User manual

12 Data Files
Data files used by XCSoar fall into two categories:
Flight data files : These files contain data relating to the aircraft type, airspace
and maps, waypoints etc. These are the files that are most
likely to be modified or set by normal users.
Program data files : These files contain data relating to the ‘look and feel’ of
the program, including language translations, button assign-
ments, input events, dialog layouts.
This chapter focuses on flight data files; see the XCSoar Advanced
Configuration Guide for details on program data files.
12.1 File management
File names must correspond to the name extensions specified be-
low. It is good practice to make sure that the file names are recog-
nisable so that when making configuration changes there is less
risk of confusion between different files and different file types.
Although it is a generally good idea to have data files located in
nonvolatile memory, the use of SD cards and other removable me-
dia in PDAs can cause performance issues; for smaller files, and
files that are only accessed at start-up (waypoints, airspace, glide
polars, configuration files), this is acceptable. However, terrain
and topology files are accessed continuously while XCSoar is run-
ning, so these should be located in faster storage memory.
Many PDAs provide a ’file store’ which is nonvolatile; the same
arguments above apply regarding their use and performance.
All data files should be copied into the directory:
My Documents/XCSoarData
For PDA users, data can also be stored on the operating system
file store, on Compact Flash cards or SD cards under the directory
XCSoarData.
For example:
SD Card/XCSoarData
IPAQ File Store/XCSoarData
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