Booking options, data export/import, payments via Ethinki bank (NBG) and global reservations overview.
IOS Rentals, the car rental software by Is Open Source, reached version 3.6. This new version introduces Booking options, full data Export / Import per company (for backup and data transfer between installations), payments via Ethniki Bank (NBG e-Simplify), global bookings overview, improvements in IOS Sync, and more.
With the data Export/Import functionality you can fully move a company from one IOS Rentals installation to an other. You may also use data Export as a backup. Performing a single company export was not possible before version 3.6 as the database contains mixed data from multiple companies and you can not take the data in a conventional way (e.g. via phpMyAdmin). IOS Rentals 3.6 exports the data of a specific company and outputs the results as XML files. First a special index XML file is been exported. This contains a summary of the data and it is been used as an index during import. Then database tables get exported. Click one export button after the other in the given order for a full export (Create Index, Company, Locations, Discount coupons, etc).
On import the data from the XML files get imported in the database and receive new unique IDs. The index file is been used to relate the old and the new IDs in order for the final database not to have inconsistencies. Note that data exported from a site cannot be imported in the same site. First upload the Index file. After uploading the index file you will notice the display of a number of gray blocks. On each file you upload these gray blocks become green. This means that the corresponding data were imported. Continue uploading files until all blocks become green making sure you follow the given order (the one of the gray blocks). We strongly advise you to have Delete existing and Import images options to Yes.
In case you are unsure for the procedure, or you have questions, contact Is Open Source for instructions.
Although booking options created mostly for different insurance options, they can be used for anything. When a customer clicks to book a vehicle different booking options are been displayed to him which alter the final price. If these are insurance options then he may see a Basic option with no extra charge, a Silver option with better coverage and extra charge, and a Golden option with even better coverage and even more expensive. The customer picks his desired option and proceeds to the booking page. In the booking page the selected booking option is pre-selected and locked, while the other booking options are not been displayed.
The contents of the booking options can be customized by creating a boextended.php PHP file. In IOSRT API Client plugin you will find a _boextended.php file. Edit the contents of this file and rename it to boextended.php to enable contents customization. Contact Is Open Source if you need help.
But how booking options are created? Booking options are nothing more than extras that belong to an extras group having the Booking option option set to Yes. Click to add an extra or edit an existing extra. In the Extras group option click Add group. Write any name you like and set the Booking option option set to Yes. Save the extra. After saving you will notice that this extra belongs to a group having a [B] mark next to its name. This denotes a booking option. Add more extras to the same group. You can add up to 4 extras to a group (actually you can add more but only the first 4 will be displayed to the customer).
A new payment method is available, NBG i-bank e-Simplify. NBG is the national bank of Greece (Ethniki trapeza). To use NBG e-Simplify make sure you have IOS Reservations 5.6 rev2336 (released date 14.04.2025). If not, download IOS Reservations 5.x to 5.6 patch and perform an update. Don't forget to copy the nbgsimplify folder you will find inside the pm folder.
Users having access to multiple companies can now see reservations from all companies they have access to from a single page. If you have such an access you will notice a Global overview link in Reservations block of the side menu. You can apply filters in the list and perform actions such as change reservation status without having to switch to an other company's control panel.
Moreover the page showing the Summary of all companies usage (top right cog > All companies) improved and you have now the option to set the month for the summary. For instance you can see a summary for April 2025, for March 2025, etc.
In IOS Rentals 3.6 you can get remotely the existing extras and extras groups via the basic endpoint of the XML/JSON API. These new information are part of the basic endpoint and therefor no additional request is required.
Two new methods added in IOS Sync CRF file interface, hasCustomSend and sendRental. These 2 methods are used to fully customize (if needed) the procedure of sending a reservation to a third party system.
interface iosSyncHandler { public function buildSendParams($sync, $rental); public function hasCustomSend($sync); public function sendRental($sync, $params); public function sendIsSuccess($sync, $result, $httpcode); public function receiveRental($sync); public function validateReceivedRental($rental, $sync); public function failReceiveResponse($sync, $message); public function successReceiveResponse($sync, $receivedrental); }
interface iosSyncHandler { public function buildSendParams($sync, $rental); public function hasCustomSend($sync); public function sendRental($sync, $params); public function sendIsSuccess($sync, $result, $httpcode); public function receiveRental($sync); public function validateReceivedRental($rental, $sync); public function failReceiveResponse($sync, $message); public function successReceiveResponse($sync, $receivedrental); }