MRICF WIKI

This manual relates to MRICF v2. MRICF is an accronym for Model Rail Interchange Car Forwarding.

When James Stanford (the application developer), became the group owner in 2009 he decided to build an application to manage his own waybills. Originally he built a FreeBASIC application which used various data files to manage the different aspects of waybill management. After a computer crash which resulted in most of the code and data for the FreeBASIC program being lost, he decided to build a web based application instead.

After becoming group owner, the application developer opened up access to the MRICF to all group members. While he did all the coding for the application himself, other members of the group acted in an advisory capacity, providing a lot of interesting ideas many of which were implemented into the application. So the fact that the application exists and is widely used by members is testament to the team work of all the members who offer suggestions and ideas, and the implementation of those ideas into the application by the application developer.

It is a web based application which uses HTML, Javascript, AJAX, PHP and MySQL web technologies. The MySQL database system handles all the data exchange, while the HTML, Javascript, PHP and AJAX are used to display the relevant interfaces for the user to interact with the data. The application is built in a modular design, which makes troubleshooting the code easier and also often makes the implementation of new functions quicker .The application is located at: http://jstan2.pairserver.com/apps/interchangecars2 . The password to access the application is dependent on the railroad being logged in as.

As the application is internet based and is available through any standards compliant web browser, most problems relating to being able to access the application are because of settings in the user's browser. The most common problem experienced is not being able to log in, which is normally because of a saved password in the browser which the application is is thinking applies to it. The reason why this happens is because the password field identifier is a common identifier, which may be used by other web sites. If you experience problems logging in, try re-typing the password for the application. If that still doesn't allow you to log in you may need to clear out your temporary internet files / browsing history, and saved passwords.

Another common problem is that certain functions wont work. This is often due to the browsers settings blocking that type of web request, or that the browser being used does not have any support for the function.

If you have come across a problem with the application that seems like a program bug, please contact the application developer through the Virtual Ops group at https://groups.io/g/MRICC-Virtual-Interchange-Ops1 or by direct email to james@stanfordhosting.net .

Don't worry! The Virtual Ops group at https://groups.io/g/MRICC-Virtual-Interchange-Ops1 is available to post questions regarding the MRICF, the general concepts of virtual interchanging, interchanging protocol, etc.

A basic understanding of how real railroads and model model railroads use waybills for the management of the shipment of freight is a definite advantage. Basic web surfing skills are essential. Apart from those two things, there is not really much else you need to know that you won't be able to learn through posting interchange related questions to the Virtual Ops groups at https://groups.io/g/MRICC-Virtual-Interchange-Ops1 .

Use of the application is governed by the MRICC group. Before a user can log in to the application, they must join the MRICC Group and send details of their railroad to Virtual Ops group. The MRICF administrator will then set up the railroad and issue a password (which the user can change later).

The MRICF tested successfully in most versions of IE, Firefox, Google Chrome and Safari or equivalent browsers. If you find some functions do not work properly on your browser, try upgrading your browser to the latest version. Some functions will not work with IE6 or earlier browsers!