Retrieving Date and Time From a Remote Computer

[Gregory Lypny]

Hi Jacqueline,

Yes, the date and time must be embedded in the file.  An example would be that of subjects participating in an experiment where the client app is the vehicle running it.  The app may be a simple questionnaire or a simulation that tracks their choices and activities.  The responses are sent via FTP to the server and aggregated in a file whose format might be something like

Subject 8, Date Stamp, Time Stamp, Obs 1, Obs 2, Obs 3, etc.
Subject 1, Date Stamp, Time Stamp, Obs 1, Obs 2, Obs 3, etc.
Subject 1, Date Stamp, Time Stamp, Obs 1, Obs 2, Obs 3, etc.
Subject 2, Date Stamp, Time Stamp, Obs 1, Obs 2, Obs 3, etc.
Subject 3, Date Stamp, Time Stamp, Obs 1, Obs 2, Obs 3, etc.
Subject 7, Date Stamp, Time Stamp, Obs 1, Obs 2, Obs 3, etc.

More complicated experiments might involve subject interactions, where the choice of one depends on the choices of others, so the timing is critical.

You might ask, Why not do this on the web using iRev, so that delivery is server-side?  The answer is that web deployment is a pain in comparison to a standalone deployment.  I’ve done a few experiments on the web using my on-rev account, and I find that a standalone gives me much more flexibility and I can do it in a fraction of the time.


Regards,

Gregory



On Tue, Aug 16, 2011, at 6:46 PM, Jacqueline Landman Gay wrote:

> I'm not sure if your setup will allow it, but the actual delivery date 
> and time will be listed on the server. Can you just retrieve the date 
> from there, separately from the client app? Does the date need to be 
> embedded in the file itself?