Category: Development

MIDAS v3.13 – now with SSL support

v3.13 is primarily a maintenance release, improving performance, and fixing a number of bugs that were discovered since the release on v3.12 (See bugs.mid.as for a full list of bugs fixed)

However, a couple of new features have also made it into v3.13:

Improved support for SSL connections

In previous versions of MIDAS, SSL (https) connections have not been well supported. In v3.13, we’ve addressed this with a new “SSL Access” option. You’ll find this under MIDAS Admin Options -> Manage MIDAS -> Security.

With SSL (Secure Socket Layer), the connection between your browser and the server is encrypted. So if you’re worried about the potential for your MIDAS data to be intercepted during transit be sure enable SSL Access to your MIDAS!

If the server from which you are running MIDAS allows SSL connections, 3 “SSL Access” settings are available within MIDAS:

  • Disabled – Force all users to connect to MIDAS via http:// (https:// connections will be redirected to http:// connections)
  • Enabled – Allow users to access MIDAS via either http:// or https://
  • Forced – Force all users to connect to MIDAS via https:// (http:// connections will be redirected to https:// connections)

UPDATE – August 2012: If your MIDAS is “Cloud Hosted” by us, High Grade 256-bit encrypted SSL access to your MIDAS is now INCLUDED!

Automatically notify administrators when new booking requests are made

Following feedback from our users, we’ve now included options to allow MIDAS to automatically send notification emails to selected MIDAS Administrators whenever a new Booking Request is received by your MIDAS!

You can select which users receive this notifications via MIDAS Admin Options -> Manage MIDAS -> Web Requests.

Automatically Adjust for Daylight Savings Time (DST)

For a while now you’ve been able to specify the timezeone your MIDAS is running in. In v3.13, we’ve now added the option to “Automatically Adjust for DST”.

You’ll find this setting under MIDAS Admin Options -> Manage MIDAS -> Appearance.


Accept Public Booking Requests

We’ve been working for some time on the ability to allow non-MIDAS users to check your venue availability and make booking “requests” online. We’ve already implemented this with a number of our clients, and we feel it’s now ready to roll out to everyone, so you’ll find it included in the forthcoming v3.12

What is a “Booking Request”?

Well, a Booking Request isn’t an actual booking. When a Booking Request is received by MIDAS, it is added to the “Pending Booking Requests” screen. From this screen, a MIDAS user with sufficient privileges can then go on to approve the request (i.e. add it to MIDAS as an actual booking), reject the request, modify and add the request, or query the request with the person who submitted it.

Pending Booking Requests

What control do I have over public Booking Request settings?

…can I disable it, or only allow certain venues to be “request able”?

Yes, we provide you with full control over your public Booking Request settings. MIDAS will allow you to restrict public booking requests to certain venues only, or disable public booking requests entirely! Booking requests can also be prevented from being made too far in advance, or at too short notice. For instance, you may like to enforce that requests must be made a least 7 days in advance, and set it so that requests cannot be made more than 3 months ahead, or after a fixed date.

Here are the 5 simple steps for non-MIDAS users to make a Booking Request:

Step 1: Select Venue(s)

Step 1: Select Venue(s)

Step 2: Select Date(s)

Step 2: Select Date(s)

Step 3: Select Times

Step 3: Select Times

Step 4: Your Details

Step 4: Your Details

Step 5: Finished

Step 5: Finished

MIDAS v3.12 is coming soon… watch this space!


Templates, Booking Confirmations, Selective Restore.. and more!

Work is now nearing completion on our next release of MIDAS, v3.12. So we thought we’d take this opportunity to announce a few of the new features you can expect in v3.12

Customize Templates

Templates

In previous versions of MIDAS you’ve been able to add a custom text footer to the bottom of emails and printouts, etc generated by MIDAS. You’ve also been able to add simple headers and footers to your invoices. For v3.12, we’ve completely overhauled this. We’ve included completely customizable templates for your printouts, invoices, and emails sent via MIDAS (previous versions of MIDAS only sent emails as plain text. MIDAS v3.12 onwards will send both plain text and HTML versions of your emails!). We’ve also provided a number of special variables you can include in your templates. For example, adding %LOGO% to your template code will display your company’s logo at that point

Booking Confirmations

Automatically Send Booking Confirmations

If an email address is held in MIDAS for a client you’re making a booking for, MIDAS will now give you the option to send an automatic email confirmation to the client when you add their booking!

