James Brown
Veteran Member
Tom et al,
In what will likely be a waste of my time, I've taken it upon myself to write a tracking tool for my SysAdmin teammates. I'm doing this because we used to have a tool, but it went away due to it being built on a Windows 2003 server which has now been decommissioned.
Unfortunately for me, the developer who created the original tool has left the company, and I don't know how to duplicate what he did. I don't have access to the source code or files to even parse out what he did. All I have to go on is a memory of how the tool worked. I'm hoping that if I can describe what the tool did, you clever folks can point me toward an application or language that I can use to build a new tool from the ground up.
See? Probably a waste of time.
Anyway, the tool was accessed in a web browser, and we used it to track tasks that our team had to perform (reset passwords, install new software, etc.) When the page launched, we saw a table. On the left was a column of tasks. Across the top were various statuses (Complete, In Progress, Offline, Withdrawn, etc.) At each intersection of Column and Row was a cell with a hyper-linked number. Click on the number, and a new page was drawn. Now on the left was the column of SysAdmin names, and the same Statuses across the top.
So, for example, at the first page, we might see a project called "Virus Scanner Update" with 400 systems under the column of "Not Started". Click on the 400, and every SA could see the number of servers he/she needed the update. My name might list, say, 25, under the column "Not Started". Click on the hyperlinked 25, and another web page displayed twenty-five rows with columns labeled Server Names, Domain, IP Address, etc. Now I can see which of my assigned servers need the update and begin work accordingly.
When the project is complete, each server row had a cell called "Status" with a dropdown box to select "Complete, In Progress, Offline, Withdrawn, etc.) The options to choose match the column headers, and as a status changes, the totals change on the previous summary pages as they are refreshed.
Management uses the tool to track who's done their work. Obviously the goal was to get your "Completed" numbers at 100%.
A few features that were very useful and would need to be in the new version:
1. Each server row had a "Notes" cell. Click on the cell and a text box appeared in which we could type notes.
2. One column was called "Scheduled". Click on the cell and a little calendar popped up in which to click a date, which then displayed as text in the column once we clicked 'OK'
3. The columns were each sortable similar to a spreadsheet.
4. An entire table could be exported to Excel.
5. The best feature: Click on a blank area of a cell (off to the side of a hyperlinked number) and the entire cell was copied to Clipboard. This way we could copy/paste server names, etc. The cell would change colors to show that the copy feature activated. Click on the cell a second time, and the entire row was copied to Clipboard. Click on the cell a third time, and the entire column was copied. Click on it a fourth time, and the cell would change back to its standard color, the Clipboard was wiped, and the cycle would repeat.
There were other features not as critical (Right-clicking a cell displayed a context menu, etc.) But those are the basics, and I don't know where to start.
Obviously the pages are drawn in HTML, but I don't know if the interactive features are handled with javascript, ASP.NET, or what? Sometimes I don't know how to describe what the tool was doing (so as to search for something similar in Google); I only know what the end result looked like.
I'm hoping the fine techies that hang out here can get me pointed down the right path.
Thanks in advance.
In what will likely be a waste of my time, I've taken it upon myself to write a tracking tool for my SysAdmin teammates. I'm doing this because we used to have a tool, but it went away due to it being built on a Windows 2003 server which has now been decommissioned.
Unfortunately for me, the developer who created the original tool has left the company, and I don't know how to duplicate what he did. I don't have access to the source code or files to even parse out what he did. All I have to go on is a memory of how the tool worked. I'm hoping that if I can describe what the tool did, you clever folks can point me toward an application or language that I can use to build a new tool from the ground up.
See? Probably a waste of time.
Anyway, the tool was accessed in a web browser, and we used it to track tasks that our team had to perform (reset passwords, install new software, etc.) When the page launched, we saw a table. On the left was a column of tasks. Across the top were various statuses (Complete, In Progress, Offline, Withdrawn, etc.) At each intersection of Column and Row was a cell with a hyper-linked number. Click on the number, and a new page was drawn. Now on the left was the column of SysAdmin names, and the same Statuses across the top.
So, for example, at the first page, we might see a project called "Virus Scanner Update" with 400 systems under the column of "Not Started". Click on the 400, and every SA could see the number of servers he/she needed the update. My name might list, say, 25, under the column "Not Started". Click on the hyperlinked 25, and another web page displayed twenty-five rows with columns labeled Server Names, Domain, IP Address, etc. Now I can see which of my assigned servers need the update and begin work accordingly.
When the project is complete, each server row had a cell called "Status" with a dropdown box to select "Complete, In Progress, Offline, Withdrawn, etc.) The options to choose match the column headers, and as a status changes, the totals change on the previous summary pages as they are refreshed.
Management uses the tool to track who's done their work. Obviously the goal was to get your "Completed" numbers at 100%.
A few features that were very useful and would need to be in the new version:
1. Each server row had a "Notes" cell. Click on the cell and a text box appeared in which we could type notes.
2. One column was called "Scheduled". Click on the cell and a little calendar popped up in which to click a date, which then displayed as text in the column once we clicked 'OK'
3. The columns were each sortable similar to a spreadsheet.
4. An entire table could be exported to Excel.
5. The best feature: Click on a blank area of a cell (off to the side of a hyperlinked number) and the entire cell was copied to Clipboard. This way we could copy/paste server names, etc. The cell would change colors to show that the copy feature activated. Click on the cell a second time, and the entire row was copied to Clipboard. Click on the cell a third time, and the entire column was copied. Click on it a fourth time, and the cell would change back to its standard color, the Clipboard was wiped, and the cycle would repeat.
There were other features not as critical (Right-clicking a cell displayed a context menu, etc.) But those are the basics, and I don't know where to start.
Obviously the pages are drawn in HTML, but I don't know if the interactive features are handled with javascript, ASP.NET, or what? Sometimes I don't know how to describe what the tool was doing (so as to search for something similar in Google); I only know what the end result looked like.
I'm hoping the fine techies that hang out here can get me pointed down the right path.
Thanks in advance.
