Create and Managing a profile |
Using the wireless button, select Manage Profiles
- Press on the screen until the popup window to
'Add' a profile appears. You will see a window titled Wireless LAN
Profile Entry
- Enter a Profile Name
- (for example - ticket scanning)
If you enter your network name, it is less secure as the network name
should be private.>
- Enter the ESSID (Network
Name) of your network.
- Click Next
- Select the following:
- Infrastructure - For
operating mode.
- USA for country, or
whatever your router will allow
- Click Next>
- WPA2 - Personal for Security
Mode (this must match your router)
- Click Next
- Encryption Type and
Pass Phrase are dependant on what your router settings
are
- Click Next
- ipv4 address type, check all
the boxes, especially obtain IP Address Automatically. However, if that
doesn't work, give each scanner a unique IP address suitable for your
network.
- Click Next
- For Transmit Power, change the settings to
Power Plus
- Click Next
- Change Battery usage mode to
CAM
- Click Save
|
Now that you have a profile, time to
select it and use it. Press and hold on the profile until the popup
appears and click 'Connect'. The icon changes if you have active
connection. You may need to 'x' out of this window to continue. Before you
do, please refer to for last minute settings that you might need to
check. |
|
Testing the Signal |
Pressuming you are connected, click the
Wireless button again in the ticket scanning program.
- Scroll down and select Wireless
Status
- Pick Signal Strength - it should be a green bar
(you wuld prefer excellent as the signal strength). The higher the
signal, the better/faster scanning will be.
-
If you have no signal strength, then go back
to the top of this page and adjust your network parameters, IP
settings, etc so that you can connect to the network
- If you have signal strength, then click the 'blue'
arrow at the top right of the screen to go back to the previous window
- Select Option 3: IPv4 status . On this screen you
should see that you have an ip address from your router. If not, start at
the top of the help page, verify the profile and make sure you are connected
to your network
- Click the blue arrow to go back
- Click the quit option to get back to the ticket scanning program
|
Testing the Network |
-
Click the Wireless button on
the ticket scanning setup window
-
Scroll down and select Wireless
Diagnostics
-
Select ICMP Ping
-
Enter the ip address of the
apache machine
-
Click start test to se if you
can communicate
-
If you cannot ping the Theatre Manager
Apache Server, you need to adjust your router to allow communication
from the scanner to the apache server. You may also need to
adjust your Profile, so back to the top of this help page.
-
Once you are able to ping the Theatre Manager
Apache machine successfully, Stop the test
-
Click the Back button at the
top (or OK button at the bottom) until you get into the Theatre Manager Setup Window
|
Once the network settings are done, then the next
step is to try and end to end test. You will need to start at least one
Theatre Manager Web Listener. For the purposes of the test, it is better
that only one be started. |
|
Testing a Scan |
On the Web listener window, there is a pop-up at
the bottom middle of the screen beside the Show Detail
button. This is the log Level selection which is normally set to
Error. Change the setting to say Ticket
Scanning
. The Web Listener will now report more messages, including those sent by a scanner. It is helpful in the diagnostic process.
- Set the Web listener to Ticket
Scanning error log level
- Take the scanner near the screen so you can
watch the listeners responses
- On the Wireless device,ensure you have entered
the Theatre Manager Address correctly - it will typically look like 192.168.0.xx/TheatreManager/1 as per these instructions
- Set up the port, user initials and password as
required. We recommend leaving the Performance as zero (0) as it means scan
any event for the current day.
- Click the Save button on the Theatre
Manager Setup Window. This takes you back to the main window.
- Click the scan button to take yo to the normal
scanning interface
- Type in 12345678 as the ticket number. Then click
the green arrow to test the scanner. It is very likely that you'll see a
stop icon.
- You should also see an error message on the scanner
indicating any problems (eg, invalid password, wrong ticket number or what
have you. Please look at the Theatre Manager web listener and see if the
message on the log line is similar to the message on the scanner. You should
also see lines in the Web Listener Log that are 'Checkin/Out' messages and
may display things like 'Scanner Synchronized Time' etc.
- If you see no messages and you got this far, then you probably need to go back and look at network and firewall settings -- assuming that the scanner is mated with the network properly
|
Real Life Testing |
The final step in the test process is to take the scanners to locations where you will use them (if you see messages that the scanner is communicating in the previous section).
- Print off several dozen real tickets for any event
- enough that each ticket scanner has a few tickets to practice with. The
tickets may be for the same seat or different seats - you just need some to
get a continuous string of acceptances.
- Set the performance parameter on the scanner to
this event
- Stand where you will be scanning
- Check the signal strength as per the instructions
above and make sure it is sufficient
- Try scanning people into the venue and out of the
venue
- Test all scanners individually
- Test all scanners working at the same time to make sure there is no interference or reduction in performance if all are working at the same time. If there is a reduction in speed, you might need to boost the wireless access point's antenna, or you may want another listener or two temporarily. This depends on number of scanners and wireless signal
|
Training |
The
scanners do work, as there are hundreds in use. However, we recommend that you have a training practice session a few days before using it on your first real event. Have the ushers come in and try it. Help them scan in and scan out people so that they are familiar with the basic operation.
Then try the scanners on a small event first - it is almost a certainty that there will be minor problems when real patrons are involved. Patrons bring tickets to the wrong event and your ushers need time to adapt to the controls that a scanner brings.
Once you have a few smaller events under your belt and
feel comfortable, then you are ready for all events. |