Stringing program

[lwto]

One of the most mundane and frankly boring issues with stringing professionally or for the home stringer is Maintaining and keeping track of Clients, their racquets and their string jobs. It’s a a necessary task that is easily dismissed.
I personally despise mundane exercises and will do just about anything to avoid it even if it means writing my own program to automate and minimalize it. It is exactly this what I did. I created a program that will document all my stringing needs such as work orders, Players, racquets, labeling and anything else I could think of.

The program is made using Microsoft Access ver 7.0. I had a decision to make as to whether or not make it a stand alone application, or open with the code available. I decided the best route was to have the code available as it gives you better flexibility if you ever wanted to update the program. The trouble with the open version is that it is a lot easier to mess up as far as deleting code, changing the look and feel of it. Backup is strongly recommended. I have two versions available, one that uses a normal printer to print out Work Orders and Claim ticket forms. The other version uses a thermal receipt printer to create work orders and claim tickets. Though, you don’t really need either as the work order is quite easily seen on screen. Receipt printer is very much more slicker and creates a very professional looking out put.
Requirements
Microsoft Access (if you don’t have it, you can use the Access 360 which is a subscription based application from Microsoft.
A brother P-Touche printer with 3/8” ribbon.
Laser printer/ink jet printer
Receipt printer such as the POSx r520, which is what I use and can probably be found cheaply on ****.
Hand s canner(optional) makes logging in customers racquets a snap and these can be found very inexpensively.

This program is very easy to use, I’ve made it as simple and with the least amount of steps possible.
Customer brings in a racquet, it takes about 10 seconds to log in the racquet, create the work order and print out the labels for it.

I’m not a professional programmer by any means and to be honest, there are some hiccups, but nothing that won’t take away from what the program actually does. I will explain them later in this thread. Like I said, nothing very big , just some peculiarities that you will get to know and how to work around.

If you are interested email me and I’ll be glad to send you a copy. You can email me at mystringer@outlook.com. On the subject line please enter "Stringer" thanks, be a lot easier for me to reply to. Also, please include your TW username as well.
I only ask that you use it personally, you don’t distribute it, and just enjoy it and hopefully it will make the mundane work of stringing a little bit easier.


VERSIONS Available
I have made several versions. One British, European, and one that uses currency.
As well, I have two versions. one uses 8x11 paper to create Work orders
and the other uses the receipt printer.

PLease let me know which version is best for you.



Screen shot of opening screen


This is the opening screen. On the left you can readily see whats currently worked on, who the client is, type of service, stringing, service, sales, etc, and when it's due. The due date is color coded to let you know at a glance if it's been sitting awhile or what type or urgency there is.

On the right, Is the quick scan to scan your clients racquet to quickly to create a service job and below is you'r client look up if you don't have a scan code for the racquet.

The 2nd screen shot here is the completed screen shot of services that are completed and waiting to be picked up.



Much like the Working screen, except of course this is a quick way to see whats completed and how long it's been sitting.

Just a note on the working and completed screen. When you complete the work order, it automatically shows up in the working screen, well kind of, the Access program updates it in it's own time. Same with the Completed screen. If you find that it hasn't been updated, the screen that is, click F5 while your mouse is clicked on the table where it should be updating. F5 automatcally updates what ever needs to be updated. Works for both, working and completed screen and any other part of the program, so just click F5 is something hasn't been updated yet.

So once you have finished working on a racquet, click the Finished button on the working sheet and it will go to the Completed sheet. Again, once it's been picked up by your customer, click the PU button(picked up) and it will take it off the completed screen.

More to come in a bit..

 

[lwto]

3rd screen shot is the new player entry screen, where you enter a player, and his racquets or racquet.



Here you can enter all relevant info about the player, what type of player, his racquets and any impermanent info on his racquet.

The 4th screen is the Options screen, where you enter your information, logo, some stats on how many services you have done, who your top clients are, and things of that nature, of course this is all done automatically. Also, little utility to cost strings, useful for reels and calculating quickly cost per sets .

 

[lwto]

more to come

 

[am1899]

Very cool. Icing on the cake is that you string for Rick James...

I will take you up on your offer - email sent

 

[lwto]

Once you scan your racquet, that has been barcoded, you come up with this screen, the actual workorder screen.



You will see the service order number right at the top, with the clients name.
Optionaly, you can set the priority, the default is Normal,
Set date needed and any notes you want, right under it.

