af-vcd/pdf-bullets

Web-based utility for writing Air Force Bullets (EPR/OPR/Awards)

pdf-bullets

Main Website

pdf analysis of air force forms

One of the most pointless and time-consuming things that Air Force officer and enlisted personnel do every year is bullet-writing.

Air Force personnel typically are required to write bullets for performance reports and award packages.

AF bullets follow a few formatting rules:

• Each bullet must be exactly one line, with the width of the line depending on the form (performance report, award package, etc).
• Acronyms and abbreviations are organization/commander-specific. Organizations are highly inconsistent with their abbreviation/acronym policies.

Those formatting rules lead to the following

• Information compression is prioritized over legibility
• Time is wasted on acronym/abbreviation revision
• Bullet "appearance" becomes highly valued; some examples of arbitrary bullet appearance rules:
  • any sort of repetition = bad
  • bullets near flush with page boundaries = good

The purpose of this repository is to develop a set of tools to automate the pointless aspects of bullet-writing so that an officer/enlisted member can focus more on writing actual content rather than worry about irrelevant formatting.

Note: When importing rules from a .xlsx file, the columns are:

1. Enabled (TRUE|FALSE)
2. Word (long form)
3. Abbreviation

VERY IMPORTANT: Sort the Excel sheet in DESCENDING ORDER. Due to the greedy nature of the replacement, the reverse sorted order is required to ensure proper compression of abbreviations.

Example of the bug above: acronyms in sorted order:
United States Air Force: USAF
United States Air Force Academy: USAFA
Will cause "United States Air Force Academy" to be abbreviated as "USAF Academy"

Reversing the order:
United States Air Force Academy: USAFA
United States Air Force: USAF
Corrects this issue.

pdf-bullets's Issues

EPR Import Not Working

Not sure if it's just me. I tried Chrome and Edge on AFNET machine. Trying to import a 910, dated 20220316 and it's not working.

Fine-tune abbreviation spreadsheet

Things that need to be done:

1. delete 'occurrences' column
2. add in a bunch of default abbreviation values
3. implement feature that allows users to import/export their own abbreviations
4. quick-search type tool for users to quickly find/edit an acronym/abbreviation
5. (maybe) add a filter to view only the acronyms that are being used ..?

cookies feature upgrades

allow the abbreviations and form size to be saved as "cookies"

Word Delete Breaks Input Box

When typing in the input field, using Ctrl+Backspace (delete previous word) breaks the input box. After deleting the word properly, new input is discarded until the user clicks a new spot in the box. Once a new spot is selected, words appear to move around the box randomly.

Also, Ctrl+Z does not work in the box, but that's probably a separate issue.

thesaurus replace feature sporadically fails

if you keep trying to replace the thesaurus words, sometimes the re-selection after replacement fails and the cursor moves the the end of the window.

Spell check

Add spell check feature with red line under misspelled words. Thanks!

abbreviation substitution type checking

If a user adds a blank row and enables it, it fucks up all the text.

Spacing Incorrect

Bullets are auto spacing incorrectly.

Example pulled from output:

• Expos'd eqpmt deficiencies; sourced $2K in eqpmt/ tools/restor'd $204M kt mx capes--anchor'd UTAP-22 dplymt/zero delays **(too long for 1206/EPR)** but its shows that it will fit in bullet writer output.

Hopefully you can resolve this, I really like your work.

Give App a Title

The current title of the app the is default "React App". For people that know what React is, this isn't really an issue, but my flight chief asked me if I knew where the link to the "React App" was yesterday, because he thinks that's what it's called. I can't really blame him though.

Maybe just something simple like "AF Bullet Shaping Tool". Though I am a fan of the spans in the body heading...

"undefined" error when importing

When importing my own Excel abbrs list, then imputing bullets, I receive an "undefined" error in the output.

EXAMPLE:

input: aircraft
output: acftundefined

Am I importing it wrong?

Add detailed instructions

I can probably just add this in a separate file with markdown text formatting.. I think

BC1.1 upgrade on thesaurus

hover-replace preview
click to replace selected word with thesaurus word, but only if 1 or two words are selected

Abbreviations

Great tool so far, I have been using for some time and I have had great success.

One thing that I have noticed is the imported abbreviations cause an issue with "for" and "with".

In the default list it will function fine, but when we add our own list it adds a space at the end versus combing it with the next word.

