Download Approach Plates

AirBaker said:
It's probably a file size issue where the larger files take longer to load.
Click to expand...
Longer for those on gubmint salary or longer for us who need to make use of the material? I can't think of a pilot who doesn't have at home or easy access to high speed internet. I'd much rather have the composite file.
 
KennyFlys said:
It's a PDF file for every page. That seems like a very silly move. I can understand it for plates but why not have files for at least a half a state if not an entire state for most? That way you could load that file into a tablet or similar PC for inflight use. Or, even a Palm Treo for that matter. :dunno:
Click to expand...
I can think of 2 reasons:
1) No one asked them to bundle them.
2) Bandwidth.
 
KennyFlys said:
Longer for those on gubmint salary or longer for us who need to make use of the material? I can't think of a pilot who doesn't have at home or easy access to high speed internet. I'd much rather have the composite file.
Click to expand...

I was thinking of longer to open the file/download it.
 
Well, I've been busy running with scissors, and have the first shot at this.

If anyone wants to try, Jesse graciously set up a server with decent bandwidth.

Go to http://poa.areeda.com/dttp
A basic authorization requires username: poa password: dttpTester

Then you need to register because I want to save lists of plates to be downloaded.

I have one funny thing in that ghostscript sometimes puts in plates with landscape orientation either that or acrobat reader is rotating them. I'm looking into it.

I'm interested in your opinions on what features are needed, how you would use it, whether it is worth putting any more time into this.

Another thing, be patient, the more plates you select for download the longer it takes to prepare the combined pdf and download it, I'm not sure what will happen if you keep banging the download button.

Right now the list of things to do looks like:
  • More search options:
    • Limit by type of approach ie: ILS, VOR, VOR/DME, WAAS, RNAV...
    • Collapse search results by airport
  • Save list of plates to download
    • Each user can have multiple lists
    • Options for all or only those that changed
  • Figure out how to keep the database up to date
    • Should we download everything or just the changed, added, deleted ones.
Have fun.

Joe
 
I've noticed some issues with the email system, causing the activation email to get bounced as spam sometimes.

Sorry, we're working on it. If you don't get your activation email I can pm the link to you.

Joe
 
I can't get it to log in. I'm not exactly sure what you're using for a password. Is that two words with a space or what?

If so, perhaps a single-word password, all in lower case?
 
KennyFlys said:
I can't get it to log in. I'm not exactly sure what you're using for a password. Is that two words with a space or what?

If so, perhaps a single-word password, all in lower case?
Click to expand...
Sorry.

username is "poa"
password is "dttpTester"

no quotes of course. Let me know if you still have problems. We want this to be easy.

Joe
 
its all one word, no spaces, just like it says.
 
Oops, I had looked at that on the laptop in the car. It first appeared to be a space within the password.

I'm now registered but no verification email is coming through. I'm checking via Charter's webmail with no blocks so there's nothing to stop it. How long should that take? It's usually instantaneous.
 
Opening the file directly upon compilation works great. But, if you simply download it to the desktop then try to open it, it gives a defective file message. Otherwise, I love how it works.

Now, can you do the same with the A/FD pages?

Another idea... how easy would it be to have a default list of plates come up for the user? Perhaps even a few groups the user can select from that is tied to their user name. I'm picturing a case where a pilot may fly to a given region every couple months or so but only one airport and not often enough to make it worth buying a book.
 
KennyFlys said:
Opening the file directly upon compilation works great. But, if you simply download it to the desktop then try to open it, it gives a defective file message. Otherwise, I love how it works.
Click to expand...
That's wierd. I'll try to reproduce it here.

KennyFlys said:
Now, can you do the same with the A/FD pages?
Click to expand...
That one is going to be more fun as the links for each airport give you a whole page from the AFD which may contain multiple airports. It presents the same problem I'm having with the take-off and alternate minimums on this one. It looks like selecting one gets the whole section from the Volume. I want to identify that so you can't download multiple copies in the same pdf file.

KennyFlys said:
Another idea... how easy would it be to have a default list of plates come up for the user? Perhaps even a few groups the user can select from that is tied to their user name. I'm picturing a case where a pilot may fly to a given region every couple months or so but only one airport and not often enough to make it worth buying a book.
Click to expand...