Below you see the service detail sheet and it's here that you have to scan the racquet number which brings up the racquet and in this case, Wilson Surge. If you need to see information concerning the racquet itself, you can click on the Racquet name, there thats under lined. Use the drop down box to select the service, Stringing, Service(gripping, misc stuff) Sales etc. default is Stringing. Service date, default is the moment you enter this page. The service box is where you put what ever service you perform.. For stringing you only use two line as it's a two line max on the labels that's printed. So for one string, for example, it's
PSGD 16@56
for hybrid
M, ALUPower15l@55
X, PSGD16@60

You don't want to make it to long so as not to be longer than what the label is.

If it's the clients strings, you can mark it as such there.

If you have strung this raquet before, you can double click the service box and then right click and paste, it will automatically paste your last string job for this racquet.
If you want to see the history of this racquet and it's string job, click the "last string Job" button and it will pop up the table of all the string jobs for that racquet.

If there was any notes you made when you entered the racquet, for instance you might put a not saying that the mains take 21 feet, it will show up right above the service box.

You can put in the weight and balance of the racquet ifyou so desire and any notes. Enter the pricing, etcl.

If you have more service's to do on that racquet you simply go down to the next record there and enter it there.
Basically it's one service per record.

When you are done, you can push the Print Work Order button and it will print out the work order and the customer Claim ticket.

There's two other buttons there, "Print Label" which will print both, the Stringing label and the personal ID label that prints out the customers name and Phone number. as well as the barcode that you use to submit the work order with.

I find people appreciate the ID label as many a people have lost their reacquets before..

If you just press the "Print Detail" button, only the stringing detail will print out.

I normally just print out the ID once and then create the Detail label upon every string job.

Once that is done, you can just press close and it will bring you back to your main screen.

On the service detail form, there on the left is a drop down box of all the racquet that, that customer has. You can drop it down and see, and select what racquet your working on, or simply scan the Racquet if it has the barcode on it, which is much faster.

Thats all there is to it for creating the work order.

Oh , if you are in this part of the program and you realize you have a new racquet, there is a "new Racquet" button that you can add a new racquet and proceed as normally.

ok more to come...

 

[lwto]

This the player's screen



This screen has all the info on that certain player, on the top left is his address, phone, player type etc.

On the bottom left is the stringing, service history for the player.

TOp right is the players racquets that he has. and on the bottom right is what currently job he has.

Nothing really to do here, except to enter a new racquet if he has one.

 

[lwto]

This is the racquet detail screen pop up when you click on the racquet from the players screen.



You can enter detailed information about the racquet, notes and here you can see all the history of that certain racquet.

 

[lwto]

The next screen shot is one of some sortable data from all the Service orders you did.



not much to do, but , interesting to see if you need to.

 

[lwto]

Some more sortables, this time the players

 

[lwto]

back later for some more

 

[lwto]

Labels and Workorder tickets



On the top left is the Claim ticket that prints out.. I used to give these to my customers, but, it was mostly people I wasn't to sure of exactly who they were and I wanted to reassure them that I had their racquet, and the job that I was going to do. kind of a CYA as they are fully aware of whats to be done.

Upper right is the Work order that I or you can Rubber band around the racquet.

The top label is the stringing detail label of the strings, date strung, date to restring, my name, and phone number

the bottom label is the clients ID tag and it has the bar code that I scan to create the work order.




I stick the ID label on the inside since it will hardly ever need replacing and the detail stinging label on the outside.

I know, I know, on the outside?
yeah, makes it real easy to read, and no one has ever complained about it. I used to ask them and they didn't mind so now it's just habit.
The labels themselves are slick and not noticeable.

 

[lwto]

If you all think of something that you would like to be included let me know, I can probably put it in.

If you have other ideas, anything , let me know.

 

[r46464]

Great stuff! Does it track string usage from a reel? I'm interested to check it out. Email sent.

 

[lwto]

Great stuff! Does it track string usage from a reel? I'm interested to check it out. Email sent.

I"m thinking, you mean a inventory more or less of how much string was used and what you have left?

If that's what you mean, than no, it's beyond the scope of this program as it would require you to have an inventory tracking system and would be too complicated for the simpleness that I wanted to achieve.

That would be more on the side of a billing program where you do the actual billing and it has an actual POS system that can keep track of your inventory.

Easy one is Square, I believe they have billing software and gives you the option of having a CC reader to take CC's. I use it, as a last resort as I don't want to incur the one time CC transaction fee off of each transaction.

