PaperCut report with user PIN codes - Is this possible?

[MrLudwig]

Hi,

 

We are about to introduce cashless payments in our school canteen primarily using fingerprint biometrics. However for the students whose parents have not given consent for this, or when the fingerprint scanners can't see through the layers of whatever it is kids have caked over them at times, we want an alternative PIN code option.

 

We already have PaperCut set up and the students all have their own secret PIN codes for that, so I'm trying to find a way to generate a report in PaperCut with their PIN's so I can import them into the cashless system. I know I can get to each user's PIN individually in PaperCut, but I really don't want to have to do that 600 times over!

 

And yes I realise security best practice would be to have separate PIN's for everything, I have already had this discussion with the powers that be, but this is what they want.

 

Anyone know if this is possible in PaperCut, or some alternative way of getting all the PIN codes?

 

Thanks.

[DJ3Dog]

Have you considered querying the DB? {tbl_user_account} - user_id ---> {tbl_account} - account_id ---> pin

[NicolasCage]

This should be possible if it's the field I'm thinking of!

 

 

If you head into the Reports section, the User List report can be exported to CSV. This report will contain all user information, including their current Card ID/PIN's. From there, just rip out the columns you don't want and hopefully the cashless system has a fairly similar import process from CSV.

 

 

If this isn't what you're after, if you can throw a screenshot of the field you're wanting to report against, I'd be happy to point you in the right direction.

Edited March 18, 2015 by NicolasCage

[MatthewL]

The user list report doesn't display it, only username, full name, balance, restricted, total pages, total jobs and email address.

[NicolasCage]

Hey MatthewL,

 

The CSV user list report should show you a whole bunch more - checking demo.papercut.com, I got this CSV which includes the "Primary Card Number" which we consider a PIN/ID number:

http://i.imgur.com/r3bIMzh.png

 

The "Primary Card Number" hopefully contains the number that MrLudwig is after. If not, hopefully we can grab a screenshot and take a look at what field we're wanting to report on :-)

[Edu-IT]

Is it not the Card/ID PIN (digits only) field?

 

Under other details here.

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[localzuk]

It depends on your system I think! We use the Primary Card Number field here.

[NicolasCage]

Yep, depends on the setup. Think of the Card field and the PIN field as a username/password (or a credit card with a PIN as a secure way to use that card number). Most people will use the Primary Card Number field for ID's, with the PIN being a "password" as such for that ID. Hope that helps!

[MatthewL]

As it never used to do that, when I skimmed over the picture it didn't show that field.

 

Yes ID numbers go in primary and secondary. If you have self association with cards it will always go for the primary so if you are inputting in code use secondary to save any confusion. Other than that you can enter this into the pager field in AD and get PaperCut to sync this field.

[MrLudwig]

Thanks for the replies everyone, been really helpful (as usual ).

 

Have you considered querying the DB? {tbl_user_account} - user_id ---> {tbl_account} - account_id ---> pin

Unfortunately our PaperCut was installed by an engineer from the MFD supplier as part of the lease contract and they opted to use the internal database rather than an SQL server. Because of this I can't get to the database tables to query them. I did read through some info on the PaperCut knowledge base about moving an existing internal database to an external one, which would allow me to get at the tables and query them. The process seemed pretty straightforward and is what I was leaning towards before NicolasCage mentioned the csv export.

 

Hey MatthewL,

 

The CSV user list report should show you a whole bunch more - checking demo.papercut.com, I got this CSV which includes the "Primary Card Number" which we consider a PIN/ID number:

http://i.imgur.com/r3bIMzh.png

 

The "Primary Card Number" hopefully contains the number that MrLudwig is after. If not, hopefully we can grab a screenshot and take a look at what field we're wanting to report on :-)

 

Yep, depends on the setup. Think of the Card field and the PIN field as a username/password (or a credit card with a PIN as a secure way to use that card number). Most people will use the Primary Card Number field for ID's, with the PIN being a "password" as such for that ID. Hope that helps!

 

We are indeed using the primary card number as the ID so the exported csv user list is exactly what I needed. I had looked at the sample report and dismissed it as it doesn't include the required field, it didn't occur to me that the csv export of this report would include the extra fields.

 

Is it not the Card/ID PIN (digits only) field?

 

Under other details here.

Login

 

Sorry Edu-IT, I said PIN code in the original question but meant the primary card ID. Truth be told, I hadn't even noticed the Card/ID Pin field until now .

 

Thanks again for your help guys, saved me a lot of work on this one.

Edited March 18, 2015 by MrLudwig

[NicolasCage]

We are indeed using the primary card number as the ID so the exported csv user list is exactly what I needed. I had looked at the sample report and dismissed it as it doesn't include the required field, it didn't occur to me that the csv export of this report would include the extra fields.

 

Not a worry! Glad to have helped. We tend to stuff a lot more information in our CSV's for that exact reason. The PDF and HTML we provide are more for a nicer looking report with the basic information. If you're after more detailed statistics, generally we will provide as much information as possible in the CSV exports.

 

Have a good one!

[DJ3Dog]

Thanks for the replies everyone, been really helpful (as usual ).

 

 

Unfortunately our PaperCut was installed by an engineer from the MFD supplier as part of the lease contract and they opted to use the internal database rather than an SQL server. Because of this I can't get to the database tables to query them. I did read through some info on the PaperCut knowledge base about moving an existing internal database to an external one, which would allow me to get at the tables and query them. The process seemed pretty straightforward and is what I was leaning towards before NicolasCage mentioned the csv export.

.

 

We also purchased PaperCut via the company we lease our MFPs through. However due to the amount of devices and users we have the internal db would not have sufficed. I made sure I was involved with the original install and configuration so I could handle the even more involved maintanence and troubleshooting without the need of contacting the PC or our reseller.