer Jack page Object not found The requested URL was not found on this server If you entered the URL manually please check your spelling and try again If you think this is a server error please contact the webmaster Error 404 Either you typed the Boomer Jack page URL incorrectly into your browser s address bar or the PHP file truly doesn t exist on your Web server Upload the Boomer Jack files again and double check the destination directory If you placed the files in the same directory as your regular HTML files the URL should consist of your standard Web site URL followed by a slash and the name of the Boomer Jack file e g http myRR myDomain com bj_admin php You see this message on your Web browser after performing a Boomer Jack operation Warning main bj_xxx php function main failed to open stream No such file or directory in home xxx bj_admin_email_crews php on line 21 Boomer Jack could not find one of the files it needs to read Be sure all the BJ files are uploaded to your Web server Typical files that Boomer Jack opens during most operations include bj_constants php bj_flags php bj_constants php You see this message on your Web browser after performing a Boomer Jack operation Error performing query You have an error in your SQL syntax Oops This indicates a programming error Please copy the entire message from your Web browser and e mail it to me at mike
23. to the boom er Juck directory on your Web server Step 5 J You have successfully created the Boomer Jack database Log out of the MySQL administrator control panel 1 3 Initial testing Finally we are ready to see Boomer Jack in action This involves opening the main Administration screen to verify that Boomer Jack can connect to the database and that you can log into Boomer Jack Before starting this step be sure you ve uploaded all of the Boomer Jack files to your Web server as described in section 1 1 4 and that you ve created the database as described above Boomer Jack User Manual Page 11 If you receive an error message during this initial test read Chapter 4 for help Perform the following steps to test Boomer Jack Result Step 1 E Open a Web browser and type your Web site s URL into the address bar followed by bj_admin php assuming you uploaded the BJ files to the directory with your regular HTML files For example the full URL would resemble bj_admin php but you d substitute your Web site s name and domain for the highlighted text Step 2 L Boomer Jack s administrator login screen should appear asking you for the administrator name and password Check that the name of your railroad appears on the second line of this screen Type the name and password you set for ADMIN_NAME and ADMIN_PASSWORD in step 3 of section 1 2 2 Administrator name Administrator password S
24. C HOST myAcct myWebHost com else HOST private_server The first HOST value is set in Chapter 2 Set the value of the second HOST to the name of your private server L SIMULATE_EMAIL Leave this set to true to tell Boomer Jack to display simulated e mail in the Web browser instead of actually sending it Set it to false to send real e mail Boomer Jack sends e mail when people mark up for sessions when you cancel or restore sessions and when when you send e mail to crews or send a test e mail to yourself in the Administration screen This flag is extremely helpful for testing and you are encouraged to leave it set to true until testing is complete see section 2 11 L TESTING Leave this set to false for normal operation Set it to true only if you want the crew call page to display a message telling people they aren t really marking up for actual operating sessions Again this flag can be useful for testing PUBLIC set to SIMULATE_EMAIL set to TESTING set to 1 1 4 Uploading the Boomer Jack files to Your Web server After editing the files as described above use your regular file upload software such as FTP to Boomer Jack User Manual Page 7 upload all files whose names begin with bj_ except create_my_rr sql from the Program Files directory where you unpacked the Boomer Jack files to the Boomer Jack directory on your Web server As mentioned in section 1 1 2 you also might want to up
25. _ REIN Nihon mn LC SA Dm H d Zeen D TT BE Eege Sg Leet ECH Model Railroad Administration Software User Manual by Mike Dodd mike mdodd com June 2009 This manual and the Boomer Jack software are copyright 2009 Michael M Dodd All rights reserved Table of Contents TO td EE 1 Software Environment soe caisson sda cada a tea see darana de ou Aaa gates cash the vad ee eP enda ate ede teens awn ainai Anae ieaiai 1 d dvEIOTEI GE e Le E 1 Packing E 2 EMTS ea e EE 3 1 1 Configuring and installing Boomer JaCK cccccesecseeseesseeesseeeseeeseeeeseeeeeeeseaeesseesseeeesaeeseesseeeeeesaees 3 1 1 1 Choosing the Boomer Jack lOCAtiON ccccseesseeeseeeseeeeeeeeeeeeeseesseeeesaeeeseessaeseeeeeseeeeeeseeeeeeeaes 3 1 1 2 Configuring basic IMFOLM ATION se fesse casvicavev ond cxutercsteasessesndnservaivnsnsivavursistesddvasteantessessstuvevsdcenvast 4 1 1 3 Customizing Boomer Jack s behavior cseccseesseeeseeeeeeeeseeeeeeeseeeeeseeeeeeeeeseaeeeeesseeeeeeseeeeeeeeas 7 1 1 4 Uploading the Boomer Jack files to Your Web SCIrVel c cccssccsseeeseeeseeeeseeesseeeseeseeeeensseeeenens 7 1 2 Creating the MySQL database vvisisiviiivnccsnvesviinseveseersersdssriesnsstevenartenrsecssksasssnensnsvasiniusernsdtesnendeenccineines 8 NB e BIL EIERE Te BEE 8 1 2 2 Customizing the database creation script and database connection Information 9 1 2 3 Creating the database tables sssssssssesssssssssesss
26. al Page 33 Photos with a green background already have been added to this session Those with a blue background haven t been added to any session and are available for this one A photo may be added to only one session if you want to add the same photo to another session copy it with a different filename and add the new file to the second session The photos are reduced in size to show as many as possible together This conserves space but doesn t save any time loading the page since the full size file must be read You can set the scaling ratio by editing the value of PHOTO_SCALE in the bj_constants php file The default value is 0 5 for 50 A value of 0 1 displays the photos at 10 of their true size tiny 0 75 scales them to 75 of their true size and 1 0 100 displays the photos full size All photos already added to the selected session are displayed on this screen even if they don t match the file type you specified on the previous screen In other words if you asked for all JPG files and you ve already added some GIF files to this session the JPG and the GIF photos are displayed Likewise if you specified filenames starting with 2009 July and you ve already added photos with different names to the session all are displayed Check the Add photo box beneath the photos you want to add and enter a caption for each photo Captions may be up to 250 characters long the text scrolls horizontally when you reach the right endof th
27. ame as the regular program files but begin with orig_ original Do not modify these files Keep them on your computer s hard drive in the in the Program Files directory that was created where you unzipped the Boomer Jack files in section 1 1 above You could upload them to your Web site for safekeeping if you wish Boomer Jack will never attempt to open or modify any of them To begin the configuration open the bj_constants php file in a text editor and make these changes then save the file to disk When done upload bj_constants php to the Boomer Jack directory on your Web server Be sure to record the customizations here for future reference Only steps 1 and 2 are required but look over the remaining steps and make any changes you wish If the value contains quotation marks change only the text inside the quotation marks Do not delete the quotation marks and be sure to leave the semicolon at the end of each line Here are examples of how to edit these values Notice the quotation marks in the first line the second has no quotation marks Note the semicolon that must remain at the end of both lines MY_RR Generic Railroad IS MY_RR Eastern amp Western Railway SIMULATE_EMAIL true SIMULATE_EMAIL false Result Step 1 L Locate the MY_OPS_PHOTOS_DIR constant This specifies the path to the directory where you will upload your operating session photos to be displayed on your Web site The default
28. at displays operating session photos Figure 3 5 Boomer Jack Session and Crew Administration for the Generic Railroad Password expires at 12 18 Greate Sessions Create operating sessions See all scheduled sessions Assign jobs to crews for an operating session __ Create CSV data for crew name tags ane al Add session photos and captions First upload photos to the Jops_photos directory on your Web server ee Mark sessions complete mark crew attendance cancel or restore sessions Edit names and e mail addresses mark experience levels view session attendance import export crew data sean I Edit jobs on the railroad Email Crews Send e mail to multiple crews Test E mail Senda test e mail to yourself Test Web integration Show Boomer Jack integrated with standard HTML Grew Cell Go to the crew call page one way no return here Eeer Return to the login screen Figure 2 1 Main Administration screen Here is what you can do from the main Administration screen Create operating sessions specifying the date starting time and permitted arrival time Multiple sessions a be created on the nth day of each month e g first Saturday third Thursday etc See a list of all scheduled sessions Assign jobs to crews coming to an operating session Create data for crew name tags at operating sessions You need label printing software or a spreadsheet to print the tags Boomer Jack does not do this Add oper
