Main window and program control

PFB-Zentrale

What it's about

The main window of ParaFlightBook is divided into three areas:

  • Control bar (I-IV, contains menu and filters)
  • Flight book (A-C, contains the flights)
  • Status bar (1-13, contains all kinds of buttons and status areas)

Control bar

I. Main menu

All program functions can be accessed via the hamburger symbol. The most important of these have their own buttons (II). Some menu items, especially for maintenance, only appear when expert mode is switched on (2).

II. Quick buttons

Here you will find the following program functions from left to right:

  • Create new flight log
  • Open existing flight log
  • Save current flight log (including device database) and location list
    This button is only active if there have been changes since loading, which can also be seen on the status indicator (11).
  • Synchronize flight log (including device database) and location list with other data sets
  • Print flight log in various formats (HTML->PDF)
  • Open map window for flights (with thermal determination and reference flights)
  • Open flight area management with route planner
  • Open FAI planner (ThermiXC) in a separate window
  • Read out/fill Vario
  • Manual FAI optimization
  • OLC upload (DHV, XContest...)
  • Open DHV-XC
  • Manage your own paragliders
  • Manage your own harnesses
  • Manage your own rescuers
  • Settings
  • Manage map overlays (e.g. airspaces)
  • Login and payment/term overview
  • Information about the program, changelog, support

III. License info

If you see a green lock here, a premium term package is active. Otherwise the lock is red. Click here for details about the license and, if applicable, the reasons for a restriction.

IV: Filters

Here you can enter complex filters that also allow parentheses and logical expressions. So something like this is also possible:

(PINZGAU OR KAMPENWAND) AND ^T AND (2020,2021,2022,2023)
= Tandem flights in Pinzgau or on the Kampenwand from 2020-2023

If a filter is active, you will see this in the status area (9). You can also click here to delete the filter and see all flights again. In (8) you can see the size of the hit set. If the filter is active, you will also see its “translation” in the tooltip of the filter field:

Howto_Main (1)

Statistics and totals always refer to the visible (filtered) flights.

Main area

A: Flight list

This is the main section of your flight log. The flights can be sorted by clicking on the column headers. You can arrange the columns individually and also change their width manually. [Shift]+click in the column header (except image columns) automatically sets the column width based on the existing values. With the right mouse button you get a menu with options for the current flight.

Double-clicking on the symbols triggers special actions. The most exciting thing here is the “TRK” column, whose symbols open a floating map window. Further flights can be added to this for comparison purposes both by clicking on the list or by downloading from the Internet, whereby a thermal analysis is carried out for each of these flights.

You can mark multiple flights using [Ctrl] and [Shift]. The last marked flight becomes slightly darker. If you want to start click actions on a multiple selection, you have to do this on the line with this flight.

[Ctrl]+double-click on a value filters the flights to everything that has the exact same value (or, in the case of numeric values, a value greater than or equal to the value clicked on).

You can also change individual values directly in the list by double-clicking on the cell.

B: Editing

Here you can edit the current or a new flight. If you have marked several flights, the fields will be emptied - you can then make changes for the entire group. You can apply these changes using the small floppy disk symbol, which becomes active after the first change.

With [Ctrl]+double-click in the checkboxes you can filter the list according to the respective flag. With [Shift] + double click you can change the names of the blue checkboxes and thus define your own flags. However, some flags such as tandem or check flight are unchangeable because they are expected.

C: Information area

The information area can display statistics, configurable charts, maps, images or a large information field about the flight. With the exception of the information field, each of these types of information can also be displayed in its own, larger window. The Statistics and Totals windows can be opened multiple times to compare statistics.

The axis values of the statistics are set separately and result in over 700 combinations. For example, analyzes such as the number of flight hours with a specific wing class are also possible, which can be queried even more specifically using the filters.

Images are dragged into the image management with the mouse. Compression is offered. This is definitely recommended if you regularly synchronize assets across multiple computers, because the images are also copied - if necessary to the cloud.

The map display allows you to take a photo of a map that has been zoomed or moved. This map image is then carried on the flight as a special, internal image. The overview map is also available offline and faster.

Control and status area

In the status area, all symbols are also switches for the states/functions they display. The current status is also described in the tooltip.

1: Language

Here you can see the language set and can select a different one by clicking.

2: Expert mode

Here you can switch between user and expert mode. In expert mode there are, among other things, more maintenance functions in the menu and more tabs in the configuration dialog. A Talar symbol indicates that it is active - but it should only be switched on temporarily in exceptional cases.

3: Window snap mode

Here you can switch between normal and magnetic mode. In the latter case, newly opened windows attach to existing ones when they get close enough and adjust their size if necessary. In this mode, the main window can be moved with all windows attached to it.

4: Auto download

When AutoDownload is active, your computer's default download directory is monitored. If you download IGC, GPX or other supported files in a browser (e.g. from XContest, XCTrack, Burnair or SeeYou.cloud), they will end up directly in the flight log or on the marked flight.

5: Map source

Here you can choose between the online maps from Google Maps and your own maps, which, once downloaded, no longer require an internet connection.

6: Checks/Medicals

The coat of arms symbol reminds you when checks for umbrellas or rescuers are due (red) or will soon be due (yellow). In addition to medicals, overdue check flights and normal flights for tandem flying in the last 90 days are also included in the warning. Clicking on the coat of arms generates a detailed report.

7: Thermal determination

The automatic thermal analysis for new and existing flights can be controlled here.

8/9: Filter and display quantity

The current number of hits is shown here (see also under IV - Filter)

10: Contents of the location list

Here you can find the current number of waypoints and your own airspace (plus the daily airspace overlays of the various countries, which the program gets automatically).

11: Change notification

This two-part LED shows with the red halves and a tooltip what has changed in the data or why it should be saved.

12: Online status

Here you can see whether there is an online connection. This is required, among other things, for license comparison, updating airspace data, automatic updates and reloading local data.

13: Usage statistics

Here you can view a detailed report on the usage of your licenses. In addition to the Google API calls (interesting for users with their own API key), it also tracks how many computers your license has been registered on recently.