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Programming

When is the next train leaving ? (Flex application)

I’ve created a smallish new AIR program called “TrainDeparture”, but as it currently uses no database except an xml file, it was fairly easy to recompile it for the web. It has ‘view code’ enabled, by the way.

The program does one thing only : based on the current time it checks the xml file for trains (that you will, for now, need to create yourself or edit the one I supply via a text editor) and will show you the time of the next train leaving.

You can see the results by clicking here:Train Departure

By clicking on the “Prefs” button you will see a resize of the application with a datagrid showing the current entries in the file (it’s there for reference, and in the future I want to add additional stations and more preferences in there).

The “Next” button shows you the train after that, and the one after that, etc. There’s a timer event running so after 30 seconds (or less) the time shown by the next button will be reset to the current next train.

The next thing I want to change is to show not the time the train leaves, but the minutes remaining before the train leaves – I think it will be far more useful for me to see how many minutes remain.

Should you wish to use it, I’ve described the structure of the XML file below.

It’s basically functional, but there is quite a lot of amelioration that can be made to the program. One of them is coding to show the trains on weekdays or in the weekends based on the current date. Another one is to show the remaining minutes before the train leaves.

Also a quick nod to the StackOverFlow website, where a kind person helped me solve a problem with the ‘states’ setting that was driving me crazy. It’s a website for programmers by programmers !

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