29. ating session photos and captions that will appear automatically on your Web site Mark sessions as held and cancel or restore sessions Mark crew attendance at sessions Boomer Jack sends e mail to crews who are marked up for these sessions See section 2 5 for details Edit crew names e mail addresses and view crew attendance at past operating sessions You can also import and export crew data Gusto mize the jobs on your railroad Send e mail to multiple crews at once Send a test e mail to yourself Demonstrate and test Boomer Jack integration with standard HTML so you can tailor the crew Boomer Jack User Manual Page 13 call and ops sessions pages to match your Web site e Go to the crew call page directly without typing its URL into the Web browser 2 3 A note about security Boomer Jack checks for a valid administrator password every time you open one of the administration screens If a password is needed you must type type the password assigned to ADMIN_PASSWORD in section 1 2 2 step 3 It doesn t matter which admin operation you request you get the administrator login screen if a password is needed Once you type the correct password it s good for 15 minutes on any one screen This means you must move from one administration screen to another within 15 minutes or you will have to enter the password again Each time you open any admin screen the password timer is set to 15 minutes and you have that long to co
30. attendance This button is disabled for canceled sessions 2 5 5 Deleting a session Click the Delete button near a calendar to delete that session The session is deleted immediately you are not asked to confirm the action Create the session again if you didn t intend to delete it 2 5 6 Deleting all sessions Click the Delete All button to delete all sessions You are asked to confirm this drastic action before it takes place Once deleted the sessions cannot be recovered You might want to do this if you have created a number of sessions for testing purposes and are ready to put Boomer Jack into production Boomer Jack User Manual Page 28 2 6 Creating data for session name tags In the main Administration screen click the Name Tags button to create data you can use with other software to print crew name tags for an operating session Boomer Jack displays a set of calendars similar to the crew call and Session Administration screens Figure 2 11 on the next page shows one of these calendars and the name tag data that results from clicking the Create Name Tag Data button Boomer Jack User Manual Page 29 The name tag data consists of each crew s first and last names each surrounded with quotation marks and separated by a comma This is the standard CSV comma separated values format recognized by spreadsheets and many other programs Use your computer s mouse to select highlight the lines in the yellow area then copy them to
31. ave marked up for them Existing sessions are not updated if crews have marked up This ensures that no one who marked up for a session is unaware of a time Boomer Jack User Manual Page 15 change The only way to change a session time with marked up crews is to cancel and then restore the session sections 2 5 2 and 2 5 3 Both actions notify crews and restoring a session clears the call board so crews must mark up again To view a summary of all sessions click the Show All Sessions button before you make your selections to create sessions if you make your selections first then click the button and return your selections will be gone You ll see the session summary shown in Figure 2 3 which you also can open directly from the main Administration screen as described in the next section 2 4 Viewing all operating sessions Click the All Sessions button on the main Administration screen Figure 2 1 to see a list of all operating sessions that have been scheduled As shown below sessions which have been held are shown with a gray background and have session numbers while pending sessions are shown with alternating blue and tan backgrounds and have no session numbers Canceled sessions are highlighted in red Notice that only completed sessions have numbers Operating Sessions for the Generic Railroad Gray means session has been held red means canceled Day of Month Start Time Arrival Time Third Friday March 20 2009 7 30 PM 7 15 PM
32. d headings you want on your session photos page above the photos and captions Also remember to update your site s main navigation bar to include links to bj_crew_call php for the crew call page and bj_ops_photos php for the ops session photos so visitors can reach these pages from anywhere on your Web site After saving these files upload them to your Web server with the rest of the Boomer Jack files Note even though these files contain HTML code they must end with php Do not change the extension to html thinking that has to be correct for HTML files This name must end with php or Boomer Jack won t read it Boomer Jack User Manual Page 46 The easiest way to check out this customization is to open the crew call page You can do this by typing the crew call URL into your Web browser or by clicking the Crew Call button on the main Administration screen You should see the same calendars and personal information fields as before Figure 2 4 and Figure 2 5 but surrounded by your standard Web design To check out the session photos page type its URL into your browser or click the link on your Web site Obviously you need to add some photos to operating sessions before you ll see anything on this page Here are examples of the ops session photos pages integrated into my Web site Ops Photos Choose an operating session from the dropdown list then Crew Call click View Photos to display the photos for that session
33. dance buttons are enabled so attendance can be updated further May e This session has been canceled e The Restore button is enabled so the session may be un canceled if circumstances change e The Session Held button is disabled because it is not possible to hold a canceled session you must restore it first e The Update Attendance button Is disabled because it is not possible to update attendance for a canceled session you must restore it first June e This session has not been held e The Cancel button is enabled so it is possible to cancel this session The Session Held button is enabled e The Update Attendance button is enabled so attendance can be updated afterward the session should be marked held 2 5 1 Marking sessions held and not held Click the Session Held button to indicate that a session is over You should see the following e mail if you re simulating e mails Boomer Jack User Manual Page 25 Simulated Email FROM My Name lt me myDomain com gt TO Mike Dodd lt mike mdodd com gt Hobo Harry Reed lt hobo reed com gt Alpha Railroader lt alpha rr com gt Sammy Smith lt sammy smith petz CC My Name lt me myDomain com gt Thank you for joining the Generic Railroad operating session 1 on Friday I hope you enjoyed yourself My Name http myRailroad myDomain com Email has been sent __DoMore Done Figure 2 8 Session held e mail This e mail is sent to those
34. e already marked up for that session Change it if you wish J ALREADY_SIGNED changed Step 10 Optional J Locate DRIVING_DIRECTIONS and read the associated text This text appears in the e mail sent to people who check the I need driving directions checkbox when marking up for operating sessions You almost certainly will want to change this from the default text which says Drive L DRIVING DIRECTIONS changed Boomer Jack User Manual Page 6 around until you see my house Step 11 Optional L Set APP_NAME_ON_PAGE to true if you want Boomer Jack s name to appear at the top of every administration screen or to false if not The name consumes considerable space so everything else on the page is pushed downward _J sAPP_ NAME ON PAGE set te 1 1 3 Customizing Boomer Jack s behavior Flags are switches that tell Boomer Jack how to behave in certain situations Open the bj_flags php file in a text editor and locate the specified constants Make changes if needed then save the file to disk Be sure to record the customizations for future reference Result Step 1 LJ PUBLIC Set this to true if Boomer Jack is running on your public Web server or to false if you re using BJ on a local private server e g for testing Important If you have a private server and set this to false be sure to also edit bj_user_info php There you will see these four lines if SPUBLI
35. e drop down list is disabled for the same reason The May 2009 session has been canceled Notice e The calendar displays a large red no entry symbol to make the canceled session obvious in Boomer Jack User Manual Page 21 case someone misses misses the notice above it s The Join and Mark off checkboxes and the Job Preference drop down list are disabled Once a session has been canceled it makes no sense to allow these operations The June 2009 session illustrates what happens when a session fills up You set the session capacity in section 1 1 2 with the value assigned to MY_MAX_SESSION_SLOTS Observe the following e The Join this session checkbox has changed to Add me to the extra board People are not allowed to join a filled session but they may mark up on the extra board e The Job Preference drop down list is enabled even though people are marking up for the extra board they may still express a job preference s The Mark off this session checkbox is enabled so that anyone who has signed up for the session or the extra board may withdraw e The list of crews to the right of the calendar shows those on the call board at the top and those on the extra board at the bottom prefixed with X 2 4 4 How the extra board works When a session reaches capacity Boomer Jack automatically stops adding crews to the call board and adds them to the extra board instead When someone marks up for the extra board the confirmation e ma
36. e e mail sent to people who mark off Gomera themselves fre mJ operating sessions L SCRATCH_CONFIRM_1 changed L SCRATCH_CONFIRM_2 changed Step 5 Optional J Locate TRY_ACCOMMODATE_PREFS and read the associated text This text appears in the e mail sent to people who express a preference for a particular job when marking up for operating sessions Change it if you wish J TRY_ACCOMMODATE_PREFS changed Step 6 Optional l Locate SESSION_CANCELED and read the associated text This text appears in the e mail sent to everyone who is marked up for a session that you later cancel Change it if you wish L SESSION_CANCELED changed Step 7 Optional L Locate SESSION_RESTORED and read the associated text This text appears in the e mail sent to everyone who is marked up for a session that you had canceled but later restore Change it if you wish l SESSION_RESTORED changed Step 8 Optional LI Locate NEWBIE_REMINDER and read the associated text This text appears in the e mail sent to people who check the I am new to the railroad but I will study the Web site to become familiar with it checkbox when marking up for operating sessions to remind them to do exactly that Change it if you wish LI NEWBIE_REMINDER changed Step 9 Optional J Locate ALREADY_SIGNED and read the associated text This text appears in the e mail sent to people who mark up for an operating session but wer
