Week 8: File management

Work on the project has transitioned into handling uploaded files. Since surveyors will have both a data form and ultrasonic recordings, the intention is to save these files on a server using a file naming scheme that is easily searchable. I have yet to receive a sample recording to understand what I will be working with exactly, but I have been told that the files are quite large, and can expand into sizes over a gigabyte. This would require a large server just to maintain a record of audio recordings. Thankfully magnetic drives are getting cheaper, so getting a few terabytes wouldn't be too much of an issue. As of now, I am able to upload and rename files as desired to a folder. Looking forward to checking out some data samples this week.

Week 7: Parser complete

The parsing setup is fully functioning. I still have to run extended tests but everything looks great so far. Users will upload their forms, the data will be parsed and sorted for upload, then added to the database without the need for intervention. I still have to address the process for uploading data from new locations, but this shouldn't be much of an issue. I will be finishing up some of the smaller things within the code and once testing is complete, I should be able to throw anything at it and keep it working as intended. The next steps are to work on user authentication and accounts, along with a method to store uploaded information that includes the document for backup and the audio files from surveys. As this project continues to move forward, it will be harder to post screenshots of completed work if we want to protect the integrity of the system since it may one day be public facing. I will do my best to include relevant media but it will be tough!

Week 6: New form and reference table

I ended up recreating the bat data form so that it is parsed in the order needed for upload, and to clean things up a bit. The database now has a reference table that will be used to compare against submissions. When a user selects a location, all other relevant data to that location will be auto populated in the new entry. This keeps the number of items on the submission forms minimal, reducing the risk for errors. I am becoming much more comfortable with MySQL. Using a query, I can scan the reference table to see if a location matches the user's selection, then pull all data from the matching row.

Week 5: Steady progress

Not much to report this week except progess is still underway. The reduced form fields in the PDF means that code will have to fill in missing information based on the location selected by the user. The biggest struggle right now has been finding the appropriate PDF creation system, since not all of them operate the same. It is important that the PDF creator allows drop-down menus that are compatible with the parsing system. As of right now, the drop-down menu included in the current PDF is not visible to the parsing system, so I will likely have to resort to paid software such as Adobe Acrobat Pro to fix this. I have gotten better at working with SQL queries through PHP. It is quite powerful to request information from a large database instead of having it stored locally. I hope that in the future, I can lay groundwork for a system that will request infromation from the database and be used to create reports or generate charts. I will be working with Matt on goals for the system and other features that I can implement. Looking forward to the future of this project!