Populates Records

[tarbat]

I think populate works as follows:

First principle.  MyLog records the details of an aircraft as they were when the aircraft was first logged.  So, if AT was "..." when the aircraft was first received, it will stay as "..." for ever.  Populate will NOT overwrite data.

The exception is blank fields.  So, if AT was blank when the aircraft was first received, it will be recorded as blank.  If, at a later date, you update Navdata with a corrected AT (eg. "A388"), then populate will fill in the blanks.

For aircraft where the registration is unknown, nothing is recorded in Navdata.  Everytime you then receive that aircraft, or run populate, RB will attempt to get details from the Airnav server, and put the details in Navdata.  When you next run populate, these details will update the aircraft in Mylog.

IMO, there are two "issues" with this approach.
1. Aircraft in RB are "keyed" on the ModeS code.  So, if an aircraft changes registration but keeps the same ModeS code, the database can't really handle this situation.  So, RB keeps the old registration details.  Ideally, you would want a new MyLog entry created for the new registration, but keep the old one as well.

2. Airnav (or their data provider) need to stop putting "..." in the AT field when the aircraft type is unknown.  If it was left blank instead, populate would be able to update it.

HOWEVER, I'm not a great user of the MyLog function, so I'm not a great expert on the way it works.

[abrad41]

Thank you mate for your views

Would it be better at the start to leave everything blank - so Mylog could do the updates form the Navdata file.

As you now I cleared out my Navdata file and started a fresh one about a month ago, This went well and I had manually sorted about 4,200 records.
I was hoping on the 1st Jan 2009 to start a new Mylog, but it just did not work the way, I expected and I was very disapointed with the way populate and the databases work, and I think its very confussing for people and not very good if people want to keep accurate records.

Andy

[tarbat]

No, I don't think it would be better to leave everything blank in MyLog.  Two reasons:

1. Significant processing overheads having to link the MyLog database to the NavData database whenever viewing MyLog.  This was the main reason I originally recommended to Airnav, during beta testing, that they combine everything into one database containing Navdata and MyLog.  The current database design is a compromise that restricts what can be done to link MyLog tables to Navdata tables.

2. When aircraft details change, MyLog correctly shows details of the aircraft as they were when the aircraft was logged.  If it always got details from Navdata, then the MyLog data would change (incorrectly) to the new details.  Ideally, when aircraft details change (eg change of owner, change of registration), a new MyLog entry should be created.  With the current database design, that's not possible, as ModeS code is the primary key.

[abrad41]

I have also found when you use Populate in Mylog - It is changing some details in the Navdata db3 file - I grant you not many, but there is some.

Andy