Looking For Any Program That Can...

[flanflinger]

Ello chaps I am looking for a program where I can log all my daily jobs and what I did on them etc and the price, for future reference, Enquiries or for the tax man. I dont want to use excel as its a doc I would rather have it on my pc in a program. Any ideas what type of software I need and where can I get it..

thanks in advance chaps

[marcode]

i dont get what you mean by "I would rather have it on my pc in a program."

excel sounds perfect for the job lol

[TwoPlAnKs]

as much as excel would be perfect, as luck would have it i might be able to help you

i've done arse all c++ programming but loads of java, and its pissing me off cos java isnt as much use as c++. it would take me a while (at least a week or two) because i'd have to more or less learn c++ and write it at the same time, and i have uni and work inbetween.

you may have noticed from my increased activity in the job section that i'm starting to get worried about future career hence wanting c++ under my belt.

can you give a more detailed spec, a list of fields you need to store for each job and anything else i might need to know. does each job have a unique code or would the program generate one? which fields do you need? what sort of data is going in each field, eg. a long string or a short one

say I make a one-dialog app, where that dialog basically displays a record. then i'll make a search thing for it too, and it could store the data in a file. obviously thats an ideal job for a database program but i'd like the experience so i'd make it from scratch as a standalone exe in c++. i've done very similar in java but its the sort of thing you can tit about with quite a bit and will be useful experience. could put on undo buttons and stuff, and look at making the database part as efficient as possible

i cant stand those stupid "hello world" example programs they have in books so this would be ideal, otherwise i'll end up doing something similar for no reason at all.

my only conditions are that it would be open source and that i need at least 2 weeks, with a working prototype probably in 1 week but no guarantee

let me know

[flanflinger]

cheers TP I will PM you

[TwoPlAnKs]

well i've read your PM and it sounds simple enough for somebody who actually knows the language... i'm sure i can do it though, i'll make a dead layout first since thats pretty easy. just a exe file that displays the dialog that doesnt do anything, the buttons and stuff all non-working to see if you like it then put the code in from there

remember you're doing me a favour more than i'm doing you a favour

[flanflinger]

aaaw you cool you...

so when exactly do you want me to bend over? cant be tuesdays they are bad for me

[TwoPlAnKs]

that mucks up "Buggery Tuesdays" then doesnt it, i work wednesdays so we'll have to wait till thursday?

what do you want me to call it? the name in the blue bar at the top (thats all i know how to do in c++ so far, next stage is how we make buttons and text boxes and stuff ) I'm thinking "JobStore" or something?

[flanflinger]

TwoPlanks of course

[Welsh Pete]

Guys...any chance I can be in on this as I am after a job recording-type-thing for my work.

I`m a telecom engineer and I`m sure I have different fields to what Mr Finger requires, but I would like to see what you come up with.

[marcode]

can anyone tell me why excel isnt perfect for what you are after?

a stand alone application will be more hassle than a spreadsheet in the long run...

[/dev/null]

I dont want to use excel as its a doc I would rather have it on my pc in a program.

Excel isn't a document, it's a program. Ok, so it saves the data you put into it as a document, but then again, whatever other "program" you use is 99.99% likely to store the data in some form of document like this (you just might not see it), be it as a text file, a structured data file, or even storing it into a database. It's extremely (note extremely) unlikely to store it in the executable, and even if it did, this would be a dreadful and extremely complicated solution! :o
The only real difference is that you have to load the document into excel (which you don't really have to do anyway, because by double-clicking on the document in windows, it will automatically load for you - if you have a standalone program, you will still have to open the program!).

Also, why bother having a program created for you which will inevitably contain lots of bugs initially (no personal offense TP, it's just part of the software development cycle!) when you can use a program which is already created, will do the job you want and has had hundreds, maybe even thousands of people involved in creating it, testing it and sorting out the bugs (even though some may remain! )

It's not like the task you want to is particularly complex by any means to justify using bespoke software as I'm sure an off the shelf package such as excel would more than meet your needs after a few tweaks & perhaps the odd macro here and there...

[drunkn_munky]

can anyone tell me why excel isnt perfect for what you are after?

a stand alone application will be more hassle than a spreadsheet in the long run...

Excel is for stats and numbers. He wants to be able to store actual details on what he did for his reference. Have you ever tried writing a paragraph in an excel box? Not pretty unless you merge cells but that kind of ruins the point. TP's application will more than likely be an interface for a database, which although works practically the same as using excel, will be easier for flanfinger to manage.

I'd also be interested in such an application. Although you should be able to achieve the same program in Access, with generated reports, input forms and everything.

[TwoPlAnKs]

the jump from java to c and c++ and then windows API stuff in c++ is slightly bigger than i thought, but I had a form ready to post to show you what it could look like, then i'll get to work on the back end.

as for password protection, i've never actually used encrypted files before but i guess thats another thing i might as well just learn just now. puting a password on the app then storing it as straight text wont stop any proper hackers(or much of anybody really) but it would probably stop most people who would be interested in your job details, and its enough for data protection purposes (i think but i'm not a lawyer)

and if anybody else wants a copy, it'll be open source and on a website that anybody could download. let me get flans version sorted and then minor adjustments to the fields you need could be mate.

i'll attach the layout later, its basically just an exe but all the buttons are dead so it wont do anything in practice. need to reboot into windows to compile it

just for the naesayers, i'm aware its a waste of time but its just a learning thing i could have made it a thousand times in access by now, or excel with some macros, but this way is more complicated

[marktb]

I use www.myhours.com

m

[Cenus_]

Access sounds more suited to what your after..

[drunkn_munky]

Thanks I'll have a look.

[marcode]

Excel is for stats and numbers. He wants to be able to store actual details on what he did for his reference. Have you ever tried writing a paragraph in an excel box?

yes... works fine unless you want to see all yer text at the one time (and if its just for reference sake, thats unlikely).. even then merging would be less of a pain in the ass than a whole new application.. or a database for that matter.

can anyone say "class action lawsuit"

[flanflinger]

woooo a topical debate is now afoot...

can I just say... I dont like excel thats why I want to swerve it lol

[marcode]

i can almost guarentee you, you'll dislike twoplanks solution just as much, if not more so than excel.

bespoke solutions suck. specially for simple requirements such as these..

but carry on.. it should be entertaining if nothing else.

[flanflinger]

would love something like AS400 bit dated now but realy good for keeping tabs on what you've done.. work, orders, billing etc