UI-View PA7RHMsvr map server

by pa7rhm@amsat.org ( UI-View is written by Roger Barker G4IDE )

Using PA7RHMsvr Menu Options Installing the map server Error Messages Settings (.INI file) Release Notes

This UI-View32 map server is based on the principle of MapTool; getting UIView map images from the internet

The map server facility is a standard technology of UIView32.

Based on user input (Pan, Zoom, enlarge) or UIView32 actions like the tracking of objects a request is send from UIView32 to the map server which is then responding by providing UIView32 with a best fitting map for the required latitude and longitude and scale.

This map server can also store maps it retrieved from internet on your disk drive so your collection of maps grows while you have the map server running.

About UIView32 map servers

UI-View32 map servers are ActiveX DLLs, and must be registered. They can be installed anywhere, and it is strongly recommended that they are not installed in the UI-View32 program folder.

UI-View32 map servers provide a map image for UI-View32. UI-View32 calls the server, passing it a PictureBox, and some information about the desired latitude and longitude of the map. The server draws the map in the PictureBox, and returns information about the actual latitude and longitude of the map.

The map returned by the server does not have to correspond exactly to what UI-View32 requests.

A map server appears in the UI-View32 'Load A Map' list, and is loaded exactly like a normal map. The INF file name for a map server is the server's name preceded by "!!".

Disclaimer, important restrictions: This program may not be used for commercial purposes. The author can not be held responsible for any damage as a result from the programs output

Using PA7RHMsvr map server

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Moving Around The Map

To zoom out - Use Page Up, or left click the combined up-down-arrow on the toolbar.
To zoom in - Use Page Down, or right click the combined up-down-arrow on the toolbar.
To go to max zoom out - Select Map, Zoom All, or press Ctrl+A.
To centre the map on a point - Hold down Ctrl and double click on the point.
To centre the map on a station - Right-click the station and select Centre Map on the pop-up menu.

If Alternative Mouse Actions on the Options menu is NOT checked

To zoom an area - Hold down shift and drag the mouse from the centre of the area of interest.
To pan the map - Hold down Ctrl and click near the edge of the map. (You are near enough to the edge when the large pan direction arrows are showing.)
To drag the map - Hold down Ctrl and drag with the mouse.

If Alternative Mouse Actions on the Options menu IS checked

To zoom an area - Drag the mouse from the centre of the area of interest.
To pan the map - Click near the edge of the map. (You are near enough to the edge when the large pan direction arrows are showing.)
To drag the map - Drag using the right mouse button.

Favourite Views

UI-View32 allows the user to create Favourite Views of a server map. The server does not have to do any special processing when a favourite view is selected, it is all done in UI-View32.

To get to the Favourite Views:

Right click on the 'Maps' icon in the floating toolbar to get a list of your favourite views.
Use the Menu 'Map', ''Load a Favourite View'

The Control Panel

The Control Panel is used for:

looking for error messages
defining what messages are shown and logged to the logfile (see Files section)
choosing to save or not to maps for later offline use
displaying the help file, show the about window

To see the messages click on the status bar or resize the Control panel window.

Menu options

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The ControlPanel menu

Menu	Option	Sub-Option	Purpose
File	Close Control Panel		Close the Control Panel window
Logging		Save Copies
	Show no messages		Do not log messages
	Show only error messages		Show only error messages
	Show all messages		Show all messages
Maps	Do not save a copy of the map		No copies will be made of maps retrieved by the server
	Save map copies in 8.3 filename format		When selected a copy of the maps retrieved by the server will be saved in the UIView32 Extra Map Path folder. The filename is in the 8.3 filename format. (<maidenhead-locator>.gif)
	Save map copies in long filename format		When selected a copy of the maps retrieved by the server will be saved in the UIView32 Extra Map Path folder. The filename is in the long filename format (<maidenhead-locator>_<range in kilometers>.gif)
Help	Help (F1)		This will show the online help information.
	About		This will show the About screen

