attendance application - welcome to digital exedra inc

Attendance ApplicationVersion 1.0B

for Computers running the Java 2 SE Platform

User's ManualDigital Exedra Inc.

Copyright © Digital Exedra Inc. All rights reservedApril 6, 2004

www.digitalexedra.ca

Digital Exedra Inc.

AttendanceApp, www.digitalexedra.ca,

Introduction_____________________________________________________________________

Welcome to the Attendance Application program. This is a free ShareWare program available via the Internet at: http://www.digitalexedra.ca/FreeApps.html.

Its purpose is to display and maintain membership list information originally found at the lds.org web site

Note: A password is necessary to be able to display Ward Membership information from the Church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints Web Site. Please contact your ward leaders for information on how to get the password.

System Requirements_____________________________________________________________________

HARDWAREPlatforms: This program is written using the Java™ 2 language Standard Edition version 1.4 and higher, and as

such, can be run on Windows98 Windows 2000 Windows XP, UNIX, or Macintosh OS X platforms.

Downloading Java 2SE for your particular platform.Go to the Digital Exedra Inc web site and press the Java Get It Now button. This will bring you to the

Sun Microsystems Inc. web site then follow the steps to install the free Java™ 2 SE Virtual Machine It will take about 10 minutes to download and unpack the software with a cable modem type connection. No reason to worry about downloading a virus with the VM because Sun uses the JNLP code-signing and authentication protocol

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fig 1. Java Get It Now button

This will also download Java™ Web Start on your particular platform.Java™ Web Start is the shell or Application Manager that launches and maintains the Java™

Applications on your system.

Operating System - Firmware: Windows: This program has been tested with Windows XP using Java™ Web Start which is

downloaded free with the Java™ Virtual Machine (VM) from the Sun Microsystems Inc. web site.

UNIX: This program has been tested on BSD Unix which is part of Mac OSXCommand Line Unix:%java -jar AttAppv1dot0.jar

Mac OS X:Lucky Mac OSX owners dont have to download the Java™ Virtual Machine as it is already installed

with their Macs OS X. Apple now ships J2SE version 1.4.2 with every Macs (feb 04)

an Apple maintained Java™ Web start Application Manager however, can be downloaded from Apple to manage and maintain the JNLP programs. (much like the finder).http://developer.apple.com/java/javawebstart

Although newer machines using 1.4.2 have it pre-installed in /Applications/Utilities/Java/Java Web Start

Memory requirements: This program has been run on a computer with 256Mbytes of RAM and at least 4Gbytes of free disk

space.

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The size of the code is about 700Kbytes.

DirectoriesOrganize your directories in the following manner:

Demo- InputFile

- DataFile- Picts 100x100

Note: The look and feel shown in this manual is for the Mac OSX platform.Other platform will feel the same but look slightly different.

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Software_____________________________________________________________________

The Attendance Application program is a stand-alone program to display print, and record the students attendance to Sunday School classes in a ward. This kind of program is called a Rich Client because it resides on your computer with all its data. There is no distribution over a network of sensitive data. The user has all the control as well as responsibility (backups) of the data. As an example, a spread sheet program is a Rich Client Application. This program can be viewed as a dedicated spread sheet combining some functionality of a data base, chart, calendar and reporting programs.

This program has been designed to minimize user input in keeping track of attendance. The program incorporates a perpetual calendar so that the user doesn't have to find out what date was last sunday or the sundays before that.

A single Point and Click will record the attendance of a student in a particular class. The user has a week to enter the data before the program automatically switches to the next sunday. Past weeks data can also be entered or modified. Reports showing a graphical relationship of attendance versus time are automatically generated. No cut and paste operation of data is necessary to maintain the histograms

A year-to-date (ytd) and month-to-date (mtd) attendance percentage is automatically calculated for every student.

Exports of some of the information is possible.

