MCC Pilotlog

What works

Installation, with a workaround (needs prior installation on Windows Vista / 7)

Adding and editing flights.

Database queries.

Some database editing (pilots, airfields)

Adding / editing aircraft, currency, flight time limits in the database

Units converter (small, bundled application).  Does not appear to accept text input.

RM Rocade airline interface (but requires a winetrick- see note).  Other interfaces not tested, but no reason why other web-based crew portals should not work OK.

What does not

Logbook printing (renders in lower-case only), takes a long time.

Links to Google Earth / Wikipedia / AirNav.com

Workarounds

What was not tested

Reports generation
Limits.
Mobile sync- iPhone only available at the moment.  As it syncs via the cloud, there's no reason why this should not work.
Import data from other logbook software.

Hardware tested

Graphics:

• GPU:
• Driver:

Additional Comments

Error dialog "3251" pops up every time the application exits. Doesn't seem to have an impact on the database, though. Upgrading the software sometimes seems to break the installation- disable automatic updates, or see below for a workaround.

First of all, you need access to a Windows (preferably 7 or Vista) installation of the software, so make sure you have that before following the rest of the howto.  Of course, you also need the Vista / 7 version of the software from here:

http://www.mccpilotlog.net/order.html

In all cases, change username with YOUR username!

I strongly recommend a seperate Wine environment for your installation of MCC Pilotlog.  Create it like this:

env WINEPREFIX="/home/username/.wine-mcclog" winecfg

select Windows 7 in the drop-down menu at the bottom of the  applications tab. 

Run installer:
cd to where you downloaded the installer, then:

env WINEPREFIX="/home/username/.wine-mcclog" msiexec /i mccpilotlog_vista7.msi
Type your name, and accept the error message.  The updater will now do some downloading.

We need to create the AppData/roaming folder, so:
cd ~/.wine-mcclog/drive_c/users/username
mkdir AppData
cd AppData
mkdir Roaming

Now, we need a link in this folder to drive_c/users/username/Application Data/MCC Pilotlog:
cd Roaming
ln -s ../../Application\ Data/MCC\ Pilotlog/ MCC\ Pilotlog

Now, go to drive_c/users/username/Application Data/ , and remove (or rename) the MCC Pilotlog folder.

In its place, you need to copy the MCC Pilotlog folder from the Windows installation that we mentioned earlier.

Now you are ready to run the software, remembering to use the appropriate environment that you created- although this should be looked after automatically when running from the menu.

Sometimes, the automatic update feature can prevent you running the software after an update.  To safeguard against this, it's a good idea to make a copy of the file mccapp1.exe file in .wine/drive_c/users/username/AppData/Roaming/MCC Pilotlog .

You can restore this over in place of an updated version in case of problems.

Alternatively:

 If you have a Windows machine (or VM) available, you can update your Win version, the copy the whole  c/users/username/AppData/Roaming/MCC Pilotlog folder to the equivalent wine location.  MAKE SURE that you have backed up your database first!

The software can log on to many crew rostering portals to retrieve past and future flights.  However, to make this work, we need winetricks to install ie7; to do that, we first have to tell Wine that we're running XP not Win7...

 env WINEPREFIX="/home/username/.wine-mcclog/" winecfg

 and change the Windows version to XP, then hit OK.

env WINEPREFIX="/home/username/.wine-mcclog/" winetricks ie7

And follow the on-screen prompts.  No need to install the security extras.  The Airline interface should now work.

It doesn't seem to matter whether you change the Windows version back to Win 7 or not. 

Also:  recently, I needed to add a DLL override.  Do this:

env WINEPREFIX="/home/username/.wine-mcclog/"

Choose the 'Libraries' tab, and change 'apphelp' to 'Native' (not Native, Built-in) and apply.