View source for Syn2stock

{{Project
|type=software
|intro=Application to manage and index all borrowable stuff
|status=running
|meetings=none
|contact=Prometheus
|members=The metalgamer, phlepp
}}

== In a nutshell ==

syn2stock is - going to be - a system written in Python that allows you to check out / check in books & papers from the library in the Hackerspace with the help of QR Code technology. The QR Code is printed on each members membership card and it contains the GNUPG ID and the fingerprint of the GNUPG key and thus we identify the owner of the card. The system will be expanded to other stuff in the space after the basic version - library implementation - is working properly.

== Concept ==

The idea is it to write an application that indexes all of our "borrowable" or dynamic stuff, like books in the library or Arduino boards. The items should be handled in a database by the application and it should be reachable as website/interface too. The webinterface serves as information platform, like which book has been lent out by whom and when will it be back again approximately.

The system to borrow an item could be handled by the member cards of syn2cat. Because they should be equipped with bar code, magnetic tape or RFID technology.

     Shell Client -            ----------- 
                   ¦----------¦ [[Lusitania]] ¦----------¦ WebInterface
       GUI Client -            -----------
                                    ¦
                                    ¦
                                    ¦
                                 -------
                                ¦ Metis ¦
                                 -------

'''''Why not a more ambitious topology figure?'''''

Such a figure will come soon, when we sure that the first part is going to be implemented like the description above. This should just serve as a draft.

syn2stock is divided in differents parts of hard- and software, trying to make the users life as comfortable and uncomplicated as possible.

'''Metis''': 

'''Lusitania''': One of the core servers in the hackerspace infrastructure. More details [[Lusitania|here]].

'''WebInterface''': The WebInterface is a part of the website of hackerspace.lu and serves the users in the world wide web to check out, which books the library already contains and which not. Besides it implents the other functions of syn2stock as well, like to check who lend it, when it probably comes back and so on.

'''Clients''':
The client applications are also divided in two parts. One important feature they have in common is the option of downloading the the current version of the database of that given time. The positive conclusion of this feature is that the user can query this local 'snapshot' of the database at any time and place without a internet connection - assumed that the battery of her/his device is fully charged.

* Shell - The shell client has been build to run on small devices, like mobile phones. The main advantage is that the data transfer is smaller and thus faster than a website response in HTML. Besides it gets cheaper on the monthly bill by your provider.
* GUI - The GUI

== Connection ==
Syn2stock could be connected to the [[Membership Management Tool]] via API calls.

== Meetings ==

=== 15th May 2010  ===

== Links ==

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcode Wikipedia Article - Barcode]
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_Code Wikipedia Article - QR Code]
* [http://github.com/holizz/pyxing GitHub - pyxing]
* [http://www.pedemonte.eu/pyqr/index.py/pyqrhome PyQrCodec]
* [http://code.google.com/p/zxing/ ZXing]
* [http://pyqrcode.sourceforge.net/ PyQrCode]
* [http://pylonshq.com/ Pylons - Lightweight web framework for Python]