Bulk scanning QR codes should be an option, to avoid errors

[Jack]

We just had our first two big events. Christmas markets with free tickets, and scanning QR-codes at the entrance. We moved the site to a fast VPS with extra memory and CPU, fast internet connection on the smartphones that were scanning, but still some scans did not go well. The result is that people were inside but not scanned. Of about 1400 visitors, some 120 were not scanned properly. I instructed everyone not to be too fast with scanning the next QR-code.

I think this is a weak link in the whole QR-code scanning part of Tickets Plus. I honestly think with bigger events this can never work without errors. A possible solution could be bulk scanning. We used the Quickmark app which offers this option. Scanning can be done quickly on the spot, and a list of all scans can be send to e-mail later on. If there is a way to import that list into the WordPress table with registered attendees, and automatically set everyone to checked in that was scanned, that would really be a good solution. In the real world scanning like we did now is not the best way. The result is that we now have incomplete lists and our customer don’t like that because people who dit not come (were not checked i) can now try to get a present a second time ;).

[Cliff]

Hi, Jack.

I totally understand, and we’ve heard of others reporting this as well. However, I don’t think anyone else has shared a “scan now, log the scan later” suggestion.

You could request this as a new feature (or maybe search to see if the idea was already posted by someone else) at our plugins’ UserVoice page.

This allows others who are interested in that feature to easily voice their support. We frequently review suggestions there to find out which ones are popular, then we implement as many of them as we can.

If you post it / find it, feel free to link to it from here in case anyone comes across this forum thread in the future.

 

[Jack]

Thanks Cliff. I just added this request: https://tribe.uservoice.com/forums/195723-feature-ideas/suggestions/17484907-bulk-scanning-qr-codes-log-scans-at-a-later-time

This is really important. Ohterwise we can’t use the plugin the next time :(.

[Cliff]

Thanks, Jack.

What is different about Quickmark app and could you provide a link to it to make sure we’re discussing the same thing?

[Jack]

http://www.quickmark.com.tw/En/basic/downloadMain.asp

The 11 Best QR Code Reader Apps for Android, iPhone, Windows Phone & BlackBerry

Now, on to QuickMark’s specialty: bulk scanning. Say you want to scan multiple QR codes in order to save their URLs. Most QR code readers open up a dialog box after scanning which asks if you want to open the link or save/share it. With QuickMark, you can bypass this action. Scan your QR codes and have their content stored for later. The continuous scan feature is not for free though; it costs $1.99.

It says here that it costs $1.99 for bulk scanning, but my very recently downloaded version does it for free.
Currently is gives me this kind of history after bulk scanning:
“qr”,”http://www.zelfshopkerstpakket.nl?event_qr_code=1&ticket_id=3655&event_id=3462″,”2016-12-13 11:32:45″,””,””,””;
“qr”,”http://www.zelfshopkerstpakket.nl?event_qr_code=1&ticket_id=3654&event_id=3462″,”2016-12-13 11:32:43″,””,””,””;
“qr”,”http://www.zelfshopkerstpakket.nl?event_qr_code=1&ticket_id=3653&event_id=3462″,”2016-12-13 11:32:41″,””,””,””;
“qr”,”http://www.zelfshopkerstpakket.nl?event_qr_code=1&ticket_id=3652&event_id=3462″,”2016-12-13 11:32:40″,””,””,””;
“qr”,”http://www.zelfshopkerstpakket.nl?event_qr_code=1&ticket_id=3651&event_id=3462″,”2016-12-13 11:32:38″,””,””,””;

This is not completely secure either though, because when bulk scanning you can only check afterwards if someone has entered twice, but at least there won’t be mistakes during scanning using an internet connection.

[Cliff]

Thanks a lot for sharing that.

I don’t believe this is the ideal solution due to allowing someone’s ticket to get scanned multiple times, but it does communicate the importance of this issue.

