[Dx4win] IMPORTANT information regarding custom awards database

[Jim Reisert AD1C]

I never knew you could do that.  Thanks, Kostas.  So there's no real
reason to have the REF as part of the name then!

I'll see what I can do to make the awards consistent in form:

   REF=Name

- Jim

On Wed, Jun 17, 2009 at 1:40 PM, Kostas Stamatis<sv1dpi at otenet.gr> wrote:

> Jim i agree that it is very useful to sort by reference number
> But...
> Dx4win has already this feature!!!
> Choose a custom award. Jump on the next field to write the reference. Press
> F1 and you have all the values sorted alphabetically as are on the right. If
> you press F2, Dx4win will sort them by the name in left side of the
> equiation!!!
> So it is better to leave the right side with the name first.
> By the way tnx agn for the great work with the awards as with the country
> files, etc. etc.
> 73 Kostas SV1DPI
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jim Reisert AD1C"
> <jjreisert at alum.mit.edu>
> To: "DX4WIN Reflector" <dx4win at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Wednesday, June 17, 2009 7:55 PM
> Subject: [Dx4win] IMPORTANT information regarding custom awards database
>
>
>> Hi Folks,
>>
>> In cleaning up the custom awards database, I ran across some
>> inconsistency.  If you don't use or care about Custom awards, you can
>> ignore this message.
>>
>> Just to give you some background information, there are 160 custom
>> awards in the database:
>>
>>   http://dx4win.ad1c.us/awards/awards.htm
>>
>> Most awards have a pre-defined set of "counters".  Each counter is
>> represented by a "reference number" and a name or description; DX4WIN
>> refers to the name as the "Custom Award Value".  Here is an example
>> (from the dx4win.awd file) for the RDA (Russian Districts) award:
>>
>>   MO-10=MO-10 DUBNA
>>
>> Here is annother example. for the US Islands award:
>>
>>   CA010=Santa Barbara (CA010S)
>>
>> Here is another example, for the Portuguese Provinces award:
>>
>>   AV=Aveiro
>>
>> The item to the right-hand side of the '=' in the examples above is
>> the Custom Award Value.  This is what you see when you choose a custom
>> award in the QSO (logging) window.  It's also what you see when you do
>> a custom award listing or submission.
>>
>> The item to the left-hand side of the '=' is the reference number.
>> Reference numbers are used internally within DX4WIN, and are stored
>> with the QSO when a custom award value is selected.
>>
>> HERE IS THE PROBLEM:
>>
>> For awards with a small number of values, it's easy to scroll through
>> the list to select the one you want.  For awards with a LARGE number
>> of values (ARLHS has over 15,000 counters!), it can be very difficult
>> to select the one you want.  DX4WIN allows you type the first letter
>> of the award value (as listed in the dx4win.awd file).  For example,
>> in the Custom Award Value field for the US Islands award, typing 'S'
>> gets you to Sabal (FL211S), and from there you can either use the
>> down-arrow key or click on the arrow next to the drop down box and
>> scroll down until you get to Santa Barbara (CA010S).  Note that some
>> of the foreign awards do not use a standard ASCII character set for
>> the award values.  Thus a value that begins with "�ilovac"
>> ("Sailovac") isn't listed with the S's, but instead after the Z's.
>>
>> In some cases, the operator on the air only gives out the reference
>> number, not the name.  For example, there, there has been a lot of
>> activity lately from national parks for the World Flora Fauna award.
>> Here are some recent DX spots:
>>
>>   14044.0  UE1RFF/6    17-Jun-2009 1142Z  RFF-103
>>   14244.0  LZ01WFF     17-Jun-2009 0852Z  Andre in KN22MR, LZFF-001
>>
>> The WFF award values are listed by name in the awards database, not by
>> FF number, for example:
>>
>>   RFF-103=Alaniya (RFF-103)
>>   LZFF-001=Central Balkan (LZFF-001)
>>
>> This means that in order to find RFF-103 in the list, you would have
>> to know the name (because they're listed alphabetically), or you'd
>> have to scroll through ALL 3800+ entries to find the one with the
>> matching reference number.
>>
>> As you can see from the three examples above, some award values are
>> listed by name, some by reference number.
>>
>> I would like to propose that ALL custom DX4WIN awards be listed by
>> reference number, like the Russian District (RDA) award above.  So the
>> US Islands database would change to something like:
>>
>>   CA010=CA010S Santa Barbara
>>
>> And the WFF database would change to:
>>
>>   RFF-103=RFF-103 Alaniya
>>   LZFF-001=LZFF-001 Central Balkan
>>
>> Your existing awards will NOT be negatively impacted.  Only the way
>> the Custom Award Value is displayed in the logbook and in the listings
>> will change.
>>
>> Is this change acceptable to everyone?  You can send comments to me
>> directly or the reflector.
>>
>> 73 - Jim AD1C
>>
>> --
>> Jim Reisert AD1C/Ø, <jjreisert at alum.mit.edu>, http://www.ad1c.us




-- 
Jim Reisert AD1C/Ø, <jjreisert at alum.mit.edu>, http://www.ad1c.us