FAQ's |
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The Moving Butler©, it's simple, fast, reliable, and 100% secure. |
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| Q: | There are 2 download links of The Moving Butler on the home page, which should I download? |
| A: | If you are going to use the software as a web application on your office computer, download apache-win32mb.zip If you are going to use the software over the internet on a web server, download iis-win32mb.rar |
| Q: | I downloaded iis-win32mb.rar. What is a .rar and what do I need to open the file? |
| A: | A .RAR is an archive format similar to zip files. To open the file, you must have WinRar installed on your Windows computer. A free trial of WinRar can be downloaded at www.rarlabs.com |
| Q: | I downloaded apache-win32mb.zip. What is a .zip and what do I need to open the file? |
| A: | A .ZIP is an archive format similar to .RAR files. To open the file, you must have WinZip installed on your Windows computer. A free trial of WinZip can be downloaded at www.winzip.com |
| Q: | I have extracted the files from apache-win32mb.zip to my computer. How do I install the software? |
| A: | The Moving Butler software does not have all of the required applications to run packaged in a single installer. To run the software on a desktop computer for use within an office, 3 separate applications are required. The applications are the Apache Web Server, Active Perl (Perl Interpreter), and The Moving Butler. These three can be easily installed by copying the extracted files to a CD or by opening the folder which contains the extracted files then selecting Autorun\Autorun.exe. The autorun.exe, when run, will have the three installations as step 1,2, and 3. |
| Q: | I have installed all 3 applications, how do I open the program? |
| A: | Once everything is installed, you may need to restart your computer for the changes to take effect. Double Click the Moving Butler icon on your desktop. Some users have reported an inability to connect using the shortcut on the first use, but this issue can be corrected by going directly to another page in the Moving Butler application. Try http://localhost/cgi-bin/create.pl in your browsers address bar. |
| Q: | I have installed and restarted, but I get an error message in my browser when I click the Moving Butler icon. |
| A: | There can be several causes for this, if the error is a browser (Internet Explorer) error: You already had a webserver installed on your system before installing Apache. Unistall IIS. Windows XP Pro includes the IIS web server as a standard feature, 2 web servers can not exist on the same computer. Your installation of Apache is not running Check your system tray at the bottom right of your screen to ensure Apache is running Ensure the perl interpreter is running: Click Start->Run->Type 'cmd'->Click OK-> Copy/Paste:perl -e "print 'HELLO'" from p to ". See HELLO? Good! Ensure the Moving Butler files are present: Navigate to C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Apache2.2\cgi-bin\, you should see several .pl files Errors produced by The Moving Butler will be in H1 text centered at the top of the page and they will not be accompanied by any 400-500 digit error codes, which are browser errors. |
| Q: | Everything is installed, but I am at the login page and I don't know the password. What is it? |
| A: | The default admin user and password for The Moving Butler is "guest". Once logged in, visit the Administrative Options page to configure your software. |
| Q: | I see the search page, but I can't do a search. What's wrong? |
| A: | The Moving Butler software uses text files that are stored on your hard drive for data storage.
To maintain the changes that are constantly made to the data contained within the software,
the software constantly reads and writes information to these text files. If you can view
any of the .pl pages in the site, that indicates that your web server and Perl interpreter
are working perfectly. The problem you are having is related to "read" permissions. Navigate to C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Apache2.2\cgi-bin\, right click the folder to select Security or Properites. Add the "Everyone" user with modify permissions and select the advanced permissions. While in advanced mode uncheck "inherit" permission, click copy, and check replace all child objects and apply. You should no longer have any issues with the program. If you are unable to see a security tab: In windows explorer click Tools->Folder Options->View-> Uncheck "Use Simple File Sharing" -> Click OK and try again. (Professional Only) |
| Q: | I see the search page and I can do a search, but I can't create a new customer. What's wrong? |
| A: | Same as above situation, but this is related to "write/modify" permissions. If you are unable to see a security tab: In windows explorer click Tools->Folder Options->View-> Uncheck "Use Simple File Sharing" -> Click OK and try again |
| Q: | Administrative Options: What is Manage Cubes Values? |
| A: | Cubes (cubic feet) are the most popular unit of measure to determine the amount of space that a shipment will require. The manage cube value form allows for configuring the estimated cubic feet of each item on our list, in addition to a conversion factor that will be multiplied by the cubic feet to obtain the weight of the shipment, by the software. The weight is not configurable at the customer form level and all changes affect all current and previous quotes. The cube values are best set on initial setup and not modified afterwards. |
