Competition App

[OutlawSwine]

This actually came up in the Catering section, but it gave me an idea to get some feedback from the Comp section.

I started working on an app (Android & iphone) last week for myself. It's geared mainly towards competition (recipes, timelines, cook times, temp, prep, checklists, notes, comments, budget, mileage, calendar, results, etc). I want something that I can easily look at past results, what I'm currently doing, end of year data, etc.

This got me thinking about getting some feedback from you guys about other features that could be included in this. I originally started on this for a personal app, but if I'm going through the trouble of writing it I might as well unleash it on the Brethren.

So my questions are this:
Would something like this be helpful to you guys? What functions would you like for it to include?

Any feedback or ideas are greatly appreciated.

Please list your ideas as follows:
1. Must have functions
2. Nice to have functions
3. "Wish List" functions

Also, will some of you guys be willing to Beta test when it gets to that point?

[Bourbon Barrel BBQ]

alerts on the timeline would be nice.

[motoeric]

Photos of turn-in-boxes that you like so that you can try to recreate them.
Expense calculator so you can figure out exactly where your $ is going.
Radius search for grocery stores.
Weather app.


Sounds like a great project! Maybe if you listed what you were thinking about adding, we could prioritize them for how important they would be to us.

Eric

[sitnfat]

it would be great if I could get it on my iPhone it would start the time when my alarm goes off waking me up to start my pit. Then as stated above other alarms along the way.

[Pig Headed]

I would definitly beta test it for you. I've discussed this idea with my son, just never got around to it. I think timelines w/ alarms would be a must have, checklists would be nice and past results a wish list item. Good luck with the app, I think it's past time for someone to develop one. PM me if you can, my son has a company who has some Apple apps as well as some Blackberry ones. I'm sure he could be of some assistance if needed.

[chrisnjenn]

Try to make a iPad version also if you can.

[dmprantz]

I've thought about such an app before, and the features I would like are below:

Complete SCM type functionality including a master list of suppliers and costs that feeds into shopping lists GL for winning/expense tracking.

Tasks, such as it's time to send in an application.

On-site scheduling

Document management to organize photos, timelines, etc. Receipt organization would be awesome.

There are two main reasons why I didn't bother proceding from there. The first is that I like my phone to be a front end to an application, not the app itself. I'd hate to have to enter all that in the phone directly. It just sounds too painful. That would mean that I would want some form of sync functionality, most likely through iTunes, which is a whole different animal and now two applications. There's just a lot there.

The other is that I'm able to accomplish most of that where needed without a dedicated app. A bulk of it is performed with Outlook. Tasks and schedules are setup in the Outlook UI and then synced to my iPhone. It works quite well. Wakeup alarms I set manually. Outlook isn't especially cheap, but I think there are ways to do it with Thunderbird+Lightning or Microsoft Live Mail. One or both may require an online iCal sync. That handles my appointments (schedule), contacts, and tasks. I categorize anything BBQ related with a custom category and am able to just view my BBQ information.

I'm addicted to Excel and use it for just about everything, so my SCM and GL functionality is done there with custom spreadsheets. Something integrated would be nice, but I bet Peachtree or Quickbooks would do it if I wanted, and there are some free alternatives. I just decided that I have to download GnuCash soon and see if it will do what I want. I bet it comes close!

Shopping lists, there are tons of apps for them. The real problem is that all the ones I have found require you to enter them on the iPhone. It's easier for me to print off a text file or sync a "note" through Outlook.

I guess the last bit is document management. I do most of this with my filesystem, but I'm a geek. The receipt management would be cool. I have a receipt scanner and software, but there's a $2 app for the iPhone that will do that with the camera. The receipt scanner is smart enough to OCR the receipt, detect what I bought and categorize it. I'm wondering if the $2 software can do that. If so, it's a winner for being able to "scan" receipts while on the road.

Not really trying to shoot down your idea. If it came out, I'd be interested. Just pointing out some other alternatives out there for those who want it now.

dmp

[slowerlowerbbq]

I can definitely see a lot of interest in a BBQ app. Keep us posted on your progress. There's a lot of great ideas so far and I guess mine is more of a wish list item: how about including data from my Stoker? Periodic temp logs would be nice to have available.


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[dmprantz]

On that note, Stoker interface: I have a C# stoker library that I envisioned of compiling on MonoTouch and MonoDroid. Not sure if you can link to such a library from Objective C, but if any one wants it, it's available. Didn't some one else already release an iPhone app for the Stoker though?

dmp

[chickenchoker]

+1 on the stoker interface

[moosesbbq]

My recommendation is don't get too complicated. I would start with a description area with an input window, allowing entry of data about the event. Maybe cross reference the calendar in the phone. then the timing by meat broken into phases and alarming for each phase. Close each section with the ability to add a photo or two of the turn-in box and the judges scores.

Let me know as well if you want help or assistance in beta testing.

[rexbbq]

This sounds awesome! Keep us posted.

[Slamdunkpro]

Originally Posted by moosesbbq

My recommendation is don't get too complicated. I would start with a description area with an input window, allowing entry of data about the event. Maybe cross reference the calendar in the phone. then the timing by meat broken into phases and alarming for each phase. Close each section with the ability to add a photo or two of the turn-in box and the judges scores.

Let me know as well if you want help or assistance in beta testing.

This plus the ability to generate reports such as show me scoring for all chicken events from xx/xx/xxxx to xx/xx/xxxx with average and deviations

[BoneDaddy's]

I like the idea of having recipes, timelines (with various notifications ie, time to spritz, time to put chicken on, etc.) along with keeping scores/box photo, shopping/inventory lists...basically all the stuff I have in excel now :-)

Stoker interface is already on the iphone/ipad

[FatBoyz]

dont let it get to big. what would be great is to be able to plan your comp and be able to set all your alarms.you know what i meen full time lines.but i will tell you if some one had this out there i woulf pay for it if it was under 10 bucks