The data is stored in an Access database file called DMS.mdb in the installation area for the Zero-Click DMS software. This database has a password. I used the Database Password Sleuth software to get the password out of the database.
On my PC it was "nw6oUUWAKQ19B2rP", this is random enough that I suspect the value will be different on yours.
The database has four tables:
More later on the structure of the GlucoseReadings table.
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I'm not sure how you came to this site. So I thought I'd give a brief overview of myself.
My name is Bernard Farrell. I've had Type 1 diabetes since September 1972.
Currently (May 2007) I use three different diabetes devices that collect data:
At present, there is no way to take the data from these three devices and collect it into one piece of software so I can view it and make decisions based on the information. That's really annoying for me. For example, I've been working to decode the Dexcom data format, because it's so hard to get useful information from the device.
And one of the reasons why it's hard to build analysis software is because each device stores the data in its own proprietary format.
I think a universal standard format would significantly increase the market for these devices, because useful and useable software could be built on the standard.
If you want to know more about me, please read my diabetes blog.
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For people with diabetes, I believe there are three different types of information that need to be supported in a system.
At present, I'm focused on the needs of people with type 1 diabetes, which is why I'm assuming the primary treatment is Insulin. But even with Type 1 diabetes, there are a number of other medications that may be worth tracking.
The first two choices are obvious, but I also believe it's critical to be able to represent comments as a critical piece of data.
For example, if I'm using a continuous glucose meter whose readings are affected by other medications, then I may want to enter a comment against a range of time to indicate that these readings aren't correct.
The system should be flexible and extensible to ensure that it will support future requirements, so the way in which data is represented should reflect that.
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Article on how to parse microformatted data.
Firefox has a cool extension called Operator that allows you to view and manipulate microformat data in a web page.
Jon Udell has a screencast on LiveClipboard, a Microsoft extension that allows you to easily copy microformatted data from one web page to another.
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Microformats are an independent way to represent information so that it can be easily displayed in a web site and used by any software.
Microformat data is normally stored in a text file in an XML format. So a piece of data to represent a blood glucose reading might be formatted as follows:
<div class="vevent" id="hcalendar-Blood-Glucose-Reading">
<abbr class="dtstart" title="20070517T0812-0400">May 17, 2007 8:12am</abbr></abbr>
<span class="summary">Blood Glucose Reading</span>
<span class="location">Meter 2AS234</span>
<div class="description">136</div>
</div>
This format is similar to the standard hCalendar format.
By following this supported format, we can take advantage of various microformat tools to do things such as import our blood glucose readings into Outlook or some other calendaring software.
I've started reading the book Microformats: Empowering Your Markup for Web 2.0
by John Allsopp, and today I see that Digital Web Magazine has a short interview with John.
You may be interested in listening to this conversation about microformats between Alex Barnett, Tantek Çelik, Dan Connolly and Rohit Khare. The audio link is about half-way down the page.
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Both of these types of values are time-based.
So what we're really talking about is an event that occurs at a given date and time, or starts on a given date and time and ends on a given date and time.
In Microformats, events are usually represented as hCalendar objects.
Can we simply use an existing Microformat to represent our data types?
What are the pros and cons of this?
One big advantage. There are many tools out there that will allow you to convert hCalendar objects into things that can be imported into your Outlook calendar or other software.
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