Problem with Checkin to Events

[ColinL]

Hello - I'm a first time PowerChurch user testing the setup the Event/Checkin features (but experienced with IT systems)

I have setup Activities for our Sunday School groups & added People as members/leaders ok
I have 'allowed' these Activities to be used within Events module
I have specified the 'Sunday School' Activity Checkin settings as "Available as part of an Event" / "Require manned CheckIn station" / "Record Attendance on CheckIn"
I have create other Youth Activities with CheckIn settings as Always Available" / Require manned Checkin etc (just to show/prove differences/issues)
I have create Events (for current time &/or within 4 hours before start)
These Events are Linked to Sunday School Activity (within Activity Calendar page) & CheckIn Page is setup to "Enable Checkin for this Event"

Using PowerChurch Today, the Currently Checked In list shows the Always Available Youth Activities (with Checkin count=0)
It shows the Sunday School Activity (Event Name) with NO CheckIn value - after quite a while, the CheckIn count=0 shows up (minor issue)

When using the Kiosk software (loaded after Event created, in Manned mode, with Authorised User), I can search/locate Families, but am only able to Checkin (or Add) to Activities that are "Always Available"
Now to the real problem....
Any Sunday School Events (linked to Sunday School Activities - available to Checkin as part of Event) are not shown against the Family Members who are assigned to the Sunday School Activities

It may or may not be relevant, but when i did check in/out a person to an always available Activity, there was no record of their Attendance passed into PowerChurchDB

Any advice on whether i've missed something - or found a bug - would be greatly appreciated

[ColinL]

further info
I've noticed that today (March10 = 3/10/2014 AUS/EUR format) when I checkin to an Always Available Activity, that PowerChurchDB is actually recording their attendance, but against Oct 3 (which is 3/10/2014 US format)
This also explains why Kiosk is not showing Todays Events for Checkin purposes (i created an Event for Oct 3 2014 and was able use this for Checkin & see attendance recorded)
So i think the problem is related to Date Formats.
The PowerchuchDB SystemSetup is configured for DD/MM/YYYY European format
All computers (server & PC/kiosk) are setup for English(Australian) formats which have ShortDate d/mm/yyyy
When i use PowerChurchDB Events Calendar, the Today function correctly takes me to March10
As a test, i changed the PowerChurchDB system setup to US Fomat & the Kiosk Program allowed me to see the March10 Events - so appears there's an issue with the way Kiosk is reading dates from Events data........

[jwdick]

PowerChurch only has two date formats available. US (MM/DD/YYYY) and European (DD/MM/YYYY). There is not an option for ShortDate. You may suggest that this be changed by sending an email to wishlist@powerchurch.com

[NeilZ]

Foxpro can only utilize two date formats. European and US, my suggestion is to setup the computers to set their localization to standard European date formats.

[ColinL]

Thank you both for your suggestion
To clarify, when i refer to shortdate, that was just to explain the computers region/date format settings.
I have since done further testing
With the Server & Kiosk Computer 'region' set to English (UK) (which sets the date format to DD/MM/YYYY)
& having the PowerChurch Date Format set to European DD/MM/YYYY, i created events on todays date (15/03/2014) and the Event created for Today showed up correctly in Kiosk.
However, to prove the initial issue i was having, I changed both the Server & Kiosk computer clock dates back to last Monday (10/03/2014)
I then created a new Event on 10/03/2014 and was unable to see this in Kiosk
I changed the Kiosk computer clock date to 03/10/2014 (03 Oct) and was then able to see the Event (created above for 10/03/2014 = 10 March)
Here's where in think the problem is, when a date contains 1thru 12 in the first field (and can therefore represent both a Month or Day value) - we have problem.
If the date contains 13-31 in the first field - it works ok....!
Should i be logging this as a tech support issue?

Regards
Colin

[jwdick]

Yes, I would contact tech support relating the test information as you have just stated here. If they can duplicate the error then it is a software issue.

[NeilZ]

Thank you both for your suggestion
To clarify, when i refer to shortdate, that was just to explain the computers region/date format settings.
I have since done further testing
With the Server & Kiosk Computer 'region' set to English (UK) (which sets the date format to DD/MM/YYYY)
& having the PowerChurch Date Format set to European DD/MM/YYYY, i created events on todays date (15/03/2014) and the Event created for Today showed up correctly in Kiosk.
However, to prove the initial issue i was having, I changed both the Server & Kiosk computer clock dates back to last Monday (10/03/2014)
I then created a new Event on 10/03/2014 and was unable to see this in Kiosk
I changed the Kiosk computer clock date to 03/10/2014 (03 Oct) and was then able to see the Event (created above for 10/03/2014 = 10 March)
Here's where in think the problem is, when a date contains 1thru 12 in the first field (and can therefore represent both a Month or Day value) - we have problem.
If the date contains 13-31 in the first field - it works ok....!
Should i be logging this as a tech support issue?

Regards
Colin

You could, although this is the first time I've heard this happening. Although that may be due to most users keeping the dates in the US format, even in Canada. I'll flag this so that a Powerchurch support person reviews this data.

[ColinL]

thanks Neil
to find a possible temp workaround, i tested changing either/both the server or kiosk Windows Region setting to US - made no difference
If i change the PowerChurch data format to US, then Kiosk works ok, but I cant see us being able to use the Database in this mode (too confusing for people in AUS not accustomed to see US dates)
So i hope this can be replicated & resolved asap (eagerly waiting to deploy the checkin functionality to the church)

[Zorak]

As Neil said earlier, we have many Canadian customers using Check In, which was released early in 2010, and haven't had any reported issues with date formats.

We set it all up in a testing environment, using English (Australia) regional settings in Windows, with Short Date: d/MM/yyyy set as the default, changed the church location in PowerChurch to Canada (all other countries) and also changed the date format in PowerChurch to DD/MM/YYYY (European).

Everything worked fine with today's date. We switched the system date to 10/03/2014 and it checked in and recorded attendance for March 10.

From the symptoms you are listing, it sounds like the Date Format in PowerChurch is not set to DD/MM/YYYY (European). This setting is on the Dates tab on the System Setup Options screen found under File > Preferences.

[Zorak]

OK, here's an update. Previously, we had thoroughly tested it and couldn't recreate the issue. Now, hours later, Program Development is still going through that code, looking for an answer, and this is what they have come up with:

The Check In Kiosk requests the date settings from the Check In Server. If it doesn't get a response (as in a timeout, or a dropped request that the server never received) it defaults to US standard M/D/Y.

We will write up a change request, to make the kiosk software look at the regional settings of the kiosk computer if it doesn't get an answer from the server. Only use the US standard as a last resort.

That said, if you are having problems with tiny data requests like this between the kiosk and server, you can probably expect much bigger problems than the date thing once you get up and running. There will be fairly big chunks of data/pictures being passed back and forth on a regular basis during regular check in operation.

[ColinL]

hi zorak
thank you the testing & feedback
i have a word doc or screenshots to show the setup (please let me know where to send)
for reference, the testing has also been done using a 'single device' to rule out network connectivity

[Zorak]

You can attach the documentation to an e-mail addressed to support@powerchurch.com