Whenever your user account is logged into from a new or unfamiliar device, MIDAS can automatically alert you by email. This additional security feature helps keep your account secure by alerting you to suspicious logins. An unfamiliar login notification includes details of the browser, operating system, IP address, and – with our optional Geolocation addon – location, of the device that’s just logged into your account.

Until now, MIDAS has been unable to distinguish between more recent operating system versions. For example, between Windows 10 and Windows 11, or between MacOS Ventura and Sonoma.

This is because MIDAS has relied on the “User Agent” (UA) string that’s presented by the browser that’s logging in.

Here’s an example of a browser’s “User Agent” string presented to a web server:

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/123.0.0.0 Safari/537.36

There’s a lot of information there, but essentially, from this string MIDAS can derive that it’s a Windows (64 bit) device, and the browser is Google Chrome 123.

Here’s another example:

Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.15; rv:124.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/124.0

From this, MIDAS can derive that it’s a macOS device, and the browser is Firefox 124.

But wait… can’t MIDAS also determine the exact version of the operating system from these UA strings?

Mac OS X 10.15…. Catalina? …Big Sur? …Monterey? …Ventura?

Doesn’t “Mac OS X 10.15” imply macOS Catalina? ..and doesn’t “Windows NT 10.0” imply Windows 10?

Well, that used to be the case, but not any more!

Modern browsers now “clamp” the versions of more recent macOS/Windows operating systems reported by the User Agent string. For macOS operating systems, the User Agent string will report a maximum of macOS X 10.15. For Windows operating systems, a maximum of Windows 10 will be reported. Browsers no longer natively report the specific version of the operating system they’re running on.

This means that a Chrome browser running on either Windows 10 or Windows 11 will report “Windows NT 10.0”. Similarly, macOS Catalina (10.15), Big Sur (11), Monterey (12), Ventura (13), and Sonoma (14), will all report “Mac OS X 10.15”.

So Windows 10 and 11 are the same then?

In an effort to improve user privacy, browsers have decided to no longer reveal the specific operating system version a user is using when visiting a website, in order to make it harder for websites to “fingerprint” users.

“Fingerprinting” is a technique that some websites employ to uniquely identify and potentially track visitors.

So because of these changes to the way browsers report User Agent strings, it’s been difficult for MIDAS to provide a unfamiliar login notification containing details of exact operating system version that’s been used to login to an account.

But advancements in technology mean that we’ve now been able to make improvements to device detection for MIDAS v4.36.

Utilizing New “Client Hint” technology

Client hints are a set of HTTP request headers that provide useful information about the client such as device type and network conditions. This then allow servers to optimize what is served for those conditions.

Unlike the traditional “User Agent String”, client hints provide a more efficient and privacy preserving way of getting the desired information.

A web server can proactively request the client hint headers they are interested in. The browser can then include the requested headers in subsequent requests.

If the web server upon which a MIDAS system is running proactively requests either the “sec-ch-ua-platform-version” or “ua-platform-version” client hint header, MIDAS can receive details of the user’s operating system version.

Unfamiliar login notifications (if enabled) can then provide much more accurate information as to the operating system of the new device which has logged into your account.

Web Server Configuration

Because a web server has to proactively request these new client headers in order for browsers to respond to them, servers have to be configured accordingly.

All of our cloud-hosted nodes have been appropriately configured. Our client servers now proactively request the necessary Client Hint headers. This in turn means that all cloud hosted users can start to take advantage of these improvements to device detection and unfamiliar login notifications.

For self-hosted customers, a small configuration change to the web server when your MIDAS system is running from is required.

Details of the configuration change you’ll need to make can be found in our KB article, How to configure your server for Client Hints.

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Examples uses of Watch Notifications include:

• Staff members could be notified whenever they’re added to a booking
• Catering staff could receive notifications whenever refreshments are added to bookings
• A purchasing department could receive notifications when consumables are running low and need re-ordering
• A user could be notified should an unavailable venue/time slot becomes available again

For MIDAS v4.36 we’ve added an additional Watch notification option. This provides the ability for a user to be notified whenever a payment is made against a MIDAS generated invoice.

Now, MIDAS can automatically update invoices in its system when payments are made against them, however this new notification option allows a user to be notified whenever such updates occur.

The “Invoice Payment” Watch notification option is available to users who have been granted invoicing permissions within their MIDAS system.

When enabled, a new Watch Notification is generated for the user whenever an invoice has been paid in full, or when a partial payment is received against an invoice.

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In MIDAS v4.28 we introduced a new “Notification Center“. The Notification Center allows users to view messages from other users, booking and custom reminders, and Watch notifications.