That's next. I'm thinking of saving selections with each user having as many as they want. Functions would be
  • Create a new list from the current selection set.
  • Add a selection set to a saved list.
  • Add the save list to the current selection set (to allow editing).
  • Delete a saved list.
  • Download a saved list.
This is fun, but a lot more work than I thought.

Joe
 
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Areeda said:
That's wierd. I'll try to reporduce it here.
Click to expand...
It happen to me both in the car and at home. There was no explanation for a "damaged file."

This is going to be a very useful tool. I appreciate the work you're putting into this.

Thanks bunches,

Ken
 
i still havent gotten a confirmation email. university probably ate it as spam.
 
tonycondon said:
i still havent gotten a confirmation email. university probably ate it as spam.
Click to expand...
Tony,
I PMed you the activation link.

I think/hope I got the email problem solved by setting up Jesse's server to masquerade as areeda.com. I'm hoping the rule that's getting these things marked as spam is the "sender domain does not resolve". If anyone gets reports why these emails are being rejected I appreciate a report.

Joe

ps. Activation link is sent out immediately. Time to appear in your mailbox depends on your server's mail queue.
 
KennyFlys said:
It happen to me both in the car and at home. There was no explanation for a "damaged file."
Click to expand...

That's odd because the only difference should be whether a browser saves it as a temporary file or a permanent one (location and name). I tried it with Netscape 8 and IE 7 and it seems to work. What browser are you using? Also if you open it directly then save it, can you reopen it?

How about this? Please post a list of the selected plates (2 or 3) and attach the damaged pdf. I hate putting my email on a public forum. I can PM you my email address if you have troubles posting it.

Joe
 
I noticed a few people have registered but not authenticated. I assume the authenticate email is getting treated as spam. So I authenticated everybody until I figure it out. If you registered before 0800 PDT you can access it now.

Joe
 
I got the authentication email, but cannot login as I keep getting the message that I must use the authentication email.

[ Steps ]
1. Open authentication email
2. Locate link therein and click
3. Window opens to login.
4. Enter ID & password previously entered in registration.
5. Window opens with message to use authentication email.
6. Loop to Step 1.
 
AuntPeggy said:
I got the authentication email, but cannot login as I keep getting the message that I must use the authentication email.

[ Steps ]
1. Open authentication email
2. Locate link therein and click
3. Window opens to login.
4. Enter ID & password previously entered in registration.
5. Window opens with message to use authentication email.
6. Loop to Step 1.
Click to expand...

My fault, that's what I get for activating with SQL, I only got half of it.
Please try again.

Joe
 
Areeda said:
That's odd because the only difference should be whether a browser saves it as a temporary file or a permanent one (location and name). I tried it with Netscape 8 and IE 7 and it seems to work. What browser are you using? Also if you open it directly then save it, can you reopen it?

How about this? Please post a list of the selected plates (2 or 3) and attach the damaged pdf. I hate putting my email on a public forum. I can PM you my email address if you have troubles posting it.

Joe
Click to expand...
They were the ILS 30L CPS, ILS 20L PDK and LOC 4 GVL. Airport Diagrams were included as well. I believe I had included a couple GPS plates but not sure which ones.
 

Attachments

  • dttp.pdf
    197.8 KB · Views: 8
KennyFlys said:
They were the ILS 30L CPS, ILS 20L PDK and LOC 4 GVL. Airport Diagrams were included as well. I believe I had included a couple GPS plates but not sure which ones.
Click to expand...

Ken,

Would you please create a new one with just ILS 30L CPS, ILS 20L PDK and LOC 4 GVL?

What I want to do is compare it to the one I save that works and see what the difference is. Attached is the PDF I saved from that selection.

Joe
 

Attachments

  • dttp-ken.pdf
    889.4 KB · Views: 4
Areeda said:
Ken,

Would you please create a new one with just ILS 30L CPS, ILS 20L PDK and LOC 4 GVL?

What I want to do is compare it to the one I save that works and see what the difference is. Attached is the PDF I saved from that selection.

Joe
Click to expand...
Sir, as requested!
 

