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Posted: 2/10/2011 7:45:13 AM EDT
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I'm thinking about developing an ammo inventory management application and I'm looking for input from some of you guys that are more anal about ammo storage. I'd like to make this simple for those who don't need all the depth but advanced enough for detailed quantity and storage info. Clearly a large number of people are going to think this is going too far, well this is intended for the other people out there.
I'd rather just talk about the advanced, complete package, but with the understanding that it would be usable in a much less detailed way should that be desired. I'm not claiming this to be the best way, that's way I'm asking for input from anyone that is interested. So I was thinking of starting with defining storage locations, something like the following with examples in parenthesis:
From there you could add ammo using the following:
Then a separate place to put desired quantities of different calibers. Seems like might be useful to have a "desired quantity" for specific ammo above AND for general calibers, looking for thoughts on that.
With that I could easily show shortages of specific calibers, overages prime for shooting (overages, ha). There would of course be a simple way to "expend" ammo. Okay, I think that is enough for my first post. I'm not worried about criticism as I truly am looking for your feedback so let her rip (not that I think that will be a problem). |
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Wow, that is way more information that could be managed for large ammo stocks I think.
I have an excel spreadsheet with a just a few columns:
The total value column uses the average cost column and the quantity column to automatically estimate a value for me- I simply update the rough cost as prices change. The quantity per weapon color codes off my firearm inventory spreadsheet automatically, using the Count feature on the caliber column. The colors let me set thresholds of what I want: say green is more than 1000/weapon, yellow could be 750-1000/weapon and red could be less than 750/weapon. All of my ammo is in ammo cans, sorted and labled. So a location column does me little good, unless I want to find the TAP or VMAX or M855 or M193 and such. And frankly, I can open cans and find it in less time than it would involve tracking it on more labels and spreadsheets. |
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Oh yeah, don't get me wrong, I realize that most people don't want or need this much detail. My hope would be to allow people to use as much as they want. I'm just trying to capture as much as I can then try to build something that allows people to use just what the need for their purposes. Including cost and then a calculated value are good additions. |
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I should have been more clear, that is what I'm thinking of doing and if I'm going to do it I'd like to make it in such a way as to help the most people possible. Plus once a website application is done I selfishly want an iPhone app tied into it so that I can add/deduct ammo from the range, store, etc. Then I can also tie in the "ammo finder" I've been working on that checks multiple sites getting the cheapest in stock deals (pic included below). http://www.willagaroon.com/ammo_finder.gif |
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A. Talk to the guy at gun-deals.com - you are reinventing the wheel on the ammo finder.
B. I would make caliber the primary key. If you think about it, that's THE most important piece of information. In practical use, if you are going to go shooting, caliber is whta ties the ammo to the gun. If you are going to shoot the garand, you are not going to say "Which ammo lot should I choose?". You say "Where's all my 30-06?" You can always filter and resort by location, quantity, age, whatever. |
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A. Yep, I've seen gun-deals.com, great site. Biggest difference between what I've done and that site is mine is an automated tool that hits defined sites looking for in stock ammo every hour. Plus since I wrote the code I can make it do what I need it to do and use it wherever I want, whereas they might not let me use the gun-deals.com info integrated into my ammo inventory tool. B. Caliber most certainly would be the primary key. Again, I've posted lots of stuff that most people won't use. At it's simplest I'd like to be able to just say "I've got 1500 rounds of 30-06, 1000 rounds of 5.56." Everything else would just be extra if you want to use it (location, specific brands and loads etc.). |
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Quoted: There are programs like that out there. The problem is, keeping it up to date. I haven't looked at them in years, but I always seem to remember them being way out of touch with what was really in stock. Yep, that's why my version automatically pulls FRESH data every hour. That means it's always up-to-date to within the hour In Stock items. It's not quite ready to be made public but this will be the first place I turn it loose when it's ready, I've consumed a lot here over the last couple years and haven't given anything back... |
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Lot # would be good to include for a couple of reasons such as:
(God forbid) you should have a KaBoom Manufacturer has a recall You find something that shoots super accurate in your favorite rifle (even the same brand can change POI with different lots) Good luck with your project! |
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Quoted:
Wow, that is way more information that could be managed for large ammo stocks I think. I have an excel spreadsheet with a just a few columns:
The total value column uses the average cost column and the quantity column to automatically estimate a value for me- I simply update the rough cost as prices change. The quantity per weapon color codes off my firearm inventory spreadsheet automatically, using the Count feature on the caliber column. The colors let me set thresholds of what I want: say green is more than 1000/weapon, yellow could be 750-1000/weapon and red could be less than 750/weapon. All of my ammo is in ammo cans, sorted and labled. So a location column does me little good, unless I want to find the TAP or VMAX or M855 or M193 and such. And frankly, I can open cans and find it in less time than it would involve tracking it on more labels and spreadsheets. This seems to be a logical approach to tracking. |
