New development blog

Discussions about Diving Log 6.0 - questions and hints
CompuDude
Posts: 18
Joined: Thu Nov 02, 2006 00:40

Re: New development blog

Post by CompuDude »

divinglog wrote:Hi

With the new importers it should be possible to sync the iPhone data first back to the PC logbook and then import the dive profiles and other data from SmartTrak into the existing dives. This has not worked up to the update linked above, but now you can import data into existing manual entered dives.

This way your linked buddies and other linked entries from the iPhone should be still available, when you sync this updated logbook back to the iPhone.

Kind regards,
Sven
Ooooo... so the new importers will accept data from SmartTrak as the source to "fill in the blanks" of the iPhone entries? As opposed to needing to import the computer's data directly into DivingLog? That's a great thing, if I'm understanding correctly.

Thank you both for the quick responses, by the way. :)

So I'm curious about one scenario, though... I assume it is critical to make an iPhone entry for each new dive, right? I'm assuming the importer deals with each dive in sequence... and if there is one dive that I never entered into Dive Log (on the iPhone), but DID enter into SmartTrak... and then, went diving again and did make new iPhone entries, I'm thinking things will get pretty hosed on the import.

For instance:

Dive 879: March 5, 2009 11:00 am (dummy time I entered on the iPhone, actual time 10:55)
Dive 880: March 5, 2009 2:00 pm (dummy time I entered on the iPhone, actual time 2:05)
Dive 881: March 5, 2009 5:00 pm (dummy time I entered on the iPhone, actual time 5:01)
Dive 882: March 8, 2009 8:14 pm (imported from the dive computer and NOT on the iPhone)
Dive 883: March 15, 2009 11:00 am (dummy time entry on the iPhone)
Dive 884: March 15, 2009 2:00 pm (dummy time entry on the iPhone)
Dive 885: March 15, 2009 5:00 pm (dummy time entry on the iPhone)

Then, when if I was to sync my iPhone with Diving Log, there would be a missing dive (#882), so when I import the full dive entries from SmartTrak, the software would enter the data from actual dive 883 into dive 882, and so on, and have a half-empty (iPhone data only) entry for dive #885.

Am I correct? I just want to know if I need to be careful to avoid this situation, or if the software importer can properly resolve things.

To avoid this hypothetical situation, I assume I would need to manually enter a blank dive into Diving Log for any dives I had not gotten around to entering into the iPhone? Or is it critical that I make entries on the iPhone for each dive, or else things won't sync properly?
divinglog
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Re: New development blog

Post by divinglog »

Yes, your are right. During the import into exiting dives you can select an existing dive in your logbook. Diving Log will update all dives from this dive up to the end of the logbook. If the number of dives you import is less than the existing dives to be updated, the rest of the dives will be not changed. If the number of dives to update is less than the number of dives to be imported, Diving Log will update the existing dives and add all other dives as new dives. It will display what will happen before the import starts:

Image

In this screenshot you can see that I'm going to import 4 dives. I've selected the 3rd dive from the end of the logbook, so 3 dives will be updated and one dive will be added. When you change the dropdown selector one dive backwards the actual values will change and 4 dives will be updated and 0 dives will be added.

During the update of dives, no data will be overwritten, only empty fields will be updated. The only exception is date, entrytime, dive time and depth. These 4 fields will be always updated with the data from the import.

So it is important that the number (amount) and sort order of new dives from the iPhone matches with the dives you are going to import. Otherwise Diving Log will update the dives as in your example. This is especially critical when the dive computer has splitted one dive due to a long time on the surface. You must enter also on the iPhone 2 dives and merge them after importing on the desktop. Or you can import in 3 steps in your example:

Import and update dive 879 - 881
Import dive 882 as new dive
Import and update dive 883 - 885

In this case you have to start the import wizard 3 times. But you also would have to deal with the dive numbers, so the best is to create an entry on the iPhone for every dive you've made, so that the number of dives matches the number of new dives on your dive computer. Then everyting should be fine. These complicated scenarious are the reason this feature had taken so long. I just wanted to make sure to find the best way to do this and to commuicate what will happen during the import.
CompuDude
Posts: 18
Joined: Thu Nov 02, 2006 00:40

Re: New development blog

Post by CompuDude »

Tricky. Thanks for the response, I'll have to be sure to be careful!
greg.lynes
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Sep 16, 2009 09:03

Re: New development blog

Post by greg.lynes »

Hi,
I have just started to use the diving log on my pc.
A couple of things that would be nice to see in V5.0 are;
An option to select a 3 minute 5m stop on the dive log tab instead of using Deco and the surface interval moved to the Dive Log Tab.

