Localhost site and scanning QR codes

[bob]

Hi,

A client is worried that the Internet connection at their event venue is pretty poor and have asked us to investigate hosting their wordpress site on a laptop and connecting a scanner directly to the laptop for checking people in via the QR code on their tickets.

Has anyone done this? Can anyone recommend a decent scanner that is compatible with the latest Mac OS?

Finally, as I understand it, I would need to set the scanning app to visit the URL:

http://localhost:8888/localsite/?

What would the query string be?

Thanks,

Mike

[George]

Hey Mike,

This is a pretty trick thing to pull off, the details of which are outside the scope of these support forums. What I mean is that we can help with regards to the specific functioning of our plugins, but when it comes to the processes and methods for setting up a local site, a local network, etc., this is a set of questions we unfortunately cannot help with.

Please read more about this here → https://theeventscalendar.com/knowledgebase/what-support-is-provided-for-license-holders/

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With this all being said, I’m happy to at least try and point you in the right direction here.

This is a tricky thing to pull off because what you use for checking in Attendees is the official Attendees List on the event—sounds obvious, but the thing to keep in mind here is that this Attendees List is only generated by real people buying real tickets online.

In other words, the Attendees List would only exist on the internet-accessible site—if it was locally-hosted, then people out on the web would not be able to buy the tickets in the first place.

And so you’re now left with a whole other layer to pulling this off: the core issue of doing check-ins on a local network or with a local WordPress installation, but then also the problem of keeping Attendee records totally in sync between the “real” live site and the local version of the site, which would ostensibly have to be a duplicate of the live site.

One thing that would work locally is to just avoid the QR Codes altogether—just migrate the attendees data to a local machine before events, and then manually use the “Check in” buttons in the attendees list.

There is not a specific Mac OS app that works the way you describe, that would scan a QR code and open a URL and that I can be certain would work with a localhost URL.

Finally, as I understand it, I would need to set the scanning app to visit the URL:

Yes, another layer to this complex problem would be having to manually regenerate all QR codes for all tickets for each event. There is nothing within our plugins that let you do this, and so to go back to my first point on this reply, this is all probably technically possible but is a very complicated thing to do right, and features many things that are far outside the scope of support we can provide.

I’m sorry to bear some of this news! Please let me know if there are any other issues or questions I can try to help with.

Sincerely,
George

[bob]

Hi George,

Thank you for such a detailed response. Very much appreciated.

Mike

[George]

Sure thing, Mike. This thread’s been marked “Resolved”, so I’ll close it up for now—but feel free to open a new thread any time if other issues or questions arise.

Thanks!
George

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