A Pontiac Fiero App

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Identity Crisis
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A Pontiac Fiero App

Post by Identity Crisis »

If there was a Pontiac Fiero App, what would be in it?

This is an opinion based question. I am attempting to build my first Android App and thought heck why not do it on my Car.

So if you could have an app for your Fiero what would you want in it?

Thanks
BULL
2015 Dodge Journey RT Rally AWD
2014 Dodge Ram 1500 Sport
1992 Pontiac Grand Prix STE
1987 Pontiac Fiero GT
1986 Pontiac Fiero GT
The Dark Side of Will
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Re: A Pontiac Fiero App

Post by The Dark Side of Will »

If you could do one that does OBDI data logging, that would probably be cool for many people who still use the OBDI computer... That's a big project for a first app, though.

I have no idea what I'd want on a Fiero app.

However, I *AM* FAR more interested in learning how to write Android (sigh... and I guess iPhone also) apps. I have a couple of ideas that would be marketable products.
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Re: A Pontiac Fiero App

Post by Indy »

Will, start with the Eclipse IDE and Android SDK. The packaged download is pretty foolproof for a software IDE. The Java tutorials from Oracle are very well written and comprehensive. More specific Android coding tutorials are also available. I haven't received any formal training in object based programming since my degree required FORTRAN instead. But I was still able to get a "hello world" program running on an Android virtual emulator in a few hours. The documentation makes it pretty hard to fail.

I'd be interested in hearing about those app ideas.
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Re: A Pontiac Fiero App

Post by The Dark Side of Will »

Thanks for the info! I'll make time to look at that.

My biggest idea is a task organizer or multi-project coordinator... think MS project + a calendar app for day-to-day living
I've seen lots of to-do list apps, but haven't seen any that incorporate project planning capabilities, much less for multiple projects

So say you bought a picture to hang at the house. In the app, you'd:

1. Create a "get" task for a hammer from Sears
2. Create a "get" task for nails from Home Depot, call it successor for task #1.
3. Create a "do" task for hanging the picture, call it successor for task #2.

When you look at your to-do list that morning, it would show you those three tasks. You would be able to view all the "get", "do" and other task types (e.g. "send", "ship", "call", etc) separately. This would allow you to organize your errand running so that you put everything you need to send in the car before you leave and get everything you think you'll need (Thinking of everything you need is the hard part!) while you're out so that you only have to make one trip. I might try a "shortest distance/shortest time" mapping algorithm, too.

When you're in or near Sears, the app would pop up a reminder saying "You're near Sears, you should get a hammer for Task XXX in Project YYY"; the reminder would also include anything else you needed to get from Sears for any other projects you had in the system.

You could also create several different projects and have them all running in parallel
You to-do list for the day would be the next task in each project; you could set the app to display the next X tasks or next X days' worth of tasks on a project-to-project basis. When you mark a task complete, the app deletes it from your to-do list and adds the next task to your list

You'll be able to tell the app you're starting a task, then tell it you finished the task and it will track the time it took you.

For each task, you can: write notes, make updates [e.g. "left VM for bob" while the app records time & date when the update was entered]; attach a file, like a document or a photo (so you can take a bunch of notes on paper, then scan or photograph them and add the scan or photo to the task they relate to)

You'll also be able to make very quick ad hoc additions to your to-do list, attach files and treat them exactly like other tasks, then later add them to a project or just leave them in your log.

You'll be able to look back through your accomplishment history/task log to track what you've done on a project by project or day by day basis. You'll also be able to track standard EVMS items like material/parts costs and labor, both incurred and expected, % complete, ETC, etc.

After you input enough tasks, you'd end up with a database of the places you go and the things you get/send/do. This would feed recurring tasks and help you understand your usage stats (e.g. "5 lbs of ground beef lasts 2 weeks on average"). Tasks could be set up to recur on almost any schedule you want... Daily, 1st and 15th, every X weeks, monthly, 2nd Tuesday of the month, Easter, Ramadan, etc.

I'd like to start with a "single player" version for me, then offer that up, then move to a multi-user/group system either peer-to-peer or cloud based; or some hybrid of the two.

So I'll need to code the app itself as well as an interface to a MySQL (or similar) database somewhere
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Identity Crisis
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Re: A Pontiac Fiero App

Post by Identity Crisis »

I DL both Eclipse and Droid Studio and have started to play around. I used to program years ago. Java is pretty simple to build with and with using a wysiwyg program it is even more simple.
2015 Dodge Journey RT Rally AWD
2014 Dodge Ram 1500 Sport
1992 Pontiac Grand Prix STE
1987 Pontiac Fiero GT
1986 Pontiac Fiero GT
Indy
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Re: A Pontiac Fiero App

Post by Indy »

That's pretty interesting Will. I had a somewhat similar idea for a task-based note/reminder/tracking system which I will PM you about. It was actually one of the reasons I wanted to start developing. It seems that when you have 20 projects running concurrently you start to appreciate good tracking and time management :crazy:

I was posting from my phone last time, so here are the links to the above mentioned tools.

http://developer.android.com/training/index.html - Android Developer Training

http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html - Android/Eclipse bundled SDK

http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/ - Java Tutorials
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