Development

Field Status

UPDATE: I’ve posted a screen shot of the current alpha version here.

My newest project is Field Status. I started planning the project a few weeks ago and last week started coding. Field Status is a script for schools, clubs, and organizations that have fields that are open or closed due to weather or improvements. Basically it allows instant field communications between the club and its members. It offers a way for the club to change the status of a field to Open or Closed via a Web-Based Control Panel. You can also attach a short message to the status update. It has a built in mailing list that offers your club a chance to receive status changes via email or their cell phone. The club is also able to include the current status of each field on their website via one simple line of php. They also include the (un)subscribe email form on their site. The Control Panel allows you to view the email addresses in the database, add new ones or delete current ones.

The script came about when a client of mine, a soccer club in Lawton, Oklahoma wanted a better way to communicate their field status with its members. They have two soccer complexes and with thousands of kids in the club they have several teams with practices at different times and needed a way to communicate with the coaches and parents on when fields are open or closed without delays. The script is currently in an alpha release. I have a few copies running in different environments (php4, php5, mysql4, mysql 5, etc) and so far everything is good. I still have a to do list to finished the script but its coming.

I plan to make this my first hosted project. The script will be up for download on sourceforge during its beta phase and the first stable release. I plan to provide it as a hosted script that will allow you to register, create your club, add fields, and update status via the Field Status website. It will require no downloads and no installation as it will be hosted on its own server. All users will have to do is copy and paste a couple of lines of code (to show the current status of each field) and copy and paste a few lines for the subscribe form to their own site. All my projects and scripts in the paste have been opensource downloadable so it will be interesting for this project to be hosted. Currently I’m the only developer but I’m looking for somebody to join to help get the project moved from what I have to a hosted app. I still have several things on the to-do list before its ready to be used. Currently the installer, user system, user security (salted md5 passwords), change field status and emailing status to users is complete and working. I just gotta finish the settings, subscribe forms, and status include. Hopefully I’ll have the first beta up for download by the weekend. If anybody is interested in joining as a developer let me know. The script is written in php/sql. I’m hoping to have a demo up by then as well.

activeCollab

I’ve been working on a review of activeCollab for two days now and planned to finish it up today. However, today I found out that Derek from 5thirtyone.com did a review on it last year and recently compared activeCollab to Basecamp and GoPlan. Both articles are great and give plenty of details on the plus of activeCollab. I personally have never used BaseCamp however I planned to before I came across activeCollab and like the thought of everything being on my server (and free/opensource). For anybody who does freelance work or uses BaseCamp (or others like it) you really should check out activeCollab (assuming you have server resources, although it doesn’t take much). It does require php5 though (which shouldn’t be a major problem as most hosts have it). I’ve been running activeCollab for a few months now but only recently started really using it with my clients (the biggest one being the Lawton Soccer Club). Before we went back and forth on emails and phone calls about the site and its hard to keep things organized and took to much time for me to go through emails and find tasks he wanted done. activeCollab took a huge load off me and makes things much easier. Its also easy to customize to match your company site or just a fresh design. Keep an eye on the activeCollab site and blog as the big release is coming soon with a load of new features.

Custom WP Login

I have been looking for an easy way to customize the WordPress login page for clients. I thought about hardcoding it but that would just be a problem when updating the WordPress core. I searched around a little and didn’t find anything I could use but today MattBrett posted a screenshot of his WP login screen and a plugin that he is using. It works great. I thought I would share the site with everybody else using WordPress. You can find the plugin here. There is also a Flickr Group with other screenshots of how others are using the plugin.

Developer Needed

This is pasted from my post on the 2532|Gigs Forums. I am looking for one or two developers to join on a new project (debating on whether it will be a downloadable script or a hosted app (web 2.0 style). For more information just contact me at twofivethreetwo@gmail.com. I am hoping to finish planning and actually start coding within the next week or two and hope to get something online soon after that (at least a beta version).

I am in the process of starting a new project. I am still debating whether the project will be a downloadable (opensource) script or a hosted script (i’ll provide hosting, domain, etc). The basis of the script is a status updater. There is a site called statusme.com which allows sporting clubs to communicate with members about the status of their fields. One of my clients actually uses the site. It seems that the site hasn’t been updated in years and has come into alot of problems with its system and the contact form doesn’t seem to go anywhere. I have been asked by several of the clubs who use this site if I could come up with an alternative. I thought it would be great to create and useful script for them and others. My first thought was a hosted app (web 2.0 style) like statusme.com but have also thought about releasing it (maybe doing both). I haven’t started the script yet (just thinking about things and outlining things) but I’m looking for some help (one or two developers is all).

Here is the current outline (basic) for what the script will do (if its a hosted app). The club will register (and all that goes with that, confirming email, etc). They will then be able to log in and set the field status to Open or Closed and attach Additional Comments (a text field) to it and update the status. The status is then updated and an email is sent out to everybody that has opted to get emails from that club (each club will basically have their own mailing list). We will provide code snippets to allow them to put a (un)subscribe form on their site (without having to send users to our site, if its hosted). We will also post code snippets on different ways to display the status on their site. I mainly want two ways. One is text ‘Open’ and ‘Closed’ and the second is image (a green light and red light). It has been suggested to add a text messaging feature to allow users to get text messages (but this isn’t on my list right now).

The project is still in planning so if your a developer and have time to spend on developing this project let me know. I am open to suggestions and ideas so feel free to be creative and since its still being planned, I would like more input. If your interested email me at twofivethreetwo @ gmail . com

2532|Counter [Release]

I just released 2532|Counter v1.1. This release adds the ability to count unique visitors. It stores a cookie (if cookies are enabled of course) and looks for it on their next visit. If they have cookies disabled or delete the cookies then it will count them again. I do have one more planned feature which I started but didn’t get finished which is counting current users on the site. I have a database version but need to rewrite it for flat file to include here. Download the script below. Let me know if you have any problems.

Download Now
[downloadcounter(2532Counter_v1.1.zip)] Downloads (v1.1)
[downloadcounter(2532Counter_v1.0.zip)] Downloads (v1.0)
Support Forums

2532|Counter [Release]

There are a ton of counter scripts out there. Some are very simple and some are difficult. Either way I figured I would release mine. This is actually one that I have used for a while now when I need just a simple counter. Its about 8 lines of code so nothing major and only displays total visits (hits). I am going to add the ability to count unique visits and online users. I might try to get this done over the weekend and release another version. There is nothing fancy or feature rich about this its just plain and simple, a counter. However, some might find it useful (or at least when I add the last two features). If you have any problems just let me know.

Download Now
[downloadcounter(2532Counter_v1.0.zip)] Downloads
Support Forums