FRCScout Android app by FRC 1986 Team Titanium

[cdogcdl]

Welcome to the totally on-time release of FRCScout!
FRCScout is a free Android application created by students from FRC 1986 to be used for scouting at FRC tournaments. The app sends results to Google spreadsheets with text message strings. This means that it only requires a cell signal to operate. The app uses IFTTT.com to process the texts into a Google spreadsheet, so each scout will need to make an account on the site (don't worry, they only send emails if there is a problem with the system).

To set up the app, first have everyone install the app from the Google play store to their phones. The app is called FRCScout and the developer name is cdogcdl.

Next, head over to IFTTT.com and create an account. Once you have created the account, click Browse on the top of the screen, and search for "frcscout", the recipe will be called something like "Use SMS input to create a scouting spreadsheet". Activate the SMS and Google Drive channels by clicking on the and signing into your google account then sending an activation code to the phone that will be sending results.

One person will create a folder called FRCScout in their "My Drive" directory in Google Drive. They will share this folder with everyone that is scouting and has activated their Google Drive channel on IFTTT and each person will move the folder from "Shared with me" to "My Drive" in their Google Drive. The person that made the folder will recreate the following file in the FRCScout folder:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing

Make sure to rename the sheets within the spreadsheet. I have put a formula in the comment on the A2 cell in the "Ordered" sheet on the layout file, if you put this formula in your A2 cell in your "Ordered" sheet then the results on that sheet will be the results from "Raw Data", but ordered by team number.

Next, try sending a result from the app and you should see it in google drive within a few minutes. Sometimes IFTTT gets caught on a result, if this happens 5 times in a row the recipe will reactivate. Don't worry, it has the results queued and will automatically add them the next chance it gets.

Not working for you? I may have forgotten something! Be sure to leave a comment with what step you are having trouble with. Feel free to leave your thoughts and suggestions.

[joelg236]

Interesting. How does it work internally? Do you have a server to collect SMS data and add it to spreadsheets, or is there something more direct at work?

[cdogcdl]

Originally Posted by joelg236

Interesting. How does it work internally? Do you have a server to collect SMS data and add it to spreadsheets, or is there something more direct at work?

A mentor found the IFTTT site while we were planning for the season and wondered if I could use it for the app. I have no idea how their system works, all I know is how to hook the ends up to connect the SMS to the spreadsheet. I decided to use it because it seemed to be the least resource-intensive method on our part.