Hi all, first off I am brand new to all of this...have zero experience in Apps, JSON, XML and pretty much anything else I will need other than past experience hacking already built scripts together and writing HTML code for websites. I am sure I am over my head with this but that seems to be how I do things for some reason...(oh main reason would be lack of money I guess)...lol Anyway what I am trying to achieve in a nutshell is the following: A friend of mine manages employees that work from remote locations and he wants to be notified when they log in and start working each day. He wants this notification to be sent via an App to his smart phone. The workers should have the choice of using an App to send their "I am here now" notification or using a web based interface in case they don't have a smart phone. All my friend needs to receive (for now) is a little message that says "Joe User Has Just Logged On"...there will be other features I am sure like linking directly to their time clock page, showing when they have logged off etc. But for now I just want the basic functionality of this to be figured out so I can start researching what it would take. This App would be very similar to the little notifications that are sent via instant messengers when someone in your contact list logs in..just without having to install or use the instant messenger. Can someone let me know what some of my options may be in order to get this functionality setup. I have in the past hacked together scripts using Php & MySql so that would be the best option if possible since at least I have a basic understanding of some of the syntax. Thank you very much..and I am really impressed with this site and hope to learn a lot from it.

First of all, I must welcome you to this community. If there's anything you need, this site has got the friendliest community around. And seriously, I mean it. I've stuck around for 2 years, and there are some that are now over three years old to this site! So what you're looking for is an exclusive app for just the manger and his employees, where the employee app prompts a notification to the managers app. This should be possible on Buzztouch with some tweaking around. There are two options you could take: 1) Try to build a basic structure for both apps, and then look at building a plugin for your needs. You could ask some cody-type person on the forums or dive in the deep end and code yourself. 2) Look at online solutions and try to integrate this into the app. My basic instinct would be option 1, however option 2 may be easier. I'm mainly an iOS guy, so any questions about the iPhone, and I'll be sure to answer back.

That's funny the wifey just asked me this morning hey since you're not going to bed and now living in my man cave http://edreyes.deviantart.com buzztouching people and app making (headphones on). How bout making an app so I can have my techs check in from the job site, start a timer. and then send them push notifications for eta to next location. (it's an emergency service company, hopefully I can gps them so she knows to tell the client how far away they are) She can then track hours correctly for insurance adjusters make, assessments if she needs to send more help. etc I'll let you know what I come up with, i'm very versed and am a quick learner of all these technologies. Just thinking out loud, and my J.A.R.V.I.S computer is saying I could just put an app that has a pre-populated sms feature within the app that targets the bosses number. one there's a timestamp to each sms, as well as the number from the users device. Plus they dont have to be logged in like a messenger service, battery draining. I believe there's an sms plugin in the marketplace. Hope that helps, back to buzzwork. Ed

Thank you both for the replies...so far this is / has been all over my head as expected but I will get there if I get the basics figured out I think. Just installing and running Eclipse with the Android packages has been a learning curve since I had installed different versions then the"how to" video had shown. I finally got that part working though. I also found an App that uses MySql and Php to get results sent to the App so I am going to be digging around that thing for awhile to see if any of it makes sense to me...(doubt it will) Ed..please do update me if you end up making something like this, SMS does sound like an easier way to go so far...but again I am clueless..lol

SMS will probably be easier, but you will need a number to send the SMS from. Tue alternative is to send push notifications but to automate this might be tricky! I have only experimented with push, but it requires so many confusing certificates!

Ed..just checked out your man cave..and MAN I want one...lol Just made me want to put my system out of it's misery. No wonder my Emulators take a couple minutes to fully load :(

My wife's techs all have company sprint phones some iphones some androids either way they all have unlimited text so sms to her phone she can keep track via a time stamp, many times the client losses track on how long her techs are working, then give a inaccurate time to the insurance adjuster, its he said she said, she has no need for push notifications, its just to track arrival times to a job site. Then enter the time stamp into the billing software. It's really simple, I should make a plugin for the marketplace with more advanced features.

@StraitNet yeah and thats my old setup after avengers came out, done more pimping since then, constructing my own clear panel displays. yeah vmware8 lets me run linux, windows and mountain drag and drop from across the 3 main screens with a heads up and heads down display. cant wait for the new macpro black tube. thats slick