[Dxbase] Manual entry to the DXCC checkbox in the Award field doesn't work

Tue Jan 23 18:31:06 EST 2007

Well it's been over a week and I'm surprised to have still no response
to my DXbase issue (see original e-mail below); not even a response from
Jack. Well maybe not so surprised - my problem is kinda complex and
weird. Unfortunately this e-mail is even longer and filled with even
more details. I don't know how to explain this complicated problem
without the details.
----
But first, let me just say that I have found the answer to my question
about the colorization of the Award field. I don't believe it's
anywhere in the help file (it should be) but I finally found the "what's
new" lists (or, "Release Notes") for the recent annual versions of
DXbase. They're hard to find on the DXbase Web site but I persevered.
>From the release notes for DXbase 2005:

"33. The VALID field in the QSO log is now color coded red if the field
is marked as not valid. The Award, Select, and Flags fields are color
coded green if a selection has been made in the field. This color coding
is also used in the Previous QSO dialog."
----
Now, on to my real issue: The Award field, and its coloration, doesn't
work right for manual data entry. It works fine when the DXCC checkbox
in the Award field is checked by DXbase during the paper DXCC submission
process, but not when I, the user, tries to check the boxes by hand for,
in my case, an LOTW submission. In the past week since sending my
original mail, two things enabled me to test for this problem really
well: I have a second PC with DXbase on it, and I have a complete
DXbase directory backup, made on Jan. 13, the day before I started my
LOTW work that first exposed the problem to me.
I have been able to copy my "virgin" Jan. 13 DXbase directory onto this
second computer any number of times, each time trying something new and
different to try to learn more about the problem or fix it. The problem
also exists on the second PC, and is fully repeatable there.
I'll describe in detail my most recent set of tests, starting with a
fresh copy of my Jan. 13 DXbase directory on my second PC:
First, I ran and printed the report dxcccredited.rpt, which lists all
the QSOs in my log that have the DXCC box checked in the Award field.
Then I chose a subset of nine random QSOs from my LOTW submission, and
manually checked these DXCC boxes in the Award field of my QSO log. As
usual, a random sampling (this time it was 6 out of the 9) of the QSOs
already had their DXCC box checked when I first found them with the
Previous QSOs dialog. Just to make sure it wasn't some kind of weird
display problem, I minimized everything and then restored the DXbase
app, forcing it to re-paint its pixels. Same thing - the DXCC box
appeared truly checked in all of the 6 cases. I checked my printout of
the dxcccredited report -- none of the QSOs were in it, so none should
have already had their DXCC box already checked.
After manually checking the DXCC check box for all 9 QSOs in the sample,
I re-ran the dxcccredited report to check that all the manual DXCC box
checking I had just done had been successful. It wasn't. As usual,
some but not all of the QSOs now appeared in the report (this time
through, _only one_ of the nine QSOs "stuck"), indicating that, some of
the time, the database hadn't been updated when I checked the
checkboxes.
So, now I decided to go through my sample of nine LOTW QSOs again, this
time manually checking and unchecking the DXCC box several times, just
to see what happened, possibly to increase my "stick" rate. A new run
of the dxcccredited report showed that now four additional QSOs had
"stuck." Added to the one that stuck the first time means that after
all this effort and checking, I managed to successfully change my QSO
database for only five out of the nine QSOs in my sample.
This is bad - something's wrong with manual entry to the DXCC checkbox
in the Award field. It seems to be very broken.
To recap:
- Manually checking the DXCC box in the Award field doesn't stick; that
is, it appears to get written to the database but it really isn't. If I
go through my list of LOTW submissions, manually checking DXCC
checkboxes, I can go back to ones I just did a few seconds or minutes
previously, and a few aren't checked anymore. Which QSOs exhibit this
behavior appears to be random.
- Only some, not all, of the records with the DXCC box checked in the
Award field are colored green. Which QSO records exhibit this behavior
appears to be random.
- Sometimes (but not all the time), if I click on a non-green Award
field, it immediately turns green and the DXCC box in it is suddenly
already checked. This happens without me actually checking the box with
my mouse. Just clicking on the field to get the drop-down list does it.
Which QSOs exhibit this behavior appears to be random.
- Once in a while I get the "CQWAZ..." (see my original message below)
error message when merely finding QSOs with the Previous QSOs database.
Which QSOs produce this error seems to be random.
- Using the DXB Utility's Repair function on my QSO database doesn't
change any of the above behavior.