The UIView32 Map menu

Menu	Option	Sub-Option	Purpose
Map	Load a map F2		standard UIView32
	Previous Ctrl+P		idem
	Next Ctrl+N		idem
	Refresh Maplist		idem
	Control Panel		Show the control panel of the mapserver
	MapServer Help		Load this document
	Zoom All Ctrl+A		Ask the mapserver to load a map of the entire globe.
	About the MapServer		Show the About window of the mapserver
	Use OpenStreetMap		Select the OpenStreetMap map source
	Use Google Maps		Select the Google Maps map source
	Use Google Maps satellite		Select the Google Maps map source, with satellite imagery
	Use Google Maps Hybrid		Select the Google Maps map source, with combined satellite imagery and road data
	Load a Favourite View	a list of your favourite views	Retrieve a map based on the users shortname
	Add to Favourite Views		Store map information of the current map and give it a shortname for later retrieval (Load a Favourite View)
	Delete a Favourite View		Delete the information of a Favourite View
	Make a Button		standard UIView32

Installing the map server

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install the PA7RHM Mapserver in a seperate folder. It is strongly recommended that they are not installed in the UI-View32 program folder. (see table Files below)
Start the installation program pa7rhmsvr1014.exe
Once the installation is completed, load the map called "Map Server by PA7RHM". If all is well the control panel appears in the upper left corner of your screen. In case of problems a plain white map with a red cross appears. Please see the the logfile (%TEMP%\PA7RHMsvr.log) for more details.
Have a look on the UI-View32 Map menu - there will be several options that are not there when a normal map is loaded.

Files

Foldename	Filename	meaning/remark
mapserver folder (example :C:\Program Files\PA7RHM\Map server)	PA7RHMsvr.dll	This is the map server ActiveX DLL
idem	PA7RHMsvr.html	this is the online helpfile
idem	PA7RHMsvr.ini	this is a file that holds certain setting of the map server
idem	PA7RHMsvr.fav	this is the file is created at runtime, it holds the favourite maps. See menu Maps, Favourite views
idem	InitPA7RHMSvr.exe	this creates the !!PA7RHMsvr.inf file in the UIView32 MAPS folder during installation. Whenever the !!PA7RHMsvr.inf file is missing you can re-create it by running this program
UIView32 MAPS folder	!!PA7RHMsvr.inf	copied here by the installation program
UIView32 Extra Maps folder	<maidenhead>.gif	this is the file is created at runtime, it is a copy of the image file created by the map server in 8.3 file format
idem	<maidenhead>.inf	this is the file is created at runtime, it is the .inf file to image file in 8.3 file format
idem	<maidenhead>_<range>.gif	this is the file is created at runtime, it is a copy of the image file created by the map server in long file format
idem	<maidenhead>_<range>.inf	this is the file is created at runtime, it is the .inf file to image file in long file format
Windows-TEMP folder (%TEMP%)	PA7RHMsvr.log	this is the file is created at runtime, it is a logfile that holds all operations and status codes of the map server. You may delete this file if you like. In case of problems this is the file that may hold the answer.

Error messages

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In case of problems:

If loading the PA7RHMsvr map server results in an error then you probably did not register it correctly, see the Installing section

If the PA7RHMsvr map server is loaded ok, but is not working properly a white map with a red diagonal cross is displayed. Here are some thing's you could do to see what is causing the error:

Make sure to have at least version 1.97 of UIView32 installed on your PC
Have a look in the logfile that's located in folder %TEMP% , the filename is PA7RHMsvr.log
check for in sufficient internet access due to proxy servers
check for read-only Extra Map folder

Settings (.INI file)

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Most of the values and options you enter in the MapServer screen are saved in the PA7RHMsvr.ini file.

When you close down the program these values are saved.

When you start PA7RHMsvr map server again , these values are restored from the PA7RHMsvr.ini file.

The followings items are stored in the PA7RHMsvr.ini file:

Item	Meaning/purpose	Default value
Section [SETUP]
LEFT	Left position of the top left corner of the MapServer window	If value of LEFT is outside screen area LEFT will be calculated so that the window is centered on the screen.
TOP	Top position of the top left corner of the MapServer window	If value of HELP TOP is outside screen area HELP TOP will be calculated so that the window is centered on the screen.
MINIMIZED	True if the MapServer window is minimized	FALSE
LOGGING	The setting of the logging of messages.	2 (log all messages)
SAVE_COPIES	The setting of the save map copies option, if this value is greater then 0 maps are saved in the UIView32 Extra Map Path	0 (No copies)

!!! If you are not sure what you are doing, DO NOT edit the PA7RHMsvr.ini file !!!

Release Notes

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Thank you Bart PA3CSX, Ben PD0B, Finn OZ5Z, Michael VE3LKI and Roger G4IDE for testing this program and providing useful feedback.

