Hacking HydroBuddy ... input and feature request thread

[spurr]

@ tester,

I'll see what I can come up with, I am going to check out ALGLIB lbirry tomorrow (http://www.alglib.net). I like the idea of a separate tab. I'm getting pretty good with Larazus, so hopefully soon I can get that done.


@ Avenger,

I changed "K2SiO3" to read "Input Molecular Formula Here", do you think that is sufficient? Also, I noticed Hydrobuddy substances.dbf and substances_updated.dbf has Na2SiO3, with a defined Si content. Would that not be the same situation as trying to use K2SiO3 as a default formula for potassium silicate?

 

[spurr]

Okay,

I just uploaded the first binary for Windows PC (32 bit; but may run on 64); I will upload binaries other platforms once I build them tomorrow.

I won't post here each time I upload a binary, but for the first few I will over the next couple of weeks. Below is the format I will use when posting binaries at the download page of Hydrobuddy-Hacks, also below is a link to the binary "hydrobuddy_1.4.0.1-spurr-alpha-win32.exe", or use the direct download URL:

• http://code.google.com/p/hydrobuddy...obuddy_1.4.0.1-spurr-alpha-win32.exe&can=2&q=

(alpha binary, test case and update for ping target, elemental accuracy, etc.)​

The first alpha binary, compiled & built without an installer (i.e., portable mode) and without the ability to update. I wanted to get this out fast to change the ping target from Google to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, as well as to fix errors pertaining to potassium silicate and and ammonium nitrate.

This binary is a 'self-extracting archive' (SFX), it's a '.exe' file but it does not install on the computer. Double-click on the file and extract to a location of your choosing, then navigate into the extracted directory and click on "hydrobuddy.exe" to start the application.

File hashes:
File size - 4194081 bytes
MD5: 1904e22d4232b7de3b3a210a84e2e3e3
SHA-1: f417fa44769500a43577be1c7a24290ed03f4d92
SHA256: 1618962a3d89abe39f207265bff46876c6fa735f300e6af50ecefb1f47d5812a

VirusTotal report:
Scan date: 2011-07-26 12:17:42 (UTC)
https://www.virustotal.com/file-sca...6c6fa735f300e6af50ecefb1f47d5812a-1311682662#

Full change-log:

(networking)

"Ping shouldn't contact priviacy killing google.com"
https://code.google.com/p/hydrobuddy-hacks/issues/detail?id=1&can=1

"Ping code is not robust"
https://code.google.com/p/hydrobuddy-hacks/issues/detail?id=6&can=1

(elements and compounds)

"Hydrobuddy should not ship with default formula for potassium silicate"
https://code.google.com/p/hydrobuddy-hacks/issues/detail?id=3&can=1

"Hydrobuddy v1.4 ships with incorrect purity for potassium silicate and ammonium nitrate"
https://code.google.com/p/hydrobuddy-hacks/issues/detail?id=4&can=1

"Default potassium silicate K and Si percentage should not be non-zero"
https://code.google.com/p/hydrobuddy-hacks/issues/detail?id=5&can=1

P.s. I also posted the sources to hydrobuddy_1.4.0.1-spurr-alpha-win32.

 

[spurr]

Would some folks mind testing my binary on Windows 7? Testing with both 32 and 64 bit would be great, thanks!

 

[danielfp]

Hi Guys,

I am Daniel, the creator of HydroBuddy I am posting here to let you know that I appreciate your efforts to improve the software and I would welcome you to join the sourceForge group instead of starting a new one altogether. I have already emailed Spurr so that he can contact me to make him a group developed so that you can download any new improvements/versions from there. I will review any modifications and additions and will make modified releases official release candidates after testing. Thanks again for collaborating on the development of HydroBuddy

Best Regards,

Daniel

 

[Avenger]

regarding sodium sillicate, yes the same applies to it as potassium sillicate.

