Element Manager for Dos

HISTORY OF REVISIONS

Here's the low down on what was added or fixed through various versions

1.0 Initial release

1.1

Added offset to correct for time differences between system clock UTC. Offset can be entered at command line for auto processing.
Added "English" time display to Element editor.
Added QuikTrak format (English) entry capability for epoch

1.2

Corrected Element display on Selector/Editor screen. Bugs previously
When on the first element set of the last screen, if you entered the
Added the Est. Age display to the editor screen.
Added the Perigee and Apogee altitudes to the Element
Fixed Config screen to properly reflect current configuration.<
Fixed screen formatting of the epoch year/day on the Statistics
Parameters in Config file for MM and INC wouldn't carry into
Increased the maximum number of Element Sets to 545.

1.3

Improved the file repair procedures. Most badly formatted element
Severe bug in Duplicate checker squashed. When I originally wrote

1.4

Changed the ages displayed in LogFile reports generated from Age
Added Reference Times to Edit Elements screen.
Added Element Set Ages to Edit Elements screen.
Added Orbital period to Edit Elements screen.
Added fractions of seconds to "English" time display on Edit
Added Line Printer routines to print out data displayed in the Edit
Added capability to input fractions of seconds in the "English" day on the Edit Elements screen.
Changed the validation check on inclination entry to require
Added Satellite Name repair capabilities to the correct input file
Added routine to detect and report any badly formatted element sets LogFile.
Increased Maximum element sets to 1000.
Added selective directory scanning. You can now enter "*.xxx" at any xxx).

1.5

Filenames were not showing up in the displays within the program
Fixed bug in negative time offsets AND added fractional offset (ie: -11.39).
When correcting element set files Element Manager now writes out any any badly formatted 2-line element sets.
Added sort routines. Element Manager will now sort on the English
Added find routine to the Selector/Editor screen. You can now search
Changed the way Element Manager paints screens and added more color

1.6

A horrifying bug crept into version 1.5 that really messed up the auto processing files. It's fixed.
Bug in Selector/Editor screen involving element files that exactly
Bug in output format fixed. If you had a CFG file set to 2-Line
Element Manager will now accept a Satellite Name field as long as 40 accommodate N2L files. Because this added lots of blank spaces
Minor cosmetic fixes, and a change to the Select Criteria
Bug that prevented new elements to be added at the Selector/Editor
A very slight speed increase of around 15 percent implemented in the
When using the fix checksum and check for duplicates options,
I'm confused!! Is the plus sign "+" assigned a value of zero "0" or gray cells dies down I'll make sure that the "correct" value

1.7

Changes to the Search function in the Selector/Editor screen. If
Added a cursor pointer/selector to the Main, Select Criteria and
Added ability to specify a name for the file created within the
Oops, I fixed up the check of the checksum by adding the /Z switch,
Added a stripping routine for plus signs. After the strip a new
Some internal restructuring.

1.8

Found and corrected a bug introduced in version 1.6 that disabled
Added a simple file viewer.

1.9

Found and corrected a minor bug when loading files that contained no
Changed the element file integrity tests. Now entire file is scanned
Added perigee and apogee heights to sorting routines.
Added switch on the edit elements screen to display apogee and
In the sort elements section saving element files does not to the Editor/Selector.

2.0

The LogFile naming conventions have changed a little. If you specify
Shortcut for viewing Log file added. Go to the file viewer option of
Bug locking up computer when entering an invalid filename to View
Bug causing a memory problem when loading a new data file found and fixed.
Added a base time and date to the Log File output of the Age computations.
Added filename prompt to the write new file option within the program.
Added Nautical Mile conversions to the Element editor screen.
Bug messing up eccentricity data entry squashed.
Split up the DOC file into DOC, HISTORY, TECHNOTE, and TWOLINE

2.1

When using the sort option to reorder files I added Apogee and were saved.
Added a popup ruler line capability to the file viewer.
Added ELETIME.TXT creation capability. This option will write out a recent element set with its NORAD catalog number and name, the name
Added oldest, newest element set output as well as average age of
Added inclination and mean motion selection entry capabilities to
Changed some cosmetic aspects of the LogFile.
Bug causing infinite loop when attempting to read in a falsely
Found a couple of bugs in the format checker. Normally whenever two line set was bad it would be detected but not written out to the preceding it) that element set was lost. That's now fixed.
When correcting checksums the program used to use a variety of

2.2

Added sort option from command line. Only works alone.
Added a "favorite" satellite to the ELETIME.TXT file creation out the the above file along with the traditional info.
The SHELL to DOS option isn't that valuable with a program like this "unnoticeable". However, shelling to dos to check memory file that might be loaded.
Found a bug in the correcting elements routines that overlooked
Found a bug in correcting elements routines that sometimes caused
During element correction procedures, if an element set has a bad English name if no name is listed in the SATNAMES.DAT file. This is done by
Added recognition of "Latest set =" as a bad name. When downloading English names are not included. Instead the above is placed recognizing this as a bad name, Element Manager will search your SATNAMES.DAT English name. If no English name is found then procedures preceding paragraph will be implemented.
Speeded English satellite name correction procedures. SATNAME.DAT now this.
Added command line switch /K. By indicating an input file via the /I NODUPS.TLE. I added this because using NASA OIG element info, I dups.
Fixed a couple of cosmetic bugs.