Notifications each have their own expiration time, after which they are automatically removed from a user’s Notification Center. Users could also manually remove a notification at any time.

For MIDAS v4.29 we’re also giving users the option to mark notifications as having been “read”.

Read notifications will still be present in the user’s Notification Center until they expire or are manually removed. However, unread notifications will be highlighted, whereas read notifications won’t be.

Also, if the user has opted to be shown their notifications each time they log in, this popup will now only show them their unread notifications. So the new “mark as read” option will help keep clutter to a minimum. It will only show notifications the user hasn’t yet seen and acknowledged on the notification pop-up after login.

Users will of course still be able to see all their notifications – both read and unread – via the Notification Center icon.

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As part of the new “Notification Center”, we’ve added a brand new type of “Watch” notification. “Watch” notifications allow you to be automatically notified whenever certain activity occurs within your MIDAS booking system.

For example, you may wish to be notified whenever a new booking is added to a particular venue, or when a particular type of booking is modified. You may also wish to be notified whenever certain “consumable” resources are running low.

From MIDAS v4.28 you can now create Watches for “Venue Availability”.

We know it can be frustrating when you go to book a room and find that it’s already been booked.

Well, wouldn’t it be great if MIDAS could automatically notify you should that timeslot become available again?

That’s exactly what Venue Availability watches allow you to do!

Simply select a currently occupied date, room, and time slot, add a new Watch, and MIDAS does the rest!

Should the unavailable time slot become available again (for instance, if the existing booking is moved or deleted), MIDAS will automatically notify you.

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All the previous functionality of “My Messages” has been retained, but we’ve given the screen itself a bit of a “facelift” to de-clutter and simplify things.

We’ve even introduced a new “Watch” option… but more on that later.

For users with the “Can use Notification Center” permission, their Notification Center may be accessed via the new “bell” icon in the MIDAS toolbar.

Here’s how the new Notification Center itself looks:

The Notification Center comprises three components:

• Messages
• Reminders
• Watches

The numbers in the upper right corner of these component’s icons denoted the number of notifications currently in each section. Clicking the corresponding icon toggles the display of notifications for that particular section.

In the lower right corner of each icon, there’s a smaller icon that allows you to add/configure each section.

Messages

The “Messages” section displays internal messages you’ve received from other users in your MIDAS system. The “+” icon allows you to leave a message for another user:

For more information on messaging another user, please see the Help Documentation.

Reminders

The “Reminders” section displays both booking and custom reminders you’ve set. To set a new booking reminder, simply select a booking in the Booking Grid, and then “Add Reminder”. To set a custom reminder, click the “+” icon near the bottom right of the “Reminders” icon in your Notification Center:

For more information on Reminders, please see the Help Documentation.

Watches

The “Watches” section displays watch notifications. These are generated when certain activity that you specify occurs within your MIDAS system. The “cog” icon adjacent to the “Watches” icon is used to configure your Watch notifications.

There are three types of Watch notification available:

• Bookings
• Consumables
• Venue Availability

“Bookings” allows you to monitor and be alerted to new activity in certain venues, and/or for certain booking types, and/or for certain resources.

“Consumables” allows you to monitor levels of your consumable resources.

“Venue Availability” allows you to be alerted if and when a currently unavailable time slot for a given venue becomes available again. This is a brand new feature introduced for v4.28, which you can read more about in this post.

For more information on Watch notifications, please see the Help Documentation.

Notification Center Settings

You can adjust your Notification Center settings from within the Notification Center via the “cog” icon in the upper right corner.

These settings allow you to control how and when you receive notifications from your Notification Center.

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Improved Client Email Notification Settings

Previously, each client in MIDAS could be set to receive the following email notifications:

• None – Client isn’t sent any automated reminders.
• Bookings – Client is sent automated reminders about their upcoming bookings.
• Invoices – Client is sent automated reminders about their upcoming invoices.
• Bookings + Invoices – Client is sent automated reminders about their upcoming bookings and upcoming invoices.

Automated client email notification from your MIDAS system included an unsubscribe link. This allowed clients to opt out of receiving further automated notifications from your MIDAS system. Effectively, the client’s “E-Mail Reminders” setting reverts back to “None”.

For v4.25, we’re extending the automated client notification email options. These now include:

• Bookings (Upcoming) – Client is sent automated reminders about their upcoming bookings.
• Bookings (Recently Ended) – Client is sent automated follow-up emails after their bookings.
• Invoices (Upcoming) – Client is sent automated reminders about their upcoming invoices.
• Invoices (Overdue) – Client is sent automated reminders about their overdue invoices.

