iPhone app testers: Split taking app

Is there a way to attach a name to each set of splits? In other words, when you open the app, maybe you select how many sets of splits you would like and then select a name or initials to go along with each set. That way, as the race progresses and people pass one another, changing order, it doesn't get too confusing about which split should be getting clicked.

I am a high school coach and I think this idea is awesome. I'd love to have a watch that did this. Sometimes I have 6 kids in the same section of a 1600 and it would be nice to easily get their splits on one device.

With an iPhone or Androoid, why not have multiple buttons for different splits?

You should upload a screenshot so we can look at it first.

Sounds like a great idea! I would love to try the app,

yeah, it does what you guys want. I'm just hesitant to post a link for the letsrun masses to see since it's really a rough working beta. But what the heck, give me a couple minutes and I'll put it somewhere more sensible and I'll post a link.

My plea, though, is that I've spent only a couple hours on this, it's not perfect, and I really don't want to wade through people calling me dumb.

ok, for now it's up at

http://sandbox.dev.farski.com/

if you're on an iPhone you can "add to home screen" and it will function more like a native app, but it works ok in safari too (actually works OK in desktop safari if you use your imagination a bit)

The + button adds people to the list, you fill in their name in the box. It will automatically split names on spaces, and put the last name first in the list. You can add people before OR after you start the clock. New names are added to the top of the list, and can't be rearranged (yet)

Once you start the clock you can start hitting the individual split buttons. the button on the right should always be the start/finish line. The running time next to each person is their time from the last time you split them at the start/finish (should be at least). Once someone finishes a race, it will show you all the splits you took (only shows splits for now, laps are coming soon).

Once you're done, you can hit New Race and start over (old results stay in the list until you close the app). If you need to change the race distance, or the length of the track, use those buttons (only available when it's not timing). If you New Race while people are still racing, it will automatically mark that time as their finish time.

Hope you like it so far, but won't be too heart broken if not; just means I wasted my morning. Thanks for constructive feedback.

I like it! Quick comments:

- Add total time in parenthesis for each split. (i.e. 65.5 (2:08.7) for an 800 meter split)

- Provide real time splits. Once you click 400 meters in a race, have that split show up instantly. The way it's coded now, I can't tell what a runner's splits are until the race is over.

- Being able to rearrange the names would be very helpful, though I see you said you're already working on this.

- Scrolling is a little buggy, particularly in landscape mode. The race time and "New Race" buttons don't stay locked to the bottom of the screen, so when you try to scroll down, they cover an athletes name and splits.

- Providing a way to save or export the splits would be amazing. To excel preferably.

Ok, put in a bit more time and got a new version up at the same address.

Changes:

+ Reworked a lot of underlying code

+ Added 'laps to go' and 'lap X' info bubble, so you know what's going on more easily

+ Added a list of splits that's displayed as the race progresses (can get a little bit much, not sure I'm going to keep it)

+ Added lap times in the results chart

+ Added list sorting, but it doesn't work on the iPhone yet

+ Split buttons only show up when the clock is running now

Bugs:

- If you're on an iPhone, when adding a new person don't hit the 'done' button, it will refresh the page (will fix soon)

- Haven't looked at the scrolling/landscape issues at all, so they could still exist

- Lap counter bubble should go away when a person is finished

- Text sizes are getting a bit small, going to rework those a bit

Upcoming:

• Exporting would most likely need to happen through email as a CSV, not great but not terrible, since it'd go right into excel

• Looking for feedback regarding how to handle races like the mile/2mile. I tried adding a '9 meter' button, but that gets confusing. Would you rather deal with the extra distance at the beginning of the race? or the end? or just kind of ignore it...

I think it is nice how it is. I think adding a few events at the bottom would be nice, including 5k (with mile splits for XC). I could see myself using it out on the course when I have 20 kids in the same race.

I'd like to see lap times as well as split times under the names as the races progress. Right now it's just split times.

I think there should be a running clock somewhere for total race time, but I actually like seeing the running lap time on the side. It makes it easier to call out splits to the individuals.

I think this is great. I'm surprised there's not a bigger response on here.

eye of the potato wrote:

• Looking for feedback regarding how to handle races like the mile/2mile. I tried adding a '9 meter' button, but that gets confusing. Would you rather deal with the extra distance at the beginning of the race? or the end? or just kind of ignore it...

