Help - Simple Booking System

[VikiC]

Hello

 

I’m trying to create a simple facility booking system using PHP/MYSQL for a leisure centre as part of my final year project. I’ve been looking online for the best way to do this and I can’t find anything of use.

 

Does anyone have any idea what would be the best / easiest way to do this? I don’t have much experience using PHP/MySQL so don’t really know where to start. Any advice or help will be much appreciated.

 

[KevinM1]

Your greatest amount of focus should be spent on figuring out the various info you'll need to store and manipulate in your system, and how your users would expect to interact with that info.  So, your back end - database design and business logic - should be your highest priority.

 

I'd start by writing down what you need.  The easiest way to do this is to examine all of the data points you may want to store.  What is a facility?  Street address?  Room(s)?  Floor(s)?  What is a valid booking?  Dates?  Times?  Location(s)?

 

Once you have an idea of what you need to store, start writing your db tables, using the following link as a beginner's guide: http://dev.mysql.com/tech-resources/articles/intro-to-normalization.html

 

When you feel your db design is solid, then you can start working on the PHP you'll use to access and manipulate the data stored within.  There's not a lot of advice I can give here, as what you'll need is dependent on how you need the system to run.  It may be a good idea at this point to turn the project on its head and think about how an end user would interact with your system.  To think about the kinds and quantity of data a user would need, and how they'd set up new bookings, edit existing ones, add and/or edit other data, etc.

 

The pretty bits tend to come last, as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript don't typically have much, if anything, to do with the way underlying systems actually work.

 

You may be able to find a 3rd party system that will do what you want, but those suffer from not being custom to your needs, and, ultimately, you wouldn't really learn anything that way.  There's no magic bullet or easy button when it comes to learning this stuff and doing it right.

[VikiC]

Thank for your reply.

 

I'm trying to keep it as simple as possible, basically hour slots between certain times during the day. If the slot is taken it will show as unavailable.

 

It is part of a web site for a leisure centre, users will have to log in to use the booking facilities. There will also have to be an admin side so that staff can view bookings etc. Below is a rough guide of what i have gathered so far.

 

Fitness Instructor booking

 

This part of the site should allow logged in users to make appointments with a fitness instructor for a personal session.

 

3 different instructors available between the hours of 10am – 4pm. - 1 hour slots.

 

One Member to One Fitness Instructor in One Session

 

Once slot has been booked it should show as unavailable.

 

Tables

Tbl_member (mem_id, mem_title, mem_fname, mem_sname, mem_age, mem_address, mem_city_town, mem_p_code, mem_country, mem_email, mem_phone, mem_mob_phone)

Tbl_inst_booking (inst_booking_id, inst_id, mem_id, inst_booking_start, inst_booking_fin)

Tbl_instructor (inst_id, emp_id, inst_name, inst_available)

Tbl_employee (emp_id, emp_fname, emp_sname, emp_role, emp_contact)

 

Facility Booking

 

This part of the site should allow logged in users to book a facility.

 

Facilities below available between the hours of 9am – 6pm. – 1 hour slots

 

One member books one facility at any one time

 

Once slot has been booked it should show as unavailable.

 

Facilities available:

 

8 Courts - Main Hall 35m X 28m

2 Small Halls

4 Squash Courts

 

Tables

Tbl_member (mem_id, mem_title, mem_fname, mem_sname, mem_age, mem_address, mem_city_town, mem_p_code, mem_country, mem_email, mem_phone, mem_mob_phone)

Tbl_fac_booking (fac_booking_id, fac_id, mem_id, fac_booking_start, fac_booking_fin)

Tbl_facility (fac_id, mem_id, fac_name, fac_price)