GolfLogix Mobile Golf App

The weather has been beautiful in Houston so far this year, so it’s given me ample opportunity to work on my golf game. I found a great app for my iPhone (it comes in other flavors as well) call GolfLogix. It’s technically free, but for $20/year you get access to more features.

I find this app works great as a digital scorecard and stat tracker. It also has built in GPS distances to the center of the green (and other hazards, markers, etc in the paid version). It’s really easy to use and keeps historical stats for you so you can see how your improving. I’d recommend this tool to anyone who loves golf and owns a smart phone.

http://www.golflogix.com/

Roatan RE/MAX Goes Live

Adept Developer launched www.roatanbayisland.com a website for Roatan RE/Max in Honduras in January 2011. The site is built using ColdFusion and SQL Server and is integrated with the local real estate MLS system powered by FlexMLS.

This was our first RETS integration and it went pretty smooth although we had great support from the guys at FlexMLS. Every hour our script checks to see if there are any new or updated properties in the MLS system and then downloads them to our database for display on RoatanBayIsland.com. This eliminates the need for double entry for brokers and agents of Roatan RE/MAX.

As with most of our sites, the client has the ability to update content, add/remove agents and otherwise modify most aspects of the site through an administration area. We have our own sort of CMS system that we developed years ago. All code is 100% hand written and not created by systems like Drupal or Joomla.

For more information on having your website developed by Adept Developer, please contact us at 713.528.3355 or visit our website at adeptdeveloper.com.

Adept Developer is an industry leading website development firm based in Houston, TX.

Uh… this wasn’t what I had in mind when I went fishing.

Ok, so, today Gus and I went fishing on a small 20 ft boat right off the West Bay / West End coast line of Roatan.  We really wanted to catch a wahoo and I think we did, but the line went loose after a few minutes.  We were bummed cause that was the second time that happened in 15 minutes, but all of the sudden the line went tight again and Gus was reeling it in.  I had the video camera in one hand and was filming the whole thing.  After 10 minutes, the fish was close enough for me to see through the crystal clear water and to my amazement we had a shark on the line!

He was probably about 4 feet long and roughly 60 pounds.  After Gus got tired, I finished reeling him in.  In all, it probably took us 20-25 minutes.  Our guide was a little scared too and we had to get the shark on the boat and kill it, because he wasn’t going to live with the huge bait in it’s mouth and none of us were going to stick our hand in his mouth.  We drew a big crowd in front of the Mayan Princess when we posed with our catch.  Nobody was really sure what kind of shark it was, but after looking online and some different pictures, could it be a young Tiger Shark?  The top part of it’s Tail Fin is much longer than the bottom part.  Although, from what I understand this is often times the case.  It’s probably just some type of reef shark, but if anyone has a better guess let me know.

Oh, yea, my face was a little red after Cayos and fishing.

Working from Roatan

As many of you may not know, Roatan is the largest of the Bay Islands off the coast of Honduras. Power here is a problem. Most large businesses and resorts have huge generators filled by TropiGas (cute name for a caribbean oil company) in order to get them through the very common power outages. The resort I’m at has such a generator and also a satellite internet connection, I believe provided by HughesNet.

It seems pretty easy to get work done here for the most part.  I have my laptop set up on the patio and my iPod playing in the corner.  The breeze coming in off the beach keeps me cool here in the shade despite high 90s all day long.  I’ve been getting up about 5:30am every morning and walking the two dogs I’m watching after (Coco and Kilo–they are really sweet).  By the time I get done with the dogs and get the laptop set up, it’s 6am and I generally work straight through to Noon or 1pm before breaking for lunch.  After lunch, I may get back to the computer, but often times actually try to enjoy the fact that I’m in the Caribbean.  The Thirsty Turtle has $1 beers and 2×1 Rum Punch around 3pm, so that’s usually when the work stops.  I have taken a few calls on my skype line in the evening though as business seems to never stop back home.  It’s easy to go to bed here around 8:30 or 9, because the sun goes down early and I’m exhausted from sun and salt from the afternoon swim.

