PBBooking
We looked everywhere for an appointment booking module for our clinic. There were a number of options on the internet, but none had the critical piece that we needed, synchronisation with our caledars for free / busy times.
This component may not be for everyone as it was designed with a specific goal in mind; to better manage online bookings in our massage and wellness clinic. If you're unsure whether this is for you download the source, install and test or email me.
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UPDATES
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After a break I'm excited to announce the release of PBBooking 2.0.6. This update brings some of the improvements from the commercial version into the free version.
##What's New?
New features in this versions include:
* custom fields now support different field types including checkbox, radio, and select
* custom fields can be included in emails using place holders
* all appointments are now stored in the database
* publishing methods have been integrated into the product.
##Requirements?
PBBooking Plus 2.0.6 requires:
* Joomla 2.5;
* PHP 5.3 or higher;
##Where to Get It?
Download from my website http://www.purplebeanie.com/pbbooking.html
Support for this component is good as well. However -
Caveats:
The language file does not allow exclamation marks (!).
The removal of jobs leaves entries in your database that can show up in the frontend (duplicates).
I can just highly recommend it, it does what it says on the tin!
Its easy to Understand with an array of options.
With the Plus version CUSTOMER SUPPORT is worth a million bucks for the small price that is paid.
Easy to install, setup and costumize for your needs.
I had some small issues with setting up language outside the language files.But Eric has an excellent support and help me with this very fast en imformative!
Thanks alot for this awsome component.
Good luck Eric whish you the best!
When a user has booked and confirmed a slot on a calendar date, and the admin clicks the Manage Diaries and selects that timeslot for the calendar date, the resulting page must have shown the user details. But currently it is showing a form to add the user details.
In other words, how can the admin see the user details who have booked the timeslots?
Hi Dskanth,
Thanks for the review.
The user appointment details that match a given timeslot and date are generally displayed in the admin calendar. The main reason they aren't is usually to do with timezone problems.
There are two places you need to make sure the timezone is set and they need to match for correct operation in the back end:
1) In the PBBooking Configuration to a supported PHP timezone - see the list here.... http://php.net/manual/en/timezones.php
2) In the Joomla Configuration to a supported UTC offset.
Eg. for me in Australia my PBBooking config has timezone Australia/Brisbane and my Joomla config is UTC+10.
If you are still having a problem with this raise a support ticket at:
http://support.purplebeanie.com
and I will see if I can get it sorted out for you.
Cheers,
Eric.
Look forward to seeing it improve.
I think if I had to say anything bad about the component, it would be that it doesn't seem to center in the area where it displays the calendar and days and that there isn't a clickable link to go "back" after clicking on a date to see if something is available on the schedule. User has to use the back button on the web browser.
Those little things though are just cosmetic and the component functions great.
I was looking for something that was easy to install, being somewhat of a newbie to Joomla, not too expensive, but would look great on my website.
PB Booking is a super jam packed booking system that allows me to modify my own services and how long they take, it automatically takes into account service times so it doesnt double book anything. My prayers have been answered!.
I plonked for the full version which is commerical but for the price...a total steal!
Super easy to install, really easy to configure even for a total dunce like me, great documentation on site to download.
Had to raise one support ticket due to my own error, and got answered super fast!
I wish the writer every sucess with this module, and if anyone needs an appointment booking system i would def recomend it!
However, I had some huge problems concerning the local settings and language, for the calendar would not display anything in my language, and since those items were generated by php it was quite useless translating the back-end language file.
As I was in a hurry, I solved the problem by adding some "setlocale" functions here and there, but I wonder if it would not be easier just to get these settings from J! so they could be used as a variable within this function?
The biggest problem, however, seems to be a conceptual one, because in the present state I think it only works for one calendar based on one person's schedule, since each calendar cannot have different sets of slots, and so unfortunatley it prevents work shifts and different individual scheduling. This is a shame, because other than than, and even considering the language problems, this could the best J! extension ever.
I also mention this because I think it is important for the development of this excellent extension!
Hey thanks for the review Psyche,
I am addressing some of the areas that you mentioned as part of 2.1 development. Particularly around time and date for internationalization.
Thank you for your comments regarding the slots and times per calendar / schedule. I am in the process of moving this to reflect a more "multi-user" setup. This extension really grew out of our needs for a single calendar so obviously this is going to be a major change, but one that I am hoping will really help this extension to grow.
Thanks again for the constructive feed back.
Eric.
However, that's why I am rating it average and not just fair. I tried to locate the author's contact information prior to reviewing; however I can find no means to contact him. Mentioned on his website is paid support - but I can find no way to sign up for such. So there's no method to contact outside of posting to a sourceforge page (something I choose to not do) - no forums or email access...and no way to pay for support.
The component does basically what I need done; but there are several minor complaints I have (primarily about the formatting, but also some little about the functionality). It is not a simple plug and play, install and use plugin. It requires a fair amount of data entry to get going; which is perfectly acceptable, but a tiny bit annoying. There are some things I would like to customize that have no options on the backend configuration. And I really wish this was a module instead of a component; or at least had one or more modules to accompany it. And finally, I really want what the 2.1 preview showed - to have everything completed in one page; that is a huge update which is needed.
In short, this plugin has a ton of potential, and most of my complaints could very likely easily be resolved with a support forum where users could chat with one another. so my only real complaint is lack of any way to contact the author or other users for such support! Well, that and the lack of a module thing.
Thanks for the review Karossii.
2.1 is still a work in progress. I have some of it running in beta, as you saw from the website, but there is still a lot of work that needs to be done.
There has also been some major scope creep with what I want to put into 2.1. Things like payment gateways went from a nice to have that was planned for 2.3 and beyond into something that needed to be done.
I know a number of people have commented on the ability to run as a module. There are no plans for that as part of 2.1. But, beyond that it is something that will be done.
Thanks again and if you need more info on formatting just drop me a line. beanie@purplebeanie.com.
Cheers,
Eric.
I'd be more than happy to provide a French translation or maybe even change the strings myself only I've never done that I don't know how to do. If someone can explain it to me I'll do it. I've got a rather good level of PHP so if you tell me how to load a string from a language file I guess there should be no problem.
Seb.
Hi OldLodgeSkins,
Thank you for the review.
I am currently working on a versions that will support internationalization using the standard JText libraries.
If you are happy to contribute a French translation drop me a line and I will send you the translation file.
Cheers,
Eric.
Hi Jumkul,
Thanks for your feedback. I appreciate it.
I am currently working on integrating publishing into the component itself. This will remove the requirement for phpicalendar and do everything within the Joomla environment.
Thanks.
Eric.
should I just download them from (give me some links :D), and choose install in the extension manager, and then it should work?
cheers,
quqdk
Hi,
Some hosts support webdav / caldav natively. You will need to check with your host to determine this. If they do you will be able to publish straight form your calendaring application.
If your host doesn't support caldav or webdav you need to download something like phpicalendar.
See this link: http://phpicalendar.net/
and install on your host. You will then be able to publish calendars to phpicalendar and pick them up in pbbooking.
Cheers,
EF.
I think if you have prior knoweledge then you will be fine with this extension but if not you will be stuck like me with no support. I linked the paths to the ici calender but still got error messages in the end I just uninstalled it as I dont have the time to figure out what to do.
Maybe this is a what I need but I will never know.
Hi Tatty,
I am surprised about your no support comment. I have personally replied to every email that has been sent to me for support and to any postings on the forums. Did you do either of these things?
Documentation is included in the zip file with the extension under the docs section and FAQ's on the site.
If you send me an email with your exact problems I am only to happy to help.
Cheers,
EF.
