Hello,
I noticed a lot of websites and android apps and so on that fetch the latest information about regionals (one such popular example is FRC Spyder).
I was wondering where I can get this kind of information from; I’m looking towards incorporating it into our website and potentially making an android app.
Thanks
EDIT:
By this, I mean how can I access this information via my software (what’s the URL, database, etc that FIRST makes public)
Using http://frclinks.frclinks.com/ as a shortcut, you should be able to get anywhere you need (e.g. frclinks.frclinks.com/e/a/il/2011 will send you to FIRST’s awards page for the 2011 Midwest Regional).
Awesome.
So essentially, after that, I should just grab elements from the page, and use them in my application, correct?
I’m guessing these pages tend to not change in structure or format, so it’s pretty predictable.
Yup!
You may want to look at the OPRNet source code. There may be something forkable in there to help you get your project rolling.
Yep, as long as your application can follow the frclinks forwards, you should be able to grab those tables. I don’t think the formats of the pages have changed as long as I’ve been in FRC, but that’s only a few years.
As a note of warning, I would advise you against high-volume querying of the pages. FIRST’s servers don’t need the extra traffic and you almost certainly won’t need results updated more than once per minute.
As a final note, thank Pat Fairbank for frclinks. It is indeed awesome.
Thanks for all the help guys!
I’ll definitely integrate it into our current website.
I don’t know how all the online scouting databases work, but I want to make an Android and iPhone app that allows each team to register an account, and submit their personal scouting information into a central database, which I’ll make public.
Compare these:
http://www2.usfirst.org/2011comp/events/IL/rankings.html
http://www2.usfirst.org/2012comp/events/IL/rankings.html
Ok, so I’m guessing I just need to adjust every year to the game.
I take it that’s why there’s a new version of every app every year.
Of course, Ether is right. The rankings page changes from year to year. The order and, in some cases, names of the awards change as well. It looks like the current match result format came in 2007 and match schedule format in 2008. Unless there’s a change in number of robots per match or per alliance, I doubt either of those will change.
FYI Guys, this is my idea for my app, let me know what you think:
It’ll be a web app, utilizing PhoneGap (so It’ll also be ported as a standard app for all mobile platforms). This webapp will
It’s amusing to me to see you trivialize FRC Spyder into a single bullet point on your “my app is going to do all of these great things” list.
In order to be constructive, I’m going to offer this suggestion: please describe, in detail, how you will accomplish item number 1 on your list. While I’m sure many people see FRC Spyder as a trivial app (that’s the point, to make it look simple & easy), there’s a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff going on. In order to duplicate this, you’ll have to build all this backend stuff yourself. If you write up and post here how you plan to accomplish this, perhaps the community can point out areas that you haven’t thought of or potential problems.
I have no issue with tackling ambitious projects, but I think it’s a good idea to really know what you’re in for. Realistically, if it were me I’d skip 1 on your list for now since there’s a known working solution for this out there already. 2 and 3 are probably simpler than 1, really, so if I were you I’d try those first.
Right sentiment, wrong number. There’s absolutely no reason to query FIRST’s servers every minute. That’s extremely excessive. Especially if you’re thinking of doing it directly from your phone app (rather than once at an intermediate server that then serves that data to all of your phone users on your dime, like FRC Spyder does).
I’ll also share another “tip” that I’ve had to learn the hard way: FIRST’s webpages change more often than you think. Quite frequently someone at FIRST HQ goes in and edits the results page’s HTML with Microsoft Word and then republishes that. Word does all kinds of nasty things to the formatting of those pages. I’ve seen other occasional random edits too. Bottom line, parsing FIRST’s data automatically and reliably from their results websites is cumbersome and will take more work than you think.
I meant exactly what I said with my bullet of having the capabilities of FRC Spyder. I never said it was going to be easy and I wouldn’t have problems. I wasn’t trivializing it at all, I just didn’t see the point in listing every single capability when I could just pinpoint the app that has exactly what I’m looking to replicate, as a start.
Honestly, I find #2 and #3 the more difficult, so I’m not seeing where you’re coming from. #1 requires accessing already-existing webpages, parsing data, and displaying it (For the most part; I’m not saying its a walk in the park). #2 and #3 involve serious database implementations, user account registration, a website with mobile app, apps for multiple mobile platforms, among other things.
I will look into how other people have parsed FIRSTs pages. There has to be some uniform way; I see many apps, not just popular ones like FRC Spyder, easily find information and display it.
FRC Spyder has all of those things.
I was pointing out the work that my idea would involve - FRC Spyder does not have a scouting database teams can upload information to, including customizable scouting templates w/ media.
To put the point more bluntly:
A lot of people create projects just to “create” projects for their chairman’s award. Most of these projects then proceed to die after many hours of hard work with the only tangible product being broken promises. I would stop and really think about if your idea will help teams, if the solution doesn’t already exist (OPRNet is like half the code you have been talking about…) or if any team will use your creation.
To be honest the scouting situation is very complete when using a combination of cowscout, OPRNet and FRCSpyder and/or a complimentary excel database.
My $0.02 help out with another already mature project.
I wasn’t intending to create this for the Chairman’s award. I never really even had a goal of any award in mind. I just like making stuff. I made plugins for games for free, and I code other things on the side, one project being an RFID card for students that ride public school buses.
I don’t find myself promising this to anyone but myself, and I usually carry my goals out. I haven’t really given up on any project I’ve started.
I think it will help teams, I don’t find OPRnet to be nearly the vision I have, and teams will use it so long as it is marketed as a useful addition to their scouting arsenal.
Plus, I think this project would be a great experience for me to get some more hands on experience with jQuery Mobile, PhoneGap, and other languages, platforms, and libraries.
It’s a good way for me to start reaching out into mobile development.