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Installation |
  
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Installation |
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Although the two can work together, Clock-In is an independent program to e-PayDay®.The point here is that e-PayDay® need not be installed on the same computer as Clock-In. Clock-In can also be on several computers. Preferably they will all be networked, but this need not be the case.
The end result of Clock-In is a text file. If Clock-In is on several networked computers, then during the installation we can direct that the text file is kept in a single place. In this situation when one Clock-In terminal is used the text file is updated. Then when another terminal is used (which could be seconds later) this same text file has another line added to it. And so on and so forth for the other terminals on the network. When e-PayDay® is used to process the text file, which ends up deleting it, the next terminal that records a time, results in a new text file being created in the same place with the same name. Thereafter, new lines are added to the same text file until it is processed again.
Clock-In's directory structure is very similar to e-PayDay®'s. Basically it is in two parts: the program path and the data path .
The program path will consist of a folder (parent) that contains a main executable file and possibly some database and configuration files.
The data path will consist of a folder (parent) which contains some files and possibly some (data) folders.
In Clock-In's case, the parent folder in the program path, which can be defined during installation, contains a configuration file (Client.ini) and a folder called 'Clock-In' which, itself, contains the main executable file to run Clock-In. The parent folder in the data path, which can also be defined during installation, contains only the text file and two configuration files.
During installation of Clock-In the following prompts appear:
Registration Information: This details the owner and operator of the e-PayDay® software and the serial number for the e-PayDay® product
Program Selection: The choice of installing both e-PayDay® as well as Clock-In is given. Only the installation of Clock-In is necessary. The exception to this is when this is the computer that also is to have e-PayDay® running on it. If this is case choose both e-PayDay® and Clock-In and install into the directories that already exist for
e-PayDay®.
Program Path: This defines the parent folder for the program path
Parent Data Folder: This defines the parent folder for the data path.
Select Time Device: This is to be Clock-In
If Clock-In is to be on several computers and they are all to be networked, then the data path might as well be set to the same folder on a particular machine. This means a single text file to deal with, rather than many.
When processing the text file from Clock-In, e-PayDay® will expect that file to be in t he parent folder of it's data path. The distinction here is that the text file is to end up in the parent folder in e-PayDay®'s data path, NOT Clock-In's. How this file gets there is a matter of discussion.
If Clock-In is installed on a machine that cannot be networked, then that can worked around. As mentioned above, the text file will be written to the parent folder in Clock-In's data path. This can then be transferred from that folder into the parent folder in e-PayDay®'s data path, by way of floppy disk.
In light of this, it becomes clear that if networking is possible, then set the parent folder in Clock-In's data path to be same as the parent folder in e-PayDay®'s data path. That way the text file will automatically be created in the folder where e-PayDay® will expect it to be.