New Bonsai Management Software - bonsaiTALK Community

23-Jan-2007	#1
BrianP03103 bonsaiTALK Master Join Date: Dec-2006 Location: Manchester, NH Country: USA USDA Zone: 5A AHS Heat Zone: 4 Posts: 390	New Bonsai Management Software After reading this thread, it seems that there is no Bonsai Management software that satisfies everyone's requirements. I have downloaded several software "systems", and have found them all lacking in one way or another. I have over a quarter century experience designing and developing software and databases. I have had to retire as I have become severely disabled. I try to keep my hand in by doing pro bono work. Financially, I am not able to contribute much to this community. However, I would like to assist the bonsai community by donating my services for this effort. What I would like is several people with some experience using similar software to review my designs and (later) to test prototypes. Sure, I can guess as to the communities needs (as others apparently did), and end up with similarly unsatisfactory results. So, can we work together to develop the Bonsai Management system we would all find most useful? Regards, Brian __________________ Everything on all planes of existence is interconnected - you and your tree are one! __________________________________________ Download information for the Bonsai Management System: http://home.comcast.net/~BrianP03103/BonsaiManagementSystem.txt

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23-Jan-2007	#2
Graydon bonsaiTALK Master Chief Join Date: Apr-2006 Location: Lakeland - Florida Country: United States USDA Zone: 9A AHS Heat Zone: 11 Posts: 1,004	Brian - that is a very noble pursuit. A good management application would be well received. I could certainly use one. I did correspond with another developer that has posted here in the past - he had created something that looked to be useful but I never downloaded what was needed for me to use it. Sorry to hear about the disability. Sounds like you have a few things to keep you busy (software and bonsai). I wish you the best of luck. Oh - I would love to test beta stuff but I doubt that will work. I'm an old school Mac user. I have limited myself to what is available but I have no regrets. I'm sure others will step up to beta test... Thanks for the offer! __________________ There is unrest in the Forest There is trouble with the trees For the maples want more sunlight And the oaks ignore their pleas.

23-Jan-2007

tachigi

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Brain, Let me know how I can help. Have had 3 different software programs designed for Bonsai. The one that was amazing still had bugs in it and when I changed to XP it didn't run so I abandoned it. I think if you can pull of a good quality program you'll be doing us all a great service.

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24-Jan-2007	#4
BONSAI_OUTLAW Duct Tape Ninja Join Date: Mar-2006 Location: Woodstown, NJ USDA Zone: 7 AHS Heat Zone: ? Posts: 485	I can't even articulate how much I would like to see you succeed with this.

24-Jan-2007

BrianP03103

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Success

Quote:

Originally Posted by BONSAI_OUTLAW

I can't even articulate how much I would like to see you succeed with this.

Thank you.

Honestly, either we succeed together (because you all helped me define requirements and test prototypes), or it all fails due to lack of interest.

I am certainly willing to put forth the effort as a contribution to this community in return for the aid I am receiving here. But success requires active community participation.

I'll put in the development effort once I believe that we have set forth satisfactory design specifications to insure that the resulting software will meet most people's needs.

Brian

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Download information for the Bonsai Management System:
http://home.comcast.net/~BrianP03103/BonsaiManagementSystem.txt

24-Jan-2007	#6
BrianP03103 bonsaiTALK Master Join Date: Dec-2006 Location: Manchester, NH Country: USA USDA Zone: 5A AHS Heat Zone: 4 Posts: 390	Starting Place With the previous posting in mind, I present several questions for community consideration... What you found lacking in other software? What did you find that you did not like? What did you need that you did not find? What would have preferred work differently and how would you have liked it to work? Details are a good thing, even if you think you are running off at the mouth. Better to discover something now than later in the development process. OK? In order to organize the information most efficiently and to avoid reinventing the wheel, using a database of some sort is an absolute necessity. Is the requirement to use a database an insurmountable problem? __________________ Everything on all planes of existence is interconnected - you and your tree are one! __________________________________________ Download information for the Bonsai Management System: http://home.comcast.net/~BrianP03103/BonsaiManagementSystem.txt Last edited by BrianP03103 : 24-Jan-2007 at 05:50 AM.

