Jan 23, 2018

When we originally designed the Room and Resource Booking system we wanted to keep the information and requirements flexible, however over time we are accepting there are times when we do want to make some information mandatory.

The Reason Field

(Since 2.1c) We now have an option to ensure the Reason field contains some (any) data before a booking can be saved.

The Reason field is typically used by the staff member to record a class, a subject, or both class and subject.  By default the information is not mandatory and therefore staff can make bookings without entering any detail.

To force a staff member to type something in this field the Sobs administrator can go the category management area: click the ‘Resources’ link in the Configuration menu.  Edit the category record and check the box for ‘Require a Reason’, then click the ‘Save’ button.

Now when a staff member makes a booking for a resource in this category they will be forced to enter some data into the Reason field.  They make enter a blank, or a punctuation character, anything really, so long as the field isn’t empty.

If no reason is entered the staff member will see an error message: “You must enter a value in the reason field”

For resources where you don’t require a reason you can leave this option unchecked and those bookings won’t require a reason.