[Openrocket-devel] checking my understanding regarding component database

[Joe P. <jo...@pf...>]

I'm looking at what parameters are actually useful in the components
database (example:  LOC/Precision's catalog includes ID, OD,
thickness, length, and weight for body tubes.  Clearly, ID, OD, and
thickness are redundant since given any two of them, the third can be
derived.  Which should I actually include?).  Looking at
BodyTubeLoader.java, it appears as if all that is actually used is the
material (from which density information is obtained), ID, OD, and
length.

Is this correct?  If so, documenting the useful parameters seems like
something I should also do moving forward...

On a related note, I'm ending up using a mix of data straight from the
LOC catalog, data derived from that data (for instance, tube coupler
OD has to be derived from body tube ID), and data from the converted
RockSim files Doug posted (tube coupler ID cannot be derived from the
information in the catalog, but is present -- with no information I
can find as to its source or accurcy -- in the RockSim files).  I'm
taking this approach because so far it seems more straightforward to
simply enter the catalog data than to compare the RockSim data against
it (as the comparison requires SI/Imperial conversions for
everything).  It's my understanding that, while the system.ser file
will be used for actual component preset loading, the .orc files will
continue to be distributed; with that assumption in mind, I'm
documenting where the data is coming from in comments.  It seems like
adding an optional <provenance> tag might be a good idea to put this
documentation in .orc files.
-- 
Joe Pfeiffer                                   http://flare-rocketry.com/
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