The logging program I use - log4OM - has added a new feature that downloads the images from eQSL for each QSL so the user can initiate a viewer for them from the logging program listing. The logging program shows the downloaded images that it gets from eQSL as being .png files, since it shows the eQSL files as coming from this site with a .png extension.

However, they are not .png files. The viewer I use - irfanview - can detect the type of encoding of the file, and it reports that the files coming from eQSL are not .png files but are in fact .jpg files (see attachments) with a .png extension. These are not the files that an eQSL user sees when examining the QSL pics on eQSL - they are being downloaded by the logging program by whatever means the developers use to do that (I am not a developer so I do not know the aspects of the back end).

The graphics files an eQSL user views from their account on eQSL are .jpg files, and they do have the correct extension (.jpg), so it would be odd that you would send out the same images as downloads for logging programs but as a true .png encoded file anyway.

I reported this issue to the log4OM team because I wasn't sure if they were accidentally renaming the files with the wrong extension. They have assured me that no, the QSL picture files are as they come from eQSL. Meaning, they are jpg encoded files that have a .png extension for some strange reason.

Some screen shots are available below:

A. How the files are displayed in the log4OM screen as received from eQSL

B. The error message from irfanview that shows it's a ,jpg encoded file with the wrong extension.

C. A report from irfanview showing that it is in fact a .jpg file by it's encoding.

It appears to me that you are sending out .jpg files that have the wrong extension on them (.png)

P.S. - I have also verified this using the graphics program Gimp, same results.

A:



B:



C:

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N5INP Michael Nash

I am not familiar with Log4OM, but I know there are a few logging programs that allow you to download eQSL graphics.

Try this: Go to your My Profile page, http://www.eqsl.cc/qslcard/editProfile.cfm , part way down you will see a section called Advanced Features. Make sure the eQSL Display Format is set to be JPG.

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73, Dave - VA3KAB

HI David, and thanks for responding ...

But what you are talking about has nothing to do with the issue I explained. The files are .jpg, the problem is that the eQSL processing software is appending a .png extension to files that are in fact encoded as .jpg. You might want to study my original post again.

Thanks.

Edited by N5INP Michael Nash on Jun 21, 2015 at 12:56 PM

I read your post, and understand what you are saying. I am asking you to try and make that change to your profile page to see if that corrects the problem, and report back either way.

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73, Dave - VA3KAB

OK, I just did this:

I selected the .jpg file type from my profile, saved it, logged off, then logged back on. I had a few new eQSLs to grab to I downloaded the new qsls & images from within log4OM.

Again, the same thing - the files are downloaded as .png type (by their extension) but they are in fact encoded as .jpg files. They are .jpg files with the wrong extension.

In my opinion the back-end is attaching the wrong extension to the files that are downloaded by logging programs. The pics that are viewed from the eQSL user interface are correct - they are .jpg files with the correct extension.

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N5INP Michael Nash

Ok, thanks for testing that. I wanted to see if the file extension/file type came from what was set in that profile page.

Give me a few minutes, I'll do some manual testing here.

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73, Dave - VA3KAB

Ok! I'm putting this back to the Log4OM guys.

The program that downloads an eQSL graphic is called GeteQSL.cfm, the documentation for that program is here: http://www.eqsl.cc/QSLCard/GeteQSL.txt

What I did was handcraft a URL to retrieve one of my eQSL graphics. The card was displayed, and when I right click to bring up the save as dialogue, the file extension is .jpg.

You can also do the same test, if you look at the bottom of that document it shows you how to build the URL, just substitute the username/password and the QSO details for the card graphic you want to retrieve.

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73, Dave - VA3KAB
Edited by VA3KAB David Bell on Jun 21, 2015 at 01:40 PM
Edited by VA3KAB David Bell on Jun 21, 2015 at 01:43 PM

Good enough - I'll tell them.

Thanks.

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N5INP Michael Nash

Report from the log4OM developer -



http://forum.log4om.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1586

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N5INP Michael Nash

Ok, he has sent us an email which I responded to.

He is testing the same as I was, building a URL to call GeteQSL.cfm, however he is getting different results. No idea why that would be, but we will figure it out.

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73, Dave - VA3KAB

More info, and it goes back to what I asked you to do initially.

I am able to duplicate the problem IF I change the display format in my profile to be PNG instead of JPG. When I do that, GeteQSL.cfm returns a file with a .png extension.

If I then change the format back to JPG, GeteQSL.cfm returns a file with a .jpg extension. I thought you told me you had tried that??

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73, Dave - VA3KAB

I did try that and I did do that yesterday. It's still set to jpg as you can see in the screen shot below.

But even so, the encoding of the file was and is .jpg (even though the extension is .png) The encoding of the file was .jpg encoding - as reported by both irfanview and Gimp graphics views and editing programs. You can go back and see the screen shot of the file name as downloaded by log4OM above. Nothing changed after I did what you asked and set it to .jpg anyway.

So even if I was absent-minded enough to not have done what you asked yesterday - the problem remains as it was; the files being downloaded by log4OM are encoded as .jpg but with the wrong extension - .png

Do you see? I don't care if the files are .jpg OR .png ... I'm reporting to you that the files are mis-identified as .png when the encoding is .jpg. If you don't believe me I can send you a file I've downloaded from log4OM and you can test it in a graphics viewer yourself. I have no idea why that's happening - I'm not the developer I'm the end user, but I sure do know how to tell if a graphics file has the wrong extension as regards it's file encoding.

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N5INP Michael Nash

Here is how the log4OM developer tested it and he says he gets .png files, you can read for yourself -

http://forum.log4om.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1586&start=10#p9491

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N5INP Michael Nash

OK, I just tried a manual GetQSL and I got a file with the extension .jpg and it's encoded as .jpg.

I think you may have a bug such that if you have never set the default file type, it sends out a .jpg file with a .png extension. The problem is that you wouldn't know or care because when you view them from the user interface at eQSL they are .jpg with the correct encoding. That's the way I've always left it since I started the account. Why would I muck with it at all when the images come up at eQSL as .jpg's with .jpg encoding?

Since yesterday you asked me to check the default type and I simply set it as .jpg and saved it. That must have caused your system to "reset" and clear up the file type extension.

But I have evidence of hundreds of image files in my log4OM folder that I downloaded the other day when I first got the new version of log4OM that were downloaded as .jpg's with .png extensions. That's the way the default system at your end sends out images if the user has never mucked with the setting before. Maybe that's where you need to look - at how the system is configuring the default settings of people?

Thoughts?

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N5INP Michael Nash

Addendum -

Just verified my theory. I set the file type to .png in my profile - logged out and back in, and did a GetQSL. The file type was a true .png with true .png encoding.

So what's happening is that if a user has never touched the file type setting in their profile - they leave it as default - they will get a .jpg encoded file with a .png extension from the GetQSL application.

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N5INP Michael Nash

That seems likely, although impossible for me to test because once you have selected a default display type you can't go back and select nothing, from that point you have the choice of either JPG or PNG.

So there were a couple of things going on, the other being that the Log4OM developer, who is a nice guy BTW, I've exchanged a couple of emails with him, was always assuming the file type would be PNG, he was not looking at the file extension. That's why when I asked you to set your display type to be JPG it still didn't work; if I had got you to select PNG it would have worked fine.

He is going to change his program to look at the file extension, but for now if you leave your display type to PNG it should work fine.

I will also ask the webmaster if he can force a default display type when a new account is created, which will help new users going forward.

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73, Dave - VA3KAB

Yea, you need a new guinea pig - some member who has never touched the setting. But anyway I think we have figured it all out.

Thanks.

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N5INP Michael Nash