| Q: | Administrative Options: What is Manage Stair Charges? |
| A: | The stair charges can be configured as a dollar amount mode or percentage of the move. They can be uniquely configured in 215 different ways, with 6 possible values in the 3 location fields. |
| Q: | Administrative Options: What is Manage Customer Letter? |
| A: | The customer letter is the HTML and specially formatted dynamic tags that will be displayed on the program with every save of the customer information. |
| Q: | Administrative Options: What is Manage Booking Options? |
| A: | Booking Options allows you to configure the viewable columns on the schedule/booking results pages. |
| Q: | Administrative Options: What is Form Point Values? |
| A: | Form point values are a numeric value, either integer or floating point numbers. Point values are basically dollar values for each item on your forms. The point values page includes an entry for the base charge for every move and the default text you would like to use for hourly customers. |
| Q: | Administrative Options: What is Manage Customer Contracts? |
| A: | Same as customer letter, except this is the contract file that can be accessed and printed from the schedule results. |
| Q: | Administrative Options: What is Clean Database? |
| A: | Each salesperson created in the user accounts will be assigned to 1 of 26 possible accounts. (a-z) Once a salesperson is created, an index file will be updated with each new quote that the salesperson creates. Each new quote will result in an entry in the quote search header file for the customer search page. Finally, when the salesperson fills the form and saves the results, a form file is created with a snapshot of the customers quote including the locked in price they received (pending changes). At some point, when a salesperson entry is no longer needed and all quotes from that salesperson are assumed to have been fulfilled or exhausted; you can run the clean utility to delete all search entries, form files, and reset the index file back to it's initial state for 1 or all of the salespersons. |
| Q: | Administrative Options: What is Lock Database? |
| A: | This will prevent anyone from using the Moving Butler program while in locked mode. |
| Q: | Administrative Options: What is Manage "various" Accounts? |
| A: | This will allow user/password changes for the administrator, sub-admin, and salespersons/users |
| Q: | Administrative Options: What is the Sub-Admin account? |
| A: | The sub-admin account is a limited account that will only have the ability to login to the program for use, not configuration. |
| Q: | Is this program secure? |
| A: | Yes and no, If you install this on a workstation or webserver that can not be accessed directly then it is secure. Anyone with access to the file system of the computer hosting the software will have full access to open the source text files and read their contents. (Although the text file contents are a little less than friendly). If possible, you should allow others in your office or over the internet to access the host computer via your newly installed web server, and restrict access to the files on the computer. |
| Q: | Should I backup my files, and how? |
| A: | Yes!, the best protection from loss, downtime, and angry customers is a solid daily backup solution.
Navigate to C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Apache2.2\cgi-bin\, then copy the entire contents
of that directory to a CD or memory stick. If you ever have a problem, re-run the installation and then drop those
files in the same location and you will only lose what had been done since your last backup. The Moving Butler creates backup copies of your search index and booking index files each time you create a new customer. If a failure occurs, get the latest backup and replace these files |
| Q: | Do I have to click "SAVE FORM" when I am done with a form? |
| A: | Yes! If you do not click "SAVE FORM" all of your changes on that form will be lost. |
| Q: | How do I schedule an hourly move? |
| A: | Hourly moves can be scheduled in 2 ways. Do not enter any quantities in the form and leave all fields except for the customer information section as it is. Enter a "1" in the over-ride pricing section, this will set the move to hourly automatically. |
| Q: | How will changing the price on a form affect my other customers? |
| A: | It won't. Each customer's form is stored with a snapshot of the pricing level of all items and quantities which they provided that comprised thier initial quote. The only changes that will affect these quotes are additional changes made to the global stair charges, or changes by the customer. Changes made to items on the customers form after the initial quote will maintain the pricing level point value from the time the initial quote was provided, but is configurable on the form as well. |
| Q: | What is COMPANY1 and COMPANY2? |
| A: | The Moving Butler allows you to store all of your quotes in one place and generate your correspondence from 2 different sets of HTML files for up to 2 companies. |
| Q: | What is Current Customer "*" Records on the confirmation page? |
| A: | This is a problem indicator with the search/booking files. The files are limited to 5,000 records each.
Once the maximum amount of records in the search files has been reached, both of the indicators will read 5,000 records.
The records will be cycled using Last In - First Out or LIFO. When the 5,000th record is added, the 1st will be dropped.
