Some problems with kACARS :-(

[Mysterious Pilot]

I am a kACARs newbie but certainly no new ACARS user, this ACARS application is certainly much simpler in what it does than the other one I have used. But that is beside the point, here are some of the problems I found during my first flight:

• Don't really know what the "Select Aircraft" accomplishes, how would it know which of the many a/c should it load? I mean, For example for this flight could have used my freeware (PAD) DHC6 instead of the Aerosoft DHC6.
  
• It forgets to clear out the red "Connection Error" from the status bar, thus leading the user to believe that there is still a problem.
  
• It does not check for the actual Flight Simulator Time at which the flight was performed. Instead it shows and uses the computer's System time. This is very important because we want to enforce departure timeliness, actual schedule (not flying a night flight in day conditions) and perhaps even compute extra statistics such as day/night landings. If you use system time you can't do that.
  
• It did not detect I rached cruise altitude, nor it detected I was in the descent phase. It went from Climbing to Landed.
  
• The Comments field should actually be a multi-line text area, it is more suited for the task and more user friendly.
  
• Would be nice to use color coding for the square shaped result areas that are displayed below Get Flight Bid Info, Start Flight, etc. It would better alert the user because black simply appears to be like any other button rather than a message to the user.
  
• Does the Clear PIREP asks the user if he/she really wants to clear it? I was afraid to try in order not to lose my first PIREP :-)
  
• I am missing the profile feature.
  
• Would be more intuitive if the Connect/Disconnect and Log In states are more visible than just printing the
  status in the space below (that looks almost like a button itself). Color coding really highlights it.
  
• Would be nice to allow the user to save a copy of the ACARS LOG on his local hard drive. It can also serve as a
  safety net so that the user saves it prior to sending PIREP. If the PIREP sending fails and the program crashes
  then all is lost
  

But all in all I like it, very promising! THANKS!

[joeri]

i am gonna awnser a few off your questions.

-Don't really know what the "Select Aircraft" accomplishes, how would it know which of the many a/c should it load? I mean, For example for this flight could have used my freeware (PAD) DHC6 instead of the Aerosoft DHC6.

it doens't look for the aircraft You chosen it can change an aircraft stored in your database.

-It did not detect I rached cruise altitude, nor it detected I was in the descent phase. It went from Climbing to Landed.

working perfect on my system using both the payed and free kacars.

-Would be nice to use color coding for the square shaped result areas that are displayed below Get Flight Bid Info, Start Flight, etc. It would better alert the user because black simply appears to be like any other button rather than a message to the user.

this is done in the payed version and not in the free version.

-Does the Clear PIREP asks the user if he/she really wants to clear it? I was afraid to try in order not to lose my first PIREP :-)

I am missing the profile feature.

it does

-Would be more intuitive if the Connect/Disconnect and Log In states are more visible than just printing the

status in the space below (that looks almost like a button itself). Color coding really highlights it.

it give a green box in version 1.9

now imho i think lately you are doing nothing els but complaying about phpvms and now also kacars.

you say you are a developer

iff you want to get some respect from everybody here instead off complaying about things make a module and earn your respect and then give comments to other persons.

iff anny off the other mods or people here take an offence from this post let me know and i will delete it but i was getting a bid fed up with seeing this forum got flood with only critesism.

gr me

[simpilot]

now imho i think lately you are doing nothing els but complaying about phpvms and now also kacars.

you say you are a developer

iff you want to get some respect from everybody here instead off complaying about things make a module and earn your respect and then give comments to other persons.

iff anny off the other mods or people here take an offence from this post let me know and i will delete it but i was getting a bid fed up with seeing this forum got flood with only critesism.

gr me

I have to agree with these comments. For a person that presents himself as a 20+ year developer of software, you offer very little help, only criticism of other people's work. I could understand your critical nature if this was a commercial software package, but it is open source, maybe you need to look up what that means. It is community based, no one here is paid for the work they contribute to the project. If you want to complain, that's fine, but be part of the solution, although it seems that you are not capable at this point of participating in a constructive aspect.

It seems that being critical of everything is your nature in life, by your comments of requiring va pilots to pass numerous tests to join your va and then constant oversight of every little aspect is not going to win you many members. These are virtual airlines, they are for fun, not for people that need to feel important and micro manage others like yourself.

I certainly hope your new va is perfect when it goes live, because it will certainly be scrutinized by the members here after your constant condemnation of phpVMS and the people here.

PS: Sorry to hijack the thread Jeff.

[Guest lorathon]

No problem Dave.

Both you and joeri are saying what I have been thinking. I have been frustrated with the recent string of "Negative Nancy" posts myself. I find it hard to believe that a new individual would jump in with just criticism.

Normal social situations are never advanced by a new member joining and criticizing immediately. Even if the criticism is constructive. You can only make one first impression .

And the disclaimers at the bottom of almost all of his/her posts only had to the frustration.

