looking for pc software to manage queing at our club

Discussion in 'General Forum' started by bob506, May 27, 2013.

  1. bob506

    bob506 Regular Member

    Joined:
    Oct 10, 2009
    Messages:
    24
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Canada
    Hi,

    A member at our club asked if it would be an advantage to replace our traditional game queing board with a computer equiped with a touch screen. The goal is to improve the efficiency of our court usage.

    Our current queing board uses clothes pins labeled with members names and skill level.

    The potential advantage of a computer is that it could be programmed to also collect other data useful to the club, like game results, number of members playing at specific times, length of games. The system could be made to call out names. Of course that would all depend on the software.

    I have seen queing software mentioned on a forum, but no sign of that software yet,
    http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056759159

    Anybody else heard of such a thing or working on such software?

    If not, perhaps an opensource project could be started, so that badminton playing programmers could pitch in, to give the world a free appication for all to use and improve on.

    Regards,

    Bob
     
  2. Smautf

    Smautf Regular Member

    Joined:
    Sep 10, 2006
    Messages:
    172
    Likes Received:
    97
    Location:
    London
    Yes - I've seen such software, and it's a great idea for club nights as well as tournaments. I think what I saw may have originated in Germany. Will post again if I can find out more.

    smautf
     
  3. bob506

    bob506 Regular Member

    Joined:
    Oct 10, 2009
    Messages:
    24
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Canada
    Hi smautf, Your post suggests the idea of using tournament software for regular club nights. Is that a practical solution with some existing tournament software?

    Bob
     
  4. rayvinly

    rayvinly Regular Member

    Joined:
    Dec 22, 2006
    Messages:
    23
    Likes Received:
    0
    Occupation:
    iOS Developer/Mentor/Trainer/Author
    Location:
    Virginia
    Do you guys think an iPad app would be perfect for this since it is easy to carry it to the gym?
     
  5. bob506

    bob506 Regular Member

    Joined:
    Oct 10, 2009
    Messages:
    24
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Canada
    computer software to manage badminto court queing

    I think a larger touch screen would be required to replace our current clothes pin based wooden court queing board. (see photo attached). The screen needs to display the waiting list of players (could be 20-40 members), needs to display who is on each of the 15 courts, and needs allow room for members names to be selected.

    We would need a program that could be used an a regular laptop or older desktop, that would either have a good sized screen or that would output to a larger screen. A touch screen would be best, but I imagine a keyboard input could still be made to work.

    Thanks
     

    Attached Files:

  6. rayvinly

    rayvinly Regular Member

    Joined:
    Dec 22, 2006
    Messages:
    23
    Likes Received:
    0
    Occupation:
    iOS Developer/Mentor/Trainer/Author
    Location:
    Virginia
    Is that a badminton dedicated gym? I can see why you would want to have a permanent desktop or laptop computer in the gym for the queuing software. However, in where I live, we play at schools, universities, and community centers. It would be too difficult to bring a computer every time. An iPad would be so much easier to carry.

    Also, what you mention, with a large display and possibly even a touch screen, would be much more costly. I am an experienced developer but I wouldn't want to build such a thing unless I can get commitment in terms of money before spending all that much time building it. The risk of spending a lot if time on building a costly thing that doesn't have enough buyers is too high. On the contrary, I can build an iPad app pretty easily and more cost effective.
     
  7. speedyJT

    speedyJT Regular Member

    Joined:
    Aug 28, 2012
    Messages:
    853
    Likes Received:
    12
    Occupation:
    Software Engineer
    Location:
    Germany
    In Germany, our regional association is using a tournament organization software called "Smash!".
    This is the homepage - but only in German:
    http://www.adams1.de/index.php?page=2

    Maybe this is what you were talking about...
     
  8. bob506

    bob506 Regular Member

    Joined:
    Oct 10, 2009
    Messages:
    24
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Canada
    We also play at a school gym (15 courts) and lock up equipment each day. I don't think a tablet with a 10 inch display is large enough to effectively display names and court usage. A 17 in touch screen could do it. These are not so expensive, I see used 17 and 19 inch models in the 35 to 100 us dollar range on ebay. Something like that run from a used computer would be accessible for most community clubs anywhere.

    I hoped to find software already out there. Otherwise an open source gpl licensed project could be a way to get this done. I don't have any experience with projects like that myself, except from using plenty of useful crossplatform open source software. Unfortunately our club could afford to pay to get this done for us. touch_screen_ebay_for_36_dollars.jpg
     
  9. rayvinly

    rayvinly Regular Member

    Joined:
    Dec 22, 2006
    Messages:
    23
    Likes Received:
    0
    Occupation:
    iOS Developer/Mentor/Trainer/Author
    Location:
    Virginia
    Are you talking about putting 15 monitors, one at each cout, or just one monitor at a central location for people to sign up? I wasn't sure from your context.

    Having to carry the tower or laptop, monitor, keyboard and mouse, plus the cabling is going to be a problem for most places here, so I don't think it will be feasible for us. We also don't have any storage space at the gym that we can use.

    Your requirements are probably very different from ours. I know clubs run differently depending on size and purpose. That is another reason I only thought about the idea but haven't acted on it. Developers need to make money for a living too. If we can't make it generalized enough so we can sell a lot, we must be able to charge a lot for one or a few copies. It takes a lot of effort and time into making good software.

