Calendar-Like Function

[jbullydawg]

I'm not sure this is the right place for this question so if not please let me know.

I'm working on a marketing system that allows the user to request a new job and view their current and old jobs. However, I don’t want the user to be able to request a job on a day that is already full with other job requests. So, what I have done is had the marketing unit assign a numerical time to the jobs that they do (ex. Brochure = 12 hours of work). When the user makes his/her request the system will check the day and if the job can be completed on that day, based on all the other jobs turned in, it will allow the request to go through. If the job can’t be completed on that day the system requests a new date for completion or suggests making an appointment.

Ok, that’s the goal. Yes, we could buy a calendar system but our budget is not such that we can just purchase items whenever we want. Sad, I know.

So, I have a couple issues that have been plaguing my progress on this project:

1) If a job takes more than one day to complete how can I assign those hours to multiple days. For example, a brochure might take 12 working hours to complete. If there are only 8 hours in a work day how do I go about pushing the additional 4 hours into the next day?

2) Is there a way to assign 8am to 5pm, Monday through Friday, as the only hours of the day and of the week under consideration for this system?

To give a better idea of the job request function the following is a brief synopsis of how it will work:

1)User enters date they want job completed and the job type.

2) System checks that date and considers the following:

a. hours already assigned to work that day (dayjobhours)

b. requested hours to be added to that day (reqhours)

c. totalhours = dayjobhours + requhours

i. If (totalhours > 8; "Date Full") ~ user will be given an option to enter in a new date or schedule an appointment for further assistance

ii. if the totalhours is less than 8 then the request is accepted

and the user is notified of that fact

I’ll take any help or recommendations for changes anyone can give. I feel like I have grown a great deal in the past couple of years when it comes to design and development but when it comes to dates and times I’m still a bit of a novice.

Thank you!