Do you find pumping gas one of the most boring activities known to man? (Heck, even gas station owners/workers quit doing it years ago!) So, next time it is time for a fill up, why not pull out your PDA and record your gas transaction! Not only will you learn how many miles-per-gallon your car is getting, but you will be envy of everyone else at the gas station!

With mpgLog you will capture your mileage information quick as a flash! Furthermore, the mpgLOG will help you if you:

- wonder how far your car actually goes on a gallon of gas.

- wonder if your vehicle actually gets better mileage on premium grade fuel. If so, is it worth the extra price?

- would like to see your MPG history so you can better determine when to service your car

- need to track your fuel consumption history for tax or business expense purposes.

Plus, mpg has many other advanced database features that include:

- Export data and open in Microsoft Excel
- Import data
- Print reports
- Set filtered views
- Plus much more!

Not only is mpgLog easy to use, it is a snap to install! Just download, unzip (extract) and run setup.

To learn more, check out the screen demo below. . .

All important data can be viewed from one screen. And you can see, mpgLOG support the new Windows Mobile 2003 SE wide screen format.



The main screen makes it very easy to quickly record your transaction with a minimum of screen taps. After all, this type of tool is only good if it is easy/quick enough to use on the spot. Lets see how mpgLOG is better than any other product at capturing data!



(Working from the bottom of the screen up. . .)

1) Normal Menu Items are just a tap away.



2) The screens use a Page type layout (similar to Excel). Just one tap will take you to any screen (just like the page tabs in Microsoft Excel).



3) VCR Stype arrows allow you to easily navigate trough your records.



4) Big (easy to tap) icons:
-NEW: inserts a new blank record

-DUP: duplicates the current record. It also takes the current records Stop mileage and inserts it automatically into the new records Start Mileage. So you only have to record your Ending Mileage!

-DEL: Deletes the current record.

-LIST: Displays your records in a List or Table view (image below).

-XFer: Exports your data records so they can be opened in Excel of most other 3rd party programs.



5) Vehicle/Fuel Type/Station are all selected from pull down lists. As you add new values, the lists are build automatically for you. And of course, when using the Dup Icon to create a new record these fields are entered for you.



6) Calculated Fields (in red): These give you a quick picture of:

- $/Gal: price per gallon you payed for this fill up.

- DIST: Distance traveled since last fill up

- MPG: Miles per gallon you achieved

- $/Mile: cost per mile



7) The Remaining Fields:

- DATE: Of course the date field defaults to today's date. But just tap and a Calendar Control pops up so you can easily record transactions after the fact.

- GAL: Gallons you purchased. This is one of the few fields you actually have to enter.

- COST: The total amount paid for the fill up. Yes, this is another field you have to enter. However, just tap the field and a BIG 10-Key pad pops up so you don't have to struggle with the tiny number keys on your PDA's virtual keyboard.

-START: Starting mileage from your last fill up. . . normally entered for you when using the DUP icon to create a new record.

- STOP: The current mileage. (Yes, you have to enter this field . . .again you can use the BIG 10-Key pad.

Summary: So how many taps does it really take??? Lets see. . .

1) Dup Record (2 taps there is a confirmation dialog)

2) Gal. (6 taps) assumes 2 decimal places

3) Cost (6 taps) assumes 2 decimal places

4) Stop (5 taps) assumes mileage < 100,000

Total Taps: 19 taps! Thats it! Amazing!



Summary Information Screen

This screen provides a quick summary of your total travels. Plus, if you set a filter for your records it will display the data for only the current lookup. For example, lets say you own two cars (Honda and a Ford). Just set a filter to only show the Honda records and you will see this information only for the Honda. If you don't set a filter, you will see the information for both vehicles combined!!



History Report Screen

The mpgLOG comes with a report writer. There are two canned reports that are included with mpgLOG. When running the reports you can set filters to extend the versatility of your reports. For example, "only show Honda for the month of January."



Notes Screen

This screen allows you to easily tap in misc. notes.



Help Screen

No system is complete without a good help system.



Sample Pull Down Menu

Pull Down menus make it easy to enter data. And, as you add new values to these fields, the list is dynamically built for you. There is no need to maintain separate tables!



Just tap any number field and this BIG 10 Key pad pops up. It makes entering numbers simple and fast. We found this so important for the mpgLOG as you will be using your Pocket PC outside. Large controls like this make it easy to enter data even in bright sunlight!



The BIG Calendar Control

Again, we found most small calendar controls hard to enter in direct sunlight. Big is better when using your Pocket PC outside.



Record Menu

Allows you to print screens and Delete single or multiple records.



Edit Menu

Provides the familiar cut/copy/past/undo features.



Options Menu

- List - Displays your records in a List or Table view

- Filter - Lets you set criteria to show a subset of records

- Import - Lets you import existing data from a .txt/.csv file

- Clear - will clear all your records in the database.

- Recalculate - refreshes the screen totals



Quit Menu

- Close mpgLOG: This exits the program. Plus, this also removes the program from your Pocket PC's memory! We don't know why Windows CE/Mobile 2003 leaves programs in memory after exiting, but it does. So, mpgLOG took the extra step to unload the program thus making your other programs run faster.

about: Informs you of your product release level and how to contact ROFLsoft if you have any questions.

Conclusion

Thank you for taking the time to review our screens. If you need to keep a log of your gas consumption/expense, then we hope you will find the mpgLOG a useful and fun tool for your Pocket PC. And we hope you will find our price reasonable and easily justified

Let us know if you have any comments or suggestions. We love hearing from you.
Happy travels,
Tom Nelson
President
ROFLsoft


mpglog31eval.zip [3.43 Mb] (Count: 1)