37. e field Notice that you can only update captions for photos already added to the session you can t add a photo more than once Optional You may prefix the caption text with a and a number to indicate the order you wish the photos displayed see Figure 2 13 There must be a space between the number and the caption text Examples 2 Rock quarry 1 No 77 at the junction 3 Downtown scene The photos are displayed in the specified order on the session photos page but the order number is removed from the caption there Click the Remove photo box to remove the photo from this session This removes only the filename from the database the photo file itself remains on the server Take a look at Figure 3 5 to see how the Web site s session photos page appears Click the Update button to update the database with your changes This screen summarizes what was done Add Photos Results Updated caption for glenlyn2 jpg 7 Glen Lyn yard Updated caption for eggleston1 jpg 2 VGN pulpwood car at Eggleston Figure 2 14 Result of adding photos Boomer Jack reports which filenames were added along with their associated captions The report reads Updated captions for for photos for which only the caption changed and Added for those new photos added to the session Removed photos are listed as well Click the Do More button here or on the photo selection screen Figure 2 13 to return to the initial photos screen Figure 2 12 where
38. eaes 23 2 5 1 Marking sessions held and Not Nel cccecssceseeeseeeeeeeseseeeeeeeeseeeseeesseeeeseesseesseeeeseeeeaes 25 225 2 Canceling SESSIONS eene eet 26 2 5 3 Restoring canceled SESSIONS csscssssssserscscsnssesssesssessssesseossnsessssesseesssseensascseesnensssoesenseneesenees 27 2 5 4 Marking Crew attendances iicaiasssiscisectcssuscaeresscedncedcnavccncduacedsenivavenustsdeiedssdivstinannvtwontaxbaderiaseends 28 2 5 5 DEICtIN Eel SSS SI OM wis dassensessctevsinadazstveedeccteccesnessudeiesauanteaatansihexassiice landua Neidicaste lt isialaavadueeesbesaatas 28 2 5 6 Deleting All SOSSIONS EE 28 2 6 Creating data for session NAME tAQS cseccseceeseeseeesneeeseeeseeeeseeeseeeeeaeeseeeseeeeseeseseeseseeeeeeseneeeeeeees 29 2 7 Adding SESSION PIOUS EE 32 2 8 EEGENEN EEN 35 2 8 1 Editing Crew INtOrinatlon sissies iicencctsistaiooveweh este snus dndavvsevecadvicectalbantsuvbausvsdeessateien dSdsastecianestiteavevntys 35 2 8 2 Importing COW CAC scicccnuicutacarocvscccbaceesstanadetacevasnedacecietseduiysececetcavens adana aana aoaaa edno d iEn opaan 36 2 8 3 Exporting crew datai eet deeg Leet 37 2 8 4 E El UR 38 2 9 Sending e mail CO Ch OWS asia seteacetescteicdedesis jy tinstes Soca deaiiiavtvewtesseascenessondudchuaereteotuatsdbontnasdsesdpaneactivatnast 38 e E 39 SE EENEG cusses evci sav eege cbvst vnnti vsaunsclacusesiuceddvensanatstechas daeuiilaneassbantuvienswtads 40 2 10 2 ASSIBNINE Jobs tO CLOWS EE 41
39. efore the session complete e mail is sent the list must include all earlier sessions whether they ve been held or not Without a limit of some sort the list would grow to an unmanageable length You can set this limit by editing the value of NUM_SESSIONS_ON_PHOTOS in the bj_constants php file The default is 12 sessions Click the Remove Photos button to remove all photo filenames from the selected session Click the View Photos button to go to the next screen where you can choose the photos to add to the session This screen will open slowly if your photo files are large Select photos and enter captions for the July 17 2009 operating session s A blue background means the photo has not been assigned to any other session and is available for this session A green background means the photo is already assigned to this session and you may update ils caption e Photos are reduced to 50 actual size s The session caption text appears above the photos on the session photos page e Optional Prefix the photo caption with n to set the display order e g 1 A caption 2 Another caption 3 A third caption e Put a space between the display order number and the caption The number will not display on the photos page Session Caption ORemove photo glentyn2 jpg Update caption for glenlyn2 jpg Caption Glen Lyn yard GAdd photo egglestont jpg Caption Figure 2 13 Photo selection screen Boomer Jack User Manu
40. elect recipients Send E mail to Generic Railroad Crews Enter a subject and a message select recipients then click a Send E mail button Click a Done button to return to the Admin screen More buttons are at the bottom of this page Subject New Generic Railroad ops session sign up page Message I m pleased to announce the Generic Railroad has a new way for you to mark up for operating sessions Please visit lt http myRailroad myDomain com BJ crew_call php gt to see the new page Each session is shown as a highlighted date on a calendar Just check the box indicating which sessions you want to join and select an operating position preference for each one Fill in your name and e mail address at the bottom and hobo reed com alpha rr com barry bumbleton net Hobo Harry Reed Yes 2 Jun 19 2009 Alpha Railroader Yes 1 Apr 17 2009 Barry Bumbleton edb annt Figure 2 18 Composing an e mail to crews Enter a subject and the message you want to send The lower portion of this screen resembles the crew administration screen shown in Figure 2 15 The Include column indicates whether a person will Boomer Jack User Manual Page 38 or will not receive the e mail This column is initially set to Yes if the person is marked active on the Crew Administration screen It s set to No if the crew is inactive Scroll through the list and change Include as desired Click the Send E mail button when yo
41. er can t find the MySQL database server that Boomer Jack is requesting Refer to step 4 in section 1 2 3 where you set the value for HOST in bj_user_info php Log into your Web hosting service s MySQL administration screen and determine the correct host string to use then assign it to HOST Alternatively if you have a private local server you might have set the value of PUBLIC in bj_flags php to false Set it to true for live operation You see this message on your Web browser when you try to open a Boomer Jack page Can not connect to database server Access denied for user myrruser mydomain com using password YES The user name or password that boomer Jack is providing to log in to your my SQL database does not match the user name you created on your Web server Refer to step 2 in section 1 2 2 where you set values for USER_NAME and PASSWORD in bj_user_info php Log into your Web hosting service s MySQL administration screen as described in section 1 2 1 and double check that the user name you created in step 5 e g bj_user matches USER_NAME You probably won t be able to see the Boomer Jack user s password on the server so you ll have to set Boomer Jack User Manual Page 49 a new one Be sure to enter the same password exactly as you set for PASSWORD The password is case sensitive as is the user name and the database name You see this message on your Web browser when you try
42. es ending with jpg gif or png as well as all files You may choose Names starting with gt from the list and enter the first few characters of the filename in the blank field to the right This can be helpful if you name files similarly such as 20090717 01 jpg 2009 July 02 jpg 2009 July 03 jpg etc Enter 2009 July and Boomer Jack will show you all photos whose names begin with those characters The text is not case sensitive you could enter 2009 july or 2009 JULY and get the same result Select the session date from the second drop down list A note next to the date tells if the session has been held In addition the number of photos already added to the session is shown Boomer Jack User Manual Page 32 Here s an important note about the session date list It contains all sessions earlier than the current date even those that haven t been held It might seem better to populate the list only with completed sessions but this creates problems elsewhere Marking a session held in the Session Administration screen sends an e mail to crews who participated If photos have been added to the session that e mail includes the URL of your session photos page but the URL is omitted if no photos have been added As you can see this makes it impossible to first mark a session held then add photos to it and include the photos URL in the e mail The e mail is sent without the URL before photos can be added Thus for photos to be added b
43. es in a text editor and make the changes listed here then save the files to disk Result Step 1 create_my_rr sql L Find the line in create_my_rr sq that reads USE my_rr and replace my_rr with the name of the database you created in step 1 of section 1 1 2 The name is case sensitive There may be other instances of my_rr in the file but these are comments if they occur on a line that begins with two dashes You may replace my_rr in these comment lines if you wish but doing so only makes the file easier to read and understand Leaving the original my_rr in the comments does not affect anything Changed mm rr to Step 2 bj_user_info php Open the file bj_user_info php in a text editor and make these changes L Change DATABASE from my_rr to the database name you chose in step 1 of section 1 1 2 J Change USER_NAME from myrruser to the Boomer Jack user name you created in section 1 2 1 l Change PASSWORD from my44pswd to the Boomer Jack user password you created in section 1 2 1 Record the values you choose You will need them in section 1 2 3 DATABASE changed to USER_NAME changed to PASSWORD changed to ADMIN_NAME changed to Boomer Jack User Manual Page 9 E Change ADMIN_NAME from rr_owner to something else This is the name you ll use to log into Boomer Jack s administration screens It is not the same administrator name you created for the database in step 4