All in all, I like working out here and think that I’m actually more productive because I go to bed earlier, get up earlier and have less distractions since my cell phone doesn’t work here.  I spend less money in a week out here too than back home.  Anyhow, this confirms my idea that I can work from just about anywhere.  Hopefully, in a year or two, I can spend a couple months at a time down here or somewhere else.  There is a lot of business for me on the island and word spreads around fast.  I already have another meeting set up with a real estate developer and restaurant owner.

Landed in Roatan

I’ve arrived in Roatan today and will be here for a week. After several trips to the island, I’ve made many friends here and business partners. I’m meeting with two of them this week to work on different websites and business models. I’m staying at the Mayan Princess on West Bay Beach and should be able to work with everyone at home too. We have high speed internet (relatively high speed anyhow) and I established a skype line with a Houston-based phone number so that people can reach me when necessary.

FedEx Track Shipment CFC

If you need to track FedEx shipments with ColdFusion and don’t want to bother with 100s of lines of Web Service, XML and SOAP code, then check out FedEx.Track from AdeptDeveloper. This CFC is easy to use and takes a matter of minutes to be up and running. About 3-5 lines of code and you’ll be recieving detailed information on any tracking number as a ColdFusion Struct Object.


<!--- Instantiate the Object --->
<CFSET objFedExTracker= CreateObject('Component', 'Fedex.Track')>

<!--- Set Credentials - All 4 of those values will be given to you by Fedex --->
<CFSET objFedExTracker.SetCredentials(strFedExAccountNumberGoesHere, strFedExMeterNumberGoesHere, strFedExKeyGoesHere, strFedExPasswordGoesHere)>

<!--- Set your Tracking Number --->
<CFSET objFedExTracker.SetPackageIdentifier('TRACKING_NUMBER_OR_DOORTAG', strTrackingNumberGoesHere)>

<!--- Tell FedEx we want detailed information about each scan --->
<CFSET objFedExTracker.SetIncludeDetailedScans(1)>

<!--- Get results in the form of an easy to use ColdFusion Struct --->
<CFSET stTrackPackage = objFedExTracker.TrackPackage()>


If you need to track FedEx packages and would like to purchase our FedEx.Track CFC for $25 USD, please contact me by phone or e-mail. You can find more contact information at adeptdeveloper.com/contact/.

FedEx Address Validation CFC

If you are shipping a product to a customer from an online transaction, you’ll generally want to validate their address before shipping to make sure FedEx can ship to that address. I’ve encapsulated the entire SOAP transaction into a simple to use FedEx.AddressValidation CFC. It’s available direct for $50. Please contact me if you are interested. Once we post pages on adeptdeveloper.com offering them for sale, you’ll be able to download them immediately, but in the mean time, just call or e-mail me and I’ll send you the code directly.

Below is an example of how you would validate an address… as you can see, it’s very simple.

<!--- Instantiate the Object --->
<CFSET objFedExAV= CreateObject('Component', 'Fedex.AddressValidation)>

<!--- Set Credentials - All 4 of those values will be given to you by Fedex --->
<CFSET objFedExAV.SetCredentials(strFedExAccountNumberGoesHere, strFedExMeterNumberGoesHere, strFedExKeyGoesHere, strFedExPasswordGoesHere)>

<!--- Some optional parameters --->
<CFSET objFedExAV.SetCheckResidentialStatus(1)>
<CFSET objFedExAV.SetMaximumNumberOfMatches(10)>

<!--- Create Address Struct (this will generally be populated by a form post or query result and not hard coded like my example) --->
<CFSET stAddress = StructNew()>
<CFSET stAddress.Address_1 = '123 Main'>
<CFSET stAddress.City = 'Houston'>
<CFSET stAddress.StateOrProvinceCode = 'TX'>
<CFSET stAddress.PostalCode = '77002'>

<!--- Add the address to the request (you can validate 10 addresses a time) --->
<CFSET objFedExAV.AddAddress(stAddress, iOptionalUserID)>

