Displaying current logos, country flag and silhouette in the sqb database

[Roadrunner]

Hi there,


Up until recently I had been using Active Display but updates and activity on this project have been nil over the last 18 months or so.


I had to make a choice between it and Plane Base, which I now use, because I like the regular updates. One thing however is missing. We have available a wonderful array of logos to suit all tastes but one can only see the ones relating to aircraft on the current sessions activity in Plane Plotter or Base Station. Active Display had an additional ability to look at the whole of your sqb file and showed the actual logos/flags rather than just the file names, for every entry, even allowing selection of  a grouping such as Mil, helecopters, etc. It was invaluable for detecting any missing or incorrect entries next to a particular frame. Up until my licence ran out I still used this facility to look at my sqb file, but did jot allow it to update any entries as over the development of PB the database has become incompatible with running AD at the same time.


Are there any others of you out there that would also like to see the current flag/logo next to every entry in their database?


My programming skills are zero but I wondered if their was anyone out there that could create such an add-on that would work with the Basestation.sqb as used by so many of us in this hobby. it would not need too complex, effectively just a database with a few picture columns inbuilt for logo and country flag and maybe logo.


Best regards


Mike

[s92driver]

Hi Mike,

Have you approached the Planebase team to see if it's something they could build into PBLink?


Cheers
Steve

[Roadrunner]

Not yet but it is an avenue I will try.


Is it something you would also like top see. I know you make some great logos, and it is a pity we can only "see" them wen that particular frame is in our coverage area?


Thanks for the suggestion


Mike

[s92driver]

Hi Mike,

To be honest I wasn't aware of the capability within AD.  However it's certainly something I would use if it could be implemented by the PB team!

If you do get in touch with them, feel free to mention me as well :-)

Thanks for the kind words re' the logos 



Cheers
Steve

[Roadrunner]

 I know it is four years now since I first mentioned this subject, but I had hoped to use the program Nic from PB was working on called SQB Commander. However, that has disappeared and we are still left with no program that will allow us to use the great item from the old Active Display system. I do know of the resurrection of the AD program, but that, if it still used the original AD programming for the SQB file, is no good for Plane Base users.

Is there anyone who has the skills that could create a programme that would allow us to select the fields that we would like to see in the SQB, and unite it with the details from the .bmp files for the country and logo fields in pictorial form, plu maybe any photo entries for the aircraft. It would make it so much easier to check on those entries within a database that do not have a valid .bnp file attached.

Yours sincerely

Mike Downes

[Anmer]

Hi Mike

Can I check I understand what I think you're looking for?

I'm assuming you want to view the BaseStation.sqb database and visualise the OperatorFlag data to look for invalid (or mismatched?) codes.  Ones that don't match the files in the associated OperatorFlags folder and/or the aircraft record?

If I understand part of the requirement, one could export the OperatorFlag data from the sqb file and compare that to the files on the OperatorFlags folder.  That, at least, should indicate data that doesn't have a matching OperatorFlag .bmp file.  But it won't allow you to view the database, looking for a visual comparison of the .bmp file and aircraft record.

[Roadrunner]

Mike,
The full AD program enabled you to look at your full database list. It also allowed you to see the actual picture for the .bmp logos allocated by you to a specific aircraft. This made it easy to find those that need amending or logo adding. With the size of most .sqb files these days and the number of entries in it, plus the number of logos available, the current way I do it is either wait for an aeroplane to appear in the list without a logo, or manually trudge through every entry in my OperatorFlags file to see if there are any that don't have a type logo or company logo allocated to them. I then try and find it from in the wonderful array of logos available. Nic's idea was a program that could show info such as I am looking for and had a website one could look to see what the end result could be. It was great idea but seems to have disappeared from the website.

I don't know if the guys now trying to bring AD back to life would be able to resurrect this option and allow more customizing of which fields one asks to see, as that would avoid the incompatabiltiy between the BaseStation .sqb as it stands and the use made of some of the fields solely within PB. If they could I would certainly be on board for a copy.

Regards Mike

[Anmer]

I don't know if the guys now trying to bring AD back to life would be able to resurrect this option and allow more customizing of which fields one asks to see, as that would avoid the incompatabiltiy between the BaseStation .sqb as it stands and the use made of some of the fields solely within PB. If they could I would certainly be on board for a copy.

Thanks Mike, understood.

If Dutchradar.nl has any plans to resurrect Active Display, it first needs to work on improving the database for use with SBS-1 Populate.

There's still no manufacturer and the ICAO Type codes are often "made up" and don't comply with ICAO DOC 8643.  The GAS database was in much better shape.

[s92driver]

Mike,

You could just use my SQB and Operator Flags.  They are up to date and totally aligned, so no wrong flags and no flags in the folder that are not used.  I also have a file that I run every month to tell me what is missing 


Cheers,
Steve

[Anmer]

You could just use my SQB and Operator Flags.  They are up to date and totally aligned, so no wrong flags and no flags in the folder that are not used.

Unless I'm mistaken, this replaces the existing database and all previous flight Sessions are lost?

[Roadrunner]

Steve, thanks for the offer but I prefer to make my own sqb file from scratch every couple of years and let PB use the Operator ICAO and Type codes to populate everything. I can then add or delete as necessary. My BaseStationFlag folder is retained with maintenance on demise of companies or types. etc., but I do miss the ability to see the individual logo next to the entry in my sqb file as was available with Active Display

[boro]

I used to use the full AD programme and I liked the way it displayed the operator flags along with the information on the SQB. I now use Planebase and PBlink and it serves its purpose for me, just a shame it doesn't display like AD did. I know not everybody uses Virtual Radar but there is a way to see the flags and the information on the SQB by using the report feature on Virtual Radar. It can be a bit long winded but you can choose "Yesterday" or "Todays" flights, I don't run the reports every day but when I do it can show me if any flags are missing or need changing and if anything needs amending I then do it on BaseStation Reporter or PBlink.

Peter

[s92driver]

You could just use my SQB and Operator Flags.  They are up to date and totally aligned, so no wrong flags and no flags in the folder that are not used.

Unless I'm mistaken, this replaces the existing database and all previous flight Sessions are lost?

I can simply update an existing sqb.  I just don't want to advertise the fact as I'm not sure I want to spend all my spare time updating sqb's 

Don't tell anyone 

[egnx]

I have written "Mode-S Tweaker" it is a Windows application for the maintenance of the Aircraft table in the BaseStation.sqb SQLite database. The app allows you to query the Aircraft records and it displays the country flag, type and operator code image logos.

You can download the install of the application from here:- http://aerofred.juice.org.uk/other/

Create a temporary folder, save the "MS_Tweaker_v1.0.zip" source file in this folder and then extract all the files within the .zip into this folder. Do not run the setup (ModeStweaker-1.0.exe) from directly within the zip file.

For further install instructions refer to the "Application Install" section of the ReadMe.pdf

I suggest you take a copy of your BaseStation.sqb and point to that copy whilst checking that you are happy with the app.

Cheers
egnx

[Anmer]

Thanks egnx for sharing your new app.

It looks very useful.  However it keeps crashing whenever I try to run the "List" option on a smallish sqb file - 71MB.  My main sqb is over 2GB.

Installing the app generates lots of anti-virus warnings though they all tested OK.  Setting the database path could be made a lot simpler but it works, albeit a bit "labour intensive".

Unfortunately, my main issue is the app stops responding as soon as I hit "List". I hope there's a solution as the app could be very useful.