44. es in the list of marked up crews to the right of the calendar Boomer Jack User Manual Page 23 Administer Sessions for for the Generic Railroad e Select a year for the earliest held sessions to show on the crew call page then click Update e Click Session Held after a session has been held e Click Session Not Held to undo this e Click Cancel to cancel a session e Click Restore to restore a canceled session e Mark yes no crew attendance then click Update Attendance e Click Delete Session to delete one session immediate no confirm e Click Delete All to delete all sessions confirm on the next screen e Click Done to return to the Administration screen Earliest held sessions to show on the crew call page 2009 D Update Session 1 Complete 2 Unfilled Slots March 2009 Arrive 7 15pm Start 7 30pm Crew Attendance Hobo Harry Reed Alpha Railroader Barry Bumbleton Session 2 Complete No Unfilled Slots April 2009 Crew Attendance Hobo Harry Reed Alpha Railroader Mike Dodd Newbie Forsure Sammy Smith Arrive 7 15pm Start 7 30pm May 2009 Canceled 2 Unfilled Slots Crew Attendance 3 Unfilled Slots June 2009 Crew Attendance Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Im 1 2 Deh 102 Ruai 4 1 20 2 23 25 26 2 28 29 30 El Arrive 7 15pm Start 7 30pm Hobo Harry Reed Mike Dodd Newbie Forsure Mo Tu We Th Fr
45. esseessssesssassseessenssssesseassnsessssesneessenseneaesase 10 ame IVER CQ SUMING E 11 2 Using BOOME Jackes ovon a geet ee 13 Pa e En EE 13 2 3 ANOLE ADOUL in EE 14 2 4 A Note about session NUMDENS su scfoctiis cccnecda Aeddi ett 14 2 5 Creating operating SESSIONS siscesacs cacscdecenaueduelavelex diusaasbastondasistussticunveateceaiieswecewssedccdcevssasiiahensenpiasbede 15 2 4 Viewing all Operating SCSSIONS sscsscsssssssccssscsssesssssssesssocsssessssesssessensensossssessensssaeensenesseneaesseseas 16 2 4 CHECKING OUT BOOMEN JACK siecssiccainerenvereevencrcswtasucucksieknsdbisiivusth ens cnet we savy duvevnensvensrevnin INKUN K EKNE 16 2 4 1 HOW tO create LOST ChOWS cee nccasescecc cece c nsec eseevsbewleseniceweneevendessens ceiieueicensennebniicesescevedeueseeeveneeeens 18 2 4 2 Marking up on the Crew Call Page seccsccsecesseeesseesseeeseesseeseseeeseeeseeeseeeesseeeseeeessseeeeeeseeeeens 18 2 4 3 More about the crew call Ppage ecsscsssssessssssscsssssssessesssssssssesssessesesssossssessscseesensesesseneessssesees 21 2 4 4 How the extra board Works cccccsccenecseseseessnesneeseeneesneeneeseneeneennennnenneesesseneeneesneeseeeenenneesneeees 22 2 4 5 Dealing with NOPSMOWS ii sswsiiieuscccceauenyacueuuwvsnzedasevoustiuntensecatesduncdshacesacusewuxtes tesbuatiaueudeveasonddemadstncs 23 2 5 Administering operating SESSIONS cccccscssseeseeesseesseeeseeeeseeeseeeeseeseeeessneseeeseeaeeeeeeseeeeeeeeneneee
46. ession photos will be placed in the ops_photos directory beneath your HTML directory If you choose a different name or location you must modify a PHP file to tell Boomer Jack where it is Make your server location decisions and record them here Result Step 1 LI Decide whether to put the PHP files in a special directory e g BJ beneath your regular HTML files recommended or along with the HTML files This is known as the Boomer Jack directory The Boomer Jack directory Step 2 Ops session photos directory L Choose a name for the directory where your operating Boomer Jack User Manual Page 3 session photos will be stored and decide where it will be located The default photos directory name is ops_photos but choose a different name if you wish Create this directory on your Web server if it doesn t already exist See step 1 in the next section for more information on this topic 1 1 2 Configuring basic information Several of Boomer Jack s files contain information that is intended to be customized for your specific model railroad and Web site To do this you will open these files in a text editor such as Notepad make the changes save the revised files to disk and ultimately upload them to your Web site server Important Boomer Jack comes with copies of all files so you can refer to an original if something doesn t work after you make a change These files are named the s
47. ews If a record exists with the same first and last names or a matching e mail address that record is updated If the first and last names don t match and the e mail address doesn t match Boomer Jack adds a record Import Crew Data e Paste CSV crew data into the blue area then click Import to add the crews to the database Crews are added if they do not exist and updated if the name or e mail address is found e Click the Do More to return to the Crew Administration screen e Click the Done to return to the main Administration screen Paste CSV Data Here Hobo Harry Reed hobo reed com Alpha Railroader alpha rr com Barry Bumbleton barry bumbleton net Figure 2 16 Crew import screen 2 8 3 Exporting crew data Exporting crew data is similar to importing Boomer Jack displays the data in CSV format and you copy at and paste it into a text file that you save to your hard drive This is the same process you followed to create crew name tag data in section 2 6 This is the process to export crew data e Click the Export button on the Crew Administration screen Figure 2 15 Boomer Jack displays the CSV formatted data as shown here Export Crew Data e Drag the mouse to select these lines including the quotes then copy them and paste into a text file Save that file to your hard drive with a csv extension e Click Do More to return to the Crew Administration screen e Click Done to return to
48. he create_my_rr sq script ran without error locate the button or link that allows you to look at the database structure You should see these tables e crews e logins e misc J Tables exist Boomer Jack User Manual Page 10 e photos e jobs e sessions e sessions_crews_rel L Job names are correct The MySQL administration page should offer a way to inspect data in a table Look at the jobs table and you should see the job names discussed in step 2 of section 1 252 Step 4 I Search your Web hosting service s MySQL administration screens for information on how a Web application can connect to your database A Generate Code button will do the trick Here is an example of PHP code with the key part highlighted ignore the non highlighted text lt php Slink mysql_connect domain Webhostmysql com user d TtT KKKKKKKK Lis EE mysql select Ob my rr GE HOST myAcct myWebHost com E Open the bj_user_info php file in a text editor Copy the text inside the singfe quotes in the highlighted field of the generated code ay the highlighted text that appears on the fine that begins with mysql_connect and paste it inte the vele for HOST in bj_user_info php Copy on y the text in the SHOST value do not include the single quotes from the generated code changed to HOST SN Paiste the copied text inside the existing quotation marks following HOST Lj Upload bj_user_info php
49. he railroad owner important information about first time crews In particular the second line causes Boomer Jack to insert a line in the confirmation e mail that coerces the newcomer to look over your Web site to become familiar with the railroad Mark up one of your test crews now Check the Join this session box and choose a job preference Do this for several sessions As a further test also check the Mark off this session box for one or two other sessions even if the test crew is not marked up for them Type in the test crew name and e mail address in the confirmation field as well at the bottom of the page and check the yellow highlighted am new to the Generic Railroad but will box Also check the I need driving directions box Click the Mark Up button and you should see a simulated e mail similar to the one on the next page For continuity the remainder of this section discusses the e mails that are sent when people use the crew call page but be sure to read section 2 4 3 for more information about the crew call page Boomer Jack User Manual Page 19 Simulated Email FROM My Name lt me myDomain com gt TO Sammy Smith lt sammy smith net gt cc My Name lt me myDomain com gt SUBJ Generic Railroad Crew Call for Sammy Smith MARKED UP Your name has been added to the Generic Railroad call board The time listed with each operating session is when the fast clock starts Please try to arrive a bit earlier for
50. hotos for the Generic Railroad e Choose a photo file type from the first drop down list Select Names starting with gt to specify filenames starting with certain characters and enter those characters in the blank field to the right of the list e Choose a session date from the second drop down list e Click View Photos to see photos in the ops_photfos directory on your Web server that have not been added to a session and those that have already been added to the selected session On the next screen you may add photos to the session and enter captions for them e Click Remove Photos to remove alf photos from the selected session This removes only photo filenames from the database but the actual photo files remain in the ops_photos directory and you may add them to an operating session later Use FTP to delete the photo files from ops_photos or upload new photos e Click Done to return to the Admin screen Photo file type All JPG Session Date Choose Figure 2 12 Initial photos screen Boomer Jack stores photo filenames in the database not the actual photos themselves You must upload the photos to the directory on your Web server that you specified for MY_OPS_POHOTOS_DIR in step 1 of section 1 1 2 Once uploaded the photo files remain on the server until you delete them Boomer Jack never deletes your files Select the photo file type from the first drop down list Boomer Jack is configured to look for all fil