The Attendance Application program is available at the Digital Exedra Inc. web site http://www.digitalexedra.ca/freeApps.html

Operational Requirements_____________________________________________________________________You will need:

• A computer running the Java™ 2 SE under windows, UNIX, or MacOSX• A printer connected to the computer to print reports.• A live internet connection to allow authentication by Verisign.

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InternetUser

VeriSign

Sun Microsystems Inc.

V M

Certificate

(Initial download only)

fig 2Installation_____________________________________________________________________As a JNLP application, the Program is automatically dowloaded when clicking on the link at http://www.digitalexedra.ca/freeApps Web Page

Launch Web Start and select the application and press start or double clicking the application name.Downloading and Security Alert Dialogs Notify the user of any tampering with the code. Authentication is done with Verisign at this time.

A note on the test data described in this manual:A list of individuals has been compiled with pictures for testing and description of the program.

This is a list of mathematicians from 600BC to the 18th century. This list is not exhaustive there are many more mathematicians especially in our 21st century that are famous for great advances in the field.

The Digital Exedra is a link to Plato who was a great mathematician and who started the first University in the world.

Pictures and names are from the St Andrews University's web site If you are interested in Science and

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Mathematics history, be sure to visit the site at http://www-groups.dcs.st-andrews.ac.uk home of the Turnbull Server from the school of Mathematical and Computational Sciences, University of St Andrews

All assignments between partners, classes, and priesthood levels are fictious and, of course, bears no resemblance to reality.

fig. 3 Sun's Web Start Screen seen on a Mac.

Program Operation_________________________________________________________________________________

PROGRAM LAUNCHUnder Java Web Start: Double-click the Java WebStart Player. After loading a window (fig 1) shows the applications already downloaded .

Select and double-click the desired application icon or select the icon and press launch, or use the start button after selection.

Authentication of the program is verified (at Verisign) and if a newer version exist, it is downloaded automatically at this time.If the code has been tampered in any way while being on the server on the internet, an alert window will

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inform you and recommend not running the program.

If this happens, send an Email to mailto:[email protected] fresh version will be uploaded on the server. and the 'internet police' will look into the matter.

Main Screen_____________________________________________________________________Program Menu Bar_____________________________________________________________________

•AttAppv1dot0•About AttAppv1dot0

Just says that it is a Java Application. (appears only on Mac OSX).

•Quit AttAppv1dot0Exit the program. (appears only on Mac OSX).

•File •About

•Shows the splash dialog and the version of the Java Virtual Machine running on your machine

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fig 4

This about dialog shows the version of the Java Virtual Machine running on your platform. JNLP programs will run on version greater or equal to 1.4.1

If you can't run this program it could be that the Java Virtual machine installed on your machine is outdated. go to the Digital Exedra Web site http://www.digitalexedra.ca and click on the Java Now button . this will bring you to the Sun Microsystems Inc. web site where you can download the current free Virtual Machine.

•Read FileThis is, on the first time, the file generated from the Membership Converter

program ( See the Membership Converter Manual on how to use this program) or other times, the file saved from previous runs of this program. A backup copy (.bkp) is created when reading a file. This copy can be read again to recover the previous version.This menu Item is disabled after reading a file. Save, quit and restart the program if you want to read another file

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fig 5 File Selection Dialog.

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fig 6 Main Screen after reading the platoDataTest2004 file

•Setup AliasesThis menu item allows a quick setup of the alias names when running the

program the first time. Aliases are then set to a copy of the church Record Names which may not be always correct. or used i.e. a person may use her maiden name or another may use his second name as first name.Most of the time the alias names used are the same as the Church Record Names, but they can be re-edited to any names desired. However, Church Record Names cannot be re-edited. and they are used as keys for a particular student. Aliases are used in the reports.

•Update Phone and AddressesThis menu item allows to synchronize the phones and addresses from a file

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created from the Church web site ( see the Membership Converter for how to obtain the information from the Chuch web site).

•Create empty Sunday School fileGives a starting file to add classes and students.

