onsite calculations with PDA

[capitalist]

Hi all,

I recently got a new toy in the form of a PDA which lets me do a lot of stuff including spreadsheets.
Today i was mucking around and trying to come up with something that would answer some on site calculations for me.

My Excel skills are very basic so it's not very sophisticated, but can anyone suggest what sort of calculations should be included?

At the moment all i've got is fields that let me calculate gross yield, price per square meter, and stamp duty (for QLD).
Is there anything else that i should include to give me a better appraisal of an IP?

Once i get it sorted it out, i'll post it for anyone who'd like to download a copy.

Thanks for any tips,
Mark

 

[Bazza]

Hi Capitalist,

I have a spreadsheet that I originally produced after reading Jan Somers' book. She had an example of the PIA software which has all the attributes that need to be calculated. However, after looking at the demo of the PIa software I found that there is so much more to it than just a spreadsheet. So, I purchased it.

I don't think it would be fair to Ian Somers (or legal) to distribute the spreadsheet. But, I believe it wouldn't be too dificult for Ian to re-compile the PIA source code, since it was written in C++, for the Windows CE Operating System which will run on a PDA.

Ian I think it is just a matter of purchasing the compiler from Microsoft? What do you think? I suggested this in a previous thread as I thought it would be a good enhancement.

Cheers,

Bazza

 

[Kevmeister]

Re-targeting PIA to a handheld computer such as a PocketPC is unlikely to be as simple as "recompiling C++" code.

PocketPC (WinCE) does not necessarily support every API function that Win32 does although in the case of PIA I'd be fairly willing to bet that it doesn't do anything particularly strange.

But the critical area is that applications usually need redesigning for the much-much-smaller screen area of the pocket-pc. The presentation of information becomes significantly different. Since the presentation layer of a typical application comprises a significant part of its functionality, making such changes is definitely not trivial, in my opinion.

Obviously Ian knows his own code best, but I don't think the idea falls into the "no brainer" category.

Nonetheless, it's a very good idea.

 

[capitalist]

Thanks for replying.
Bazza, I'm not asking you to post your spreadsheet, but can you please give me any tips on what calculations you included on your spreadsheet?

I don't think you'd be sued or disapproved of by Ian, especially considering you have purchased PIA and the spreadsheet was made with your own ideas (helped by reading a book).

I too purchased PIA in 2000 and will be upgrading it soon. However, i'm just wondering what other calculations i could include in a spreadsheet to use on my PDA.
As i mentioned, my Excel skills aren't that good, but if you give me some ideas of what other fields to include, i will endeavour to find out how to write the formulae for it in Excel.

I'm not really sure if you need a lot of info on site, as you could crunch the numbers properly with PIA when you got home. But if you're in a situation where you need to make a decision quickly, it could be very beneficial.

Thanks,
Mark

 

[TheBacon]

Try this...

Hi, I downloaded this file from this forum some time ago. It should be ok on your PDA...

Hope it helps.

TheBacon

 

[Iggy_Type_R]

If you check out the news section on the site it says that the new version of PIA will be compatible with a PDA version that is about to be released.

 

[capitalist]

Thanks for the spreadsheet Bacon. It looks very thorough and i 'll see if can modify it a bit for the Pocket PC.

Thanks too for the news iggy, I just had a look, and the latest version of PIA (v7.015) has compatibility with files created in the soon-to-be-released Pocket PC Version of PIA.
This is currently undergoing beta-testing but will soon be released as a companion product to the desktop PIA version and will cost $85.

Mark