Archive for June, 2009

Diving Log 5.0 – preliminary report

Wednesday, June 17th, 2009

Today I want to give you an overview about the version 5.0 development progress. I’ll point out which features are already completed, which features still have to be converted to .NET before a first beta release and which features will be skipped (for the beta or completely).


Already completed features:


Partially completed features:


Not yet completed features:

  • Main program window
  • Detailed information dialogs (Country, City, Dive Site, Buddy, Equipment)
  • Downloaders: Sensus Pro
  • Importers: SmartTrak, DataTrak, IRIS/DRAK, Suunto DM 2.x / 3.x, Oceanlog, PC LogBook, ProDive/ProLink, Sensus Manager, Citizen)
  • Exporters: MySQL, HTML
  • Search
  • Template Manager
  • Other dialogs (Sort Logbook, Settings, Backup, Update Check, Welcome Center)

Features written in gray color will be included later after the first beta. I’m not sure if I include all the missing importers already in the first beta release, so maybe I add some of them later because you can still use Diving Log 4.0 to import your dives. Diving Log 4.0 and the first 5.0 betas will use the same logbook format, so you can easily switch between both versions back and forth for missing features.


Features which will be probably not included in version 5.0:

  • Logbook Browser
  • The two other calculation tools (Volume/Depth and Buoyancy)

I think I’ll skip these 2 features because they are probably barely used and there are more important features to work on.

As you can see a lot of things are already done, some things can be included after the first beta because both versions share the same logbook format in the beginning. Later on I’ll expand the 5.0 logbook format to store more data in it. Next I’ll start working on the detailed information dialogs which should be completed very quickly.

Below I want to show you 2 screenshots from the just finished user information dialog and one more screenshot from the report designer where I’ve added a few more variables due to user feedback I’ve got recently:

User Information

User Information

Brevets

Certifications

New Variables

New Variables in the Designer

The “ProfileAvailable” Boolean variables can be used to determine if a profile is available. So you can print for example either the profile or photos at this position. I’ve added also more data from the dive site details, like comments, dive site map image and the rating.

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Diving Log 5.0 – Printing

Thursday, June 4th, 2009

This was the last big feature I had to convert to .NET for Diving Log 5.0 – the print function with the report designer. Like all other features I’ve completely restructured the whole code and interaction with the report engine List&Label. And I’ve added several new features and improvements. Below you can see the new print dialog with some visual changes. One minor improvement is that it will remember the last printed dive number and use it as start number when you open the dialog the next time, which makes it a little bit easier to print only the new dives.

Print Dialog

Print Dialog

The biggest improvement has been added to the dive profile printing. Up till now you could only print the depth profile with very little customization properties. In version 5.0 the print engine uses exactly the same profile drawing routine as the profile display in the logbook window. So you have the same profiles and features at the same time as they are implemented into the logbook window. You can drag several profile objects to the designer and change the profile type and other options by double clicking the profile or by clicking the properties icon on the left side.

Profile Properties

Profile Properties

Profile Properties

Profile Properties

When you use the profile field in a list type report, the profile will be automatically drawn in a minimalistic way without text and scales, so it fits best into the small table rows.

Profile List

Profile List

The 2nd major improvement is the buddy signature drawing. You have now also several options to customize the design. The same drawing will be used in the logbook window, too. Currently you can create new signatures only in the Windows Mobile version, but in version 5.0 you will be able to sign a dive also in the desktop version (with the mouse or with touch enabled devices).

Signature Properties

Signature Properties

You can download 2 PDF files generated by the new print function and the report files from the screenshots above:

Report1.pdf
Report2.pdf

The last change is the way I’ve implemented the report designer variables. In version 5.0 you will have a “Diving Log 4.0 compatibility mode” which is enabled by default and makes it possible to use the existing 4.0 report files without modification. In standard mode, the variables in the report designer were now organized in sub folders which make it easier to find each variable (especially if I add more fields in future), but it requires updating existing report files. For example, the variable “LogAirtemp” is now called “Logbook.Airtemp”. I’ll update the official report files and the files available for download and write a separate blog post how this could be done very easily, but I think the better structure in the designer is worth the effort:

Variables Tree

Variables Tree

So, now as the print function is complete I’ll write next a blog post which gives you an overview where we are at the moment, features which has to be done until a possible beta release and what will be skipped and not included in the first beta to delay the release not unnecessarily. Thank you for your patience during this long time update, I’m also very excited, but this is really a major task which takes some time.

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