[Dxbase] DXBase import question

Wed Jan 25 10:42:32 EST 2006

Hi Eric,
 You have a good point about the Provinces also being in the QTH field.
That probably explains why Writelog chose to use QTH instead of State as the
Writelog field for NAQP! 
For my purpose of transferring the state information from the Writelog log
to DXBase, the import of the edited ADIF file will reject all but the
correct 2 letter state abbreviations into the state field, so I can still
accomplish my current objective that way.
For this recent contest it would be simple to just restore my "just before
the import" log backup and reimport the edited ADIF log to get the states
for this contest into DXBase.
Where that is not desirable is for previous contest QSO's, say 2004 & 2005
NAQP, state QP's, etc. Those older QSO's have been updated in DXBase to
reflect the current status of QSL's sent, QSL's received, Award credit
claimed, etc. If I delete those QSO's and reimport them, the above info
will all be lost.
Attempting to reimport those logs as straight ADIF fails since I'm told it
would create duplicate log entries instead of just update the existing
records. Importing LoTW ADIF files however does merge the LoTW data into
the existing QSO's in the log. I suspect if I carefully massage the
edited Writelog ADIF file to look like LoTW ADIF, I could merge in the State
information for the older contests without losing the other information
already in those QSO records. 
Since it appears that no one else has an easier idea, I'll play with that
when I have a chance, after making additional backups of course! :-)
Thanks & 73
...Dave - N9FN 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Eric - VE3GSI [mailto:ve3gsi at sympatico.ca]
> Sent: Wednesday, January 25, 2006 9:32 AM
> To: 'Dave Chasey'; dxbase at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: RE: [Dxbase] DXBase import question
>> Hi Dave and other ADIF people,
>> I also use the same combination of WriteLog with DXbase. Yes WriteLog does
> use the ADIF form of <QTH:n> for a States designation in some contests,
> but
> you must remember that for the same contests the exchange for Canadian or
> DX
> may be a province or sequence number. WriteLog also uses some special ADIF
> fields used internally by W/L and are required for tracking the contest.
> All
> these special fields are simply ignored by DXbase during an import.
>> One of the advantages of any ADIF file is the ability to use a text editor
> (WordPad) to simply search and replace. So if you wish, just simple search
> the ADIF output file from WriteLog for <QTH:2> and replace it with
> <STATE:2>. DXbase will ignore none U.S. States so nothing is lost except
> provinces or DX exchange.
>> Also, it is never prudent to import without making at least a temporary
> back-up file of the main YOURCALL.mdb data file. This is really simple to
> do, just right click and hold the mouse button your call data file, drag
> and
> drop anywhere in the same \FOLDER, release the button and choose COPY. You
> end up with a neatly labelled file called Copy of YOURCALL.mdb.
>> The labels used in WriteLog are for all Radio Ops around the world, not
> only
> for us wishing to track U.S. States. For my own set-up I never do a direct
> ADIF import from WriteLog (or any programme) without first reviewing the
> file with a text editor. If everything I require for my station is there,
> including <COMMENT:n>text, <TX_PWR:n>nnn or whatever, then and only then
> do
> I import to DXbase.
>> Perhaps Jack and his gang or someone on the list could provide a complete
> ADIF list used ONLY by DXbase to help everyone out. There is some further
> information using ADIF files in the HELP files of DXbase.
>> Good observation Dave, in short, you have been doing the import correctly
> and it is normally for some programmes not to export correctly or all the
> information you need.
>> 73 Eric.
>>> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dave Chasey
>> Hi All,
>> I'm running DXBase 2006 and also use Writelog for contesting. After the
> NAQP I made an ADIF file from my Writelog log and imported it into DXBase,
> after making the appropriate backups of course. :-)
>> I noticed that the state information from Writelog did not populate the
> State field in DXBase. Looking at the ADIF file created by Writelog, the
> state is actually labeled "QTH", not "STATE". If you try to import
> those
> records again after editing the ADIF file, DXBase rejects them since it
> would create a duplicate entry.
>> In this case, I can easily restore the DXBase backup and import the edited
> log again. I also have previous QP logs though and I would like to "fix"
> them and transfer the state information from them to DXBase as well, so
> that
> wouldn't be an option for them.
>> I know the LoTW import can update existing records with the new
> information,
> but if you try to use the LoTW import, it rejects it as not being a LoTW
> ADIF file. I can certainly look and see what differences there are
> between the Writelog and LoTW ADIF files and make it look the same, but I
> don't know if that import will fool with the "confirmed by LoTW" bit or
> not.
> I'll probably play with a 2 or 3 QSO "test" log and see what happens if I
> don't get a better idea.
>> Has anyone else run into this issue? If so, is there an easier way to
> resolve it?
>