Any ideas on how to resolve this?

Abbreviation substitutions

When typing out "for" it replaces with f/ but with a space following, I cannot delete the space because it will just think it is one big word.

Also does not abbreviate words in abbreviation list if I add a s at the end, or things like reprogramming.

"for " does not abbreviate correctly in some instances

with the rule "for " -> "f/", you would expect "for $25B" to transform to "f/$25B"

however, it doesn't do that due to what regex treats as a word boundary. Need to fix code to make this work

Thesaurus not working

Once I input a bullet, the thesaurus will not display any synonyms.

myEval Transition Edits

With the AF transition to myEval it is going from a size limit on the Job Description Bullets from 140 to 100, An additional option would be of great use for a builder set up for the 100 characters. Please continue to leave the OPR bullet option (140 characters) as the size of those have not changed. See attached for character limit reference.
myEval Snips.pdf

Website not working at all for some users

Have several users saying that the site simply cannot be reached. Not sure what the issue is just yet.

Append on import instead of replace

would be nice to have this as an option.

MS Edge Compatibility

Microsoft Edge compatibility is still a bit broken.

• selection of bullets + copying does not preserve line breaks

Double space after an exclamation point

Where bullets required two spaces after an exclamation point, the bullet app will reduced two typed spaces down to one single space. Is there a way to maintain the two spaces whether it visually looks like a double space or not?

website slow, esp on AF networks

can try switching to product version of React, which should be faster.

Bullet length

As we transition bullets to 115 character in myevals can you make an option for bullet length to be 115 characters.

Bullet Shaping Tool crashes every few monutes

The bullet shaping tool crashes and refreshes every 5 minutes in Chrome and Edge.

importing abbrs does not trigger update correctly

reproduction steps:

1. paste in some bullets that you expect to have abbreviations
2. import default abbreviations

you should see that your abbreviations are not correctly implemented in the output. I think the abbr dictionary is getting corrupted or not correctly updated.

Abbreviation Sorting by Enabled/Disabled Doesn't Work

When sorting the abbreviations, clicking the "Enabled" column toggles its display for the different statuses, but does not sort the rows.

MyEval

ALCON,
Would you add a tab to the AF Bullet Shaping tool to include the Air Force MyEval bullet length?
Thanks,
Jeremy

Investigate decorations system

To create decorations, the af uses a website form based tool to generate PDFs of the decoration. However, there's no form validation on the PDF to ensure that the submitted citation text will fit in the dec. instead, the user has to generate a pdf, open it, and visually confirm that the text looks okay.

After a cursory review of the decoration-generating website, I think it is feasible to allow pdf-bullets to validate citation paragraphs. There are a few steps that need to be accomplished:

1. Inspect auto generated pdf code and see what is the actual text box size.

2. See if the size changes based on the award type, font size

3. Implement custom font size option in pdf-bullets

4. Exhaustively test

Thesaurus doesn't seem to work today

Yesterday it was working today it is not. Anything i can do to help please let me know. This tool has been an invaluable help to me and several others in my unit.

abbreviating past tense and plural suffixes/prefixes

based on second half of issue report from https://github.com/EA-Pods-Team/pdf-bullets/issues/5

using NLM-Compromise, it is feasible for this feature to be implemented.

My first thought for implementation:

First, require that all words in the abbreviation list be in their singular/infinitive (basic) form for the abbreviations.

Next, have a new table like so:

identifier	Tags	prefix	suffix
nplur	Noun, Plural		s
vpast	Verb, PastTense		'd

and then add a column to the existing table like so:

Enabled	Word	Abbreviation	Additional
[x]	program	prgm	vpast,nplur

In the code where I update the abbreviation dictionary, I would take every word that has an "additional" value(s) and use NLP to transform them (with the Tags) into the modified word (whether it be past tense or plural or whatever). Then, I will add that word as a key into the abbr dictionary, with the value being the original abbreviation + prefix/suffix.

Tool freezes and unable to upload acronyms

After I paste a bullet, I start deleting letters and the app freezes. I tried removing all the cookies and cache. This deleted my acronyms so I tried to re import them and it will not import anything, it does not give any error just does not populate. I have tried on multiple web browsers and different workstations.
I did notice today when I went into the app the input bullet box would shrink down to one line if you deleted everything out which it has never done before. The bullet I am trying to use is

• Spearheaded no-notice load change spt; bed down/mobilized 10 anti-radiation wpns f/cmbt msn--armed 5 acft <6 hrs
  I delete Spearheaded and Type in Energized and it freezes. It will not freeze at Energize you have to have the d for it to freeze I’m guessing it’s a character count thing, not really sure.

after the frozen 2 image i get the same fail pop up.

