Checklists

[rfazio1951]

I tried a small sample checklist to see how it worked. "FILE ERROR" Took the same file and placed pound signs in front of most lines. It worked. Tired increasing the number of lines shown. "FILE ERROR" Can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. attached checklist1 that doesn't work and checklist2 that does. What am I doing wrong?

 

[rfazio1951]

Checklist2

 

[dynonsupport]

As discussed in the SkyView System Installation Guide, the fastest way to troubleshoot these is to use the comment character:
#
To isolate where, approximately the problem is, then progressively remove the comment characters, and try loading.

Understood that's tedious when the computer is at home and SkyView is elsewhere.

We're discovering that the checklist text isn't quite as tolerant of unusual characters as we thought it was.
In your case, there were two lines that were problematic:
CHKLST1.LINE6,Ts & Ps --- Check All Ok
Had the & character. Changed that to "and" in the fixed version.

CHKLST1.LINE10,Flaps ---- Up or 10º
Had the º character. Changed that to "deg." in the fixed version.
This version now loads.

 

[swatson999]

As discussed in the SkyView System Installation Guide, the fastest way to troubleshoot these is to use the comment character:
#
To isolate where, approximately the problem is, then progressively remove the comment characters, and try loading.

Oldest software debugging technique in the book

 

[rfazio1951]

Thanks

 

[krw5927]

Dang, we can't use ampersand "&"? I had assumed that I could, since the checklist titles contain them.

So that we don't waste time, what characters ARE allowed? Or conversely, if it's easier, which are NOT?

Possible request for V15?

 

[dynonsupport]

In v14.0, we know the following don't work in the text of a checklist:
Em dash:
–
Ampersand:
&
Degrees:
°

There may be others that we haven't confirmed. It has not yet been determined if this will be fixed in the next firmware release.

Dang, we can't use ampersand "&"?  I had assumed that I could, since the checklist titles contain them.

So that we don't waste time, what characters ARE allowed?  Or conversely, if it's easier, which are NOT?

Possible request for V15?

 

[N927BC]

Cudos for the checklist maybe next update could allow us to indicate when a checklist item is completed since very often one gets distracted when accomplishing a checklist

 

[ed.meyer]

Are the dashes in the Excel Editor sample on your website the em dashes that are not allowed? Is there a dash that works?

 

[jc2da]

Exactly, there are dashes everywhere in the sample.

CHKLST20.LINE2, A - Alpha
CHKLST20.LINE3, B - Bravo
CHKLST20.LINE4, C - Charlie

Sounds like technically an "em dash" is two dashes or a pair. Is that what is illegal, a pair? A single dash is okay?

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/words/em-dash-american

 

[dynonsupport]

The Excel tool generates the correct type of dash (same as you would generate by hitting the - key on a keyboard).

The "em dash" typically happens when you're using Microsoft Word and it replaces a dash between two words with an em dash.

Are the dashes in the Excel Editor sample on your website the em dashes that are not allowed? Is there a dash that works?

 

[dynonsupport]

These are correct dashes. The em dash character is about twice as wide.

Exactly, there are dashes everywhere in the sample.

CHKLST20.LINE2, A - Alpha
CHKLST20.LINE3, B - Bravo
CHKLST20.LINE4, C - Charlie

Sounds like technically an "em dash" is two dashes or a pair. Is that what is illegal, a pair? A single dash is okay?

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/words/em-dash-american

 

[ed.meyer]

Glad to know the hyphen works. In the #6 reply above it appeared the example was a hyphen rather than the longer em dash.

 

[vlittle]

Re: Checklist spreadsheet suggestion

For your checklist tool:

It would be nice to have a character count per line displayed so that we can manage line length. Alternatively, truncate the text output to show exactly how it will be displayed on screen.

Right now, I just do it with an external spreadsheet, but it could easily be incrporated into yours.

Cheers, Vern

 

[dynonsupport]

Re: Checklist spreadsheet suggestion

Vern:

Noted - I'll pass it along to the author of that tool.

For your checklist tool:

It would be nice to have a character count per line displayed so that we can manage line length. Alternatively, truncate the text output to show exactly how it will be displayed on screen.

Right now, I just do it with an external spreadsheet, but it could easily be incrporated into yours.

Cheers, Vern

 

[Dynon]

Just an fyi that there's an updated version of the checklists tool that constrains each line to 40 characters. That, and a companion video on how to use it, are both available at http://downloads.dynonavionics.com.

 

[dynonsupport]

Apologies for some misinformation that we've had a hand in spreading about "bad" characters causing checklists not to load.

That was half-true 

The MAJOR problem with generating a SkyView checklist is that the checklist file isn't being saved with "UTF-8 Character Encoding". This is easy to miss, and easy to mis-diagnose. Here's the process for saving a checklist in Windows Notepad with "UTF-8 character encoding":

1. Click on File
2. Click on Save As…
3. On the left side of the window, click on the drive letter of the USB flash drive. This will ensure that the Checklist file will be saved to the USB flash drive (which is often “F:”, but your computer may assign a different drive letter)
4. File Name: (fill in your preferred filename for your Checklist file)
5. Save as type: Text Documents (*.txt)
6. Encoding: Pull down and select UTF-8
7. Click the Save button

(see the illustration below)

The default Character Encoding for Windows Notepad is ANSI, which is only compatible with SkyView Checklists for the "keyboard characters".

For example, the problem characters we previously "confirmed" as problematic:
Em dash:
–
Ampersand:
&
Degrees:
°
Do NOT work when saved with "ANSI Character Encoding" but work FINE when saved with "UTF-8 Character Encoding".

We've rewritten Appendix J: Checklists in the SkyView System Installation Guide to include this detail, and a lot more. We plan to temporarily release Appendix J: Checklists as a standalone document as soon as it gets some internal review.

 

[akarmy]

So the new V2 version of the spreadsheet seems to have a bug.

I'm on the MAC using Excel 14.6.0

It now will not allow entry of the titles. No matter what you put in it says your title must be less than 40 characters.

 

[kellym]

Cannot unlock spreadsheet in Excel 2007. Asks for password to unlock.

 

[Jim_H]

I downloaded and saved in Word. Made my checklists and then saved as a text file to my hard drive and usb flash drive. After minor errors, which I corrected, all loaded well. I did find that on the Dynon list, CHKLS21, line 3 is missing so I re sequenced the numbers.