2008 Team 1511 Scouting Database

[synth3tk]

Originally Posted by zivo123

im not sure i've understood it.. does it need labview installed? or just excel?
other than that it really looks great!
thanks!

Hmm, I hope not. That may be why I'm getting the error. Still not at my laptop now, but I noticed it asks for the installation location of LabView.

[Larry Lewis]

It seems like there are some questions with the installation or configuration of the database. Make sure you read through the read me file located in the following location if you use the default installation path.
C:\Program Files\Team 1511 Scouting Database\data\read me.doc
This may help a little bit with the setup of the program.
Ok so here are some tips for installing.
You NEED to have Microsoft Excel installed on the computer you are running the database on. The database does uses Excel to build the datasheet where all the information is contained.
When you first run the program you will notice that only the configuration menu button is shown. I did this to ensure that the database is configured correctly before you start to read or write data. This was my way to allow users to select the path of an existing spreadsheet that they want to use instead of making the file mandatory in a set location. That being said make sure that you click the Change Filepath of Database button and browse to the spreadsheet you want to use. Once you have selected this sheet the program will save your settings and you will no longer need to link to that sheet. I hope this helps with some of the database file configuration issues.

Networking
Yes you can network together multiple computers and have it write to one database file. This is the way that we currently do our scouting. We hook up 7 computers to a router or hub which is the backbone of our network. Really any TCP/IP based network will work. Next is to designate a host computer. I usually pick the fastest one to do this since it has to receive all the information. On that host computer create the spreadsheet you want to use as your database file. Put it in a shared directory that allows access to read and write to that file. On the remaining 6 computers map a drive to the computer on the network to that folder. The next and final step is to go into your configuration menu and select the mapped drive and navigate to the spreadsheet. That should do it. I know it sounds like alot but it is really not that bad once you get it setup.
Once warning I have is to try to not all write to the database at the same time. The program will error saying it cannot write to the database. This is due to the file being locked up. It is not a big deal since it will just go back to the main submission screen and you can try again.

I hope that this helps out anyone that is having any problems getting things installed or configured. If there are any further questions let me know. Due to the recent increase of interest I will try to make it on more. Stay tuned for the next release! Featuring placement of ball on overpass! Thanks!

Also thanks to Kim for filling in for me.

[Larry Lewis]

Here is version 1.0 of the scouting database. Basically it is the same as the previous version but has the addition of the place on overpass input as requested. I will try to work in some of the other suggestions I have received in this thread and release them in later versions.

I also noticed that when you first run the database and open the configure menu it prompts you to select the database automatically but in the windows default directory. Navigate to the following directory or select another spreadsheet file to get things going.
C:\\Program Files\Team 1511 2008 Scouting Database\data\Scouting Database.xls

At this point I would also like to thank Danny Diaz from Team 418. Without his help none of this would be possible. Thanks!

[Larry Lewis]

Sorry kinda late. I forgot the link! Here is the path to the zip file for version 1.0 of the database.
http://www.penfieldrobotics.com/scou...abase_V1.0.zip

[Troyness]

When you network a single database, do all of the computers need excel or just the host computer?

[Larry Lewis]

Originally Posted by Troyness

When you network a single database, do all of the computers need excel or just the host computer?

Unfortunately all the computers will need Excel to run the program. I am thinking for next year I will try to remove the dependency on Excel from the program but for this year Excel will be needed.

[Grandma]

we had a scouting sheet that was very similiar. hey we might've even stole from you guys

[Larry Lewis]

Not a problem! :-) Really the point of all of this is help out other teams. That is why I put up the source code and the program itself. Plus, this is only a way to store and retrieve the data, it doesn't tell you how to analyze it...yet.