Questions before installing

[Alexair]

Hello y'all,

Sorry if my questions has been already asked but didn't find anything about them.

- Can I install and run phpVMS system on an already existing VA website made with Guppy ?

- Is it compatible with IVAO ?

- Is it or will it become compatible with FsCaptain ?

- Can I record previous flights flown by members with passengers, cargo, fuel, miles traveled, etc... ? (total on each category not every single flight).

- About FsAcars, is it mandatory to use it or is it just optionnal ?

- Will you recommend using FsAcars as it is much better with phpVMS or doesn't change things too much ?

Thanks for your cooperation.

Sincerely,

Alex

[simpilot]

Welcome to phpVMS Alex!

I will try to answer the ones I can

1 - You can make phpvms your backend pilot management system and skin it to look just like your guppy CMS site, that is the best way to do it in my opinion, some have used iframes inside of a cms with success as well.

2 - Not sure what you mean by compatible with IVAO - There are many phpvms based va's that fly on Vatsim and IVAO

3 - I do not know - I have to leave this one for Nabeel.

4 - You can add transfer hours to a pilot to make up the hours from the previous system for your pilots, or you can convert the sql database over to the new format and insert all the data into the new table, I did this for vanity airways that switched from VABase and can help you out if needed.

5 - FSAcars is not mandatory, you can file PIREPS through FSAcars, FSPax, FSFlightKeeper, and of course manually.

6 - Personally I like using FSAcars - I think it makes things much easier on the pilot, just like FSPax or the others, and of course you get all the cool map data on your site!

btw - saw your posts over at that "other" va management system - you would be making a wise choice to use phpVMS - A lot of time and effort has gone into making it the best system out there. 

[Alexair]

Hello Simpilot,

Thanks for your very kind help.

Sorry but I might sound kind of stupid but I am not good at all at web site stuff that is why a friend of mine setup my VA website with Guppy to make it easy for me (it is a WYSIWYG type of thing that I can handle). So, now I am not sure if I understood you correctly. Let me tell you more about my current website.

My VA exist since 2004 and we started with a very basic website. About 1 year 1/2 ago with had setup a much better website with Guppy but it has been hacked by a stupid moron thus destructing everything and even the internet provider had had a lot of trouble to get all his system back online. We tried several time to set the web site again without any luck due to the provider's problem. Now we have moved to a new provider and we are just finishing a brand new website again. So to make it short I don't want to give up this website, I would like to introduce the phpVMS system within our current website (made with guppy).

So my question is, is it possible ? If yes is there any issue or something special I should be aware of ?

One last question, I meant by transfering data from previous flight : Transfering data from IVAO VA system.

Thanks for all the other answers.

Sincerely,

Alex

[Nabeel]

Hey Alex,

I'm not familiar with FSCaptain? What is it?

You might be able to import data from your other site, but depending on your coding skill level, much of it might have to be manual. You can adjust "transfer hours" for pilots, though.

You can use FSACARS or XAcars, or import reports from FSPax. I use FSFK though, it is the most reliable and full-featured

[Alexair]

Hello Nabeel,

Thank you for your reply.

Here is a link to FsCaptain :

http://www.fscaptain.net/

Well the data might not be very important. I just would like to know if I can make phpVMS working within my website (made with guppy) or if I have to make a brand new web site working only with phpVMS ?

Thank you for your cooperation.

Sincerely,

Alex

[Nabeel]

Does FSCaptain send flight reports to a site? If it just generates reports and you still have to manually file PIREPs, then since there's no integration, it will be fine.

Otherwise, yes, you can make them work - you will just have to make them look the same. But they won't "interoperate", they'd still be separate entities, just look the same theme-wise

[Alexair]

Ok Nabeel,

Thanks for your help. I'll have a look at it during the week-end. Will let you know.

FsCaptain is a new software (just tried it very shortly) similar to FsPassengers but look like with more cool stuff. Actually FsCaptain is handling FsPassengers's report.

Thanks.

Alex

[Nabeel]

Ah I see. Well, if it's the same format, perhaps you can just point it to the URLs/use the config file used for FSPax