Edit Restriction Dialog |
Top Previous Next |
When you select New, Insert, or Edit from Restrictions Setup, the Edit Restriction Definition dialog will appear. This is where you define all of the details of the restriction.
Make sure that the desired Restriction Type is selected (this can be changed any time), and enter a Description.
Restriction Type
There are a fixed set of Restriction Types to choose from. The different types are detailed in the Restriction Types section.
Depending on the Restriction Type selected, one or two additional parameters may appear that must be filled in. This is typically the # days or # reservations for a minimum/maximum restriction, for instance.
A special case is when it's a restriction with "certain dates" -- the 2nd parameter will be "...on these dates". The entry can be a single date, a date range, or any number of date ranges. In addition, they can be dates without the year (e.g. 7/4). See the "Restriction Dates" section below for details on how these are entered.
Description and Message to show
The Description is shown in the Setup Restrictions list, so you should make it simple but also descriptive enough for easy recognition. This is also shown in the warning or error message whenever the restriction is violated.
The Message to show is more important -- this is also shown in the warning or error when the restriction is violated (or as the reminder message if "Use as a reminder" is checked), so it should be as detailed as necessary and show what you want the operator to know about the restriction violation. When you're selecting the initial Restriction Type and entering the parameters, a default message will appear here (and the Example Message, see below). However you're encouraged to customize this. You can also insert line breaks using the characters \n (backslash-n), to help make it stand out better. For example:
\n\n Remind the customer:\n\n Minimum 3 days on holiday weekends!\n\n
This will add some blank lines above the reminder, nicely separating the message from the other information in the error prompt.
Other options
Use as a reminder only... -- If you only want this to be a reminder, without actually blocking the reservation (or changes to the reservation), then check this box. The user will be shown the defined message (unless their access level is at or above the Ignore level, below), with simply an "OK" button. However it will not abort the reservation or changes.
Only check new reservations... -- If you want this restriction to only be checked when a new reservation is created, then you can check the box "Only check new reservations, not subsequent changes". This could be useful for instance of you're using the restriction just to show a reminder when reservations are made on certain dates -- no need to keep reminding every time something is changed.
Use Example message -- The Example message shows a canned message generated from the Type and parameters. This will be used by default for the message shown for the restriction, unless you manually change the Message. However if you decide to use the example again, you can click the Use Example Message button to copy the Example message to the "Message to show".
Ignore without warning for Access Level -- If the operator has this access level or higher, the restriction will be ignored. This is usually set to "Nobody", which means it will not be ignored for any operator, even Administrators.
Skip showing reminder for Access Level -- (If it's "Use as reminder only".) If the operator has this access level or higher, the reminder message will not be shown. If below this level, the reminder is shown.
Allow (with warning prompt) for Access Level -- If the operator has this access level or higher, and assuming the restriction is not Ignored (above), then a warning message will be shown with an option to allow the reservation anyway. For any operator below this access level, an error message will be shown without an option to bypass the restriction. Note that this option is not available if "Use as a reminder only" is checked, since there is no reason to ask whether to continue or not.
Warn only once (or Show only once) -- If this is set, then when making linked reservations it will show the warning & option to bypass only once (for that particular restriction). This does not prevent it from being shown again for subsequent changes, etc -- only for linked reservations all being created at once.
"Applies only to..." Filtering
This is the most important part of the setup.
The rest of the dialog entries are used to "qualify" a restriction. This determines whether the restriction definition applies to any given reservation, so it's important to get this set up properly.
Resv Types
You can select one or more Reservation Types for which the restriction applies. Click the Resv Types button to open a list of reservation types, and select any that are applicable. For instance, you may have different restrictions for Monthly reservations than your Normal reservations. As with any of the lists here, an empty list (selecting nothing) means that it will apply to all types -- in other words, "not filtered".
Site Types, Site Classes, or Sites
If this restriction only applies to certain Site Types, click the Site Types button and select the applicable types from the list that appears. If no site type is selected, the restriction will apply to reservations of any site type (assuming other filters don't exclude it). If you select one or more site types here, then that restriction will only apply when a reservation is for one of those site types.
