Author(s): John Martin, Aaron Christson, Lakshiya Indreswaran, and Raymond Okyere-Forson (Rofy Ray).
Google Document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1V5N-4NouEUfvDezkXH5lArIH8y42cbMOIZle4GVud_w/edit?usp=sharing
The Theater department has been keeping track of their tickets by hand for a very long time. We know that this is mostly inefficient, and can lead to a lot of inaccuracy. This was confirmed by the department chair when she asked if something could be done about the situation currently at hand. As a result, we are seeking to build an embedded system that will help them record ticket trends, as well as create tickets electronically, which they can then print physically.
The initial plan is to be able to write a python script that the Raspberry Pi can execute. The script will provide the user with a menu that will allow them to purchase a ticket based on their status as well as the number of total tickets they need. The status of the customer or user determines the price of the ticket and also allows the theater department to keep records of the ticket classification and trends. After the necessary information is collected through the options provided in the script, they are then put together to make an electronic ticket. The electronic ticket is then saved and printed into an actual ticket.
- Inateck Barcode Scanner: scans the unique barcode generated on the physical ticket to check if ticket is valid
- Brother QL-700 Label Printer: prints the physical ticket when ready in a smaller dimension
- Berea Follow Me Black and White Printer: prints the physical ticket when ready on letter size paper
- Raspberry Pi: acts as the central sytem to which the scanner and printer will be hooked. this also executes the ticket program
- This is how to set up the Raspberry Pi
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in the ticktet_maker file:
- get_cust_name(): Function that takes input of coustomers name
- get_number_of_tickets(): Function that takes input of number of tickets
- num_tickets: Function that ask for number of tickets being made
- mainmenu(): Function that gives menu of options for coustomer to use
- opt = options(): Function that thakes in the option chosen form the mainmenu above
- amount_lis = []: list that holds prices for each ticket
- ticket_amt = get_ticket_amount(opt): takes in the price of ticket based on option entered
- amount_list.append(ticket_amt): list that takes in the number of tickets needed
- create_csv(): Creates CSV that takes in the data on the ticket
- ranum = samp_num(): Generates random number for bar code
- generate_barcode(): Generates Barcode
- make_tix: Function that makes the ticket
- enter_csv(customername, opt, ticket_amt, bar_num): Function that inters coustomer name, opt, ticket amt, and barcode number into the CSV
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In the ticket_scanner file:
- create_scanned_csv(): function that creates the CSV file holding the tickets barcode numbers
- add_to_csv(): adds scanned Barcode to CSV file
- Check_valid(): function that checks if the scanned Barcode Matches any barcode in the file already
The device will save data that are being input by the users. This data will then be used to generate the ticket. Name of the customer who is buying the ticket and the classification they belong to are the inputs that we get from the user. We also have Identification number that is generated by the system for each ticket. These Identification numbers are used to generate a bar code which will be used when the ticket is being scanned. The Ticket ID will be saved in an excel file. These data are saved whenever a customer buys a ticket and the whenever the ticket is being scanned.
- To allow for the ticket trends to be tracked by the department, we created two CSV files; one for ticket creation, and one for scanning. These two files would serve as some sort of database system to help them keep track of tickets that were sold and those that showed up during shows. This allows the process to be done electronically versus how it used to be done manually before.
They work together in order to show which people have come to the events which also eliminates counting people by hand.
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John Martin: Work on the printer.
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Rofy Ray: Work on making the code to produce the ticket.
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Aaron Christson: Work on making the code to produce the barcode.
