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scoring programs on iPhone, or android

Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2010 6:12 am
by Peter Skov
Hi,

I once used a program called Targetplot on my Palm.
It was the best scoring keeper I've ever seen.

But are there some good scoring keepers for either a iPhone, or a Android phone?

cheers

Peter

Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2010 6:59 am
by jipe
I know and tried two: RingHunter and TotalScore.

RingHunter could be nice with statistics but has a lot of bugs !

TotalScore is very basic but work without problem.

Actually, ISSF should make one for all ISSF events.

Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2010 7:29 am
by David Levene
jipe wrote:Actually, ISSF should make one for all ISSF events.
Good idea. Why don't you suggest it to them; I'm sure they would appreciate it.

Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2010 2:48 pm
by stevep
On the strength of Jipe's comment I bought RingHunter.

Well, that was two hours of my time which I won't get back. And a substancial amount of money.

The interface could be a lot better - you need small fingers.

The instructions could be a lot, lot, clearer. I think that if I spoke fluent German (?) it might be easier, but I've had a look at the support page, and the lack of instruction and help is the same, whichever language you choose.

Ultimately it is just a database with a list of numbers, it's difficult to enter data, and a very complex interface. There is nothing to make it specific to shooting. With hindsight I should have bought a spreadsheet app, and used that.

I hate to be so negative about something which obviously has a lot of work put into it, and I'm a failed programmer myself, so I know how hard it is. I'll persevere with the app, because I've paid good money for it, but I don't have any enthusiasm for it.

If anyone knows any better - maybe I've missed something - maybe I need to spend 4 hours rather than 2 hours - then I'm happy and willing to be corrected.

Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2010 4:08 pm
by jipe
stevep wrote:OWell, that was two hours of my time which I won't get back. And a substancial amount of money.
Sorry, I didn't recommend it, I explicitely wrote that it has a lot of bugs !

But it is also more than a simple spreadsheet, you can define several events, several guns, have statistics per event, per gun... if it was bug free ! Almost everything inclusive that is of course also possible with a speadsheet.. but you need to make it yourself and it requires a very good knowledge of Excel.

The only positive point is that there are very regular updates that fixed many bugs (the earlier versions were so buggy that they were unusable) and improved the user interface (yes, believe it or not, it was even worse on earlier versions !) -> we can hope that it will eventually be bug free. Oh, yes, a very negative point with updates: part of the data was lost after some of the updates !

ISSF has now an iPhone apps but not made to record your own results.

Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2010 5:15 pm
by talladega
Maybe I'll have to learn to program for the iPhone and Android then....

I did make a very nice program for our local junior club to keep track of shooting relays, student information, scores and awards. Put in at least 100 hours of time into it. Wish I got money for it.... lol




How much did those programs cost you guys?

I may take a serious look into this.

Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2010 6:54 am
by stevep
jipe wrote:
Sorry, I didn't recommend it, I explicitely wrote that it has a lot of bugs !
Absolutely. You wrote that it could be nice with statistics, but has a lot of bugs. That's good enough for me to take a risk. You were clear, I made a choice, and took the risk.

I wasn't suggesting that you were in any way shape or form responsible for my pressing the button. And I wasn't looking for an apology.

Good start hey? Managing to offend someone within my first 24 hours of being a member.

Back to RingHunter. When it is easy to enter scores - with big buttons so I can do it while I'm in position, then I will happily give it another go. If anyone knows if it will do this already, then please let me know.

Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2010 9:22 am
by jipe
talladega wrote:Maybe I'll have to learn to program for the iPhone and Android then....

I did make a very nice program for our local junior club to keep track of shooting relays, student information, scores and awards. Put in at least 100 hours of time into it. Wish I got money for it.... lol




How much did those programs cost you guys?

I may take a serious look into this.
Ringhunter if I remember well was about 5Euros, Totalscore 2 or 3, I do not remember.

To make an iPhone Apps that can be accepted by Apple you need to buy a developper licence. Otherwise it will only be usable on a jailbroken iPhone.

Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2010 5:00 pm
by talladega
Well I will have to check out what that all will be as I imagine there would be quite a bit of people wanting to buy such a program?

Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2010 5:27 pm
by ghostrip
any other scoring programs in java so they can be used in other phones?

Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2010 5:05 am
by NoPhones
Bear in mind ISSF rules require all phones to be off while on the range during a competition. This means they shouldn't be used for timing purposes neither.

Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2010 2:28 pm
by jipe
NoPhones wrote:Bear in mind ISSF rules require all phones to be off while on the range during a competition. This means they shouldn't be used for timing purposes neither.
What does öff"mean ? It doesn't require a full power-off.

On most smartphone, you can switch off the RF/mobile phone part (on iPhone it is called "airplane mode") while still being able to use the rest of the smartphone features.

