[APBeta] Observation attempted but not found

[Dan Kuchta]

Hi Paul:

As I'm using the observing sessions, I'm finding what seems to be a  
missing feature - the ability to mark something as "Not Found".

Currently, if I look for an object but don't find it, I just don't  
enter an observation.  But then there is no record that the  
observation was attempted and when I look at previous sessions and  
objects, it just appears to be an object that I never even tried to  
find - even if I actually did try several times.  Spending time  
attempting to locate an object IS part of an observing session, but  
there is no way to record that for an object.

I tried to create my own setting for this by making the lowest  
"Rating" popup setting be "Not Found".  The problem then is that it  
shows up as being observed when it actually has not.  In the object  
listing it may show several observations when none were actually made.

I'd especially like to be able to look back at my observation history  
for an object and see which nights I found it which nights I didn't  
and compare that to the conditions for the different nights.  That  
gives me the ability to understand the minimum conditions needed for  
that object to be observed from a particular location.

You might consider putting a permanent (non editable) addition to the  
Rating popup with the label "Not Found" or perhaps a separate checkbox  
somewhere.  The more difficult question is how to represent the not- 
found observations in the rest of the UI.  They certainly should not  
show up as highlighted items when the user has selected highlight  
observed.  Neither should they contribute to the observation count.

But, in the Observations list in the lower left corner of the  
Observations pane, I think it would make sense for them to show up,  
but with some indication that they were not found - perhaps red text  
or an asterisk or maybe "NF" after the date/time. They should show up  
similarly in the Observation database.

I haven't thought this completely through as to its UI implications,  
but I just wanted to toss it out there to see what you and others  
thought.
-Dan Kuchta