Palm Scoring System 2007

[EZ Bagger]

We decided not to pursue because we are concerned of the volatility of being so dependant on a small business provider and that being halfway (or all the way) around the world.

I know I have had a brief discussion with Rob about re-writing EzWin score in a more widely accepted format such as SQL with ASP.net or something that allows us other computers geeks to write our own stuff. I think if something like that were to happen, some programmer/gunners would come out of the woodwork and develope something that could be shared throughout our sport at a cost effective approach for our clubs.

Peter has told me that USPSA has the source code so that if he kicks the bucket it's at least available.

As far as re-writing the software...just do it! Ok, I know it's not that simple. But, until the talent's available and willing to work for free, EWS is pretty doggone good. And, now that A.S.S. sync's nicely we may see even more momentum away from paper.

[Matt P.]

Source code is good as long as you know how to program in that language.

EzWin score is great. Very intuitive and easy to use and 3.02 has some great integration features.

Our club of 60 members and 30 non members with revenue between $11,000 and $14,000 simply can not afford that type of capital expend Expenditure and handle training all the necessary people.

We would love to go paperless and have scores in real time. It is just too difficult to overcome the hurdles presented with that system and back end support is not very good so the safety net is gone. In addition there are only a few computer "geeks" at our club that can really understand how it all works. If they don't show up to a match and there are technical difficulties, that presents a whole different issue.

For now, I think it is probably easier to use laptop slaves at each stage. It takes just a few seconds to record the shooters score and updating the master is a very simple process. To me, that way seems to be a bit better becasue EzWin is so intuitive.

Just my thoughts here!

Edited October 25, 2007 by Matt P.

[Rob Boudrie]

Peter has told me that USPSA has the source code so that if he kicks the bucket it's at least available.

USPSA does not yet have the source, but Peter has expressed a willingness to make it happen. We still need to come up with a description of what conditions would allow USPSA to distribute the software directly. We do have direct access to his programmer, so there are two contact points down under that have the source.

The first thing I would do if USPSA gets the source is set up a development environment as source code is useless until you prove you can build the product from it .

As to "if you know the language" - I never saw Powerbuilder before USPSA sent me the source. It took 4 days to get to the point where I was able to modify it and add features. I'm no expert at Powerbuilder, but starting in an unknown to me language was not a major obstacle.

ps: The Palm scoring program is written in "C". The trick is leadnign the build environment, dealing with the APIs, and the separately built PC resident DLL used for transfer of data.

[Hoofy]

Thanks for all info on this Rob.

I cringe to think what this sport would be without volunteers like you.

I found your website and the article you wrote there on this. Good stuff, exactly what we were looking for.

Would like to discuss some "outside of the box" thoughts on this.

[cmzneb]

There are no known interface problems. EzWinScore now has "native integration", which means you do not have to go through a 10 step (approx) process with MS/Access. Three gun is also supported.

The only down side when using the Palms for three gun, is that a shooter must be declared Major or Minor for all three guns. For example most people in our club shoot a major pistol, major shotgun, but then shoot a .223 which is minor. Apparently you cannot score only the rifle as minor, it has to be all or none when scoring Major/Minor. We end up scoring everyone Major then.

That is the only little problem I'm aware of. Other than that, this scoring system works pretty good! It is great to have instant results.