 

[lwto]

Great stuff! Does it track string usage from a reel? I'm interested to check it out. Email sent.

No as it is beyond the scope of the program. It would require some sort of inventory control which would make it more complicated than what I want. What you probably need for that is a billing program that has a inventory module. You would inventory the reel as 16 sets and when you bill, your inventory would deduct one set.

Thats my best answer.

 

[lwto]

Issues

I found that if you do a player search on the main screen, and that player is not there, you will get a program no responding and will boot you right out.

I tried it in other areas where you can search and gotten no errors so it's just that one search. I'll see what it is and note it.


Updated.
I have fixed the problem and have sent new copies to those that have requested.
No longer does it come with an error when you search for something thats not there
and when you click the search button, it clears the previous results out so you don't have to delete what ever search criterea you had in there.

 

[idono1301]

I've gotta say, thanks for posting this for the community here!

It definitely looks interesting, but I won't be able to take a closer look at it until the end of the semester at least. Quite a few exams that could decide my future in this program

However, from a glance at the screenshots, it looks great. Hopefully you had fun designing and implementing everything. Did you self teach access, or did you have prior experience?

 

[lwto]

I've gotta say, thanks for posting this for the community here!

It definitely looks interesting, but I won't be able to take a closer look at it until the end of the semester at least. Quite a few exams that could decide my future in this program

However, from a glance at the screenshots, it looks great. Hopefully you had fun designing and implementing everything. Did you self teach access, or did you have prior experience?

Thank you and your welcome.

Good luck in your exams, I have never looked forward to them..
It's a nice hobby, and yes I self taught myself, though I admit the programming is rather tough, especially when your teaching your self.

It's not perfect, I don't have all the error traps programmed so there will be moments when weird things happen, but by hitting cancel you basically restart the program. Most errors are because you put in a wrong value or something of that nature.
If you decide you want to give it a whirl let me know.

 

[lwto]

To Start:

1st on the Main screen, click on the upper left where it says 'New Player'.
2) type in all the player details or as much as you want, at least the name and phone number.
3) Click on the box below,where it says Racquets and enter a Racquet name " Babolat PD" or something .
4) if there are notes you want to note, type it in the 'Racquet Notes" box. FOr instance, you might want to say it needs 21' for the mains, or 10' for short side. This note will appear on the work order to remind you of any notes you made.

5) click on 'Add new Service'

This will bring you to the work order screen.

Your cursor will be on the Racquet Number drop down box.
6) click the down arrow key on the drop down box.
THis is a required field and you must have a Racquet number in their or it will give you an error and will tell you that a number is needed.


From here you can proceed to enter the service or string job you perform and then print out the labels .


Just a note.
If you have more than one job for this person, you just simply go to the next record and do the same thing. You always have to select the record, either manually or by scanning the bar code you created from a previous job.

 

[lwto]

I"ve created a version for European that uses euros and British that uses Pounds.
Let me know which you want.

 

[lwto]

To reiterate the start, from the opening screen with your cursor in the 'Racquet Scan' drop down box, either do 1 of two things, if you have a bar code, and a scanner you can scan the racquet number, or you select from the drop down, either by type in the number or selecting the number. Once selected, by either way, it will take you to the Service Order screen automatically.


scanning your barcode off of your Racquet.



Once you have scanned and it's on your Service order screen, you will notice that it says SERVICE ORDER and the Service Order NUmber. Also on hte Right side of the screen you will see the name and number, the date of service.

Your cursor, by default will be on the Service Detail drop down box for the racquet number, you have to either scan in the same number to get into this screen or use the drop down to select the racquet you want.



So really it's just a double3 scan, very quick.

Once you have your racquet number in the Service Detail,

 

[lwto]

On a side note,

Receipt printers can be found from $30.00 to $200.00, from you know where.

Hand scanners are very inexpensive.
Label printers as well is very inexpensive.

Label printers is only needed if you want to automatically print out labels.
Receipt printer is only needed if you want to print out work orders, and if you don't want to , you don't need it.
Hand scanner is handy just to automate the logging in of customers racquets, just makes it very quick and without errors. But, also, not needed, you can just type in the racquet number.

 

[lwto]

On the option screen there is where you put your personal info, phone number, logo etc.
You can have as many as you want, but the one that will show up on your logo's etc is the one marked "current".

So if you want to use some other name, un check "current" and check what ever information is relevant.

 

[Sparkyovcov]

Does any of this work without having to buy a barcode scanner?, do mobile phones have the ability to scan barcodes?