In the event of a write failure to the search files, these could drop significantly, indicating the search records will
need to be recovered from backup. The Moving Butler creates backup copies of your search index and booking index files each time you create a new customer. If a failure occurs, get the latest backup and replace these files |
| Q: | How can I change the information that is displayed by the @@server tags@@ on the confirmation pages? |
| A: | Unless you feel lucky, I would not suggest changing the perl scripts. If you do feel the need, they are hard coded in the saveform.pl file. Good Luck in your endeavors. |
| Q: | How do I quote a long distance move based on weight? |
| A: | Generally, the program is built for localized moving, but to schedule a move based on weight you would use the over-ride pricing on the form page after you have used the longhaul calculators or some similar method to determine the estimated cost. In addition, you can enter any number of items on the longhaul moves for your record, as the price will only be reflected by the amount in the over-ride pricing field. |
| Q: | I click on "View All Customers" and my computer keeps freezing up, is something wrong with the software? |
| A: | No, the software is busy generating a single HTML file containing your entire search files records (5,000 records). This will be a huge file and considering your webserver and browser are probably the same machine, you may run out of computer memory and experience an application crash. The crash will recover, but you may not be able to view this page. It would be adviseable to rely on the record indicator on the confirmation page unless your program is hosted on a remote web server that will handle half of the load of generating this page. |
| Q: | Why does creating a new customer require a salesperson user/pass? |
| A: | For security and controlling commission based salespeople. It will protect from unauthorized and/or fake additions to the schedule resulting in an empty run. It will ensure that the salespeople do not place their name on another salespersons quote, reducing conflicts over sales commissions. Once a quote is created, the salesperson can not be changed, but the quote is always accessible to anyone with access to the system so the customer is always serviced. |
| Q: | I created a new quote for a potential customer, but now I can not find them with the search page? |
| A: | This can be problematic. The search utility is an exact match search in all fields. If you typed a space within the First Name field, your search must contain the space as well. Normally, you will send an email confirmation to your customer which would allow you to search for the exact customer name or CID from your email client application. If needed, you can navigate to the source index file for the customer search page and perform a partial search for whatever criteria you have. The search source index file is a text file located here: C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Apache2.2\cgi-bin\customer\search\contact.txt |
| Q: | The form only reads "elevator" as the heighest staircharge, how do I charge for a high-rise? |
| A: | If the staircharges you have configured for the elevator option are not adequate for any given move, the only option is to add the additional cost to the "Other Amount/Base Amount" field or over-ride the price entirely. |
| Q: | I booked a move, but now the customer want's to cancel, how do I do that? |
| A: | All that you will need to do is open that customers form, select "Yes" beside the Unbook in the "Move" row and click "SAVE FORM". The customer and thier form will be removed from the schedule. |
| Q: | I tried to open an existing customers form and received "Form File Does Not Exist", what does that mean? |
| A: | It means that the form file for that CID has somehow been deleted or was not created properly. Check your backups for the file. Form files are located in C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Apache2.2\cgi-bin\customer\form_files\, named with the CID. Backups of the search index and booking index files performed by the software do not protect against the loss of form files. Proper daily backups should be maintained. |
| Q: | Why is everything I typed into the program in lower case, when I typed it in with some capital letters? |
| A: | To increase to possibilites of a successful exact match search, all data is reduced to lower case and all leading/trailing spaces are removed. All search fields that are submitted are reduced this way as well before being compared to the data on file. |
| Q: | When I enter information into the "Other" box, occasionally, some of the text will be gone. What happened? |
| A: | There is a small flaw in the software. The html tag for the Other box is an HTML form element called an "input" tag. One of the attributes of the input tag is the value field which is delimited with an apostrophe. If an apostrophe is entered into any field on the form, that field will be trucated at the apostrophe. If an apostrophe is needed, it is recommended to use a space or something similar to avoid this issue. |
| Q: | I entered all the quantities on the form, but my total is wrong. What happened? |
| A: | Ensure there are no special characters in your quantity or points fields such as spaces or unseen characters. The software translates any space characters to + plus signs so they are easily visible, but others are not being identified. Be careful to use only numbers on point/qty fields and avoid using copy paste operations. The shortcut links at the top of every section on the form make navigating with 1 hand on the mouse and the other on the keybord fairly simple. |
| Q: | Can I work with the Moving Butler in more that one window at a time? |
| A: | Of coarse, it is a web site after all. |
| Q: | How does the security work? |
| A: | Basically, the source files are protected because they are stored on a web server or workstation performing that task which is not accessible to anyone except through the public web server that is installed on that machine. Mostly, with the software installed on your local network LAN, which is only accessible in your office, security will not be an issue for you and your newly installed web server will not be accessible from the outside internet. Through the web server, the software maintains that only 1 location (IP address) may have access to the software at any 1 time. If you are working on the software and all of a sudden you are prompted to login, it is becuase your IP address has changed or because someone has logged in with the admin or sub-admin account from another location with a different IP address. With a security breach of this nature, it will obviously be brought to your attention immediately by the login prompt. If required you can lock down the database so no unauthorized access can be obtained. Unfortunately, to have a consistent installation procedure, all of these source files are located in the same location of every installation of the software. Any person can freely access the source text files by directing their browser to the appropriate location. To protect the source files, open each of the .PL files contained in the cgi-bin directory and replace every occurance of "customer/" with an encoded string before the word customer like "Kj39xA_customer/" for example and then rename the customer folder in the cgi-bin directory to match so only those people with access to the local file system will know the encoded string. The security can be disabled to allow free access from multiple locations, but it requires modification of a small section of code in each script file. Also note that some browsers, including AOL will change the IP address with every page request and is therefore not compatible with the Moving Butler. |
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