It has been a long time since the last website development blog. The summer, a lot of real life stuff, and college got in the way the last couple of month. Luckily there was a lot of time to prepare for the NEO Endurance Series, so I could spread the work for NEO. But there is some new stuff on the website since a couple of weeks.
Entry list
The thing that I am most proud of is the entry list. For the visitor of the website it doesn’t look like anything special it looks like a normal table made from HTML. But on the back end it is pretty neat. The common way to make an entry list like this is to use a database. Using a database allows me to get the information I need and show it on the page just the way I want it. So I have full control. To update entries in a database is pretty tough to do, unless you have a (custom build) CMS. Making an own CMS just for the entry list, and standings later, is a lot of work. Previously we have used Google Docs to show the entry list and standings, but that doesn’t look good. For us it is very easy. I went looking for a solution for this problem. I wanted the ease of Google Docs combined with the control of the common way, with a database.
So I started searching through the many API’s of Google, because I knew I would find something useful there. After a couple of days I have found this script: SheetAsJSON. This is a piece of code, for Google Apps Script, which converts the Google Spreadsheet into a JSON file. This code is pretty neat and simple to implement. The perfect solution as any changes are also updated instantly and it combines the two requirements I wrote earlier.
This method will also be used for the standings later.
Partners
A couple of weeks ago I have added a page for partners. Here you will be able to find all partners of NEO and get more information about them. There is also a promo code for new iRacing subscriptions. Do you have a friend who wants to try out iRacing? Make sure send him this link: neo-endurance.com/partners.
Next up
These are the biggest changes since last blog. It does not look like much, but it was more back-end stuff this time. There are still some small projects on the shelf and I hope to implement them in the near future (before the start of the season).
I hope you like these blogs and if you have any questions about the SheetAsJSON, check out the link above or ask me via one of the many possible ways.
Until next time,
Niel