Attachments

  • dttp-Ken-v2.pdf
    888.4 KB · Views: 8
I just setup Reverse DNS. It may take awhile for this to propagate. This should help with these activation problems.
 
KennyFlys said:
Sir, as requested!
Click to expand...
Thanks Ken.

I think I see the problem, although that 2nd one works for me with Acrobat 7.0.9.

It looks like PHP is putting out some warning messages after the document and that's getting added to the file.

I'll fix it.

Joe

edit: OK I think I got it. The warnings were from trying to delete the resulting pdf twice.
 
Last edited:
Areeda said:
That's odd because the only difference should be whether a browser saves it as a temporary file or a permanent one (location and name). I tried it with Netscape 8 and IE 7 and it seems to work. What browser are you using? Also if you open it directly then save it, can you reopen it?

How about this? Please post a list of the selected plates (2 or 3) and attach the damaged pdf. I hate putting my email on a public forum. I can PM you my email address if you have troubles posting it.

Joe
Click to expand...

I'm having the same issue. If I search for plates for KFTW, then click the link for the GPS Rwy 34 approach (http://poa.areeda.com/dttp/index.php?act=viewDoc&docn=29023), I get IE's standard "Do you want to open or save this file?" (it shows the file name as dttp.pdf, file size 199kb from poa.areeda.com). I click "Open", the progress bar acts like it's downloading the file, then Adobe opens and complains that "There was an error opening this document. The file cannot be found."

If I save the file (instead of picking "open"), the saved file opens up just fine. I cleared my cache and temporary files, same thing.

Test with Firefox 2.0.0.1 works just fine.

Are you setting the MIME response type to "application/pdf" for streaming the file directly back to the user?
 
Troy Whistman said:
I'm having the same issue. If I search for plates for KFTW, then click the link for the GPS Rwy 34 approach (http://poa.areeda.com/dttp/index.php?act=viewDoc&docn=29023), I get IE's standard "Do you want to open or save this file?" (it shows the file name as dttp.pdf, file size 199kb from poa.areeda.com). I click "Open", the progress bar acts like it's downloading the file, then Adobe opens and complains that "There was an error opening this document. The file cannot be found."

If I save the file (instead of picking "open"), the saved file opens up just fine. I cleared my cache and temporary files, same thing.

Test with Firefox 2.0.0.1 works just fine.

Are you setting the MIME response type to "application/pdf" for streaming the file directly back to the user?
Click to expand...

Troy,

Interesting vBulletin bug: the closing paren is part of the link above that took me a minute to find.

I do set the MIME type to "application/pdf". I think the issue may be that I had that link setting target = _BLANK and "Content Disposition: attachement". The disposition is a recent change when I got the combined pdf working.

Anyway I have it more consistent now (no target) and it works in Netscape 8, Mozilla, and IE 7. Please try again.

Joe
 
Next and Last buttons open system File Download dialog, then fail if Open is selected from dialog. Adobe Reader notice: "There was an error opening this document. This file cannot be found."

[ Steps ]
1. Login
--- Welcome screen launches with "Search", "Change Password", "Log out" links.
2. Click "Search" link.
--- Terminal Procedure Search pane opens with 7 fields, "Search" button.
3. Select "New York" from "State" option list.
4. Click "Search" button
--- List of options, "491 Matches. 0 Selected. Page: 1 of 10", Next, Last buttons.
5. Scroll to bottom of list.
6. Click "Next" button.
--- System File Download dialog opens with "Open", "Save", "Cancel" buttons.
--- Name: dttp.pdf
--- Type: Adobe Acrobat 7.0 Document, 321 bytes
--- From poa.areeda.com
7. Click "Open" button.
--- Blank Adobe Reader window opens.
--- Adobe Reader dialog opens: "There was an error opening this document. This file cannot be found." with "OK" button.
8. Click OK.
--- Dialog closes.
--- Blank Adobe Reader window remains.
 
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Peggy,

This one is just embarassing. I change the next/previous from links to buttons and must not have tested the change like I thought.

I'm 3/4ths through being able to save the download lists. I'll upload an update later today.

Thanks for catching it. I can tell you're a professional by the full procedure to reproduce the problem - Thanks!