2.2a

Added a couple of other invalid satellite names to the error considered invalid and will cause a check of SATNAME.DAT English satellite name. This check only takes place if there Of course that will always be the case if you capture or download elements OIG.
Added another shortcut key for the file viewer option. If you would input satellite element file as a plain ASCII text file, enter filename prompt.
Added paging control to the /H command line help screens. It's now
Added /Y switch. Specifying this switch on the command line will cause
Changed the strip plus sign routines. Previously, the checksum was

2.2b

Bug with the command line /Q switch fixed. Previously, when the parameters for this line were lost.

2.2c

The ELETIME.TXT creation routines had a bug resulting in no AVERAGE
Added ascii delimited text file output. Good for spread
When viewing elements in the View/Edit/Print section of the program
Will they never end??? A bug discovered in the Satellite Select File been fixed.
Changed the way NASA OIG files were parsed to correctly look in English names.

- end of file -

of Element Manager. and Within the program the configuration file will set the offset to the value you entered at the configuration editor screen. day. allowed a right arrow movement to move to a nonexistent element set if blank entries were located on the final display screen. editor/viewer and moved to a previous element set the program did not change back one page when returning the Selector screen. Fixed. Editor screen. /li> screen. program. Fixed. files will now be processed to extract element sets ONLY from the input file and written to the FIXED.TLE file. the dup checking routines, I only tested it with files containing lots of elements but only one duplicate. The program found this one just fine. However, if more than one element had duplicates or if one element set had more than one duplicate problems ensued. I'm pretty sure this problem is cured now. I spent quite a bit of time devising interesting element files with lots of duplicate element sets with varying dates and the same date and mixed duplicate problems. The program is now catching each and every duplicate and saving only the most recent element set for each dup. Non-dups are passing through just fine too. Analysis display to reflect fractions of a day. Elements screen. Element Screen. No graphic characters are used in this mode so the program should work on most printers. format editing of the Epoch inclination not less than 0 not greater than 180 degrees. routines. when initially checking input file. Previously, the program only looked for blank lines. Now most of the checking procedures employed in repairing badly formatted element files are used to detect bad sets. If these sets are found, the program will still load the file, as long as no blank lines are found, however, an alert is now posted on the screen indicating bad sets were found and any sets that fail the tests are listed in the File Utilities Menu file prompt and be presented with a listing of all files with "xxx" as a file extension. All DOS wildcard functions will work ie: "?" or "*" (not just properly. Thought this was fixed in 1.4 but ... capability. Those folks in 1/2 hour time zones can now properly calculate age of element sets. Actually, any fractional hour may be entered so if you keep some really offbeat time in your computer, you can enter a strange offset and it will correctly figure UTC time lines that fail tests to the file FAILED.TXT. This file should contain any text not related to element sets and Satellite Name, Epochday of element set, Drag, Inclination, Arg of Perigee, Mean Anomaly, Mean Motion, Catalog Number, Epoch Orbit and Element Set number. In addition, you may restore the original file. the input file for a particular English satellite name and catalog number. capability. Because of these additional color options you'll need to create a new configuration file EVEN if you run the program in B&W. If you don't you'll get an error message indicating input past end of file. Just erase any ELEMAN.CFG file and start the program. You can then create a new CFG file by going to the VIEW/EDIT configuration screen. display while filled screens fixed. When there were 39,78 etc. element sets in file the program would get lost and not identify the end of the file. format and tried starting the program with the /A switch it wouldn't override the CFG. Now it does. characters. This to to the name field, I've changed the output writing routines to strip any trailing blank spaces from that field. This will result in generally smaller file sizes. option made. Instead of having to move to a third submenu to set MM/INC parameters those functions have been moved "up" to the Select Criteria menu. screen in versions 1.4 and 1.5 discovered and squashed. Sorting functions. Element Manager no longer creates files if all checksums are OK or there are no duplicates. two "2" for checksum purposes. Well, up until now it's been zero. But there is talk about accepting a "new" convention. Element Manager will default to assigning the plus sign a value of zero "0". If this turns out to be wrong relax. just start the program with the /Z command line switch and the plus sign will be assigned a value of two "2". Once the confusion in my becomes the default. NOTICE: /Z used to be the startup switch for bypassing the configuration file. That's been changed to /X. you've searched for a satellite previously, that name becomes a default for any subsequent searches. If you want to research the file for that sat/cat number just hit return. File Utilities menus. element sorting section. however, those fixes weren't incorporated in the fix checksums part of the program. That's corrected. checksum is calculated. the cursor control in the edit elements screen. element sets. Program used to abort now it recovers. for problems on initial load. If any are found the fix up routines are activated. perigee heights in either miles or kilometers. automatically