metacard & cgi - example

[jbv]

Sorry if I'm late on this thread.

Shortly, here's what I'm presently doing with mc cgi.

There's a rally going on in the desert of south Marocco
(for more detail : http://www.tropheeaichadesgazelles.com/)

Each vehicle features a GPS system. GPS data are sent via
satellite, then via email (as attached data files) to 1 of our
servers. When an email is received, it triggers a mc cgi script.
That script decodes the GPS data (longitude / latitude / time)
into x/y values, and updates the content of one of the HTML
files of the website. GPS data are updated every 30 minutes,
and they accumulate in the file.

in french :
http://www.tropheeaichadesgazelles.com/LIVE/FR/index.htm

in english :
http://www.tropheeaichadesgazelles.com/LIVE/FR/index.htm

best with IE5+


On the other hand, one of the crew members (in charge of security),
is in the desert in a 4WD with a laptop and a satellite cellular
phone. Since he needs to keep track of the position of each vehicule in
real time, and since connecting to the web would be too slow & too
expensive, we have set up the following system : his laptop HD
features a duplicate of the website. The mc script on our server,
when receiving GPS positions via email, also generates a small txt
file (about 500 bytes) featuring the latest positions (X/Y pixels
values). On the laptop HD I have also installed a small app (made
with MC of course) that :
- opens the connection through the cellular phone
- downloads the small txt file (with a simple get URL)
- updates the HTML file on the HD (just like the script does on
the server)
- launches the default browser
- opens the updated file in the browser window,
- converts the XY pixel values into longitude / latitude format
and saves it on the HD as a separate HTML table file that can be
openened
in a pop-up window inside the page automatically opened in the
browser.

In other words, with nothing more than a double-click and a few
seconds of waiting, the guy gets the latest positions of all
vehicles on a graphic interface in the middle of the desert.

of course, this small app uses a very similar script as the one
on the server, and it didn't take more than a few hrs to make it.
Needless to say that being able to use the same code for both
purposes was really apreciated !!!

Cheers
JB