- Using the DXB Utility's Compact Database function on my QSO database
doesn't change any of the above behavior.
- Restarting DXbase, and/or rebooting the PC, and/or initializing tables
doesn't change any of the above behavior.
- Using a copy of DXbase installed on a second computer doesn't change
any of the above behavior.
In the past, the DXCC checkbox in the Award field has gotten checked
automatically, by DXbase when preparing a paper award submission. I was
never aware of any errors or strange behavior with this field before.
My first LOTW submission has caused my to try to use this checkbox
manually for the first time. I think DXbase may have a bug in this
functionality. I'm hoping this is just a bug with manual data entry
into this field, not a data integrity problem with my QSO log.
73,
W1JA
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Pelham" <john at radiophile.com>
To: <Dxbase at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Sunday, January 14, 2007 5:24 PM
Subject: [Dxbase] Dazed and confused about green fields, and more
> Today I, for the first time, made a DXCC application (for
> endorsements) using LOTW QSLs. I'm having trouble getting DXbase to
> cooperate in this process.
>> I submitted the application using the LOTW Web site. LOTW gave me a
> list of the 42 QSLs it chose for the award category endorsements I
> applied for (mixed, CW, phone, 160M, 80M, 40M, 10M). My idea was that
> then I would go to DXbase and check the DXCC box in the AWARD field
> for each of these QSLs. This is where my problems began.
>> 1. Some of the AWARD fields are colored green. What does this mean?
> I vaguely recall reading that this is a feature, added maybe a year or
> two ago, that indicates at a glance if the QSO record has been used
> for a (DXCC?) award. But I'm not sure. I couldn't find any
> information on the coloration of this field. I checked in Help, under
> Logging | QSO Log Field Description | Award -- no mention of colors.
> I also searched Help for the word 'green' - no luck.
>> I'm having a problem with this field. I noticed that sometimes when
> the DXCC checkbox is checked, the field is green, and sometimes it's
> not. If it's checked but not green, and I click the field to open the
> drop-down list, it turns green. But if I go back later to check
> again, it's usually not green anymore even though the box is still
> checked.
>> Anyway, I dutifully checked the DXCC Award checkbox for all 42 Q's
> that I just used for my LOTW DXCC endorsement application. Later, I
> went back to DXbase to spot check it, and I find that eight of the
> boxes are still not checked. There's no way I missed checking eight.
> I was very careful. Somehow the checking didn't stick. Most (but not
> all) of the Award fields are also not green when I first look at them.
> They turn green as soon as I click on the field to show the drop-down
> list if the DXCC checkbox is still checked, or they turn green as soon
> as I check the box if it has become unchecked and I need to check it
> again. But they don't stay green, and as I said it appears some of
> the boxes don't stay checked.
>> 2. Even more weird: When I was initially finding (using the Previous
> QSOs dialog) each of the 42 QSOs to check the DXCC box, I noticed that
> some of the DXCC Award boxes were already checked as soon as I clicked
> to get the drop-down list! I don't understand how this can be, as
> these QSOs were all confirmed only with LOTW and this was my first
> award application. None had been used for DXCC credit before, and the
> LOTW Web site confirmed such. (I started to think that maybe after I
> had been checking a few DXCC boxes, that some super-smart DXbase code
> was "knowing" that I wanted to check the box and was doing it for me
> as soon as I clicked the Award field? Somehow I don't believe this
> one.)
>> 3. One some (about 10 out of the 42) QSO records, as soon as I found
> the record with the Previous QSO dialog, I'd get an error message that
> said "The record <> could not be found in the CQWAZ numeric Statistic
> Table. Updates to this table will now be aborted. Correct your
> database and Initialize Tables when repaired." I dismissed this error
> message and proceeded normally since I had no idea what it meant. A
> quick glance at each record didn't show any problems, like with its CQ
> zone for example. The second time through, when I had to go back to
> find the eight DXCC award checkboxes that didn't stay checked, I only
> got two of these error messages.
>> So, to summarize my issues:
> 1. What does a green Award field mean? In any case, mine aren't green
> consistently.
> 2. Checking the DXCC Award check box doesn't seem to "stick" in many
> cases.
> 3. I get the CQWAZ Table error when finding some QSOs with the
> Previous QSOs dialog.
>> I should add that I initialized tables, and restarted DXbase twice
> during the time I was checking the 42 award checkboxes. The problems
> persisted throughout the whole process.
>> Yours dazed, frustrated and confused,
> John, W1JA
>>> John Pelham
> E-mail: john at radiophile.com
> Web site: http://www.radiophile.com
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