 

[squarepush3r]

Hi Guys,

I am Daniel, the creator of HydroBuddy I am posting here to let you know that I appreciate your efforts to improve the software and I would welcome you to join the sourceForge group instead of starting a new one altogether. I have already emailed Spurr so that he can contact me to make him a group developed so that you can download any new improvements/versions from there. I will review any modifications and additions and will make modified releases official release candidates after testing. Thanks again for collaborating on the development of HydroBuddy

Best Regards,

Daniel

Hello Daniel! Donate to this guy to support him everyone!

 

[psg1]

I've got a couple of simple improvements you could consider..

1. Allow final solutions to be measured in gallons as well as liters. Someone opting to use gallons over liters for their stock solutions is likely to prefer gallons as well in their final solutions.

2. In the unlikely event that someone chooses ounces instead of grams, the results page might be slightly confusing since the mass header still says, "Mass (g)." Dunno if this one is worth the trouble... Who measures their base salts in ounces?

3. Include a predicted final solution ppm value alongside the predicted EC value.

4. Treat blank Target Conc. boxes the same as 0. Simply deleting the default values for the trace elements when one runs HB for the first time yields an initially perplexing error.

 

[spurr]

I've got a couple of simple improvements you could consider..

1. Allow final solutions to be measured in gallons as well as liters. Someone opting to use gallons over liters for their stock solutions is likely to prefer gallons as well in their final solutions.

That's already possible with Hydrobuddy.

2. In the unlikely event that someone chooses ounces instead of grams, the results page might be slightly confusing since the mass header still says, "Mass (g)." Dunno if this one is worth the trouble... Who measures their base salts in ounces?

Good point, the final mass qualification on "Results" page, should be the same as chosen mass qualification of "Main Page".

3. Include a predicted final solution ppm value alongside the predicted EC value.

Also a good suggestion, it's easy enough to do: add the ppm values on the "Results" page. You're correct, a "Total PPM" entry should be made.

4. Treat blank Target Conc. boxes the same as 0. Simply deleting the default values for the trace elements when one runs HB for the first time yields an initially perplexing error.

Can you elaborate? I don't think I understand fully what you are asking/suggesting.

 

[psg1]

That's already possible with Hydrobuddy.

You'll have to show me how. When the user selects a stock solution volume of 1 and selects gallons, and concentrated a + b solutions with a factor of say 100, the results page states "... Please use 10mL of A and B within every Liter of final solution." I'd like HB to calculate the values necessary to arrive at "10mL of A and B within every Gallon of final solution." This way, you can use gallons for your concentrates as well as your final solutions versus converting to liters when you mix a final solution and ending up trying to measure out 37.8541178mL of concentrate. (For exmaple if you don't have a 1 liter bottle handy, only gallon jugs)

Can you elaborate? I don't think I understand fully what you are asking/suggesting.

On the main page when you first load the program, there are values present for the lesser-used elements like Fe, Zn, B, etc. If you leave those boxes blank instead of using 0, HB returns the error "" in an invalid float. Values must be present to calculate, even if the value is 0. I suppose a more explanatory error message may be easier than a fix.

Thanks for your work on this. Here's hoping that most if not all of your tweaks end up in the official release.

 

[spurr]

Oh, now I see what you mean by liters vs. gallons. You're correct, what you are asking for isn't yet included in Hydrobuddy. While doing the calculations yourself is very easy, I do agree Hydrobuddy should take care of it for us.

 

[dgr]

subscribing. Good stuff you have going on here, Spurr.

 

[danielfp]

@Spurr : Please email me your sourceforge username so that I can add you as a developer to the hydrobuddy project so that we can keep all versions inside the same place Once you join we can post your version and the latest stable source. After that I will post the list of requests I have saved to source forge.

 

[spurr]

Hey Daniel,

I tried to setup a sourceforge account as spurr, but I was unable. I will try again. Did you get my last e-mail? Oh yea, I set the Google Code project page to be deleted, but it takes up to 29 days for Google to act.

 

[danielfp]

Hi Spurr,

No I haven't received any emails from you besides the first one (to which I replied). Your username doesn't HAVE to be spurr just let me know of whichever name you choose so that I can add you as a developer

Daniel

 

[spurr]

Hey Daniel,

Okay, I'll do so later today.