SharkScout

🕵️ Web App for FRC Competition Scouting.

Running From Build

Windows Executable

This is the easiest way to run the server on a Windows machine.

1. Install MongoDB.
2. Download the latest release.
3. Run SharkScout.exe.

Running From Docker

This is the easiest way to run the server on a non-Windows machine.

1. Install Docker.
2. Install Docker Compose.
3. Build and run the containers.

Build the Containers

This requires an internet connection and only needs to be done when the source has changed.

Run docker-compose:

docker-compose up --build --no-start

Run the Containers

Run docker-compose:

docker-compose up

Running From Source

Note: it is recommended that the server be run using one of the above out-of-the-box solutions.

Installing Dependencies

1. Install MongoDB.

2. Install Python 3.

3. Windows users: ensure Python 3 (%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Python\* and %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Python\*\Scripts) and MongoDB (%PROGRAMFILES%\MongoDB\Server\*\bin) are in your PATH variable.

4. Run setup.py:

   python3 setup.py install

5. Configure your TBA Read API Key in config.json.

Execution

Run SharkScout.py:

python3 SharkScout.py

Building for Windows

Run build.bat.

Updating TBA Information

SharkScout is intended to be used offline and therefore needs to pull a lot of information from The Blue Alliance. It is possible to trigger updates from the web interface but command-line arguments have been provided for batch updates, some examples are below.

To see a full list of command-line arguments execute:

python3 SharkScout.py -h

To update team information only:

python3 SharkScout.py -ut

To update the event listings for all years:

python3 SharkScout.py -ue 1992-2018

To update detailed event information for this year:

python3 SharkScout.py -ue 2018 -uei 2018

In order to be a responsible user of The Blue Alliance's API it is recommended that you only update as little and as infrequently as needed.

Server Setup

Remote Server

The easiest setup is to run the server remotely and use cell phones to access it. This can be challenging, though, because competition venues are notorious for poor cell signal.

Local Server

An alternative to running the server remotely is to run it locally on a laptop at the competition. Because WiFi access points are banned there are some options for this:

1. Run the server and use a network switch with all wired connections to other computers or mobile devices (with OTG ethernet adapters).
2. Run the server on a Linux machine and use panr to create a Bluetooth PAN network.
3. Run the server on a Windows machine and bridge a connection to a Linux device connected with ethernet, and run panr on the Linux device with the -nd flag to create a Bluetooth PAN network.

Additional Thoughts

Database Backups

It is recommended that you make regular backups on multiple drives while SharkScout is running. Losing all of your scouting data due to corruption or general failure during a competition would be a disaster. Here is a basic mongodump command:

mongodump /out C:/mongodump-sharkscout /gzip