51. icate prior job assignments for this session This includes assignments you make on this screen the name turns bold and red after you click Update Yellow highlighted names indicate job preferences requested on the crew call page This makes it easy to see if your job assignments are reasonably close to crew preferences A number following a name shows the total number of times the person has worked that job This includes jobs worked at completed sessions only so if you assign jobs for upcoming sessions those are not counted Click Update to save the job assignments Click Do More to return to the first screen and select a different operating session Click Done to return to the main Administration screen Is job s experience points are shown below the job title It s best to define every job on the railroad even those such as an extra train that ran once during a particular operating session This allows you to assign crews to all jobs that were performed during a session and consequently allows crews to accumulate experience points for those jobs Boomer Jack User Manual Page 41 If you run a special job during a session use the Job Administration screen to create that job afterward but omit it from the crew call job preference list Then use this Job Assignment screen to record the crews who performed that job 2 11 Testing With real people Now that you re familiar with Boomer Jack this is a good time to ask some friends to help
52. icking the Done button takes you back to the main Administration screen Figure 2 1 2 10 Jobs You may define jobs for crews to perform while operating on your railroad A job might exist for the entire session such as Dispatcher or Yard Master or could be a single train Jobs in Boomer Jack have two benefits Crews may express a preference when they mark up for an operating session on the crew call page Figure 2 4 and Figure 3 1 and crews may earn experience points as they become more proficient Boomer Jack User Manual Page 39 2 10 1 Administering jobs You can add or delete jobs edit their titles control their appearance and order on the crew call job preference list and set experience points for each job Click the Job Admin button on the main Administration screen to do this All jobs appear on this screen Job Title List Order Points pm a es fams of B seror operar a ECH D Dispatcher so 10 pr ee WI Job Figure 2 20 Job administration screen ___ The Crew Call List column indicates if you want a job to appear on the crew call job preference list As explained in section 2 10 2 you should define every job on the railroad even those such as an extra train that ran once during one operating session However only the standard jobs should appear on the job preference list not the session specific jobs Set a job s position in the job preference list by entering a number in the List Order co
53. il Figure 2 6 changes slightly like this RE MUNRIKEIDI UNE spar Your name has been added to the Generic Railroad extra board for Braas July 7 ZOOS SECHER BOADE I Will notity WOU Tie posicion Opens Cor thils SSSSiCim Mike Dodd e The session details are replaced by a simple notice that the crew s name is being added to the extra board s The remember to look over the Web site paragraph is omitted e The driving directions are omitted e The I look forward to seeing you sentence is replaced by I will notify you if a position opens One position opens each time someone marks off the call board not the extra board When this occurs Boomer Jack sends an e mail to everyone whose name is on the extra board That e mail looks like this SUBJ GEN RR 6 19 09 ops session OPEN POSITION A position is open for the Generic Railroad operating session on Friday June 19 2009 at 7 30pm You marked up on the extra board and if you would like to participate in this session Please visit lt http myRR myDomain com bj crew call php gt to sign up Names on the extra board Boomer Jack User Manual Page 22 are marked with X It s possible hopefully rare that more than one person will mark off the call board before those on the extra board mark up In this case the e mail above changes to indicate the actual number of open positio
54. ion time and crew arrival time then click the Create Sessions button Sessions are not duplicated if they already exist click the Show All Sessions button to see all existing sessions Day of the Month Choose Choose Starting Month and Year Choose sl Choose Ending Month and Year Choose v Choose sl Session Start Time 1 el AM sl Crew Arrival Time 1 elo la si Figure 2 2 Create Sessions screen You may create a single session or multiple sessions Make your selections from the drop down lists First choose the day of the month such as the first Saturday or the third Thursday Next choose the starting month and year and the ending month and year If you want to create only a single session choose the same month and year for both Choose the session start time and the earliest time you want crews to arrive Both times appear on the crew call page and in the confirmation e mail sent to each person who marks up Click the Create Sessions button to create sessions for the specified dates When complete you ll see the session summary shown in Figure 2 3 If the summary doesn t show the sessions you intended to create you probably selected incorrectly from the drop down lists for example one of the lists was left at Choose or the starting date was later than the ending date If you attempt to create sessions that already exist Boomer Jack updates the starting and arrival times for those sessions if no crews h
55. load the original files whose names begin with orig_ to your Web site for safekeeping Do not upload create_my_rr sql because it will be executed from your hard drive in the next section 1 2 Creating the MySQL database You might need help from your Web hosting service to set up the MySQL database since some of the steps can not be accomplished on a remote server by running scripts Usually Web hosting folks are very helpful and often the online instructions are sufficient Here are the steps you will perform e Create the database the schema e Create an administrator ID and password for you to log into the database e Create a user ID and password for Boomer Jack to log into the database e Create the database tables e Determine the host name needed for Boomer Jack to connect to the database Boomer Jack comes configured to use a database named mm rr which you ll probably want to change to reflect the name of your railroad recommended but not required Follow these steps to create and initialize your database 1 2 1 Initial setup Result Step 1 l The default database name is my_rr Choose a different name if desired Use only letters numbers and underscores in the name The name is case sensitive so write it accurately in the next column Database name Step 2 E Log into your Web hosting service s administrator control panel and navigate to the page where you can manage MySQL databases Ste
56. lumn The No Preference job always appears on the list and is always first The Exper Qualify column indicates if a crew earns experience points by performing that job Enter the number of points the job is worth See section 2 8 1 for more information about job experience points Create a new job by entering its title and other information in the green New Job row at the bottom of the screen To make it easy to insert a new job between two existing jobs Boomer Jack automatically renumbers the list order by tens each time you click Update To insert a new job between two others choose a list order number between those two For instance to insert The Cannonball between between Yard Crew and Yard Master set its list order to any number from 31 to 39 and click Update The Cannonball will appear in its correct position with list order renumbered Click the Update button when you have finished making your changes Click a red Delete button to delete that job There is no confirmation for this the job is deleted immediately If you delete a job by accident just add it again in the New Job row The No Preference item cannot be deleted because Boomer Jack uses it when composing the e mail to crews who marked up for operating sessions You may change the text e g perhaps to No Clue Don t Care or Whatever or the list order if you wish but you may not delete it Boomer Jack User Manual Page 40 If you don t want crews to express a
57. mdodd com along with details about what you were doing when the error occurred Also are you absolutely sure you didn t inadvertently change something in create_my_rr sq This script creates the database tables and changing even one character in the wrong place could name a column or table so it doesn t match Boomer Jack s code If there s any possibility that something was changed replace create_my_rr sq with orig_create_my_rr sql make the changes described in section 1 2 2 and run the script again to create the database as you did in section 1 2 3 Boomer Jack User Manual Page 50 5 Review Hopefully by now you ve used Boomer Jack enough to appreciate how it works This chapter reviews the overall process flow Define jobs on your railroad and optionally assign experience points to each Create operating sessions Boomer Jack can t do anything until sessions exist Invite crews to mark up for sessions Each time someone marks up Boomer Jack adds the name to the database and sends a confirmation e mail to that person Print name tags for crews attending the next session Assign crews to jobs either before or after the session is held Hold the operating session Upload session photos to your Web site and add them to the session in Boomer Jack so they appear on the session photos page Mark the session held when it s over and record which crews attended Boomer Jack sends an e mail to each person who participa
58. mplete your work on that screen and move to a different one Under normal operation this should be sufficient time a shorter time provides better security see below so you won t be asked for the password again But if you walk away and come back 16 minutes later you will be asked when you open another screen This security scheme where all admin pages check the password prevents someone from from modifying your database if they happen to guess or stumble onto one of Boomer Jack s administration pages starting from the crew call or session photos URLs It doesn t take much imagination to look at the crew call URL http myRR myDomain com bj_crew_call php and think let s see what happens if substitute bj_admin for D crew call Remember the 15 minute window as you explore Boomer Jack s features If the password expires and you get the login screen just enter the password again and click the desired button when you reach the main Administration screen Figure 2 1 As can be seen in that figure Boomer Jack displays on each screen the time the password expires You can change the 15 minute password window by assigning a new the value to PASSWORD_TIMEOUT in the bj_constants php file A shorter time affords better security since anyone typing the URL of an admin page while the window is open has access to all administrator functions until the time expires There is no penalty for a short password expiration The password timer is reset each
