Anyone ever made a list of all major flashlights?

Please explain

It's so you can downselect what you want. For example, you could go through the selection process of battery type, battery number, lux, lumens, number of modes, switch type, runtimes on low and/or high, brand, etc.

By the time you select through, you have your short list of options.

Gotcha. I'm sure someone here will know how to do it as I don't but till then, we have far to go as I haven't gotten that much positive response yet and still no takers.

George

Well, I made something of the sort. I did not include specs like runtime and output, since the manufacturer's ratings are not reliable and not all of them are tested. But I did include size, emitter, batteries, modes, and switch.

And of course I limited it to a very strict top tier of flashlights - read my website's info section for more on that.

http://sk88leds.freehostia.com/database.php

It's a bit out of date now, but has pretty much everything more than a few months old.

As for more data about each flashlight, I'm considering making a page of links for each entry, such as manufacturer's page, reviews, and discussions. But that would take a while.

I came to the light... said:

http://sk88leds.freehostia.com/database.php

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that's much better. just make an interface so that people can input the new data, etc. n_den

n_den said:

that's much better. just make an interface so that people can input the new data, etc. n_den

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I can try to do that too. I'm thinking the best format would be linking each entry to an editable or semi editable info page, so as to keep the table as clear and reliable as possible.

However, as has been mentioned, any table becomes unwieldy when it's too big. But size could improve the database rather than bloat it were it structure like a search, arranged in a specified order, with filers for different features or specification limits. This could be a fun project for me, or impossible... I'll post again when I figure that out

See, that's nice right there.

If you want to part with this and send it to me in excel format, I think I can import it and put it on that site and make it accessible to everyone and just start adding more categories. That would give us a nice start and hopefully others will pick up from there and add their lights to the list.

If so, just pm or e mail me. Also, I will need help from someone that knows excel so that we can do what Marduke suggested as it would be nice to be able to filter based on your criteria.

As for pics, I can host them on my site and simply link the model name to them or something.

George

I came to the light... said:

This could be a fun project for me, or impossible... I'll post again when I figure that out

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Sounds like a plan. In my opinion, for this to be worth anything, I think it should have at least claimed output and runtimes and of course, if possible, tested but at least it would give people a start.

Searches are good but only if you can search for an output range I think. If not, I think a way to SORT columns in order of runtime, max output or whatever would be more useful but mind you, these are MY opinions.

George

Sorry, no excel format... like an idiot I didn't design a system to read data, but just hard coded all that information into the database You're welcome to use the information though - excel might be able to make something of just copying the table, or viewing the page source and copying that.

guiri said:

Sounds like a plan. In my opinion, for this to be worth anything, I think it should have at least claimed output and runtimes and of course, if possible, tested but at least it would give people a start.

Searches are good but only if you can search for an output range I think. If not, I think a way to SORT columns in order of runtime, max output or whatever would be more useful but mind you, these are MY opinions.

George

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I guess I wasn't clear enough - that's what I was thinking. The filers would be something like:
Min output ______ Max output ____
Min length ______ Max length _____
Min runtime _____ Max runtime ______
Battery ______
etc

and on the right:
sort results by: ________
-hits
-output
-runtime on max
-length
-etc

I think that would make the data very usable, but, like I said, I have no idea how feasible it is for me to do, and I'm not about to pay for somebody to do it for me.

Well, since you have a lot of data and yeah, I can always copy and paste it, why don't we do it on the one that I set up that's editable and everyone can enter their own stuff.

IF we can get help with filters or figure out how to sort it on any field we want, it would still be useful. I tried to add pictures to it yesterday but that was funky as it didn't put the pic IN the cell, it just kinda floats on top and it can be moved to anywhere on the sheet.

However, IF you are doing this on your own and I and others do a different one, then it's a little pointless, don't you think?

I mean, I don't care if it's on your site or somewhere else as this is for the greater good so to speak but I'd rather we poll our resources or however you say that.

Whatchathink and also, there must not be any interest cause very few people have responded with ideas or offers to help.

I AM not going to sit like a fool and do this for a couple of reasons, I'm not big of a flashaholic and I will get bored with it and the most important reason, I have NO knowledge and don't know a fraction of the info that's needed so I am NON suitable for this.

George

guiri said:

Well, since you have a lot of data and yeah, I can always copy and paste it, why don't we do it on the one that I set up that's editable and everyone can enter their own stuff.

IF we can get help with filters or figure out how to sort it on any field we want, it would still be useful. I tried to add pictures to it yesterday but that was funky as it didn't put the pic IN the cell, it just kinda floats on top and it can be moved to anywhere on the sheet.

However, IF you are doing this on your own and I and others do a different one, then it's a little pointless, don't you think?

I mean, I don't care if it's on your site or somewhere else as this is for the greater good so to speak but I'd rather we poll our resources or however you say that.

Whatchathink and also, there must not be any interest cause very few people have responded with ideas or offers to help.

I AM not going to sit like a fool and do this for a couple of reasons, I'm not big of a flashaholic and I will get bored with it and the most important reason, I have NO knowledge and don't know a fraction of the info that's needed so I am NON suitable for this.

George

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The problem here is that you are focused on getting this running, while I want to play around with web design. It is not impossible to do this at the same time - editgrid has posted a developer API, which means that the data from your website could be read into another website.

