Would anyone be interested in this?

[ratmandu]

I just recently got into scanning, and so im not sure if there is anything like this out there yet, but i'm thinking of writing a site in PHP to store, create, and modify frequency databases. Not like the one on RR, but one for people to store the frequencies in their scanners. It would of course be able to read many popular file formats, and be able to output them into any of those. Once i got it into a basic form, i would put it out under the GPL license, thus making it completely open source. I believe this would be useful for those who would like to keep remote backups, available from anywhere with internet access. Each user would have a login and password, and would also, if the feature was requested, have an option to publish to the public, with a unique URL.

I would be able to host it, on my site, and if it turned out to be fairly popular I could get a seperate domain for it. I co-run a web design company which me and a partner are trying to start up, so I already have a majority of it done (we use a nice login skeleton system, written by me, for easy site creation). Basically what im looking for is a few interested people to tell me that I should make it, or a few disinterested people to tell me not to

And also, If anyone would be so kind as to include sample files from your scanner software, so i can look over the different file formats available, that would be awesome. Thanks!

 

[Saint]

Files

I just recently got into scanning, and so im not sure if there is anything like this out there yet, but i'm thinking of writing a site in PHP to store, create, and modify frequency databases. Not like the one on RR, but one for people to store the frequencies in their scanners. It would of course be able to read many popular file formats, and be able to output them into any of those. Once i got it into a basic form, i would put it out under the GPL license, thus making it completely open source. I believe this would be useful for those who would like to keep remote backups, available from anywhere with internet access. Each user would have a login and password, and would also, if the feature was requested, have an option to publish to the public, with a unique URL.

I would be able to host it, on my site, and if it turned out to be fairly popular I could get a seperate domain for it. I co-run a web design company which me and a partner are trying to start up, so I already have a majority of it done (we use a nice login skeleton system, written by me, for easy site creation). Basically what im looking for is a few interested people to tell me that I should make it, or a few disinterested people to tell me not to

And also, If anyone would be so kind as to include sample files from your scanner software, so i can look over the different file formats available, that would be awesome. Thanks!

If what you need are samples of different file formats then you could go to the scanner Yahoo groups and in there file sections you can pick and choose the files you want.
Steve

 

[hoser147]

Sounds like it would be an excellent idea. you are talking a place for people to store and share their scanner files? Interesting..................Hoser

 

[morfis]

sounds like an excellent idea

 

[ratmandu]

Well, I have started on it, Depending on how fast im able to work before the rest of the family gets here, I might have a link up later tonight for anyone interested, in the beginning it will be very basic, obviously, then I will start introducing more features, such as uploading and downloading of various formats. If you all can maybe post what file formats you would most like to see, and possibly any info on the data format of the file you might have, it would be awesome.

 

[ratmandu]

Ok all, I have a very basic, test/preview version up. Ability to create database with maximum of 1000 channels for now, more may crash browsers. one click frequency database delete from the list page, will update it later to ask for confirmation. changing password on testuser account is disabled, and so are registrations for now. If anyone would like a private account, let me know and I will create one for you. very basic adding is in place, later on I will implement the ability to modify your databases, as well as a much better method of inputting frequencies, as well as file importing and exporting. One other planned feature will be easily printable lists, configurable to your specific liking.

Login link: http://ratmandu.net/FreqStore/login.php
Username: testuser
Password: testpass

Have fun! and please, don't delete databases that arent yours. and if you find a bug, please let me know as much info as you can give me, you may email me at j.richards AT otzoninteractive.com

And have a merry christmas!

 

[ScanDaBands]

Pretty Cool man - I forgot to delete my testing in it.

 

[morfis]

Ok all, I have a very basic, test/preview version up. Ability to create database with maximum of 1000 channels for now, more may crash browsers. one click frequency database delete from the list page, will update it later to ask for confirmation. changing password on testuser account is disabled, and so are registrations for now. If anyone would like a private account, let me know and I will create one for you. very basic adding is in place, later on I will implement the ability to modify your databases, as well as a much better method of inputting frequencies, as well as file importing and exporting. One other planned feature will be easily printable lists, configurable to your specific liking.

Login link: http://ratmandu.net/FreqStore/login.php
Username: testuser
Password: testpass

Have fun! and please, don't delete databases that arent yours. and if you find a bug, please let me know as much info as you can give me, you may email me at j.richards AT otzoninteractive.com

And have a merry christmas!

Scanner model isn't really relevant unless actually importing or exporting data with a specific format. Like many people on here I use several different radios which can have widely differering setups but I often want the same basic frequency information in more than one of them.

eg. I have data in a Uniden 396T and in an AR8200 that differs only in the descriptive text (due to the character limitation in the AR8200). It would make no sense to store the two complete sets of info as unique databases?

If the idea is purely to allow ones data to be available from any networked computer then google docs already allows that very nicely (my own main data is stored in spreadsheet format that way so I can check things easily on my cell phone).

 

[SCPD]

After you've a basic frequency editor working (and I strongly suggest an AJAX style grid with in-place insert, edit, and delete), here are some ideas ...

