Makerspace Card Reader Script

This repository contains the Makerspace Card Reader Script for managing user check-ins and retrieving user data from the student directory. The script uses an Excel document to log user details and scan-ins, making it easy to keep track of makerspace usage.

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Features
• Requirements
• Excel Setup
• Running the Script
• Libraries

Overview

• The Card Reader Script was made to simplify sign-in to the makerspace and replace the web-interface given on the sign-in tablet (visit.cumaker.space)
• The goal of the script is to associate scan data (hardware ID) to a clemson user account and record time scanned.

Features

• Automatic scan-in and logging of makerspace users with only one username entry per scan device.
• Integration with student directory for retrieving user data.
• Data logging in an Excel file.

Requirements

• Python 3.x installed. It is reccomended to check the option "Add to PATH" and "Add Python to Enviroment Variables" in the installer options.
• Navigate to the cloned folder including "Makerspace-CardScanner" and run the following command in command prompt.

     pip install -r requirements.txt

• Chrome Web Driver : should be installed already if you have chrome or a chromium based browser installed.

Excel Setup

1. Excel Document:
   The script requires an Excel document named hardware_users.xlsx to store user details and scan-ins. This document should contain:

   • Two sheets:
     • Scans: To log the scan-ins (time and hardware_id).
     • Users: To store user details such as name, ID, major, and training data (to be added).
   • The sheet names and file name can be adjusted by modifying the first few variables in the script CardReaderMakerspace.py.
   • Before writing of the script will work, please enter an example entry into row 2 and a heading into row 1 of "Users".

2. Script Setup:

   • Clone this repository.
   • Ensure you have "background.png" and "BackgroundTablet.png" in main directory. #will be included in the github at a later date.
   • Install the required Python libraries using:

     pip install -r requirements.txt

   • Ensure the Excel file hardware_users.xlsx is not open when running the script, as the data will not be able to write if it's locked by another process.

Running the Script

To run the card reader script:

1. Start the Python script MakerspaceSignInTablet.py by executing the following in the terminal:

   python MakerspaceSignInTablet.py

Libraries

An explanation of the required Libraries:

• Tkinter: Built-in Python library for GUI creation.
• Random: Part of Python’s standard library for generating random numbers. This was going to be used for random chance of fun popups or music to keep the script engaging for interns.
• Webbrowser: Standard Python library to open web browsers.
• Subprocess: Standard library for running external scripts/commands.
• Sys: For interacting with system-specific functions.
• Pillow (PIL): Used for image manipulation.
• CustomTkinter: Used for modern basic graphics.
• OpenPyXL:For working with Excel documents.
• Screeninfo: To get monitor display information to adjust the script size based on the display to make it work fullscreen on any computer.
• PyGetWindow: Used for window management tasks. I don't remember why this is in there.
• Datetime: Part of Python’s standard library for working with date and time.
• Selenium: Used for automating web browser interactions (to access the student directory)
  • Selenium WebDriver: For controlling the web browser.
  • Selenium Chrome Options: For configuring Chrome browser options.
  • Selenium Support UI: For waiting for specific conditions to be met.
  • Selenium By: For locating elements on a webpage.
  • Selenium Exceptions: To handle browser-specific errors.
• BeautifulSoup: for retrieving user data from the student directory.
• Internet access for retrieving user data from the student directory.