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Lakshiya Indreswaran: Work on connecting printer with John.
ticket_maker.py : It contains the main code for creating the ticket with bar code
tickte_scanner.py: Contains the code that scans and compares the ticket to the CSV file
Barcode_test.py : Initial code for creating a barcode
Qrcode_test.py : Code for creating a QR code
- user will need to install VNC on their computer, if they plan to use the Raspberry Pi remotely
- user will need a mouse, keyboard, ethernet cord and a screen, and can follow the instructions on this website: https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/remote-access/vnc/
- user then needs to call the python script
- open up a terminal
- change the directory to where the scripts can be found (cd into the foler)
- enter 'py ticket_maker.py' and hit enter
- put in the necessary information as prompted by the program
- the ticket will be printed after all the necessary information has been collected and then display the pdf version of the ticket on screen afterwards
- scan ticket on the night of the performance using the barcode scanner
- plug in the USB cord connected to the scanner into the computer
- open up a terminal
- change the directory to where the scripts can be found (cd into the foler)
- enter 'py ticket_scanner.py' and hit enter
- the program will let you know when to scan
- The system should say if the ticket scanned is valid or not, and also whether the ticket has already been scanned.
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Printing:
- Printing the ticket using a label printer was the difficult part. We had problems in using the rapberry pi to print the documents. We were able to intsall CUPS library but for the Lexmark printer it gave an error message "Printer is not responding" and for brother QL700, it showed the printing job is completed but it did not print anything. We tried to use brother QL ppd directly to print the ticket and we were able to print via brother QL printer using raspberry Pi but the only problem was the library allows us to only print images in png format. The ticket our system generates is in PDF. Thus it does not allow us to print the ticket. We tried different ways to convert pdf to image but it was harder than we initially thought. The libraries were complicated and we still have issues in converting pdf to image. Our solution to this problem was to print through the printers connected on the network, thus, using the Follow Me Black and White printer. This allowed to print the pdf tickets.
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We could not make a GUI for the user to easily interact with the ticket system. Implementation of this proved difficult as we only got it to work partially.
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Running the code on the Raspberry Pi was a little different than when we tested the scripts on our laptops. This means that we had to change certain functions so it could run on the Pi.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FxlQXuXxFU : how to get card scanner to work with actual cards
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https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=69286 : how to send txt sms on Raspberry pi
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https://raspberry-projects.com/pi/software_utilities/email/ssmtp-to-send-emails : how to send email with Raspberry pi
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https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruits-raspberry-pi-lesson-3-network-setup/finding-your-pis-ip-address : helps us to find the pi's IP
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https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=180370 : shows how to print using CUPS
We have done a good job in creating a tiket for the theatre department. We created a unique ticket and are able to print it. This project showed us all that we should be prepared for anything. It takes a lot of asking the department what they were looking for in the embedded system, and narrowing our idea down to something manageable. It also took discussing what each individual had learned, and how to apply it to the project. We had gotten the Ql-700 printer to work at one point, but then, the SD card of the pi which we used to print the ticket stopped working. We have tried the same code in various pi, it created the same problem. In order to fix this we decided to print from the vnc using CUPS. The great thing is that we are able to make a ticket that can be scanned and printed.
We have created a ticket with bar code. Ticket will have th name of the person who bought the ticket and the bar code. once the bar code is scanned, the program will check whether or not the ticket is valid. Everytime a ticket is scanned, it will be saved in a csv file and it will help them to find out how many people have attended the event. However, we did forget to test on the Pi until the night before. It seems as if there is a problem with the Barcode module, which hinders the Pi from running the code. We eventually fixed these issues
We made it so that the code automatically prints the ticket to the default printer which is the schools printing system linked through the VNC. We had to fix the input so that it worked on the Pi. The product is finshed it it works. The only thing that would be nicer is to have the GUI working.
Aaron Christson: 2.5
Raymond Okyere-Forson: 2.5
Lakshiya Indreswaran: 2.5
John Martin: 2.5
Aaron Christson: 2.5
Raymond Okyere-Forson: 2.5
Lakshiya Indreswaran: 2.5
John Martin: 2.5
Aaron Christson: 2.5
Raymond Okyere-Forson: 2.5
Lakshiya Indreswaran: 2.5
John Martin: 2.5
Aaron Christson: 2.5
Raymond Okyere-Forson: 2.5
Lakshiya Indreswaran: 2.5
John Martin: 2.5
Aaron Christson: 2.5
Raymond Okyere-Forson: 2.5
Lakshiya Indreswaran: 2.5
John Martin: 2.5