[TURN WORD WRAP ON]
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SERVINFO
version 2.00
January 10, 2003
by Michael Frantzeskakis
frantz@central.ntua.gr
for updates visit
www.SurClaro.com/hangar/utils/servinfo
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1. What is it?
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ServInfo is a utility that provides information for the on-line flying activity in the VATSIM, IVAO or any other network that uses the SquawkBox/ProController environment.
Data are downloaded from the VATSIM, IVAO or any other network and are presented in a convenient format, allowing users to easily find out details about the current on-line activity worldwide and for specific countries, FIRs, ARTCCs or airports, including details for each flight and controllers ATIS messages. This information can be displayed in both tabular and graphical format on a map display.
Additionally, ServInfo provides the possibility to display response times for all the network servers, display channel and user information for selected Roger Wilco voice servers, retrieve and decode METAR & TAF reports for airports or whole regions and notify you when selected ATC positions open or close through messages in the FS window or through pop-up windows if FS is not running.
A ServInfo gauge is also provided, that can be installed your FS2000/2002 aircraft panels and display information about ATC availability while you fly online.
2. Installation
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2.1 First Time Users
Just unzip the contents of the zip file into a folder of your choice and run ServInfo.exe. Make sure you have the "use folder names" option checked in WinZip. A subdirectory named "Logos" will be created in the directory in which you will unzip the zip file. If not, then create it yourself and move there all files with extension .bmp
For the installation and usage of the ServInfo gauge read the readme-sigauge.rtf document. The servinfo.gau file must be copied to the \gauges folder of your FS directory. If you are going to use the provided installer (sigi.exe) to install the ServInfo gauge then this is not necessary, as it will be done automatically when you run the installer for the first time.
Files included in the zip file:
servinfo.exe : the executable
servinfo.gau : the ServInfo gauge
sigFS2K.zip : an FS2000 version of the servinfo gauge
sigi.exe : servinfo gauge installer
servinfo.dat : data needed by the program (including guidelines for modifications)
fir.dat : FIR boundaries coordinates (pls do not try to make any changes here)
worldmap.dat : Coastline data for the map display
readme.txt : this file
readme-sigauge.rtf: instructions on how to install and use the ServInfo gauge
sample.sat : sample data for VATSIM network
samlpe.iva : sample data for IVAO network
airlines.iva : dummy data file to view airline codes and logos
Greek Airlines.sel: sample selection definition file
Scandinavia.sel : sample selection definition file
vatsim.loc : file containing VATSIM data servers addresses
ivao.loc : file containing IVAO data servers addresses
Logos\*.bmp : airline logos files named according to each airline's ICAO code
servinfo.hlp }
servinfo.cnt }: help system files
quartz.ttf : font used in the world clock window
2.2 If you Have a Previous Version Installed
If you already have a previous version of ServInfo you can unzip to the same directory and override the previous version's files. Any settings you have set in the previous version (country buttons, display preferences, connection settings etc.) will be preserved. If you decide to unzip in a new directory and you want to preserve the previous version's settings copy the servinfo.ini file found in the previous version's directory to the new directory.
NOTE:
Since version 1.23 FIR/ARTCC buttons have been added.
If you are upgrading from versions 1.20, 1.21 or 1.22 these buttons will be automatically set to the FIR/ARTCC of the corresponding airport button. If you have not set some airport buttons the corresponding FIR/ARTCC buttons will be also left blank.
If you are upgrading from a version earlier than 1.20 (no airport buttons) then FIR/ARTCC and airport buttons will be set only for the default countries. If you have set any country button to another (not default) country the FIR/ARTCC and airport buttons will be left blank.
In any case, after installation you can reconfigure all the buttons from the "Options->Customize Country Buttons" menu.
CAUTION :
In case you want to preserve changes you have made in the servinfo.dat file please note:
ServInfo.dat files of previous versions might not work with newer versions because quite often new sections and/or fields might be added to the database. In this case you might consider to re-enter manually the changes you have already made to the new servinfo.dat file (make a back-up copy of the file before making any changes).
