Martijn Meerts Posted March 14, 2008 Share Posted March 14, 2008 It's not entirely off-topic, but it doesn't really fit in with the other topics =) I work as a webdeveloper working mostly with xhtml, php and flash. Recently I've also started working in Flex (basically Flash, just with some extra functionality). The thing with Flex is, you can make things look like a regular application, but it runs online using the Flash player. It can connect to databases and has all sorts of stuff built in. What I was thinking is making some sort of model train database tool in Flex, which would allow people to sign up, and keep track of their rolling stock etc. They would then be able to compare with others as well. When someone enters a locomotive and all its details (prototypical speed, weight, power, image(s) etc.) all that will be stored in a general database. When someone else then tries to add that same locomotive to his personal database, the program will use the already available data, so it saves a lot of typing and researching. Should the locomotive in the general database be updated, those updates will show on everyone's personal version of the loco as well. The general database can even include decoder settings far various decoders etc. Of course, a lot of other stuff would be possibly, like comparing your personal decoder settings with other people's decoder settings, or comparing databases, maybe even a feature that would allow grouping of individuals, effectively turning them into a club. That way the club knows exactly which trains they have. Purely theoretically, it could be expanded to include much more, such as track inventory, buildings inventory, possibly even personalized blogs/galleries, all based on a single database that holds all the data. People could even be able to upload things like trackplans made in a variety of programs, or track diagrams from computer control programs, effectively turning it into a centralized backup/storage space. The nice thing about Flex, is that it is also compilable to a desktop application (platform independant) which means the application would for example connect to the online database, and create a local backup of that. That means not only that the online database would have multiple backups, but also that the application is usable even you're not at the time connected to the internet (it'll still need internet connectivity for updates etc.) It could also contain a forum, or hook into the database of an existing forum. Actually, think of it as a sort of MySpace / Facebook, but then specifically for model train users. Now, as you may be able to guess, it would take quite an amount of time and effort to build something like this, so what I was wondering... If something like the above existed, would you make use of it? I know it depends partially on the feature set and ease of use of course, but does the general idea sound interesting? Link to comment
CaptOblivious Posted March 15, 2008 Share Posted March 15, 2008 Yes. That is awesome! How hard is Flex to learn? I'm a recovering software engineer, and although I've been out of the loop for a few years (although I find myself writing little Python scripts to help handle my tasks as a teacher rather often), I'm happy to learn ;D Link to comment
Martijn Meerts Posted March 15, 2008 Author Share Posted March 15, 2008 Flex is very drag & drop to build the basic interface, and than uses Actionscript 3.0 for underlying code. Actionscript is based on Ecmascript and is completely object oriented. It's not difficult to learn the basics, and basics is all you'd need for a tool like I described. It's just a lot of work and a bunch of initial planning to set up the database and objects in an efficient way ;) Link to comment
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