If you have a lot of users to support, it is to your advantage to let them do some work for you. This is the main benefit of using the web interface. Your end users can login and create a support request using only their web browser. This is much easier than a staff member answering a phone or reading an email and typing in the request details. Let the users do some of the work for you. In fact, you can even let them create their own account, especially useful when AccessAble Help Desk Client Server Edition is used to support customer off premises. In past versions, the login screen was not the initial screen a user of staff member would see. The same login screen was used whenever an attempt was made to login to a screen that required a higher security level than that of the currently logged in user - if the person hadn't logged in, they would not have a security level so when they accessed any page other than a Menu type screen they would then be prompted to login. This may not be the way many people have gotten used to accessing web pages so with this release I am taking a different approach. I now have two login screens, one for end users (your customers as they like to be called) and one for staff members. When an end users successfully logins in they will then be taken to the customer menu pages, and when a staff member logs in using the staff login page they will be presented with the staff menu. I have provided a sample default page which you may use to get started, but will likely want to edit before you begin using the program in "real life".
You might instead provide your customers/end users with a URL via email that would take them directly to their login screen, as below:
After a customer logins in they would see the next screen.
The end user can then click the Submit a New Request link and see a screen like the following:
I have the page set to require values for the Request Type, Category Priority and Details. If any of these items are left empty an error message will be displayed and the request cannot be added unless a value is entered for these fields.
When this screen opens certain of their information will have been "looked up" based on their login ID and filled in for them, this includes their name, email address, location and department. They need only to select from drop down list boxes the type and category of request and their priority. The date and time is filled in automatically and the status defaults to New. They then enter the details of their request.
The screen below allows the end user to view their requests and they can search and filter the data displayed. In the screen shot below, only viewing requests with a Status of Complete.
Note at the bottom of the above screen is a link labeled Add New. The end user can use this to submit a new request, just as they did for the customer menu page.
I have provided a staff menu, shown below which will allow you and your staff to perform a lot of functions via the web page interface without using the windows application. In addition to the main files and some of the lookup tables, I have provided some links to a few report style pages.
The web interface consists of .asp - Active Server Pages and .html - Hyper Text Markup Language pages. The .asp pages are the ones that are viewed in the browser - not the .html pages. The .html pages act as a pattern or template so that you can make changes to the look of the program, maybe add your logo, or change a field label, without changing the underlying code in the .asp files. There are occasions where you will need to edit the .asp pages, especially the common.asp file when setting up the web pages, and I recommend using Notepad.exe or other plain text editor for this. You may use Microsoft Front Page or other html editor for the .html pages but these may not be best for editing the .asp code.
Probably the single most important file installed for the web interface is the common.asp file. This must be edited to set up your connection string to your MS SQL Server database.
Let's look at the provided common.asp file.
You may first want to edit the SERVER URL line to replace localhost with the ipaddress of your site, or your www.yoursite.com
The cs259 is the default folder where the pages are installed.
Dim ServerURL : ServerURL = "http://localhost/cs259/"
Next, you will need to edit your connection sting:
ConnectionString = "Provider=SQLOLEDB.1;Password=yourpassword;Persist Security Info=True;User ' ID=youruserid;Initial
Catalog=aahdpesql;Data Source=yourserveripaddress,port suchas1588"
User = "yourusername"
Password = "yourpassword"
Be sure when you save the common.asp file not to save it with the extension of .txt - save as "all types" - common.asp in notepad.
Finally, I provide a variety of styles for the web pages and you may not like the default named "raspberry". You can edit the default style by modifying the line below from the common.asp file
CCSelectStyle Server.MapPath(PagePathToRoot & "Styles") & "/", "Raspberry", Array("style", Empty, "style"), 365
You may want to try Pine or Oak or Blueprint. I may provide only a couple of styles with the trial version download, but licensed users will receive many additional styles. Should you decide the program meets your needs and want to continue using it, you will need to purchase a site license. When you do, you will be sent a registration key via email (a really long password you will want to copy and paste instead of type) which will remove the 30 day trial limitation and allow you to continue using both the windows application and web interface without the need to reinstall. However, I send a complimentary CD via postal to customers who purchase a site license for either AccessAble Help Desk Pro Edition or Client Server Edition and this CD may contain many additional styles and possibly additional pages.
