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Thread: A request web app?

  1. #1

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    Default A request web app?

    The other week I put request slips into a venue where I'm pretty much hidden away. They were an incredible success - I was inundated with bits of paper & I felt the element of interaction at the venue went up a good few notches. However, little bits of paper are annoying & handwriting can be hard to read.

    I originally considered making a device app for clients/guests to make requests, but I only have Android devices at home & any app thing would need a web backend anyway so I've boshed a thing together on my own Virtual Private Server using PHP,MySQL & Ajax.

    How does it work? Well, ahead of the event or on the day the app administrator (i.e. me) logs in & creates an event 'key'. This key is (at the moment) only valid on one day but can roll over by a globally configurable amount. The URL & key need to be displayed somewhere at the venue for this to work of course!

    The admin can see & edit all requests made by clients for any of the event keys previously generated. They can be marked as 'played', or 'will play' ('played' can be shown on the customer facing side) - 'will play' is for the DJ's own reference).

    What does the client see?

    The customer facing end is a basic login page:

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    then a list of any requests made so far, along with buttons to add a new request or log out. :


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    Adding a request, the end user sees this:

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    And this, if their submission is successful:

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    The showing of existing requests is set by the administrator & is optional. In the case of the list not being shown, the user is only shown a count of requests made so far.


    I've trapped everything out that I can think of.. xss, mysql injection & HTML code insertion.. and all user input on the customer facing side is error checked (certain fields can't be blank or too long). I've also included flooding protection (which of course is configurable):
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    CSS styling is still a bit up in the air & it looks best on mobile devices.. apart from the admin end which at the moment is suited to bigger screens only.

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    It can't give the end user any choices based upon an existing music database - I don't want that available on the night.. crazy requests can be bad enough without people seeing what I haven't got around to pruning yet.

    The flooding protection is currently based on the user's IP address which has its limitations of course, but it's generally the case that a device connected to a venue's wifi or a mobile network will have a unique address for a while at least.

    Yes, I'd much rather people came to see me in person (in general) but I see this as just another interactivity ice breaker.

    Obviously the proof of the pudding will be in the eating.. it's definitely possible that it could be abused, but this like any other system of requests still doesn't come with any guarantees.

    Any thoughts (other than "it's a bit green".. that's not set in stone) ? Oh, and apart from the fact it needs to feature the darn annoying EU legislated cookie warning (GRRRRR).

  2. #2
    Shaun's Avatar
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    Default

    Over the years here on the forum the subject of requests slips and the likes have stirred up a mixed bag of opinions. Some hate the idea of using request slips and others embrace it. I've used professionally printed request cards for over nearly a decade and they've been a huge success for me and the way I work. I really like what you've come up with. It might not be to everyone's tastes but I'm sure the younger generation will love it.

  3. #3
    Dinosaur Excalibur's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Shaun View Post
    Over the years here on the forum the subject of requests slips and the likes have stirred up a mixed bag of opinions. Some hate the idea of using request slips and others embrace it. I've used professionally printed request cards for over nearly a decade and they've been a huge success for me and the way I work.
    I'm a fan of request slips. I don't often use them, and they're not professionally printed, but at the right occasions, they're invaluable.

    Quote Originally Posted by Shaun View Post
    I really like what you've come up with. It might not be to everyone's tastes but I'm sure the younger generation will love it.
    Certain of the older generation love it as well. Don't understand a word of the explanation, still think it's powerful voodoo, but love it. Well done that man.
    Excalibur. Older than the average DJ.

    www.excaliburmobiledisco.co.uk

  4. #4

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    I'm a big fan of request slips and they work well for me. My only concern with moving them online is that where people don't have to face you (i.e. physically hand you their request) you'll find they get a bit silly with their requests. I've played with txt requests before and they've almost always been nonsense.

    It's a good effort though. It's made me think about tweaking the pre-event request system I have to work for "on the night" requests as well.

    Julian
    http://www.bristoldiscohire.co.uk - Quality Disco and Equipment hire for Bristol & Bath
    Weddings, Birthday Parties, Kids Parties, School Disco's and more
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  5. #5
    Andy P's Avatar
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    love that app - if you get it working for multi user would love to give it a run
    Andy P
    Disco Couture

    07962143680
    www.discocouture.co.uk
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  6. #6
    Shakermaker Promotions's Avatar
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    Firstly, well done for coming up with something like this. It's a decent idea and I'm sure a lot of people will like it.
    The thing with me is that I like interraction with the guests. I used request slips for a long time on and off and they work for me but I actually like to talk to people.
    The way technology has moved on over the last few years is brilliant in some respects but also a pain in others.
    I did a function the other week and although lots of people were on the dance floor, I could see lots of the younger crowd sitting there not even communicating with the people on their table because they were on their mobile phones.

