What does the Attendants Number actually mean

[Andy Saggers]

Hello, I have searched but can't find an answer. I just can't get my head around what the Attendants Number actually means. Is it the number of people required to carry out the appointment? I am trying to add a tutorial on my website to help customers use Easy!Appointments but I just can't figure out how to explain this part of it.

Thank You

[Alex Tselegidis]

Hello Andy, 

the attendands number defines the number of appointments accepted at a single time slot. This is very useful in cases of group sessions or similar situations. Normally a time slot is blocked after an appointment is booked but with this setting you'll have the chance to accept a dynamic number of appointments (or better said attendants) at the same time until the time slot is marked as blocked. 

Alex Tselegidis, Easy!Appointments Creator   Need a customization? Contact me in person!

[Marc Coyles]

Is this attendants figure per SERVICE per slot, or per PROVIDER per slot?

IE: Service with 4x providers attached. If I set the Service’s attendants to 1, does this allow 1 appointment across the 4x providers, or 1 appointment PER provider?

[Alex Tselegidis]

Hi Marc,

the multiple attendants number will allow multiple appointments for a service - provider combination. That means that even when the provider's slot is reserved with one appointment, if the service has multiple attendants left customer will still be able to reserve this hour till the number of bookings reaches the multiple attendants value of the service. 

Your statement is not directly relevant to the multiple attendants functionality though but this "1 appointment PER provider"  statement is correct.

[Cosmin M]

Hi,

Is there a way to have, for the same service, a different number of attendants for each provider? I am imagining the following situation: I have two locations (providers), one type of service (say, consulting files) and, in the first location I have 2 attendants, but in the second location I have 3 attendants.

Thank you. And great job, by the way, with your software.

[Ahmad Al-Ani]

Consider service in different locations as different services instead of different providers. This give you such flexibility in having different attendants for each location.

So create services like below:

Service A Location A
Service A Location B

[Oliver Spencer]

Hi - I'm just testing this out, but I'm getting strange behaviour and I'm not sure whether it's because I don't understand the behaviour.

I want to set up 3 services (A, B and C), that can each have up to 2 customers in each time slot concurrently within any one time slot. So I've set up 3 services each with Attendants Number 2, and a provider under each.

So, I can book 2 concurrent appointments under the Service A - fine. Then no more appointments allowed - fine.

However when I try to book an appointment under Service B, it's blocking the 1pm time-slot, unless I increase the Attendants Number to 3 for Service B.

Is this a bug, or am I misunderstanding things?

[Pajaura]

I have EXACTLY the same problem. Maybe I got it wrong ..
I state that I really appreciate Alex's effort in developing the app.
I am facing a big problem though. Believing, after some tests carried out, that the configuration was optimal, I distributed the software for outpatient use to manage the situations created by the Covid-19.
The organization chart is as follows:

There are 3 surgeries (which I created as services)
Surgery 1
Surgery 2
Surgery 3

Any staff member of individual clinics can make appointments (I created 3 providers), so we are not talking about public use but EXCLUSIVELY INSIDE THE STRUCTURES.
User 1
User 2
User 3

Each provider is associated with a service

User 1 → Surgery 1
User 2 → Surgery 2
User 3 → Surgery 3

Each service is set for a maximum duration of 30 minutes and a maximum number of Attendants of 2.
Now, as far as I thought I understood, in doing so, it would have been possible to make a maximum of 2 appointments every 30 minutes for each service.
Instead let's take this example.

All 3 providers must make an appointment for 9AM on the same day for their associated service. User 1 books correctly, User 2 books correctly, User 3 can ONLY book from 9.30AM. Why? If the maximum number of attendants is set for each service, why does this act on the time slot? I don't understand the meaning. Also because, with this mechanic, the logic of reservations will never work.
If you could have explanations / solutions on the problem I would be really grateful, unfortunately I am in an unpleasant situation and I have to find a solution. I will probably contact Alex for a tailor-made package (commercial, of course) but at present I have to find a solution as soon as possible, many people are counting on the functioning of the service to avoid health problems.
I look forward to someone's help. Thank you!!

[Ahmad Al-Ani]

Check the work calendar for provider3, and make sure it start at 9:00

Try this,

Go to a fresh day which no appointments are made at all, and try to make a 9:00AM appointment for provider3 only, which failed in the above example.

If it fails again, then check the work calendar for provider3 if it was set to start at 9:30 instead of 9:00

[Pajaura]

Okay, it was better to make the premise.
All working plans are identical, the problem is not due to that.
If I reverse the order of reservations the problem is identical.
Example:
User 3 book at 9AM, user 2 book at 9AM, user 1 can only book from 9.30AM.

I make a further clarification. I am using standalone EA, not via WP, if it can be useful to specify it.

[Oliver Spencer]

Hey,

Again, thank you very much to the creators of this as it seems to (almost) do what it needs to do for my sports club which is due to open next week as COVID restrictions are relaxed, however I still have the issue.

I'm using the Wordpress version, and it is still an issue.

SET UP

So, I have 2 classes - Class 1 and Class 2.

