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Thread: Event Reminder/Contact Database Software

  1. #1
    Bronze Member rfnel's Avatar
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    Event Reminder/Contact Database Software

    Hi Guys

    As some of you may know by now, I am in the software industry. I wrote an application some time ago (as a favour to someone on another forum) to send out automated event reminders and "Happy Birthday" emails.

    It's not perfect, and, if I ever get around to working on it again, there are a few things that I would like to change. Nonetheless, some of you might be able to benefit from it in its current form.

    I wrote it in Java, and it makes use of an embedded JavaDB database. As long as Java is installed on your machine, you should be able to run it. You can install the latest version of Java by clicking on the big red button here: http://java.com/en/download/index.jsp.

    You can download the app from here: http://www.mediafire.com/?7g7k4ejnym4rd4z

    Cheers,
    Riaan

    P.S. A quick user guide: (copied from the other forum on which I posted the application)

    After installing Java, you can extract the application's zip file and double-click the Informer.bat batch file to open up the application. All that the batch file does is to tell your computer to execute the necessary Java command to open up the application. The first thing that I would do after opening the application is installed is to set up email settings using the "Settings" button. If you click on About -> Help at the top menu, you can view an explanation of the fields on the Settings form. If you run the application daily, it will automatically send emails for birthdays and events that you have set up. If you keep it running, it will run a check at midnight to see if it should send emails on the next day.

    On forms with tables, you can add records using the down-arrow or the "Add ..." menu option. When scrolling through rows or closing a form, your changes will be saved automatically. You can also delete and save records using the menus at the top of most of the forms. To access event reminders, open up the Events form and click on Menu -> Reminders. You'll have to save the event before adding reminders. You can add members to contact groups using the '>' buttons on the contact groups form. Members are removed from a group using the '<' button. The '>>' and '<<' buttons will add/remove all contacts from a group. If contacts are added while the contact groups form is open, you will have to close and re-open the contact groups form in order to see the new contacts.

    When sending emails, you can use special variables such as '{name}' and '{surname}' in your emails. The Help form explains the purpose of these variables.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Click image for larger version. 

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    "Fortune favours the bold" - Virgil
    Riaan Nel
    Freelance Software Development | LinkedIn | Skype

  2. #2
    Site Caretaker Dave A's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by rfnel View Post
    It's not perfect, and, if I ever get around to working on it again, there are a few things that I would like to change.
    That sort of statement always arouses my curiosity - a fascination with the development process, I guess. So if you don't mind me asking:

    What would you want to change and why didn't it go into the app in the first place?

  3. #3
    Bronze Member rfnel's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dave A View Post
    That sort of statement always arouses my curiosity - a fascination with the development process, I guess. So if you don't mind me asking:

    What would you want to change and why didn't it go into the app in the first place?
    Functionally, the application does what I wanted it to do when I set out to develop it.

    Most of what I would like to change comes down to technical issues. For one, I would like to change the structure of how everything in the source code fits together. As an example, there are a lot of similarities between the source code of some of the forms - instead of practically duplicating code, I would rather have everything in one place and just reuse it when it's needed. I would also like to optimize the database a bit more.

    Software development is a constant learning process - especially when you write something from scratch. After a while, you start to see how things could have been done in a simpler, more efficient manner - evolution, so to speak. Of course, if you hold a program back everytime that you think of a better way to do something, chances are that the software will never be released!
    "Fortune favours the bold" - Virgil
    Riaan Nel
    Freelance Software Development | LinkedIn | Skype

  4. Thanks given for this post:

    Dave A (15-Jun-11)

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