Entering S2S log information

Old Reflector
1

I know many people are eager to start on this award. This message is to explain a little of how you enter your S2S logs and why you can’t enter them yet.

The S2S Award is seen as a chasing award from the database’s point of view. The S2S data is entered along with your chasing data. There is no change to entering activation data, do it exactly as you did it before.

When the S2S features are enabled you will find the “Submit Chaser Entry” page is slightly different. As before you enter the details for the summit you chased, then you enter the details for the QSO (date, time, band, mode, callsigns). There is an additional box to tick if the QSO was an S2S QSO.

For a normal chase you leave this box blank and continue confirming the details just as now and the data is added to your chase log. But if this QSO was an S2S QSO you must tick the box. Now you get the chance to enter the summit you were activating in the same way as the chased summit. From this point on you confirm the QSO as before and it will get added to your chaser log and to your S2S log.

That’s all there is to entering an S2S QSO! You have to enter the chaser data, indicate it’s an S2S QSO and then enter the summit you were activating.

You will be able to see your chaser log as before. But you will also be able to see your S2S log and your S2S award scores. There are 2 separate pages for these displays as the awards for chasing and S2S QSOs are separate. Each entry in your chaser and S2S log will have a delete button along side. You can use that to delete an entry in error. When you select delete you will see all the details for QSO displayed as before but you will also be told if the QSO is an S2S QSO and the activation summit as well. This is so you are aware that if you delete chase you will delete the S2S data for it as well. Of course if you delete the S2S QSO then the corresponding chase log entry is deleted too.

Now the question many want to know is when can they enter their S2S QSOs. Well I could turn it all on now ready for tomorrow. You will be able enter your chases, activations and S2S data, view your logs and delete erroneous entries. But (there’s always a but), testing the more extreme cases has thrown up a few bugs. None are serious but they’re annoying and unless you know how the our system works in detail they may confuse you or make you think something is wrong. So you’ll have to wait till sometime next week before you can enter your data. That gives me a chance to ensure the behavior of the software is consistent.

The fact you cannot enter S2S log data does not affect the validity of the award. You can go out are start having contacts from 0000Z 1-Feb-2013. You just wont be able to log them for a few more days. Sorry.

If you have any questions then I’ll be happy to answer them in this thread. If you wish to insult me for not delivering on time then you can do but that may have a negative impact on me turning on the new features!

Andy, MM0FMF
Database Manager

2

In reply to MM0FMF:

Hi Andy, Thanks for all the work you are putting in to this. One question that struck me was how will this affect those who upload their activator logs as csv files?

Thanks & 73,

Mark G0VOF

3

In reply to G0VOF:
Mark,

I think the question really should be how does it affect entering Chaser logs as csv files. This was what I was going to ask before I read your post.

Over to Andy :slight_smile:
(and many thanks for making SOTA even more interesting and addictive)

73,
Rod

4

In reply to MM0FMF:

Andy -

Brilliant and straightforward solution Andy. Thank you.

I applaud all your efforts for SOTA - thanks for keeping the fun going.

Best 73s,
Etienne, K7ATN

5

In reply to MM0FMF:

If you have any questions then I’ll be happy to answer them in this
thread. If you wish to insult me for not delivering on time then you
can do but that may have a negative impact on me turning on the new
features!

When a S2S award was first mooted during the Summit Sloth thread back in April, I initially had my doubts as to whether this ever would happen.

I was well aware that a new award such as this would take a lot of the MT time and resources and quite frankly, in view of all the other projects the MT are juggling right now I’m delighted its been completed in such a short time.

So, just a big thanks to you for the Database work, Barry for the awards side of things and of course the rest of the MT for making this very special and exciting new award happen.

73 Mike
2E0YYY

6

In reply to M0JLA:

Rod is correct, there’s no change to activation logging neither the webpage entry nor CSV entry have changed. They don’t need to know as S2S scheme is an extension of chasing.

My plan is to initially offer just web based entry. This is so that we can confirm the web page is working (and usable) and the logging is working as they should. A few weeks (maybe only days) of that should give me a decent degree of coverage. If the wheels don’t come off at this point then CSV uploading and the honour roll will be next. In an ideal world CSV uploading will allow a chaser log to consist of mixed chase and S2S data. That way all existing software that generates chaser CSV files will still work without change. The only change will be the additional data for S2S data, so it should be backwards compatible yet only need minimal changes to other 3rd party software for new features. Well that’s the plan!

This is the first major change to the database since it came online. There have been some changes and tweaks to how the data is presented but nothing has really changed in the heart of the database for a long, long time. In my day job as a programmer I have a my own local machines for development and testing, then department machines for development testing, then a compute farm of servers for running production tests and regression tests and finally early release trusted customers for beta testing. I’ve got about 30years experience in my field. This means there’s lots of places errors can be found and fixed before my employers charge you tens of thousands of dollars for some software.

