[APBeta] 2 Observing Form Suggestions

[Paul Rodman]

On Jun 6, 2009, at 07:30 AM, Dan Kuchta wrote:

> If I'm not using my computer for a session I like to print out  
> observing sheets, but I'm usually frustrated by the object/page  
> alignment.  I don't really want to have just one object per page, so  
> I try to size my prints to get a couple on a page if I'm printing  
> images, more if not.  The problem is that I can't get page breaks to  
> occur on an object boundary unless I'm just very lucky.
>
> Take for example Saturn followed by a list of DSOs.  Since Saturn  
> has no photos, it takes up a very small part of the page.  The first  
> DSO takes up most of the rest of the page, and the 2nd DSO starts on  
> the first page but continues on the next.  All the remaining pages  
> maintain this out-of-sync alignment where the page break occurs in  
> the middle of every other object.  When observing, I really don't  
> want to be flipping back and forth between two pages when dealing  
> with a single object.
>
> So this brings up 2 suggestions.
>
> First, It would be nice to see an option option called something  
> like "No page breaks within an object".  This could probably be  
> right under the "New Page per object" option.  Of course, if the  
> user has selected a large number of fields to print, or has a large  
> number of pictures for an object, the "No page breaks within an  
> object" may not be able to be honored because the object simply may  
> not fit on one page.  But I think this would still be a very useful  
> option most of the time.
>
> Basically, the algorithm would be:
> 1) If the object starts at the beginning of the page, print it  
> normally regardless of how many pages it takes up.
> 2) If the object starts after the beginning of the page, and will  
> fit on the page, then print it on that page
> 3) if the object starts after the beginning of the page, and will  
> not fit on the page, the start it at the top of the next page.

Since the printing is now all done via scripting, this should be  
relatively easy (sic) to fix. I'll look into it when I get a spare  
moment (probably c. April, 2014 :^)

> Second, this particular example kind of raises the question, why is  
> there no image for Saturn?  When I'm looking at the Objects screen,  
> I see a nice graphic of Saturn and it's moons.  I'd love to see that  
> printed on the observing sheet in black on white with the names of  
> the moons next to the moon images.  That would be VERY useful in the  
> field.

OK, that's a more complex problem to resolve. I'll add a feature  
request.

Paul R.