Airline Micro Management - aka MyVA

[JamesM]

Hi Dan,

(previously sent to you via PM, but then I thought about how full your PM in-box must be!)

Great work on FsP! I purchased a copy on the day you released it, and it has drastically
improved my flying experience in such a way that I cannot imagine ever having flown
without it.

That said, I am currently working on a kind of FsPassengers addon, that will allow the user
to micro-manage their airline. My program does not do anything inside of Flight Simulator,
it is an external program that will allow the user to manage staff, maintenance, airport
contracts etc. I would like to add the functionality to import FsPassengers Completed flight
data, so that the flights that the user completes will be included in the revenue generated
by my program.

I currently work as a systems analyst and software support technician for a company that
provides routing and accounting software for the Waste Industry, which is the model for
which I am basing my program around. I am by no means a professional programmer,
but I am proficient in Visual Basic 6 and Fox Pro (which a previous version of my employer's
software is based on), which I am using to build my program in.

I guess what Im asking, is there any functionality currently in FsPassengers other than VA
exporting that will allow me to grab and use completed flight data? Preferably a parsed
text file would be optimal. As it stands, I am just having the user enter the data from the
flight report manually.

And for your peice of mind, the program I develop will be completely freeware, and I am not
in any way looking for any monetary gain for my project. I am mostly developing it for
myself, but since there may be others that may be interested in something like this I figure
that I may as well make it freely available to all.

That said, if you have any interest in this, and would like to see my source code, or the
prototype of my program as it is in its current state, i would be happy to make it available to
you.

Thanks for your time, and for developing such an inspirational peice of software,

Yours truely,

James McQueen



Post Edited ( 12-15-05 00:52 )

[Ryanamur]

Cool, do you need beta testers. I'm sure you'll find a few here who would be willing to help when the time will come.

Personally, I think that you would have a market for this add-on when it will be ready but if you want to keep it freeware.

[JamesM]

Im doing it for fun, and dealing with all the legalities and other stuff of releasing as payware just doesnt do it for me at this point. I make
good money at what I do, so money is not a concern. Plus there are a number of awesome freeware programmes out there that I have
used or still use, so this is my way of paying back the community.

Plus, once you release it as payware, then you have obligations to your customers, support to deal with, taxes and other nightmarish
things Id rather not deal with! hehe

I guess you could say im an FS philanthropist!

cheers!

Jamie

[aibiria]

hey jamie.

Your idea sounds really cool and I like it !! I think it would introduce little bit more the "tycoon" thing in fs. I am with one in that one!!

[skenmy]

Count me in if you need Beta Testers. I'm here - just send me an e-mail!

[WBHoenig]

PM or e-mail me if you need a beta-er; it sounds cool!

[Shady]

I'd love to join the testers team. I love management... ;-)

[JamesM]

Thanks for the support! When the time comes, I will be doing a public beta, so everyone will get to use it once its "mostly functional"

Its going to be at LEAST 3 months before I get to that stage. I work on it at lunch, and during down time at work. My home commitments
prevent me from spending much time on it at home.

[EDIT] and if I do need testers previous to public release, I will send a copy to you.[EDIT]

And when I get to the stage to release the beta, Ill set up a forum so Im not hijacking Dan's!

So any questions or comments in the meantime, please limit them to this thread only.

Cheers,

jamie



Post Edited ( 12-07-05 05:53 )

[jboweruk]

We're all looking forward to it mate. Just make sure it doesn't become a chore.

[Airtime]

(bump)

Excellent idea James. I can't wait to try it out.

AT

[SaVas]

Sounds like it could progress into a fantastic addon

[ezzeke3]

cant wait to try it out!! i would also like to be a beta tester for ya

[crowebird]

count me in also !

[Igor (EY0106)]

Id happily be a beta tester. also

[JamesM]

Progress update:

Well, being Christmas time things have gotten a little chaotic, so I haven't had as much time as I would have liked to work on it. Im
hoping to buy a laptop after christmas to maximise my time working on it.

So far I have the entire frontend GUI mapped out, along with company creation and fleet maintenance (minus the financials for now).
The hardest part is going to be the routing so Im tackling it next, as I am planning on having it update the traffic bgl's with your airline's
routes in one step, so that you can see the AI in FS2k4 flying the very routes you have created. I have purchased a few payware traffic
add-ons, so that I can test functionality with these add-ons (and also because I wanted them!) but I can't guarantee that it will work
flawlessly with them. We'll see.

Im hoping to have a majority of the routing complete for some time in March, depending on how busy things get at work, and how much
my wife nags me (love you, honey! )

Thanks for the support and kind wishes, and when the time comes, Ill contact you all for the beta.

Cheers,

Jamie