473,320 Members | 2,158 Online
Bytes | Software Development & Data Engineering Community
Post Job

Home Posts Topics Members FAQ

Join Bytes to post your question to a community of 473,320 software developers and data experts.

Live Meter Data on the Web - Advice Please

BCM
I've been asked to display some meter data on the web and I need preliminary
advice.

We have several hundred meters on site, with a system that writes out xml
files at 10 second intervals containing their data. (These files are
overwritten every 10 seconds, not appended to.)

First, I need to display two numeric pieces of this data just as numbers in
a web page. Naturally that's easy enough: where I'm stumped is REFRESHING
that data when it's updated every 10 seconds. Of course I don't want to
refresh the whole page, but only update a particular number when its
associated xml file is updated.

I've seen this done client side with javascript, but it was pretty cludgey.
Can ASP.NET help me here with a kind of persistant connection to these xml
files? (I thought the DataSet did such business out of the box, but it
doesn't as far as I can tell.)

Second, I need to use this data later for graphic trend displays. In other
words, I need to show in graph or chart form how each of these meters is
performing over time. Since the xml files are overwritten, I obviously have
to persist each piece of data somehow. I can think of any number of ways to
do this, but none of them seem too elegant. Any advice anyone might have
will help me think this through.
Nov 16 '05 #1
2 1681
I can see two ways to implement it: make own Java applet/ActiveX control
that periodically downloads the data and displays it to an user, and put it
on the page -- or write a Javascript code. The latter would be much simpler
than you think, you just need to call a function which downloads certain
image and substitutes it with an existing one, and calls itself in 10
seconds. Then on the server side you read xml and write the (very
lightweight B&W GIF) image with the value of your meter every 10 seconds.

What do you want persistent connection with: the XML file or web page?

As far as the trend display goes, you need to store the N most recent values
somewhere -- if N is little it can be in a global server variable (unsure if
ASP supports them) and if it's larger, store to a file or database. Then
when you make your value image you can also write the trend image. If the
image to display would be significant in size you'll need to consider other
options -- but they depend on exact size and type (graphical/textual).
Anyway, I would use an applet.

Ask further if I weren't clear enough.
U¿ytkownik "BCM" <BC*@none.com> napisa³ w wiadomo¶ci
news:41******@news.unc.edu...
I've been asked to display some meter data on the web and I need preliminary advice.

We have several hundred meters on site, with a system that writes out xml
files at 10 second intervals containing their data. (These files are
overwritten every 10 seconds, not appended to.)

First, I need to display two numeric pieces of this data just as numbers in a web page. Naturally that's easy enough: where I'm stumped is REFRESHING
that data when it's updated every 10 seconds. Of course I don't want to
refresh the whole page, but only update a particular number when its
associated xml file is updated.

I've seen this done client side with javascript, but it was pretty cludgey. Can ASP.NET help me here with a kind of persistant connection to these xml
files? (I thought the DataSet did such business out of the box, but it
doesn't as far as I can tell.)

Second, I need to use this data later for graphic trend displays. In other
words, I need to show in graph or chart form how each of these meters is
performing over time. Since the xml files are overwritten, I obviously have to persist each piece of data somehow. I can think of any number of ways to do this, but none of them seem too elegant. Any advice anyone might have
will help me think this through.

Nov 16 '05 #2
BCM,

Is your project to write this fully custom or do you entertain off-the-shelf
solutions to this problem? Live meter data on the web can be quite easy
depending on your time, budget, infrastructure, etc.

I'd be happy to make some quick suggestions that you could find useful but I
don't want this to turn into a commercial.

--
Jim

"BCM" <BC*@none.com> wrote in message news:41******@news.unc.edu...
I've been asked to display some meter data on the web and I need preliminary advice.

We have several hundred meters on site, with a system that writes out xml
files at 10 second intervals containing their data. (These files are
overwritten every 10 seconds, not appended to.)

First, I need to display two numeric pieces of this data just as numbers in a web page. Naturally that's easy enough: where I'm stumped is REFRESHING
that data when it's updated every 10 seconds. Of course I don't want to
refresh the whole page, but only update a particular number when its
associated xml file is updated.

