[APBeta] Observation attempted but not found

[Paul Rodman]

On Jul 5, 2009, at 6:38 PM, Dan Kuchta wrote:

> 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.

I will add a feature request for this, but I doubt it will make V2.0,  
since it requires many tricky changes. In fact, I think there's  
already a feature request for something like this. I'll check... Yup:

<http://www.astroplanner.net/reports/details/1700/1731.shtml>

However, you make some other good points, so I will file a separate  
request.

What about a boolean observation user-defined field called "Not  
found"? That will give you a checkbox. Unfortunately, it will be  
logged as an observation, and won't be flagged in the list of  
observations.

Paul R.