Quick Start

This article is an introduction to the main features of Fusion Ticket. This is not a definitive instruction manual but a guide to get Fusion Ticket up and running. For detailed information, refer to the Administration section.

The object of this article is to create a new event, publish it, buy tickets in the online shop and in the Box Office (point of sale), control tickets at the door, and finally, stop and delete the event.

To follow the tutorial have Fusion Ticket installed and ready to use. The demo data should still be in the database or else this tutorial will be difficult to follow..

We will suppose the install directory is like this: http://yourhost/Fusionticket/

As with all endeavors, a little planning goes a long way. This is especially true with Venues, Events, and Seating Charts. In some cases, items cannot be changed when event is published to prevent different different information on tickets of the same event.

This chronology is not carved in stone but is a good start to planning your events.

• Add Events
  • Create an EventGroup (for events with multiple dates)
  • Add/Edit Events
  • Add Discounts
• View/Complete Orders

• Install Fusion Ticket on local machine
• Export Event to XML file
• Import XML file to local machine

• Archive the Event
• Export Sales to XML
• Delete Orders
• Delete Events
• Delete Venues

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To begin, create a new event. Point your browser to Fusion Ticket admin interface: ''http://yourhost/Fusionticket/admin/.''

Provide the admin login and password specified during the install or other created admin account.

The admin interface is rather simple to navigate. On the left side is the main menu with all admin pages. Most of them are easy to understand: Events, Orders, Templates, etc.

Add a new event by clicking on the 'Add' link at the bottom of the event list.

The 'Add a new event' page appears. Fill in next fields with the information about the event:

• Event Id: ID of the event, used to call and refer to it in webshop pages
• Event name: name of the event, for example ’Test’
• Seat chart: choose a predefined seat chart from the list, for example ’Demo Theatre - Demo Seat Chart I’, new venues and seat charts can be defined in the ’Venues’ page
• Repeatability: is it a one-time-event or an event with multiple dates (the multiple dates will create a main-event with possibility to add sub-events for every new date or time)
• Event Short text: a brief description to add on overview pages
• Event Long text: a detailed description for the event to add on the event page
• Webpage: link to add in the event-page with eg even more information…
• Date: date when the event takes place
• Re-ocurs:
• Event Begins: time when the event starts
• Event Open: time when guests can enter the venue (when doors are opened)
• Event Ends: estimated end of event
• Order limit: set limit of tickets that each user can order (valid entries are 0 to 999) for this event
• Ticket for template: select a predefined PDF template from the list (you can define new templates in the ’Templates’ page)
• Event type: optional type of event
• Event Image: optional image of the event, will be displayed on some webshop pages
• MP3: optional MP3 media file

When creating an event with sub-events (event with multiple dates), all settings in he main-event-form will be used as default data in the sub-event-forms. Create a sub-event for every event (main event will not be showed as an individual event, but is used as grouping event for the programm page). You don't need to copy all the information on every sub-event again, but only the changes (mostly this will be the date and time information). On altering information, the checkbox should be (automatically) unchecked at this point.

Finally, click on ’Save’ to store the info in the database. If the event is complete, your new event will appear in the list of events!

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We want to adjust the prices for our test event. Click on icon to edit prices.

The predefined seat chart ’Demo Seat Chart I’ defines three price categories:

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Cat I, II, and III, cost 65, 75 and 55 respectively (currency can be configured in the ’Owner’ page).

Change one of them: Choose the ‘ icon for the ’Cat III - 55.00’ category.

Change the category price to 45.00

Click to ’Save’ The ’Cat III’ now costs 45.00

You can also view other elements of the seat chart, especially the ’Seat chart part’ which define the shape of the seating chart.

The adjustment is complete and we are ready to publish the event and to start sales, so, return to the ’Events’ page.

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Prior to publishing the event a red icon displays indicating the process is not yet complete. Before publishing the event, you still can make adjustments without issues. To publish, click this icon.

You will see the confirmation page with all details of the event and of each category. Inspect them and, if everything is OK, click on ’YES’. Your event is now online. and the icon has changed to . When successfully published (check for error notes during publishing), it will appear on the frontend of the site.

It's still possible to change some event information after publishing, but be aware! Information on 'sold' and 'yet-to-sell' tickets could be different and cause issues at the entrance. The Seat Chart can not be changed anymore after publishing because at publishing, all database records for the seatings are generated.”

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On the right of the event overview page there are 4 symbols:

- Publish/Unpublish the event

- Edit the event again

- Archive the event

- Delete the event

If the event is passed, it will be removed automatically from the webshop. By using the 'archive' button, the event will move from the events page to the history page. All data will still be preserved.

When using the 'trash' button, all remaining data (event and orders) will be irrecoverably removed from the table.