3. Running the Programme
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Just run servinfo.exe and after you close the welcome screen (you can select not to be displayed in the future by checking "don't show again" check-box) :
- Press the "VATSIM" button on the toolbar to download and display current traffic on the VATSIM network
-- or --
- Press the "IVAO" button on the toolbar to download and display current traffic on the IVAO network
-- or --
- Press the "Load from file" button (second button on the top toolbar) to browse off-line the provided sample data (select the sample.sat or sample.iva file for VATSIM or IVAO data)
Detailed instructions are included in the help file accessible form the "Help->Help topics" menu on the menu bar. At anytime, pressing the F1 key will display help topics relevant to the current status of the program.
Instructions on the usage of the ServInfo gauge are included in the readme-sigauge.rtf document.
4. Known Issues
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Some times, some of the pilots or controllers names might not appear in the listings, while all the other information (callsign, origin-destination, flight details etc.) is there. This information (names) is only sent once to the data servers, when the pilot or controller logs in and is not resent in subsequent updates. So, if a problem occurs in the transfer of this information between servers the name will remain blank for all the period the pilot or controller is logged to the network. If this is important to you, you can consult the web-page information by pressing Ctrl-F10 (only in the case of VATSIM)
When pinging a particular network server you might always get a "Lost" indication for all tries. This doesn't necessarily means that the server is down, or that it's response time is above the time-out limit. It might also be the case where pinging is blocked by a firewall at that server. This can only be changed by the administrator of this server.
The number of network servers that can be displayed at the networks page is currently limited to 14 (due to space limitations on a 800x600 display). If more that 14 servers are on-line the 15th, 16th etc. are not displayed. In the highly desirable case that VATSIM or IVAO will one day have in operation more that 14 servers, I will happily redesign the form to accommodate more servers.
Trying to join a channel at a RW voice server might result in a message saying that this is not allowed. Currently this happens only for the VATSIM-UK and SAG servers and was kindly requested by these servers administrators because they felt that, since the first release of ServInfo, the frequency of cases where people where abusing their RW servers channels has increased.
5. Contact/Web Site
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For updates, news, FAQs, links etc. visit ServInfo's home page at: www.SurClaro.com/hangar/utils/servifo
Major updates of ServInfo are always uploaded at www.SurClaro.com and www.SurClaro. Interim versions in the periods between the release of major updates will be available at ServInfo's web-site, including bug fixes or public betas of new features.
You can contact me for comments, suggestions and bug reports at frantz@central.ntua.gr
Also, if you have not done so yet, visit the Hellenic Virtual Area Control Centre at http://SurClaro.com/greece/hvaccc (VATSIM) or the greek IVAO division at http://www.ivao.or/gr and fly on-line in Greece. You will not regret it.
6. History
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version 2.00 (January 2003)
New Features:
- Intoduction of Map Display
- Filtering of METAR reports
- VATSIM and IVAO administrative callsigns recognition
- Airport ICAO codes on Flight Details Window acting as hyperlinks to Airport Pages
- The time a controller is logged also shown on the ATC Details Window
- Added NVAS, PVI and VAI logos in the custom networks menu drop-down list
Bugs Fixed:
- Wind gusts are taken into account in METAR sorting and icon display
- Disabling the "join" button and hiding the RW details for an ATIS line
hidden by the controller was happening only if the hidden line was the
first ATIS line.
- When the default selection definition file was removed from the ServInfo
directory or renamed an error occured at ServInfo startup
- An error occured when the sample airlines file (airlines.iva) was loaded when
servinfo was minimized
- Dummy airports are not shown in ICAO code finder/browser
- When an error occured during data download while ServInfo was minimized and
exit was seleceted from the tray pop-up menu ServInfo did not terminate and was
still running in the background
- /////KT entry in METARS is decoded as "Winds: N/A" instead of "Winds: Calm"
- In the case of outdated data the warning was shown only first data were
downloaded and not in subsequent downloads
- To protect for errors during data processing cursor is changed to hourglass
and no clicking is allowed on flights, controllers country/fir/airport buttons
and drop-down lists.
