Hack Week

This week was hack week at Novell. At the beginning of the week, it looked like I was going to be spending most of my time supporting new Gtk# users and fixing bugs they were tripping over. Things settled down a bit on Tuesday though, and I got to put some time into Exert for the remainder of the week.

Exert is a small Gtk# app that uses sqlite as a database to manage a fitness log. There are tons of running logs on the web and PC versions as well. While I plan to use exert as my own fitness log and potentially explore some new usability improvements, my main goal with exert is to provide an example of a small-scale database front-end application using Gtk#.

Prior to this week, I already had developed the database backend and created a couple of simple editor widgets to manage simple text only log entries. Additionally, I created a monthly calendar view to serve as the primary user interface for the application. There's a screenshot of a fairly stale version of the calendar view up on the sourceforge project page.

This week, I added a few new features:

• Rendering of BodyWeight entries directly on the CalendarView
• A cardio entry editor for time/distance workouts with rest/avg/peak Heartrate logging.
• A running entry editor that builds on cardio entry but also tracks shoe usage.
• A Settings infrastructure based on XmlSerialization.

Here's a shot of the new RunningEditor editing an entry.


So far, I haven't added any summary reports for running, but I will eventually add the usual weekly/monthly/annual summaries, as mile as accumulated mileage for Shoes.

Upcoming features include a specialized weightlifting entry editor to make it quick and easy to add and clone existing workouts. That will probably have to wait until the next hack week, though.