A nice piece of work, and syncs with my iphone great.
I just have to add the other 600 dives into it now..... :(

Many thanks
divinglog
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Re: New development blog

Post by divinglog »

Hi

Thank you for your feedback! In this blog post you can see that it will be possible to rearrange the logbook items in version 5.0, so you can easily move the surface interval to the first tab.

Regarding the 3 min / 5 m: I think you mean the standard safety stop? Yes, I think it is necessary to add some further deco stop or safety stop information fields, maybe a simple text fields is OK. I'll add this to the list of database modfications.

Regarding your 600 dives to enter: Maybe you should enter only the basic information and wait a little bit for the first Beta 5.0. With the new logbook table it is very easy to enter a lot of similar data.

Please don't ask for a release date of 5.0 :wink:

Best regards,
Sven
greg.lynes
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Sep 16, 2009 09:03

Re: New development blog

Post by greg.lynes »

Sven
So when does V5.0 come out then :angelic: :angelic: :wink:

I would just included a simple tick box or yes/no for the standard safety stop.

Greg
divinglog
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Re: New development blog

Post by divinglog »

greg.lynes wrote:So when does V5.0 come out then :angelic: :angelic: :wink:
Soon :wink:
CompuDude
Posts: 18
Joined: Thu Nov 02, 2006 00:40

Re: New development blog

Post by CompuDude »

Looking good. So, once 5.0 is done, will you start on the Mac version?

:twisted:
nielsiek
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2009 19:48

Re: New development blog

Post by nielsiek »

nielsiek wrote:Hi Greg,

Is it correct that the pictures from your certificates on the diving log (on my computer) are not uploaded to dive log on my iPod touch? The other certificate information is uploaded.

Cheers Niels
gregm wrote:Hi Niels,

The current version of Dive Log on iPhone (1.1.3) does have some minimal support for capturing and using images. In the current version this is limited to images of your certification cards (More->Personal->Certifications) and images of Buddies that are linked contacts on your iPhone (via the normal Contacts mechanism for capturing and using mages for a Buddy).

I am planning to add more support for images in Dive Log on iPhone (in fact, I happen to be working on that right now). The additional images will be associated with a Dive Site (for example a picture of the map that the dive master draws during his/her briefing), a Country (for example an image of the Country's flag), your Personal entry (an image of yourself), Buddy (extended to unlinked Buddies and synced to the desktop) and your equipment items.

Images are very resource intensive and are handled by iPhone OS in a way that is fairly limited compared to the desktop. For example, there is no way to refer to images in the iPhone's Camera/Photo app except by explicitly asking the user to pick the image one at a time. Once you have a reference to an image you can only use that image by taking a copy of it (and storing it within your own application data area). This means that any images that you import to your iPhone from your underwater camera must be duplicated on the device in order to use them within Dive Log on iPhone. As a result of some of these limitations, there is no current plan to include a general photo management function (similar to what is available in Diving Log 4.0 on the desktop) within Dive Log on iPhone. The information (paths to the photos on your desktop) contained in the Diving Log 4.0 database about photos is maintained on the iPhone so they are not lost when you sync your data back to the desktop, but the images themselves are not copied to the iPhone. Imagine if you had just one full resolution photo per dive and a total of over 2600 dives (like I do). That is a lot of data to deal with on a phone.

While the iPhone is a very powerful device, in the end of the day it is still a phone. The application design on the iPhone tends to lead to more task oriented applications that are somewhat more limited in scope than their desktop counter parts. The goal is to keep the application quick to start, quick to use, quick to exit and focused on a particular task. It might be more appropriate to have a separate application to deal with (a subset) of your desktop managed photos on the iPhone. As an underwater photographer myself, I have been thinking about the issue of dealing with "per dive" photos on the iPhone. I don't have a particular solution in mind at this point in time but will continue to work on it. I'd certainly be interested in any input from users about how you would imagine using "per dive" photos on the iPhone. Feel free to send input to me at "support at moremobilesoftware dot com".

Cheers,

Greg
divinglog
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Re: New development blog

Post by divinglog »

Hi Niels
Is it correct that the pictures from your certificates on the diving log (on my computer) are not uploaded to dive log on my iPod touch? The other certificate information is uploaded.
It is correct for Diving Log 4.0. In 5.0 the images will be stored additionally in the database and then synced to the iPhone. So you have 2 options: Either wait a little longer for beta 5.0 or add the images one time on the iPhone again (which will store the images in the database) and sync this logbook back to the PC.

Cheers,
Sven
CompuDude wrote:Looking good. So, once 5.0 is done, will you start on the Mac version?

:twisted:
As soon as I've included the millions of feature requests from the past few years :wink: :angelic:
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