Each can have only 2 people in, but classes run concurrently at 9am, 10am etc.

I've set up each Class as a service with 2 attendants, and one Provider for each.

BOOKING

2 people can successfully book for Class 1 at 9am.

However once the second person has booked for Class 1, 9am no longer appears on booking for Class 2.

However, Class 2 should be free as it's a separate service, also with Attendants set at 2.

If I increase the Attendants value for Class 2, it does enable 9am to appear again, however there are no bookings yet for Class 2 - only Class 1 at 9am.

I'd be most grateful if you could let me know if there's a way round this, otherwise I'll have to find another solution.

Thank you again for your responsiveness and help.

Oliver.

[Pajaura]

As mentioned, we have the exact same problem, Oliver.
The fact is that, Covid or non-Covid, a reservation application should offer a logical mechanic that is not the current one, at least apparently. Therefore I wonder if it is not a bug and, therefore, I wonder why nobody has advanced this limitation so far.
I have come to the same conclusion as you regarding the possible alternative but I have not found anything that allows you to manage your appointments in this way. There are also premium solutions but, unfortunately, they are all on external servers and due to the stringent privacy regulations I am forced to use a self-hosted solution, therefore the field is further narrowed.
Personally the work done by Alex is very clean and, regardless of our problem, well structured, I would be sorry not to use it for the above purpose, so I trust in a solution to the problem ..

[Pajaura]

Hi Alex, I read your answer and I think I understand the mechanics of the booking system. However, what is not clear to me is the reason why, when the available slots for a provider with which a service is associated runs out, a different provider with a different service associated can no longer book in the same time slot. Yes, ok, logic makes sense if it is taken for granted that reservations are made in the same place and therefore there is no further space, but if instead we considered the performance of the services in different locations, each service should have its own independent slots, right? The problem is that it doesn't seem to work this way. Can you explain this better?

[Ahmad Al-Ani]

Try this,

comment these lines at 

application/models/Appointments_model.php

506 //            ->or_group_start()

507 //            ->where('start_datetime <', $slot_start->format('Y-m-d H:i:s'))

508 //            ->where('end_datetime >=', $slot_end->format('Y-m-d H:i:s'))

509 //            ->group_end()

[Ahmad Al-Ani]

This is updated, 

comment these lines at (from 502 to 510), and add red line

application/models/Appointments_model.php

//            ->group_start()

//            ->where('start_datetime <=', $slot_start->format('Y-m-d H:i:s'))

//            ->where('end_datetime >', $slot_end->format('Y-m-d H:i:s'))

//            ->group_end()

//            ->or_group_start()

//            ->where('start_datetime <', $slot_start->format('Y-m-d H:i:s'))

//            ->where('end_datetime >=', $slot_end->format('Y-m-d H:i:s'))

//            ->group_end()

[Pajaura]

Hey ahmadal, thanks for the reply!
I tried to apply the changes you posted but I get an error as soon as I access the booking page:
P.s: Alex, if you are reading, I think there is a bug in the details of the error. The css code, which should handle the text of the details, is instead reported together with the details themselves, as I am posting it myself.

Here's the issue details:

AJAX Error: Internal Server Error Database Error

::selection{ background-color: #E13300; color: white; }
::moz-selection{ background-color: #E13300; color: white; }
::webkit-selection{ background-color: #E13300; color: white; }

body {
background-color: #fff;
margin: 40px;
font: 13px/20px normal Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
color: #4F5155;
}

a {
color: #003399;
background-color: transparent;
font-weight: normal;
}

h1 {
color: #444;
background-color: transparent;
border-bottom: 1px solid #D0D0D0;
font-size: 19px;
font-weight: normal;
margin: 0 0 14px 0;
padding: 14px 15px 10px 15px;
}

code {
font-family: Consolas, Monaco, Courier New, Courier, monospace;
font-size: 12px;
background-color: #f9f9f9;
border: 1px solid #D0D0D0;
color: #002166;
display: block;
margin: 14px 0 14px 0;
padding: 12px 10px 12px 10px;
}

#container {
margin: 10px;
border: 1px solid #D0D0D0;
-webkit-box-shadow: 0 0 8px #D0D0D0;
}

p {
margin: 12px 15px 12px 15px;
}

A Database Error Occurred
Error Number: 1064You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near '' at line 4SELECT count(*) AS attendants_number
FROM `ea_appointments`
WHERE (
`id_services` = '2'Filename: models/Appointments_model.phpLine Number: 511

[Ahmad Al-Ani]

It's working fine for me, perhaps browser cache is the culprit.

Here is my test version, please check it out and let me know.

https://myqplace.info/eatest/

[Pajaura]

You must excuse me, I am doing so many tests that I find myself a lot of different folders and I had modified the file of another installation! Sorry, my eyes cross because of the tiredness and I made an oversight!
Either way it seems to work properly! Today I will continue carrying out further tests for different situations and see if there will be further problems. I keep you updated. For the moment I thank you immensely for the enormous help you have given me and every other user in my situation!