    I've had people stroll over to me before in both a club / pub environment and also at a private function thrusting their phone in my face and not saying a word. They've just expected me to look at the screen and have then said "Have you got this?". Unbelievably on other occasions they have actually taken their time to write a text and hold it up and not said a word at all and I can remember a particular occasion at a wedding I was doing where a guest came over to me and said "Excuse me" and then actually stood there writing a text message to me and then showed me it. Something along the lines of "Excellent night so far. Do you have **********?"
    I couldn't believe it and to be honest, all of the above examples I have mentioned come across as rude and ignorant to me but I guess it's the way things have moved on.

    Yes, I think this app would work in certain scenarios and yes, it's always good to gauge what the punters are in to and yes, it's another service but it appears that the days of actually going up to the DJ and speaking to them are on their way out. It's a shame. I like to be very approachable and I think it's more personal when you can interract with the audience rather than standing there checking out the requests that are coming in.

    Obviously you'll give it a trial at some point and I'd be interested to hear the results. I may well be totally behind the times though and this could be a really good thing?
    Like I said though, well done.

  7. #7
    Web Guru Marc J's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by juski View Post
    The flooding protection is currently based on the user's IP address which has its limitations of course, but it's generally the case that a device connected to a venue's wifi or a mobile network will have a unique address for a while at least.
    The IP you'll get is the public (WAN) IP, which for any devices connected to the venue's WiFi will probably all be the same, so your flood protection will get hit pretty fast I'd imagine if that's what it's checking.

    Quote Originally Posted by juski View Post
    Oh, and apart from the fact it needs to feature the darn annoying EU legislated cookie warning (GRRRRR).
    I really wouldn't bother for this. The previous champions of this (https://ico.org.uk/) have even stopped bothering to take their own earlier advice. See The stupid cookie law is dead at last.

    Good work on the request thing, though....will you be sharing or offering it for sale to others?

  8. #8

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    First of all, I must stress that this isn't intended to replace human input. I much prefer talking to guests in person but there are times, for whatever reason (maybe they think we bite or something) we can tell we've not hit the spot yet by reading the room. Maybe the app will help, maybe not.... That remains to be seen.

    As far as multi user cases go, I only intended this web app to be for a single user, i.e. me but I'll look at extending it to be able to cover a multi-op case too.

    In any event, I wasn't planning on hosting the service for anybody else.. It'd be something another company (i.e. You) would host on their own site. I might look at hosting it as a service to others if there's enough interest.

    It still needs a little work since I've found that the exploit protection is getting rid of punctuation... The flood protection can easily be changed to generate a unique code per user device, which I'd already considered doing anyway.

    As it happens back at the venue where I'm difficult to access again this Saturday so all being well I'll give it a go then, alongside the more traditional slips.

    Lastly, thanks for all your input so far, I really appreciate it :-)
    Last edited by Nakatomi; 23-03-2015 at 09:44 AM.

  9. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by Marc J View Post
    The IP you'll get is the public (WAN) IP, which for any devices connected to the venue's WiFi will probably all be the same, so your flood protection will get hit pretty fast I'd imagine if that's what it's checking.
    Doh! I dunno how I didn't realise that in the first place. Thanks for pointing out what should have been obvious.
    I really wouldn't bother for this. The previous champions of this (https://ico.org.uk/) have even stopped bothering to take their own earlier advice. See The stupid cookie law is dead at last.

    Good work on the request thing, though....will you be sharing or offering it for sale to others?
    I HATE the cookie warning scourge. As far as privacy in the net goes, cookie storage should among the least of any users worries. In the past I've operated on the principle that I'd do nothing until I get told off ;-)

    I'll make some more changes this week & see how it performs at the weekend in a real life situation, maybe using a QR code on actual request slips so people with smart devices can go straight to it (no need to enter any code on the users part then).

    As for sharing/selling, when it's ready for prime time use I'll think about some scenarios.

  10. #10
    Andy P's Avatar
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    Cool, will keep an eye on progress - might have a go myself.
    Andy P
    Disco Couture

    07962143680
    www.discocouture.co.uk
    www.facebook.com/discocouture

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