Hi Guys, Well guess its that time again when we see some significant country prefix changes mandated. And, just like years gone by, I see that once again I must comment.... Maybe I should keep a copy of this message for the future... hihi...
One of the aspects that we were "yelled at" by a vast number of customers about going back to the beginning of DXbase ( hmmm some 22 years ago...wow! ) was to allow users to be able to make changes to the prefix databases. There are many good reasons for this and therefore we do that. But additionally, we were asked to make prefix lookups as accurate as we possibly could. We do that too. So, our code is structured to achieve both objectives. And, if I might say so myself, I think the lookups that DXbase can perform are probably more accurate than anything else out there. And, if something pops up where it is selected wrong, there is a pretty good chance that it can be made accurate by simply making an adjustment in the alias or callmap prefix tables by the user within a minute or two. But, like most "wants in life", there is a price. In this case, the price is that the changes we now face are somewhat tedious. That's not to say difficult. It is pretty straightforward as Joe's step by step instructions list. By the way, Joe's instructions are exactly what we would do and so yes, we can say that his description does represent the "official" suggestion in the sense that if one follows it, it works just fine. Power users will quickly realize that there is more than one way to skin a cat and with the flexibility built into the database, there are other ways to arrive at the same end result. The reference database contains a lot more than just prefix information. It contains for example IOTA, States, Manager addresses, Manager mapping, etc.... So, there isn't a distribution of a new prefix database because there isn't any such animal in DXbase. If you were to use a reference database table from someone else, you would lose any other information that you may have added to your own reference database, such as manager info. I'm sure someone reading this might be tempted to say something like, "Well ok, but why don't you provide some kind of utility to make this totally easy for us users?" The short answer is that its a heck of a lot of work and in the end there is no guarantee it will work completely accurately because we have no knowledge of what changes a user may have made to their own versions of the database. Some years ago when we were covered up with enhancement requests including this one, we attempted to contract the utility work out despite our knowledge that we probably couldn't get things right all the time. When we saw the price tag we were quoted and realized how much that would add to the price of DXbase, we decided that very few people would be willing to pay for this, particularly when it is usually within their own power to make the changes themselves with a little coaching such as the instructions that Joe posted. So, there you have it. Personally, I don't like having to make changes to the reference data tables either. I also wish I didn't have to pay so much for an oil change because of the way my car was built ( but I like everything else about my car ). O well, I'll be quiet now and go back into the woodwork. Let's not beat this to death. Cheers, Jack ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tim Heger" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, May 21, 2007 5:27 PM Subject: Re: [Dxbase] 4O - Montenegro : changes that will be made totheRefdata and Logbook mdb files >I can't recall ever seeing an updated country file when country (entity) > updates were necessary. I'm pretty sure you will have to make the changes > yourself. It's really not very hard - just be sure to do the backups > first, > so you have something to go back to if necessary. > > 73, Tim - N3XX > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Greg" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "Joseph Glockner" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Cc: "DXBase Reflector" <[email protected]> > Sent: Monday, May 21, 2007 5:29 PM > Subject: Re: [Dxbase] 4O - Montenegro : changes that will be made to > theRefdata and Logbook mdb files > > >>I will wait for the updated country file ! >> >> N8TDL >> Greg >> >> Joseph Glockner wrote: >>> To all: >>> >>> I am going through the steps to make the modifications for the >>> NEW Montenegro (4O) prefix callsign change ... wow! what a mess! >>> >>> I will hopefully issue another email later on today with the >>> STEPS that I took/did to get the changes made. >>> >>> I hope to make the instructions as full-blown/understandable >>> as possible.. >>> >>> More later on. >>> >>> 73 Joe wa6axe >>> ______________________________________________________________ >>> Dxbase mailing list >>> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/dxbase >>> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm >>> Post: mailto:[email protected] >>> >> >> ______________________________________________________________ >> Dxbase mailing list >> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/dxbase >> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm >> Post: mailto:[email protected] > > ______________________________________________________________ > Dxbase mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/dxbase > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:[email protected] >