Also, you said I think it can print using a normal printer? If possible can you please let me know.

Thanks

 

[lwto]

Does any of this work without having to buy a barcode scanner?, do mobile phones have the ability to scan barcodes?

Also, you said I think it can print using a normal printer? If possible can you please let me know.

Thanks

You don't need a scanner, it just makes it easier. It removes having to type in the racquet number which is 3 digits, no big deal, it's just fast.
Scanners are $10.00 pretty cheap.

I do have a version that will print to 8x11 paper.
Let me know if you want.

 

[Sparkyovcov]

You don't need a scanner, it just makes it easier. It removes having to type in the racquet number which is 3 digits, no big deal, it's just fast.
Scanners are $10.00 pretty cheap.

I do have a version that will print to 8x11 paper.
Let me know if you want.

Ye . I would like that version please . And the British version with £ thanks

 

[Sparkyovcov]

BT . How do you want me to send/label the email?

 

[lwto]

BT . How do you want me to send/label the email?

I have my email in the first page, email me so I can send you a copy.

 

[lwto]

When printing labels, there are two buttons,

1 Print Label
which will print both the ID and the stringing detail labels.

2 Detail label
which will only print out the stringing details.

You generally only need the two labels one time, because only the Detail label will change.

When you print the ID label that has the barcode scan, it's best to put it in a spot that can be easily scanned.

Since I'm right handed, I always put the ID label high, on the inside frame, the (Y)

 

[dnet]

Cool stuff, which scanner and printer are you using with your program?

When printing labels, there are two buttons,

1 Print Label
which will print both the ID and the stringing detail labels.

2 Detail label
which will only print out the stringing details.

You generally only need the two labels one time, because only the Detail label will change.

When you print the ID label that has the barcode scan, it's best to put it in a spot that can be easily scanned.

Since I'm right handed, I always put the ID label high, on the inside frame, the (Y)

 

[lwto]

Cool stuff, which scanner and printer are you using with your program?

I just use a Datalogic hand scanner
USB, just plug it in basically.


The receipt printer as well is USB and made by POSx model 524s or something, but you can use most any that take 297mm.
The label printer is a Brother pt-2430PC.



JUST A NOTE ABOUT PRINTING Service tags.

IF a player brings in multiple racquets and you put them in the service detail.

When it prints through the receipt printer, its going to print out all, with out a page break between racquet jobs. Just cut at the end of one job and before the beginning of the next. There is a line that separates the two jobs.

 

[dnet]

Great thanks for the info. I sent you an email earlier today to your outlook.com hoping I could check out your access database you made. I only string for myself and some friends but it would nice to use your database to keep track.

I just use a Datalogic hand scanner
USB, just plug it in basically.


The receipt printer as well is USB and made by POSx model 524s or something, but you can use most any that take 297mm.
The label printer is a Brother pt-2430PC.



JUST A NOTE ABOUT PRINTING Service tags.

IF a player brings in multiple racquets and you put them in the service detail.

When it prints through the receipt printer, its going to print out all, with out a page break between racquet jobs. Just cut at the end of one job and before the beginning of the next. There is a line that separates the two jobs.

 

[lwto]

Yeah, I think I sent one to you.

Resent 10/17@11

I get your email, just send via email.

 

[dnet]

I didn't get the email for some reason. I tried to send you a pm but don't think you have it enabled. I'll send you another email again. Thanks.

Yeah, I think I sent one to you.

 

[dnet]

Cool, thanks I just got it.

Yeah, I think I sent one to you.

Resent 10/17@11

 

[lwto]

On startup, you will see this screen, just hit ok, it takes you to the starting screen.



Thanks to all that have emailed me, hope you'r questions were answered ok.

 

[Crozzer95]

Just need to get my printer, but is there a way to use this with a regular printer?

 

[lwto]

Just need to get my printer, but is there a way to use this with a regular printer?

I have a version that works with 8.5x11 as well, just let me know which version you want.

 

[lwto]

JUST A NOTE ABOUT THE RECEIPT PRINTER

I designed the work order's for busy Pro shops and clubs that have a lot of volume per day. If you don't have a lot of volume, there's really no need to print out work orders. You probably a: already know what they want, or b: you have it on the screen what they want.

That brings me to expand on Part B:

The whole design is to be able to see at a glance, what you have, what's working, whats completed and whats been paid for and delivered

Being able to see what you have, right on the screen is the whole concept. People call, you can easily look right on the screen without physically searching for their racquets and then easily provide them with the best answer available.

