What projects are the testers working on?

[carlgundel]

I want to thank everyone for their help testing Run BASIC. As you all know without beta testers a software product will not achieve a high level of quality.

I am curious about what sorts of projects you all are attempting with Run BASIC. What can you share with us about your work? How is Run BASIC being put to the test and how is it all going?

I'd love to see a live web project.

Thanks,

-Carl

[Jerry Muelver]

Well, now that you ask, I've got a few projects I'm working on.....

• K12 gradebook - teachers post grades for student work, students/guardians access their own grades from all teacher on a spreadsheet-type grid layout
  
• Rubric generator - Wizard offers questions, layout templates, formatting for creating project-specific evaluation rubrics
  
• Historical Facebook - students take role of historical figure, create Facebook-like page for their characters
  
• Historical support forum - students play historical characters interacting on a peer-support forum - "Just got to the New World, found this river with a big island near the river's mouth to the ocean. Should we settle on the island, on the ocean beach, or inland on the riverbank? -- John Smith"
  
• Historical blog - like Historical Facebook, but students blog characters' progress as they learn facts about the events
  
• Test logger - students contribute to test question-and-answer database, edit and discuss entries, engine generates exams by random selection from topic-keyed questions.
  
• Course generator - multiple contributors enter Topics, Tasks, Tutorials, Tools; engine generates guided instruction from entries, based on on-going assessment of learner's skill/knowledge level
  
• Choose Your Own Adventure authoring and presentation system, for interactive novels and adventure games, tailored for K12 audience (solve this algebra equation to unlock the door, answer this historical question to walk the log across the crevass)
  
• WebDoc Viewer - generates multi-page web site from wiki-style markup script
  
• WebDoc Builder - index-card note editing tool for creating scripts for WebDoc Viewer
  
• Language translator - provides word-by-word equivalents for text, but user must clean up the grammatical endings (plurals, gender, conjugations, etc.) for acceptable translation.
  
• Curriculum integrator - template-based tool for specifying curriculum, generating lesson plans, integrating cross-discipline blended instruction
  

There are others, but I can't find them on my desk at the moment. In fact, I think there are also a couple of laptops I can't find. Gotta get this place cleaned up....

[Alyce]

Well, I had a rather frustrating time trying something I THOUGHT would be quite neat. I was attempting to use the MS Agent control with VBScript. I generated a plain HTML page that brought up Merlin and gave the user the option of having him read the text on the web page. It worked okay on my Vista computer.

When I caused RB to generate the exact same HTML, it failed to bring up Merlin. I kept getting warning messages about running the script, asking if I wanted to authorize it. I clicked "yes" but it wouldn't run. Eventually, I checked the box that said, "Don't show this blinkin' message again." After that, running the program displayed the webpage, but nothing else. I rechecked the plain HTML version and it still worked. I viewed the outputted HTML source from RB and it was identical to the plain HTML page. No joy on Merlin in RB.

Jerry tried to convince me to recreate a test creation program aimed at teachers, so I'm thinking on that one.

I still think the MS agents would be great to add to RB apps. I may try it on my old XP computer, but if it won't work on a typical setup of Vista, it's probably a waste of time.

[carlgundel]

jerrymuelver said:

Well, now that you ask, I've got a few projects I'm working on.....

You're doing all that using RB, or you're planning to do all that? Which is it?

-Carl

[carlgundel]

alycewatson said:

Well, I had a rather frustrating time trying something I THOUGHT would be quite neat. I was attempting to use the MS Agent control with VBScript. I generated a plain HTML page that brought up Merlin and gave the user the option of having him read the text on the web page. It worked okay on my Vista computer.

When I caused RB to generate the exact same HTML, it failed to bring up Merlin. I kept getting warning messages about running the script, asking if I wanted to authorize it. I clicked "yes" but it wouldn't run. Eventually, I checked the box that said, "Don't show this blinkin' message again." After that, running the program displayed the webpage, but nothing else. I rechecked the plain HTML version and it still worked. I viewed the outputted HTML source from RB and it was identical to the plain HTML page. No joy on Merlin in RB.

