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April 22

  • Well, today's the big day! My presentation is in exactly 4 hours, 38 minutes. The projector works great, and I tested the program and it works, so fingers crossed! I created some backup video just in case.

    As for it not working on a phone, I've discovered that it works when I use WiFi as opposed to the phone provider's internet. Whew!

    Goals for this week:
    - Finish my webite
    - Finish my binder WIP


April 19

  • Well, I think I've figured out all the solvable bugs in my code! I had Chris play it without any help from me and he gave me some helpful suggestions that I implemented. Joe and I are going to practice our presentations on Sunday and I'll have him play as well, just as an extra precaution. I've finished my presentation, too, so now I just need to practice with the projector. I've been working through stuff in the binder, too, so that's almost done!

    Something I have discovered, though, is that the program doesn't work on a phone. I think the two-way handshaking requires more processing capabilities than a phone browser has. I don't have the ability to fix it at this point - it would mean changing the entire way that the handshaking occurs - but it just stinks. I was really excited to see it used.

    Goals for this week:
    - Finish my webite
    - Finish my binder WIP
    - Finish my presentation Done!


April 17

  • Ugh, sometimes I think I belong back in CS 110. I spent the longest time trying to figure out why my user-side wasn't going back to the title page when it was supposed to (when they won or lost a game). My code looked something like this:

    if (input != "")
         do this

    else if (input == "|")
         do that

    I couldn't figure out why the input never go to "that". I finally realized that if input == "|", then it would also != "", and it would never get to "that". Silly me. The simple solution was to flip the two statements around, and it worked. I also solved another issue I'd been having - I created a 'timer' for the user so they only had 10 seconds to answer before the kiosk would check at 11 seconds. It turns out that I wasn't realizing that the user browser needed a few seconds after the initial 10 in order to write to the file, so when the kiosk checked at 11 seconds, nothing was written to it yet. But I solved that in a relatively simple way - after 5 seconds, the kiosk starts checking the file ever second. Through a parameter pass, it keeps track of how many times it's checked, and after 10 checks, if there is still nothing in the file, it assumes the user hasn't answered. It's worked so far, so I'm keping my fingers crossed!

    Now that I think I've finished my project (omigod, I can't believe I'm actually saying that!) all I need to finish is the wrap-up stuff: presentation, website, binder!

    Goals for this week:
    - Set a timer for the user so that they have a limited time to answer Done!
    - Finish my webite
    - Finish my binder
    - Finish my presentation


April 12

  • Met with Pankratz and McVey today - they had some good ideas about how to solve the problem I've been having with the kiosk browser freezing (we think it's because it's trying to read from a file that is at the same time being written to). Their suggestion was to give the user a limited amount of time to answer (with a visual: "10...9...8") and then after that time has elapsed, have the kiosk check the file to get the answer. If nothing is there, the kiosk will read it as a null and move on. This also solves the problem of the user closing the browser and quitting the game: nothing will be written to the file, so the game will run by itself, getting null answers, until the game is over and it returns to the title screen.

    They also had a suggestion for another problem I've been having. On the first question, the kiosk-browser is supposed to write the answers to a file, and then the user-browser reads from it and displays the possible answers. The problem I've been having is that the user-side loads first, and finds data in the file from a previous question, regardless of how many times I try and write "" to it so that it is clear. Their suggestion was to have a 'lock' on the file: I've created another file, which contains a '0'. The kiosk-broswer writes the possible answers to the user_answer file, and then writes a '1' to the lock file. The user_side browser waits until it sees a '1', and then reads from the user_answer file. I have the user-side browser also reseting the lock file back to '0' for the next turn.

    I've already finished the lock file issue, so I'll be working on the timer over the weekend. The end's in sight!

    Goals for this week:
    - Set a timer for the user so that they have a limited time to answer


April 10

  • Getting closer and closer! The user-side browser now resets after the game is won or lost, and the kiosk-side browser displays a message ("Congratulations, you've won the game!") or ("Game over") and after a certain amount of seconds, resets to its title screen.

