.KEYWORD pocketlog
.FLYINGHEAD FIRST LOOK
.TITLE PocketLog provides real data acquisition power
.OTHER
.SUMMARY If you’re like most Palm device users, your Palm organizer keeps track of your contacts, appointments, tasks, and notes. In short, the Palm computer makes an excellent PIM. But, as John Kuo shows us in this fascinating First Look at PocketLog, the Palm computer really is a general purpose computing machine. PocketLog is a data acquisition program. Basically, PocketLog allows a Palm user to go around a factory floor doing inventory, or an engineer to take measurements, or a quality control expert to record data. So, if you want to know how you can build great data collection applications (and yes, now you really can count the number of stars in the sky), you should check out PocketLog.
.AUTHOR John Kuo
Palm devices are handy gadgets — they can store and retrieve lots of personal information, keep golf scores, view email, be used for drawing small pictures, and can perform lots of other useful functions. Even so, I believe the real potential of Palm devices as genuine working computers has yet to be realized. PocketLog, from Tescina, is a general-purpose data collection application for Palm organizers. This is one of the first programs that take Palm devices out of the PIM category and into more general data analysis computing.
The beta version of PocketLog I reviewed came with a nice install and a separate setup wizard, which made installing the program a lot easier than some other programs for the Palm organizer that I’ve used. During the setup, I also installed the optional demo file, which contains examples of the many data entry controls provided by PocketLog. Apparently, you can also run the wizard as a means to update your PocketLog database on your PC.
The demo file itself contains examples of many of the basic types of controls, including analog gauges, text notes, numeric data entry, and pop-up menus. According to Tescina, you can also set up bar code readers with the Symbol SPT 1500 version of the Palm computer.
.H1 Types of controls
While walking around collecting data is hardly most people’s idea of a good time, using PocketLog can actually be kind of fun, especially when using the many types of analog controls provided by Tescina. There are circular dials (like that shown in Figure A), dials that look like voltmeters, dials that look like speedometers, linear gauges, gauges with two controls, and even gauges with verniers (i.e., an interface that looks something like a small scale). The combination of types is pretty impressive.
.FIG A This is a circular gauge control.
Using the gauge controls graphically was about as intuitive as you can get — just tap or drag the needle on the dial to set a value. Tescina documents the resolution of each control in their beta manual, and you can scale the granularity of the controls to a very fine level.
As you define the value, it appears in an editable text field. You can also enter values into these text fields manually, by simply tapping the field.
Other controls are similarly easy to use. One of the more powerful of these is a simple form control, called a Note control, shown in Figure B. A note allows you to select options for multiple drop down lists (called "pop-up notes"), as well as an optional name text field.
.FIG B A note control can have a number of drop down text fields
There are also simple numeric entry controls, and a nice tally control, which lets you perform counts by tapping a button on the control. The example shown in Figure C lets you tally defective parts (as part of a quality control process) but I can easily see uses for inventory and other purposes.
.FIG C Imaging walking around a warehouse, trying to do an inventory. Every time you encounter a given item, click the up-arrow and the tally increases.
.H1 Using the data entry controls
Some of the real power of these controls is the ability to string a bunch of them together, which allows you to track a whole process, or gather data from many different places. You can also string together any type of control, including the simple text and numeric entry controls. Moving from one control to the next is simple; as you complete your entry, you simply press the plastic down button on your Palm device. You can also return to previous controls by pressing the plastic up button.
The grouped data entry controls can be further divided into separate "locations," which you can jump to from a drop down list. This helps you create sets of controls for various operations.
.H1 Creating those nifty controls
Your controls and locations are stored in what are called processes, a word that appears to derive from the quality control emphasis of this product. You can create and edit your processes using the Windows 95/98/NT PocketLog application (it looks like Macintosh users are out of luck). This program is the central station for designing your controls and storing your data.
The processes are shown in a tree view format, with each location a node with any number of controls. You can add new locations and controls to the tree using menu commands. It also have been nice to have toolbar buttons or right click menus to add these as well and I’m hoping Tescina makes that happen in a future release.
Each location has a set of options that lets you name and describe the location. You can also create new locations and add or re-order the controls within a location from this view. Figure D shows the Windows program being used to create a sample application that’s a collection of controls.
.FIGPAIR D This sample sequence has five controls.
Each control also has a set of extensive options, which allow extremely flexible configuration of the range and other parameters for each control. Although the results of some of these settings is obvious, it would be nice to see an example of what the control looked like while I was defining it.
One nifty feature is the ability to create double-input controls. You can add a second control (called a vernier) that can allow entry of larger or smaller units than the main control. You can see all the options available for the Circular gauge in Figure E.
.FIGPAIR E You can see that a circular gauge has been defined, with a smaller, secondary control.
.H1 Getting to your data
The real goal of using PocketLog is to automate your data collection. When you HotSync your Palm device after a data collection session, all your data is automatically uploaded to the PC and formatted for the Microsoft Access database. You can view this database from the PocketLog application (as shown in Figure F), or, if you have Access handy, open the file directly. Currently, PocketLog has no built-in charting or statistical features (although the beta manual includes tips on how to collect such data), and the beta version didn’t even support copying from the spreadsheet (although Tescina states that this will be supported by release). You can also export the data as a text file.
.FIGPAIR F You can check out the data captured in the Windows PocketLog application or build an Access application to do it all.
.H1 Conclusions
Although the current release of PocketLog appears to be targeted at the quality control engineers, I can already see many other possible applications. In using PocketLog, I felt I was getting a glimpse at the real future of Palm organizers. Even though the program is elegantly simple. PocketLog feels like a "real" program, not just another utility or organizer. If you want to see an example of the Palm device’s potential to become a serious computing platform, look no further than Tescina’s PocketLog.
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.H1 Product availability and resources
To download a free beta of PocketLog, go to http://www.tescina.com.
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.BIO John Kuo is a product designer for Autodesk. He can be reached via email at jkuo@mindspring.com.
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