PineMan Project

benjamin.a.mechling@wmich.edu
joel.m.smith@wmich.edu
PineMan is an ongoing effort to create a web application that will be able to effectively run a large scale Pinewood Derby competition. It uses XAMPP to run an Apache server to host a MySQL database that the interfaces effectively manage using both HP and Javascript. A bit of CSS is used as well.

Initial Features

==> This project will provide the software for a setting up a wireless network of laptop computers connected to a common data store. The client computers will be used for registering new racers, checking in racers who are registered, admitting cars after inspection, entering the results of races, generating lane and track assignments and displaying results for the public.

==> All computers will be running Vista Basic minimum. All computers will be able to view web pages with IE 7. The clients will use an 802.11B wireless router. The server will communicate with the router via a 100 Mbs Ethernet cable. The server will have a 200 GB harddrive. All computers will have at least 5 GB of space per application that is locally installed, and have 1 GB of memory per processor.

==> The algorithm used for determining winners is the no-chart quintuple elimination method detailed on Stan Pope's website, http://www.stanpope.net/nelim.html. Racers are organized into 5 pools* (0 to 4 for discussion), corresponding to the number of times that each as lost a race. All racers start in pool 0. The first pool to race in each round* is the one with the highest number that contains 1 or more racers. Winners* in pool n stay in pool n. Losers go to pool n + 1. Losers* in pool 4 are eliminated. The pattern continues until only 1 racer remains in each pool.

==> The registration interface will provide tools for inputting and updating information about participants. Each participant will have a Pack ID number, an age category (Tiger, Wolf, Bear, Webelos I, Webelos II, Adult), an entry category (Race, Show), a registered BSA name, and a public name. The initial list of registered participants will be imported from a CSV file on the day of or before that event. A maximum of 4 participants are allowed per age category from each pack. Pack leaders may modify the registration information on the day of the event, and may make substitutions for previously registered racers who will not be attending.

==> Registration and check in are separate interfaces. To avoid a bottleneck, one computer will be used for check in purposes only. A separate computer will be used registration, thought it may also use to assist check in.

==> Software installation will take be simple and quick to accommodate a rapid or short notice setup. All installers and uninstallers will simple enough for novice users to use without excessive instruction. Uninstallers will cleanly remove all contents of the installed program excluding data files exported by the user.