We are ready to go! The past couple days have been strictly data validation, minor adjustments, and making it look pretty. I was finally able to access the database last week and I was able to store data and take data out of it for the app to use. All that's left now is cleaning everything up. I can't believe the semester is already at an end, and my app is ready to go. 

The past couple weeks have brought tremendous progress in my project, although progress has slowed a little. I spent most of week 12 figuring out my reservation system and adding a few fixes to my regular system as time went along. Essentially, my program is fully functional. I still have a lot of clean-up to do with code and data, but I have met most of the requirements that were assigned to me, which is huge. 

I wasn't able to get as much done recently as I would have liked to because I had an exam this past Friday and Monday, so a majority of my time was dedicated to those. My next couple steps are just fixing issues with the database, per usual. I mentioned that Joseph Mohr had some code to help me from his project and I'm still working on deciphering that and gathering a few questions I have for him. I plan on reaching out very soon. Now that my other classes have slowed down, I will be able to put a lot more focus and effort to further developing my app

I have made TREMENDOUS progress over the past couple days with once exception. As of now, my program correctly displays parking lots with both available and taken spots and I am also able to check how much time is left on a meter. The only exception to this is that my database is local. Dr. McVey had recommended that I use a local database for the time being so that I am able to keep my project moving without spending too much time trying to connect to my external one. I received a message from Joseph  Mohr after my walkthrough saying that he had connected to an external database through android studio with a PHP script. I have spend some time looking through his code but a majority of my time has gone towards working with the local database, which has been a great success. My next objective is to be able to reserve a spot, which I already have a plan of working through. After most of the foundation has been finished, I would like to touch up on this website as well as the look of my program, which at the same time finally figuring out my database issues.

One last thing that I keep forgetting to mention. Another addition I want to have in my program is a notification that notifies the user 15 minutes before their parking spot is up so that they are able to either finish whatever they're doing or know to add more time.

By my next update I will definitely have my reservation system going

Adjusting to online work/class has been difficult, but I have not let it stop my progress on this program. It's definitely tough to force myself to set aside time to work on anything from school. Since my last update, I have almost completely perfect my gestures, which really is just recognizing a touch, but I was expecting it to be a lot more complex than it actually was. I am now able to select a spot and be able to differentiate which spot it is. Once I was able to determine which spot was selected, the rest was a breeze. At my payment screen, I display to the user which spot they chose from which lot, and also their start/end date&time. Going further I would like to add a limit on how much time a user can select, so that they do not take up one spot forever. I also need to calculate the price of the time the user is selecting, and I'm still determining a price. The next milestone I need to accomplish is being able to connect to my database. All of my data is set up and ready to be put into tables as soon as I am able to get it set up.

This has to be one of the craziest weeks of my life, and it's only getting crazier. But aside from all of that, I have made some good progress with my project. I have visuals! I have spent most of the past couple days working on dimensions and creating the parking lot as well as my icons for an open or a taken spot.

This is obviously very basic and will need some touch-ups as I get closer to a finished product, but this is a great start for me! Visuals in my android programming class were never super easy for me, so the fact that I was able to knock out this outline in a couple days really surprised me. My next big step in this process is working on gestures and determining which spot has been selected by the user depending on where they tap.
I have put entering into a database on hold as that was keeping from making any progress in other parts of my capstone, but it's definitely on the forefront of my development continuing on.

This week I was finally able to start making some real progress with my program. I spoke with Dr. Pankrtaz last Tuesday about my plan for using and implementing a database into my program and was able to get that set up the same day. Throughout the course of the week I was met with the flu and also pink eye, so I was only working on this in bits and pieces but progress was being made nonetheless. I spent the first couple of days trying to figure out how to actually connect my device to the database we had set up, which I'm still struggling with. There's one error that I cannot seem to get past, but I know I'm definitely very close to overcoming this barrier. Once I decided that I had put enough time into going nowhere, I decided it was time to work on something else. For the last half of the week, I started setting up my data so that user input into the program actually got stored somewhere, that way, once I am able to connect to my database, all of the data I need will already be set up for me. With Spring Break coming up I am worried that time is slipping away from me, but recently I have been able to focus a majority of my time to my program, so I am not worried about running out of time towards the end of the semester. My next step is to finally connect to this database and start putting data in there. Once my data is all verified and set up the way I want it, my main focus will be on the visualization of everything

