Is this possible in RR?

[Sarah Reichelt]

Hi Paul,

> 1.What I'm hoping to do is build a system where each of the breeding 
> properties can record enter cattle weight (and other) details,and have 
> the application work out an individual's daily weight gain and 
> forecast future weights.
>
> Question: These records would typically be over 5000 animals with 
> possibly 20 to 30 records each. Would I use a SQL database, XML, 
> Arrays, or cards to store the data? (sorry, I've still a lot to learn, 
> obviously!!!)
I would use one card per breeding property with all the data for that 
property in a tab-delimited text field, one line per record. 
Revolution's text handling, sorting & filtering make such a data 
structure very fast & easy to use.

> 2.This info needs to be accessable over the web by the feedlot, so 
> that the manager can forecast his feed requirements well in advance of 
> the cattle arriving, similarly the slaughterhouse needs access so they 
> can 'forward sell' the resulting meat. They would also be inputting 
> weight and carcass and price data for feedback to the breeders. (who 
> also need access)
>
> 3. Web access can be flaky in the more remote areas, so I don't want a 
> typical 'web application', rather something more along the lines of 
> the excellent GoRevnet. That is, I would need the program to be able 
> to operate as a local application, then by clicking a button, connect 
> to a server, synchronise with the database, and upload 'new' 
> information and download 'new' information, automatically
Set up an FTP site and have the software at each property log into the 
FTP server and check for updates every now & then. If they had no net 
access, they could keep going with the data they had already.
>
> 4. The info would need to be segregated by password so that indiviual 
> breeders would only have access to their own info, but head office 
> would have access to everything. Similarly the feedlot could access 
> the breeder records but not slaughterhouse records.
Two possibilities come to mind: either control the downloading of info 
so they don't even get to see what else is on the FTP site (they don't 
even need to know the password if you embed it in your app), or control 
access to separate folders at your FTP site, perhaps using something 
like .htaccess files.
>
> 5. It would also need some fairly flexible reporting functionality
Rev doesn't have a good report generator yet, but one good way to go is 
to have a report printing stack that assembles all the data into 
specific fields and then prints the whole card or cards.
>
> I know the first thing ppl will say is to 'try something less 
> complicated first and work up to a project like this', which is what I 
> will do, but although I think this can be done in Rev, I don't want to 
> buy a license, without knowing that it can eventually done.
Like all projects, there are lots of small sections. Just work on them 
a bit at a time and you won't get overwhelmed. There are a lot of very 
knowledgeable people on this list who are always ready to give advice 
and encouragement and there is enough diversity so that you can always 
find someone to help in any situation.

Just one word of warning as there have been some misconceptions about 
this list: although the Rev people read this list and sometimes 
contribute, nearly all the people on this list are NOT employees of 
Runtime Revolution, they help out of kindness and get no reward. This 
means that it is not possible to demand help. If a question doesn't get 
an answer, this is nearly always because the question was not phrased 
in a way that made a quick answer possible. Try re-phrasing it, 
splitting it into sections or even including a portion of script.

This is not a complaint about your email which was polite and clear, 
but I thought I would seize the opportunity to remind everyone about 
the nature of this list and the best way to get help :-)

Cheers,
Sarah