With the SOTA database I have my PCs at home and the live production server. Also I’m not a DBA, I’m working as a tinkering hobbyist with database technologies and web languages and limited experience. Programming is programming but SQL and web stuff is oh so different to my nice safe and controlled embedded world. So I do feel rather exposed when uploading minor changes in case I break things. Something I’ve have done quite spectacularly on 2 occasions. So I hope you don’t mind the piecemeal rollout of the changes. It’s a way of limiting the scope of the damage :slight_smile:

Andy
MM0FMF

7

In reply to MM0FMF:
.
Great, great work, Andy. A new toy for us to play with.
.
I may have missed the memo about one or two of the s2s details. What are the point levels for the s2s award? Do the levels have names? Is there a trophy? Will there be endorsements for using a single mode?
.
Under the new log entry procedure, when a user ticks the delete button in the chaser log, is there a way for him/her to be taken to a second selection with two buttons: edit or delete?
.
As I was typing this, the new award became effective. My pack is next to the door, and I’m ready to chase after more wallpaper. Who else?
.
Elliott, K6ILM
Troublemaker #1

8

In reply to MM0FMF:

Andy,

Many thanks for the reply and all the hard work behind it. The one-step-at-a-time approach to entering the S2S data seems very sensible to me as I know how difficult it can be to sort out the mess if the wrong data gets into a database. Damage limitation absolutely essential here.

I hope it all works as it should and that you trap the gremlins nice and quickly if it doesn’t.

Hoping to have some data to contribute during the weekend.

73,
Rod

9

In reply to M0JLA:

S2S support is now enabled in the database.

S2S contacts are entered as an extension to the chase contact they are part of. Everything should be self-explanatory but ask questions here if you can’t find out what you want to do.

Note: no CSV upload of S2S contacts yet and the confirmation marker is not enabled yet.

Andy, MM0FMF
Database Manager

10

In reply to MM0FMF:

Hi Andy i have just had a quick look at the S2S roll of honour and it seems I am able to delete entries in the 3 logs that are entered at the moment, not that i would delete anything but this doesn’t seem right to me. Just thought you should know about this if you didn’t already.
73 de M0MDA

11

In reply to MM0FMF:

Andy,

Well, I have started you off (for G anyway) (after a false start as I never use the direct QSO entry). Sorry I only had one S2S yesterday.

Looks OK so far except that the S2S entry page keeps scrolling back to the top. So many congrats for getting it all up and running.

I look forward to making many more entries, especially when you get the CSV working.

73,
Rod

PS, Just discovered SOTA Complete is working too. Great Stuff.

12

In reply to MM0FMF:
Andy, I noticed you are allowing s2s contacts before February first in the case of the lead station. I could triple my 23 points doing that. Shall I try it, just for a little temporary fun and for keeping up my reputation as a loophole finder?

Elliott, K6ILM
troublemaker #1

13

In reply to M0MDA and to MM0FMF:

Hello Mick, I just checked after reading your post and the delete buttons do indeed come up live. I don’t think anyone would do it but…

Mike G6TUH

14

In reply to G6TUH:

Hi Mike,
It’s not just me then.
73 Happy SOTA

15

In reply to M0MDA:

Hi Mick, I only went to look because I was so suprised!

73 Mike G6TUH

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In reply to MM0FMF:

Many thanks for all your hard work Andy; I hope there aren’t too many problems for you. I wonder whether there will also be an honour roll for SOTA Complete?

Karen
2E0XYL

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In reply to M0MDA:

OK, well the delete column should have been hidden but wasn’t. It is now. However, whilst the button was live in that it took you to a delete page if the account you were trying to delete from wasn’t your account it would have failed. If you were not logged in then you would be invited to log in and then you would be checked against the account. So there were 2 checks to ensure the person pushing the button had the permission to do so. But it’s better with it sorted.

In reply to K6ILM:

Yes, the date checking is not enabled yet. It was useful for me to be able to use any old tosh when testing. There’s no great rush as nobody has enough points yet and we’ll be checking thoroughly by eye for the first awards so we can make sure the scoring and checking code is halal and not haraam! All that will happen when the date checker is enabled is a swift does of “DELETE FROM SUMMITS2AWARD WHERE DATE < ‘1/FEB/2013’” and that will be that! :slight_smile:

SOTA Complete is a taster. We aren’t even sure that’s the final name but the code came almost for free as a by product of S2S coding so it’s nicer to get it up and let people try and break it before we need it to work.

And yes it’s damn annoying the way the page resets to the top. I haven’t found a fix for it yet but believe me it’s right up my job list as it seriously got on my wick when I was working on this :frowning:

Keep the comments coming, especially anything flattering or full of praise!

Andy
MM0FMF

18

In reply to MM0FMF:

Hello Andy, well done on your efforts.

“…as it seriously got on my wick when I was working on this…”

These things do don’t they :wink:

Mike G6TUH

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In reply to MM0FMF:
I’m all about flattering and full of praise, Andy, as you deserve all of it. When that dies down, we should discuss why the s2s chaser entries do not automatically enter into the activator logs.

Incidentally, my activation yesterday was spent exclusively chasing other summits, and I belatedly remembered that one is not picked up by RBN/KU6J if one never sends CQ or TEST

Elliott, K6ILM
troublemaker #1

20

In reply to MM0FMF:

Hi Andy thanks for your reply. I just thought it was strange to see the delete column. Glad you have sorted out it so quickly.

Thanks for all your hard work. 73 de Mick M0MDA