return you to the Editor/Selector area. Instead you remain in the sorting area and may resort by another criteria. In this way you may create many sorted files without having to constantly load and unload element files. Makes the program faster. The last sorting of the file is loaded into memory when you return ELEMAN.LOG as your LogFile then Element Manager will automatically create sequential logfiles with names based on the date. If it's 02/13/92 then your first log file of the day will be named EL0213_0.LOG. The second generated file will be EL0213_1.LOG. And so on. Element Manager will only write out 10 different files. When ELEMAN detects that all 10 log slots are taken (_0.LOG thru _9.LOG), then the program creates ELOVER_9.LOG for the eleventh and all subsequent log files until you either erase or rename the prior log files. the file utilities menu and select "V"iewer. When prompted for a filename, just enter "L" and your current log file will be loaded for your perusal. I got tired of typing EL0213_?.LOG each time I wanted to see how the program was working. fixed. when inside the program Analysis routines so you have a record of the times used for those Editor/Selector section of the program. When selecting individual or groups of elements for writing to a new file the program used to default to the output filename for it's output file. Now it's possible to enter a new filename making it possible to write many files while parked within this area of the Originally only kilometers were displayed. Later a statute miles conversion was made available. Now you can select either (M) for statute miles, (N) for Nautical Miles or (K) for kilometers. Kilometers still the default. files. Perigee altitude ranges to the listings made in the Log file when those sort options were selected and sorted files four line file by that name that contains the epochday of the most of the file this information was extracted from (input file), the average epochday of all element sets in the file and the oldest epochday with its NORAD catalog number and name. the element file to both the Age Analysis screen and the LogFile. In oldest and newest locations the NORAD catalog number followed by the "English" name along with the age in days are displayed. the command line. formatted element file fixed. Element Manager reads in an element file it will find any badly formatted element sets and "fix" them. Well, I was playing with some really old element files and turned up a few bugs. If line 1 of a failed text file. That's fixed. If a file's first line was the 1st line of a 2-line set (no English sat name confusing methods to create the corrected file. Sometimes it would retain the original file name sometimes it would create a FIXCHECK.TLE file etc. NOW, it examines the input file for bad checksums. If any are found the original input file is written to a backup file (inputfile.BAK), it then fixes any bad checksums and writes them to the original input file. In this way you retain a copy of the original input file (*.BAK) and your input file contains corrected checksums. It's less confusing (I hope). routines. Now you can specify a particular satellite by NORAD catalog number and it's epochday will be written but it's there and I found a problem that prevented it's use on occasion. When large element files were loaded there was insufficient ram to load command.com. I fixed this by unloading the elements. Because of the clunky way I handle element files, this should be now only shows program memory usage minus any data badly formatted elements when creating FAILED.TXT. Previous versions of the program correctly identified all good sets but didn't write out a bad element set to FAILED.TXT if it was located in the last four lines of the file. ELEMENT MANAGER to report an error message (input past end of file) because of incomplete or badly formatted elements in the last four lines of an input file. Fixed. english satellite name Element Manager will now "create" an extracting the international launch info from OIG/Clestial element sets. elements directly from NASA's OIG prior to each 2-line set. By file and supply an outlined in the loaded into memory for much faster corrections. Also added a routine that recognizes "Latest set =" as a bad satellite name. Many folks who go directly to OIG for their elements will appreciate switch and adding the /K switch, Element Manager will check the input file for duplicate elements and eliminate them as described in the dup checking routines in the DOC file writing out the new file found I was routinely dealing with files containing several duplicate sets. This switch allows for automated removal of the checking routines. I found that NASA OIG used other "English" satellite names for found satellites. When using the search functions of that service the names "Set # =", "Latest set =" are both now for a "valid" is some other formatting error in your input file. from like to view the default "E" for elements at the viewer possible to page thru them (both forward and backward). Element Manager to extract any element sets that fail checksum verification. These sets will be written to FAILED.TXT for your perusal. The input file will be rewritten excluding the failed sets. intentionally corrupted. Since the checksum is the same with or without a plus sign in the file, I removed this routine. auto processing element set age being output when that age placed the epochday in a previous year. Fixed. sheet imports. it is now possible to print that screen to a disk file as well as to the printer. The same printer formatting is placed in the disk file, so some editing might be required if you don't want form feeds and page numbers. creation section of the program. When selecting a few satellites from an element file and then saving those sats to a new Select File the problem would bomb in a few different ways. Those problems have SATNAMES.DAT for proper border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%">

maintained by Rick von Glahn