[Dx4win] Unhappy with DX4WIN

[Alan Braun]

This is a serious pain in the a** with DX4Win. I've commented about it 
several times to Paul with no response, and to Jim AD1C who 
commisserates but isn't much help as he isn't the programmer. I've 
always wondered why previously logged contacts can't be "sacred", as you 
put it, the way they are in most of the contest loggers. Also I wonder 
why exceptions, where for example you change a country reference to 
match where a station really is, can't be saved to a separate file 
rather than put into the main country database, so that you don't lose 
them every time you update the database. (Like what some word processors 
do when you update the dictionary - that programming trick has been 
around since the DOS versions of WordPerfect!)  Jim does an OUTSTANDING 
job with keeping the database up and putting in as many exceptions as he 
knows about, but he doesn't know everything. For example, I have an old 
7J1 contact that happens to be my only QSO with Minami Torishima that 
gets changed all the time, and of course there is the more recent 
example of Swain's island that used a mainland US 1x1 call and creates 
havoc anytime you try to enter a similar call now. The procedure for 
log-checking when the database is updated is laborious, non-intuitive 
and there's no excuse for still having to go through all that crap every 
time with a program that's been around as long as this one has. I have 
31081 contacts in my main log and eyeballing all that to find the one or 
2 changes that might occur is well-nigh impossible. I'm multiple 
versions back on updating the changes due to how difficult it is; my 
"sacred" log is still in 5.03. Maybe someday, when I can find time 
between my 8 kids and my 60+ hour per week medical job, I might get 
around to going through and getting it all up to date, but only God 
knows when that might be. BTW I didn't even try to add FJ as I haven't 
worked it yet - I'm almost scared to try adding it after all the stuff 
I've read. The only reasons I haven't thought about changing are the 
time involved, and not being sure that any of the competition is any better.

Good luck and 73

Alan Braun MD,  NS0B/V31EV




Mike Mellinger WA0SXV wrote:
> <FLAME ON>
>
> I have been a user for at least 8 years.  But I may not be much longer.
>
> I tried to add FJ.  Interesting results including index out of range error.
> Had to restart DX4WIN.
>
> But it added FJ.
>
> So I tried adding TO5FJ.  Index out of range error.  QSO added.  Had to
> restart DX4WIN.  Deleted QSO.
>
> Now I'm missing a lot of state information, a lot of county information, a
> few CONF flags.
>
> Fortunately I had a backup from February, so I can reconstruct the 250
> confirmations for my New Mexico WAS.
>
> Now I get to do the same for my Missouri WAS.
>
> This is ridiculous.  A bug like that should have been resolved years ago.
> And problems with the country database should not foul the actual log
> information -- which should be sacred.
>
> I suggest that we be provided ASAP with a utility to compare two logs and
> correct the missing information.
>
> And I suggest some time be spent not on minor features but on making the
> actual log file secure from country information problems.  This has been a
> problem since the beginning and I dread every country file update because I
> have to do a dump of the old file in ASCII, update the country file, and do
> another dump to see which of my DXCC confirmations have disappeared.
>
> <FLAME OFF>
>
> 73,
> Mike WA0SXV
>
>
>
>
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