Online whizzy database type of thing!
Discussion
For the past few years, I've been running a competition amongst a growing group of friends (circa 35-50No. across the globe) around an annual motor race.
I shalln't go in to specifics here, but fundamentally you're scored on vehicle positions throughout the race, leading to a winner with the best final position. The fun for participants is we can update (manually) throughout the race, so it keeps interest.
Each year, the competition has grown. We've always done it to the benefit of a charity that's dear to me, and some winnings split across the first three places. I'd very much like to see if we can automate the process a bit. A friend of mine has created a very whizzy excel sheet that has done this to a degree, but I'm mindful that a database might enable us to do something online, so our participants can see at a glance where the comp is (using race feeds). that will also enable me to enjoy the race rather than worrying about trying to do updates. It would also enable me to potentially grow the competition and raise more for charity.
If anyone has the type of skills that might be able to point me in the right direction, or would fancy being involved, please message me directly. It's not a paid gig as it's a good bit of fun, but you would go down with eternal glory!!!
I shalln't go in to specifics here, but fundamentally you're scored on vehicle positions throughout the race, leading to a winner with the best final position. The fun for participants is we can update (manually) throughout the race, so it keeps interest.
Each year, the competition has grown. We've always done it to the benefit of a charity that's dear to me, and some winnings split across the first three places. I'd very much like to see if we can automate the process a bit. A friend of mine has created a very whizzy excel sheet that has done this to a degree, but I'm mindful that a database might enable us to do something online, so our participants can see at a glance where the comp is (using race feeds). that will also enable me to enjoy the race rather than worrying about trying to do updates. It would also enable me to potentially grow the competition and raise more for charity.
If anyone has the type of skills that might be able to point me in the right direction, or would fancy being involved, please message me directly. It's not a paid gig as it's a good bit of fun, but you would go down with eternal glory!!!
biggiles said:
A friend with whizzy Excel skills may be able to re-create 90% of it in Google Sheets (online spreadsheet, open to anyone).
Not quite as high-tech, but easier to manage/maintain!
Thanks, appreciate the thought. We'd thought about that, but the 'computing' of it is the relatively easy bit. We want to try and draw the data from a timing screen straight in (guessing that's an API type thing?). If that's doable in to Excel/Google Sheets that's definitely a possibility, but my IT naivety tells me it's not?! Not quite as high-tech, but easier to manage/maintain!
I think you're going to have to give us a bit more of a clue what you're actually trying to achieve, what are the data sources etc etc.
Excel (with vba) is really powerful and can gather data from api etc without too much issue, if you're wanting to put that real time onto the web I am guessing you're looking at a site with code behind it etc etc.
Give us a clue and you'll probably have half a dozen solutions before lunch..
Excel (with vba) is really powerful and can gather data from api etc without too much issue, if you're wanting to put that real time onto the web I am guessing you're looking at a site with code behind it etc etc.
Give us a clue and you'll probably have half a dozen solutions before lunch..
API into Excel is trivial, putting it online is also trivial, making it live is non-trivial. It's possible to stream the data into Power BI and publish to the world from there, but generally it's still a pain in the arse because the approach to 'live' constrains what you can do with the data.
A compromise may be to create a non-live but API connected Excel spreadsheet and have the users download that and refresh it manually when they want the new data.
A compromise may be to create a non-live but API connected Excel spreadsheet and have the users download that and refresh it manually when they want the new data.
muppetdave said:
biggiles said:
A friend with whizzy Excel skills may be able to re-create 90% of it in Google Sheets (online spreadsheet, open to anyone).
Not quite as high-tech, but easier to manage/maintain!
Thanks, appreciate the thought. We'd thought about that, but the 'computing' of it is the relatively easy bit. We want to try and draw the data from a timing screen straight in (guessing that's an API type thing?). If that's doable in to Excel/Google Sheets that's definitely a possibility, but my IT naivety tells me it's not?! Not quite as high-tech, but easier to manage/maintain!
One basic guide here for your tech person, but there are hundreds of guides online: https://www.octoparse.com/blog/simple-web-scraping...
biggiles said:
Yes, Google sheets can pull in data pretty easily e.g. financial info, via API, or simple scraping of a web page. If your timing screen is a public web-page, it should be fairly easy.
One basic guide here for your tech person, but there are hundreds of guides online: https://www.octoparse.com/blog/simple-web-scraping...
Thank you One basic guide here for your tech person, but there are hundreds of guides online: https://www.octoparse.com/blog/simple-web-scraping...
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