24-Jan-2007	#7
kcpoole bonsaiTALK Master Craftsman Join Date: May-2006 Location: Sydney Country: Australia Posts: 842	Hiya Brian I am a IT Systems Engineer and would love to help develop a decent product for Bonsia management with you. I cannot design or program at all but can test anything you have on multiple systems and provide bug reports etc. I can do usability testing and am generally good at picking bad designs apart :-). One thing I like to see is "cross platform tools". I use both Linux ( pick your distro Debian/Ubuntu in daily use) and Windows I can test on anything from Win95 ---> Vista. I am sure the Mac users of the forum will help as well. Have you seen OT2? http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Educational/OT2.shtml It is not bad and is cross platform but I found a bit "clunky" to use. Ken __________________ When engineers work out how to make something Idiot proof, humanity invents a better Idiot

24-Jan-2007

BrianP03103

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Great!

Ken,

Quote:

Originally Posted by kcpoole

I cannot design or program at all but can test anything you have on multiple systems and provide bug reports etc. I can do usability testing and am generally good at picking bad designs apart :-).

GREAT! Another "set of eyes" to review and critique my work is always appreciated. You will see things I did not, and be able to comment incisively.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kcpoole

One thing I like to see is "cross platform tools".

Unfortunately, I have limitations in this area. I only have Windoze platforms, and intended to develop using MS-Access (OK for Mac's, a non-starter for Linux). I have acquired one of the distributable non-development Access licenses for the use of anyone here who wishes to download the software, especially if they are helping me test. But, this limitation is necessary for me. More strenuous development efforts (ie - coding from scratch) is something I no longer have the physical stamina to do. Sorry. If this limitation is a show-stopper, then let's get that out on the table here and now, so none of us waste our time on a dead at the starting gate project.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kcpoole

Have you seen OT2? ...but I found a bit "clunky" to use.

Clunky? I downloaded it found that to be opinion to be a vast understatement. Worse, it allowed for no modification for support information, such as specie. I found no listing for Chinese Elm, and absolutely NO provision was made to allow addition to, modification of, or deletion from the species list. TOTALLY unacceptable, IMHO. In fact, that experience is what drove me to start this thread!

Brian

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Everything on all planes of existence is interconnected - you and your tree are one!

__________________________________________

Download information for the Bonsai Management System:
http://home.comcast.net/~BrianP03103/BonsaiManagementSystem.txt

Last edited by BrianP03103 : 24-Jan-2007 at 10:55 AM. Reason: Change of Circumstance

24-Jan-2007

bwaynef

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It seems to me that you'd be better off designing software from the ground up rather than trying to avoid where your predecessors failed. A list of required specifications would be the best starting place, and THEN a list of gotchas to watch out for.

I'd recommend something web driven, but it'd require the availability of a web server. Maybe you could bundle one of the smaller webservers, but then you run into another cross-platform issue.

I'd suspect you'd want to keep information relating to:

-Species and an identifier: w/in species (you can have more than one of the same species, but you'd need to uniquiely identify each tree.....possibly just an autoincrementer)
-Origination data:purchase date and pertinent origination data including original or as-was photo
-Styling: information on what was done,when, & as many photos as available
-Repotting: ...to include soil makeup, though this could be included in the above
-Schedule: of tasks with some sort of calendaring
-Tips: link to, or in-built care tips by species with possibility of adding to/editing those tips
-...and whatever i'm forgetting

sorry, missed the un-cross-platform-ishness mentioned earlier. I'd prefer a (perl or PHP)/MySQL solution

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Last edited by bwaynef : 24-Jan-2007 at 10:39 AM.

24-Jan-2007

#10

BrianP03103

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