Likewise, you can have a restriction apply to specific Site Classes, using the Site Classes button, or even one or more specific sites using the Sites button. However you don't need to set all three (types, classes, and sites) -- usually only one of these selections is enough to sufficiently qualify the restriction. For instance if you select "Normal RV" for the Site Type, there's no need to select "RV's" for the site class because it's redundant -- all "Normal RV" sites will have an "RV's" class anyway, so there's no need to make the restriction check this too.
Only applies if NO site is assigned
This is a special-case option. If this restriction should only apply if there is no site assigned, you must check this option (since there is no way to specify "no site" with the other selection lists).
Discounts
If you offer discounts, such as Senior discounts or Good Sam membership discounts, then you can set up special restriction definitions for them. Filter each restriction definition for the appropriate discount(s) by either selecting one or more discounts from the Discounts list, or by checking the Only applies if no discount used check box if it should only apply when no discount is used. As with Site Type, this will determine whether the restriction will appear in the restriction selection list for a given reservation.
Applies if ... days
You can set up the restriction to apply only if the reservation is longer or shorter than a given number of days, by setting the Applies if >= days and Applies if <= days fields.
Applies if reservation field...
The Applies if reservation field... selection permits a great deal of control over when a restriction applies. This specifies that the restriction applies to a particular "preference" setting in the reservation or one of the "# of" or value fields such as number of adults, extra vehicles, or rig length.
To use this option, select a reservation field from the list. Some numeric fields are also available in additive combinations also, primarily to allow "# Adults + # Children" to be selected if it's based on the total number of people.
If the field is an attribute/preference field, such as "50A", then you can specify whether the restriction will apply only if that preference is "true" (set to "Must Have") for the reservation, or whether it's "False" (not set or set to "Must Not Have" are both considered false in this case). Therefore you can set up two separate restrictions that are mutually exclusive, one for the True case and one for the False case of the preference field.
If the field is a numeric value, additional settings will appear that need to be entered. You will first enter a value for "is >=" ("is greater than or equal to") to indicate when the restriction applies.
Adding new fields -- If you need add your own fields for use in restrictions like this, then note that they must be tagged as "Attrib" fields in order to be selectable from this list. See the special note about Attribute Fields under the Adding New Fields section of the Data Field Definitions topic.
Advanced Condition Expression...
If the restriction can't be properly qualified using the other Applies-if conditions, date selections, etc, then you can use Expressions to create a condition as complex as needed. Note that this involves the Advanced Customizations functionality and is only recommended for very technical users, so refer to that section for more detailed information.
If a Condition Expression is entered here, it must be satisfied (result in True) in addition to all other conditions in the restriction definition in order for the restriction to be used. Thus you can use the other Applies-if conditions to handle the simple stuff, and use the expression to only do the filtering that can't be otherwise handled by the restriction definition.
The expression will have ThisResv( ) context which will be the specific reservation being checked (e.g. if there are 5 synchronize reservations being added, this expression will be executed for each reservation individually). In addition, ThisFromDate( ) and ThisToDate( ) will indicate the date range of the reservation as well as ThisFromPeriod( ) and ThisToPeriod( ) if it's an hourly/scheduled reservation). IMPORTANT -- The reservation in ThisResv( ) will usually be a temporary copy of the reservation, not the actual record in the database. While this won't matter in most cases, be aware that it could appear as a duplicate to one in the database, especially if the restriction is being checked for changes to an existing reservation.
Restriction Dates
You can define the dates for which any restriction is applicable. Defining dates for a Restriction definition is just like defining dates that a Site is available or Rates are applicable (see Edit Site Details or Edit Rate Definition).
Notes
The Notes field is just for your own notes, perhaps an explanation of why a restriction is set up the way it is. The Notes are never seen by the customer or by an operator selecting a restriction. The notes can be any length.
Further Topics: