LRUD in Survex

[Olly Betts]

[I'm copying the list in on my reply to some questions Peter asked me as I
think the answers are likely to be of general interest]

On Thu, Jul 19, 2001 at 09:46:45PM +0100, Peter Wilton-Jones wrote:
> Is there any plans to implement [LRUD data] into survex? It may be that
> you intend to try and put it into Spud?? Is this a thaught.

I discussed this with Mark and Wookey a couple of weeks ago.  We know how we
want to do it, but it's too much to try to include in 1.0 without delaying
it unacceptably.  It'll definitely be in Spud though.

I suspect in reality that the transition from survex 1.0 to spud will be a
series of steps, in which case LRUD is likely to appear long before spud is
finally finished.

I'll get a chance to hammer out a game plan with Mark and Phil in Austria
- we'll let you know what we come up with when we get back.

> I have another question with regard to Spud, the data format. You mention on
> the website that the data will be put into a database structure. Will the
> current data be able to be put into this database by importing or some other
> method? Will it be backward compatible?

My thoughts are that the database replaces .3d files, and also holds
additional information such as the raw survey data.

The database may be the master copy of the raw survey data (entered and
modifiable using a dedicated editor) or the master copy of the raw surveys
may be elsewhere in another form (e.g. in a .svx file you can edit with a
text editor).  Or some mixture of the two - some surveys in .svx files,
others only in the database.

> Has any work begun on Project Spud?

I've been turning ideas over in my mind, and sketching the better ones down
on paper.  I've not written code purely for Spud, but a lot of the recent
work (e.g. interleaved data; station and leg flags; attaching survey names
to legs) should be reusable.

Mark has experimented with a scheme to allow plug-ins to be written which
can be used to split off less commonly used functionality and allow third
party extensions to be written.

I've not seen much of Phil recently thanks to the foot and mouth outbreak,
so I'm not sure what he's been doing.

Cheers,
Olly