Tips for Testing Event Smart

In this article, we'll talk about some options for testing Event Smart. This is recommended before you open your site for accepting live registrations.

Quick start testing for Event Smart

If you are short on time and need to launch soon, then you can register for your event as if you were a guest to check that things are working.

One way to do this would be to register for your event using a different web browser than the one that you are currently using to edit for event. For example, if you are using Firefox for creating your event, then try registering for your event using Chrome or Safari.

A better way to test Event Smart

A more thorough way for testing would be to duplicate an event and complete a registrant. This will allow you to test the event without adding affecting any limits that may be setup on the event.

Step 1) Create an event using the event editor in your Event Smart dashboard and then publish it. It should be setup just as you would like as in the next step you'll be creating a "copy" which will then be used for testing. This will leave your original event as-is so it is not affected.

Step 2) Click the  Duplicate Event button which appears in the top area of the event editor under the event title. Here is an example of how it appears:

Step 3) Go ahead and publish the event

Step 4) Open the event that was recently duplicated in an alternative web browser. For example, if you are currently editing your event in Chrome, then try registering for your event in Opera, Safari, or Firefox

Step 5) If this is a paid event, then confirm that the payment is applied and that you receive a registration approved email as the event admin (event organizer) and a registrant. If this is a free event as in no cost, then no payment will be needed and you just need to confirm that the registration emails are received.

Step 6) After you have finished testing, then update the event status from Published to Draft. This can be done through the top right area of the event editor. Here is a quick walkthrough:

Don't Pay Yourself

When testing with PayPal, do not use your own email address to pay yourself . You'll get a message that the transaction can not be completed. Instead, use a different email address to make the test purchase.

Event Testing Checklist:

Here are some suggestions of things to consider that your event is ready for registrations:

1. Is the timezone setting correct for your site? This is really important to get right so that your site automatically opens and closes registration and ticket sales as expected.
2. If your tickets are not free, do you have your payment gateway integration set up? For example, PayPal Commerce or Stripe, or Square, etc.
3. Is your event published for the public? Events that are published as Private) are only available to people logged-in to your Event Smart website.
4. Are the ticket dates and times correct? People often are not careful when they choose the datetime dates, and especially the Sell Until dates. The result is the tickets expiring in advance of when they want tickets to stop selling.
5. Do you have the correct capacities for each ticket and datetime? Remember that the datetimes can have capacities and the tickets can have capacities. The number of tickets sold rolls up to and is compared to the datetime capacities. So if you have multiplet ticket options the number of tickets you will be able to sell for those tickets will be compared to the capacity you set for in the related datetimes.
6. Is your event set to collect registration information for one person or separate person for each ticket? You can ask for attendee information for each ticket you sell, or just one person's name when they purchase multiple tickets.
7. Is the system sending the correct confirmation emails as you desire? The email messages system is complex but flexible. In your testing, do you get the emails you expect, or too many emails?
8. Can you log into the mobile apps and scan tickets?
9. Do you know how to download a list of attendees?

Removing test registration information

After testing, you may want to hide registrant information or remove it from your Event Smart site.

First, ensure that you are logged into your Event Smart dashboard.

If a registration is free as in no cost, then you can trash and delete a registrant through the registrations overview screen. This can be found in Event Smart --> Registrations.

If you have registered for a paid event, then you'll need to remove the payment first. Then you'll be able to trash and permanently delete the registration. Go to Event Smart --> Transactions and then click on the transaction for the registration. Scroll down about half way down the page and look for Payment Details area. Here is an example:

Now click on the trash can icon to delete and then confirm the removal of the payment.

Afterwards, you can go to the Registrations overview screen (Event Smart --> Registrations) and trash and permanently delete the registration. Then, you can delete any tickets you used for testing from the ticket options of your event.