59. ns instead of A position As the railroad owner you receive a copy of these e mails 2 4 5 Dealing with no shows It s annoying when someone marks up for an operating session and then doesn t show up At best it s discourteous but it can bollix up the works if you are counting on the person for a critical position Boomer Jack allows you to monitor no shows and put them on the extra board instead of the call board when they mark up for a session after missing too many previous sessions Here s how this works There are two constants in the bj_constants php file that tell Boomer Jack how tolerant you are of no shows Set NO_SHOW_MONTHS_BACK to the number of months prior to latest held session to look back when counting no shows The default is six months That is Boomer Jack looks backward six months from the most recently held session and counts the number of times each person marked up but didn t attend within that span Set NO_SHOWS_TOO_MANY to the number of sessions you consider too many to miss during the time span you set above The default is three sessions In other words assuming the default values if someone misses three sessions in the previous six months that s too many and Boomer Jack will put that person on the extra board if he marks up for an upcoming session This happens even if the session is not full Being on the extra board means the person is not invited to the session Once someone has missed too many sessi
60. of section 1 2 1 E Change ADMIN_PASSWORD from 1234567 to something else This is the password you ll use to log into Boomer Jack s administration screens It is not the same administrator password you created for the database in step 4 of section 1 2 1 ADMIN_PASSWORD changed to Step 3 bj_user_info php LJ After modifying the file bj_user_info php in step 3 upload it to the Boomer Jack directory on your Web site server as explained in section 1 1 4 1 2 3 Creating the database tables A database stores data in tables To create these tables you execute the create_my_rr sql script from your local hard drive while logged intoyour Web hosting service s MySQL administration screen Result Step 1 E Log into your Web hosting service s administrator control panel and navigate to the page where you can manage MySQL databases as you did earlier in section 1 2 1 Step 2 L Locate the screen tab or button that allows you to execute a SQL script This might be labeled Import or SQL It should have a Browse button that brings up a dialog where you can select a file on your computer s hard drive to open Navigate to the Boomer Jack directory and select the create_my_rr sql file When the file open dialog closes find and click the Execute or Run button to run the script on the hosting service s server After a few seconds you should see a message reporting the result Step 3 L If t
61. omeone marks up on the crew call page according to these rules e Ifthe e mail address on the crew call page matches the e mail address in the database Boomer Jack updates the name with the name from the crew call page es Ifthe name on the crew call page matches name in the database Boomer Jack updates the e mail address with the e mail address from the crew call page The benefit of this scheme is that crew names and e mail addresses are always up to date The possible downside is that a name or e mail address entered on the crew call page will wipe out a change you make here Uncheck the Active box to deactivate crews who seem to have lost interest or have disappeared Boomer Jack uses this flag when populating the list that appears when you click the E mail Crews button on the main Administration screen Even if this flag is unchecked it is always checked when someone marks up for a session as this indicates renewed interest The Have Operated column is marked if the person checked the I have operated on model railroads box on the crew call page The Know Op System column is marked if the person checked the I am familiar with operations using the your dispatching system box on the crew call page The Jobs Worked and Jobs Qualified columns show job experience The first column shows the number of different jobs each crew has worked The column header includes the total number of jobs you ve defined on the Job Administrati
62. on screen section 2 10 1 Working the same job more than once counts as only one The second column tells what percentage of experience points the crew is earned As explained in section 2 10 1 you can assign experience points for crews to earn with each job worked The Jobs Qualified column sums the points each crew has earned and divides it by the total points Boomer Jack User Manual Page 35 you ve assigned to all jobs There is no direct correlation between this percentage and the number of jobs worked because some of the jobs might be assigned zero points The Ops Here column shows the total number of times this person has operated on your railroad and the Last Session column shows the date of the most recent session Click the Update button to save your changes Afterward the screen refreshes with the current data The No show and Forgive No show columns help you monitor and react to crews who mark up for sessions but don t come record attendance on the Session Admin screen section 2 5 4 The No show column displays the number of sessions the crew missed in the past n months N is determined by the value you assign to NO_SHOW_MONTHS_ BACK in bj_constants php the default is six months If a crew misses too many sessions the No show column changes color Set the value of NO_SHOWS_TOO_MANY in bj_constants php to the number of missed sessions you consider to be too many The default is three If the crew misses this many or m
63. ons and is in this penalty box the only way to get out is for you the railroad owner to set a flag on the Crew Administration screen that forgives the transgressions With this box checked Boomer Jack ignores the no show count when the person marks up for a session so the name goes on the normal call board See section 2 8 1 for details 2 5 Administering operating sessions Click the Sessions button on the main Administration screen to cancel or restore sessions mark them held and mark crew attendance You can see the Session Administration screen in Figure 2 7 on the next page It resembles the crew call screen with buttons added to perform the needed tasks Figure 2 7 shows six sessions As with the crew call screen each session is represented as a highlighted date on a calendar Calendars for completed sessions are shaded gray and those for canceled sessions include a red no entry symbol In addition crews who signed up for each session are shown to the right of the calendar along with drop down boxes to indicate if they attended The Done button with each calendar returns you to the main Administration screen The MY_CALENDARS_PER_ROW constant in bj_constants php tells Boomer Jack how many calendars to put on one row on this page and also on the crew call page Figure 2 4 The default value is 2 but change it as desired Be careful displaying more than two calendars per row because the browser can wrap names and job preferenc
64. ore sessions the column turns red if the crew misses half this many the column turns yellow Not only does NO_SHOWS_TOO_MANY control the color of the No show column it also determines if a person is invited to a session when marking up Section 2 4 5 explains how this works Check the Forgive No show box for Boomer Jack to allow a crew having too many no shows to go on the call board instead of the extra board You might do this if a regular crew experienced several instances of car trouble and or was considerate enough to call before the session 2 8 2 Importing crew data It s possible that you have crew names and addresses elsewhere such as in your e mail software and you d like to bring them into Boomer Jack You can do this but Web programming standards are restrictive and make this more complicated than you might expect The first question to ask yourself is why you want to bring in these names Normally crew names are entered into the database when people mark up for operating sessions If you import crews the Crew Administration screen will indicate that these people as having never participated in an operating session This might be misleading if you ve imported a list of crews who operated before you started using Boomer Jack On the other hand Boomer Jack can send e mail to all of these people at once as explained in section 2 9 which might be useful Assuming you really do want to import crew names this is the process
65. p 3 L Look for an icon or button that allows you to create a new database Do this and name it with the name you chose instep 1 Step 4 Administrator user name J Look for an icon or button that allows you to create a new user Create an administrator user name and Administrator password password for yourself These are case sensitive so write them accurately in the next column You will be the only one logging in with this user name Administrator rights Boomer Jack User Manual Page 8 By default this user probably will be granted all privileges If not do this yourself using features on the MySQL administration screen Step 5 J Create a user name suggestions bj_user bj_rr boomer_jack and password for Boomer Jack to log into the database Grant only SELECT INSERT UPDATE and DELETE privileges to this user These are case sensitive so write them accurately in the next column Boomer Jack user name Boomer Jack user password Boomer Jack user privileges Step 6 E Log out of your Web hosting service s administrator control panel You will log in again to create the database tables in section 1 2 3 1 2 2 Customizing the database creation script and database connection information The file create_my_rr sql is a MySQL script that creates the database tables The file bj_user_info php contains information needed for Boomer Jack to connect to the database Open these fil
