[drats_users] D-RATS BBS feature develompent

Wed Feb 11 09:16:15 PST 2009

Oh Boy, did you leave the door open!

Leo's points are well taken.

While the functionality is more than adequate, the chat screen has become
somewhat overloaded.  I can only offer my opinions on what I use most often
and what might make it easier;

1. Chat Window - I realize that when this all first started IM type chat was
the centerpiece. I am not so sure this is the case any longer. I don't think
you can take it away as it shows all activity and this is very important
i.e. transfer status, ping requests, GPS plots etc. As a side note to this,
it would be nice to be able to send text in raw format for dchat users.
Being able to do both only makes D-RATS a better all round solution.
2. Stations - This tab has become the focal point for most tracking and
transfer operations. More emphasis should be placed on this screen and the
many functions that it provides. Also it would be very nice to have some
sort of notifier (if it were only a window box somewhere on the screen) that
would show when a new station comes online. I assume the logic is there as
the last seen column populates when a new station comes up.
3. Auto QST - This has always been somewhat of a controverted affair as you
have to bounce from screen to screen to build, enable and fire each one. Put
it all in the same place. 
4. Form Manager - I agree with your assessment entirely. It needs to become
more of a message management tool. 
5. Map Window - Integrate this into the main application. Integrate the
stations tab into the Map window, Its already there in part, and this would
provide right click functionality from the map window.

6. Map Downloader- Incorporate this into the map window. Enable a right
click on station (on the map screen) to bring up the mapdownloader dialog
box. This would allow the user to select a radius around a station to
download all levels 10-15 rather than just the level they are currently
viewing.  This also eliminates the need to use another program to determine
what areas to download.

7. Support Link - Add a help menu item that would link to either the DRATS
Wikisite or DRATS users group. 

8. Add a show debug log menu item to the windows start menu for recovering
the previous debug log. This is needed when the system crashes and finding
the log always creates a headache for those that don't know where to look.
This way they can just click on the show debug log and email it to you if
needed. 

In Summary, my preferences are toward integrating the map window into the
main application and run tabs from it. Most all functions deal with
communicating with other stations and accessing these functions from a
graphical interface would make it easy. The one exception would be the
email/messaging portion which would need its own home. 

Just as an FYI, The Southeast Weather net group has requested more D-RATs
training. We have tentatively scheduled another session for the March 8th
net. In preparation for this a poll was taken to get the members input as to
what they would like to see for this session. Based upon time factors I
split this up into 6 topics. Below are the topics and the votes for each:

1. Mapping set up and operation 26%
2. Email Gateway set up and operation 21%
3. File Transfer and misc utilities  10%
4. Forms 10%
5. Auto QST and automated alerts 0%
6. GPS Plotting and tracking 31%

This may be an indication of what people are using...

For anyone interested in joining into the net, go to yahoo groups and look
up se-wxnet or http://www.dstarinfo.com/Nets/SEWXNet.html . You can get more
information from there. The net is a DSTAR only net and provides
informational programs every other week on some Dstar technology.

73
Dave Cooley
N4DIB

-----Original Message-----
From: drats_users-bounces at lists.danplanet.com
[mailto:drats_users-bounces at lists.danplanet.com] On Behalf Of Dan Smith
Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 2009 10:53 AM
To: Discussion of D-RATS
Subject: Re: [drats_users] D-RATS BBS feature develompent

Hi Leo,

Thanks for this.  I can always count on you to create more work for me to do
:)

> if you haven't critical bugs, I think It's time to improve BBS
> features.

Just the other day, I was thinking about how D-RATS has evolved far beyond
my initial feature plans.  It is used in a very different way from what I
originally expected.  As such, the main window has become rather cumbersome
for the various uses and I think it's time to freshen that.

> Expecially for messages grouping, users access, visual and audio 
> alerts for incoming messages. If you have 50 messages... it's hard to 
> look for one... without filtering features. If you use D-RATS like a 
> BBS, it's hard to find what are you looking for (in more than 50 
> messages). Expecially in mail gateway it will be very nice to create a 
> little BBS front-end and commands features. If you like the idea... we 
> all can analyze details.

Yes, indeed.  I think that there is a definite use-case for treating D-RATS
like a pseudo mail client.  One where the primary goal is transferring
messages (forms) and potentially files as well.  The chat functionality can
be ancillary and used for non-voice coordination.

So, some thoughts are:

1. Replace the form manager with a more formal "message" interface.
   Provide a typical folders-on-the-left panel with message counts and
   the ability to organize things beyond a single level of "inbox". 2.
Collapse the chat function into a smaller piece that is not
   permanently attached to the top of the main window.  Move the "quick
   messages" widget out of the bottom of the main window and attach it
   to whatever the chat portion becomes.
3. Maybe collapse the "QST monitor" into something smaller that doesn't
   take up so much space (I don't find myself looking at this tab very
   much.
4. Now that the "stations" tab is the interface for pulling files and
   performing other RPC commands, perhaps it needs to change in some
   more useful way as well.

Any other thoughts?  Any suggestions for how to reorganize the interface?

Perhaps it's time to branch off an 0.3.x version and start making some
progress on some of these things while leaving 0.2.x as the current stable.

Speak up!

-- 
Dan Smith
dsmith#danplanet.com, s/#/@/
www.danplanet.com
KK7DS

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