EWView/DOS Program Family

These pages are are intended to offer help for those who wish to use the software.

The EWView/DOS family of programs are produced by EW Avionics to support the use of EW Barographs and Flight Recorders.

In this document the generic term EWFR is used to reference both EW Barographs (without GPS position recording capability) and EW Flight Recorders (with both barograph functionality and GPS recording).

Select which program you areinterested in from the table
Program File Name Function

EWView/DOS EWVIEW.EXE Upload, view and export EWFR traces.

DATA-EWA DATA-EWA.EXE Upload and export EWFR traces.

CONV-EWA CONV-EWA.EXE Export EWFR traces in IGC format.

VALI-EWA VALI-EWA.EXE Validate the security code in *.IGC format traces produced by an EWFR. (Normaly only available to NACs)

The basic functions of the EWView/DOS Family are to allow users to upload traces from an EWFR, to view them in various numeric and graphical forms, to export them to various file formats (particularly the IGC FR Data File Standard) and to determine whether files in the IGC format are correct representations of recorded traces.

All of the functionality except for trace validation is provided in the EWView/DOS program. The DATA-EWA and CONV-EWA programs provide subsets of the EWView/DOS functions specifically to support the trace upload and conversion operations which must be performed by an Official Observer. The DATA-EWA and CONV-EWA programs are simpler to operate than EWView/DOS and are started in the IGC standard way.

Most users do not require the trace validation functionality provided by VALI-EWA. Normally this program is only used by those who must assess traces uploaded by other people. A typical example of the users of the VALI-EWA program are certificate officers at NACs (National Airsport Control organisations) who receive traces supporting badge or record claims which have been uploaded under the supervision of various Official Observers.

File Formats

.EWT Files

The basic file format used by the EWView/DOS programs for the storage of traces is the .EWT format. This format is specific to EW Avionics and is not currently published - it is recommended that any program wishing to use trace information use .IGC files.

When a trace is uploaded it is stored in .EWT format. When EWView/DOS displays a trace in graphic or numeric form it does so from the .EWT file.

.IGC Files

This format is defined in the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale Sporting Code Section 3 (Gliders and Motor Gliders) Annex B Appendix A - IGC FR Data File Standard which is produced by the International Gliding Commission. It is the main file format exported by the EWView/DOS programs for use by other software.

.DAT Files

.DAT was, for a few years, the de-facto standard interchange format for trace information used by scoring software - particularly in the UK. It is now being replaced by the .IGC format.

.EWC Files

EWView/DOS stores configuration information, such as the serial port to use for upload and the measurement units to use for display in a file called EWVIEW.EWC. The DATA-EWA and CONV-EWA programs can read and use this file if it is available but cannot create or update it.

EWView/DOS, DATA-EWA and CONV-EWA search for EWVIEW.EWC first in the initial directory (the directory specified on the command line or the current directory if none was specified on the command line) and then in the directory containing the program executable. In EWView/DOS, a configuration file may also be found when a directory change is executed. The first configuration file found is the one which is used.

.EWM Files

These files contain information, such as coastlines, turn points, airspace boundary lines to be displayed in the EWView/DOS map window. They are not used by other programs in the family.

.FON Files

EWView/DOS uses a file called EWFONT.FON to contain the font information it needs to display text on graphics windows (such as the Graphic Trace and Trace Map windows). This file should be placed in the same directory as the EWVIEW.EXE file.

Version Numbering

Each program in the EWView/DOS family has a version number such as "9720A". The first two digits refer to the year of release and the second two to the week within the year. The final letter indicates the "model" - "A" indicates an English language version.

Sometimes we give limited distribution to test versions. These have an addional "X" on the end of the version number.

Generally all of the programs in the family are updated together and have the same version number. However, if a change is released which does not have an impact on the upload or export functions (for example a change to the way in which traces are displayed) then it is possible that only EWView/DOS (EWVIEW.EXE) will be updated.

System Requirements

The EWView/DOS Family is designed to run on fairly basic industry standard MS-DOS machines. Requirements include:

IBM PC or 100% compatible.
MS-DOS 3.0 or later.
500K bytes of free memory.
One 3.5" 1.44Mb floppy drive (for installation).
One other drive having at least 1M bytes available for files.
MDA, CGA, EGA, VGA (or SVGA) display adaptor - colour monitor recommended but not required.
One serial port.

The memory and display adaptor requirements for VALI-EWA.EXE are less constraining than given here.