I hope I am not stepping on anybody's toes, this just a remark with the only purpose of making phpVMS a better system than it already is. Nobody is perfect and we users are here not only to use but to test the things that may have escaped the developer.

Sorry for being so thorough in my observations and system test :-) Like I said, nothing personal, in my (former) life as a programmer I know how easy it can be to get carried out and forget about little things among so many distractions.

But all in all I like it, very promising! THANKS!

'nuff said

[mark1million]

I see this post caused some attention from the more experienced side of phpvms, I cant help but notice most of your posts Mysterious Pilot are negative, maybe if you were to fully understand the progression of phpvms and kacars against for example fsacars, Jeffs kACARS has been a massive improvement in the way fs communicates with phpvms but thats just my humble opinion and someone who has been about for a while and proud to have contributed.

I have seen this before many times, if you could do better then please do, i believe its not until you start coding that you realise just how difficult it really is to write a program that used a 3rd party interface and works on Windows multi platforms stable.

Maybe your a glass half empty kind of guy and not half full.

Last thing, its all free... What more do you want

[Mysterious Pilot]

Hi @jori,

First of all I am not complaining about phpVMS or kACARS. Software is not bug free and am sorry but no developer is perfect.

I post my FINDINGS and offer opinion as to how it could be solved. If on the other hand the developer (in general) does not want to know what can be improved (should he/she wish to) or does not want to hear what is not working or else. Then sorry, it is then better not to put a bugs database or a forum to get feedback.

Frankly I do not have to justify my work or life as developer so if you want to question that, then that is YOUR problem, not mine.

In my former life as developer I had plenty of open source being used, I got critique about things that could be improved, things that didn't work as well as things that were good. I never felt offended by what MY USER BASE (my CUSTOMERS even though they did not pay a single cent for my free time) wanted to say. Otherwise I could just have had a forum with a single thread "PLease tell me only how great this is".

IMHO phpVMS is a very good system but it is NOT PERFECT. Either you want to consider way to decide whether to do something with it or not (it is not my software, I do not decide) then fine.

So please, spare me about your opinion about getting some respect. I have that in real life with real paying jobs.

BTW kACAS is BETA so that means it is quite OPEN to finding problems that can be resolved. When people say BETA it means too "Please find the problems for me, I can't find it all by myself" which is a fact of life. Trust me, I have been long enough in the business.

[Mysterious Pilot]

OK I will spare you of my findings. Obviously not interested in what can be improved. I will let others do the test work and dedicate myself to just using it. One day you will see what I mean.

It would really make your life as a developer easier if you did not take the comments about user's findings so personal. I guess that si a programmer's flaw. Like someone said, they don't see the forest, they see the tree.

Cheers and have a good night.

[Guest lorathon]

FYI - v1.0.0.9 is BETA NOT kACARS.

kACARS has been running fine and dandy since early April 2010. The only thing BETA about it was if the updates were working correctly.

BTW kACAS is BETA so that means it is quite OPEN to finding problems that can be resolved. When people say BETA it means too "Please find the problems for me, I can't find it all by myself" which is a fact of life. Trust me, I have been long enough in the business.

None of your comments have been "Problems", they have all been YOUR opinion on how the software should be written. I implemented some of your suggestions because I agreed with them. The issue is how your put yourself across. You are not making any friends with your endless lists of what you view as issues. Not only with kACARS but just about everything else you have commented on.

Frankly I do not have to justify my work or life as developer so if you want to question that, then that is YOUR problem, not mine.

I agree you do not have to justify yourself. At the same time you leave yourself open to criticism for throwing your "Life's Work" around at every opportunity that you can. If you do not want to be held accountable for what you say then just don't say it. Once you opened the door you better be prepared to defend yourself.

OK I will spare you of my findings. Obviously not interested in what can be improved. I will let others do the test work and dedicate myself to just using it. One day you will see what I mean.

And this right here is the problem. This is YOUR opinion. Do you not understand this? Do you not understand that you should state "I think that this would make it better, what do you think?" Not "This is what needs to be done".

It would really make your life as a developer easier if you did not take the comments about user's findings so personal. I guess that si a programmer's flaw. Like someone said, they don't see the forest, they see the tree.

As for this... It is and has been my opinion that YOU are the one focused on the tree. That tree happens to be your opinion. You state it and expect it to be carried out. As if there are not a zillion other users of phpVMS and all of the things attached to it. Apparently in your mind their opinions matter naught.

[Kyle]

IMHO phpVMS is a very good system but it is NOT PERFECT.

Youself, you are just little disgrace to phpVMS. IT'S PERFECT TO ME! IT'S ALL IS NEEDED TO RUN A VIRTUAL AIRLINES!

I'm finished with that............. Good luck with your rep and I think you may upset the kACARS developer becasue it's not good. OF CORUSE! It's good to me! IT's all fine and it works seamlessy!

[joeri]

putting a lock on it so this isn't getting anny further out off control.

we all made our point.