•SaveThis is important: after doing any changes to the data, don't forget to save or else

all changes are lost and would have to be re-entered. Data is saved into the same file.A backup file is created after each read. If reverting to a backup is needed just exit the program without saving and read the .bkp file.

Note. Histograms are updated only after a save, or on the initial read.

•Export Data to PDA FileThis menu item exports the data to a text file (with TAB separators) suitable to

export to a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA).Fields exported are first, middle last names, phone numbers, street and Email addresses.

•Export Data to TFFileSimilar to above the fields are just the last names and first names and depending

on the state of the Temple First flag.

•ExitQuit the program. Before doing this don't forget to save your changes if any by

selecting the save menu item.

•Edit•Cut•Copy•Paste•New Student ...

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fig 7Dialog Fields:

Student Church Record Name: These three fields cannot be changed by the user. They are automaticallly picked up by the Membership Converter program from the church data base.Student First Names , last Name:These fields (Aliases) come set as a copy of the above fields, but can be changed to anything the user wants. These names appear in the reports.Picture File Name:A Picture of each student can be specified here. A picture is a .JPeg (.jpg) file of 100 by 100 pixels. Most digital cameras today will give you a .jpg file which can be croped and resized to 100x100 pixels. Give the resized picture a unique name such as first name and last name in one word followed by .jpg and place the picture in a folder named "Picts 100x100" and placed in the InputFiles Folder, enter the file name you just created in this field and the picture should show in the dialogs. If not it is probably because the picture has been put in the wrong folder and the program cannot find it.The Default picture name is empty.jpg.Teacher:To move the student to another class just select another teacher in the combo box

•New Class ...Note: Enter the teacher first Name, last Name seperated by a space in the teacher full name field.

fig 8

•Set Conference SundaysThere is usually no regular attendance on conference sundays. This dialog allows the elimination of these sundays so that the statistics shown on the class report are correct for the year to date value.If dates are not entered yet, use the add button to include new dates.Select the desired date to be removed or modified by clicking on the list item then press the Delete... or Change ... button

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fig 9

fig 10

•Set Preferences

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fig 11

The last three weekly averages in the above dialog, are affecting the chart in fig 12. Their sum is subtracted from the total Sacrament attendance in the calculation of the monthly percent. These numbers are only entered once and are used to compensate for members attending the primary and leaders busy at other tasks during Sunday School.

Editing existing student information

Simply click on the desired row in the main window to bring a change student information dialog then modify the desired information and press OK or Cancel.

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fig 12entry fields:Some of these fields are captured from the Church Web Site automatically by using the Membership

Converter program. Other fields such as birthdate, gender, Church office have to be updated manually.( See new Student Dialog for a description of these fields).

The left list at the bottom of the dialog shows the 'Home Teaching Assigned families' The right list is for the 'Home teaching Available Families' the control button in the middle allows one to move an available family to the assigned family list. clicking on a family in the assigned list will reverse the direction of the move.

The Family Head check box has to be checked to be able to assign families.

•Reports•Print Organization report•Print selected class picture report•Print all reports

Well maybe not all, but the most important ones •Print short report•Print Ward report

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fig 13

This is probably the most important report in the whole program.a Histogram showing the last 12 sundays to allow a quick glance at how the

ward is doing., and a monthly chart (not shown) showing a compilation for the whole year.

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fig. 14See fig 9 Prefences Dialog on a way to get more accurate percentages, i.e. eliminate Primary children and teachers from the Sunday School versus Sacrament percentage.

Note: If the report cannot be printed, It could be because there is a mismatch in the Conference dates and the attendance dates.

•Print List of Highpriest with home teaching Families•Print List of Home teaching Families with Highpriests•Print list of Elders•Print List of Priests (Aaronic Priesthood)•Print List of Teachers (Aaronic Priesthood)•Print List of Deacons (Aaronic Priesthood)

•Print Highpriest Quorum attendanceThis report shows absenteism in red and also list names with phone numbers.

