Carafe.FM Beginner ( and I mean beginner )

["... you mean these fans?"]

Hi,

I would like to get started with Cafafe.FM but I need to do something else ...

I have a customer who drew objects on a layout in his table::site, a single record totaling 132 little rounded rectangles.

My customer would like to see things; meaning when the unit rents ( table::units ) he wants to change the objects color, so if the customer is current ( Invoice Paid, table::invoice ) he wants the object to be green, as their monthly rental renewal date come within lets say 5 days, change the color of the rectangle object to orange and as the renewal date passes and the invoice is not paid the object changes color to red as well as provide an additional drop down with all relevant customer data.

Now I've provided this idea ( colors ) via a list using conditional formatting which the customer likes very much, he is just asking now to action this site table so that his site diagram represent his current activity as a visual aide for his staff

So how do I begin using Cafafe.FM with this site map idea ?  How do I map in his site drawing ? How do I update all objects to represent current activity and change the color of the object; Green to Orange to Red? How do I trigger scripts? How do I mouse over and drop down a list of customer relevant data? 

I've gone through the doc's and watch the video and I have absolutely no clue how to begin.  I could probably handle the install of Cafafe.FM but that would be about it.

Is there a video / tutorial that's teaches the basic concept of Cafafe.FM ? The "US DATA Map v1.0.2" show the general idea with STATES, but I'm not able to take this Map concept and change it so it represents my customers site drawing on a layout.

Any suggestion I would be grateful.

Thank you.

[dual_mon]

Hello @"... you mean these fans?", thanks for your interest in Carafe. What you're describing sounds like it could potentially be a custom use case for JavaScript in the web viewer, so in that case, yes, absolutely. Carafe could be part of the solution. But Carafe is only a delivery mechanism. What you need to figure out first is exactly what features and behaviors you want. Often a good place to start is to research what existing JavaScript libraries are out there which you might be able to take advantage of. If you identify one, or if you hire a JavaScript developer to build you a custom one, at that point you'd be ready to package it up as a Carafe bundle.

So I think the next steps for you, before worrying about bundling, is to do a bit of research into what's possible with existing open source JavaScript libraries which you might use, clarify your requirements based on that research, then consider hiring a JavaScript programmer to implement/customize your requirements. At that point you'll be ready to consider bundling it up with Carafe.

["... you mean these fans?"]

dual_mon,

So basically what you are telling me is that I can not use Carafe until I become a successful JavaScript Developer.

OK, thank you 🙂

[dual_mon]

You can definitely use Carafe with very little training to implement an existing bundle that someone in the community has already developed. It's only if you are looking to do something that the community hasn't already created where you'd need to get in a bit deeper.

One way or another, if you want a custom JavaScript solution, you will need to figure out how to go about accomplishing your goal. As an alternative to tackling JavaScript development yourself, you could just work on the requirements and partner with someone who already knows JavaScript.