[Ansteorra] ePay registration system

[via Ansteorra]

Hey there.  Figured it might be a good time for an update.  I am unsure where you are in the banking side and getting set up in PayPal, but work on my side is proceeding.  Been slower going than I had hoped, but I have some basics for you to look at.

Please start at http://treasurer.ansteorra.org/ares/  I named it for now, but that is not set in stone.  Just something I did.  That will have a selection list of events currently available to register for.  Additionally you could link directly to the specific page for the registration.  From there the idea is to fill out he registration form and click the preview button,.  From there you can review the info and either go back to make changes or submit.  

The submission will send an email to the submitter and PayPal deputy.  The PayPal deputy email currently is going to me.  I still need to get with you and her and better finalize what you want that to look like, etc.

The site as some things yet to do, but you will get an idea the direction I am going.  Pretty much everything is dynamic and can be changed at this point.  The event and fees (even the fee categories) are all stored in a database.  I have not started the front end for being able to update that, but it is planned.  For now I will just have to put the events in the database manually.

I also have thought about storing the registration info in the database which would allow reporting at the close of the registration period.  So the paypal deputy for instance could pull an audit report that says how many registrations should have been received, etc.  We can talk more about that later.

One thing I will tell you. There is a test mode.  If you add ?test or ?test=on to the end of any URL it will toggle on test mode. For instance like this: http://treasurer.ansteorra.org/ares/?test

The benefits of test mode at the moment are that it will not send the email to the PayPal deputy, but it will send the one to the submitter.  It also will not clear out the  data it keeps in session variables when you submit. This means you could go back to the preview or register page and the fields will still be populated.  As long as you do not open the page for another event.  That will clear out the data automatically to keep from carrying over data by mistake from another registration.

Let me know your thoughts.  Also we can send this to the PayPal deputy and start getting her looped in as well.

One thing I did decide is that the entire exchequer site really needs a redesign.  I have been trying to reuse the basis from there and it currently is really not very mobile friendly.  That is something I need to work on so the ePay site is a lot more friendly for mobile use.

Alasdair