New version of Spotlite

Old Reflector
1

Hi,

There is now a new version of spotlite at: Summits on the Air

The old version will continue to work for the time being but will be discontinued at some point in the future.

The new version, by request, has a couple of new features:

  • the ability to add alerts
  • a ‘Get URL’ button to make it easier to save spots/alerts as favourites on your phone.

It’s a little rough around the edges and does need some more work so please do let me have any feedback and suggestions and I will try and improve it over time.

73, Jon

2

In reply to GM4ZFZ:
Thanks Jon set up and working - looks good.

Roger G4OWG

3

In reply to GM4ZFZ:

The new version, by request, has a couple of new features:

  • the ability to add alerts

Many thanks ! that’s what I was waiting for!
Have no Internet acces from my holyday QRA and could’nt send alerts.

Where can we find more explanations as in the old version ?

Summits on the Air followed by key/value pairs
Sri, dont’t know what is that KEY/VALUE pair ?

73 Alain F6ENO

4

In reply to F6ENO:

Hi Alain,

The best way to get a feel for this is to play with the form and the ‘Get URL’ button.

For instance, a partially complete form with just the callsign and date fields filled in gives:
http://www.sota.org.uk/Spotlite/alert/actCallsign/GM4ZFZ/date/2008-06-01

A fully completed form (apart from password) may give something like:
http://www.sota.org.uk/Spotlite/alert/actCallsign/GM4ZFZ/assoc/GM/summit/WS-001/freq/7.030/mode/cw/date/2008-06-01/time/12:00/comments/test/callsign/GM4ZFZ

So the possible ‘keys’ for alerts would be:

actCallsign
assoc
summit
freq
mode
date
time
comments
callsign
password

Hope this helps. At some point I will try and write some more comprehensive instructions.

73, Jon

5

In reply to GM4ZFZ:

Hi Jon,

Many thanks for the update. I have now changed my bookmark for posting and it comes up okay. However, I have also added

http://www.sotawatch.org

as an address for general monitoring (to find out who else is QRV for potential S2S contacts) and all I get is a message: “Sorry”. Can you shed any light on this?

73, Gerald

6

In reply to DL4MFM:

Hi Mario,

with DL4MFM/P it doesn’t work
Maybe because the slash is the separator?

Yes, correct. Obviously slashes mean something else in URLs! This is what I mean about it being a bit ‘rough around the edges’! I suspect at somepoint I’ll be able to figure out a way of getting around this.

So, for now, no slashes. Sorry!

73, Jon

P.S. I suppose by definition an activator is always /P so perhaps I should ‘hard code’ it?

7

In reply to G4OIG:

However, I have also added
http://www.sotawatch.org
as an address for general monitoring (to find out who else is QRV for
potential S2S contacts) and all I get is a message: “Sorry”.
Can you shed any light on this?

To be honest, I have no idea what is happening here. Stumped!

However, you can get a both a simple list of spots and alerts with the following URLs:

http://www.sota.org.uk/Spotlite/displaySpots
http://www.sota.org.uk/Spotlite/displayAlerts

Maybe this will help.

73, Jon

8

In reply to GM4ZFZ:
Many thanks Jon !

Now I’ll be able to try it and post infos about new spotlite on the french reflector soon.

73
Alain F6ENO

9

In reply to DL4MFM:

should ‘hard code’ it?

Now it works here (without ‘/P’).
How can I hard code it ?

Thanks for your help !

It seems that space ($20) in comments gives same problem as ‘/P’

Alain F6ENO

10

In reply to GM4ZFZ:

So, for now, no slashes. Sorry!

And no spots from other countries as well :wink:

P.S. I suppose by definition an activator is always /P so perhaps I should ‘hard code’ it?

Would make sense :wink:

73 Norby

11

In reply to LX1NO:
Don’t forget that there are some countries where it is required to show the callarea of a portable operation. I think this applies in Hungary and if I am not mistaken, Austria. They sign OE5xxx/4 if they operate portable from the Austrian callarea 4 etc. in place of the customary /P.
Could some of our SOTA friends from OE and / or HA confirm or otherwise?
73 de Ken

12

In reply to GM4ZFZ:

However, you can get a both a simple list of spots and alerts with the
following URLs:

Summits on the Air
Summits on the Air

Thanks John, just what I wanted! It’s mainly to check on progress with other activations that may provide S2S contacts. Mind you, I often get told who is on and where by Chasers.

73, Gerald

13

In reply to GM4ZFZ:

Summits on the Air
Summits on the Air

Jon,

Is there any reason the format of the output from these is different to the older version ? (no … between each entry).

Stewart

14

In reply to LX1NO:

Norby, Mario & Others,

OK, thanks very much - being thick here - we really do need slashes.

I have modified the code to replace slashes “/” with dots (fullstops, periods) “.” in the URL. I chose this because it would be easier to find on a mobile phone than a hyphen (at least it is on mine).

So if you create the URL yourself, use a dot in place of a slash. The ‘Get URL’ button does it automatically.

Alain, regarding spaces: The spaces in the comments field will be replaced by “%20”. This is perfectly normal and is how the URL handles spaces.

73, Jon

15

In reply to G0LGS:

Hi Stewart,

Is there any reason the format of the output from these is different
to the older version ? (no … between each entry).

No reason at all. Would you like them back?

Anything else I can do to improve the layout?

73, Jon

16

In reply to GM4ZFZ:
Wont that (.) create a problem with the frequency field Jon?

Roger G4OWG

17

In reply to G4OWG:

Wont that (.) create a problem with the frequency field Jon?

No, it only does the replace on the activating callsign field at the moment.

73, Jon