Think I found a new Feature

SyberShooter · Member Joined: Jul 23, 2010 Posts: 93 Location: Arizona

I think I stumbled upon a new feature of PointBlank that I hadn't seen before.

I have data for 3 rifles of the same model/caliber. (ie Model 700 in 308) I already had one created under 308 with load data and targets entered. I used the copy firearm option and created 2 additional firearms then changed the name box and other particulars for each. I also changed the caliber designation from 308 to 7.62x51 since they are military surplus. I added load data and several targets from my target picture archives.

Next time I started PB – I can't find these firearms and targets anywhere! The original one is still there but the copies and all their data is missing.

I'm starting to get concerned that they will have to be redone but as I am staring blankly at the screen with that deer in the headlights look.... I notice a new caliber listed for 7.62x51 and magically those two rifles and all their data are now listed separately from the 308 rifles. The original firearm which still lists the caliber as 308 did not get relocated.

As a test I renamed it’s caliber to 7.62x51 NATO When I restarted PB it is now listed under a new caliber named 7.62x51 NATO. Changing them all to the same text in the caliber data box under firearm, consolidated them as a group upon the next restart.

This feature has interesting possibilities for grouping certain guns together despite their actual caliber. As another test I made a copy of a Winchester 94 under 30-30 and changed the caliber text to "12 guage". After restarting PB I now have a caliber listing for "12 Guage" ,( in the tree it shows up between.500 S&W and 7.62x39) and a firearm listed as "Win94 Copy". Taking it a step further I renamed the caliber to "Deer Rifles" and upon restart a new category appears!
neat Razz

DallanC · Site Admin Joined: Jan 18, 2005 Posts: 3572 Location: Utah

LOL,

I'm undecided if this is more feature than bug, or more bug than feature. Either way it seems safe as the user understands whats happening. Perhaps I should call to refresh the tree to see the data, rather than only seeing it update after a restart.

I will run some experiements on this later. Nice find!

-DallanC

SyberShooter · Member Joined: Jul 23, 2010 Posts: 93 Location: Arizona

I think I like it... and would definitely enhance it, as long as it doesn't pull the caliber from that box for other calculations elsewhere or doesn't create an error in some other array. It would be a way for the shotgun data to be grouped together or for other special groupings -all one has to do is create an appropriate category title for the caliber and proceed with the firearm since one will know what caliber it is by the bullet dia. box located on the load page. In fact, you could probably rename the New Firearm button to New Category and change the help file to show examples of different types of setup By Caliber or By Name.

Doing a tree refresh is a good idea as it would also re-order other nodes when their names change during use. I typically use various load/bullet/target information in the item titles (Load/Target) in order to group them in a certain way. It could be either program automated or just a button for the user to initiate a total system refresh.