    I've been having some issues with the handshaking between the browsers, though. Sometimes the kiosk will sort of freeze and completely miss when the user presses a button. It's something I'll have to work on this week, although I'm not even sure what's causing it- Dr. Pankratz thinks it's because one side will try to read a file when the other side is editing it, but I'd have no idea how to prevent it...

    Besides that, the only goal I have to finish is that I want the kiosk to recognize if the user closes the browser in the middle of the game and will reset back to the title screen. That's gonna take some work, though - I thought that trying to catch an 'onclose()' event might solve it, but the only event I can find is an 'onunload()', and that would fire every time a page is directed away (for example- the main page directs to another page that does the work and then redirects back to the main page too quickly for the user to notice, so the onunload event would fire even though the browser itself never closes). So, I've got to figure out another method. Not sure how to proceed.

    Goals for this week:
    - Implement a way that gives an answer's explanation after the user guesses Done!
    - Close the game after the user loses three lives Done!
    - Go back to the title screen if the user closes the browser


April 7

  • Worked some more at it today! Stylized it so that the user side and the kiosk side actually look nice and match each other. Also made it so that the possible answers show up on the user side (rather than just numbered buttons) - I found it to be a little difficult to understand, especially when the answer were just numbers (for example: one group of answers are "5, 6, 7, 8" and when compared to the user side buttons, which were numbered "1, 2, 3, 4" it was hard to understand, even writing it myself. I'm struggling with how to do it, a little, though. Technically, the user-side loads first, even though the kiosk-side is the one that chooses the question, and, thus, the answer....It's a work in progress.

    I've noticed that, although the kiosk connection works, it is a little sporadic and sometimes after a few minutes, the browser gives up waiting for a change and just crashes. Although this isn't my main concern right now, this means that something will have to change to potentially use it as a kiosk - there will be large amounts of time in between users, so this method as is won't work.

    Besides that, I'm very happy with how my project is coming along. I've been documenting as I go, so hopefully I won't have that much to do after I actually finish the code itself (which is good, because the presentations are in a few weeks!)

    Kiosk Side:

    User Side:


    Goals for this week:
    - Re-do the user-side browser: needs a 50/50 button Done!
    - Get a tenative connection going! DONE!!!
    - Take care of what the happens when the user gets an answer incorrect
    - Implement a way that gives an answer's explanation after the user guesses I have one, it just doesn't give the correct explanation...
    - Close the game after the user loses three lives
    - Go back to the title screen if the user closes the browser


April 5

  • IT WORKED IT WORKED IT WORKED. I was actually able to get a connection working! I'm using AJAX to contiuously reread the user input text file every few seconds, and it was actually able to recognize when I clicked a button on the user browser! I'm so excited that I had to write a blog - I plan on working more (and making more progress!) today, but I just had to tell someone!!

    Remember those magnectic "How Do You Feel Today?" things...?

    Updated Kiosk Website

    Goals for this week:
    - Re-do the user-side browser: needs a 50/50 button
    - Get a tenative connection going! DONE!!!
    - Take care of what the happens when the user gets an answer incorrect
    - Implement a way that gives an answer's explanation after the user guesses I have one, it just doesn't give the correct explanation...


March 24

  • Wowza, it's been awhile since I updated. I've been getting a lot accomplished since the walkthrough; it gave me confidence in my work - I'm doing something right! So working on it is less tentative because I know what I'm doing will work out. I've styled the kiosk-side browser a little more, and a correct answer takes you to the next question (which is chosen randomly from three). I've also created a title page giving the user the address of the user-side browser. It also refreshes important information in the game_lifelines.txt file (which contains the number of lifelines and lives the user has left as well as keeping track of which question the user is on). The title page resets these to three lifelines and three lives, and sets the question number to 1.
    Also, I've created a new text file containing an answer's explanation so that the user understands why one answer is incorrect and another isn't. I'd like to have this explanation displayed regardless of whether the answer was correct or not (chances are the user will be guessing a good amount of time), but that's a work in progress. I'm excited about where my project is - the end is in sight!