So what I propose is that you go forward with EditGrid, and I will work on a nice interface, not on adding data. Then, if you'd like, we could either read the data to my website, or copy my work to a shared website and read to that. Sound good?

This will probably get more attention when we get something good up

Sure but before anything, I think we should make sure that both sites are compatible AND can read the data and that we CAN get the filters/searches to work and the sorting and all that so I suggest a trial period, definitely.

Also, I DO want to hear from others about what categories to add. Again, I AM ignorant about this. Don't let the high post count fool you.

Also, I can easily enough enter the stuff into the online spreadsheet but it'll be more than that. IF we are going to end up on YOUR site, what's the purpose of doing this first and why not enter it directly on YOUR site. THat would give us options of putting in thumbnails for the pics and all kinds of stuff that this site is having problems with.

Will you be able to set it up so that people can enter their own info or not?

George

guiri said:

Sure but before anything, I think we should make sure that both sites are compatible AND can read the data and that we CAN get the filters/searches to work and the sorting and all that so I suggest a trial period, definitely.

Also, I DO want to hear from others about what categories to add. Again, I AM ignorant about this. Don't let the high post count fool you.

Also, I can easily enough enter the stuff into the online spreadsheet but it'll be more than that. IF we are going to end up on YOUR site, what's the purpose of doing this first and why not enter it directly on YOUR site. THat would give us options of putting in thumbnails for the pics and all kinds of stuff that this site is having problems with.

Will you be able to set it up so that people can enter their own info or not?

George

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The reason for using EditGrid is because it will take me quite a while to get my site running, and until then data could be flowing in via an editgrid page.

As for compatibility, interface, etc, yes, it will all eventually work. It's not a matter of finding a way, but of making one.

Also, I would suggest saving an uneditable backup yourself every day or so, depending on how fast it changes. That way somebody can't destroy all the data.

Alright but so far I have had virtually NO input on what categories to enter other than the ones I put up there. Sure, I could just add some but would they be good or correct? I'm surprised and a little disappointed that not more people have chimed in considering how much talk there usually is in here.

Again, I'm NOT doing this for myself fellas. I'll buy a couple of more flashlights for myself and that's it and although this would help, it's meant for the general public.

Yes, I would make backups..

gswitter said:

Maybe if there was some way to set it up like a Wiki in which many people can edit as needed?

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I can't see why this couldn't be done on the CPF wiki. Instant and easy collaboration, after all that's what wikis were designed for.

One a decision has be made on what info to gather, a simple table based page could be done up and then people can edit and tweak to their hearts content.

Sounds good but I don't know how to do it. We could also just link to it if I/we do it the other way can't we?

Hey, at least you chimed in

guiri said:

Sounds good but I don't know how to do it. We could also just link to it if I/we do it the other way can't we?

Hey, at least you chimed in

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We could certainly link to a file from the wiki, the only downside is the file would be slower to maintain. One person would essentially have to be in charge of it.

Thinking about the wiki, it should pretty much be doable however, and this is where my current lack of knowledge on flashlights hampers me slightly, it may get a little ungainly.

We'd essentially be aiming for a table, spreadsheet like, layout in the wiki, so we would have to take into account how many rows (length of page) and columns (width of page).

Rows aren't too big of an issue, if it became a real problem we just split the page into multiple pages, eg: flishlights A-F, Flashlight G-L and so on. The columns would be a different story as they would dictate how wide the page is and how much side (horizontal) scrolling is required to view all the info on each particular torch.

The only other downside is, making sure that people keep the list in Alphabetical order. As it allows anyone to edit the page you may get people being a bit lazy or making mistakes and putting the torch info in the wrong place. But being a wiki, other people can correct those mistakes

In the time it has taken me to write this, multiple pages may be the best route. Something in the format Flashlight-list-<batterytype*> as having multiple battery types in the one list would make for a very large chart.

On how to do tables (I'm happy to help where possible)
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Table

And it looks like there is a handy excel to Wiki table converter
http://people.fas.harvard.edu/~sdouglas/table.cgi

Well, as for the battery type, we could do like "I came to the light" did in his lineup. List them like this "2xCR123A / 2x16340 / 18650"

Of course, since it might not fit in the cell, all you would have to do is click on it and you could see the whole thing. Explanations would be written on top.

I really don't think we should do a table IN wiki because like you said, we'd be limited to a certain width and that's gonna be a pain. I think a simple LINK to where the spread sheet is would be the best idea, wherever that may be.

Well, copy and paste into wiki didn't work for me but I'm sure I did something incorrectly, in any case, I still think it's not a good idea.

As for the alphabetical order, IF we don't separate the rows like i did with different colors so it would be easier to find the right letter, then you could just click on the column and sort it to fix it, that's not a problem. It wouldn't look as nice but it's doable. Of course, then there's the option of going in and moving stuff around if we had to.

Well, copying and pasting rows to move them around works in the online thingie so we're good there.

Also, there's no way I can do the wiki thing, too complicated for me.

George

Google has an editable, sharable, online spreadsheet tool available already.

http://spreadsheets.google.com


Did this work?
Google Docs - Flashlight Database
located at
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=rP6qO6o3d7dDTLWj4SgOKbw

Yeah, same thing I was doing but on google but yeah.

Can it be opened so anyone can add to it or?