We ran into a snag!  We were focusing so much on Android and IOS friendly database technologies, we didn’t take into account that they were only optimized to work in a standalone fashion, not able to centrally manage the database through a server.  As it turns out, SQLite although robust, may not be our best option.

 In my experience, accessing SQL is best done through server side scripting.  However, Javascript is only designed to access SQLite using client side web database access, and accessing a access SQL database using javascript is not secure this way.   We were going to post all our findings on javascript functions to access SQLite, but it would end up confusing everyone if it ended up on the wiki for the class.

 So instead, we need to focus on the technology we will use based on the resources we will be given.  Kiosk Pro appears to be a solid solution to using a server based application on the iPads, but still maintain a local copy of the content.  I need to find out if we will be given a Windows server, in which I will focus on using SQL Server, and maybe PHP, or if we will be given a linux web server, in which we may be able to utilize a new server side use of javascript like node.js.

I don’t quite know where my group has gone.  A few of the members haven’t shown up to class, or the chat sessions.  I will need to spend some time meeting with them today.  More to be discussed in class.  

From the blog mikesaguirre » cs-wsu by mikeaguirre and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

One of my group members suggested earlier in the week that we look into another method of deploying our database rather than hosting the database server side, and it looks like this might be able to be made a reality with correct utilization of the Javascript File Reader. As the name suggests it allows text to be read from an HTML-5 based site or storage location, however it looks like it is possible for it to read photos as well..but in most cases it seems to be a resource hog. Based on my preliminary findings i would have to say that hosting the application server side with a SQL back end would still be the most efficient way to go.

From the blog CS:401 » CS-WSU by dcarlin2013 and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

This week was a lot of continuing to improve the basic demo so far that has been built. I keep thinking of different ways to improve the GUI for the user thinking which way would be the best for them. I showed a couple people at work to test out the application and they thought it was a good working start. One of my goals for the week was to get the number of pieces taken to complete the puzzle outputted to the user. For now it outputs them onto the canvas when the puzzle is complete. I am working on getting it to show above the image so the user can see it increases as they play the puzzle. Another idea I came up with is to work on implementing a timer to see how long it takes the user to complete the puzzle. Kathleen came up with idea of having the image shown behind the puzzle pieces so the user could have some hints that way. So this is an idea we have started to look into. Overall this week was a good researching and making improvements to the code. Today we will be showing the demo to the class to get some feed back and we still are waiting on Tim’s advice and images from him to test with the puzzle game.

Will be posting again once I get the couple ideas I had in mind working.

From the blog rwilliams5262 » cs-wsu by rwilliams5262 and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

After the week of the first IRC meeting, yet another week of class was canceled due to weather and the class was forced to again meet online via IRC. I was unable to make this meeting, but my group filled me in on what took place during the meeting.

Over the past few weeks, my group, who is in charge of the puzzle app, has made a lot of progress towards the end goal of a finished product. After a lot of research on the HTML 5 canvas and viewing many examples of different implementations, a functional outline was pushed to our groups GitHub account to be available for testing. The program so far, developed as a web app, provides a simple user interface and easy to use puzzle mechanism. At first, there was a problem that arose at more difficult levels of the puzzle (with more pieces.) It was difficult to move around the pieces into their correct positions. With a few adjustments, this was fixed. There is still more work to be done on fine-tuning the canvas around the puzzle, but significant progress has been made.

The next few steps to be taken will include actually testing our web app on the iPads, which is crucial to our group because we need to know what, if any, changes there are in running our app on the iPad compared to on a desktop.

From the blog ksabanty » cs-wsu by ksabanty and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

I got a little setup going with the slideshow! Don’t get your hopes up to much though, it’s pretty simple and there are many more things I would like to implement!

I’ve been taking a very long time getting this thing going. I am not very familiar with this coding and it’s been a little bit of a struggle for me. Learning basically three new syntax’s is tricky and I haven’t even really started the JavaScript part yet! I have an idea planned out, executing it is the problem. Right now I have a simple layout for the pictures and you can click on them to see the full image.

