Front Beach Systems, LLC - FBFL PRO for Windows

FBFL PRO for Windows

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The Professional Logbook Line of products is designed to provide aviators a full featured logbook on multiple platforms. If you don't need the power of the professional series, you should take a look at the Basic Logbook Line of products.

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FB FltLog Pro for Windows (Public Beta 1)

Here, you will be able to get help with the program, learn new ways to use it, report problems, make suggestions, and more.

Current version: v1.0 (Public Beta 1) dated Dec 10, 2003

Download Here!

The current version is a public beta test version. Only experienced users should download and try this software.
WARNING: This program is ONLY for PalmLog PRO V1.2 or newer. Attempting to sync with v1.1 or earlier will have unpredictable results.

IMPORTANT!: Backup your PalmLog PRO data before attempting a sync!

The main feature missing from this beta version is currency. The synchronization of the field labels, crew, picklists & tail numbers are also disabled at this time. After downloading, run the installation program and make sure you install the conduit if you are using PalmLog PRO (after backing up your data, of course). Once the conduit is installed, your PalmLog PRO data will not be backed up to .pdb files...it will only be backed up to the windows logbook data file.

Installation/Upgrade Instructions (Read Carefully)

If you had the earlier Alpha version of the program installed:

Make a copy of your WinLog.flg logbook file
If you are still using v1.1 of PalmLog PRO:
- Sync all your data to the palm device, then install v1.2 of PalmLog PRO and let it convert the data.
- Rename the WinLog.flg file to something else (WinLogV11.flg) then use the blank WinLog.flg file installed by the new version.
- If you need to run the Alpha program to change options, use the following extension key:
  Name: Alpha Extension
  Key: EF5D-3594-B129-BE25
If you have upgraded to v1.2 of PalmLog PRO or newer:
- If all your data is on the palm, rename the WinLog.flg file to something else (WinLogV11.flg) and use the blank WinLog.flg that will be installed with the new windows logbook installer.
- If only a portion of your data is on the palm, you will want to use the old WinLog.flg file (it will be converted by the new program) but understand that the entries still on the palm version will end up being duplicated. This is because v1.2 generates new ids for each entry when the v1.1 data is converted to the new format so the conduit will think it is a different record.
IMPORTANT: Uninstall the PalmLog PRO conduit (look in Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel)

Hotsync your palm device and make backups of all the "NPLP-*.pdb" database files (do this step before installing the program).

Install the windows logbook and run it

Make a copy of the "WinLog.flg" file from the program's install directory. This will help you to start with another blank logbook for testing if you desire.
Use the "Open" command to open the "WinLog.flg" file that is installed in the program's install directory.
Check the options/preferences. Look in "User Logbooks" and make sure the "User #1" Logbook points to the winlog.flg file.
For Alpha Users: If the icons and toolbars seem to be incorrect, right click on the toolbar area and select "Customize...". Click on the "Toolbars" tab and click the "Reset All" button. This will reset toolbars and the Shortcuts to their original state.
Exit the program. This will save some basic information, mainly the location of the logbook file, so the conduit will be able to find it.

Hotsync your palm device.

Run the windows program and begin testing.

Make backups of your windows logbook also. Copy the "WinLog.flg" file from the program install directory.

Important Notes/Cautions:

MOST important...with the current beta version and conduit, no .pdb backup files will be created. If you have a palm crash and your data is in the logbook, you will be able to restore the logbook entries, aircraft and airfields via the conduit. Restoring other databases can only be done by reinstalling your backed up .pdb files and they will not contain new entries since the backup. These other databases are: Crew, Tail#'s, Picklists (all in NPLP-PickDB.pdb), Primary labels (NPLP-PriDB.pdb) and Secondary Labels (NPLP-SecDB.pdb). A faster conduit that syncs all your data (and makes .pdb backups) is planned.
Known bugs/etc will be listed in the history section or in the forum.
There may still be some situations where the conduit may hang. The current conduit is a little slow...particularly with the first sync. With my test device (Sony Clie with USB1.1 connection) and 361 records, the sync took about a minute. With a serial connection, it is probably safe to assume the sync has hung if it is not complete after about 15 minutes...this is just a guess as I have not tested with a larger number of records on a serial device. If the sync is continuing, you should see the animation pause for a couple seconds at a time instead of being a constant sync animation.
One of the ways the conduit might hang is if you have logbook entries with a blank aircraft field or text in the aircraft field that does not have a matching aircraft record. A future conduit will add an aircraft with the given text or set the aircraft as the default aircraft. The PC version requires a valid aircraft record whereas a palm version entry can have no or an undefined aircraft.
After an aircraft is defined on the PC, changes made to the aircraft record on the palm device will no longer be transferred to the PC. This is because the aircraft records will be used to hold bulk hours information for totals.
Only the User#1 is currently enabled. I forgot to implement saving the "Single User" option so you will need to make sure the correct logbook is set for user#1 and the correct hotsync name is set in the user#1 settings. The second user settings are ignored by the conduit.
BUG: One known bug with the conduit right now is with aircraft record bulk sim hours...sometimes, they are not transferred to the PC and may end up being zeroed on the palm.
If you "switched" your label sets at some point, making the "Military" the primary, your labels will probably appear backwards in the windows logbook since the label sets are not synced.

BETA Notes:

If you have any problems, check the forum for information. It will be the "Logbook (Windows PRO)" forum at the bottom of the main forum list under "BETA" (Old Alpha version messages will be removed and the forum will be public). This will be shifted to the "Windows Logbook" section at some point.
When writing a bug report (or any other support issue), please provide your type of hardware (both PC and palm), operating system versions and as many details about the problem as you can provide. Examples include what page you were viewing at the time of the error (ie Details View or Logbook Grid). If you receive any error messages, please write them down exactly if you can. The details are needed to attempt to replicate the error. It is much easier to track and fix a bug if it can be replicated on the development system.
If you can't get help from the forum, send any email correspondence to beta@frontbeach.com with the subject WinLogProBeta (and Bug or Error or something short and descriptive).

Backing up PalmLog PRO databases:

WARNING

Standard .pdb backup files of your PalmLog PRO data will not be made with the current conduit. If you don't know how to backup your data before testing this program and restore it if there are problems, you should not attempt to install and use this program at this time.

Your data is stored in several database files on your palm (and backed up to your PC into .pdb files as long as the PC logbook conduit is not installed). You should make a backup of the .pdb files before installing the conduit so your data can be restored to its previous state in case of conduit problems. Alternatively, you can simply copy the NPLP (if you are familiar with backing up data on your palm device).

Perform a hotsync before installing the conduit.
Check your harddrive for "NPLP-*.pdb" and make sure they are new and correct
- Check the date/time of the files to see if they were recently created.
- I also suggest you download the spreadsheet generator and use it to make a spreadsheet of your currently backed up data. You can view the resultant spreadsheet with Excel or a similar program (it is regular text so you could use notepad also) to verify the data is current. The program will also help you find the backup files on your harddrive.
- If the hotsync did not make backups:
  - Click on the hotsync icon in the system tray (lower right near the time)
  - Select "Custom..." from the menu that pops up
  - Select "System" from the conduit list and click the "Change" button
  - Select "Handheld overwrites Desktop", select "Set as Default" and click "Done"
  - Scroll down the list and make sure there are no PalmLog PRO conduits installed. If there are, run Add/Remove programs from the control panel and uninstall the PalmLog PRO conduit.
  - Click "OK" and attempt another hotsync
Make backup copies of all the "NPLP-*.pdb" files. You will need to install these to the palm device to restore your data as of the date/time of the .pdb file(s).
The filenames you want are:
- NPLP-Log2DB.pdb (NPLP-LogDB.pdb for v1.1) has your logbook entries
- NPLP-AcftDB.pdb has your aircraft entries
- NPLP-AfldDB.pdb has your airfield entries
- NPLP-PickDB.pdb has your tail numbers, crew names and picklists
- NPLP-CurrDB.pdb has your currency entries
- NPLP-PriDB.pdb (NPLP-StdDB for v1.1) contains your primary label set and layout
- NPLP-SecDB.pdb (NPLP-AltDB for v1.1) contains your secondary label set and layout

Next Planned Updates:

Conduit syncs ALL databases.
Faster data processing for the conduit.
Advanced Filters and more Preferences.

Other Planned Updates:

Trip and Daily page displays.
Import/Export features.