Development Archives - Page 36 of 45 - MIDAS - Room Booking System

Category: Development

Version 2 of the MIDAS API is here

2 minute read time · Updated March 18, 2024 · First published August 12, 2014

Introducing API Version 2…

The MIDAS API is an optional addon for MIDAS, allowing you to interface directly with your MIDAS scheduling system from your own applications.

First introduced just over a year ago, version 1 of the API allowed developers to access and retrieve data from MIDAS.

Version 2 of the API builds on this, and extends the API’s capabilities further by now allowing “bi-directional” access to MIDAS. This means that as well as being able to simply “read” data from MIDAS through the API, developers can now also “write” data to MIDAS, and modify existing data.

Nearly two dozen new API calls have been implemented for API v2, allowing you to:

Add, delete or modify bookings, clients, and resources
Add, generate, or delete invoices
Approve or reject booking requests
Email clients
Change settings
…and more!

Full documentation for version 2 of the API is now available online at mid.as/api, and will shortly be available in an offline format too.API v2 will be available to coincide with the upcoming release of MIDAS v4.07, and will a FREE update to existing API users who have an ongoing annual support subscription covering the release of v4.07.

v2 is also backwards compatible with v1 of the API. Existing customers who wish to add the optional API to their MIDAS installation can do so via mid.as/upgrade.

New customers can purchase MIDAS along with the optional API addon via mid.as/pricing.

Tags: addons, API, v4.07

Improved Support For Smaller Screens (including iPhones)

1 minute read time · Updated January 20, 2023 · First published August 11, 2014

The next significant update to our leader web based room booking and resource scheduling software is just around the corner, and throughout this month, we’re outlining some of the new features and improvements you’ll find in the upcoming v4.07 release….

Improved Support for Smaller Screens

We’ve already previously optimized MIDAS for use on tablet devices (including the iPad), and for v4.07, we’ve further optimized the layout of MIDAS for use on even smaller mobile device screens – such as the iPhone.

Below are some screenshots of MIDAS v4.07 accessed using an iPhone 5 (Click for bigger images)

Best of all – there’s nothing additional to install on your phone/mobile device – there’s no separate “app” to download from the app store – you simply access MIDAS through your device’s web browser. If you’ve got an iOS device, such as an iPhone, you can also add a shortcut to MIDAS directly to your home screen for easy one-touch access to your booking system.

These improvements make MIDAS the ideal scheduling solution for seamless access to your bookings across your desktop, laptop, tablet and mobile devices alike, and it’s supported in all major web browsers too!

Tags: Android, iOS, iPhone, mobile, v4.07

Public Booking Request Improvements in v4.07

3 minute read time · Updated January 6, 2023 · First published August 8, 2014

The next substantial update to our popular web based room booking and resource scheduling software is just around the corner, and so we’re taking the opportunity to outline some of the new features and improvements you can expect to see in the upcoming v4.07 release….

This post covers some of the improvements coming to the Public Booking Request capabilities within MIDAS.

Pre-Populate Selected Dates/Times

The standard public “Booking Request” process has the following five stages/screens

Select Venue(s)
Select Date(s)
Select Times
Your Details
Finished

When a member of the public makes a booking request for your facilities, they follow these stages in order. In v4.07, we’re giving you much more flexibility, by allowing you to “hard code” venues and/or dates into your public booking request links to allow requestors to “bypass” the first couple of stages using data supplied via your link.

For example, if the Public Booking Request for your MIDAS is https://your_midas_url/request, appending a “?venue=Hall” to the URL/link will jump straight to Stage 2 (Select Date(s)), with the “Hall” venue selected.

Alternatively, appending “?date=YYYYMMDD” to the end of your Public Booking Request URL will preselect the date you pass – Example: appending “?date=20141015” to your public booking request URL will pre-select the 15th October 2014.

You can also pass a combination of both a “venue” AND a “date” parameter at the same time to bypass stages 1 and 2 of the booking request process and jump straight to Stage 3 (Select Times) – Example: “https://your_midas_url/request?venue=Hall&date=20141015“

Furthermore, you can optionally pass multiple venues and/or dates by simply separating them with commas. In the following example, “Hall” and “Gymnasium” venues are preselected on 15th and 16th October 2014:

https://your_midas_url/request?venue=Hall,Gymnasium&date=20141015,20141016

“Remember Me” Option

Remember Details For Next Visit On the “Your Details” stage of the public booking request process, there’s now also a “Remember Me” tick box, allowing the requestor’s browser to optionally remember their details (name, organization, email address) for the next time they make a booking request from the same browser – so they won’t have to manually enter the same information each time.

Custom .css Styling

External Custom CSS We’re also giving you even more control over the “look and feel” of your entire Public Booking Request process, by allowing you to override the default visual “theme” for your MIDAS, and use your own external .CSS style sheet instead! You can specify an external .css style sheet via MIDAS Admin Options → Manage MIDAS → Templates → Web Request

Tags: public booking requests, v4.07

Invoicing Improvements in v4.07

3 minute read time · Updated July 19, 2023 · First published August 7, 2014

The next feature-rich update to our web based room booking and resource scheduling software is coming soon. Here on our blog we’re outlining some of the new features and improvements you can expect to see in the upcoming v4.07 release.

This article covers some of the improvements coming to the Invoicing capabilities of MIDAS.

Tax Exempt Clients

In MIDAS v4.07, you’ll be able to exclude individual clients from being charged tax on their invoices. Find Out More…

New “Payment Terms” Setting

We’re introducing a new “Payment Terms” setting for v4.07. This allows you to specify how many days you allow for your clients to pay their invoices. This new setting may be found via MIDAS Admin Options → Manage MIDAS → Invoicing.

New Invoicing Variables

As a result of the introduction of the new “Payment Terms” setting, a whole host of new invoicing variables have also been introduced. These include: %INVOICEDUEDATE%, %INVOICEDUEIN%, %INVOICEOVERDUEBY%, and %INVOICETERMS%. There are also new variables giving you far greater control over the “Invoice To” section of your invoices.

The previous %INVOICETO% variable (which includes the client’s name, organization, postal address and email address) can now be broken down into smaller parts. This is achieved through the introduction of the new variables %INVOICETO_CLIENT%, %INVOICETO_ORG%, %INVOICETO_ADDRESS%, and %INVOICETO_EMAIL%

New columns in the Invoicing Overview screen

Also as a result of the new “Payment Terms” setting, there’s now dedicated “Invoice Date” and “Due Date” columns added to the invoicing overview screen.

Invoice Reminders / Overdue Notifications

MIDAS v4.07 contains a new “Scheduled Tasks” engine. Scheduled Tasks allow your booking system to automatically send clients email reminders a number of days before their outstanding invoices are due, or if their invoice is overdue, send them a notification a certain number of days after.

The content and wording of these notifications can be fully customized too!

Improved PayPal Integration

PayPal IPN Integration If you allow your clients to pay their invoices online via PayPal, you can now have PayPal automatically update the status of their invoices within MIDAS once payment has been made. This means you’ll no longer have to manually update invoices yourself! For more information, please see: Configuring PayPal Integration

Google Wallet (formally Google Checkout) support removed

The previous support for clients to pay their invoices online via Google Wallet has regrettably been removed from 4.07. This is because Google no longer support such payment provisions. Google have now retired Checkout, and Google Wallet is now restricted to payments for mobile apps in the Google Play store only. We’ve covered this in more depth in this article.

Tags: google checkout, invoicing, paypal, v4.07