Talk:Support of Multiple Cars
From RadiusWiki
I would prefer to identify a car by any arbitrary string instead of license number only. There are some reasons for this - for example, my grandfather's car has now already 3rd license plate. Nevertheless, it is not very convenient to create a new car entry in RadiusCar for such a case. Another possible problem - in some countries it is allowed to use the license plate from an old car when you register a new one.
A car can also be internally identified by it's VIN number, but end user should see a user defined string instead.
Car table structure
Radius:
Well, you showed simple reasons why to chage the structure a bit. I suggest following list of attributes. If agreed, it can be moved into the main article.
| Car | |
|---|---|
| license number | ABC 12-34 |
| car color | silver |
| vehicle identification number | ABCDE12F123456789 |
| user's identifier | arrow |
| tank capacity | 45 liters |
Nikolai:
Let me propose a more precise definition:
| Car | ||
|---|---|---|
| Field name | Example | Field type |
| license number | ABC 12-34 | string (256) |
| car color | silver | string (256) |
| vehicle identification number | ABCDE12F123456789 | string (256) |
| user's identifier | Trabant | string (256) |
| tank capacity | 45 liters | floating-point number (or integer?) |
Radius:
I cannot agree with this proposal because RadiusCar does not use a true database background. We have to save memory allocations. So I would change the structure a bit, like this:
| Car | ||
|---|---|---|
| Field name | Example | Field type |
| license number | ABC 12-34 | string (20) |
| car color | silver | integer (index into pre-defined color table) |
| vehicle identification number | ABCDE12F123456789 | string (30) |
| user's identifier | Trabant | string (20) |
| tank capacity | 45 liters | floating-point number |
Nikolai:
It is fully OK with me.
Please insert following colours into the "pre-defined color table":
- Gletscher metallic
- Pelican Blue Metallic
;-)
Thanx.
Radius:
Reading your needs, I think it would be better to allow user defined color table ;-)
Nikolai:
It is up to developer to decide the best implementation.
I can live with Gray instead of Gletscher metallic (o, no, it is not really gray! :)) and Blue for Pelican Blue Metallic...
Nevertheless, being an end user, I appreciate your idea to let user to define colours :)
Priorities
Nikolai:
I afraid, you have to add priorities to every feature mentioned on this site.
E.g., user-defined colour table should be a late feature with lower priority...
Radius:
Of course, I am about to create a locked page defining several milestones with date and assigned features. The color table will surely be a short fixed list for the first time.
Support of More Cars - Realization
Nikolai:
Dear Radius,
One question concerning the realization of multiple car support - are you going to store data for all the cars inside of one data-file, or the program will be file-based and create a separate file for every car?
There are some pro and contra for both solutions. One file solution allows creation of graphs and statistics for all cars simultaneously. One car - one file solution provides a good possibility to exchange data between different handhelds.
What is your opinion?
Hi, I did not think about this issue before. My idea was to have all the data in one file and to allow good filtering options. It seems to me that the data exchange among many devices is not as useful as comparing more cars at once. On the other hand, physical storage should be independent of internal memory representation, shouldn't it? So it's possible RC could allow advantages of both the approaches. There is no good reason why not.
Do you see the separated data files as an important feature or is it something with a lower priority? Please consider it in a global view, not as your personal opinion.
Hi, Radius!
Separate data files for different cars are not that important.
Frankly speaking, I see only a few real cases when this feature would be requested:
- families with more than 1 car and more than 1 PPC
- small companies where PPC is used for business purposes (e.g. for van selling etc.) - manager may be interesting in collecting single data files from every van-agent to compare / combine and analyze the data
I would suggest setting low priority for this potential feature.
Please consider my opinion as an attempt to present "global view" :) as I do not belong to any of the above-mentioned categories. :)
