Retail-i-mate

• Download Retailimate.zip - 542.9 KB

Introduction

AppName:- Retail-i-mate

App-Icon

Programming approach: I will be using VS 2012 to develop the app the programming language will be a mix of C#,JavaScript,HTML and  XML  form based application.

Overview of the Application

This app is meant for those people who always carry the tablet with them. It will assist them in every possible way. It is great companion app that will give information for all retail needs of your area and also time to time updates of products as well as Shopping Cart facility(Hopeful)

Features

1. Portability take it anywhere click one snap and you are good to get information of any product matching the database.
2. Crowd sourcing Using Crowd voting system hosted in Windows Azure to filter more products and bring that smile to your face.
3. RSS feeds retrieving the best offers new offers from the Big Retail Companies.

Thing that i will try to Integrate

Using Augmented Reality to view the product such as Watches-Shirt s, to try them using Intel Perceptual SDK and get a feel how it fits into You and then you got to think that you should buy it or not. Imagine Holding the latest Tablets virtually and check how it fits to your palm or say Custom Design it and then voting for that Design. It would be awesome.

Lenovo Tablet 2 features

1. Fully Touch enabled
2. GPS and Accelerometer Sensor Usage
3. Shopping Cart Facility(Hope to include it)
4. Device orientation 

Approach Taken for Development and Description of intended uses of the app

I will be using VS 2012 as tool coding language will be C#, JavaScript, HTML, XML  and the whole application will be a form based application. A brief description of each Platform and how I will integrate it with code snippets and figures given below.

Firstly

Powered by the Ocutag API it will give the best results from the inbuilt camera. Imagine you are in a fast paced way or you have an urgent work and in the mean time you see a product that is eye-catching in a retail store but you cannot spend time on it. Just take snap from the Lenovo Tablet with connected to internet you get all the details on the table that can be studied or viewed later on with lots of time. That's the power of Ocutag API which has a very good Visual Search ability for augmented reality.

What is Ocutag Platform?

Say goodbye to QR codes and barcodes. Now your Desktop apps can recognize images directly, triggering digital experiences that you design. The Ocutag platform allows you to integrate patented Ricoh Visual Search technology into your Desktop app through APIs. The web-based authoring tool lets you create engaging digital experiences for your users. Static images in the physical world, including posters, magazines, catalogs, product packaging, billboards, and photographs, can connect your users to your dynamic digital content.

How Ocutag Service works.

When you add Ocutag to your app, your users engage by simply snapping real-world images with their mobile devices. The Ocutag server then looks for a match among the images posted in your collection. When a match is found, the digital experiences you’ve specified—video, audio, websites, social media, e-commerce channels and more—are served on the Desktops.

Secondly

There are lot of RSS feeds of the well known retail Companies that gives latest information of the products. I will integrate them with the app to give latest up to date information of their products offers etc.

Some Well Known Companies RSS feed that i will be integrating with the app

• Adidas
• Reebok
• Nike 

etc.

How I will try to integrate it

I searched for lot of details in the Internet and then came across a  framework that will do my job of Consuming the feeds and it is easy to work with.

Argotic

A powerful and extensible .NET web content syndication framework for RSS, Atom, OPML, APML, BlogML, RSD and more. The Argotic Syndication Framework is a Microsoft .NET class library framework that enables developers to easily consume and/or generate syndicated content from within their own applications. The framework makes the reading and writing syndicated content in common formats such as RSS, Atom, OPML, APML, BlogML, and RSD very easy while still remaining extensible enough to support common/custom extensions to the syndication publishing formats. The framework includes out-of-the-box implementations of the most commonly used syndication extensions, network clients for sending and receiving peer-to-peer notification protocol messages; as well as HTTP handlers, modules, services and controls that provide rich syndication functionality to ASP.NET developers.

Using Argotic.syndication for RSS feeds

Adding an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed to your website has never been easier.  When trying to find a way to add an RSS feed to Dimecasts.net I first thought of just hand rolling my own RSS document, but that seemed like too much work.  After a bit of searching and asking on Twitter I was pointed to the open source .Net library called Argotic.

Steps

1. Creating the xml (rss feed) document for publication
2. Creating an access point for the feed
3. Adding the feed to your site

//
public XDocument GenerateRSSFeed()  
{  
    var rssRepository = ObjectFactory.GetInstance();  
    var items = rssRepository.GenerateRSSItems();  
  
var rssFeed = new RssFeed( "Main RSS Feed for DimeCasts.Net" );  
    var rssChannel = new RssChannel( new Uri( "http://www.dimecasts.net" ), "Title", "Desc" );  
  
    foreach ( var item in items )  
    {  
        var rssItem = new RssItem  
                          {  
                              Author = "Your name here",  
                              Title = item.Title,  
                              Link = new Uri( item.Link),  
                              Guid = new RssGuid(item.Link),  
                              Description = item.Description,  
                              PublicationDate = item.PublishDate  
                          };  
        rssChannel.AddItem( rssItem );  
    }  

    rssFeed.Channel = rssChannel;  
    return XDocument.Parse( rssFeed.CreateNavigator().OuterXml.ToString() );  
}

Thirdly

it will use the GPS location to give information and offers on specified products close to the place.

Fourthly

Social Sites provide lot of information so I will be targeting your friends or family or trendier updates presented to you with largest no of matched keywords for a product 

How it works?

Say a friend has purchased a new mobile he updates his features plus some cool info it will presented to you.

Again I will be integrating the Twitter updates of retail product in a specific manner.

CROWDSOURCING Could it be done?

I would like to Implement crowd sourcing as a messenger service for near and dear ones to do a crowd vote for a product say shoe,T-Shirt etc so that others get willingness to buy the product.

Now an Important Work 

It will have the Missing Person Link

It will be updated from the Facebook ,Twitter as well as from all connected friends. How it works

Somebody posted a missing person link at the app now it pops up and the Ambient Light Sensor adjusts and shows you the result .if by chance you find the person or any info you can update it to the twitter or Facebook post and take a snap with GPS location and share.

What is Crowd Sourcing?

the practice of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people, and especially from an online community, rather than from traditional employees or suppliers. Often used to subdivide tedious work or to fund-raise startup companies and charities, this process can occur both online and offline. It combines the efforts of crowds of self-identified volunteers or part-time workers, where each one on their own initiative adds a small portion that combines into a greater result. Crowd sourcing is different from an ordinary outsourcing since it is a task or problem that is outsourced to an undefined public rather than to a specific, named group.

This app will be a must have app for Tablets as it is integrated with a mixture of latest and engaging technology

The Image below shows the propesd flow

WireFrame

I am included the Wireframe of the proposed project as of now under development.

How to use it

Just Unzip the file and open the Start html file in any browser. The Figures below Depict the Wireframes Utility

This is the main page of the Wireframe where you get the proposed actions of the project

The proposed window of Retailimate pick shown above.

The next figure shows the Virtual reality proposed action with Shopping Cart facility

The next figure shows the New items Option

The next figure shows the Ocutag options available

The next figure shows the Crowd Sourcing option

Click on Quick View to Check for items (Currently only option is Lenovo Tablet2)

The next figure shows how to check the quantity

The next figure shows how the processing happens in action

The proposed Checkout process

The wireframe included goes through the flow as pages not all functionalities are obvious but its a try from my Side.

Points of Interest

Ocutag Platform,Creative Coding,Intel Perceptual Computing,Cinder frameworks,Unity,C#,C++(need to learn fast)

History

The article updated with Wireframe.