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Point your browser to the online shop in the root: http://yourhost/Fusionticket/index.php

If you have not already done so, register as a member and activate your account.

This is the main page of your online shop. If the date of your event is sufficiently near, you will find it here; otherwise go to the ’Calendar’ or 'Program' page to view all published events.

Choose, your event, then choose the category, and finally the seats.

Click on ’Reserve’.

Now you should have tickets in your shopping cart. Like in any shopping cart you have the options to remove them, but there is another feature that is not present (or at least not visible) in most e-Commerce applications: ’Expires in’ value. This is a countdown timer. During this time, the selected tickets are locked for other users. If you do not complete the ordering, after 10 minutes (changeable in config) the tickets will be automatically removed from the cart and released on the webshop again. This prevents people reserving (and locking) all seats without actually ordering them.

So be sure to go to your shopping cart withing the expire time and click on ’Checkout’ to finalize the order. Review it a last time, choose payment mode (choose ’Invoice - By email’ mode), and click on ’Order’. Congratulations, you just made an order! (If you see some php errors, it most likely means the email support configuration in php is incorrect).

Check your email. You should have received a new confirmation email, but no tickets yet. You will receive your tickets once you pay the invoice.

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Go to the admin interface:''http://yourhost/Fusionticket/admin/index.php''

The payment mode chosen by the patron - Invoice - means that now the patron has to pay the invoice. Once the admin receives the payment, they send tickets to the patron. This payment method may not be realistic but enables us to see how the system works. Of course, using PayPal as the payment method fully automates this procedure.

Suppose you received the payment for the order that we made in the previous part of this tutorial, and now you want to send tickets to the patron.

Go to the ’Order Overview’ page. Our order appears in the ’Email/Transfer’ list (the ’Invoice’ name in the admin interface is defined in the corresponding ’Order handling’. You can change it to something other as well)

Choose the order in the list and then choose the - 'view' icon to Inspect the order. The 'Payment status' is marked “None” . Click on the - ’Change status to paid’ button - that is all. The system will send tickets to the patron’s email once the order is paid.

Check your email: you should now receive tickets in a PDF file. Open this file and inspect your tickets and the summary page.

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Go to the point of sale interface:''http://yourhost/Fusionticket/pos/index.php''

Login: demo, password: demodemo (You can and you must change them in the admin interface)

The interface for Point of Sale is different from the online shop. all entries are handled on one screen. Choose the event, then the category, then seats. Click on ’Add Tickets”. Note that Point of Sale has no limit on the number of tickets per event.

Choose New Patron and enter the information then choose how the tickets will be paid and delivered using the 'Payments' box. To finish the order and print tickets click on ’Order’ a pop up window will display with a summary of the order. Click 'Pay' (meaning the customer has paid for the ticket) The next pop up window allows you to Print an Invoice or the Tickets.

You may now leave the POS or order more tickets.

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Tickets sales are complete and the event day arrives. A ticket taker must be set up for this event.

First return to the admin interface:''http://yourhost/Fusionticket/admin/index.php''

Go to the ’Ticket takers’ page, edit the demo ticket taker, and add your test event to the list of its events. ‘Save’.

Now, go to the ticket taker interface: ''http://yourhost/Fusionticket/control/index.php''

Login demo, password demodemo (Modify them, or hackers will modify you!)

Ticket taker interface is simple. First, choose the event. Then type the number that appears next to the barcode on the ticket. If you have a barcode scanner this is the moment to use it instead of typing. If the number is OK, the next screen gives you details of the ticket, which category, seat etc. Try to control the same ticket a second time: the message notifies you this ticket is now invalid!

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The event is finished. We can now remove it from our database.

Go to the admin interface: ''http://yourhost/Fusionticket/admin/index.php''

Go to the events page. Click on the icon, and verify you want to remove the event from sale.

Now, our event is in the ’unpublished’ state signified by the icon. This means that it no longer appears in the online shop, nor in point of sale, but it is still in the database. We can now choose to put it back online (re-publish) or to delete it definitively. We will delete.

Return to the event view and click on the icon. Confirm.

The event is gone, well, maybe not completely. The event may be moved to the ’Garbage’. In one sense, the event is definitively lost: you cannot restore it from the garbage. However, why this intermediary step?

It is simple: when you delete an event, you also delete all orders for this event. Now, imagine there are orders that mix various events, and you delete one of them (because it has finished). Parts of the event remain - some seats, description etc. will stay in the garbage while they are in use by mixed orders. This keeps the database in a consistent state.

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Fusion Ticket is a flexible program limited only by your own imagination and ingenuity. Please visit the Forums for ideas on how to make Fusion Ticket work for your unique events.

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