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Lately, I’ve been looking for a good, web-based application to manage my goals, and I’m yet to find one that fits my needs. I’m also yet to find one that I am willing to fit my methods/goals into.

So that leaves me with two options.

1. Use a service that i don’t like, and doesn’t suit what I’m trying to do.
2. Build something myself

I got home this afternoon, and after watching some soccer, and other random Tivo, I decided i’d just build it myself. I mean, i’m confident enough in my own ability to get this simple application built without too much effort. The only question was whether or not i could remember the steps to get it started. The process isn’t as simple as just starting to write code, at least not if i want to take advantage of the framework built by my friends Jason and Garrison.

I decided to treat this like a real application/project…one that i would make changes, upgrades to over time as needed. Because of that, I registered the application on Google Code (free FTW!) as a SVN project so i can use that as my source control and backups. The next step was to pull down a copy of the OT Framework, and pull out the parts that don’t need to be in my project locally. What this means, is that there are common libraries of files that I can use from other locations, without having them be physically located in my project. When i need them, they are automatically pulled from the proper location on the internet, and inserted into my application. The effect is that my application code stays very small. The OT Framework and Zend Framework are located externally, and therefore when there’s an update to one of them, i can just tell my application to go and grab the newest version….that’s it. A few lines of code and I’m fully upgraded. Holy crap I made that sound simple, and probably pretty stupid at the same time. Regardless (irregardless even!)…the bottom line is that i needed to set up my project correctly so i can more easily manage it as time rolls on.

This startup piece was something i haven’t done by myself before. I had always got Jason or Garrison to help me out for one reason or another. This time though, i had no problems (none that i didnt immediately figure out at least).

So…in just under 45 minutes, i had a fully functional application based on Zend Framework & OT Framework, running on my local machine here (24″ iMac for those that care), and had it connected successfully to Google Code for version control. I’m pretty damn happy with that. 6 months ago…jeez….3 weeks ago I couldn’t do this on my own.

The only thing that bothers me though, is that it’s Friday night, and I realized that i just got excited about this little project of mine. How things change.

My exact tweet about this was:

I think that pretty much sums it up.

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