ForeFlight-Logbook-Parser

Script to parse ForeFlight logbook data. Currently exports to SQL.

parseForeFlightLog.php - parses ForeFlight logbook data and spits out MySQL queries. This supports my logbook-output project. Subject to the BSD 3-clause license in LICENSE.

    Usage: parseForeFlightLog.php [ForeFlight Logbook CSV Export File]
       eg. parseForeFlightLog.php logbook_2019-06-07_23_59_59.csv

This parser spits out Mysql/MariaDB-compatible SQL statements (other databases will probably work fine with the generic SQL created by this parser, but only Mysql has been really tested). These statements create two new tables in the database that is currently open: Aircraft and Flights. The structure of these tables is based on the structure of the ForeFlight logbook, which may be different from pilot to pilot (and download to download) depending on the pilot's ForeFlight configuration options, custom fields, etc.

A typical use scenario might look as follows:

1. From https://plan.foreflight.com/, use Logbook > Export:

• Export to download a CSV (eg. logbook_2019-06-07_23_59_59.csv).

2. From the command line use the parser and pipe the output to a file:

• ./parseForeFlightLog.php logbook_2019-06-07_23_59_59.csv > logbook.sql.

3. Load the SQL into a Mysql database:

• mysql -p"p@$$w0rd" -e "CREATE DATABASE pilotLogbook"
• mysql -p"p@$$w0rd" pilotLogbook < logbook.sql

4. Then query and manipulate the data using SQL:

• mysql -p"p@$$w0rd" pilotLogbook
  • SHOW TABLES;
  • SELECT * FROM Aircraft;
  • SELECT Date, AircraftID, Flights.From, Flights.To FROM Flights ORDER BY Date DESC LIMIT 10;
  • etc.

Why PHP, you ask? Because it's a convenient language for this particular exercise. Just another tool in the toolbox. Nothing more, nothing less. cf. https://slack.engineering/taking-php-seriously-cf7a60065329#.2jer4rc28