Any Bored, Talented Coders Out There?

[Jason Dunn]

For over a year I've been performing battery tests and recording results using a variety of Pocket PCs ranging from old-school Casio E-125s to the new XDA devices. I have a nice meaty spreadsheet with some great data, but simply posting a spreadsheet wouldn't be very helpful to the readers of this site. I'm looking for someone with talent and time to do myself and the Pocket PC community a great service by creating a method for us to access this data.<br /><br />What I envision is an engine that would allow users to select one or more devices, and select comparison data based on a number of factors (with or without memory cards, screen brightness settings, etc.). I have the data, but I need a nice engine (perhaps Flash-based?) to store and manipulate the data. I'd also need to be able to insert new data as it is gathered.<br /><br />Any takers?

[Newsboy]

Why not ask Phillip?

[Jason Dunn]

Why not ask Phillip?

I did, but he's away on a honeymoon remember? :wink: There are things more important than Flash!

[someppcuser]

You want somebody for free?

[Jason Dunn]

You want somebody for free?

Yup. :D But I'll make 'em famous. :wink: I can just post static Excel-copied graphs like everyone else, but I wanted something that would be more flexible and more interesting. It would be a big service to the Pocket PC community as a whole!

[toshtoshtosh]

you have that much data? Please post it somewhere, I'm dying to see it. We don't have a lot unbiased battery test data. Usually comparisons come in bunches of 2 or 3 (for example, ipaq vs e740). The one on pocketpcpassion.com is the best one so far (has 7-8 units, tests them running mp3 loop).

[Jason Dunn]

you have that much data? Please post it somewhere, I'm dying to see it.

Yeah, I have a lot of data. :-) I have 47 different battery backlight tests run on a variety of devices, and 27 different audio tests (looping 64 Kbps WMA file).

That's what this post is about - finding a way to present it in a nice fashion. I don't want to just post an Excel file (boring!), and I don't want to steal my own thunder. Patience. :D

[someppcuser]

I could do something for PocketPC with net connection only...In Flash 5, but maybe it could be phase 2, after somebody did a desktop browser version?

[Don Sorcinelli]

Jason,

If you are using PHP with mySQL as the backend database, why not take advantage of it?

You would need one data entry page (Admin-only accessible), and then one page to present the data. There are a number of PHP techniques for rendering graphs, especially bar graphs (which would probably work best for comparative data).

I'd offer to do it myself, but I'm already stretched thin for time lately. Damn the day for only being 24 hours long :wink:

[sponge]

Why use a propietary Flash plugin when you can use good ol HTML, MySQL, and be a lot more compatible? I often browse with Flash off as it's abused, and is a complete system hog on older PCs. I'd stay away from Flash, it's not really needed for something this simple.

[Jason Dunn]

Why use a propietary Flash plugin when you can use good ol HTML, MySQL, and be a lot more compatible? I often browse with Flash off as it's abused, and is a complete system hog on older PCs. I'd stay away from Flash, it's not really needed for something this simple.

I was leaning towards Flash because it would allow manipulation of the data without having to click a new series of boxes and press "reload". I think that slows down the process a great deal. Flash is nearly as ubiquitious as Internet Explorer, which is about as standard as you can get. I know that may mean the people running Linux on a 286 might not be able to use this tool, but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. :lol:

[sponge]

Printing, compatibility, and viewibility (is that even a word? :P) is what normal HTML has over Flash. I do think people overuse Flash way too much these days (ie the poll? Unless there's something else behind there besides that ridiculous sliding effect) I'm quite a subscriber to the KISS method if you haven't noticed :P

[Jason Dunn]

Usability is key to me - not printing. That's what Flash offers - if interface didn't matter, we'd still be using DOS right? I won't apologize for our Flash-based polls on the front page, because we've had 10:1 compliments over complaints.

However, this point is completely moot if we were to use DHTML. :-) What I'm looking for is real-time manipulation of the data without slow page reloads. Is this so wrong? :roll:

[toshtoshtosh]

I just want the numbers... :?

[mscdex]

so what exactly are you looking for? something to viewed on a pocketpc or this website?

[sponge]

Just bringing up an issue about the advantages Flash had over a database system, I'm not trying to insult you, the site, or how you run it, I just think Flash was a bit excessive for something like this, that's all.

You do have a point about the slow page reloads though, that is hoping the Flash file isn't huge like what I've seen in the past :P

DHTML.. ugh don't get me started, quite possibly the most segmented "standard" I've ever seen. IE4, IE5, IE6, N4, N5, N6 all different, some work in others, and scripts that work in older versions sometimes won't work in new versions.

[Jason Dunn]

so what exactly are you looking for? something to viewed on a pocketpc or this website?

The desktop - it would be almost impossible to get that much data manipulated on the Pocket PC. But hey, Flash can scale to a small screen, right? :wink:

[Jason Dunn]

Just bringing up an issue about the advantages Flash had over a database system, I'm not trying to insult you, the site, or how you run it, I just think Flash was a bit excessive for something like this, that's all.

Considering how cursory my explanation was, and the fact that you haven't seen how much data I'm talking about, perhaps you may want to reconsider your level of input. :wink:

[nliokal]

There are numerous ready made flash pie charts and bar charts. I managed to find some of them on www.flashkit.com.

The most interesting ones accept data in the form of an XML file, something that could easily been extracted from an XSL spreadsheet.

some examples:

Animated 3d pie chart (http://www.flashkit.com/movies/3D/Pseudo/Animate_-Eric_Lin-7127/index.php)

Dynamic pie chart (http://www.flashkit.com/movies/Interfaces/Widgets/Dynamic_-Allen_El-5258/index.php)

Flash graph (chart) with XML input (http://www.flashkit.com/movies/Scripting/XML/Flash_gr-Wwward-7488/index.php)

All the above are open source .fla files... hope this helps!

[mscdex]

well, i can work on coding a windows app that displays the data if you want. :)

[tchaffee]

Do you want this as a Web app or a PC app or both? Can I get a copy of the data to mess with? I was thinking of doing it on .NET CF and seeing what we can fit in the PPC screen! 8)

[MacBirdie]

Konnishiwa Master Jay-San Dunn :)
I'm about to create such a mega-handheld-database in HTML+PHP+mySQL for my own PocketPC/PalmOS site. But that's going to happen in January or so. It will be highly customizable (data entered, layout, language) so we might run it here too. :)

[seanturner]

What about using Office 11 and XML as the backend?

[Jason Dunn]

Web app is my preference - I can't see this being something that people would want to carry with them all the time. :-)

[masseym]

I could do something for you in ASP. I know you use PHP, but i am an ASP developer. If you would like something like that, I would be more than happy to take a look at hte info for you and see what I can do.

It would then be very easy for someone to write a front-end flash to access the data generated by the ASP. Either way, flash or HTML would work...

[email protected]

[randomtangents]

I am trying to locate an application that I put by the way-side not too long ago. It dynamically generates charts and the like based upon the back-end data.

Pretty slick and I had it working, however I never had a use for it. Jason, you can write me at my personal email and I can let you know more about this.

[randomtangents]

It's called Corda PopCharts by the way.