My idea for component database and project finder software

Digital tools for electronic work: software for pcb design, schematic drawing, circuit simulation, parts inventory tools, ...
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meffcio
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Post by meffcio »

Here's the case - I bet many of you have dozens of electronic components for the DIY projects. Some of them are new, some of them are just unused stuff from old projects. Ok, but what does it matter? Well, there comes a time, when you look at this stuff, and think what to do with this junkyard. It just begs to be used in a new guitar fx, but which one? It is troublesome to search through hundreds of projects on your pc to find the ones that use most of your stuff - and here comes my idea. I thought of a software that will allow you to find bills of materials that will suit you the most. You know, you run the software, enter the list of your unused components, and using some kind of BOM database (ie. on freestompboxes.org server) it shows you several projects that require as many of your components as they can. But thinking about that, another idea came to my mind. When you make a list of your stuff, why not save it in the program? Don't know what is the value of a resistor? Built-in resistor code calculator would be a nice addition. Also some diagrams about capacitor codes. You finished the project? Add it to the finished list, print it, etc. It would be good if you could add a comment to every component from your list, ie. saying where you hold those at your home or garage.
What do you think about that? Yes, I know that this software wouldn't be cost-effective. I just wanted to share my idea with you.

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Hides-His-Eyes
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Post by Hides-His-Eyes »

It's not a bad idea, but it would take me longer to enter all the components I have than it would to search manually for projects to use them!
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meffcio
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Post by meffcio »

Hides-His-Eyes wrote:It's not a bad idea, but it would take me longer to enter all the components I have than it would to search manually for projects to use them!
Well yeah, actually didn't think about that. BUT when you enter whole lot of components once, you just add/delete several ones later. I dunno :block:

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salocin
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meffcio
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Post by meffcio »

Oh, now that's cool. But what about the other features I mentioned?

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salocin
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Post by salocin »

Here's a rough list of features I'm working on:

a project database, with the individual components cataloged
user inventory list, where you log the parts you have
to-do list, of the projects you want to build
to-buy list, with the parts you need to build the projects on your to-do list
could-build list, showing projects which you have all or most of the components for

user settings will allow different component types to be enabled/disabled for the matching process. e.g. you could turn resistor matching off and it won't check whether you have the necessary resistors. Personally I will have resistors and caps turned off as I keep a good stock of these and won't bother entering them into my inventory. I'm more interested in ICs, transistors and pots.

There will also be a minimal interface version, designed for cellphones, where you can view your inventory and to-buy list- useful for the times when purchasing things from a physical shop (rather than online).

Ultimately I'll build a flash app which you can load the schematic into and highlight the individual components on the schematic as you load them into the database- useful for newbies who don't know what they're looking at.

Links will be able to be put against parts showing where they can be purchased.

You'll also be able to show substitutable parts against a project.

There's probably some other stuff I'm forgetting but gives you an idea of how its coming together.

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rocklander
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Post by rocklander »

d00d that sounds awesome :applause:
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meffcio
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Post by meffcio »

I'm glad I'm not the only person who thought about this. But pity, I can't help you, because I'm not into programming. I could contribute projects when the utility is done in a usable level.
Anyway, this thing will be fkin awesome, really.

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Post by DeanM »

i thought before of doin a stock count of all my parts and saving them in an excel file so that i could add or remove parts from the list as i used or purchased parts.

the point would be so that i could check if i had the components needed for projects quickly and easily rather than fishing thru parts boxes or drawers! I would also know if i needed to order certain parts for a project or not. i think i will do something like that eventually. just so i know what i have and dont have.

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