Clients can also unsubscribe from each notification type, rather than blanket unsubscribing from all notifications.

Easier For Clients To Unsubscribe From Notifications

MIDAS v4.25 now includes a “List-Unsubscribe” header in automated email notifications to your clients. This can make it even easier for them to opt-out of receiving further automated notifications from your MIDAS system.

Email software which support the “List-Unsubscribe” header may show a bar/banner at the top of emails, which users can click to opt-out of similar emails.

These are just a few of the new and improved features for MIDAS v4.25. Please see this post for details of other new features you’ll find in v4.25.

You can also ask questions and discuss the new features of v4.25 over on Reddit.

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When a new booking request or message is received, or a new “watch notification” triggered, MIDAS alerts the user. In the user is logged in, the relevant toolbar icon changes to denote the number of new booking requests or messages requiring their attention. Users can also optionally choose to see a list of these requests/messages each time they login in.

Furthermore, a user can optionally choose to be sent email notifications upon each new booking request, message, or watch notification.

With the upcoming new addition of Desktop Notifications in v4.13, which enables more prominent on-screen alerts to logged in users, we’ve added a useful new option to v4.13.

Suppress new Booking Request email notifications whilst logged in	Suppress new Message/Watch notification emails whilst logged in

The new settings will allow a user to suppress receiving such notifications in their email inbox whilst they are currently logged in to MIDAS. Email notifications will then only be sent during those times they’re away from their device, and logged out.

We believe these new per-user setting will help to reduce the number of redundant email notifications from your MIDAS system. But of course this setting can easily be toggled on/off by users at any time. If you do still want to receive an email notification on every new request/message – even when you’re logged in – you’ll still be able to do so!

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One of the new features in MIDAS v4.13 is “Desktop Notifications” on web browsers which support such notifications (At time of writing, this includes current versions of Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Opera, with Edge support coming soon!).

Desktop Notifications are small pop-up messages (sometimes called “toasts” due to the way they animate – like toast popping up out of a toaster!) generated by an application. You’ve probably seen similar notifications before – for example in your email client or messenger apps when a new message arrives.

In MIDAS, Desktop Notifications will alert you to new booking requests requiring your approval, as well as new messages from other users, reminders, and watch notifications. Notifications will usually display in the lower left corner of your screen, even if your web browser window is minimized or hiding behind another application – so you’ll never miss another notification!

The notifications will also automatically close after a few seconds, or can be closed manually.

In order to take advantage of Desktop Notifications in MIDAS v4.13, the first time a notification is to be shown, your web browser will prompt you to allow desktop notifications for your MIDAS system. Simply click “Allow” to grant permission to MIDAS to show you notifications (you’ll only need to grant this permission once):

If you decide at a later stage that you wish to turn off your MIDAS Desktop Notifications, you’ll be able to disable them in your browser’s settings.

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The first new feature of v4.11 we’d like to unveil is the ability to send a “Booking Cancellation” to a client when their booking(s) are deleted from the system.

When bookings are deleted, users will now be presented with the option to send a booking cancellation notification, along with a brief reason why the booking has been “deleted” (canceled):

This functionality is available when individual bookings are deleted, or when multiple bookings are deleted via the “Delete Similar Bookings” function.

Like other email notifications that MIDAS is capable of generating, you also be able to customize the content of the “Booking Cancellation” email template too.

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• Receive notifications when consumables are low!
• Receive notifications when specific resources are added to bookings!
• Graphical Invoice Statistics on your clients, organizations and booking types!
• Statistics can now be printed!
• “Apply Discounts Silently” option to apply discounts, but “hide” reference to them on invoices
• Ability to be notified if another user modifies/deletes bookings you created
• Setting to have “Watches” and internal messages from other users automatically forwarded to your email address
• Setting to suppress the “My Messages” popup upon login
• Change what information is displayed on dates in the Monthly Overview

You can read more about these exciting new features in our previous blog entry, and we’ve also produced a 10 minute video tutorial guiding you through exactly what’s new in MIDAS v3.14…

If you’re an existing MIDAS user with a current Annual Support Subscription, you can upgrade to v3.14 right now! Simply login to your MIDAS, click the “MIDAS Admin Options” icon and select “Manage MIDAS -> Update”. If your Annual Support Subscription has recently expired, don’t worry – you can quickly renew your subscription. …and if we host MIDAS for you, then you’ve already been updated to v3.14!

If you’re new to MIDAS, why not read more about the features of MIDAS and check out the online demo.

To get MIDAS working for YOUR company/organization, grab yourself a copy of MIDAS v3.14 now!

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