66. rectory as your regular HTML files But if you created a separate BJ directory beneath this directory precede the path with BJ MY WEB URL BJ bj_crew_call php L Change MY_MAX_SESSION_SLOTS from 5 to the maximum number of people including yourself you want at an operating session Count extra board positions if you have an extra board When this number of people have marked up Boomer Jack marks the session filled and does not allow additional mark ups You the owner are automatically marked up when you create sessions LI Change MY_DISPATCHING_SYSYEM from Timetable amp Train Order to the dispatching system your railroad uses Examples CTC Track Warrant Simon says Check Box Abbreviate or spell out at your discretion e g Timetable amp Train Order or TT amp TO MY_RR_SHORT changed to MY_NAME changed to MY_NAME_SHORT changed to MY_EMAIL changed to MY_WEB_URL changed to MY_SESSION_PHOTOS_URL set to MY_CREW_CALL_URL set to MY_MAX_SESSION_SLOTS set to MY_DISPATCHING_SYSYEM set to Step 3 Optional L MARKUP_CONFIRM changed Boomer Jack User Manual Page 5 L Locate MARKUP_CONFIRM and read the associated text This text appears in the e mail sent to people who mark up for operating sessions Change it if you wish Step 4 Optional LL Zecate SS CRATCH_CONFIRM_1 and SCRATCH CONFIRM 2 and read the associated text Shis text appears in th
67. rst reduce them to 300 or 350 pixels wide Boomer Jack User Manual Page 48 4 Troubleshooting Sometimes things go wrong This section describes error messages you might see when testing Boomer Jack and what to do about them You re most likely to see these messages during the initial check out of phase It is extremely unlikely that you will see them during normal operation since they indicate fundamental configuration problems and it s impossible for Boomer Jack to run until the configuration is correct Problem Solution You see this message on your Web browser when you try to open a Boomer Jack page Can not select the my_rr database Unknown database my_rr The MySQL database name that Boomer Jack providing to your Web server does not match the name of the database on that server Refer to step 1 in section 1 2 2 where you edited the create_my_rr sql file and changed my_rr to the name you chose for your database Also check step 2 and verify that the value you set for DATABASE in bj_user_info php matches this name Finally log into your Web hosting service s MySQL administration screen as described in section 1 2 1 and double check that the name of the database on the server is correct You see this message on your Web browser when you try to open a Boomer Jack page Can not connect to database myAcct myWebHost com server Can t connect to MySQL server on my A cct myWebHost com 111 Your Web serv
68. s template files for the crew call and photos pages The next section explains how to do this Boomer Jack needs two template files bj_crew_call_template php for the crew call page and bj_ops_photos_template php for the ops session photos page If the template files are missing these pages will still display but will be bare Perform the following steps to create these two template files 3 2 Discovering how Web integration works To get an idea how all this works open the main Administration screen Figure 2 1 in your Web browser and click the Test Web Integration button You should see this screen Boomer Jack User Manual Page 44 HTML for Boomer Jack Everything on this page down to the horizontal line is in the bj_test_template php file and is standard HTML Everything below the horizontal line is generated by Boomer Jack If you see text above and below the line it proves that Boomer Jack is re code correctly ading the template file and adding its You ll probably want to integrate Boomer Jack s crew call page bj_crew_call php and ops session photos page bj_ops_photos php into your Web site Here s what to do Make two copies of bj_test_template php one for the crew call and the other for the session photos Modify them with your regular Web site styles and HTML including appropriate headings then save the files with these names e Crew call bj_crew_call_template php e Session photos bj_ops_photos_template php
69. ses Software Environment You must have a Web site to use Boomer Jack Boomer Jack is written in the PHP programming language and uses a MySQL database to store its data The PHP program code runs on your Web server and sends HTML pages to Web browsers Likewise the MySQL database resides on your Web server Most Web hosting services have PHP capability and include a MySQL database engine so if you have a Web site it s very likely BJ can run on it Boomer Jack is easily customized by editing three files highlighted yellow in the packing list One file contains railroad specific text such as e Your name e mail address and Web site URL e Your railroad s name e The dispatching system it uses e g TT amp TO CTC track warrants es The maximum number of crew positions at each operating session e The location of your session photos e Colors for screen buttons and forms e Much of the text used in e mails A second file contains information needed for Boomer Jack to connect to the MySQL database and a third file contains several flags that control how Boomer Jack operates These files are explained in detail later User manual organization Chapter 1 deals with configuring and installing Boomer Jack You might want to read Chapter 2 first to get a sense of how Boomer Jack operates then come back to Chapter 1 Be sure to read Chapter 3 to learn how to integrate the crew call and session photos pages into your Web site
70. ted thanking them for coming and telling them where to view the photos Use the Session Administration screen to cancel sessions if that becomes necessary and to restore canceled sessions if the situation changes Boomer Jack sends an e mail to each person to marked up for canceled or restored sessions Use the Crew Administration screen to update names e mail addresses and operating experience and to see how many times each person has participated in your ops sessions Use the Crew Administration screen to import crew data from other software or export to other software Send e mail to one or more crews hope Boomer Jack proves useful to you Please drop me an e mail with your comments and suggestions Boomer Jack User Manual Page 51
71. tep 10 of section 1 1 2 As you can see from this example you definitely should customize the driving directions 7 Any comment the person entered on the crew call page is included here in the e mail 8 The signature consists of the MY_NAME and MY_WEB_URL constants customized in step 1 of section 1 1 2 In normal operation the simulated e mail is not shown but the Welcome Aboard text and button at the bottom of Figure 2 6 always appear Clicking the button returns to the crew call calendars so the person may mark up for more sessions if desired Continue marketing up test crews for sessions and look over the text in the e mails to be sure it is satisfactory When done return to the Boomer Jack main Administration screen 2 4 3 More about the crew call page Refer to the March 2009 session on the crew call page in Figure 2 4 and notice these features e The session data is highlighted in yellow on the calendar and the starting time and arrival time are listed below it e There are two positions open and someone may join or mark off this session e People already marked up and their operating physician preferences appear to the right of the calendar Now look at the April 2009 session As is evident from the dark calendar background and the message above it this session is over Consequently several things change e The Join and Mark off checkboxes are disabled because it s too late for these e Likewise the Job Preferenc
72. tep 3 LJ if you entered the password correctly you should next see Boomer Jack s Crew and Session Administration screen Figure 2 1 Check that the name of your railroad appears on the second line of the screen Lk Step 4 _ The Crew and Session Administration screen should contain a column of blue buttons on the left with a red Log Out button at the bottom Do not click any of the buttons including the Log Out button yet _J OK Step 5 E Navigate to some other page in your Web browser Next re type the BJ administration URL in the browser s address bar e g myRR myDomain com bj_admin php This should return you directly to the Crew and Session Administration screen without entering a password But if you wait more than 15 minutes or click the Log Out button then type this URL again you ll go to the login screen Read section 2 3 for more information on this J It works Congratulations Boomer Jack is operating correctly This simple test confirms that your Web server is connecting to the MySQL database and executing the PHP files properly Next we ll explore Boomer Jacks features in detail Boomer Jack User Manual Page 12 2 Using Boomer Jack 2 1 Overview Boomer Jack is designed to make your life easier through this Session and Crew Administration screen The only public access to Boomer Jack is the crew call page where people mark up for operating sessions Figure 3 1 and the page th
73. the main Administration screen Figure 2 17 Crew export screen Boomer Jack User Manual Page 37 e Only the crew names which are marked active on the Crew Administration screen Figure 2 15 are included in this list Use your computer s mouse to select highlight all the lines in the yellow area then copy them Edit gt Copy right click gt Copy or Ctri C Open a text editor and paste the data into the blank document Edit gt Paste right click gt Paste or Ctrl V Save the document to your computer s hard drive as a text file with a csv extension The order of the fields is first name last name e mail address and one person s data appears on each line Each field is surrounded with quotation marks and fields are separated by commas e Once you have created the CSV file you can import it into other software such as a spreadsheet word processor or possibly an e mail program 2 8 4 Deleting all crews Click the Delete All button to delete all crews in the database Do this only if you are absolutely certain because once deleted the crews cannot be recovered You will be asked to confirm first You might want to do this if you have created a number of made up crew names for testing purposes and are ready to put Boomer Jack into production 2 9 Sending e mail to crews Click the E Mail Crews button in the main Administration screen Figure 2 1 if you want to send an e mail to one or more people Compose your e mail and s
