Sunday, June 8, 2014

Introducing Vehicle Service Log

Download my latest app from the app store:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.abdullahsolutions.vehicleservice

One thing great about being a software developer is that if you need some software or app, and if the software or app is not available or you didn't bother to look for one in the first place, you have the option of writing one yourself. And Alhamdullillah that's what I've done.

You see, I vaguely remember that I used to fill my motorcycle fuel every other week. But sometimes I get this nagging feeling that it is becoming less fuel efficent. I seem to be filling it almost every week sometimes. So I want to know for certain. I could probably jot down when I refuel everytime in a journal app or something, but I choose to write my own app for this specific purpose. So in short, I'm scratching my itch.

So I began writing an app with the goal in mind to keep track of when I refuel my motorcycle. But then I though, why not I just add a little bit more and add when I've serviced my car too. So finally that's what it became. And app that could keep track of when you refueled or last serviced your vehicle.

When you refill, you fill in the value of the fuel and it would automatically calculate the amount  based on the price of the fuel. You could change the price by clicking on the gear button and clicking on the fuel type. Or if you are using fuel apart from RON 95/97. you could add those fuel type and their respective price. In the settings page there is also a value for service interval and refuel interval. These are the default value added to your vehicle mileage when you add the event. You could adjust it to your preferred amount. I didn't put any metric on the amount nor any currency to the value so that this app could be used more universally although you would definitely would need to adjust the price of the fuel for your country. If for example the amount calculated is wrong, or you live in a country where the price of fuel change from station to station, then you can fix in the amount manually after you filled in the value.

You could keep track of events for more than 1 vehicle. But they would have to be of type car or motorcycle. You could probably just lump suv, jeeps, lorries, busses into the car category too for now since I don't own any of those vehicle and doesn't really see the need to see them differently for now.

My plan for this app is that eventually it would be able to sync to an online service so that me and my wife could both update the same car. And it would give a better reading of the current fuel efficency of the vehicle and how much you spend on fuel. But that's quite a bit far into the future for now.

So please to try it if you have an android device by downloading it here:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.abdullahsolutions.vehicleservice

I would value any feedback given and might even incorporate some suggestions if you have any. I can't make any promises though as this is just a side project, more of a hobby thing, but I will try my best to accomodate. Thank you for your consideration.

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