Review the Sample Application Wizards

The Motor Loaner sample application includes two wizards, including source code, that you can use as examples when writing your own wizard: the Check-Out wizard and the Check-In wizard. This section describes the design for each of these wizards, which can be launched from the Rental Agreements service in the sample Motor Loaner Vehicle Tracker application.

The design of these wizards are defined in the following sub-topics:

• About the Check-Out Wizard
• About the Check-In Wizard

About the Check-Out Wizard

This data entry wizard helps a rental clerk assign an available vehicle to a customer and ensures that all of the appropriate information is provided during check-out. When completed, the wizard creates a new Rental Agreements record with all check-in related fields filled in.

The SampleCheckOutWizard project is configured to use Delayed Signing for illustration purposes. If you recompile the Check Out wizard's assembly for testing purposes, you need to sign the assembly with the sample application's private key or turn off verification for that assembly. See Strong Name Verification in the Sample Application for details.

The following is an overview of the design for this wizard:

1. A customer enters the Motor Loaner facility and requests a vehicle rental.
2. The rental clerk launches the Check-Out wizard (either by clicking the button on the Rental Clerk dashboard or clicking the Check-Out wizard icon in the toolbar for a Rental Agreements view).
3. In Step 1 of the wizard, the rental clerk enters the Customer (or creates a new record if the customer does not already exist in the database). The current user's linked Associates record populates the Check-Out Clerk field automatically.
4. An administrator creates an Entity Relations record to link a Users record to an Associates record. This is the same process as linking a user to an Employees record for use in Aptify Business Applications. See Administering Users and Groups for more information.
   
    
5. In Step 2, the rental clerk selects an available vehicle for the customer. The grid displays all vehicles currently available for rent, but based on feedback from the customer, the rental clerk can specify one or more options and click the Check Availability button to limit the results.
   
    
6. In Step 3, the wizard displays information about the selected vehicle that the rental clerk can share with the customer.
7. In Step 4, the rental clerk selects one or more rental options to add to the rental agreement (these selections are added as RentalAgreementOptions sub-type records to the Rental Agreements record).
8. In Step 5, the rental clerk specifies the starting condition for the vehicle and enters an expected return date.
   
    
9. When ready, the rental clerk clicks Finish to complete the check-out process and create a Rental Agreements record.
10. The clerk clicks OK when prompted that the record has been created. This closes the wizard.

The figure below illustrates a Rental Agreements record generated by the Check-Out wizard. Note that this record is now in the Check In phase. See the discussion on the Rental Agreement's layout control in Designing a Layout Control for more information on this form.

About the Check-In Wizard

Like the Check-Out wizard, the Check-In wizard is also a data entry wizard. It helps a rental clerk process a returned vehicle. When completed, the wizard updates the check-in related fields in an existing Rental Agreements record.
Note that this wizard uses Aptify-Wizard Steps control to display all of the steps in the wizard with the current set highlighted. See Writing an Entity Action Wizard for more information on this control.

The following is an overview of the design for this wizard:

1. A customer enters the Motor Loaner facility to return a rented vehicle.
2. The rental clerk launches the Check-In wizard (either by clicking the button on the Rental Clerk dashboard or clicking the Check-In wizard icon in the toolbar for a Rental Agreements view).
3. In Step 1 of the wizard, the rental clerk selects the appropriate Customer who is returning the vehicle.
   
    
4. In Step 2, the rental clerk specifies the return condition of the vehicle, including its return mileage. The current user's linked Associates record populates the Associate field automatically.
   
   
5. In Step 3, the rental clerk marks off the rental options returned with the vehicle, if applicable.
6. When ready, the rental clerk clicks Finish to complete the check-in process and update the existing Rental Agreements record.
7. The clerk clicks OK when prompted that the record has been created. This closes the wizard.

The figure below illustrates a Rental Agreements record after it has been updated by the Check-In wizard. Note that this record is now in the Completed phase. See the discussion on the Rental Agreement's layout control in Designing a Layout Control for more information on this form.