<!--- Send request to fedex and the result will be an easy to read Struct --->
<CFSET stAVReply = objFedExAV.ValidateAddresses()>

FedEx Store Locator

I recently had to integrate FedEx Store and Drop off locations for a customer using FedEx’s SOAP Web Services.  The issue arrises when a customer needs to send something back to my client such as  a returned product.  My customer pays for shipping and includes a return authorization form with the package, but the end user now needs to find a local FedEx location that they can drop the package off to.  Here’s where the API comes in handy.  Rather than go to FedEx’s site, they can simply go to my customer’s site (where they bought the product) and find the store there.  Additionally, each order includes a Packing Slip which is generated by the web server and includes the 3 nearest FedEx locations right on the packing slip.

In order to do this, you’ll need to be experienced with ColdFusion, Web Services and SOAP.  If you’re not comfortable with Web Services or SOAP, you can use Adept.FedEx.LocatorService for the low, low price of $25 USD.  We currently don’t have an online payment form set up, so just contact us at www.adeptdeveloper.com/contact/ and we’ll get you set up.

Below shows how easy it is to use our FedEx Locator CFC:

<!--- Instantiate the Object --->
<CFSET objFedExLocator = CreateObject('Component', 'Fedex.Locator')>

<!--- Set Credentials - All 4 of those values will be given to you by Fedex --->
<CFSET objFedExLocator.SetCredentials(strFedExAccountNumberGoesHere, strFedExMeterNumberGoesHere, strFedExKeyGoesHere, strFedExPasswordGoesHere)>

<!--- Set the number of matches you would like to be returned in your Query (optional) --->
<CFSET objFedExLocator.SetMaximumMatchCount(5)>

<!--- Ability to set Additional Service Filters such as whether it's a Staffed Location or just a drop box (optional) --->
<CFSET objFedExLocator.SetDropOffServicesDesired('FedExStaffed', true)>

<!--- Assign the value to a local CF Query Variable --->
<CFSET qDropoffLocations = objFedExLocator.LocateByAddress(strZipCodeGoesHere, strStreetAddressGoesHere)>

You can also search by Phone number rather than street/zip code.  Example not shown, but it’s as simple as the above line of code, only you pass the phone number instead of the two values shown.

The resulting query object will contain all basic store information such as:

• Store Name and description
• Phone number and address
• Types of services offered
• and store hours and drop off times.

From here, all you need to do is loop over your query object and display them on screen.  We also have a version that integrates the result directly in to GoogleMaps for a visual display.  If interested, please contact me.

Flora Springs Trilogy

I recently tasted one of my favorite wines again at Tommy’s on Westheimer–Flora Springs Trilogy.  We paired the 2004 vintage with a Chateaubriand for two and surprisingly the wine cost only twice what the steak did.  Tommy’s had it for $125 while it’s normally around $60-70 in the stores.  My experience with Houston Steakhouses, or restaurants in general, is that the markup on wine is usually 300%, so I felt like it was a really good deal.

Back to the wine… if you haven’t tried any of Flora Springs red wines then you really should.  Most of them can be found at Specs for $25-40 and are excellent with steak.  As of today, I still have 3 bottles of the 2002 Cabernet in my cellar and a 2003 Rutherford Hillside Reserve one of their flagship Cabs.  The Trilogy, I believe, is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cab Franc.  I generally like big bold cabs with a big nose and big tannins.  The nose on the Trilogy is perfect.  It floats up slowly from the glass tingling your nose with the slightest earthy smokey aroma.  I sat at the table for a minute just letting the smell take over until I could barely notice the aromas of the food from surrounding tables.  The first sip was delightfully complex, balanced and smooth.  I want to define smooth for a moment, because generally I have people tell me they love a certain wine because it’s smooth and upon tasting it, I feel like it’s more flat than smooth.  The Trilogy, however, is complex and balanced and leaves a wonderful lingering taste with soft, sweet tannins.  I especially recommend this with a tender cut of beef such as the Chateaubriand or a filet.