Points total and contests

DaveH

DaveH

Team HuskerBoard
With the scoring contests getting bigger and bigger, we need to come up with a better way to keep track of points. Editing a single post get's tedious.

I wonder if we could write something that would use mySQL in the back end and an interface that people would be able to submit their predictions and update point totals automatically?

 
I agree, the current process is no good at all. I'll take a look around for other options..

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I agree, the current process is no good at all. I'll take a look around for other options..
Click to expand...
I am sure it wouldn't be to hard for someone with the experience to code up something. Unfortunately, I have about this {} much experience programming web apps.

 
***SNIP***
I wonder if we could write something that would use mySQL in the back end and an interface that people would be able to submit their predictions and update point totals automatically?
Click to expand...
Hmmmm...I'm not too hot with PHP, but I can see ways to do it with ASP. And if it can be done with ASP, it can be done with PHP.

But I see some problems. First and foremost, while you can set up a submissions page, how do you segregate the submissions for one week from those from another week when you run the calculation on it (regardless how the calculation is performed)?

The one way I see of doing it - probably not the best - is to have a separate table for each opponent. Then, use a JavaScript or something similar to calculate the winner - you'd have to have a drop-down or some way to select the correct table.

As part of the calculation, it also writes the totals to the winning members' fields and then writes a display to the board.

Is there a more streamlined way anyone can think of?

 
Just thinking out loud here...

I don't think there is a way to get around having a table for every week's games. Part of setting up the weekly contest could be creating a new table. Of course, there'd be an interface of sorts to do that.

Then again maybe we could build 12-14 tables in the beginning, Week 1, Week 2, etc, etc, then maybe have another table that would designate what week is what opponent based on the year's schedule. The week tables would have columns like userid, NUscore, oppscore, passyds, rushyds, etc. The schedule would just have opponent and week.

At the end of the week, the app could run a query to give the potential winners based on the game score and yardage provided. Once the winners are determined, by the user if necessary, the master points table would be updated.

 
That's the way I see it, also. Now...anyone of us that knows PHP well enough to mod the board? Again, if it was ASP I could do it, but not PHP...

 
That's the way I see it, also. Now...anyone of us that knows PHP well enough to mod the board? Again, if it was ASP I could do it, but not PHP...
Click to expand...
I wonder if this host can do ASP... ?

 
That's the way I see it, also.  Now...anyone of us that knows PHP well enough to mod the board?  Again, if it was ASP I could do it, but not PHP...
Click to expand...
I wonder if this host can do ASP... ?
Click to expand...
I doubt it. There's an ASP based board software package I use called SNITZ and it can't run under Linux. It can run under Sun's UNIX with what used to be called ChilliASP. But even then it's a battle to get it to work.

It will work with mySQL under Windows, though.

 
When you brought this up I thought you meant tracking the points, didn't realize you were also talking about managing the contests. I know mySQL well enough, just don't know how to get it to interact with PHP.. I could probably figure it out but I don't think the time it would take me would be worth it to Chads pocket book.

 
By the way, AR, I thought you were an attorney. I have dealt with many an attorney and NONE of then knew diddly about anything computer related. Are you really an attorney?? I don't believe it..

 
By the way, AR, I thought you were an attorney. I have dealt with many an attorney and NONE of then knew diddly about anything computer related. Are you really an attorney?? I don't believe it..
Click to expand...
'Fraid I am. You can confirm it by going HERE and entering my last name (GoBell, if you haven't kept any of my missives for posterity).

I got into computers some time back, and have kind of turned it into a bit of a side business. I do some web design and web applications with ASP and Visual Studio.NET, some VB programming, and some database development (albeit most of my experience there is in Microsoft Access, which works fine for a lot of the projects I take on). I like building my own computers - currently have five at home - two servers, one Windows workstation, one Linux box, and one test bed (running Windows Vista RC1 Build 5600 and the refresh of Office 2007 Beta). Even found time to become an MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer).

I have a rather unique contract with the State of Arkansas. Some legal, some computer.

"Specialization is for insects."

--Robert Heinlein in "Time Enough For Love"

 
When you brought this up I thought you meant tracking the points, didn't realize you were also talking about managing the contests. I know mySQL well enough, just don't know how to get it to interact with PHP.. I could probably figure it out but I don't think the time it would take me would be worth it to Chads pocket book.
Click to expand...
Kind of both,actually. With the increasing number of people entering the scoring contest specifically, it's getting combersome to enter all the scores in by hand into an excel spreadsheet.

 
good ideas. hmm, how bout we create an external app, indepdent of the board and PHP if necessary? heres how I could see it working...

post the contest thread like normal, but instead of members posting on the board, we send them to an external app via a popup box. this would have 4 fields for score, rush, pass, & member name. in this case it would capture the data in structured fields, instead of a random order requiring re-keying. Im not big on excel macros and such, but I could see something simple being designed via VB, and then interact it with the code you already have for identifying the winners. the only problem i could see would be member authentication, but we could probly work out some type of post-contest validation - and after all, they cant redeem pts unless they are members anyway. but there could be an isssue with ppl making submissions under fake names to fuhk with other members. so maybe we require they post their email addy also, and hide it from others.

as far as maintaining & updating the post totals, Im sure the new version has a mod which allows pts to be updated under each members name. so that would make it fiarly easy to update each week, but it would probly have to be by hand still, b/c with all the contests I dont see an auto-way to go about synching all of them up with the "total pts" field.

thoughts?

 
Back
Top