Frequently Asked Technical Questions

1. What's the "prerequisite" for using this "technical" documentation?
   
   If you're serious about working with MMP data and software, some programming experience will be very helpful. If you don't have much programming experience but are willing to learn, this documentation should give you an idea of whether you want to proceed. Obviously, the documentation can't teach you how to program, but it can introduce you to some of the fundamentals of working with MMP from a programming perspective.
   
   Since MMP deals with nutrient management planning, some familiarity with that subject would also be handy.
   
   
2. What software was used to create MMP and its installer? And what's the overall design philosophy behind MMP?
   
   Refer to "Technical Overview of Manure Management Planner" for all the details.
   
   
3. I'd like to extract some data from an MMP exported database. How do I know what data is "in" the database?
   
   Exporting a plan file to an Access database also exports descriptions for all database fields. You can also create a database dictionary for an exported Access database by following the instructions in section 2 of "Exchanging Data with Manure Management Planner and WinMax."
   
   
4. How do I get field data from my program into MMP so my users can develop a strategic manure management plan without re-entering all their data?
   
   There are several approaches you can take. Refer to section 3 of "Exchanging Data with Manure Management Planner and WinMax."
   
   
5. I have a specific report in mind that I think ought to be added to MMP. I want to develop the report myself with Microsoft Access. How do I go about this?
   
   MMP includes numerous examples of custom reports developed with Access. You can refer to these if you have Access programming experience. If you don't have much experience working with Access, you'll probably want to consult "Developing Custom Tools for Manure Management Planner" before you start.
   
   
6. What's a 'smart' document and how do I create one?
   
   A smart document is a Microsoft Word template that is used in conjunction with MMP's Document Maker tool to create compound documents. A smart document template contains boilerplate text, optional Word AutoText entries, and special tags that tell Document Maker what plan data to extract or custom tool to run and where to insert data in documents based on the template. For information on how to create a smart document template, refer to "Creating a 'Smart' Document."
   
   
7. I'd like to let MMP calculate crop fertilizer recommendations for my program to avoid reinventing the wheel. Where do I begin?
   
   If you've worked with Automation servers before, review the Visual Basic code example given in file TestAuto.doc that's installed with MMP. This example shows how to call MMP and pass it the data it needs to calculate and return a fert rec. If you're new to Automation, check out "Linking to Manure Management Planner through Automation" first.
   
   
8. I'm curious about how MMP calculates fert recs for so many states. How does it do that?
   
   See white paper "A General Approach to Programming Multi-State Fertilizer Recommendations" for the philosophy behind MMP's implementation of its externally defined fert recs.
   
   

Last updated: April 29, 2002

Copyright © 2002 Purdue Research Foundation