DexImport Readme

DexImport 1.2

by Frank W Racis (frank.racis@psualum.com)

Description:

DexImport will allow you to import DEX files into your Fly2 databases, just like DbImport for Fly1. This package includes both command line and GUI versions of the importer.

What's new for 1.2

Correctly handle DEX files not underneath Fly directory tree
Fix crash on Win9x when reading list of DEXs from another file (seen in PMDG Greek Airports)
Make user find the Fly2 directory if it's not in the registry
Allow "delete" flag in DEX

Installation:

Unzip the files to the directory of your choice. This no longer needs to be your Fly2 directory.

Usage (GUI version):

Double-click DexImportGui.EXE
Select any options you desire
Click the "Import" button
Check the log window for errors.

Usage (CLI version):

Type "DexImport" and the name of your DEX file (and any options)
Check the screen for errors.

You may supply a single dex file, multiple dex files, or the name of a file which lists the DEX files you want to import (in this case, begin the name with "@", such as "@list.txt").

Options:

-K: Keep files after creating POD: This will leave the files in your DATABASE directory instead of deleting them when the POD is created.
-S: Update DEX sizes: This will correct DEX sizes to match your database. Useful for importing Fly1 databases. This will rewrite your DEX file.
-R: Match runway by Airport/Runway ID instead of key: Another Fly1 compatiblity option. This will ignore the runway key when matching records, using the airport key and runway number instead. This prevents duplicate runways from being created. This will rewrite your DEX file.
-1: Fly1 mode: Shortcut for "-R -S"
-P: Pause after error: DexImporter will put up a "Press any key to continue" message if an error occurs. This is useful when run as part of an install script, so the user will see the error.
-PX: Pause after exit: Like -P, but will pause on exit, whether there is an error or not.

Recovery

DexImport saves your original database POD with the extension ".TRI". This only happens if the .TRI file doesn't exist. It won't be updated on subsequent runs (the idea is to keep the original file around).

If you need to back off changes by DexImport, you can copy the .TRI file to the .POD file, which will get you back to the original files.

Fly1 compatibility notes:

The Fly1 compatibility mode is off by default. If you're distributing DEX files, please update them to Fly2 format first (just run them through DexImport once). This just makes life easier for your users.

DexImport doesn't like two runways with the same number at the same airport. If this happens, the Fly1 Runway match option will change the runway ID every time.

This is not a normal situation, but can result from importing Fly1 databases without the -R option. The solution to this is to delete one of the offending runways with the Fly DB editor.

Deinstallation:

Delete the files from where you unzipped them. DexImport does not make any registry entries of its own, but it will fix the TRI entry pointing to Fly2 if it's missing.

Developer info

DexImport can be called from other programs. The description of error codes is in ResultCodes.txt

Fixes from 1.1

Fixed bugs in index creation which resulted in corrupted indexes
Automatically find Fly2 directory using the registry
Accept ASTROUTE, OBSTRUCT, and WAYPOINT DEX files
Enhance CLI version for use by install scripts