version 1.32 (November 2002)
New Features:
- Implementation of the recent VATSIM-EUR changes in airspace (Eurocontrol UIRs)
- The FIR/ARTCC in which a flight is currently in is shown at the FIR/ARTCC Details page and the Flight Details window
- The FIR/ARTCC Details and the Country Details pages now also include overflying flights
- At the FIR/ARTCC and Airport details pages added an ETA column for inbound flights
- At the Flight Details Window the aircraft characteristics are displayed
- At the All Pilots and Selected Details pages added a column showing logged time for pilots
- More than one links to VA websites can be associated with airline logos
- Data processing and page refreshing is not done when downloaded data are same or older than the already existing
- If the controllers inserts $ in the beginning of any line of his ATIS, ServInfo will hide this line in the ATC Details window (useful for hidding a private RW IP in RW channel abuse cases)
- The selected RW server address is displayed on the RW Servers page
- You can now also ping RW servers
- Changed the graphics for departing and landed aircrafts and the RW servers page layout
Bugs Fixed:
- The option to never show warning message for outdated data was not functioning
- When the "World Clock View" key was set to nil in the servinfo.ini file an error occured.
- METAR report in the Airport Details Page does not disappear anymore after data reloading
- Running of second ServInfo instance is prevented because it was causing an error ("cannot create servinfo.tmp")
version 1.31a (September 2002)
New Features:
-The ServInfo gauge (v.1.10) now also displayes the controllers ATIS
-A version of the gauge that works with FS2000 is provided
-Updated the VATSIM logo
Bugs Fixed:
-In case the option for FS notification messages was on, when these messages were displayed the ATC within range lines were removed from the ServInfo gauge list
-In the case of IVAO only, when between reloads a new RW server was added or removed the RW server selection drop down list was not updated and selecting a server from this list resulted in displaying details for the wrong server on the RW servers page
-In case the networks locator url was changed, an I/O error occured
-In some rare cases the ServInfo Gauge Installer wouldn't display all your aircrafts and panels (v.1.01)
version 1.31 (July 2002)
new features:
Introduction of a ServInfo gauge (v.1.00) and gauge installer (v.1.00)
ATC voice server/channel information and voice icons are now also available for IVAO
Logged time for controllers is now also shown for IVAO
The virtual airlines logo icons act as hyperlinks to the VA's website
In the ATC overview page CLC,DEL and DEP positions are also indicated
ATIS messages can be copied to clipboard
Pilots logged time is shown on Flight Details window
NOAA short TAFs (<12 hrs) can also be retrieved
On data warnig screen added note that the network is not down
NVAS network support (icon in connection parameters, link to member details)
Bugs Fixed
After an outdated data warning if the already loaded data were kept they became unusable (the atc, pilots etc arrays were cleared)
When two ATC positions were present at the same airport and position then in the ATC overview page no position indicator was shown
Error when clicking ping all button when more than 14 servers online
Sometimes IVAO RW servers list was not loaded
Errors with tray icon menu when VATSIM web-page data are loaded
version 1.30 (April 2002)
new features:
Weather display feature enhanced significantly: METAR reports are decoded, TAF reports can also be requested and decoded. Icons are displayed when certain weather elements (winds, visibility, ceiling, rain/snow/thunderstorm) exceed user defined limits and sorting can be performed by these element values. Region/country-wide requests from a drop-down list, printing of reports and much more.
New World Clock Window: Displays current UTC time, local time, time at the selected airport and up to 3 user defined airports anywhere in the world.
New ICAO code search/browse window: Search countries, aircraft registration codes prefixes, CTR positions, airports and airlines by code or name and browse through the database by country/FIR-ARTCC/airport
The time that a controller is logged to the network is displayed on all ATC pages (VATSIM only).
In the Flight Details Window the voice (radio) callsign is displayed along with the Airline name
CTR positions are now not all shown as "Center", but can be also "Control", "Radar" etc.
Flight and ATC details windows include pilot/controller name acting as a hyperlink to the VATSIM/IVAO web page of the user's statistics/member's details.
ATC/pilots can also be selected by CID/PID in the Selected Details Definition.
The selection of servers to be pinged in the Network Servers page is retained between downloads and ServInfo sessions
Download progress bar and/or received KB indication shown during downloads (data retrieval, weather reports, RW channels info).
When there are data servers that are down or contain outdated data an option is provided to exclude them from the list.