Joe
 
Areeda said:
Troy,

Interesting vBulletin bug: the closing paren is part of the link above that took me a minute to find.

I do set the MIME type to "application/pdf". I think the issue may be that I had that link setting target = _BLANK and "Content Disposition: attachement". The disposition is a recent change when I got the combined pdf working.

Anyway I have it more consistent now (no target) and it works in Netscape 8, Mozilla, and IE 7. Please try again.

Joe
Click to expand...

Joe, good work on this. IE6 still gives the same error when directly opening the PDF file.
 
New version has been uploaded to include saving download lists.

While most of the functionality is there I'm not happy with the current interface. So a little documentation is in order:

After selecting one or more documents you can hit the save button.

You can save that selection as a new list or replace an exiting one. You should be careful no warning for overwriting an exiting list. The name in the text box will be used. No limit on how many of these you can have (yet).

You can also select an existing list from the drop down menu and hit the merge button. This will ADD the new selection to the list and update the list being displayed.

Download retrieves the list being displayed.

There is also a link on the toolbar to download a saved list. This gives you a list of all saved lists and a link to get them.

​
Well that's enough for today. I'll try to figure out why IE6 doesn't like displaying the downloading.

Joe
 
New Version is up and running.

This one:
  • Has a page of statistics on types of approachs in the data base.
  • Allows selection by approach type. Note this is a big list of SQL WHERE clauses so please let me know if you want any that are missing or if there is a problem with any of the ones there.
  • Fixes all the problems opening a pdf file that I could find.
I still have a problem with some of the plates being displayed in Acrobat rotated to landscape. It's weird, ggv on Linux displays them correctly. I think it is some type of auto-orientation but I can't find any options or documentation in Acrobat.

Joe

Oh yeah JD, IE fits most of the definitions of a virus except self-replicating.
 
This is great! I have a couple of feature suggestions...

1. "Check all" so you can download all of the displayed documents without having to check each one individually. Along with that an "Uncheck all" would probably also be a good idea.

2. Change the approach type selection so that multiple approach types can be selected. I'd suggest turning it into a selection form instead of a drop down list. For example I might want to download all ILS and LOC approaches. Even better would be some additional short cut items too, like all precision approaches, perhaps an all "common" GA airplane approaches (leave out cat II and III ILS, copter, HI-ILS, and TACAN). Also, an all approaches (leaving out Alt Mins, DPs, STARs, etc) would also be useful. On that note, adding STARs, and DPs to the type list would also be great.
 
bross said:
This is great! I have a couple of feature suggestions...

1. "Check all" so you can download all of the displayed documents without having to check each one individually. Along with that an "Uncheck all" would probably also be a good idea.
Click to expand...
That what I'm working on now. I need a javascript craplet for the current page and a link to select all in the set. Both are pretty straight forward.

This brings up the problem how big a set can be downloaded at once and what to do if it's bigger than that. Right now I think the limit will be when the ghostscript command line to build the output pdf get longer than 32K bytes. Either that or the php script will timeout while ghostscript is running.

I think this might have to work in the background. You make a large selection and it spawns off a task and sometime later the completed document shows up on your toolbar ready for download.

bross said:
2. Change the approach type selection so that multiple approach types can be selected. I'd suggest turning it into a selection form instead of a drop down list. For example I might want to download all ILS and LOC approaches. Even better would be some additional short cut items too, like all precision approaches, perhaps an all "common" GA airplane approaches (leave out cat II and III ILS, copter, HI-ILS, and TACAN). Also, an all approaches (leaving out Alt Mins, DPs, STARs, etc) would also be useful. On that note, adding STARs, and DPs to the type list would also be great.
Click to expand...
This is a good idea but it's complicated. The current implementation takes the SQL search statements from the Stats page and just makes a list. I suppose it could be a chinese menu style (it must match all you check in column A or with anything you check in column B but with nothing you select in column C).

Right now you could use the saved download list (even better when the check all function is working) and add your selections into a saved list.

Joe
 
Geeze guys, we fly airplanes here... not have to talk in code to overcome the enemy! :D

Then again, I see a lot of "geeks" among the ranks of pilots.
 
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