Okay, so I’ve been trying to get this “tennis connection” thing working for a while now. It’s basically a way to find local tennis partners, you know, people to hit with. I started by sketching out what I wanted on a piece of paper. Really rough, just boxes and arrows.
First, I downloaded a simple app-building tool. Nothing fancy, just something to drag and drop stuff. I played around with it for a few hours, figuring out how to make buttons and text fields.
Then, I created a basic profile page. It had spots for a name, location, skill level (beginner, intermediate, pro…which I definitely am not!), and availability. I spent way too long trying to get the layout to look decent.
The “Find a Partner” Feature
- I added a search screen where you can put in your location and skill level.
- I then created a filter function to match a user with partners.
- I messed around with the search filters for ages. Getting it to only show people nearby and at a similar skill level was tricky. I kept getting matched with pros who would totally destroy me!
After that, I tackled the messaging part. I wanted people to be able to chat and arrange matches. This was probably the hardest part. I ended up using a pre-built chat component because I couldn’t figure out how to build one from scratch. It’s a little clunky, but it works.
Finally, I tested the whole thing. I made my friend sign up and we tried to find each other. It took a few tries, but we eventually connected and scheduled a “virtual” match (we didn’t actually play, just tested the app!).
It’s still pretty basic, but it’s a start! I might add some more features later, like maybe a rating system or a way to schedule matches directly through the app. But for now, I’m just happy I got it working. Now the thing can match you with partners!