74. time you click a button on a screen So even if you re working in the same general area e g creating sessions the timer is reset when you see the screen that displays all the sessions You can click the Log Out button on the main Administration screen to immediately expire the password time and go to the administrator login screen 2 4 A Note about session numbers Boomer Jack sequentially numbers all complete operating sessions This means that every time you mark a session held all completed sessions are renumbered starting with 1 Likewise if you mark a held session as not held all the completed sessions are again renumbered This gives you an automatic and accurate count of the operating sessions that have been held on your railroad Session numbers appear on the Session Administration screen on the summary list of scheduled sessions and in the e mail sent to crews after a session has been held Boomer Jack User Manual Page 14 2 5 Creating operating sessions Boomer Jack needs operating sessions before it can do anything Without sessions your crew call page is empty so there is no way for crews to mark up and add their names to the database So the first order of business is to create some operating sessions Click the Create Sessions button on the main Administration screen Figure 2 1 and you should see this screen Create Operating Sessions for the Generic Railroad Choose a day of the month a date range the sess
75. to configure Boomer Jack then upload the files to your Web server All files named with a bj_ prefix must be uploaded to your Web server the bj_ prefix makes the files easy to identify there Most of the files are PHP files but there also is an image whose filename ends in jpg 1 1 1 Choosing the Boomer Jack location Decide which one of two locations on your Web server will hold the Boomer Jack files e With your regular Web site HTML files strongly recommended e Ina directory dedicated to the Boomer Jack application Surprisingly the best location is along with your regular HTML files It might seem better to put all Boomer Jack files in their own directory but this complicates integrating the crew call and operating session photo pages with your regular Web site When you see the term Boomer Jack directory or BJ directory in this manual you should interpret that as the location you choose in step 1 below Boomer Jack needs to know where you will store your operating session photos This could be the same directory as you store your other Web site images or it could be a special directory for ops session photos only A separate directory is the best choice because it speeds loading Boomer Jack s Photos Administration page where you add photos after a session Mixing the session photos with the regular Web site photos can result in many photos being loaded as the page opens a time consuming process By default Boomer Jack assumes s
76. u are ready to send your e mail and you should see a simulated e mail similar to this one Simulated Email FROM My Name lt me myDomain com gt TO My Name lt me myDomain com gt BCC Hobo Harry Reed lt hobo reed com gt Alpha Railroader lt alpha rr com gt I m pleased to announce the Generic Railroad has a new way for you to mark up for operating sessions Please visit lt http myRailroad myDomain com BJ crew_call php gt to see the new page Each session is shown as a highlighted date on a calendar Just check the box indicating which sessions you want to join and select an operating position preference for each one Fill in your name and e mail address at the bottom and click the Mark Up button You ll receive a confirmation e mail shortly I hope this makes it easier for crews to sign up I know this has been a hassle in the past and I m looking forward to great success with this new system My Name http myRailroad myDomain com E mail has been sent Figure 2 19 Example crew e mail Notice that the e mail is sent to you and BCC to Hobo Harry Reed and Alpha Railroader but not to Barry Bumbleton who was not included in Figure 2 18 All recipients are BCC blind copy for privacy In normal operation the simulated e mail is not shown but the E mail has been sent message and button at the bottom always appear Clicking the Do More button returns you to the initial e mail composition screen and cl
77. value of ops_photos means that Boomer Jack will look for a directory named ops_photos beneath your HTML directory If you copied the BJ files to a separate directory beneath your HTML directory substitute two periods for the single period for example ops_photos MY_OPS_PHOTOS_DIR value is Step 2 Further customize Boomer Jacked by setting values for these constants MY_RR changed to J Change MY_RR from Generic Railroad to your railroad s name Boomer Jack User Manual Page 4 L Change MY_RR_SHORT from GEN RR to your railroad s short name or abbreviation e g PRR B amp O RR SOU It s your choice whether to include RR or RY E Change MY_NAME from My Name to your first and last name l Change MY_NAME_SHORT from Me to your first name LJ Change MY_EMAIL from me myDomain com to your own e mail address J Change MY_WEB_URL from http myRR myDomain com to the URL of your Web site L Change MY_SESSION_PHOTOS_URL to include the Web URL to bj_ops_photos php The default MY WEB URL is correct if you placed BJ s files in the same directory as your regular HTML files But if you created a separate BJ directory beneath this directory precede the path with BJ MY_WEB_URL BJ bj_ops_photos php LJ Change MY_CREW_CALL_URL to include the Web URL to bj_crew_call php The default value MY WEB URL is correct if you placed BJ s files in the same di
78. xt and HTML tags that created the top portion of the page in Figure 3 2 Notice the lt HR gt lt HR gt tags highlighted at the bottom of the file These create the horizontal line in the center of Figure 3 2 If bj_test_template php did not exist in the Boomer Jack directory on the Web server the top part of the page would be missing and only the lower portion in Figure 3 2 would display 3 3 Creating the HTML template files You can modify bj_test_template php without fear of losing anything because Boomer Jack comes with a copy of the file named orig_bj_test_template php Make a few changes to this file using your Web site s standard styles or HTML then upload it to your Web server Once again open BJ s main Administration screen and click the Test Web Integration button The page should display the changes you made in the top area and the same job list and button in the bottom area Play with this possibly incorporating some of your Web site styles until the Web page is to your liking and you understand what s going on Now save two copies of bj_test_template php to your hard drive one named bj_crew_call_template php and the other named bj_ops_photos_template php Edit bj_crew_call_template php to delete the test material and insert the styles navigation links and headings you want on your crew call page above the calendars shown in Figure 2 4 Do the same thing with bj_ops_photos_template php inserting the styles navigation links an
79. you can select a different session date or different type of photos Click the Done button to return to the main Administration screen Boomer Jack User Manual Page 34 2 8 Administering crews 2 8 1 Editing crew information Click the Crews button on the main Administration screen Figure 2 1 to view or update crew data This screen appears Know Jobs Have Dispat Worked Jobs No Forgive Ops Last E mail First Name Last Name Active Oper System of22 Qual Show No show Here Session hobo reed com Hobo Harry Reed a falpha rr com Alpha Railroader v v 2 7 2 11 20 2009 1 11 20 2009 barry bumbleton com Barry Bumbleton v 1 o Eeee LE ST Figure 2 15 Crew administration screen abbreviated This is a list of all crews A crew record is created the first time a person marks up for an operating session and you can update crew information here In addition to viewing and updating individual crew data records this screen is where you can import and export crew data and delete all crews See sections 2 8 2 through 2 8 4 for details about these operations The list displays each person s e mail first name and last name along with their experience operating on model railroads and information about participation in your sessions You may edit the e mail and name fields as desired but Boomer Jack updates them each time s
80. you test the system To begin open bj_flags php in a text editor make the following changes then upload the file to the Boomer Jack directory on your Web server e Verify that PUBLIC is set to true This will be the case if you ve been testing Boomer Jack on your live Web site s Set SIMULATE_EMAIL to false to tell Boomer Jack to send real e mails instead of displaying simulated e mails in the browser s Set TESTING to true so the crew call page displays a message telling people they are not signing up for actual operating sessions Now send an e mail to your friends telling them what you re doing and asking them to try out the crew call page be sure to include the crew call URL Explain that you ll be testing the following e Session mark up Ask people to sign up for several sessions and choose a preferred job for some of them Also ask people to mark off one or two sessions even if they re not signed up for those sessions Ask them to notify you of any strange behavior on the crew call page e Mark up confirmation e mail Explain that each person who marks up should receive a confirming e mail Ask everyone to verify that this e mail correctly confirms the sessions dates for which they marked up and marked off You can verify that this e mail was sent because it is CC to you as well as addressed to the crew e Session cancellation and restoration After several people have marked up for sessions cancel one of them and then

User Manual - Mike Dodd`s Virginian Railway

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