In future updates I would like to get a scroll panel at the top of the page where you can see all the images and click on them while at the bottom you can see the full sized image that you clicked on. I posted a little example below. I’ll have to talk to Tim or Katrina about this asap! I’m hoping to get some more insight soon…

From the blog Sean » cs-wsu by shorton1 and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

This week I continued to try and get more information on Guided Access and Kiosk Pro. Contact people at Apple and other places that use iPad kiosks.  Unfortunately for the most part all I learned is that there is a lot more unhelpful and/or computer illiterate people out there then I had thought.

All in all I did not get any useful information.  The people at apple could not give any useful advice, if I asked them about the product they pretty much just read me to advertisement or online summery of the program verbatim.  and when asking for opinion I got either no answer or just directed to look at their online site and pick what would work best for me.

Talking with places with kiosks did little good.  I found most either uninterested in answering my questions or they simple didn’t know the answer.  Seems one common approach is to hire someone else to set them up and never ask how they work or look at them again unless they shut down.. and then they just go out and hire people to get them working again.  So without any good reactions or suggestions from else where it is left up to WAM on if they want the free option of guided access or the features that kiosk pro provides.

Assuming that this snow storm doesn’t get any worse and we do have class tomorrow I am hoping that we might be able to get an answer to this question in class.  If class is canceled I will ask the professor if I should ask our contact at WAM which would be preferred or if we should put the question off till later.  I don’t think it will greatly effect our project at this time which is decided.  Not till the later stages should it have a big effect, though it would be nice to start testing out whichever method is chosen.

From the blog murrayandrewt » cs-wsu by murrayandrewt and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

My post is late this week due to several unfortunate circumstances and some poor timing on my own part.  This also prevented me from joining in at the irc chat meeting this week on Monday.

For my research, first found that there is no issue with the sleep mode on iPad as it can be disabled through normal settings.  So my time this week was spent searching for alternatives to kiosk pro that would allow us to make our program into an app instead of leaving it as a website.  I found that the only free and effective alternative is actually already built into ios6.  It’s called Guided Access.

It was designed more to help those with learning disabilities stay focused on task but it will work for what we need if very minimally.  It doesn’t disabled the hardware buttons as well as Kiosk Pro but with a kiosk enclosure that is not an issue.  It will keep the currently running app from being closed, and it can be used to disable certain parts of the touch screen.  So if menus or address bar can’t be removed they can be made unusable.

The down part is that this is all that guided access does.  It has no other functionality to it.  It is really just additional settings on the iPad itself.  So on the good side is that it will give us the minimum of what we need to have the kiosk stations and it allows us to use our program as an app.

The downside from a customer point is that it does not revert to the main page if idle, so new customers will find the app at where ever the last person left it.  I am unsure if this can be resolved through our own code or not.  From the clients view it doesn’t have any of the convenience functions.  The settings can’t be changed remotely, updates will have to be done to each iPad individually.  And the guided access doesn’t save settings so each time it is turned off or closed down, the settings will have to be redone.  There is no power saving options so they will have to keep them on all the time or shut them down manually each night and set them back up in the morning.

So Guided access will work but it will also be more work to run.  Depending on WAM’s plans on how to use it these drawbacks may be minor and acceptable.  Still while I could not find anything else that looked good for what we need I’m not ready to say these are the only two options.  I plan this week to find and call up some other museums and similar locations that have iPad kiosks and ask what they have used and any problems they have run into.  I will also contact people at Apple to ask them for better information on Guided Access and if they have suggestions on alternatives.

