How to start/plan a software project for data collection on a PDA/handheld device.

Question

A friend is having mysterious health problems that we're trying to track down. One thing that would help would be to improve his record keeping by giving him a handheld device with which he could keep track of various details of his day including diet and environmental factors.

We will be getting him a device but haven't decided on Palm vs. Windows Mobile vs. other. I'd like to find some existing software but so far haven't been able to find something that is general enough or customizable to fit our needs. Ideally I'd like to find an open source project that I can join and contribute while customizing the software to do what I need it to, which I haven't even totally defined yet.

I'm a C++ developer (way too) familiar with MSVS6 but would be happy to have an excuse to get into .NET or other modern frameworks. But if the easiest and quickest option is to work with something in C for the Palm I'd be happy to do that as well. (I've found a good but somewhat dated reference for C++ programming for the Palm) Similar and more recent info like this is what I'm looking for.

Thanks for any advice or suggestions about how to get started with this.

Answer 1

DataViz offers a program for PalmOS called SmartListToGo. It hasn't been updated in a while, but if you're basically collecting data, you can design forms/tables with minimal programming knowledge. I've used it to keep track of mileage/car repairs. I've also used it to keep track of health insurance invoices.

It's not open source, and it actually hasn't had an update of significance in a while. You can even write plugins for it if you are unable to get what you need out of the basic functionality.

Answer 2

For this kind of task, you're probably better using a language designed for data collection. It will be much quicker than learning the C-based APIs for the PDAs and you'll already have an infrastructure for collecting data from the device.

I really like Satellite Forms, a VB-like form design environment that runs on both Palm OS and Windows Mobile. It comes with conduits for syncing data from the device, you can build data collection programs quickly, and it can be extended using C code fairly easily.

Most of the other tools, at least on Palm OS, are no longer supported.

Answer 3

Here's a somewhat related question about getting started with Windows Mobile.

An old open source project for Palm Pilot databases Pilot-db

Answer 4

NS Basic/Palm is another good alternative. It's a Visual Basic like environment that's been around since 2000 and is still very well supported. It has a full, VB like programming language as well as a good form designer.

http://www.nsbasic.com/palm

Answer 5

Depending on the age of the device you use, it's likely that you can use eMbedded Visual C++ 4.0 to develop the app. If you're familiar with VC6, then you'll feel right at home because it's a branch of that UI code. Not the most recent, not the best tools, but it's free and will keep you in your comfort zone. It doesn't sound like you're doing that much data collection, so getting nuts with databases might not even be necessary - a CSV file could very well do all you need.

As for a book, Doug Boling's book has been around for a long time and is highly recommended, though if you know Win32 you can probably just jump right in.

Answer 6

If price is a factor you could have a look at handheld basic which is a pretty decent VB styled IDE for Palm-OS. It costs 149€ (US$200) but there is a freeware version which includes an unobtrusive start-up nag-screen on compiled applications.