Frymaster Badge App

A cross-platform .NET MAUI application for managing employee records, generating customizable ID badges, handling company profiles, and printing via local desktop printers. Features dynamic tab navigation, photo capture/cropping, barcode generation, and robust file-based logging.

---

📋 Prerequisites

Requirement	Details
SDK	.NET 8.0 or later
Workload	maui workload installed (dotnet workload install maui)
IDE	Visual Studio 2022 (v17.8+) with MAUI, or VS Code + C# Dev Kit
Database	SQL Server (2019/2022/Express/Azure SQL)
Platform	Windows 10/11 (recommended for printing & file pickers)

⚠️ Note: Printer APIs (System.Drawing.Printing) and folder/file pickers used in this app are desktop-optimized. Mobile targets may require platform-specific fallbacks.

---

🗄️ Database Setup

1. Create a database named Frymaster in your SQL Server instance.
2. Run the following schema to create the required tables (matches application queries):

CREATE TABLE dbo.Companies (
    ID INT IDENTITY(1,1) PRIMARY KEY,
    Name NVARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
    Address NVARCHAR(200),
    City NVARCHAR(100),
    State NVARCHAR(50),
    Zip NVARCHAR(20),
    Logo NVARCHAR(255)
);

CREATE TABLE dbo.tblData (
    Data1 NVARCHAR(50) PRIMARY KEY,          -- Employee Record Number
    Data2 NVARCHAR(100),                     -- First Name
    LastName NVARCHAR(100),
    Data3 NVARCHAR(100),                     -- Display Name
    Data4 NVARCHAR(100),                     -- Additional Info
    Data5 DATETIME,                          -- Issue/Start Date
    Data7 NVARCHAR(10),                      -- Medical Indicator 1 (True/False)
    Data8 NVARCHAR(10),                      -- Medical Indicator 2 (1/0 or True/False)
    Active NVARCHAR(10),                     -- YES/NO
    Data9 NVARCHAR(50),                      -- Badge Number
    picCode NVARCHAR(255),                   -- Photo filename reference
    cropX FLOAT DEFAULT 0,
    cropY FLOAT DEFAULT 0,
    cropScale FLOAT DEFAULT 1.0,
    BadgeType NVARCHAR(50) DEFAULT 'OFFICE', -- OFFICE, GUEST, PLANT, MAINTENANCE, VENDOR
    ToPrint BIT DEFAULT 0,
    CdsPrinted BIT DEFAULT 0
);

---

⚙️ Configuration

1. Create appsettings.json inside Resources/Raw/
2. Set its Build Action to MauiAsset
3. Add your connection string:

{
  "ConnectionStrings": {
    "DefaultConnection": "Server=127.0.0.1;Database=Frymaster;User Id=sa;Password=YourSecurePassword;TrustServerCertificate=True;"
  }
}

🔒 Security Note: The app contains a hardcoded fallback connection string in MauiProgram.cs. Never deploy to production without providing appsettings.json, as the fallback uses plain-text credentials and will log a warning.

---

🛠️ Building & Running

✅ Using CLI

# Restore dependencies
dotnet restore

# Build
dotnet build -c Release

# Run (Windows Desktop default)
dotnet run -f net8.0-windows10.0.19041.0

✅ Using Visual Studio

1. Open FrymasterBadgeApp.csproj or .sln
2. Select your target framework in the toolbar (e.g., net8.0-windows10.0.19041.0)
3. Press F5 or click ▶ Run
4. The app will automatically restore NuGet packages and launch.

---

🚀 First Run & Navigation Flow

1. Initial Setup Tab: If no companies exist in the database, the app shows a Setup tab. Click it to add your first company via CompanyPage.
2. Dynamic Tabs: Once companies are added, each gets its own tab in the bottom TabBar. Tabs are generated dynamically at runtime.
3. Employee Management: Click a company tab → select/search employees → view/edit badge preview → capture/update photos → print.
4. Settings: Use the top-right ⚙️ icon to configure storage paths (C:\FrymasterData\... defaults) and UI theme (System/Light/Dark).
5. Company Management: Use the 🏢 icon in AppShell to manage company records and upload logos.

---

📂 Storage & Paths

Setting	Default	Notes
Photos	C:\FrymasterData\photos	Stores employee JPGs ({recordNum}_{ticks}.jpg)
Logos	C:\FrymasterData\logos	Stores company logo images
Images	C:\FrymasterData\images	Stores guest/default badge assets
Logs	%LOCALAPPDATA%	Rotates daily, max 5MB/file, 30-day auto-cleanup

🌍 Cross-Platform Note: The C:\... defaults are Windows-specific. On macOS/Linux, change paths immediately via the Settings Page to avoid UnauthorizedAccessException or missing directory errors.

---

🐛 Troubleshooting

Issue	Solution
SqlService connection fails	Verify SQL Server is running, check appsettings.json, ensure TrustServerCertificate=True
App crashes on startup	Check FrymasterBadgeApp_*.log in %LOCALAPPDATA% for DI or XAML errors
Missing tabs / "Loading..." stuck	Ensure at least one company exists in dbo.Companies
Print fails / PrinterSettings empty	Ensure desktop target is selected. Mobile platforms don't expose InstalledPrinters
FolderPicker or Toast crashes	Wrapped in try/catch. Intentionally disables auto-navigation after save to prevent Shell crashes
Missing barcode font	Ensure LibreBarcode39-Regular.ttf is in Resources/Fonts with Build Action: MauiFont

---

📜 Logging & Diagnostics

• Location: %LOCALAPPDATA%\FrymasterBadgeApp_YYYY-MM-DD.log
• Rotation: Files >5MB are renamed to .old (previous .old is deleted)
• Cleanup: AppLogger.CleanupOldLogs() deletes logs older than 30 days
• Viewing: Open with any text editor or run:

  Get-ChildItem $env:LOCALAPPDATA\FrymasterBadgeApp_*.log | Sort-Object LastWriteTime -Descending | Select-Object -First 1 | Invoke-Item
  

---

📄 License

Property of Frymaster

---

💡 Tip: Run dotnet workload restore before first build if you encounter missing MAUI SDK errors. Ensure your .csproj targets a supported Windows SDK version (net8.0-windows10.0.19041.0 or higher).