• Filter for Logbook, Details, Table, Map, Statistics, Printing and Exports
• QR-Code Support
• SkyDrive Synchronization
• vCard Import for Buddies
• UDDF 3.0 Support for Multideco
• HeinrichsWeikamp Frog Download
• Universal Downloader Update
• JDiveLog Import improved
• Excel Export Bug fixed
• New Language Brazilian Portuguese
• Several minor improvements and bug fixes

If you have version 5.0.6 (or any later beta) installed, you can install the small update setup. If you have an older version, please install the full setup from the download page. Your logbook or registration data won’t be overwritten, but a backup is still recommended. If you’ve lost your registration key or don’t know how to enter it, please use this automatic service to retrieve it.

Contact details from a dive shop

If you want to call a phone number from your logbook which is not in your contacts on the phone, just scan the phone QR tag to call the number. To get a geo location tag from the dive site coordinates, click the menu item from the little dropdown arrow:

Geo Location Tag

You can also integrate several QR tags into the report designer in Diving Log. You can include a GPS tag on each dive, to quickly scan a dive site position and display it in Google Maps on an iPad, for example. Or you can add a tag with your contact details on top of each logbook page. Here you can download a sample PDF from the Diving Log print function with 3 different QR codes. For printing, I recommend a minimum size of 15 mm for the QR code image (make sure to keep the aspect ratio).

QR Codes in the Report Designer

Please note, not all QR scanner apps can handle all codes. It is possible that some apps cannot display a geo location tag on a map, for example. Here you can see a quite powerful scanner app on an iPad, which was able to read all Diving Log tags:

QR Code Scanner

You can try this feature yourself in the next few days, when version 5.0.7 will be released.

SkyDrive Sync

I’ve updated the recently published beta version if you want to try the SkyDrive sync now (you’ll find it in the “Web” dropdown menu of the main toolbar). Make sure that you’ve installed the SkyDrive client application for Windows. Please note, Diving Log for Windows Phone has SkyDrive not yet implemented, so you still have to use Dropbox to sync your dives to Windows Phone at the moment.

• New filter function for all output windows
• vCard import for buddy details
• UDDF 3.x import support
• HeinrichsWeikamp Frog download support
• Several bug fixes and other minor improvements

With the new filter window, you can create filters for any output window (logbook, details data, table editor, dive site map, statistics, printing and exports). Filters allow you to view, export or print only a subset of your logbook data, based on any criteria you want. For example, you can now view the statistics just for one year or just for your rebreather dives. You can export or print only dives where you’ve dived with just one particular buddy. Or you can view in the map window only dive sites, which are deeper than 30 m and with a rating of 5 stars (just an example).

To create a filter, click the new filter icon you’ll find now in most toolbars:

Logbook Filter

Statistics Filter

Export Filter

Then you will see on the right side of the current window the new filter toolbox, where you can add with “AND/OR” any number of criteria for every database field. As soon as you add, edit or delete filters, you can see the results live in the output window.

Filter Toolbox

Edit Filter

To edit a filter row, just double click it or hit the edit button in the toolbar. That way you can easily refine your filter until you get the data you want. You can save your filter to a file and reload it later on. You can also exchange filters between identical database tables, e.g. between statistics, logbook and table window or between dive site details and dive site map.

vCard Import: In the Buddy details you can import now vCard files, which can be created by most contact and email applications and webmail apps:

vCard Import

Click here to download the update beta setup file. This is an update from the current version 5.0.6. If you have an older version than 5.0.6, please update first to 5.0.6 and then install the beta update. Please let me know how you like the new filter function, if it works for you or if you see any crashes or bugs. The filter function integrates deeply into many parts of the application, so I want to make sure I’ve not broken any existing functionality.

Windows 8 Start Screen

Diving Log 5.0 on Windows 8

Diving Log 5.0 runs perfectly fine on the Windows 8 desktop and everything works exactly the same as on Windows 7 (and older).

I’ve also started working on a touch optimized version of Diving Log for the new Metro UI of Windows, which will run on all upcoming Windows 8 tablets (ARM and x86 processors), but also on every Windows 8 PC (laptop or desktop PC) with mouse and keyboard. You can run both, the desktop version and the metro version on the same device (tablet, laptop, desktop), which is especially interesting for convertible devices or tablets with attachable mouse and keyboards.