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Quoted:
Wow, that is way more information that could be managed for large ammo stocks I think. I have an excel spreadsheet with a just a few columns:
The total value column uses the average cost column and the quantity column to automatically estimate a value for me- I simply update the rough cost as prices change. The quantity per weapon color codes off my firearm inventory spreadsheet automatically, using the Count feature on the caliber column. The colors let me set thresholds of what I want: say green is more than 1000/weapon, yellow could be 750-1000/weapon and red could be less than 750/weapon. All of my ammo is in ammo cans, sorted and labled. So a location column does me little good, unless I want to find the TAP or VMAX or M855 or M193 and such. And frankly, I can open cans and find it in less time than it would involve tracking it on more labels and spreadsheets. I do it like this except for total value (maybe I should) though I guess it flucuates with time. I also list what vendor it came from and I note the two or three cans of new bleminshed or 2nds stuff |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
Wow, that is way more information that could be managed for large ammo stocks I think. I have an excel spreadsheet with a just a few columns:
The total value column uses the average cost column and the quantity column to automatically estimate a value for me- I simply update the rough cost as prices change. The quantity per weapon color codes off my firearm inventory spreadsheet automatically, using the Count feature on the caliber column. The colors let me set thresholds of what I want: say green is more than 1000/weapon, yellow could be 750-1000/weapon and red could be less than 750/weapon. All of my ammo is in ammo cans, sorted and labled. So a location column does me little good, unless I want to find the TAP or VMAX or M855 or M193 and such. And frankly, I can open cans and find it in less time than it would involve tracking it on more labels and spreadsheets. I do it like this except for total value (maybe I should) though I guess it flucuates with time. I also list what vendor it came from and I note the two or three cans of new bleminshed or 2nds stuff I also note the date it was sealed in the can, and that is labeled on the can itself |
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Okay, reviving this thread for the people who were interested in it before. I've finally made some progress and I have a "beta" version of the inventory tool (and ammo price finder) ready for some interested folks to take a look at and offer feedback. The tool is entirely web based, no smartphone integration yet, that will come last. I really don't want to open it up to the public in it's current state so I think the best way is for anyone that is genuinely interested in testing this thing out just to IM me here on the boards and I'll get you setup. Below is a list of what the "Ammo Inventory" site does right now. I have lots more (optional storage locations etc.) but I wanted to start simple and see what people thought.
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In regards to the ammo finder how do you expect to get up to the hour (real time) instock inventory? What is it going to do that this one doesn't? |
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The primary purpose of what I am doing is an ammo inventory tracker. Selfishly I want an ammo price finder integrated into it so I'm doing that. I'm not trying to make the best ammo price finder out there, it's completely secondary to what I'm doing. If people already have a site they use for that purpose then continue to do so. That being said mine updates prices automatically every hour. This actually is going to be my last post mentioning my price finder since it seems to continue to take things off topic, which is about an ammo inventory tool. |
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Such a tool already exists to track your ammo stash. It's fully customizable and can be used for more than just ammo tracking. It's name? (wait for it)... Microsoft Excel
You'd be amazed at what Excel can offer you... especially when you get into the world of custom writing macros. Anyway... For me, a feature that would be useful is to be able to scan in the bar codes OR use something like Google Goggles to take a picture of the ammo and have the program populate all the fields based on what you took a picture of. Which somewhat lends itself to making this application a smart phone app. The benefit there is, you could integrate all of the following features: 1. When I go to buy ammo, I can just snap a picture and my inventory is auto updated via google goggles 2. If I'm shopping in a brick and mortar store, I could comparison shop using some similar to shopsavvy 3. When I'm at the range, I can switch modes and take a picture of the boxes of ammo I shoot up. Again, inventory is auto updated Later features such as group tracking, range reports, and ammo rating could be added in and then shared via the internet. Being able to suggust where to buy more of the same ammo or similar ammo would be a nice feature. Such features exist on a number of websites already and you could use much the same paradigm. Last, as a software engineer, writing such a program that wasn't full of bugs and was actually useful (not just tracking what I have... again, excel) would take a good deal of time. I'd love to see such a program... though, I doubt I'll even see one. |
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Maybe I should state my intentions and credentials. I've been doing software development for 12 years, specifically web based application development. My area of expertise is user interface design geared toward ease of use. I have a problem keeping track of my ammo and decided to write an ammo inventory web site (and eventually an iPhone app) specifically for myself and friends and acquaintances. I've learned a lot lurking these forums for the last few years and decided to seek your opinions and to also eventually offer up the system to everyone's use. My goal isn't to rule the world with an ammo inventory site, it's just to help people keep track of their ammo! I'm even going through all the security stuff to make sure that people aren't required to enter ANY personal identifiable information thus making sure that no one can track the ammo back to you (at least not easily). As of right now I'm only requiring two things, a login name and a password. No email, no name, nothing else. |
