HTML5 Local Storage Database - SOLVED!!

So as I was saying in my last post, I was stuck trying to figure out why my code to create a table in a html5 local storage database.
Well yesterday, I managed to work it out! It turns out it was pretty simple (of course, these things always turn out to be super simple and you feel stupid for being so stuck on it haha).
I based my code on this example I found here: http://www.redrobotzoo.com/posts/html5-local-storage-and-local-databases-tutorial/
I scoured google to find a straightforward example, which was so painful! Like this one, http://www.html5rocks.com/en/tutorials/webdatabase/todo/, is terrible. It says "Simple Todo List" so you think ooh yay! but gosh it was so difficult to understand what each part and variable was for!
And my biggest problem was that every time I copied the code and modified it to test it, the database would stop working.
Anyway, after hours of headache and re-starting, I managed to figure out what was what, thanks to redrobotzoo's detailed commenting and use of jquery for simplification.
But the problem I still had with redrobotzoo's code was that the database was being created but not the table. My code for "CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS" wasn't creating a table!
Turns out, I just needed to put it all in one line where redrobotzoo concatenated the line for some reason.
eg:
This didn't work:
tx.executeSql('CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS test ('
                           + 'personId INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT NOT NULL,'
                           + 'personName VARCHAR(255),'
                           + ');',[],nullData,errorHandler);
But this did:
tx.executeSql('CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS local_ranking(nameId INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT NOT NULL,username VARCHAR(255))'
,[],nullData,errorHandler);

I am so happy now that it works! Now our app has a local ranking table :D

CS Unveiled Event and Testing on Android tablet

Monday was our department's event called CS Unveiled, where they explained to guests about the programs and facilities at our department.
My team and I were also there to present what our project was so far.
Here's a picture of us :)

As you can see, I am holding a tablet device..... with our app on it!!!!

Our professor gave each team an android tablet to carry our testing on different devices and so I used Phonegap, a great tool for porting web-based applications into different platforms including iOS, Android, Windows, Blackberry...

Phonegap Build is very efficient and easy to use. I just had to zip the folder containing all our html/javascript/css/image files and upload it onto Phonegap Build and it builds your app for different platforms xD

Here are some tips for the minor problems I encountered:
- don't use hydration for simple testing purposes (our app wouldn't load properly with hydration)
- make sure your index.html is in the main folder that you zip and not in a folder within that folder e.g. we had our index.html in a folder called html with all the other html files. It's better to have an index.html that links to a main.html in the html folder. (http://community.phonegap.com/nitobi/topics/app_dies_on_startup_connection_to_the_server_was_unsuccessful)

Now I'm working on creating a local storage database on html5 but it's really difficult... I don't know why but I keep getting an error that the database doesn't exist even though I have "CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS" in my code! :(

Anyway, here are the more close up pictures of our app on the tablet :)

Hehe, it feels so precious when you've put in so much effort! My babyyyyyy haha Can't wait to see it completed :)

Wireframe for App

I just updated the iCodon app blog! Today's post was about how the User Interface of the app matches the Use cases that I drew up towards the beginning of the project.
I made a whole bunch of wireframe diagrams on my iPad to show all the screens of the game so here they are and if you want to read further explanation about it, do check out my post on the iCodon blog here.

iCodon App Blog

Oh and I forgot to mention that our team is also writing a blog for the development of the app so do check it out from time to time to see how we are doing!

http://icodon.wordpress.com

UCL CS Unveiled Event

My university department is having a Computer Science fair in a couple of weeks and my team is going to be presenting our current project! 
Here's the poster that I drew up for the event

It contains a short summary of the app, the problem provided by our client and the description of features we provide. The images show a basic flowchart of the app and the home, game and ranking screens.

Pretty cool huh?

I guess it looks a little crammed but the poster is going to be on an A3 poster paper so should look better… haha

Here's the full technical State Chart Diagram for the app.

I used Microsoft Visio to do this and other UML charts, such as Object and Inheritance Modelling, for the report we handed in this past weekend

Meet a Mentor - GDC

Tonight, I went to a Meet a Mentor event at Queen Mary university. 

It's organized by the Graduate Developer Community and it was really interesting because you get to meet professionals  who all work as developers or have that background. 

They actually had a similar event last week at UCL but I didn't know what it was and didn't go. My friend who did go was really happy about the event and she recommended that I go tonight. 

Although QM turned out to be quite far from where I live, I'm really glad I went :) 

Since I'm trying to find a job in London after I graduate next year in September, they gave me a lot of good tips and helpful stories about their experience. 

I think the most important thing I learnt tonight from them was how technology is a tool not an industry. So whatever I am interested in, there's a way to use the skills that I have learnt to provide a solution or even revolutionize the industry! 

I'm really excited now! Hehe

But I hate the whole application process! I shall check out some of the problem solving sites that was recommended tonight and build on that to prepare for interviews! 

I'm also glad I went because before, I wasn't very confident about my skills. Because I'm only doing a one year conversion course, compared to students who are doing 3 year bachelor degree, I don't have as much programming skills. But today the mentors reassured me that the recruiters and companies don't care about how much programming you know but more how you think and find solutions to problems. 

All in all great event and will go to other events by the GDC in the future! 

Masters at UCL

Since I haven't written here since I graduated, let me just quickly explain what I've been up to lately :) 

So I started my masters degree at UCL in computer science, which is a conversion course for people who have different backgrounds and want to go into the IT. 

We've had a crash course in java. Now we've already started developing for external clients! 

As our coursework, we were put into groups of three to develop an app for a client and this weekend was our first deadline to submit a draft of the app with some pseudo code as to how we will structure the program and a report containing functional and non-functional requirements, UML, prototype of the GUI and project management documents. 

I'm really excited about this app that we were assigned because it is basically an interactive learning tool and we are trying to gamify the learning process to get students to want to play/learn ;) 

Also, the main requirement is that the app is in HTML5. Since we are not taught that in our course as a main topic, my group and I have basically taught ourselves HTML, CSS and JavaScript in 2 weeks! 

Now the next deadline is in mid December to hand in a working copy of the app so we have to learn more about all the JavaScript and web tools like jQuery, Ajax and SQLite! 

Busy busy busy! 

But I'm so grateful that there are some really nice free online platforms to learn this stuff. My favourite is Codeacademy but jQuery has some of their own tutorials and they're pretty good. I'm not a fan of Udacity, I feel that it's not very well explained and it's annoying how you have to keep going back to the video for the instructions. 

If anyone knows anything else, do let me know!!

Graduation 2013

With much thanks to all my family and friends, I have officially graduated Summa Cum Laude from International University of Monaco yesterday with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration!

Seems like yesterday, I graduated high school but here I am, three years later with a bachelor degree! 

Next up, Master's in London from September!!

But for now, I am going to enjoy my holiday in Italy xD