swipr

id scanner for taking attendance

Updates

run git pull to update.

Basic Usage

1. ./id_scanner.py to start the program
2. scan a student ID to log attendance.
   • new IDs prompt for UIN.
   • new UINs prompt for name.
3. scan an admin ID (admin IDs are stored in a file named admins.py) to enter admin mode.
4. end the program.
   • use admin exit or quit.
   • close terminal (not suggested, but probably OK)

Admin Mode

admin users can swipe in to access these functions:

• exit/quit to end program
• test to see what data is on a mag stripe
• rename students on roster

any unrecognized command (including empty) returns to main loop.

TAMU IDs

TAMU ID has an arbitraily chosen number written 3 times on the stripe. ID number and UIN must be manually linked, e.g. at first scan.

Importing Images from Howdy

1. Go to https://howdy.tamu.edu
2. Login
3. "Faculty / Teaching" tab
4. "Class Roster and Syllabus" link
5. Select current term, e.g. "Fall 2019 - College Station"
6. For each section:
   1. "view" roster
   2. at bottom of page, "Import Entire Roster into CSV"
      • rename file to course and section ID
        • e.g. 22889.csv --> 121_513.csv
   3. back at top of page, "Image Roster"
   4. "View Entire Roster"
   5. ctrl+s (save)
      • rename file to course and section ID
        • e.g. BWXKPHOTO.html --> 121_513.html
7. Put the image files and the csv files in the same folder
   • e.g. ~/Downloads/image_rosters/
     • 121_513.csv
     • ...
     • 121_513_files/
     • ...
     • the .html files are not needed
8. Just in case this script goes awry, make a backup copy of the folder
   1. select image_rosters folder
   2. 2-finger click
   3. "Create Archive..."
9. Add your details to this script (batch_mode_rename_images.sh) and execute it:

# absolute path to image rosters
pathToImageRosters="/home/instructor/Downloads/image_rosters"

# prefix of image files, e.g. "BWXK_GET_PHOTO(1).display"
photoPrefix="BWXK_GET_PHOTO"

# put your sections in the list {...}
# you can do this for multiple classes, too
#   e.g. {121_{513..520},431_{500..502}}
for class in 121_{513..520}
do
    # setup paths arguments
    pathToPhotos="$pathToImageRosters/$class""_files"
    pathToRoster="$pathToImageRosters/$class.csv"
    
    # invoke the python script to rename images
    python3 rename_images.py $pathToPhotos $photoPrefix $pathToRoster

    # copy the images into the swipr/image/ folder 
    for img in "$pathToPhotos/*.jpeg"
    do
        cp $img ./image/
    done
    
    # add names and UINs to swipr/roster file
    {
        cut -d, -s -f1,2,4 $pathToRoster | sed '1d' | sed 's/,/\t/g'
    } >> /home/instructor/Documents/swipr/roster
done
echo "Done!"

1. Verify that swipr/image has a bunch of jpeg images with UINs for names
2. Verify that swipr/roster has names and UINs
3. It is now safe to delete the image_rosters folder
   • rm -r ~/Downloads/image_rosters