Version 6.58

Theatre Manager will

• Reorganize the database
• add a dummy 'folder' for the letters
• set the hold code on each ticket that is currently held
• set the auto release characters for held tickets

The user will need to

Web Sales

• Added the ability to include the actual ticket purchase details in the email confirmation letter sent to the patron. This same confirmation can also be placed on the screen after the credit card is authorized. To implement this, the steps are:
  • Download the sample web page folder for Mac or Windows
  • Install the sample web pages into a directory of your choice. You will need to specify the password you were previously given
  • Copy the following files into the TMTemplates directory (and may any changes you'd like). These pages must be installed otherwise web sales will not work - even if you do not want confirmation emails.
    • rowCheckoutDonation.html
    • rowCheckoutFestival.html
    • rowCheckoutReserve.html
    • rowCheckoutOrderFee.html
    • rowCheckoutPass.html
    • rowCheckoutMailFee.html
  • Copy (and change as appropriate to match your web site) the following two pages. They include code to add the shopping cart on the confirmation page. Note: You do not need to change these files or copy them in if you do not want to have the confirmation on the checkout page or the tickets emailed to the patron. You can alo get web sales running in verison 6.58 and then make changes to these pages at a later date
    • TMcheckoutConfirmation.html
    • TMcheckoutInvoiceEmail.html
  • The following web pages were changed to tweak performance, display better messages, or reduce the amount of un-neccessary HTML code going onto a web page. You can change these if you wish - changing them is not mandatory.
    • TMcart.html (moved the location of the 'prices include taxes' for to make it look better)
    • tmindex.html (added <!-- comment: to the comments in the code so that it will be stripped out when sent back to the user)
    • TMCGI folder - added a PERL script for some later versions of IIS servers that don't behave the same way as a standard Apache server)
    • tmScripts/reloadnav.html (removed the comments that talk about the purpose of the cookie so that they do not appear in web pages sent to a user)
    • tmTickets.html (updated the display area that shows the 'Events xx of xx displayed' to have a better message when no events were found)
• Made some changes to anonymous browsing to catch an error condition where a person sat on a page for a long time without doing anything, then started to buy tickets again. The shopping cart was being timed out and released. However, a new shopping cart was not being created and the user could not go anywhere in the web site
• Addressed and issue where if somebody force-quit the end of day process; and users are not allowed to buy if end of day is open... if this occurred, the web site would report that the venue is down for end of day. The web listener when it restarts after a backup will automatically clear this flag regardless and web sales can start again
• Added code to clear out all web page variables between each call to the web listener - for safety and security.
• Added the ability to decide upon two methods of merging data into a web page:
  • One method uses specialized C++ routines to do this at one time (fast) but has the disadvantage of fragmenting memory. This can cause issues with the application heap on some Macintosh's and also on PC's who have limited memory available.
  • The second method, although a little slower, merges the data in one field at a time. It also handles some calculations in a web page that the fast method cannot handle.
  • The recommended setting is the 'fast' method if you have no memory issues with your web site. If you do have issues, then the recommended setting is not to use the fast method. On upgrade, the 'fast' method is turned off. See the example setting in default data below

Credit Card Authorization

• We have been made aware of a potential problem with some sites using PC charge. Each time Theatre Manager is started, it verifies that PC charge is running. The command that was used could have caused some issues with authorizations, settlements or reporting of prior day information. If you were having any issues with PC Charge and credit card authorization, we recommend upgrading to this version of Theatre Manager (and the server version 5.7.1D of PC charge if you have not done so). Then restart the PC Charge server prior to commencing business.

Default Data (ticket holds)

• The 'auto releasing' of held tickets prior to a performance has been enhanced. You can now specify which hold letters will bee released. Removing a letter from the list means that particular hold will never be released. The default setting (on upgrading) is that all helds will be released. We recommend adjusting this list so that the internet and wheelchair holds, at a minimum, are never released.
• The setting is in Default Data on the 'Ticketing' tab. See the example below

• A new feature has been added to allow resetting of the End-Of-Day flag. Each site has the option of allowing any ticket sales while trying to reconcile the end of day. If a venue decides that sales cannot occur during that process (the recommended setting), and they, for any reason, manage to abnomally exit the process (eg machine turned off), then nobody can sell until everybody logs off and back in again. Using this button, you can reset the end of day flag and sales can proceed. It means that the web listeners never need to be turned off. This feature is in Default Data on the 'Accounting' tab. See the example below

Reports

• Changed the 'Mailing Label' report for PC's to print the bar code labels for zip codes in a slightly larger font consistent with the US post office.

Form Letters

• Added the ability to save a form letter to a folder in the database. Essentially, this means that you can categorize form letters. This may make it easier to find development, marketing, box office, volunteer letters, etc. Folder levers are only one deep. That is to say, you cannot have folders within folders. Also, these are classifications within the database and not on a desktop. The reason is so that all users can access the form letters from the database. Finally, this feature is primarily provided for compatibility with forthcoming version 7 data structures so it is limited in functionality here. You can:
  • Create folders in 'Setup->System Tables->Code Tables' using the 'Letter Folders' tab. These must be created BEFORE you can use them in form letters as you cannot at folders while making form letters (a current restriction)
  • Save a letter to a folder. At the time of naming a letter, you will be asked for the folder to put it in.
  • Rename a letter. At the time of renaming a letter, you can pick the folder to put it into (or move it into). There is no drag/drop to move form letters from one folder to another.
  • and while searching for form letters, you can sort by folder if you wish.

Creating a new form letter folder

Renaming a form letter and its folder

Miscellaneous Changes

• Fixed an issue where some information on the patron window would go blank if the user also had the play & date window open -AND- happened to click on either the attendance tab or the volunteer tab on the play & date window. Doing either of those actions on play & dates now preserves the display of patron information on the patron window.
• Fixed a display issue where if the user double clicks on a G/L entry in the play & dates window, it could cause the current play/event record to display inconsistently. This has now beend fixed.