frcdb main

FRC-DB v2 will feature a redesigned interface that should fix some long-standing issues with the original, such as:

• sluggishness
• ugliness
• poor browser support
• excessive JavaScript

It will abandon wingS for plain-old JSP with selective JavaScript additions (ie, dynamic sortable tables, etc). However, browsers should be able to view FRC-DB unhindered even without JavaScript support (or bad JS event handling, such as mobile Safari). Hopefully the interface will have some improved looks as well!

Additionally, the database will have some wiki-like aspects, so teams can modify their information easily. This includes things like robot feature lists and other specific information that can help with scouting, possibly per-team discussion forums and other social extensions, as well as robot photo galleries. For obvious reasons, match data won't be modifiable- not only to prevent abuse, but many of the statistics algorithms are processor-intensive and have to be done in mass. However, it should be possible to file update requests for event and team data in the event that some is outdated.

Another major addition should be historical data- the original FRC-DB (due to time constraints) was designed specifically for the 2010 game. Because of this, having both 2010 game information as well as future games is basically impossible as we can't change the database format at this point. FRC-DB 2.0 will have a revised database format that's "future-compatible" and won't cause problems like this in future years. Using this, we hopefully will also be able to gather data from past years, assuming FIRST still has the data online (steps will be taken to preserve what data we do have if this is not the case).

Possible other additions may include synchronization with other FRC resources, such as The Blue Alliance to help get robot photographs and historical data, as needed. Other commonly-requested features also include standings and some additional statistics.