The "who-is-on-line" web page data retrieval method is functional again (get information from the VATSIM.net site)
Also see list of updates in the servinfo.dat file within the file
version 1.25 (January 2002)
new features:
New ATC Details window that displays controller's ATIS and RW channel details
When FS is running tuning to the RW channel of an ATC facility within range can be done from the ServInfo tray menu
An icon indicating if ATC is using voice is displayed in all controllers sections of ServInfo pages
Controllers with "Instructor" level are identified with a yellow star
Also see list of updates in the servinfo.dat file within the file
version 1.24 (November 2001)
new features:
Airline (r/w or virtual) names & logos are displayed in the flight details window
Aircraft registration countries and flags are displayed in the flight details window
Aircraft type descriptions are displayed in the flight details window
"Selected Details" display page and selection definitions window added
Ability to save, retrieve or make default different selection definitions
Options to notify for selected ATC positions online with messages in FS or pop-up windows
ATC facilities within range will show on the tray icon menu and clicking them will tune the COM1 frequency
Seleceted ATC and pilots that are online will show on the tray icon menu
Automatic save to file option added
other changes:
The speed of data filtering has significantly improved
Also see list of updates in the servinfo.dat file within the file
version 1.23 (October 2001)
new features:
"ATC Coverage Overview" page added
"FIR/ARTCC details" page, drop-down list, code input and buttons added
CTR positions are now included in the "Airports Details" page
Flight plan comments field and pilot's PID added to the flight details window
The data servers list can be retrieved by a locally cached file
other changes:
Some changes in the messages displayed during data retrieval connection problems
Changed the way the servinfo.dat file data are checked (an error log file is now created)
Major changes to the code for optimization and maintainability.
bug fixes:
Corrected a few issues with web-page retrieved data (controllers ratings, tray icon color change, availability of "last session" option)
Welcome screen shows both at clean installation and if a previous servinfo.ini file exists
After expanding/collapsing the RW tree display scrolls back to the top
RW voices servers in custom networks are now handled correctly
Corrected some issues with the positioning of the flight details window
When the users closes the ServInfo main window any downloading in process is aborted
When pinging flashing indication is "Pinging" and not "Loading"
Flashing indicator pauses during error/warning messages
Also see list of updates in the servinfo.dat file within the file
version 1.22 (July 2001)
Added a VATSIM button and replaced all references to SATCO with VATSIM
Some code optimization and maintenance has started
version 1.21 (July 2001)
bugs fixed:
Fixed problems with the display when large fonts were used
Custom network button is now always disabled if a custom network is not set
version 1.20 (July 2001)
new features:
RW channel names related to ATC positions in "RW Voice Servers" page
Added below country buttons a row of "airport buttons"
Added button that optimizes column widths to the current window width
Additional options in the display preferences :
Set application size and position at start-up
Save last sessions size-position-column widths
Page to display at start-up
Hide/show robot pilots
In flight details window, ICAO code of closest airport is displayed
During data loading displays do not freeze
Added abort button on the METAR window
Downloading (data, metars, ping, RW) can also be aborted with Esc key
Additional indications on the status bar:
Total number of connected ATC and pilots
Automatic reloading status
Help menu added - F1 shows help topics for current display
Added help buttons on all application windows (except main)
Better handling of input of ICAO code for "default airports" for country buttons
Added a label on the toolbar that the shows the current display
Added flashing "loading" indication on the toolbar
In proxy settings added an option to remember password
Bugs Fixed
Some issues with aborting data downloading solved - had to abolish abort confirmation
More than one buttons can be set for the same country with different default airports
On data reload the currently selected airport does not change
version 1.13-beta (June 2001)
new features:
Options for automatic loading of data at start-up and in predefined time intervals.
Enhancements on the METAR reports window:
Request METARs for multiple stations separated by "/"
Select the weather source (including NOAA)
Toolbar added including "find" and "sort" buttons.
Button added on the main toolbar
ServInfo now supports any network besides SATCO and IVAO, that uses the SB/PC environment.
In case authentication is required for connection through a proxy, a username and password can be set.
