atxshortline
A webpage and SignalR server for realtime information on Austin grocery store status
I thought it might be useful if there was an method where people could check in realtime if their local Austin grocery store was very busy. Stores like HEB do a great job of helping customers maintain social distancing by limiting the number of customers in the store at any one time. But it would be better if people could avoid having to standing together in long lines outside the store.
So, I built a simple web page and SignalR based server in the cloud. It's basically a chat program. The options are intentionally very limited. I think you want to focus on the simple binary question of "is the store busy" and discourage postings like "They have wipes, so lets mob the store".
I was able to go from idea to working prototype deployed in the cloud. As in most software, the first 90% is easy. The rest takes alot more time. In this case, the first implementation...
* Only shows people's new posts you start the app. No historical database.
* Is a webpage not an app. However it does work reasonably well
on my android phone chrome browser both in portrait and landscape mode.
* The fonts are a bit small.
* only lets you select a two austin store names for now but the
user can type in any name they like.
Anyway, it let me keep a bit of sanity while coding. Let me know if anyone has ideas on whether this is a good idea and what direction to go with it.
Here's a link: https://www.atxshortline.info
Eventually, I'll put the code for this project up here on Github. For now, this is placeholder describes the project.