Remember also that the Iphone apps also work on the iPod Touch (what the iPhone imore or less is when switched in airplaine mode excepted that all RF connections are off = also Wifi and Bluetooth).

Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2010 2:41 pm
by David Levene
jipe wrote:What does öff"mean ? It doesn't require a full power-off.
Doesn't it?

The last sentance of 6.3.6.6 "All mobile telephones etc. must be switched OFF."

At the World Championships, certainly on the 25m range and I think on the others as well, the last part of the introduction was "the use of a mobile phone as a stopwatch is not permitted"

Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2010 4:12 pm
by Spencer
David Levene wrote:
jipe wrote:What does öff"mean ? It doesn't require a full power-off.
Doesn't it?

The last sentance of 6.3.6.6 "All mobile telephones etc. must be switched OFF."

At the World Championships, certainly on the 25m range and I think on the others as well, the last part of the introduction was "the use of a mobile phone as a stopwatch is not permitted"
All thanks to some coaches who were sending messages to shooters who claimed that they were only using their phones as a stopwatch

Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2010 4:27 pm
by jhmartin
NoPhones wrote:This means they shouldn't be used for timing purposes neither.
Corrected:This means they shouldn't be used for no timing purposes neither.

Us rednecks gotta speak & write rightly
...... not really pickin' fun, it just made me laugh. & yeah, some call me a redneck

Same at the OTC here in the US ... Phones off and preferred off the table & in the shooting bags

Posted: Sun Oct 17, 2010 6:38 am
by jipe
David Levene wrote:
jipe wrote:What does öff"mean ? It doesn't require a full power-off.
Doesn't it?

The last sentance of 6.3.6.6 "All mobile telephones etc. must be switched OFF."

At the World Championships, certainly on the 25m range and I think on the others as well, the last part of the introduction was "the use of a mobile phone as a stopwatch is not permitted"
What does etc. mean ? What type of equipment is covered by this etc. ?

Remember that a mobile phone is never completely powered off excepted if you remove the battery !

Switching the RF part off on a smartphone is equivalent to switching off a baseline phone.[/b]

Posted: Sun Oct 17, 2010 8:35 am
by David Levene
jipe wrote:
David Levene wrote:
jipe wrote:What does öff"mean ? It doesn't require a full power-off.
Doesn't it?

The last sentance of 6.3.6.6 "All mobile telephones etc. must be switched OFF."

At the World Championships, certainly on the 25m range and I think on the others as well, the last part of the introduction was "the use of a mobile phone as a stopwatch is not permitted"
What does etc. mean ? What type of equipment is covered by this etc. ?
Probably those mentioned in the first part of that rule:-
"The use of mobile telephones, walkie-talkies, pagers or similar devices by competitors, coaches and team officials while within the competition area is prohibited."
jipe wrote:Switching the RF part off on a smartphone is equivalent to switching off a baseline phone.
And you would expect range officers to be able to tell the state of all of the different phones on the market? What about if the phone is set up to use a different language or, even more difficult, a different alphabet set?

If you want to run the risk of being pinged on an ISSF range then fine, do whatever you want. Don't pretend though that it's anything other than a deviation away from the strict rules.

Posted: Mon May 30, 2011 6:39 am
by diathermic
There is a program called Plink Log for Android that has just been developed. It is essentially a score logger. I've been playing with it for only a few hours, but I think it is quite good. Still a few quirks here and there but overall it is pretty good. I personally like the fact that it stores your targets (with notes) as XML files on your SD card which you can then export to a computer and if your computer savvy, do basically anything with them. If not, you can at least easily back them up from time to time, in case your phone dies or you get a new one, etc.
You can find the program on the android market or the developers webpage:
http://plinklog.blogspot.com/

Posted: Mon May 30, 2011 9:16 am
by Barney
Apple do an App for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch
Its called ISSF Trainer, it will reccord your score if you plot your shots on it and you can make training notes on it as well, etc etc.

Posted: Mon May 30, 2011 10:21 am
by davederrick
diathermic wrote:There is a program called Plink Log for Android that has just been developed. It is essentially a score logger.
Thanks for the mention, I'm the developer of Plink Log Pro. I've been trying to get around various forums to plug it ;)

Its what I call an "informal" target logger, as there are many shooting disciplines & coding the rules for them all would be quite time consuming. My primary use is when shooting long distances (e.g. 1000 yards) and the target gets pulled & patched for each shot - I can then plot each time I see the spotting disk & see where my string is going.

I'm quite happy to take direct emails for support, or as diathermic has sent me a list of suggestions which I'm going to try implementing for the next release. There are still further releases in the pipline, on Google get the Cloud Printing & Device API released. I will also do a PC component to transfer & archive your records into a PC database.

p.s. there is a FREE version of the app in the Android market place.

Happy shooting.