Jerry tried to convince me to recreate a test creation program aimed at teachers, so I'm thinking on that one.

I still think the MS agents would be great to add to RB apps. I may try it on my old XP computer, but if it won't work on a typical setup of Vista, it's probably a waste of time.

That's strange. It is that VBScript in general doesn't work with RB?

-Carl

[Jerry Muelver]

carlgundel said:

jerrymuelver said:

Well, now that you ask, I've got a few projects I'm working on.....

You're doing all that using RB, or you're planning to do all that? Which is it?

-Carl

I'm doing three of them, planning on doing the rest.

[David den Haring]

These are potential projects at my company:

I have three quotes out to customers where I can use RB. They are small enough jobs so that I have some flexibility within my company to use tools that aren't our standard (i.e. Delphi / Apache / PHP).

• One job is a web-based dashboard for a production line monitoring system in a plastics plant.
  
  
• Another job is a web-based dashboard for "target vs actual" machine production statistics in an auto parts manufacturing plant.
  
  
• The last job is a 17-station returns handling system. Each station will have a touchscreen with embedded PC that runs a web browser. RB will be used to collect the barcode and return "reason" code of returned products. The data will be collected in files (one for each station) and periodically sent to the customer's server using FTP.
  

Whether I get to use RB depends on if we get the job (probably 1 out of 3) and if RB is officially released when I need it. The RB personal server should have enough features for all three projects; however, the professional version would be chosen when it becomes available.

My reason for considering RB is not to try to force-fit it wherever I can just for the fun of it. Rather, my long term goal is to simplify the "PC side" of my job as a system integrator.

The typical controls engineer knows how to work with electrical controls, configure an HMI and program a PLC (Programmable Logic Controller), but doesn't get Delphi or .NET. RB/LB is more approachable and may bridge the gap. The software needs to be maintainable over many years by electricians/technicians with just a little programming knowledge.

[billw]

I'm working on a few different things:

• a page manager sort of thing
  
• a SQLite database browser
  
• an RSS feed reader
  

I'm also doing plenty of just playing around.

[carlgundel]

jerrymuelver said:

carlgundel said:

You're doing all that using RB, or you're planning to do all that? Which is it?

-Carl

I'm doing three of them, planning on doing the rest.

Which three, and how is it going? :-)

-Carl

[Jerry Muelver]

WebDoc Viewer is working, writing documentation for it. WebDoc Builder is laid out, still about two weeks away from showing anyone. Rubric generator is next -- it's almost all GUI and needs a lot of experimental false-starts to take shape. The rest are pre-concept items. Still trying to figure out how to make a buck from web apps.

[Janet]

Mostly drill and practice, like the simple IV Flow Rate Calculator posted in Run BASIC Code board. My next move is to figure out what publishing is all about. In the meantime, I'll work on more simple interaction projects and slowly build my meager supply of tools and knowledge.

It's definitely time for me to get beyond a few snippets of code and work on a full fledged program. Most probably something to do with medication administration and dosage calculation. I need to figure out a way to get some virtual reality without intense animation.

Going to visit the FDA site to steal some public domain images and ideas . . .

[Chris Iverson]

Currently, I'm just thinking about what kind of a page to put together. I've made quite a few tests just to check out RB, and I've got an external connection to my server working, so once I figure out what to put on it, I'll (attempt to) keep it live.


EDIT: Acutally, I do have an idea, an SQL-based Blog about RB! I'd have an SQL database hold all the data to the blog, like blog title, all the text, etc.

[turbov21]

I'm kicking an idea around for a blog/forum/community piece of software once I get time to sit down and map out the modules.

Just now, I used Run BASIC to prototype a Gradesheet interface here at work.

[Alyce]

Still in the planning stages: a recipe database where users can add recipes.