No, truly, the clock doesn't need to be connected to the computer, but it might simplify my learning/build thereof.
Yes, the exact official time must be stored in the app'. That I can actually do already, with the press of [SPACE] or [ENTER] or [LEFT-CLICK]. I extended/modified a couple of Razzak's FTE projects (Form Timer, Stopwatch, Other?) to more closely approximate a good stopwatch/timer clock. (Actually, I learned a fair amount of new stuff about form controls & properties in 7.5-v8 that I had never been challenged to do before.) However, your approach, fundamentally, is what I did. Once the race-clock is started, the clock/system-time is stored in a table and maintained in a variable. As the clock runs, the elapsed time, displayed as a string, formatted for display from the difference between the current system time and the system time at start - thanks to Razzak for givin' us some "starter" code, as it were - is shown on the screen/form. Then, as runners finish, a [Record Finisher] button is clicked (or, with focus, "spaced"), and the system time of the input (or the elapsed time ... it's been a while since I looked at this work-in-progress and I can't recall which of these) is stored in a table, along with a finish position, 1..N, incremented by 1 for each successive finisher. This "finish-event-input" can be done with a keyboard. However, based on my experience, it would definitely be a practical and surely a best-practice to have a sealed/water-proof button (it can be hot||cold and wet||dry at XC events) with a long-enough cord attached between it and a PC in order to close_the_circuit/send_the_signal. The easy is often (usually?) good. Sometimes the best. In this case, I think I have a lot to learn. However, as I rather enjoyed my experimentations with the Form Timer and the good launch Razzak provided and as learning can be fun - oh my gosh, is that a line from Barney, the purple dinosaur - I might have to do this one the hard way. Thanks, Steve -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Marc Sent: Friday, April 11, 2008 4:19am 04:19 To: RBASE-L Mailing List Subject: [SPAM] [RBASE-L] - Re: Blue-Sky Thinking About an App' I'd Like to Try Importance: Low Steve Do you really need the clock / timer connected to the computer? Do you really need the app to store the exact official time? What I am thinking is enter the runners in a region / grid. Click a start button and the starting time will be updated for all the runners. then click a stop time for each runner as he / she crossed the finish line then calculate the race time. Maybe not exactly 100% official time but close enough for team stats and charting progress through the season. Just looking for an easy way. Marc ----- Original Message ----- From: "Wills, Steve" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "RBASE-L Mailing List" <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, April 10, 2008 3:37 PM Subject: [RBASE-L] - Blue-Sky Thinking About an App' I'd Like to Try Y'all, in the fall, I am a volunteer/parent coach of the middle school cross country team - I Love XC - at my kids' school. I would like to create an app' to: (1) Manage Meet Results (2) Interface (in some fashion) a Timer Display to the system (3) Use some sort of button-pressin' thing to log runners crossing the finish line (Given) Standard A/C power is assumed to be available, even if it's by generator or auto inverter. Yes, battery power would be the greatest, but even if it's with a laptop or PDA/WinCE type device, a proper-sized/arrayed timer display will probably require a fair amount of electricity for any sustained operations. Now, I have already done some work on (1) and that's not such a big deal. Razzak might now be saying, "Aha! I knew there was a reason he was asking so many questions about Form Timer functionality a while back." He would be correct. However, (2) and (3) are related, at least in the sense that we are talking about external hardware devices, one of which, the Timer Display, is an output device and the other, the "button-pressin' thing", is an input device. So, with regard to: (1) I would like to ask if any of y'all have ever done anything with sending strings/data via RS232/USB/Ethernet to an external display, especially an array of 7-segment LED's or a scrolling LED board from within RBase? I would like to pass the time in some fashion and/or the position of the most recent finisher, perhaps freezing their time until the next runner. Now, I'm doing a lot of info' gathering on bashing/hacking my own clock - "professional" sports displays are quite expensive, at least if they're any good -so I'm not asking anyone about how to design/build the clock, just how to send data to such an output device from Rbase. (2) Has anyone ever used some sort of button which, on keypress/depression, serves as an input, again, via RS232/USB/Ethernet to RBase? This would be logically equivalent to [Left-Click] or [Enter], to log an event, such as recording a runner crossing the line. Again, I have found various information/sources on WWW that discuss the construction and communications of such an input device with microcontrollers and/or PC's, but I really need to learn how to make sure that RBase "hears" such input. I appreciate any help here and if nobody's ever done any of this, that's cool. But I'm committed to makin' this mission, even if it I can't timebox the project. Thanks, Steve in Memphis J. Stephen Wills Program Manager, Research Informatics Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research University of Tennessee Health Science Center 62 S. Dunlap, Suite 400 Memphis, TN 38163 Office: 901-448-2389 FAX : 901-448-7133
