E-Receptionist maintains a list of opening hours for informational purposes. It can also retrieve a list of holidays from an external data source. When the application is running outside of opening hours or on a holiday, the scrolling marquee at the bottom of the screen displays a different message.
Opening hours are entered manually as a global property of the E-Receptionist configuration.
The following data sources are supported for holidays:
ContactsLaw - The holidays are retrieved from ContactsLaw (office closed dates).
SQL Database - The holidays are retrieved from an SQL database using ODBC. The configuration includes the connection string and query text. See E-Receptionist - Database requirements for more information.
iCal - The holidays are retrieved from a standard iCal file or webCal URL. The calendar must contain only the holiday events.
XML - The holidays are read from an XML file conforming to a particular schema. A URL may be provided if the file is to be retrieved from a web address.
CSV - The holidays are read from a comma-separated or tab-delimited file conforming to a particular specification. A URL may be provided if the file is to be retrieved from a web address.