Here you can see which Diving Log version will run on which Windows version:

As you can see, the new Metro version will run on all Windows 8 devices (but not older versions), the desktop version of Diving Log will run on the x86 Windows versions (XP, Vista, 7 and 8), but not on the new ARM version. So you have to decide which type of applications (desktop or metro) you want to run when you buy a new PC or tablet. It looks like that downloading dive computers will only be possible on the x86 versions, which is important to keep in mind if you want a tablet that can be used for that.

As I’ve written, I’ve already started working on the new tablet version of Diving Log, but it is too early to show you anything. But I can tell you that the user interface will look similar to the Windows Phone version of Diving Log, with a clean metro design, but of course optimized for bigger screens. As soon as I have something to show, I’ll post it here in the blog.

Windows 8 will be available later this year (I expect October / November) and contains a new app store, which is the only place to download new metro style apps.

• Search function for lists (dive sites, buddies, etc…)
• Retrieve dive site coordinates from GPS
• Buddy signature for dives
• Dive site map
• Navigation features within the map

Your buddy can now sign your dives on the phone and the signature will sync back to the PC. The signature will also sync to the iOS Dive Log and Dive Log Manager:

The integrated dive map experience will show all your dive sites with GPS coordinates (like the PC version). When you tap on a flag the name will be shown. Another tap on the label will navigate to the dive site details page. Additionally the map can show your current position on the map and calculate navigation data like speed, distance to the selected dive site and ETA (estimated time of arrival). You can pin the map right on your WP start screen and if you have a dive site selected, it will automatically zoom to that region. That way you can quickly access your favorite dive sites or the island of your next trip right from the start screen:

Tap on the new search button in the app bar to filter countries, cities, dive sites, etc. In the dive site editor, the position button will retrieve your current position and store it in the coordinate fields. The background color shows you the accuracy (red = bad, yellow = average, green = good):

I’ve completed a small Diving Log intermediate update with the following new features:

• Direct download for new HeinrichsWeikamp frog dive computer (image above)
• UDDF 3.0 import support (DR5 Multideco UDDF files)
• Improved JDiveLog import

To get the update, download this zip file and extract it into the Diving Log 5.0.6 program folder.

• Dives
• Countries
• Cities
• Dive sites
• Buddies
• Equipment
• Shops and dive centers
• Trips
• Personal data and certifications

I’ve implemented many data pickers, so you won’t have to type a lot of text. You can also add photos from the pictures hub or right from the camera and store them within your logbook. You can upload the changes to your Dropbox and import them to the Diving Log desktop version, where you could merge your dive data with profiles and other data from your dive computer. When you’re done you sync everything back to your phone.

In the next couple of minor updates I’ll add things like GPS coordinate picker for dive sites, buddy signature, equipment items used for a dive and more.

• Dive map window
• Print function gas switch graphic
• Buddy signature creation added
• Logbook dive list column width will be saved
• Automatic update check
• Dive time offset in statistics
• Universal Downloader update (New Mares devices added)
• Downloader COM Port list auto refresh
• Suunto Dive Manager 4 import
• DiveSystem DiveLogger import
• Liquivision DiveLog import
• Liquivision X1 Import improved
• HS Explorer Import improved
• Shearwater Import improved
• Scubase Import improved
• Android Export improved
• Download link to logbook layouts
• Windows classic style improved
• Many small improvements and bug fixes

It contains also many small changes not mentioned in this list and it’s the first version with an automatic update check, so I highly recommend installing this update.

Map Overview

The dive site map displays all your dive sites with GPS coordinates from your logbook in the map. The search box allows you to quickly filter the displayed dive sites and the “Zoom Markers” button zooms and centers all displayed sites. When you right click into the map, you can add a new dive site at this position or update an existing dive site position (geo tagging). When you click on a flag, the dive site details window opens. You can use the scroll wheel on your mouse or two fingers on a touch screen for zooming (pinch-to-zoom).  And in future even more features will be possible, e.g. trips integration.

Add dive site to map