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If you ask a group about an idea and they don't see a reason for it, getting defensive and spewing out about your credentials show that you do not understand the marketplace you intend to enter. On offense but you credentials do not give any merit to why and how you want to do this. I too am a web developer with I dare say more experience then you have listed. I asked about the ammo finding because I am curious as to how you intend to update hourly unless you have access to query the db of the retailer and that inventory is also updated in real time. Simply crawling web sites is not going to give you hourly update, it will give you updates dependent on the update of the particular site, most of which as we all know are nowhere close to real time or even hourly. Some are not updated at all. As far as the inventory goes, as others have said it is very easy to keep track of in excel. I for one would never keep that kind of information on the www where it can very easily be seen by any one with a little knowledge. Or for that matter anyone in their teens who was raised in the information age. Some information should be kept secure, your ammo stock is one of those things, opsec & persec as they say. Just my opinion. |
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Actually I wasn't getting defensive, I was "spewing" my credentials in direct response to one of the posters above who made it sound like this kind of project would be next to impossible and full of bugs. Originally I never intended to list my credentials and once I felt it might be necessary I stated them broadly. I also was trying to make it clear why I'm doing this, for myself and friends and then you guys here since you have helped me with so much info in the past. I know from earlier posts that some people will use such a tool and I'm specifically seeking their input. |
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I don't recall or see after rereading the thread where anyone said it would never work or be full of bugs. But whatever, go for it, either people will use it or they won't, no loss one way or the other. And when you say "you guys here since you have helped me with so much info in the past." I assume by "past" you mean the whole 2 months you've been here.  |
| Why not write a C++ or Java program that allows you to view and change amounts of differents types or brands of ammo. I only took a short class on it in highschool, and with my limited knowledge I'm sure I could do something like that, but it would tkae 1-2 hours to write it! But again it wouldnt have any "features", just spit out numbers. If you really wanted an inventory system badly you could take hours to program a very nice program, but I think that would be the best way. Excel would be very clumsy to navigate. |
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Quoted:
Why not write a C++ or Java program that allows you to view and change amounts of differents types or brands of ammo. I only took a short class on it in highschool, and with my limited knowledge I'm sure I could do something like that, but it would tkae 1-2 hours to write it! But again it wouldnt have any "features", just spit out numbers. If you really wanted an inventory system badly you could take hours to program a very nice program, but I think that would be the best way. Excel would be very clumsy to navigate. False... Everything is easy once you learn how to use it. What would take you (in your own words) 1-2 hours to program using C++ or Java would only take 1-2 minutes using excel for what you describe. Back on topic. I would actually love to have a program with all the features I described in my other post... I just don't see it happening. Especially if it's a smartphone app. It absolutely can be done, but the amount of work that goes into cross platform developement (iPhone, Android, RIM, etc) is pretty intense. Add to that the fact this is one guy doing this on his own time and it could be literally years before something truely useful was produced. To lend credibility to that statement, I actually am a software engineer (as in, I do it for a living) like the original poster. I've done mobil dev in an enterprise environment and specialize in Java J2EE Web Applications. So, I'm speaking from experience. There is no common language or API that spans all the different phone families so you have to write a version for each (as in, doing it 3 times) or, at the very least, have a native front end with a common web backend using some sort of restful services like JSON. All smartphones can view websites, but standard web dev can't take direct advantage of the features of the phone. Plus, there is nothing that allows you to port over any work you did on a web front end to iPhone (objective C) or Android (Java). So, you need a pretty solid plan up front of what you are planning to acomplish before you jump head first into building something. Of course, all of that mess can be avoided by just doing a web application... but, as I've stated earlier, a web application that can track your inventory and show you were to shop probably doesn't have a lot of demand since tools to track you inventory already exist (I used excel as one option) and there are a number of websites already out there that spider the web for the best ammo prices. Combining the two may be useful, but... again... probably not a lot of demand. In the software world, you have to solve a problem or offer efficiency to have a useful product. They guy who said he just looks in his ammo cans for a visual check of his inventory has a very, very, very good point. For him, using software as described in this thread would actually take him more time and not offer any more value. So, for him, this software would do him a disservice. Quite the opposite of what you're looking to acomplish. For me, I already keep track of my inventory more for an overall count. So, to update it, I have to do it manually. This is why I said a mobile app that I could just snap a picture of what I consumed and have it update automatically would be useful. It offers me some efficiency. I already have a solution to the problem (do it manually) so, for me, to be useful, it has to be faster/easier. Last, no matter what we all say, if you want to build it... you should build it. Even if no one else uses it. |
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