Version 1.0.0 release date 14-oct-2003

Bugs reported

New features

Version 1.0.1 release date 18-oct-2003

Bugs reported

Resizing the UIView32 window

Symptoms:

your panning controls (the arrows at the border of the map) are not shown (this happens when you shrink the UIView32 window)

the map image from internet does not fill the available space in the UIView map area (this happens when you enlarge the UIView32 window)

Root cause: the map server does not adjust for the new width and height of the UIView map window.

Workaround:
Whenever you resize the UIView32 window: unload the map server by selecting a 'normal' map, then select the map server again (by clicking on the blue left arrow on the toolbar).

Resolution: This bug has not been fixed.

New features

A new installer has been created to install the map server. It automatically will register the map server and copy files to there proper locations.

Version 1.0.2 release date 28-oct-2003

Bugs reported

Resizing the UIView32 window results in incorrect map sizes.
Symptoms:

your panning controls (the arrows at the border of the map) are not shown (this happens when you shrink the UIView32 window)

the map image from internet does not fill the available space in the UIView map area (this happens when you enlarge the UIView32 window)

Root cause: the map server does not adjust for the new width and height of the UIView map window.

Workaround:
Whenever you resize the UIView32 window: unload the map server by selecting a 'normal' map, then select the map server again (by clicking on the blue left arrow on the toolbar).

Resolution: This problem has now been fixed.

Toggling Cntrl-F4 and Cntrl-F5 results in zoom in actions
"If you hit Ctrl-F5 or Ctrl-F4, or use the top menu for these options, which are show map symbols, or enable exclusions, the Map server zooms the map in slightly. This happens each time these functions are executed. It just keeps zooming."

Root cause: the scale was not correctly calculated

Resolution: This problem has now been fixed

New features

None.

Version 1.0.3 release date 14-nov-2003

Bugs reported

Version 1.0.2 recalled shortly after release because the corrections to the 'zooming in' bug were not correct; it introduced other errors.
Root cause: the scale was not correctly calculated

Resolution: This problem has now been fixed

New features

None.

Version 1.0.5 release date 11-apr-2004

Bugs reported

provider of maps did no longer function properly
Resolution: Switched to another map source

New features

None.

Version 1.0.6 release date 31-mar-2006

Bugs reported

None

New features

Support of DigitalEarth (http://www.digitalearth.gov).
Support of MapPoint

Version 1.0.7 release date 2-jan-2007

Bugs reported

!!PA7RHMSvr.INF file in UIViw32\Maps folder is empty, name of mapserver not shown in the 'Load a map'list

New features

Support of DigitalEarth is removed.
MapPoint is now the default source

Version 1.0.11 release date 17-may-2010

Bugs reported

When saving maps an error occurs.

New features

Expedia is the default map source
Support of OpenStreetMap is added.

Version 1.0.14 release date 7-jan-2012

A big thanks to Keith G4MSF, Jeff G4WAX, Gary W2CEA and Joe KA1MZY for testing the mapserver and giving usefull feedback

Bugs reported

the Expedia server does not respond as expected (big red cross and the "ErrNo=6" error), this bug is fixed by removing Expedia as a map source.
OpenStreetMap source is inaccurate, stations and objects are not plotted at actual location, this bug is now fixed.
Map requests by UIView32 have out of boundary latitude and longitude values, this is fixed by putting boundary corrections on lattitude and longitude
OpenstreetMap source : an error message when too many tiles are requested (more then 30) is added, this message will appear in the control panel and the logfile, for a remedy see Known Errors.

New features / changes

switching from one map source to another in the UIView32 Map menu : Use OpenStreetMap , Use Google Maps etc. will directly load the map from that new map source with the same coordinates.
the Check for Updates feature is removed from the program.

Known errors:

With regard to changing from one map source to another (UIView32 menu Map) : sometimes the map callibration is invalid, not sure if this is from OSM to Google or from Google to Google Satellite.
Workaround : No workaround yet
After zooming out (Cntrl-A) the size of the returned map is not equal to the size of the UIView32 map window.
Workaround : maximize the UIView32 screen and the restore to normal size (with the control in the top-right corner)
Map accuracy on large scale maps (zoom level total earth) is not acceptable.
Workaround : no workaround , not sure if this can be fixed , user should consider a static map that is approperiate
An error message occurs when more then 30 tiles are requested. OSM suppports a maximum of 30 tiles. Maximum tiles supported by Google is unknown at this moment.
Workaround : lower the size of UIView32's map window , or lower your computer's screen resolution.