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

Tue Jan 23 19:25:49 EST 2007

John,
I cannot reproduce any of what you say. Manually setting/unsetting the 
checkboxes in Award, Select, etc.. fields works exactly as it should by 
coloring or uncoloring the field. So, don't really know what else to say 
about it.
Jack
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Pelham" <john at radiophile.com>
To: <Dxbase at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2007 6:31 PM
Subject: [Dxbase] Manual entry to the DXCC checkbox in the Award 
fielddoesn't work
> 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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