Some input required please

[fuzzy70]

Hi all, I am a Type 1 diabetic (insulin controlled) & have been for 17 years. For the last 3 years I have been controlling the amount of insulin I use by a method called "Carbohydrate Counting", which is based on a very simple formula. My real questions will follow after this description to help show whats involved.

(Portion size grams / 100) * Carbs per 100g = CP's (Carbohydrate Points)
10 CP's = 1 unit of insulin
It is then multiplied by each persons personal ratio, everyone starts at a ratio of 1:1 & it is modified over time based on results from blood tests.

The above looks more complicated than it is practice so will gove a real life example

Wholemeal pasta = 66g per 100g of Carbs
Portion size = 200g
200/100 = 2
2 * 66 = 132 (CP's)
132/10 = 13 units of insulin to be injected (assuming 1:1 ratio)

You also have to factor in what your blood sugar levels are prior to eating & make an adjustment dose of insulin which again is based on a per person basis. My blood sugar target range is 4-8mmol/L & my adjust dosage is 1 unit insulin for 2 mmol/L. So using the above example say my blood result was 10mmol/L before the meal, I would have to inject 15 units of insulin (13 for the food, 2 for the correction dose) to keep my levels within my target range.

All is nice & easy with the above but say you had a meal with more than one item like a roast dinner, you have to calculate the CP's for the potatoes, vegatables, yorkshire puddings etc etc separate & add them up. Just imagine the joys of eating out & having a 3 course meal with starter,main & desert then the math starts getting awkward, still straight forward though just more time consuming. After time you learn meals that you have regular so other than adding a correction dose if needed the math is not needed.


Everything above is very easy for a computer/phone to calculate as well as keep track of. I use my pocket pc when I go out as I wrote a VB.Net app for it along with a SQL database to store the info of the foods & it is probably the most simple program you could write. I select the food type from a drop down list which then produces another dropdown listing the types of food in that group, I then enter the portion size & it keeps a total of the CP's as I add more items.

While this works for me it is not very portable to other devices thanks to using Microsofts SQL compact edition. There are programs I have seen on the net but they tend to be limited in some way or another, like American ones which use ounces instead of grams & provide no inbuilt conversion or do not keep a running total of all the items making up the meal. There are books as well, but carrying a book around with you when going for a meal is not the most practical solution. I have one particular book which is very good in that each food has a photo so you can visually see the size of the portion, but again not very portable/practical while out & also while a phone version could be made the size of the download would be rather large (around 1000+ thumbnails). There is an Iphone version of the book but it has the problem I mentioned earlier regarding not keeping a total of multiple foods & looks like an ebook rather than a program.


Now finally to my questions lol.
As mentioned above the program is really nothing more than a calculator with an attached database of foods, the database would have to be implemented as a flat text file which should not pose to many problems. To cover a wide target audience I thought that IPhone/IPod, Android cover a large part of the market but also Windows phone, Blackberry & a generic JAVA app for the remaining targets. While I have used all the targets I have never owned or developed for any of them so if you could help by answering the following questions that would be very appriciated.

What costs are involved, like Developer fees etc so a rough total to produce an app for that platform & market it.

IPhone/IPod =

Android =

Windows Phone =

Blackberry =

Regarding the java side of things can all the above run a java app & would that be the best way to approach this?

Any thoughts on if such a project like this feasable?


As I am currently not working due to illness (& it's not diabetic related) I would have to source funding to pay for any fees etc mentioned above, for that I would approach a Diabetic organisation or such. I could have searched the net for the above information but would rather hear from actual people like yourselves with real world experience as you are aware of any hidden costs not mentioned on their sites. Ideally I would like the app to be free but may charge a small amount & the procedes go to a Diabetic related charity if that is required, if it makes it easier for others with the same condition as myself thats all I am after.

Sorry for such a long post but could not figure out a way to shorten it.

Lee

[Ian Price]

First off, what you are suggesting has more than likely been done before. Better to look for these software tools prior to making one yourself/hiring someone to do it for you. A quick look on Google found these apps for iOS - http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=diabetes+food+calculator+iPhone&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

If you want to do one yourself,  as you already have the skills to create for most of these platforms with GLBasic, then the only real cost would be for the machines themselves and any enrollment costs into their programmes - eg Apple charge $99 p.a. for iOS dev and $99 for Mac development. Android charge $25 (IIRC). WebOS is free and so is Windows Mobile. Don;t know about BlackBerry and JAVA is free too.

