Bird Dog Project Information

Since most of the work referenced in this blog applies to a single application I am building, here is some information about the project and my development environment.


Application Working Title:   Bird Dog

IDE:   NetBeans 8.0
Database:   MySQL 5.6
Code Languages:  Java, SQL
SourceForge Project:  Don't have one.  Leave me a comment if you think I should.

What is it supposed to Do:  Allow the user to track work, allocate it to project or labor codes and make time management easier.

Why am I doing this:  Primarily as a learning exercise.  I'm starting with Java and MySQL and intend to grow this through a true J2EE tiered environment.  Also, to make tracking my work easier.

History:   When I left the Navy, I found that I had to record my work hours against project codes.  Quickly, this became a pain in the neck, when at the end of every two week period I had to try and remember what I had done over the past 10 workdays and allocate that time to different project codes.

So, I created an Excel spreadsheet and began recording the tasks I was working and the projects to which they belonged.  It saved some time, but I still had calculating to do each week, so I modified it to generate a summary of my work by day and project.

Sometime early in my career, I converted the Excel sheets into a MS Access database and named it Hawkeye after the Navy's E2-C command and control aircraft.  Over the years, I added functionality and improved Hawkeye's efficiency until the little application was an outstanding tool for managing my time.  I considered "releasing it into the wild" on several occasions.  But since it was developed on an on-going, ad-hoc basis, there were always abandoned developments that would cause endless consternation to someone who didn't have the intimate knowledge of its inner workings and hidden "gotchas".  Oh, and there was absolutely no documentation.

In 2010, I didn't renew my license for M$ Acce$$ and I had to abandon the tool.  Since I still had the need to track my work, I began using Excel instead.  Excel is great for calculating costs and performing statistical analysis, but it lacks efficient referential tools I had become so dependent on, so I began to search for an alternative platform.  I thought about replatforming Hawkeye in OpenOffice Base, but none of the VBA converted.  So, rather than spend time rebuilding Hawkeye in another desktop database, I decided it was finally time for Hawkeye to grow up and become a real application.  Thus Bird Dog was born.