There are other .asp pages you may want to edit. Several pages provide the ability to used CDO.sys to send email when a request has been submitted or updated. This may be helpful because the email can let the user know their web request has been received, and rather than manually sending an email to let them know when an action has been taken on their request, the email can be sent automatically if the support staff person used the web page to update the request. See below for changes you would need to make to enabled this email sending feature.
1. In order to send email when a user has created their own account, edit the CreateAccount_events.asp page - unremark the lines which have an ' in front of them and edit with your mail details.
'Send Email @17-BFE04BEA
' Dim sch, cdoConfig, cdoMessage
' sch = "http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/"
' Set cdoConfig = Server.CreateObject("CDO.Configuration")
' With cdoConfig.Fields
' .Item(sch & "sendusing") = 2 'cdoSendUsingPort
' .Item(sch & "smtpserver") = "mail.yourdomain.com or your SMTP server ipaddress"
' .Update
' End With
' Set cdoMessage = Server.CreateObject("CDO.Message")
' On Error Resume Next
' With cdoMessage
' Set .Configuration = cdoConfig
' .From = "you@yourdomain.com"
' .To = Users.Email.Text
' .CC = "your@yourdomain.com"
' .Subject = "New Account Details"
' .TextBody = "Your web login name is: " & users.WebLogin.Text & " and your password is: " &Users.WebPassword.Text
' .Send
' End With
' Set cdoMessage = Nothing
' Set cdoConfig = Nothing
' On Error Goto 0
'End Send Email
2. In order to send email when a user has submitted a web request, edit the MyRequest_events.asp pages - unremark the lines which have an ' in front of them and edit with your mail details.
'Send Email @95-562D1949
' Dim sch, cdoConfig, cdoMessage
' sch = "http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/"
' Set cdoConfig = Server.CreateObject("CDO.Configuration")
' With cdoConfig.Fields
' .Item(sch & "sendusing") = 2 'cdoSendUsingPort
' .Item(sch & "smtpserver") = "mail.yourdomain.com or your smtp server IP address"
' .Update
' End With
' Set cdoMessage = Server.CreateObject("CDO.Message")
' On Error Resume Next
' With cdoMessage
' Set .Configuration = cdoConfig
' .From = "you@yourdomain.com"
' .To = Requests1.EmailAddr.Text
' .Subject = "Your Request Has Been Received"
' .TextBody = Requests1.Details.Text
' .Send
' End With
' Set cdoMessage = Nothing
' Set cdoConfig = Nothing
' On Error Goto 0
'End Send Email
3. In order to send email when a staff person has updated a request, edit the Request_Maintevents.asp pages - unremark the lines which have an ' in front of them and edit with your email details.
'Send Email @38-9ED75C5B -
' Dim sch, cdoConfig, cdoMessage
' sch = "http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/"
' Set cdoConfig = Server.CreateObject("CDO.Configuration")
' With cdoConfig.Fields
' .Item(sch & "sendusing") = 2 'cdoSendUsingPort
' .Item(sch & "smtpserver") = "mail.yourdomain.com or your smtp server ip address"
' .Update
' End With
' Set cdoMessage = Server.CreateObject("CDO.Message")
' On Error Resume Next
' With cdoMessage
' Set .Configuration = cdoConfig
'
' .From = ("you@yourdomain.com")
' .To = Requests.EmailAddr.Text
' .cc = ("you@yourdomain.com")
' .Subject = "Your request has been updated"
' .HtmlBody = "YOUR REQUEST :" & Requests.Details.Value & "<br><br> HAS BEEN UPDATED. <br><br> " & "THE '
STATUS IS: " & Requests.Status.Text & "<br><br> THE ACTION TAKEN OR PLANNED IS: " & Requests.Action1.Text
' .Send
' End With
' Set cdoMessage = Nothing
' Set cdoConfig = Nothing
' On Error Goto 0
'End Send Email