    Updated Kiosk Website

    Goals for this week:
    - Re-do the user-side browser: needs a 50/50 button
    - Get a tenative connection going!
    - Take care of what the happens when the user gets an answer incorrect
    - Implement a way that gives an answer's explanation after the user guesses


March 7

  • Today, Joe, Danielle, and I met in the JMS lab and worked on our projects. It was nice being able to ask questions and bounce ideas off each other, even though we aren't working on the same thing. I continued working on the kiosk-side browser. It now keeps track of how many lifelines the user has, and if one is clicked, it does not allow the user to use another one. (He won't be able to until the next question - as of right now, I only have the one question showing.) My next goal is that when a lifeline is clicked, two of the incorrect answers disappear. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to do this yet. I'll probably end up putting an extra character into the text file next to the two answers I want to disappear, but it also means that I'll have to do more work being able to print the answers to the screen in the first place. I hope to get a lot of work done over Spring Break, but I'm still struggling with the idea of a socket connection. Hopefully the walkthrough will provide some good ideas.
    WIP Kiosk Website


    Goals for this week:
    - Research connections (WIP)
    - Start creating the kiosk-side webpage (WIP)


March 4

  • Yesterday I lookied into sockets. I created a small test socket - I was able to connect to compsci02.snc.edu and recieve header information. Now it's just a matter of figuring what information I'd like to pass to the server! Today I started work on the kiosk browser. I'm able to read from the text files that contain the questions and answers. I have another file that holds the number of lifelines the user has left. I definitely still have work to do with it, but I think I'm headed in the right direction!
    WIP Kiosk Website
    Game Question Text Files

    Goals for this week:
    - Research connections (WIP)
    - Start creating the kiosk-side webpage (WIP)


February 22

  • It's been awhile since my last blog entry, but there's been some pretty drastic changes - I'm no longer using an Android app. Pankratz, McVey, and I have made the decision to use browsers instead. This was unfortunate timing, though, because at our group demonstration last Tuesday, my program was crashing. (I was lucky that the most recent working app was still on the Xoom so I had something to show.) So, I spent a week searching the Internet on how to fix this problem - I know what caused it, and I knew I'd be able to create a new project and just copy all the files over, but I didn't want the error to happen again and have a lot more work under my belt that I would essentially need to start over again to fix. I spent a long time looking for it all, and finally was able to fix it. I did a little more work - starting the game in Android, when I found out that essentially all my work is no longer usable. It was nice learning a little about Android, though.

    Now, though, I've stared with the broswers. Our original idea was to use arrows, but after thinking about it for a little, I've decided to use numbers instead - arrows might be an issue with creating a tab index on the kiosk. Instead, I think it might just be easier to number everything and then the user presses the corresponding button. Right now, pressing the buttons writes the pressed number (or in the Enter button case, a new line) into "test.txt" in my public folder.
    The User Website
    The Text File


    Goals for this week:
    - Research connections
    - Start creating the kiosk-side webpage


February 10

  • I got a little farther today - it was pretty easy to add links to a website, but I only have one to the CS homepage - I'm not sure what else would be good to add. I messed around a little with the layout, too, and was easily able to download a different font in order to make it look more formal. Unfortunately, though, when I started looking at Brian's code and documentation the past few days, there are only snippets of XML that don't really mean anything until they are put in context with the Flash program he used...which doesn't seem to be on the website. I'll have to ask Pankratz about it tomorrow.
    Goals for this week:
    - Figure out how to integrate Brian's code
    - Try and find more ways to style the layout (WIP)
    - Create a way to link to necessary websites (ex: CS homepage) (Done)
    - Finish timeline (Done)


February 7

  • So, it turns out that the orientation thing I learned to do on Tuesday has come back to bite me in the butt. I created some stylized butttons that I'm planning on keeping for the final layout, and I wanted them to actually be able to do something once they were pressed. In my previous Hello, World program, I was able to send input from a textbox to a second activity, so having a static message show seemed like it would be even simpler. For almost two hours, I struggled with why my message, or even my empty second activity, wasn't appearing when I pressed the button. After sifting through many, many online forums, I just happened to shift the tablet so that it changed orientation, and magically the button press worked. It turns out that I only set an onClick event in the portrait orientation, and because I created a different layout for the horizon orientation on Tuesday, there is a completely separate file that needed to be edited - it just so happened I had propped the tablet up the wrong way. So, I'm feeling a little defeated... at least the buttons look nice. These are two of 5+ that I have planned.