You really only take the splits to keep up with pace. You can keep the 400m splits in my opinion.

Would it be possible to make custom distances? This would be far more useful if we could use it for 5/10k's, long tempos, etc.

Before you start the clock you can tap the '1600m Race' button and type in any number you want to change the race distance. Unless something's broken that I missed, but that's been in there the whole time.

Nice improvements! Overall, I'm a big fan! I'm also surprised there haven't been more comments on here, an app like this has the potential of being very helpful!

Comments:

-There's still the scrolling issue. Once you have 6 names in the horizontal set up, you can't add any more because the "+" button gets hidden below the "Start Clock" banner. Currently there is no way to scroll down to make the "+" button visible again.

-Exporting to a *.csv works well for me.

-Would there be any way to save athletes names? When you hit the "+", it could ask if it's a "New Athlete" or "Existing Athlete". If it's existing it could either pull from within the app from previously used names, or jump to your contacts and let you choose a name there. For races where you have many athletes, this would save a lot of time.

-Saving a group of athletes could be helpful too (i.e. "Varsity Top 7", "JV", "Fresh/Soph") so that all names in those groups would automatically load once the group is selected.

-The app currently works well for races, but isn't ideal for workouts. Timing workouts for my team is where I see this app being most helpful as you're dealing with many more athletes at once. Is there any way this could be tweaked for workouts? The way I visualize it working is where the "1600M RACE" button is, have the option to change "RACE" to "WORKOUT". If "RACE" is selected, you leave it how it is. If "WORKOUT" is selected, you'd have to give the option of "Number of Sets", "Repeats per Set", and "Length of Repeats". At the end of each repeat, you'd have the clock stop. Restarting the clock would add a result to the right of the last repeat, like a new lap does currently. I know this is getting cumbersome, but this is where I see an app like this being most useful.

Add ability to email the log to preserve the record.

Really interesting potential here. Agree on need to be able to email results, and on need to fix scrolling.

Also, easier customization of lap distances if possible?

Finally, simple quick way to undo errors? If I hit split button for wrong kid, or hit button at wrong time, can I easily and quickly erase that mistake?

But, overall, I LOVE the idea. Esp if you can email, even as CSV, this could be a tremendous timesaver. Hope you can keep refining this thing! And def let us know when it is up at the App store!

I like the splits by each name during the race, with the total time at the bottom. I would rather only have one or two options rather then 100/200/300/400 when I select a 400 meter track.

Very useful app!

thanks for the feedback everyone. Lots of good ideas; the major issue I'm going to run into is more features pretty much means more buttons, and on an iPhone there's a pretty limited amount of space. Since the whole point of the app is to keep track of a bunch of people there needs to at least be room for that to happen easily, which could mean at the expense of more intricate/advanced/specific features. But part of the fun of making apps is working those issues out, so maybe if I'm lucky I can get them all in.

Since there's a lot of positive feedback, though, and it seems like people are looking for a little bit more out of the app, I'm probably going to spend a little bit of time reworking the core code so it's easier to add things down the road. So just know I am working on things, but it may be a bit before a new version shows up.

Aside from the bug fixes, the next big things I will put in are getting data out (again, email's probably going to be the only option until Apple changes their APIs), and some amount of data storage (saving races, people, etc).

I like the idea of a workout-specific mode, but that might be a next version kind of thing for now. But we'll see.

Ps. since this is a web app, it's never going to be in the iTunes app stores. It's always just going to be a webpage that you can

eye of the potato wrote:

the major issue I'm going to run into is more features pretty much means more buttons, and on an iPhone there's a pretty limited amount of space.

I foresee an iPad app in the future. Replacing the clipboard with something of comparable size.

Very much so looking forward to future updates! Saving results, people, and groups of people would be great. Overall, I'm a big fan, and am looking forward to using it once cross country season starts.

I noticed another minor bug. The app assumes all names are entered with both first and last names. If you only enter a first name, the app still enters the ", " before the first name. (i.e. entering "John" with show up as ", John"). Perhaps it can be coded to only do this if a space is present in the input?

Ah, the bane of writing software applications.....someone always wants something more added.....

Keep it simple, but bug free is my motto....

I agree this might be perfect for an ipad application. I agree also it need to be able to be emailed. Love the idea.

i like it. could only test w/ safari on windows... happy to help code it for android. I'd add bits a pieces as some suggested - but great start