Pool Set Up

Selecting a Tablet

Pool is available on Android mainly because Android tablets are much less expensive than Apple iPads.  Further, Amazon Fire tablets are a great value.  They are available in 3 sizes: 7", 8" and 10".  All three work well, but the 10" model may be the easiest to use.

Settings

Various parameters can be configured on the Settings page.  Click on the HELP button on the Settings page for helpful information.

Address table

The address table is loaded when the app starts.  It can also be re-loaded by clicking the UPDATE button on the menu bar.  The file should contain one row per house address.  Each row can have 2 or 3 columns.  The last column should contain the valid member last names.  They should be separated by a comma (",") or a semicolon (";"), as in the following examples:

Address	Members
3244 Fullburton Street	JOBY;FARNELL
159 Sweetharbor Circle	MANDRELL

HouseNumber	Street	Members
3244	Fullburton Street	JOBY;FARNELL
159	Sweetharbor Circle	MANDRELL

There are two ways to load this data into the Pool app: as a CSV file or using Google Docs. One way is to save the table in the Internet as a CSV file.  The URL should be copied into the field "Address list download URL" in the Settings page.  Click on the Validate button to verify that the URL and the file format are correct.

Using Google Docs for Address Table

The table can also be stored in a Google Docs spreadsheet.  This is a convenient resource and is free for non-commercial use.  The maximum sheet size is 16GB which is quite adequate.

The following steps describe how an Address List maintainer can create and update the list.

1. Create a Google account and login.  See Create a Google Account, then  Sign in

2. Create a new spreadsheet.  You could name it anything, perhaps "Member List".  Go to Sheets. 

a. If you already have sheets, click on the colorful + button hiding in the bottom right corner of your browser.

3. Choose the 2 or 3 column format and enter data, one line per member household. 

a. DO NOT enter a row for the header line (indicating Address & Members).

4. Click on the green Share button to set the spreadsheet permissions

a. Enter the following value into the field marked "Add people and groups"

i. pool-service@pool-362918.iam.gserviceaccount.com

b. On the right, change the role from "Editor" to "Viewer"

c. Uncheck the box marked "Notify people"

d. Optionally, set General Access to Restricted.  Only people with access can open with the link.  This is the default.

e. Click "Share".  This allows the Pool app to read the Address List.

5. Click on the URL and copy it.  Example URL: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1r2J9nh-ABCD_EbXYZm8-H97G56wkzExOvWioI2W8Ig/edit#gid=0

6. In the Settings page of the Pool app, enter the URL into the field marked "Address list download URL".  A nice way to avoid typing in this string is to copy/paste it into an email and send it to yourself.  Or just make a draft email in Gmail.

a. Alternatively, create a short URL.  The steps are shown below.

b. Alternatively, only the 44 character docID that is highlighted above can be entered.  The docId follows /d/ and precedes the / in the URL.

7. Click on the "Validate" button next to the field marked "Address list download URL".

a. This will display errors if the URL or permissions are not set correctly.

b. NOTE that Validation does not save the URL, you need to click on Save.

8. Click on Save at the bottom of the Settings page.

9. The Download button will actually get the latest address list.

External storage

An external storage in the "cloud" is optional.  However, it enables many useful features, like live remote viewing of the usage data, consolidating data from multiple facilities and analyzing the data.  It also acts as a backup allows a spare tablet to be rapidly brought into operation.  Again, Google Sheets is a convenient choice for this storage.

Using Google Docs as the External Storage

This is similar to setting up the Address Table, except for the permission.

1. Create a Google account and login.  See Create a Google Account, then  Sign in

2. Create a new spreadsheet.  You could call it "Pool History".  Go to Sheets. 

a. If you already have created other sheets, click on the colorful + button hiding in the bottom right corner of your browser.

3. Leave the contents of the rows & columns empty.  The app will fill it.

4. Click on the green Share button to set the spreadsheet permissions

a. Enter the following value into the field marked "Add people and groups".  This identifies the Pool app.

i. pool-service@pool-362918.iam.gserviceaccount.com

b. On the right, verify that the role is "Editor" (not Viewer)

c. Uncheck the box marked "Notify people"

d. Set General Access to Restricted.  Only people with access can open with the link.  This is the default.

e. Click "Share".  This allows the Pool app to write to the History sheet.

5. Click on the URL and copy it.  Example URL: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1r2J9nh-ABCD_EbXYZm8-H97G56wkzExOvWioI2W8Ig/edit#gid=0

6. In the Settings page of the Pool app, enter the URL into the field marked " External Storage URL".  A nice way to avoid typing in this string is to copy/paste it into an email and send it to yourself.  Or just make a draft email in Gmail.

a. Alternatively, create a short URL.  The steps are shown below.

b. Alternatively, only the 44 character docID that is highlighted above can be entered.  The docId follows /d/ and precedes the / in the URL.

7. Click on the "Validate" button next to the field marked "External Storage URL".

a. This will display errors if the URL or permissions are not set correctly.

b. NOTE that Validation does not save the URL, you need to click on Save.

8. Click on Save at the bottom of the Settings page.

9. The Download button will allow rows in the spreadsheet to be copied into the tablet's database.

a. The Replace option will erase any previous contents in the tablet database.

b. The Merge option will retain existing data i the tablet and add new records from the spreadsheet.

10. The history can be viewed using Google Docs, but the Pool app has more advanced analytics.

Short URLs

Sites like TinyURL and Bitly provide free URL shortening service.  At the site, paste the long URL and get a much shorter URL that can be entered into the Play app.  As usual, click Validate to check it.

An example of a short URL is: tinyurl.com/3ubxvbnk

Time format

The format of the times displayed in the Clock strip and for CheckIn/CheckOut times can be changed in the Settings page.  The format is encoded using the following table.  For example, the current year value in the default clock format can be excluded by removing the 'y' at the end of the format.  For more details refer to a Java tutorial on time formats.

Letter	Date or Time Component	Presentation	Examples
G	Era designator	Text	AD
y	Year	Year	1996; 96
Y	Week year	Year	2009; 09
M	Month in year	Month	July; Jul; 07
w	Week in year	Number	27
W	Week in month	Number	2
D	Day in year	Number	189
d	Day in month	Number	10
F	Day of week in month	Number	2
E	Day name in week	Text	Tuesday; Tue
u	Day number of week (1 = Monday, 7 = Sunday)	Number	1
a	Am/pm marker	Text	PM
H	Hour in day (0-23)	Number	0
k	Hour in day (1-24)	Number	24
K	Hour in am/pm (0-11)	Number	0
h	Hour in am/pm (1-12)	Number	12
m	Minute in hour	Number	30
s	Second in minute	Number	55
S	Millisecond	Number	978
z	Time zone	General time zone	PST; GMT-08:00
Z	Time zone	RFC 822 time zone	-800
X	Time zone	ISO 8601 time zone	-08; -0800; -08:00