        
    Goals for this week:
    - Figure out how to integrate Brian's code
    - Try and find more ways to style the layout (WIP)
    - Create a way to link to necessary websites (ex: CS homepage)
    - Finish timeline


February 5

  • Got a little farther today - the LinearLayout vs the RelativeLayout was giving me a lot of trouble, but I found that the solution was embarrassingly simple. I got some more work done on a User Interface for the Android part of the Kiosk. I don't think I'm going to stick with the background, but "making things look pretty" at the beginning makes it more likely that I'll come back to it more often - let's be honest, no one wants to spend hours looking at something ugly.

    So, today, I made some discoveries in how the eclipse program uses resource folders, and I also found out how to change the layout when the user changes the orientation by turning the tablet/phone sideways.
        
    I'm going to start working through Brian's code this week - honestly, I haven't gotten very far into my project and I'd like to have something besides what is basically a fancy Hello, World. I want to be working on the slideshow this week, and from the cursory glance I gave his code when I downloaded it, he seems to have figured out how to do that.

    Goals from last week:
    - Find a more reliable phone/tablet that I can work on - Chris' phone isn't going to work for the whole semester. (Done!)
    - Create scope and finalize what I can on the website. (Done!)
    - Try and get a simple UI working so that I can figure out how I'd eventually like it to look and understand more about Android (Done!)

    Goals for this week:
    - Figure out how to integrate Brian's code
    - Try and find more ways to style the layout
    - Create a way to link to necessary websites (ex: CS homepage)
    - Finish timeline


January 31

  • Success! Thanks to Joe, I was able to figure out the problem I was having - I was forgetting to look into the Setttings on the Xoom and checking "Allow USB Debugging". Silly me...what a headache. Now that I was able to get that done, though, I was able to finish a Hello, World! I found on the Android Developer website:
    Lookit! So pretty! I feel so successful! Sorta. I'm gonna try and keep working on a simple User Interface this weekend so I can actually get something for my project down.

    Goals for the week:
    - Find a more reliable phone/tablet that I can work on - Chris' phone isn't going to work for the whole semester. (Done!)
    - Create scope and finalize what I can on the website. (Done!)
    - Try and get a simple UI working so that I can figure out how I'd eventually like it to look and understand more about Android (WIP - I got stuck with the Xoom, but after figuring it out, I was able to get a Hello, World going!


January 28

  • Didn't get any farther working with Android, but I got a lot done today anyway. I uploaded my website and spent 10 minutes trying to figure out why it looked so terrible before realizing I was running it off the C:// drive instead of compsci02... Continued work on my scope, and saw Pankratz today - he gave me a Motorola Xoom tablet to start working with. I spent the rest of the day struggling to download Eclipse onto my computer (I worked on Chris' yesterday) and then downloading the Xoom driver, so I could start working with it. It didn't work, and I'm pulling my hair out.

    Goals for the week:
    - Find a more reliable phone/tablet that I can work on - Chris' phone isn't going to work for the whole semester. (WIP - Hopefully I can get the Xoom to work.)
    - Create scope and finalize what I can on the website. (WIP - pretty much done with the website, but I still need to work on the scope.)
    - Try and get a simple UI working so that I can figure out how I'd eventually like it to look and understand more about Android


January 27

  • Started a little a testing with Eclipse and Chris' Galaxy Nexxus. I was following a tutorial on the Android website, as I've never before worked with android. I didn't get very far - it took awhile to figure out what everything was referring to, but I was eventually able to make a simple Hello, World with a text box and button. (As I write this, it doesn't seem like that much...) I'm in the process of trying to raise an event when the button is pressed. I do like how similar it is to C# and I think things will start going smoother as I start writing more in Java. (XML is new to me, too.)

    Goals for the week:
    - Find a more reliable phone/tablet that I can work on - Chris' phone isn't going to work for the whole semester
    - Create scope and finalize what I can on the website
    - Try and get a simple UI working so that I can figure out how I'd eventually like it to look and understand more about Android