Eureka Moment!

Post date: 11-Apr-2012 20:37:27

Google Apps Scripts...

Here's a little something I've been playing with since GTA UK:

function doGet(e) {

var app = UiApp.createApplication();

// Find date, and then calculate different constituent parts

var date = new Date();

var day = date.getDate();

var month = date.getMonth();

var year = date.getYear();

var wday = date.getDay();

// Array to display weekdays instead of numbers

var myweekday=new Array(7);

myweekday[0]="Sunday";

myweekday[1]="Monday";

myweekday[2]="Tuesday";

myweekday[3]="Wednesday";

myweekday[4]="Thursday";

myweekday[5]="Friday";

myweekday[6]="Saturday";

// Array to display month names instead of numbers

var mymonth=new Array(12);

mymonth[0]="January";

mymonth[1]="February";

mymonth[2]="March";

mymonth[3]="April";

mymonth[4]="May";

mymonth[5]="June";

mymonth[6]="July";

mymonth[7]="August";

mymonth[8]="September";

mymonth[9]="October";

mymonth[10]="November";

mymonth[11]="December";

// Construct and format the date

var todayLabel = app.createLabel("Today is " + myweekday[wday] + ", " + day + " " + mymonth[month] + ", " + year + ".")

.setStyleAttribute("fontSize","14px").setStyleAttribute("color","#000099").setStyleAttribute("fontWeight","Bold")

.setStyleAttribute("fontStyle", "Verdana");

// add the label to the app container

app.add(todayLabel);

return app;

}

Now, it may not look like much...

In fact, it does this:

But...

Once you write a gadget which changes, depending on the date...

You can ask a question of the day....

You can display a different photo/diagram/visual prompt every week/day/month

or use something like:

var myRandomNumber = Math.floor(Math.random()*6)+1;

to make it a different, random quote/question/flashcard each time...

You can take it a step further, add buttons to ask a question.

You could automate the Gadget by storing questions/quotes in a spreadsheet for others to update,

or use a Google Apps script to populate a spreadsheet with the names of images stored in a directory

which is used to create the array in the display script on the fly...

You could store the number of responses to each week's question and display a constantly updated chart illustrating

the number of correct responses, or the time to respond, once someone has answered the question.

.