Need assistance on company project.

[ktopel]

Well I'm not sure this program is going to be able to do the job, but from my friends referral to using it and reading some of the forums - it seems like a very diversified program; that has many, many functions capable of providing us with what we need. But that is why I am here just to make sure.

Well we need a program that it almost could be compared to a quiz. But what I have visioned are drop down menus (maybe some buttons for questions too). And there will be 5 basic questions. And after you answer these 5 basic questions - its going to result in the best product for our customer, and will have our cost on the matching items that result.

So it seems with this program it would be basically possible. I would just like some info or pointers, on what menus, tables, and other advice I could get with more experienced users of this program to make this task as easy as possible.

I will appreciate any tid bits of information I can get my hands on at this time. I do really appreciate any help I can get.

Thank You,

Chris Young
VP of Engineering and Sales

[Intrigued]

One angle to one aspect of the project at hand:

My first thought is to use a point-rating system to weight the different choices.

Example (based on a bank's services):

CDs = value of 5
Savings Acct. = value of 4
Checking Acct. = value of 3
IRA = value of 2
Personal Loan = value of 1

For an example again...

Now, in the dropdown box you can have this set of choices, in another dropdown box you culd have several others choices, etc. etc.

Then, you could have an overall point-rating system for the main dropdown boxes. Then you can compare against the individual choices and then compare those against the overall dropdown points.

Well, that's off the top of my head. I would have to know the topic, components, etc. etc. to give a better overview of suggestions.

Sincerely,

[ktopel]

Well it the questions would be something as follows:

Blade Sizes?
4, 4.5, 5, 5.5, 6, 6.5, 7, 7.25, 7.5, 8........up to like 36

Materials Cutting?
Concrete, Marble, Granite, Brick, Block, Slate......

Type of Saw?
Hand Held Grinder, Circular Hand Saw, Tile Saw, Walk Behind....

City and State...

Then it would pop up various types of blades for our customers...

And that would be it, but there is about 400 items to enter into the script so the easier and most accurate way will be best for us. The point rating sounds like a good idea.

[Intrigued]

If this is a "one-off" deal... then you could get away with say Table(s) of data, for example again.

Otherwise, I would look at the databasing angle and thus the SQLite plugin! It's put out my I.R. just for this sort of small, single-person, interactive program like this! The database is one file and you can just put such in your "Docs" folder and query it from there. It would allow for more flexibility in the long run, to use the SQLite approach, or so I believe.

The latter route would have a learning curve of some magnitude, less if you are comfortable with SQL.

[Corey]

Database is definitely the way to go for any project which needs to "sort" through 400 items based upon item characteristics. Especially if any of those items or their characteristics are subject to change over time.

[handsomer100]

i have make a project for friend:
1.use xml to store question
2.can edit the xml database in the app
3.has bground music(File.find one floder),can use slide to control the progress and volume
4.check the correct or incorrect and show the different swf and sound
5.move windows in customs area
6.sopport skin(now be doing)

[TJ_Tigger]

Have you considered entering the data into a SQLite database, then based on the customers answer to the questions you could build a query where you say.

Select * from hardware where BladeSize = 4 and Material = 'Brick' and Type = 'Circular' and City = 'San Francisco' and State = 'CA';

Tigg

[ktopel]

Characteristics wouldnt change to much, but new products will come out so I would need to update it every once in awhile. SQL - not to much experience but I do have a SQL server running SugarCRM - an open source CRM. Well there really cant be wrong answers - maybe queries might not be met sometime, but thats ok. So should I use .xml, .doc.

And Intrigued is right its sort of a "one off" deal...

But .doc or .xml - what is AutoPlay friendlier with?

Thanks for the input everyone. Were getting places now

Handsomer if you would be willing to share that, I would really love to look at the code, and get a feel for things. And if anyone else has any files like that feel free to spam my [email protected]

[handsomer100]

my project is base on xml

i think u can use xml plugin to do this quiz~~~~~

[Intrigued]

Characteristics wouldnt change to much, but new products will come out so I would need to update it every once in awhile. SQL - not to much experience but I do have a SQL server running SugarCRM - an open source CRM. Well there really cant be wrong answers - maybe queries might not be met sometime, but thats ok. So should I use .xml, .doc.

And Intrigued is right its sort of a "one off" deal...

But .doc or .xml - what is AutoPlay friendlier with?

Thanks for the input everyone. Were getting places now

Handsomer if you would be willing to share that, I would really love to look at the code, and get a feel for things. And if anyone else has any files like that feel free to spam my [email protected]

There is an XML Plugin also!

:yes

[ktopel]

Well I could Tigger but I dont think that would help on the automatic selection of the right product, but maybe I misinterpreted you.

[Intrigued]

I have used (and first recommended this last year to the forum) the SQLite Database Browser . I then used such to create a database... based on an Excel file, which had hundreds of entries. It worked well. What I did was first remove all non-essential columns of data and then what was left used those columns (data) for the database.

But, this does not seem to be an over perplexing project, for someone comfortable with AMS 5 (Pro recommended!) and has a little bit of time.

*New Version of the SQLite Database Browswer is out as of 04/05/05

[Corey]

But .doc or .xml - what is AutoPlay friendlier with?

Definitely .xml over .doc.

Tigger's right in his post, that's the way to go. Using a database is definitely the way to go and since your data all seems to be "public" then the SQLite plug-in is the best solution. You are essentially just structuring your query according to user input, i.e. altering the "WHERE" clause of your SQL query to suit the given criteria.

Nice looking project Handsomer! :yes :yes :yes

[handsomer100]

thank u Corey~~~~~~~~


P.S.:i want to let the quiz sopport skin and can be enlarged~~~~~~

[Intrigued]

thank u Corey~~~~~~~~


P.S.:i want to let the quiz sopport skin and can be enlarged~~~~~~

That does look pretty sharp! I think you may be giving Corey a run for the top-designer chair!

:yes