Basically the printed work order is designed for times when you h ave multiple stringers and they can just easily read off the W/O without looking at the screen.


Of course, there is one caveat in this whole process. The program must be updated on a regular basis when you process a racquet or raquets or what ever.

So I just wanted to mention that.

 

[lwto]

To expand on the concept a little more.

This is a database, and being a database, there are some certain peculiarities involved. One, is that it's based on 1 to many. 1 to many means, that there is one customer, with many racquets. Each particular racquet has to be assigned to one player, who ever that racquet belongs to. That is the ONLY way to keep track of what racquet gets what, and to be able to get a history of it and the player. If not for this, we would never be able to track the racquet and the player, you would only then be able to track a racquet without who's it's belongs to, or a player without knowing what type or racquet that player uses.

It makes it a little complicated but it's the best way.

So I've tried to make it as easy as possible in my limited knowledge of programming(which I picked up on the fly, via google) to keep track of players, the players racquets.

I"ve created several ways to enter data into the work order.

1: is a racquet scan: Scan your racquet number into the racquet scan box on the Main screen. This will get you into the work order with the correct player. Now that you are into the Service order Screen, you will see the players name: the service order number and thats about it.

See, I did it this way for several reasons. but let me explain the boring details first. I could have automatically entered the racquet number based on the scan that you did, earlier to get into this screen, but, It was way to complicated, though it seems easy, it was really complicated to do, so I just left it where you need to rescan the racquet number. You see, though it was complicated it could be done, and in fact I had it originally set up that way, except, I realized, that if you have multiple racquets, you still need to scan the 2nd racquet later, which because of the previous commands to setup automatically became another issue which I decided was more problems than what it was worth.

SO, Once on the service order screen, you need to rescan the racquet number and go from there.

The nice thing is that say your player brings in a multiple number or racquets, you can do the whole work order on that one service order and it will sort out by racquet number the details so that each racquet comes up with the correct work order.

I know it's seems confusing, but it's really very simple and once you get the hang of it, it takes you 10 sec's to fill out a service order, printout, work order, and print out labels.

The 2nd way of entering your service order is to search the customer from the list below the racquet scan on your main screen. This will bring you to the players page, where you can see the players data, the players service history, their racquets,(where you can also add a new racquet), see whats working and finally add a new service. click the "Add new service" button or just hit Alt R for a short cut key, that gets you into the service order screen. from there, scan or enter, or select the racquet and go from there.

 

[shubydoobydo]

Man this is good stuff! I just sent an email looking to try a copy and try to 'break' it Very well designed though

 

[lwto]

One of the nice things I found out, that's pretty handy is on the option screen, where you enter your information about your self, phone number etc. Well, suppose you string on consignment, you can enter their info, click on the current check box and it will enter that information on to your labels and receipt stickers.

Just a bonus I guess.

 

[lwto]

3rd screen shot is the new player entry screen, where you enter a player, and his racquets or racquet.



Here you can enter all relevant info about the player, what type of player, his racquets and any impermanent info on his racquet.

The 4th screen is the Options screen, where you enter your information, logo, some stats on how many services you have done, who your top clients are, and things of that nature, of course this is all done automatically. Also, little utility to cost strings, useful for reels and calculating quickly cost per sets .

Side note on entering raquets. When you enter their raquet, that little note box, will show up on the order screen so that when you scan their racquet or enter their racquet, what ever notes you made on it, will show up. For example, say the player wants ATW only, you can enter that info, or say it's a weed racquet and you cant remember off hand how much you need on the short side you can enter that kind of info. So it's a handy place to keep notes so you don't have to look it up each time.

 

[lwto]

If you would like a copy, please post here on this thread and I will send you one.

Please don't email me, I don't always get my email.

Let me know,

1 which program,
Euro
British
American

2 Printer setup
a) Receipt printer
b) Laser printer.

thanks.

 

[lwto]

I think it's being used in every continent now.

 

[Irvin]

I think it's being used in every continent now.

Congratulations. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

 

[lwto]

double post

 

[lwto]

Congratulations. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

What do you mean, that's a very vague and connotations are of many.

 

[Irvin]

I assume your program is being used by many around the world.

 

[yan.v]

Very nice work, well done.

I'm definitely interested in trying this. How can I obtain a copy ?

I've considered programming a system like this myself since I'm a programmer, but I haven't had the time to get around it in a couple years, so I don't think I'll ever have the time to.