[DXBase] Feature requests for DXB-2004

2003年2月26日 16:09:03 -0500

Hi folks,
I'd like to offer a wish list of features or changes for DXB-2004, if it's 
not already too late. While I love 2003, there are still a few things that 
drive me batty, and a few neat features that I've played with in other 
loggers that I'd love to see implemented here if possible.
1. Easier method of saving the database (no batch files, etc), and also of 
importing and exporting from/to other apps.
2. When exporting data, allow USB and LSB contacts to be either exported as 
such or as the more generic SSB (I also use a compact logger on my laptop 
called AA Log that does not recognize LSB/USB properly). Having the choice 
of either format would be great.
3. Allow the notes field to be exported to ADIF without extra comments 
(specifically, I don't need OPR-CALL added to every exported QSO since I'm 
the only one using the log!
4. Band Mapping. I fell in love with this feature in N1MM and CommCat, and 
if there's EVER a possibility of implementing this in DX Base, please 
*please* find a way of doing this (again, optional for those who might wish 
to use it).
5. Pet Peeve...There are now two boxes with the title Previous QSO. One is 
View\Previous QSO that works beautifully. The other...well, I don't know 
how to turn this on and off...I just leave it on. It's the one that gets 
populated as a spot comes in to let me know if I've ever worked the station 
before, etc. This box cannot be minimized, can only be closed, and always 
sits on top of everything else. This behaviour is incredibly annoying. 
Could you PLEASE change this in DXB-2004?
6. On the same topic, how about allowing the VHF packet window to be closed 
and stay closed?! I don't ever use it, and with T1-speed in my home, I 
never will. Period. I have it minimized now, but why should I have to have 
it open at all? I really want every window available to be fully 
customizable and placeable wherever I want.
7. If I choose to not use VHF packet, how about allowing things like CTL-P 
for printing, CTRL+S for saving, etc...i.e. Windows shortcuts that work in 
every other standardized Windows app out there.
8. Please consider displaying the local time of the DX station. It's a 
little thing but really important when working a station across the globe.
9. I can presently remove all raw spots, all filtered spots but NOT 
messages from the cluster monitor. Can a right-menu item to clear all 
messages be displayed, or maybe a setting to expire them after x hours.
10. IOTA Handling. I brought this one up a few months ago, and I'd dearly 
love to see it implemented in an upcoming version. In short, there are 
numerous DXCC entities that are self-contained IOTA entities as well (to 
wit, mainland Australia (VK1-8) is OC001, KH3 always maps to OC023, VP9 
always maps to NA005, etc). While some entities have multiple IOTAs (and 
can be left blank), why not automatically populate the IOTA field just as 
you do the prefix field for those that have a one-to-one mapping? This 
sounds easy enough to implement...
11. Draggable colums i.e. an easy way to re-arrange the column order. If 
this can't be done, at least make it possible to EDIT a column 
configuration file (rather than generating it from scratch every time).
12. This one might take some heavy-lifting. Most other loggers use a 
separate "form" to enter a new QSO into the log. When I first started using 
DXBase 2 years ago, I actively disliked using the bottom-most line of the 
log as the entry point. I think a customizable QSO entry form window would 
be a tremendous addition to the program. For those who don't like this 
method (and prefer to stay the way it is now), how about letting the end 
user decide and make its use optional?
Thanks for an absolutely amazing program, and I hope some of all of these 
changes might be do-able.
73 de Peter (W2IRT)
[email protected]
Please visit http://www.nyctrackbook.com for details of my book
Tracks of the NYC Subway 