    You could try to find existing queuing software. But, since they aren't specifically made to solve this problem, it will never work the way you want. You will have to live with many limitations. As for open source, it is even less likely that you will find anything because the open source community consists of mostly reusable library code, not apps. We want to write code that a lot of us can use, not apps that only a few people find useful.
     
  10. bob506

    bob506 Regular Member

    Joined:
    Oct 10, 2009
    Messages:
    24
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Canada
    We only need one monitor to que all 15 courts from one central place in the gym. This would replace the large wooden clothes pin board we now use.

    If a 10 inch tablet could work, that would be fantastic and usable at most clubs. Could this be done by switching what is displayed on the smaller screen, from the waiting to play list, to the court status list, to the choose team page? I don't have experience with a tablet, but I imagine you would have an idea if that could be done.
    Having all the information displayed at once, as with the wooden board or a large screen may not be possible, or even necessary, if the apt is built to get around that limitation.
     
  11. MrHoang

    MrHoang Regular Member

    Joined:
    May 4, 2013
    Messages:
    21
    Likes Received:
    3
    Location:
    Brampton
    I may be able to it. PM me what you want it in. I'll see what I can do after exams are over (I'm a young software developer that needs experience). :D
     
  12. bob506

    bob506 Regular Member

    Joined:
    Oct 10, 2009
    Messages:
    24
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Canada
    Great, but I need to repeat, our club hasn't authorized me to pay for this. I'd like to do it as an open source project, with volunteer badminton playing computer programmers. If you are interested on that basis, I'd like to work with you, and others, to get it done. I am not a programmer, but use linux alot and am interested in learning whatever is necessary to do this.

    Does anyone else have experience starting an open source project, probably putting it at http://sourceforge.net/about and http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/sourceforge/wiki/Get started with your new project

    What the application needs to do is replace the wooden court que board we now use, by doing things like these;
    - allow members to indicate they have arrived at the gym and are joining the waiting list to play
    - indicate the usage status of the 15 courts (or on certain nights, only 12 courts)
    - indicate the four people on each court in use
    - allow the first person in the waiting list to choose a doubles group of four players
    - allow 3 waiting groups for doubles to be chosen, and waiting, when all 15 courts are in use
    - allow the first waiting group to go the the first available court
    - as a doubles game ends, move the names to the bottom of the waiting list
    - allow someone to remove their name from the list when they leave the gym, or take a break
    all this on a touch screen hopefully.

    Later the application could be improved to do all kinds of things from keeping records of attendence and results, to court usage on different days and times.
     
  13. MrHoang

    MrHoang Regular Member

    Joined:
    May 4, 2013
    Messages:
    21
    Likes Received:
    3
    Location:
    Brampton
  14. MrHoang

    MrHoang Regular Member

    Joined:
    May 4, 2013
    Messages:
    21
    Likes Received:
    3
    Location:
    Brampton
    Are you going to be using a tablet or touch-screen monitor?
     
  15. bob506

    bob506 Regular Member

    Joined:
    Oct 10, 2009
    Messages:
    24
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Canada
    A tablet application output to a large secondary screen would be great

    Having this application on a tablet would give at least two big advantages, portability and touch screen interface. Connecting to a large secondary display would provide the necessary visibility for a large club.

    I guess it would be possible to use a "Mobile High-Definition Link" to get a connection to a larger secondary screen in the gym, where that is desirable.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_High-Definition_Link.

    For our club, a large display would be needed, since at times there are 30 people waiting, some huddled around the game que board choosing people to play with. Just a tablet would be hard for more than 1 or 2 people to see at a time.

    How does your club manage court queing, would they use such a system as we are discussing?
     
  16. Tweeter

    Tweeter Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jun 13, 2013
    Messages:
    33
    Likes Received:
    0
    Occupation:
    Software Engineer
    Location:
    Dublin, Ireland
    Hi All,

    I play in a club in Dublin, Ireland and have just comleted writing an automated peg board system.
    If you follow this thread which is on a local discussion forum, then you'll get more details of what it is that I've written,

    http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=80847560

    regards,
    Tweeter
     
  17. bob506

    bob506 Regular Member

    Joined:
    Oct 10, 2009
    Messages:
    24
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Canada
    Hi Tweeter,

    I had already noticed your software mentioned in the forum you give, and had put that link in my first post of this thread. It sounds just what I would like to have. Would you have some screen shots available? How could I evaluate it? What hardware will it run on? Touchscreen?
     
  18. Tweeter

    Tweeter Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jun 13, 2013
    Messages:
    33
    Likes Received:
    0
    Occupation:
    Software Engineer
    Location:
    Dublin, Ireland
    Hi Bob506,

    I've put together a doc with screen shots in it, if you pm me your email address, I'll happily send it to you.
    It will be available to download (3 months free trial) soon via the website I'm putting together.
    It's a windows application requiring .net 3.5 or greater, so any PC or laptop will do the job, we use a laptop at our club which is perfect (4 courts, 100 members),

    regards,
    Tweeter
     
  19. bob506

    bob506 Regular Member

    Joined:
    Oct 10, 2009
    Messages:
    24
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Canada
    If you can, please post these screen shots into this thread, I imagine others are now interested to see these as well.
    I think your 3 month free trial is a great idea, I'll try it out to see how our members respond.
     
  20. Tweeter

    Tweeter Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jun 13, 2013
    Messages:
    33
    Likes Received:
    0
    Occupation:
    Software Engineer
    Location:
    Dublin, Ireland

Share This Page