PHP Item Library User Guide

Introduction

PHP Item Library is an easy to use Library System for storing Students, Items and Loans.

 

Features

Installation

Minimum Web Server Specification

PHP Item Library Setup

  1. Extract the PHP Item Library zip file with all folders intact
  2. Upload or copy the files on to the web server (shown below)
  3. Make sure that the folder that the folder e.g. library is CHMOD to 777
  4. CHMOD the library.config.inc.php file to 777
  5. Go to http://www.your-web-site.com/library (replacing www.your-web-site.com with the correct domain)
  6. Follow the setup instructions and click Ok
  7. Go to http://www.your-web-site.com/library (replacing www.your-web-site.com with the correct domain) and enter the username and password you gave in the setup file

How to upload the Library

Using a FTP (File Transfer Protocol) Program such as SmartFTP (http://www.smartftp.com) connect to your web site

Once connected drag and drop the library folder on to the main file window in the folder formation that they are in

 

And when it has finished copying files on to the server go to step 3 on the setup guide, if you are unsure how to CHMOD a file/folder please look in the FTP programs help files.

Library System Usage

Login Screen

Library Name
 

Click Login > once you have finished
 

Script name and version
 

Username and Password Entry
 

Date and Time
 

 

 

Home Screen

Home Page - this page
 

Items – this lists all the items
 

Database stats including item count, total item costs, total students, number of items currently being borrowed, loans made in total, current overdue items and total admin accounts
 

Send an email to all the students in the database
 

Admin Accounts – modify admin’s accounts

 
 

Loans – this lists all the current loans

 
 

Overdue - this lists all the overdue loans

 
 

Your full name and your username and the date
 

Logout – Logs you out of the system

 
 

Students – this lists all the students
 

 

 

Mass Mail Screen

Subject of the email and the message
 

Once Ok has been pressed, the system will email this message to every student on the system, as this can take some time with a large databases it will display the progress
 


Item Screen

Items is highlighted to show you what page you are on
 
 


Which member of staff last edited it and when
 

Edit and Delete Item
 

Search form and search for in Name, Barcode etc
 

Items name, condition, price, status and last borrowed by
 

Sort form to show the data in a specific way
 

Click the arrow to loan this item, if it is a cross then it is already out
 

Pops up a new window with a barcode and the item name etc and asks if you want to print it
 

Next page
 

Shows form to make a new item
 

 

Edit Item Screen

This form is self-explanatory but there are a few things to be aware of such as input masks like price must be a number and the status can only be 1 of the 2 options. Description and Notes fields have no limit in size so you can keep on typing in there
 

Back to the Items Screen
 

Students Screen

Click the arrow make a loan with this student (Note: an item must have already been selected for a loan)

 

Pops up a new window with a barcode and the student name, DOB, Tutor etc and asks if you want to print it
 

Search form and search for in Name, Barcode etc
 

Edit and Delete Student
 

Sort form to show the data in a specific way
 

Automatically finds students that have left he college/school and deletes them (as set by the Last Year field)
 

Shows form to make a new student
 

Students name, email, course, tutor
 

Which member of staff last edited it and when
 

Next page
 

 

Add Student Screen

Back to the Students Screen
 

Post code is entered in two stages
 

Last Year is used to delete out of date students that have left the college/school
 

This form is self-explanatory but there are a few things to be aware of such as input masks like DD MM YYYY this is referring to day month and year and then length of the input e.g. YYYY is a 4 digit number
 

The only difference between the edit and new form is that the edit form is filled in with the students info and in edit mode it gives a link to a map of the students address and works out how old the student is
 


Loans Screen

Loan Number, Student and Items (items will change in to numbers if they have more than 3 items), In and out date and it current state
 

This can show you all the items that are out or in or both at the moment it displaying Out Items only
 

Make a new loan (only use this if you have a barcode scanner)
 

View details of the loan and change the status of the loan
 

 

Add Loan Screen

Scan in student barcode here or go to the students tab and click the loan button next to the student
 

Displaying what items you have already added (by scanning in a barcode or clicking on it in the Items listing)
 

Set the due in date here and add any notes in the box below
 

Allows you to scan in an item barcode
 


Overdue Items Screen

Automatically sends out an email to all the students that have overdue items (with the item they have and when it was supposed to be back)
 

Extra information like days overdue and a fine (if one has been setup)
 

This is the same sort for display as the loans screen, but with the difference that it is only displaying overdue items
 

 

 

Admin Accounts Screen

This displays all the people that have access to the library system
 

For security reasons the first account cannot be deleted or edited by someone else other than the owner
 

Make a new admin account
 

Edit or Delete admin account
 

 

Possible Messages and Error Messages

Message

Description

 

This message will only be displayed if you have got your username or password wrong on the login screen, make sure that you have entered your username and password correctly or contact the library administrator

 

This is tell you that you have missed a field that is needed e.g. user name on the logon screen or the Students name in add student

 

This is telling you that your mass email or mass overdue email reminder has been sent. It also gives you the number of students it has been sent to and if you look behind the message all the students email address are displayed

 

This is checking that you have entered a number for numerical fields such as the price of an item or the telephone number of a student

 

This is telling that the item or student has been saved

 

This is a question dialog asking if you want to delete the item, student or admin in hand

 

 

Step by step guide of Library System

Let’s say for example you want to add a new item to the system and then loan it out to a student here are the step you would take:

 

Access the Library

 

Add the Item

 

Select Student

 

Make Loan