The fees on sale in the
shop
are currently divided into 3 types:
Subscriptions,
Tournaments Entries
and
Other.
In the future it's likely that additional types will be created but only at the cost of significant programming effort by the webmaster.
With this in mind, the third category, the
Other
type, has been designed such that subtypes can be quickly configured (rather than programmed) by the treasurer (rather than the webmaster).
The result may not be as slick or be as feature rich but, for an organisation with limited technical resources,
it's useful to be able to create and deploy a new fee with the minimum of effort and delay.
However, it's easy to imagine fees that would be too complicated to handle this way and would need a new type to be implemented.
Other
Subtypes
Subtypes of the
Other
category are distinguished by two things:
variations of the basic properties shared by all fee types,
zero or more
User Inputs,
a concept that only applies to fees of type
Other.
Some examples should make this clear. A
Donation
consists of:
a description ("Donation"),
shared properties:
no amount,
no start and end sale dates (permanently for sale in the shop),
no player on behalf of whom the fee is being paid,
2 user inputs:
the amount the payer wants to donate,
an optional comment (e.g. to express any wishes about how the donation should be used).
A
Foreign Rating Fee
consists of:
a description ("Foreign Rating"),
shared properties:
a fixed amount,
no start and end sale dates (permanently for sale in the shop),
a player on behalf of whom the fee is being paid,
2 user inputs:
the name of the tournament,
the start date of the tournament.
User Inputs
There is a repertoire of different user inputs that can be applied to fees.
Below is a list of what's available at the time of writing, there may be more in the future.
Note that it's a lot easier for the webmaster to create a new type of user input than it is to create a new type of fee.
Amount:
for the user to specify the amount paid (e.g. for a donation), rather than it being fixed in advance.
It includes the ability to set a minimum amount the user can enter.
Date:
for the user to enter a date (e.g. when a tournament starts).
It includes the ability to specify whether the date is required or optional and
if it has a constraint, such as whether it should be in the future or past (relative to the time the fee is paid).
Text:
for the user to enter arbitrary text (e.g. the name of a tournament, the reason for a donation).
It includes the ability to set a maximum on the number of characters the user is allowed to enter.
Option:
for the user to check/uncheck a tick box next to a label to indicate a yes/no choice.
At present it unfortunately does not have the ability to alter the fee amount, which limits its usefulness.
Example
Following is an example of how the treasurer can configure a new fee. The example fee is for parents of children playing in the
2014 U16 Olympiad to pay their accommodation and meals. The amount is not fixed, it depends on choices made by the parents.
If this were a new fee type, programmed by the webmaster, the shop would:
display the price of rooms and meals,
provide inputs for the number of nights, meals and adults to be chosen,
calculate the total amount on the basis of the user's choices,
send a confirmation email with a breakdown of the total.
However, that would be a lot of programming effort for a one-off fee.
The low-tech alternative is for the treasurer to configure a new
Other
type fee with user inputs for parents to describe what they want and enter the total amount by themselves.
This requires them to be sent a price list in advance, before they pay their fee in the shop.
Here are the steps the treasurer would follow to set up this fee.
First, setup the basic fee with an amount (required to begin with, but will be changed later when user inputs are added):
sign in as treasurer,
from the top navigation bar choose
Admin
and then
Fees,
scroll to the bottom and click
New,
click
Other Fee,
enter "U16 Olympiad Board and Meals" for the
Name,
enter a dummy figure for the
Amount
(this will be changed later),
enter today for the
Sale start,
enter a date sometime before the start of the tournament for the
Sale end,
ensure that
Player required
is checked (to identify the parents via their child's ICU ID),
leave everything else blank and leave
Active
unchecked to avoid adding this fee to the shop until it's fully configured,
click
Save.
Next, set up the first of the two user inputs, starting with the amount:
click
Add User Input,
choose
Amount
for the
Type,
enter "Total Fee" for the
Label,
click
Save.
Next, set up the second user input, a text box to describe the accommodation and meals required:
click the name of the fee to return to it's page,
click
Add User Input,
choose
Text
for the
Type,
enter "Accommodation and Meals" for the
Label,
enter "140" for the
Max length
(the maximum number of characters the user can type into the box),
make sure
Required
is checked (this prevents the user leaving it blank),
click
Save.
Next, make the fee active (so it appears in the shop) and check to see if it has been setup correctly:
