[Dxspider-support] SHOW/DX with exact match ?

Fulvio HB9DHG hb9dhg at ticino.com
Mon May 12 19:11:55 BST 2008


Ciao Robert,

ok.. no problem at all. The community just give suggestions and I'm sure
Dirk will figure out the very good way for that. In the meantime
I just want to thank you for the nice piece of software you made (RXclus)
That sofware has improved my LOTW activity hi.

Sorry for off-topic ;)

Regards,
Fulvio HB9DHG

-----Original Message-----
From: Robert Chalmas [mailto:rcbza at hb9bza.net] 
Sent: Monday, May 12, 2008 7:59 PM
To: hb9dhg at ticino.com; The DXSpider Support list
Subject: Re: [Dxspider-support] SHOW/DX with exact match ?

Hi Fulvio (and Dirk),

Many thanks for your comments about my proposal.

Well, what you suggest is logical and I did it already for the search 
functions in RXCLUS 2 or 3 years ago. But I must say I got quite many
reports 
from users who did not understand the syntax change and were believing they 
did not get the expected answer because of a software bug !

So I guess Dirk will never implement this function if he expect this will 
cause trouble.

Even if this is maybe not optimal, I believe it's best to keep the current 
behaviour as default and add a simple parameter to be used only when an
exact 
match is needed...better this then nothing!

Vy 73's

Robert - HB9BZA


> Hello Robert (and Dirk)
> 
> how about using the standard symbol keys (used as example in linux)?
> 
> Something like
> 
> SH/DX HB2008G   = search the exact call
> SH/DX HB2008*  = search all HB2008* calls
> SH/DX HB9DH?    = search all calls that have 1 letter after HB9DH
> SH/DX HB9?HG    = easy ;) ?
> 
> Just a suggestion ;-)
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Best 73 de HB9DHG
> -----------------
> Fulvio Galli
> http://www.hb9dhg.ch
> http://www.hb9ok.org
> DXCC Mix #40.163 
> Phone #34534 CW #10.499 
> EPC #006 - DMC #863 - HTC #206 - CTC #942
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: dxspider-support-bounces at dxcluster.org
> [mailto:dxspider-support-bounces at dxcluster.org] On Behalf Of Robert
Chalmas
> Sent: Monday, May 12, 2008 6:29 PM
> To: The DXSpider Support list
> Subject: Re: [Dxspider-support] SHOW/DX with exact match ?
> 
> Hi Dirk,
> 
> Many thanks for your answer!
> 
> I didn't suggest to make my proposal the default behaviour of the SHOW/DX 
> command, but just to add a parameter which would mean that only exact
> matches 
> are wanted.
> For exemple, something like "SHOW/DX =call" or "SHOW/DX EXACT call"
> which would be used only by those who know about this option and need it
in
> a 
> particular situation.
> 
> How about this ?
> 
> Vy 73's
> 
> Robert - HB9BZA
> 
>> Robert Chalmas wrote:
>>> As I didn't receive any answer from Dirk about this suggestion, here is
> it 
>>> again...
>>>
>>>
>> Ah, sorry. I did start to craft a reply and then got distracted. It has 
>> been sitting hidden behind another window on my work computer since
> then...
>> NOTE TO READERS: if you don't get a reply from me in a couple of days 
>> then do as Robert and try again. I shan't be offended.
>>
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> I just tried to ask for DX spots annoncing my club station using the
> special
>>> call HB2008G, so I did a "SHOW/DX HB200G" and I got this answer:
>>>
>>> sh/d hb2008g
>>>     3513.5  HB2008GR     6-May-2008 2158Z  599 tnx
> <SQ2RH>
>>>     3513.5  HB2008GR     6-May-2008 2121Z  big sig
> <DO9ST>
>>>    10103.5  HB2008G      6-May-2008 1944Z
> <SV2CWV>
>>>     3770.0  HB2008GR     6-May-2008 1944Z  tnx, 73/88 de Wilma!
> <DO6YL>
>>>    10103.5  HB2008G      6-May-2008 1941Z  tnx new own
> <DL3VZL>
>>>     3770.0  HB2008GR     6-May-2008 1920Z  tnx
> <IZ5JMZ>
>>>     3770.0  HB2008GR     6-May-2008 1918Z  CQ CQ CQ calling (Not
> HB2008<DE1VTM>
>>>     3770.0  HB2008GB     6-May-2008 1907Z  Spezial Event
> <DO7JVB>
>>>     7009.1  HB2008GR     6-May-2008 1843Z
> <OK2ZO>
>>>     3775.0  HB2008GR     6-May-2008 1737Z  CQ CQ
> <F4EGG>
>>> HB9BZA de HB9IAC-8  7-May-2008 1205Z dxspider >
>>>
>>> Well, only 2 out of those 10 spots are what I want, while the 8 others
> are for
>>> other stations with a longer call starting with the same string.
>>>
>>> I already had the same problem in the past while searching for short
> calls:
>>> most information returned is useless.
>>>
>>> Unless I missed a way to do that, would it be possible to implement an
>>> argument to the SHOW/DX command that would instruct the system to look
> for
>>> exact matches of the call only ?
>> Not easily. At least I don't think so (or at least not without confusing 
>> a lot of people or making the whole sh/dx experience harder for the 
>> majority of users).
>>
>> What happens at the moment is that your input is treated as a simple 
>> regex of the form '^HB2008G'. The way it goes about getting there is 
>> rather more convoluted than it really needs to be, but then there is a 
>> lot of cruft that builds up over 10 years of development (yes, it has 
>> been that long).
>>
>> In perl terms we need to get to the stage where that regex looks like 
>> '^HB2000G$' to achieve what you want. Now how are we to get there from 
>> the command line in a way that is not going to confuse users (and 
>> thereby get me more support requests directly) - given that *mostly* 
>> this isn't an issue? *Mostly* people look for a prefix or else the full 
>> call is sufficiently regular (i.e. the same length as other calls for 
>> that country) for this to work as people expect.
>>
>> It is really only this modern fad for inventing "relevant" and therefore 
>> non-callsign callsigns that is causing this to be the problem that it is.
>>
>> As an aside, exactly how is a programmer supposed to validate that some 
>> arbitrary string like this is a callsign?
>>
>> Dirk G1TLH
>>
>> I would welcome
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Dxspider-support mailing list
>> Dxspider-support at dxcluster.org
>> http://mailman.tobit.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/dxspider-support
>>
> 
> 


-- 
Robert CHALMAS, PO Box 1225, CH-1227 Carouge/GE, SWITZERLAND
email: rcbza at hb9bza.net           web: http://www.hb9bza.net
Free DX-Cluster client RXCLUS:  http://www.hb9bza.net/rxclus
Unofficial LoTW users list:       http://www.hb9bza.net/lotw




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