Ticketing Solution. Scripts? How?

[sysop]

I am attempting to develop a ticketing solution in FMP 5.

[email protected] (Mike)

I have *no* scripting knowledge or experience, however I do know the difference between a field definition and a relationship.

I seem to be hung on on a couple of points that seem like they ~must~ be relatively easy to do and need your help, please.

The two big items would be:

1) Creating a number of new tickets based on values entered by the operator.

For instance, someone walks up to the window and request 20 tickets. The operator enters "20" in the appropriate field, and 20 new records are created and printed.

Now, I am thinking "duplicate records based on the current record" too, but each ticket's (record's) number is generated by calculation and auto entered into the "ticket number" field when the ticket (record) is created.

2) Validating the ticket with no user intervention.

I am encoding each ticket with a type 39 bar code. The intent is to have the ticket holder wave the ticket under the scanner, at which point either nothing happens and the ticket holder continues into the venue, or based on validation against the database the ticket was created in, a big flashing red light with sirens and buzzers is to go off (just kidding. I do suspect a BIG bouncer will suddenly appear.)

The problem is . . . doing this with NO user intervention on the part of the facility staff. Nobody sitting at a keyboard to click "create new record" between patrons!

I can program the scanner (Wasp corded LED model)to add ASCII equivelent prefixes and suffixes. I have sucessfully programed both TAB and ENTER at will. However, CTRL+"anykey" seems to be out of the question.

As I *can* simplify the validating BD down to ONE visible field on the layout, I'm thinking my only problem is "How do I run a script to create a new record using TAB and/OR ENTER?" or "Should I be importing all these ticket numbers into the "validation" file and trying to validate aginst the numbers internally so I do not have to create a new record at all?".

2a)"How do I run a script to create a new record using TAB and/OR ENTER?"

2b)"Should I be importing all these ticket numbers into the "validation" file and trying to validate aginst the numbers internally so I do not have to create a new record at all?"

But then my ever annoying self says: "OK. How do you do that smarty pants?"

I have been working in a vacume for some time now on FMP. I am very happy to have discovered this resource. If any of you ever need a hand with HTML or just about any other WWW related language let me know. I'm not completely helpless all the time.

TIA,

Mike.

[LiveOak]

I'd dump your barcode scanner and get one that can create either CMD-1 thru CMD-9 or Cntl-1 to Cntl-9 to trigger the first scripts in the Scriptmaker menu. The Unitech laser scanner (MS690WA-1) which works with both Macs & PCs is programmable for prefix and suffix and will generate these codes. Once you can run a script, you can do validation by finding by "find" or "go to related record" the correct record for that ticket. You can use a FM plug-in to send a serial message to some device which would provide your alert. -bd