This week was not as productive as the past few have been. I had a few personal things to attend to that have hindered my ability to devote as much time toward my program as I would like. Despite some roadblocks, I was still able to get a good grasp of implementation and use of a database for my program. I downloaded all of Alyssa Khor's files and have studied them as much as I could to get some idea of how she managed to use her database. It all seems pretty similar to what I had used previously in my android development class, except for the fact that it was all in PHP and I am mostly used to java. Once I had seen how "simple" inserting/deleting basic data was, I immediately got to finalizing the structure of how I want my data to be inserted and used for my program. I am meeting with Dr. Pankratz tomorrow to get some clarification on some aspects of creating a database then I will be full-speed ahead on this.

This past week I was finally able to get the ball rolling on my program, and things are starting to look really solid. I spent a lot of time Tuesday and Wednesday on actually designing my application. As of now, the user can completely navigate each page of the program, but this is all just surface level as I have no way of storing/using my data just yet.

Data storage and usage was one of my biggest concerns up to this point. I spend all day thinking about how I want to store the data that will be input from the user, and at this point I'm pretty sure I've gone through at least 10 different methods of doing so, but I think I know what I want to do for sure. My next concern was actually getting a database for me to use. I remember using a local one in my android programming course but I needed something that could be accessed by multiple devices, so a database local to the phone would not suffice. I was pretty sure I could use the compsci02 server to do this, but I had no idea how. I met with Dr. Pankratz on Thursday which really sent me in the right direction. I was made aware that Alyssa Kohr had used the server to create a database for parts of her program. This was great news because this saved me the trouble of starting from scratch. I have been peeking at her code but I have yet to actually sit down and determine what I can implement from her program in to mine.

I have created a very basic timeline for myself, which makes the program seem a lot easier than it is, but I think this will allow me to not spend too much time on one aspect of my program while neglecting another

I realize now that this watermark is terrible and thought that the software I was using would just put their logo in the corner or something like that, but as you can see I need to spend a lot of time on implementing the visual aspect of my program which I believe will be my biggest challenge in the upcoming weeks.

By this time next week I would like to have a database up and running on the server and potentially have some tables and data that my program can implement and use.

Week 4

This week I was finally able to get things off the ground. I believe I've figured out how I want to implement some of the more difficult aspects of my project (really just storing all my data and how I want to use it). After Thursday's class, in which we gave a whiteboard run-through of  each of our programs, I was finally able to put all of my planning in action. Though very basic, I have the pages I think that are necessary for my program. My next step is creating the layout of each one, and directing each page to its respective follow up page, but that shouldn't be too bad. My biggest worry for the upcoming weeks is figuring out where I am going to store all of my data, but that is the worst of it. I have a solid idea of how I want to store it and what I want to do with it. Another big issue I see in the future is figuring out how to visualize the parking lots.  I struggled a bit with bitmaps/canvases and just visualization in general, but I know if I devote a decent amount of time to it, I will be able to accomplish what I want. 

By the time I update my blog again, I want to be able to completely navigate my program and have it look somewhat presentable, even if it's just a blank screen with grey buttons, I just want something that looks organized.

 I'm a little late to the game when it comes to making a blog post so I'll have a lot of general stuff to say in this one. Upon receiving my project, I was ecstatic. Develop a mobile application??? I hit the jackpot, especially coming off the Android Mobile Development course just last semester. This stuff is fresh to me. I remember receiving the email with my project around 9:00pm that night and I immediately started thinking of ways to implement this. Within the first few days I already had an outline of how I wanted my program to look. This project has taken over my life (as it should). Whenever I have any downtime I catch myself thinking of what my next step should be for this program.  As of today, I have a solid schematic (seen below) of what I want my program to look like, and I have a few ideas written down as to how I want to work out some of my requirements. By next week I want to have some interface implemented into an app or at least have a "finalized" schematic so that I have a solid foundation for when I finally start writing some code. (You can see my progress on a smaller scale on Twitter @NateCadotte