Are you saying that your staff scanned the QR code, waited for the wp-admin screen to finish loading to make sure their check-in actually went fully through, and then scanned the next person — and some of those people scanned through didn’t actually get checked in?

[Jack]

I did a test at home and scanning went OK, by scanning the QR-code, then waiting just a moment so that the link is starting to open in the browser, but then clicking on the back/return button to get back to the app and scan the next code. This went well during my test with about 20 QR-codes. But waiting for the page in the browser to fully load and see the message of checked in (or already checked in) is not practical in real time, because this takes much too long, especially when a few hundred people are standing in front of you ;).

So my test worked with my smartphone, but 4 people were scanning on location and although they waited long enough, some scans did not make the connection with the website. Perhaps because of a failing connection, perhaps by clicking the back button too fast (although someone was there to keep an eye on that).

[Cliff]

Thanks very much for this detailed information.

I personally believe (and I might have overheard it as an idea internally) that having a quick-to-load check-in page is probably the best solution instead of loading the entire list of attendees page when checking in an individual scan.

However, there’s no technical way around it having to load one of your site’s pages in order to register the user as checked in.

One thing that may be a good compromise is if your scanning app keeps a history of all QR code links it scans. That way if you correctly scan 1, 2, and 4 you could export your QR scanning history to CSV and then later catch that ticket #3 did actually get scanned by the app, just that your site wasn’t allowed to fully load (or even in the event of your site going down temporarily).

Good thoughts! I hope we can improve in this area over time, for you and others.

[Cliff]

Ah, yes, I found an internal enhancement ticket for speedier loading of the check-ins. I’ve added this thread as a “me too” to that internal ticket.

[Jack]

Sounds good Cliff, and thanks considering these options. Your compromise sounds good. Perhaps you should also consider creating an app for Tickets Plus ;). I think Quikmark is currently not able to AND bulk scan AND opening the browser, but I will search again to see what is available. What would be the perfect solution is to download and import the attendee list into an app that is capable of using that list to make the checks, and later export it again to the site. Then no errors are possible other then a sleepy person with a smartphone in his hand.

[Cliff]

A dedicated app is on the idea list as well: https://tribe.uservoice.com/forums/195723-feature-ideas/suggestions/11304501-develop-an-android-and-ios-app-for-qr-code-scannin

Thanks for your understanding and feedback.

Feel free to edit your UserVoice suggestion if you feel it’s appropriate.

[Jack]

Hi Cliff,

We just had our second event this weekend. 345 qr-codes were checked, only 230 of them registered as scanned in WP, while using a fast 4G network, VPS, etc. That is very bad 🙁 and using this function in Tickets PLus appears to be useless and I would almost suggest to remove it from the feature list of the plugin. With so many errors it should not be used when scanning is really important and scan errors will cost money for the company organising an event. And because of these errors it has also cost some money and reputation of my client, and therefor also me as a website builder, being responsible for the backend.

I really hope your team will look at this and consider it a priority in fixing.

Thanks, and ofcourse a very happy new year to you and your family :).

Jack

[Cliff]

Thanks for sharing this feedback, and I’m sorry to hear that.

I’d guess with near-100% certainty that the people scanning the QR codes aren’t waiting long enough for the scan to complete before scanning the next code.

Personally, I understand that the worker and the attendee don’t want to sit there and wait for the page to load before allowing them to enter — and so speed of check-in that we discussed before is the issue — but “not working” is probably more a UX thing than a bug in the code is all I’m saying.

For the current functionality, I’d stress the importance of waiting for full page load to complete before scanning the next ticket.

Again, thanks for sharing this and your other real-world experiences!

[Support Droid]

Hey there! This thread has been pretty quiet for the last three weeks, so we’re going to go ahead and close it to avoid confusion with other topics. If you’re still looking for help with this, please do open a new thread, reference this one and we’d be more than happy to continue the conversation over there.

Thanks so much!
The Events Calendar Support Team

[Author]

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