I've seen this done client side with javascript, but it was pretty cludgey. Can ASP.NET help me here with a kind of persistant connection to these xml
files? (I thought the DataSet did such business out of the box, but it
doesn't as far as I can tell.)

Second, I need to use this data later for graphic trend displays. In other
words, I need to show in graph or chart form how each of these meters is
performing over time. Since the xml files are overwritten, I obviously have to persist each piece of data somehow. I can think of any number of ways to do this, but none of them seem too elegant. Any advice anyone might have
will help me think this through.

Nov 16 '05 #3

This thread has been closed and replies have been disabled. Please start a new discussion.

Similar topics

2
by: Ryan | last post by:
We have an MIS system which has approx 100 reports. Each of these reports can take up to several minutes to run due to the complexity of the queries (hundreds of lines each in most cases). Each...
0
by: BCM | last post by:
I've been asked to display some meter data on the web and I need preliminary advice. We have several hundred meters on site, with a system that writes out xml files at 10 second intervals...
3
by: Brian Birtle | last post by:
**** A CHALLENGE TO THE GURUS - refute the statement "It's impossible to build a file upload progress meter using ASP.NET" **** First person to prove me wrong gets "All Time .NET Programming GOD"...
1
by: BCM | last post by:
I've been asked to display some meter data on the web and I need preliminary advice. We have several hundred meters on site, with a system that writes out xml files at 10 second intervals...
1
by: Martin_Hurst | last post by:
Judging by what's going on at LinuxWorld Expo, MySql got an interview, but I don't see any Postgresql presence? Did Postgresql have any workshop or booth there? ----- Forwarded by Martin...
4
by: bfulford | last post by:
I have a macro that needs to have a progress meter displayed since it is long running. I moved the Macro's instructions to a table and pulled those records into a recordset that is looped through....
23
ADezii
by: ADezii | last post by:
Many Access Users fail to realize that it has a built-in Progress Meter that can display the relative completion percentage of various processes. It is fairly limited, but nonetheless, does provide...
2
by: DarthPeePee | last post by:
Hello everyone. I am working on a Password Strength Meter and I am running into 1 problem that I would like to fix. When pressing the "Clear Password & Try Again" button, the password clears...
2
by: =?Utf-8?B?SnJ4dHVzZXIx?= | last post by:
I just started using Windows Live OneCare, I had been using Norton, but was unable to fix the problems I was having. I have yet been unsuccessful with OneCare as well. I keep getting the same...
0
by: DolphinDB | last post by:
The formulas of 101 quantitative trading alphas used by WorldQuant were presented in the paper 101 Formulaic Alphas. However, some formulas are complex, leading to challenges in calculation. Take...
0
by: DolphinDB | last post by:
Tired of spending countless mintues downsampling your data? Look no further! In this article, you’ll learn how to efficiently downsample 6.48 billion high-frequency records to 61 million...
0
by: ryjfgjl | last post by:
ExcelToDatabase: batch import excel into database automatically...
0
isladogs
by: isladogs | last post by:
The next Access Europe meeting will be on Wednesday 6 Mar 2024 starting at 18:00 UK time (6PM UTC) and finishing at about 19:15 (7.15PM). In this month's session, we are pleased to welcome back...
0
by: Vimpel783 | last post by:
Hello! Guys, I found this code on the Internet, but I need to modify it a little. It works well, the problem is this: Data is sent from only one cell, in this case B5, but it is necessary that data...
0
by: jfyes | last post by:
As a hardware engineer, after seeing that CEIWEI recently released a new tool for Modbus RTU Over TCP/UDP filtering and monitoring, I actively went to its official website to take a look. It turned...
0
by: ArrayDB | last post by:
The error message I've encountered is; ERROR:root:Error generating model response: exception: access violation writing 0x0000000000005140, which seems to be indicative of an access violation...
1
by: PapaRatzi | last post by:
Hello, I am teaching myself MS Access forms design and Visual Basic. I've created a table to capture a list of Top 30 singles and forms to capture new entries. The final step is a form (unbound)...
0
by: CloudSolutions | last post by:
Introduction: For many beginners and individual users, requiring a credit card and email registration may pose a barrier when starting to use cloud servers. However, some cloud server providers now...

By using Bytes.com and it's services, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

To disable or enable advertisements and analytics tracking please visit the manage ads & tracking page.