Development platforms - just look on eBay/Amazon for the costs of the platforms. Add 10-20% for brand new retail items.

[fuzzy70]

Thanks Ian, I just had a look at quite a few sites from your link. The iPhone ones are like a minefield of what they actually provide (& most are American which is useless for UK control), but it seems that market is pretty well covered & 1 less to worry about  .

Android seems to have considerably less options available to it & from some of the reviews I have read they have not been exactly glowing reports, either in functionality or features, especially when compared to the iPhone ones available.

Blackberry & java ones seem to be like looking for a needle in a haystack & what is available is either very old & no longer maintained or difficult/expensive to get.

Thanks also for the info on the costs as well, appreciated 

Lee

[Slydog]

Have you thought about making it a (portable) web app?
That way it would be available to all devices, and no developer fees.
Downside is the client would need internet access to use the app.
And you can't 'charge' for a web app (easily!), but you can always use ads.

My cousin is a recent doctor, and is currently doing a resident's research project, about diabetic foot screening.
She asked me to do an app for her, and I ended up just creating a javascript / css page which does what she wants:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1979274/DiabeticFootScreen.html
(It's a work-in-progress, but almost releasable)
If you right-click and 'View Source', all the code is static (no ASP.Net or Python etc), and is fairly simple.

But even if you need to deploy it as a native device app, you could always use your web code, and there are tools to convert it into an app, such as (what I was originally going to do):
http://phonegap.com/about

Then there are SDKs such as Appcelerator:
http://www.appcelerator.com/products/
It is multiplatform, and uses its own language (I think), so no converting javascript.

That's if you don't want to use GLBasic, which you could use for non-gaming apps, using DD-GUI or your own custom gui library.

[fuzzy70]

Thanks Slydog, That is one option that never crossed my mind & could have a few possibilities so will look into that further I think.

Mobile internet access has got a lot better & is still improving. I was thinking of creating a website at some stage to store a database of foods & their carbohydrate values along with a forum or such so people can post/upload foods that are not in the DB. While that information is on the net at the moment I have not found one that is universal so to speak,  or laid out in a straight forward manner as in foods split into related groups for diabetics. They mainly seem to be aimed towards dieting & such.

A lot of manufacturers of foods tend to show their nutrition information per item, take ryvita crispbreads for example, I was on their site the other day & to get the info on their range of crispbreads I had to click on each one to get the info then go back a page, then click on the next one etc etc whereas a straight list or pdf would have been wonderful & a lot easier.

Like I said I have my own pocket pc version I created & that does the job perfectly, but would be nice to help others if possible as I understand how difficult it can be at the start. Especially if you or your child have just been diagnosed as you have a lot of info to take in & learn, I was lucky in that I had been a diabetic for 14+ years before using the CP method of controlling it so food groups & what I can eat loads of or just in moderation was already known.

Lee


Forgot to say that I was thinking of using GLB for the targets that it supports

[ampos]

As for developement costs, Android is just a one time payment, 25$.

For iOS, you need iOS license ($99 per year) and a Mac (I bought a 2nd hand MacBook for 250€), although some user had managed to get it working on Hackintosh.

Oh, and an iThing and a androThing

[fuzzy70]

As for developement costs, Android is just a one time payment, 25$.

For iOS, you need iOS license ($99 per year) and a Mac (I bought a 2nd hand MacBook for 250€), although some user had managed to get it working on Hackintosh.

Oh, and an iThing and a androThing

Getting a Mac is not a problem. I have an old G4 quicksilver which I use as a file/web/print server which it is great at (& only cost me £10 on ebay  ) however it is limited to OS 10.4 & cannot go higher. I presume the xcode required for iOS needs a newer version of OSx?

I just entered a free competition on one of my diabetic sites & the prize is an iPhone 4S so that would take care of the iThing if I won 

Lee

[okee]

If you wanted to stick with basic there's also NS Basic which creates web apps
using basic or javascript and integrates with phonegap

[Crivens]

To be precise you need an intel mac

Cheers