1. share select frequency sets with friends
2. share select frequency sets publicly.
3. search shared frequency sets (by frequency, location, alpha tag, etc.)
4. compare specific frequency sets (what's different between list A vs. list B)
5. a voter driven rating system for frequency sets
6. clone an existing set (eg. you like someone else's list but want to make small changes)

Example: someone downloads a "shared" frequency set and tries it out. Turns out the data is like 10 years out of date. They log back in and give the data negative feedback (perhaps with a comment explaining why). Other users seeing the overall low rating for a specific frequency set can avoid the hassle of trying out low or poor quality data.

Also suggest avoiding anything resembling a public message board - too much of a pain to keep moderated.

 

[morfis]

Maybe have a look at: http://link2radio.net//

UK/European mialir database idea that encompasses some of the ideas discussed so far. It was originally going to be free and cross-platform but Mark had a change of plan which to my mind has severly limited the usefulness.

 

[Bentley]

Sounds VERY helpful to me....lots of people on here looking for something like this. Keep us posted!

 

[ratmandu]

Ok, I got ajax editing done, Just simply click what you want to edit, edit it, and hit enter.
If a field is empty, it is now replaced with "---" on the fly so that there is something to click to edit.

Before I start implementing the CSV importing and exporting, let me know what info to include, and in what order, for the CSV files and for online viewing.. I don't have a very advanced scanner, so right now im just kinda relying on what others want, which I guess is pretty good (since im designing for what people actually want, rather than my personal preference )

 

[corbintechboy]

This is COOL!!! I have been looking for something like this. I would not so much worry at this point on how to get the data downloaded in a certain fashion. I think I would look more on how the site data should be structured. Like for instance:

1) When I come to site (when it is done) I will see my data, how will others be viewed?
2) Will data for my specific area be able to be browsed?
3) Will there be a rating system so I know the data I get has been confirmed?
4) Will I be able to somehow select the data I am interested in for download?
5) Will I be able to download data from multitable sources of my choosing (as 1 file?)?

I would worry about the site structure and let everything else fall in place. I love this idea and if you need any help I will help where I am able.

 

[ratmandu]

This is COOL!!! I have been looking for something like this. I would not so much worry at this point on how to get the data downloaded in a certain fashion. I think I would look more on how the site data should be structured. Like for instance:

1) When I come to site (when it is done) I will see my data, how will others be viewed?
2) Will data for my specific area be able to be browsed?
3) Will there be a rating system so I know the data I get has been confirmed?
4) Will I be able to somehow select the data I am interested in for download?
5) Will I be able to download data from multitable sources of my choosing (as 1 file?)?

I would worry about the site structure and let everything else fall in place. I love this idea and if you need any help I will help where I am able.

1) Other Users data will be searchable, and browsable as long as that user makes that list publicly viewable. There will be 3 settings a user can place there data at. Private - Only they can see it. Privately Shared - Users can only view it with a special URL, known only by the user and whoever they give it to. Public - Viewable by anyone, with a URL or by search/browse.
2) I'll go ahead and add city, county, state and , if wanted, country fields.
3) Yes, that will be worked on once I open up actual registrations.
4) I'm not sure about that at first, It will most likely come later on.
5) That may also come later on.

The site will probably also get a big makeover in a while, Im also putting together a nice theme in the background, and will have multiple, selectable themes as well.

Also, the edit boxes are the first time I have ever done anything with ajax, and I am learning it as I go now. how it is now, I am using an awesome script called instantedit.js, courtesy of http://www.yvoschaap.com/instantedit/ . Although, I really want to learn ajax to the point I can do something either similar to that, or something more similar to a spreadsheet app, where you can tab through. So thats hopefully something we can all look forward to.

 

[ratmandu]

Ok all, I got private registration set up.
Password changing has also been enabled, But please do not change the testuser password.
If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, feel free to post them in this thread, PM me, or email me. Have Fun!

http://ratmandu.net/FreqStore/register.php

 

[corbintechboy]

Would you take some ideas for a site graphic? Or do you prefer to keep it simple? If you would like when I get to the house I can try and work up something,

 

[w2lie]

That is some cool stuff right there!!
Would you consider releasing the code under GPL, or is this something you plan on keeping private?

I'd love to add this to my site
BTW - You can delete my Database if you want.. My Bearcat III doesn't work anymore

 

[ratmandu]

Sure, Ill take ideas for graphics, I've got a few that I've been working around a bit in my off time. I might have to put this to the side for a bit, since paid projects are gonna get higher priority than the 'for fun' ones .

About releasing the code GPL, It is something I want to do, but something I might not do, because some of the code for the login system was done by a partner of mine, and I'll have to run it over with him first. But it is something that will happen once I've had enough time to clean it up, put proper comments in, etc.

And also, no need to delete databases... The more that have content in them, the merrier. Gotta have some guinea pigs to test on.

 

[ratmandu]

--WARNING--

I have just found a big booboo in the deleting of rows, If you delete one row, then delete one below it, the wrong row might be deleted. I will leave the row deletion on, for now, but the best way to prevent this from happening, if you are deleting multiple rows, refresh the page between deletions. I will start working on this now, and will let you all know when it is fixed.

I've just realized that this will also affect editing of rows, if you delete a row, then edit one below the deleted row, the value would be saved to the wrong row.

 

[ratmandu]

Ok all, Fixed the bugs, the database will now update in the background after each edit or deletion. Plus, I have added inline insertion of rows, added alternating stripes to make it easier to read, and you can now press enter to move to the next field while editing. I'll probably change the initial adding of databases around to better match the editing.