Bugs fixed:
A bug that might have caused ServInfo to occasionally read data from the cache
Also see list of updates in the servinfo.dat file within the file
version 1.12-beta (May 2001)
new features:
Display of network servers IPs and export to an ipaddr.txt file
Minimized and handled as a system tray
Metar display at the "airport details" page
Metars menu added allowing request for airport by ICAO code or whole country
Customizable default airports added at "Customize Country Buttons" option
RW voice servers details downloaded along with the rest data
Option to show RW channel info expanded when new data are loaded
Bugs fixed :
RW drop-down menu, not to deselect SATCO or IVAO buttons are pressed
Problems with the use of large fonts
Problems with the use of not standard Windows colour schemes at Flight Details display
Country column in the pilots with no flight plan display is filled
Access violation error when ServInfo contains no data and downloading is interrupted
In "country details" display controllers were sorted by freq. instead of callsign
Also see list of updates in the servinfo.dat file within the file
version 1.10 (April 2001)
The data retrieval method has changed completely (use of data servers)
Old data retrieval method (web-page) is preserved only as an alternative when errors occur
Outdated data are recognized and alternative choices are presented
ServInfo now works for both the SATCO and IVAO networks
Flight status icons added at the displays
Supervisor and administrator indicators at controllers callsigns
Detailed flight information can be displayed in a separate window
Location of airplanes at the ground with no flightplan identified and displayed
Proxy settings
Network servers page redesigned to hold up to 14 servers
Bug of including in some cases the same airport twice in the airport list corrected
version 1.00 (February 2001)
First public release
version 0.90 (February 2001)
Distributed to HvACC members only for evaluation
7. Copyright and Distribution
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This utility is released as Freeware. Copyright (C) 2001-2002 Michael Frantzeskakis.
Under no circumstances may this zip file be modified or sold for profit.
As freeware you are permitted to distribute this zip file under the condition that no files are added or removed from the archive and all the files included in the archive are not modified in any way.
Information obtained with the use of this programme is not for real world navigation.
Roger Wilco is a trademark of GameSpy Industries.
NOAA metars are retrieved from the NWS (National Weather Service) web pages (http://weather.noaa.gov/weather/metar.shtml)
Real world airline companies are the exclusive owners of any trademarks or logos that appear in this programme. ServInfo is not affiliated or endorsed in any way by any of the above companies.
8. Credits
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Many thanks to Roberto Bazzano of VATSIM and Erwin Lion of IVAO for allowing me to access the data servers system and willingly providing me with all the necessary information for it's proper use. Also, the weather information feature would not have been possible without their valuable contribution and suggestions. Special thanks go to Roberto for the changes he made to the data server system so that ServInfo can retrieve ATIS information.
A big thank you to all HvACC members, and other members of the greek FS community that beta-tested various versions of ServInfo and provided useful feedback and encouraging words.
The list of virtual airlines website addresses was entirely compiled by Andres Falcon and the LAN virtual staff, making it possible for this feature to be implemented. Thanks Andres!
The text files included in Enrico Schiratti's unique WhazzUp have provided an initial source of information and a starting point for compiling the control positions ICAO codes and aliases found in servinfo.dat file (http://www.schiratti.com/whazzup.html).
David Kings presentation of SATNET Logs (at http://207.76.75.106/logframe.html (c)SATPAC 1999-2000) proved invaluable in identifying and verifying control positions callsigns and understanding controllers logging habits. The various ACC and ARTCC web sites were also consulted.
Thanks to Mike Kara for giving me permission to use the airline list and logos from the great work he has done for the IVAO "who-is-online" pages (http://www.ivao.org/network/). Some of these logos have been used as they were, some have been redone and a lot of extra airlines and logos have been added.
Thanks to Peter Dowson for his invaluable FSUIPC and the SDK he has released, without which it would not be possible to make ServInfo display notification messages in the FS window (http://www.schiratti.com/dowson.html).
A couple of components of the freeware ICS - Internet Component Suite for Delphi by Francois Piette were used (http://users.swing.be/francois.piette/indexuk.htm).
Thanks to Mike Kara again for directing me to a source form were I got all the information I needed to identify the FIR/ARTCC that each airport belongs to.
Thanks to everybody who e-mailed me providing comments, suggestions for future versions and corrections for the servinfo.dat file
Thanks to all people in the VATSIM and IVAO organizations that devote their spare time to keep the on-line flying concept alive and improving and of course to the SquawkBox, ProController and FSD development team for making this possible in the first place.