Add keyword to start tlf in s&p mode

[darvark]

Solving one of ToDo items. Added command line argument to start tlf in S&P mode. Executing tlf -p will force s&p mode at startup.

[airween]

We should consider to add this feature into logcfg.dat (I mean we can make this mode permanent.)

[darvark]

Ok, I'll start working on this. Does command line param should remain or remove it?

[airween]

Ok, I'll start working on this.

Great, thanks!

Does command line param should remain or remove it?

I think it's a good feature, so I'd keep it. If it becomes available to configure the mode via the config file, it may help to override it (similar to --no-rig or --no-cluster). Therefore, it would be better to replace it with --mode=MODE, e.g. --mode=S&P or --mode=RUN.

But wait for other opinions.

[zcsahok]

I think the typical use case for this is "I'm a small pistol, I want to work (mostly) in S&P".
In this case probably setting it persistently in the configuration file (logcfg.dat) would be the best place.

[darvark]

Ok, so now we can setup one of 5 builtin modes. I don't know how to add screenshots here as test evidence.

[zcsahok]

Looks good. Practically only RUN and S&P are relevant, the others (AUTO, KEYBOARD, NONE) are just internal states.

You can add tests for it to test/test_parse_logcfg.c. If a new function is added then the initial configuration has to be re-executed before building.

[zcsahok]

We could also have CQ as an alias for RUN. Maybe it's somewhat more human-readable.

[darvark]

Thanks, just can you tell me what are requirements to build tests? I can't find any documentation on that.?

Why RUN mode is displayed as "CQ"? Maybe I should change it to commonly used "RUN" word?

[zcsahok]

Showing CQ on the upper left corner is just fine. Let's then just stay consistent with whatever shown on the screen, so allow only
OPERATING_MODE=CQ
or
OPERATING_MODE=S&P

For adding test and updating the man page please check for example #350

[darvark]

Don't know why one test is failing FAIL: run_rules. I've checked it on main branch and it's failing too. So rather not caused by my changes. One more fix is in progress. Sorry

[zcsahok]

Try to run locally the tests with
TERM=xterm make check
None of the failed at github.

[ha5se]

Sorry to feel again to think to be forced to compel with this one, and to give negative comment on this one.

When you start a contest, independent of starting options, your first physical action will be the one to perfectly decide what you want:

• as long and as soon as you are turning your VFO knob in your RIG, you are S&P
• similarly, when you pick among TLF bandmap entries, you are S&P.
• as soon as you press the CQ key (usually F1) you are running.

I am afraid but I absolutely do not see any use for such a startup option.
IMHO, I absolutely object against superfluous startup parameters.

[zcsahok]

@ha5se I see your point, but I find this configuration handy for mostly S&P operators. Note that this is a configuration parameter rather than a command line option. So it has to be set just once as a preference.

@darvark Looks good. One more minor thing: please add/move the initialization of cqmode in main.c to the init_variables(). The purpose is to have a defined state of variables before reloading configuration.

(a git-technical comment: it will be easier to keep your repo in sync with TLF if PRs are created from dedicated branches, not from master)

[zcsahok]

You can also tick out this issue from the ToDo file. :-)

[zcsahok]

@airween @dl1jbe Any comments?

[darvark]

@zcsahok Thanks,

[darvark]

I think I should change behavior of that variable, and make it optional, just not to break backward compatibility.

[zcsahok]

I think it is backward compatible: if not present then CQ mode is selected.

[darvark]

I mean after that change will be merged to master, each user using this branch will have to update their configuration files and add new keyword, in other case he will get error message during tlf start. I just want to avoid such situations, so still as you wrote if option not present then default behaviour CQ is selected, but we would be able to start tlf based on old configs

[zcsahok]

There is no need to touch the configuration: the default mode (CQ) set in init_variables() will be effective.

You can also check this by simply commenting out the keyword from your logcfg.dat: TLF shall start in CQ mode without any complaints.

[darvark]

There is no need to touch the configuration: the default mode (CQ) set in init_variables() will be effective.

You can also check this by simply commenting out the keyword from your logcfg.dat: TLF shall start in CQ mode without any complaints.

yes, your right. Sorry for late reply. Everything works as expected.

[df7cb]

Thanks for working on this, this is something I've also wanted for a long time.

@ha5se: you are right that tlf could probably figure out the mode on its own, but then the startup default still needs switching to S&P.

[zcsahok]

Thanks!