Fear not friends, there will be a SingOff post or two today.<\/p>\n
Today I’ve been working on the back end of my software. UI is one thing, but you can only get so far with ‘lorem ipsum<\/a>‘ data. Well, okay… in my case some fake data that sort of fits the project. So today, I started the process of moving from fake data to real data. This is always an iterative process that programmers and project designers know far too well.<\/p>\n First we sketch out what we think is the data we want. I usually jump from a text editor to a spread sheet. I realise this would probably be better right off the bat with a database; but that’s just crazy talk. I start out by trying to map out my main object (not really normalised<\/a> at this point) and then make one or two side objects where I think they will need to stand off by themselves. With this model\u00a0we build up some quick code to insert data by hand to have it generate out into a couple of different formats: (CSV, XML, JSON, etc) This allows me to easily re-use this data once output.<\/p>\n Now I go looking for actual data. I know what data I’m working with, so finding sample data on the interwebz is fairly easy. HOWEVER, and that’s a big however; once you start looking at real data and trying to shoehorn it into your model; you begin to realise exactly how limited your model is and where you need to make fixes. (This is why lorem ipsum only gets you so far).<\/p>\n Unfortunately, I need about 10 entries to work with the data correctly and each entry is about 60 lines\/2000 characters of hand transposed data. (The whole database side of things happens once I am happy with what I have.) Oh, did I mention… if there is ANYONE reading who knows how to go from MySQL through REST calls into a JSON output (preferably using Tomcat) I may have some work\/hobby time for you? Not kidding here. Also, if anyone knows a service that does this (with load balancing, metrics, yadda yadda yadda) comments welcome… knowledge dump will be appreciated\/rewarded (eventually)<\/p>\n So, currently I’m up to 3 records. I’ll be working this afternoon on the other 7. Now that the first part is done, each record takes about 5-10 minutes to research and build up. Then I turn the whole monster around and have the Project import and use the data. That’s when things start to get ‘exciting.’<\/p>\n Those who I talked to informally about “The Project” should feel free to message me if they want details or are interested in some questions.<\/p>\n Until later… having fun and making great progress!<\/p>\nShare this:<\/h3>