•Print List of Young WomenThis list is obtained by setting the gender field to FY

•Print List of Young MenThis list is obtained by setting the gender field to MY

•Print List of Ward MissionariesThis list is obtained by setting the teacher's name to Mission Mission

•Forms•Print Sunday School Roll entry forms

These forms can be passed in class for a student to record his or her attendance. These forms are dated and used every sunday. They should be printed just before church for the date to show as sunday. else it will show the current printing day. There

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are a set of forms for every class.

•Print Highpriest Roll entry formSimilarly as above this form is dated and used every sunday to record

attendance.

•Pie Charts•Display Highpriest Attendance Pie Chart•Print Highpriest Attendance Pie Chart

•Display Sunday School Attendance Pie Chart•Print Sunday School Attendance Pie Chart

•Print Class 1 Pie ChartThere is a Pie chart for every class.

•Print Class n Pie Chart

fig 16 Sunday School Attendance Pie Chart example for all classes.

•AttendanceThe user has a week to enter the new attendance, before the date changes in the dialog box. The program has a perpetual calendar and knows what date last sunday was. Previous weeks attendance, however, can be still be entered or modified when the date has gone, by clicking and selecting the previous date in the selection button at the top of

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the dialog. but this is more work. It is better to do it before the week is finished.

Click the Check button below the picture to enter the attendance for this date. No need to remember dates anymore.

•Highpriest Attendance•Sacrament Meeting Attendance

Total sacrament attendance is only used in this program, in the Ward report, which won't calculate correctly if sacrament attendance is not included.

fig 17•Class 1•Class n

fig 18 Highpriest attendance entry

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fig 19 Previous sundays button list.

fig 20 Hypatia's class attendance for february 22nd.

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fig 21 Plato's class attendance for February 22nd.

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Important Notice:Data edited and stored in this program are not carried back to the church system which remains the authority as far as Membership is concerned and is maintained by the Membership Clerks. If you perform important changes to a student's status, please contact your Membership clerk with the information for him to correct.These corrections will be back to you when you perform an update (See the Membership converter program for more information on how to do updates).

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Appendix

Legal NoticeCOPYRIGHT INFORMATIONCopyright © 2002 - 2004 Digital Exedra, Inc.All Rights Reserved.

TRADEMARKSThe trademarks, service marks, and logos (the "Trademarks") are registered and unregistered Trademarks of Digital Exedra, Inc. Nothing should be construed as granting, by implication, estoppel, or otherwise, any license or right to use any Trademark displayed in this documentation, without the written permission of the Trademark owner. Digital Exedra, Inc. aggressively enforces its intellectual property rights to the fullest extent of the law. The name of Digital Exedra, Inc. or the Digital Exedra logo may not be used in any way, including in advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of materials in this Documentation, without prior, written permission.

All other trademarks and trade names are the property of their respective owners and used here for identification purposes only.

DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTYTHIS PROGRAM IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT POSSIBLE PURSUANT TO THE APPLICABLE LAW, DIGITAL EXEDRA, INC. DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NON-INFRINGEMENT OR OTHER VIOLATION OF RIGHTS.

LIMITATION OF LIABILITYUNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, NEGLIGENCE, SHALL DIGITAL EXEDRA, INC. BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, LOSS OF DATA OR PROFIT, ARISING OUT OF THE USE, OR THE INABILITY TO USE, THIS PROGRAM, EVEN IF DIGITAL EXEDRA, INC. OR A DIGITAL EXEDRA AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. IF YOUR USE OF THIS PROGRAM RESULTS IN THE NEED FOR SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION OF EQUIPMENT OR DATA, YOU ASSUME ANY COSTS THEREOF. SOME PROVINCES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR THE EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY IN CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

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Copyrights regarding the Church Membership Information.

fig. 22

Other Copyrights

Java is a trademark or registered trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries

All other trademarks are trademarks of their respective owners.

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attendance application - welcome to digital exedra inc

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