Selective Restore & Manual Backups

Manual Backup

Selective Restore

Did you know that your MIDAS automatically backs up its database upon the first successful login of each day? No? Well it does! …but in v3.12 we’ve also given you a “Backup Now” button. Clicking this button will take a complete “snapshot” of your database at that point in time. Should you ever need to restore/roll back your database to an earlier point in time, MIDAS gives you the ability to restore from one of these backups. In previous versions, restoring these backups would restored everything. This included your bookings, clients, invoices, etc. v3.12 will now give you the ability to selectively restore items from your backups! So rather than restore everything, you can choose to only restore booking data between two dates, for example!

Maximum Global Occupancy (Room Capacity) Checking

Maximum Global Occupancy

MIDAS already allows you to set a maximum occupancy level (capacity) for each of your venues. If you attempt to add a booking to that venue with more attendees than its capacity, MIDAS won’t let you! We’ve extended this feature in v3.12 to include a “Maximum Global Occupancy” setting. This refers to the total number of people you can safely accommodate on site across all your venues at any one time. No further bookings can be made during periods when the estimated number of people on site is expected to exceed this limit. You can also set warning threshold to warn people making bookings when you are nearing your Maximum Global Occupancy level!

New Booking Permissions

New Booking Permission

We’ve improved the “Can Add Bookings?” user permission in v3.12 to change the behavior of the booking form, on a per-user basis, from the normal form which adds bookings to MIDAS, to a similar form, but which only makes “booking requests” which have to be approved by a MIDAS user with sufficient privileges first before it is added as an actual booking! There’s more to come on “Booking Requests” too.. so watch this space!

  • More features will be announced here shortly, so be sure to check back regularly for the very latest news!
  • If you want try v3.12 now and help us test it, head on over to our BETA Test Suite

What’s new in MIDAS v3.11

A new update to MIDAS is coming very soon! So we thought we’d take a few moments to give you a sneak peak at some of the new features you’ll find in v3.11

Apply discounts to bookings of different types

Apply Discounts to Booking TypesA popular request we often receive from users, is the ability to charge different room rates to different clients. Well, v3.11 allows you to assign “discounts” to your Booking Types. For example, if you charge $100/Hour for a room to Corporate clients, but wish to only charge $50/hour for the same room to a Community client, you can create a “Community” Booking Type, with a 50% Booking Type Discount rate!

Close bookable spaces between two dates

Shut Venues Between Two DatesIf your venues are seasonal or have “down time”, v3.11 will allow you to “close” individual venues to new bookings between two dates. Additionally, if you have a new venue being built which isn’t coming “on-line” until some point in the future, you can still add your new venue to MIDAS, but specify a “Closed Until” time, so that no bookings can be added before your venue’s opening date!

Disable the booking “Times” field

Disable Booking TimesWe know that some users of MIDAS book their rooms by the day, rather than by the hour. v3.11 will allow you to globally disable start/end times when adding bookings, so bookings are instead added for entire days (Midnight – Midnight)

Paginated Search Results

Paginate Search ResultsIn previous versions of MIDAS, there was a limit on the maximum number of search results returned in total, however, these would all be displayed on the same page, leading to slower page loading times. v3.11 now “paginates” it’s search results, to make them load faster and save you having to scroll down long pages of search results

“Pin” Booking Information

Pin Booking InformationWhen you “hover” over a booking in the booking grid, useful info about the booking is displayed in the “Booking Info” panel, but when you move the mouse away, this information disappears – well, not anymore! v3.11 allows you to “Pin” this information so there will always be something displayed in the booking info panel

Quickly jump to specific invoices

Jump to Specific InvoicesYou no longer need to scroll through lengthy lists of invoices, v3.11 will allow you to quickly “jump” to an invoice, simply by entering the Invoice Number!

“Clone” existing user accounts

Clone Existing UsersIf you need to set up multiple user accounts in MIDAS, v3.11 makes it even easier to set user permissions which you can “clone” from an existing user

Other Highlights Coming in v3.11..

  • Dutch Translation (Courtesy of BWFM van der Biezen – ornithos.eu)
  • Several Bugs Fixed

MIDAS v3.11 is coming very soon!. Be sure to check back regularly to be the first to know when it’s released! …or if you can’t wait, try the BETA now!