From the blog murrayandrewt » cs-wsu by murrayandrewt and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

We’ve been tasked with implementing a database to allow functionality for a content management system for the iPad application we’ll be developing for the Worcester Art Museum.  Our first thoughts were SQLite, integrated into our HTML5 based app utilizing JavaScript.  We began with a series of tasks:

• Familarize ourselves with SQL technologies, specifically SQLite.
• Investigate methods to implement SQLite into our HTML5 application.
• Investigate our ability to store both text and also images
• Test a basic application utilizing a database to store and display data.
• Develop a method of storing database content centrally to be shared across clients.

Our tasks appeared to bring us to a very simple and linear path to success – but boy were we wrong!  The first 2 tasks were simple, and seemed to provide us promising results.  We googled and googled.  We read articles, blogs, and forums and found very straight forward information on developing simple JavaScript functions to initialize a SQLite database natively on Web SQL Database enabled browsers, which included the browsers on IOS and Android devices.  However, after starting on developing our own test code, we hit a brick wall.

SQLite databases utilized by browsers like Chrome or Safari are initialized in temporary locations at the start of the application.  This temporary location is isolated to the browser and cannot be initialzed from any other location.  This meant that the application running on the device would not be able to retrieve data from a centralized server, and would need to be created and pre-populated by the application itself.   This completely defeated the purpose using SQLite to centrally manage data across multiple devices.  In order to still utilize SQLite, we would need to further investigate different method to retrieve data from a server.

We looked into possible work-arounds, and discussed the possiblity of utilizing the Apple AppStore to upload an updated content database file, that would then be overwritten on the new device, however this is a very rudimentary method of deploying new content, and could also be done without the use of a database.

This all brings us back to the idea of utilizing a fully hosted server  application instead of a local iPad application.  It would give us the ability to centrally store our data on the server, and manage all changes centrally through a proper content management system.  The downside to this, is that it cannot be accessed if the iPads do not have access to Wifi, or if they intermittently lose connection.  However, there is the possibility of using an application called Kiosk Pro, which also has the ability to store a backup copy of the web application on the local device.  We simply do not know how it will handle a database driven application.  The only thing we can do at this point is more research.  Here are the next set of tasks:

• Investigate a method to download server size SQL data into the local SQLite database.
• Investigate using another method of connecting to server side database.
• Investigate a method of retrieving data centrally without the use of a database (text files, and web directories)
• And finally, testing a server side application with a SQL back end while utilizing an application like Kiosk Pro to test a local backup copy without internet connection.

Generally, the first 3 tasks are really for self-learning so that we understand other methods of storing/retrieving content and their pros vs. cons.  I am however biased, and believe that our fourth option is our best – which is why I believe it to be necessary to test all options before concluding.

Unfortunately, I won’t be able to test much without an Apple Developer account.  The web SQL database on Chrome and Android appear to be different than on an IOS device, so until I can test properly, I cannot make a conclusion.  If I’m unable to retrieve an Apple Developer account through Worcester State, I think I will pursue getting my company, The Training Associates, to invest in one since we will most likely want to release our own IOS apps after I’m done with this course.  More to come next week!

From the blog mikesaguirre » cs-wsu by mikeaguirre and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Hello,

This week we have been dealing with loading and coloring on the images of the statues the Worcester Art Museum has provided. After filling the images backgrounds with transparency, which can be accomplished in any decent image editor(e.g Gimp a good alternative, and also free), we were able to color on the images. We still need to ask the client to provide us again with the images but this time they should have the same dimensions. As of the moment the ones we have have very high resolutions and differ in size. I don’t think we should manipulate the images because they have much better tools than the free ones we are probably using. 

Hopefully this week we’ll know wether they would only want the children to use specific colors or we are free to include any that we want.

Now, regarding the functionality of the coloring app, our team was thinking about maybe queuing canvases. As is the case with many coloring applications, hopefully we don’t need to implement something like that, and, instead just let the user click on a different image when they want to replace the current one using something like context.clearRect() before loading the new image or simply overwriting the current image with the new.

See you next week.

Beto.

From the blog betoluna » CS WSU by betoluna1 and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.