webBooks-Dashboard

The 'Dashboard' is not considered a module, but an inherent part of the software. The dashboard privides you access into all the other working parts of the system. You will notice that after logging in, you are presented with a header, a body, and a footer. We will go over the various parts below in greater detail.

Header

This section of the page provides several different types of information and and options. Working left to right, the first item is a graphic that, when clicked, will open up the communication side of webBooks. This is where your email, missed calls, and more can be accessed. Currently this option is limited to whatever services are allowed by your provider, but we have an upcoming project that will be more comprehensive that should be available in Q1 2015 or Q2 2015.

The next two items are both simple information and display the current time and account that is currently logged in. The second parameter will help your employees in a situation where a single device is shared among several people. Keeping an eye on this value will indicate if they are using the correct account or not.

Following that are two listboxes that specify your status and availability. The only 'Status' value that will allow a change in the 'Availability' is 'Clocked In'. All other 'Status' values will force an 'Unavailable' value for your 'Availability'. Regardless of what these values are, they are reflected in the 'Employee Status' module so that the appropriate employees can see the status of all the employees.

The last item on that line is the 'Close' graphic. You will notice that it is greyed out while the dashboard is shown. This is because you can't close the dashboard. Instead this image is used when you want to close one of the modules you currently have opened. To do so, simply click on the associated module icon in the footer and then click this graphic.

The next line will only contain the title of the module that you are currently working in, no more, no less. While in the 'Dashboard', the following line will not have any contents. But while working in any of the modules, this line will contain the tabs and buttons that allow the user to navigate and interact with the module.

Mobile

In the default mobile interface, the only part of the header that is shown is the module title. Instead you will find a vertical navigation bar on the right-hand side of the browser that contains the module-closing 'X' graphic and an option labeled 'Status'. Clicking that option will expose the more traditional looking header, but only to enable the user to change their 'Status' and 'Availability' options.

If you need to access the tabs and buttons that are found in the header for non-mobile devices, there is another option on the navigation bar that is labeled 'Options'. Clicking that will present you with a list that shows the tabs at the top and the buttons at the bottom.

Body

When using a non-mobile device, the body will present you with all the configured groups and (in a later version) a 'Quick Glance' bar right above the footer. Clicking on any of the group icons will present you with all the associated modules. To open any module, click on its associated icon. Clicking on a group once again will hide the associated modules.

More will be discussed about the 'Quick Glance' bar once it becomes available.

Mobile

When using this kind of device, will move everything into one large vertical list as opposed to the three-columns that are displayed on the desktop and laptop interface. Of course if things are still too small to view comfortably, you can always zoom in to view the text better.

Footer

Just like the 'Header', the 'Footer' contains several many options split over two lines. The top line will ONLY contain a list of icons representing the 'Dashboard' and any opened modules. This line acts similar to the Microsoft Windows taskbar, KDE taskbar, and Gnome taskbar. The only icon that will always be accessible is the 'Dashboard'. The other icons are all populated as the modules are opened.

The last line shows two icons, the copyright noice, and two more icons. The first icon shows a popup that will allow you to refer webBooks to others you may know that could use it. The next icon will open a graphical interface to browse and install extensions for the software, similar to how Mozilla presents its extensions for their Firefox brower. The last two icons enable the user to submit a bug or feature request for the software.

Mobile

To provide the largest viewable area possible, the footer was also moved into the navigation bar under the label 'Taskbar'. Clicking it will bring up a vertical list similar to the 'Options' label (see above) that shows the taskbar. The additional icons and copyright are absent in the mobile version so that the user will have less clutter and can stay focused on the job at hand.

Admins

The webBooks software will have a distributable version available for independent installations towards the end of the Q4 2014. It is important for the administrators setting up their own instances of the software to use a version of php (at least 5.3) that comes with support for the PharData extension (to provide php access to tarballs).

We should also point out that currently webBooks only works with mySQL (tested with mySQL 5.1), but we will be working on porting the codebase to use the PDO extension in Q1/Q2 2015.