Time clock system

[gijew]

Hey all,

 

I'm wondering if anyone has had any experience or read an article they may be willing to forward about writing a PHP-based time clocking system that utilizes an external input device (card reader, number pad, biometrics, etc)?

 

The company I work for uses one and the horrible, ugly API is written in PHP. The JS used is something out of 1995 (that sounds funny to say). The server it runs off of is *nix and it utilizes a card reader and number pad to input employee numbers to clock in/out. The problem is their custom API solution which allows you to do your own programming costs $10,000 while upgrades cost about a grand a pop. Even if the economy was better I couldn't in good justify (in good conscience) paying that much for the quality of the software (but that's off topic).

 

I've already done a bit of reading around and even spoke to one person (who was a VB programmer) that said it was simple to do. I have not however found any supporting documentation on where to pick up a digit pad or card reader to try and develop my own solution. Has anyone seen anything like this or had experience that could perhaps send a link or two my way?

 

Thanks!