Gratitude

I just want to say thank you for creating this beautiful application. It has improved my mental heath more than you will ever know, saves me hours.

add information

put link to github site
put reference to datamuse API
reference to handsontable
reference to myself for making the site

improve user interface

add preview for current bullet on right side
have thesaurus follow screen on scroll

Remove Auto abbreviations when loading.

Now that the Air Force is using Narrative format, there is still a need for this tool for Award packages in a 1206. With the 5 default abbreviations on, this causes an unneeded manually disable of abbreviations, specifically with > w/.

It may be good to add some approved abbreviations from the AFPC Acronyms page: https://www.afpc.af.mil/Career-Management/Acronyms/

"CATEGORIES OF APPROVED ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS

• Common ranks/tiers across all services (SrA, Maj, Brig Gen, SNCO, etc...)
• Common office symbols (CC, CMSAF, A4, JA, etc…)
• Common organizations at squadron and above (CPTS, AFGSC, DoD, FBI, STARCOM, CCMD, FW, CJTF, etc...)
• Common weapons and platforms (F-16, AIM-9, HH-60, MILSTAR, etc…)
• Common symbols and measurements (lbs, MPH, $25B, 5%, hrs, FY23, etc…)"

word frequency highlighting

show words that are used multiple times

Not working on govt computers

Creators,
I just wanted you to know that for some reason I cannot access your program at Eglin afb on govt computer. I need this program! I can't go back to the half space bullshit! It says site cannot be reached, try checking the connection or proxy and the firewall. Y'alls product is the best out there and I need it! Thanks.

John

910 Size Off

When I type the following bullet into a 910 it fits exactly; however, the tool puts the "std" onto the next line.

• Led 42 mbrs/3 AFSCs thru JQS update; certified mbrs/trainers on 133 rqmts--propelled nascent flight trng to wing std

Ignoring the quality of the bullet, it seems to fit the 910 with no space at all, the sizing in the tool may be slightly off.

Abbreviations import does not work if file has same name as existing import

I had a similar issue with PDFs, if the PDF had the same name. I think I fixed the issue by manually removing the filename after import.

Add other forms

Add LOE and training reports. See https://reddit.com/r/AirForce/comments/eyj2p6/_/fgjzknj/?context=1

Request to have installation and setup steps added to readme

Running into some issues trying to get this up and running. Seems to be a lot of deprecated packages and an issue with mismatched python versions. I fixed that issue but still ran into issues trying to get this up and running. I could be missing something. Could someone possibly add instructions in the readme?

Save to local storage/load feature not working

Encountered some issues when trying to save to local storage: message was that the storage limit was exceeded.

After doing some analysis, found that the editor saved state had a lot of instances of:

 "characterList": [
                            {
                                "style": [],
                                "entity": null
                            },
                            {
                                "style": [],
                                "entity": null
                            },
                            {
                                "style": [],
                                "entity": null
                            },
                            {
                                "style": [],
                                "entity": null
                            },
                            {
                                "style": [],
                                "entity": null
                            },]

that seemed to be filling up a lot of space. need to figure out why this is happening (possibly with new word duplication detection feature?) and maybe find ways to puge this information before storing to local storage

Not all EPR fields get imported

See https://reddit.com/r/AirForce/comments/eyj2p6/_/fghnxdy/?context=1

Website not working on Safari/iphone

I think this issue is because regex lookbehind is not supported across all browsers, per https://stackoverflow.com/questions/51568821/works-in-chrome-but-breaks-in-safari-invalid-regular-expression-invalid-group .

case insensitive..

This is probably related to #7
But case shouldn't matter..

font size and type customization

Abbreviations are Case sensitive

Can you make the abbr not case sensitive

172 i's should fit on one line of an AF1206

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

I'm glad nobody has called me out on this, which means that it's not that prevalent or common of an issue.

The above line of 172 i's will fit on a 1206, but won't fit in one line on the bullet tool. This tells me that there is a slight but unacceptable discrepancy between my tool and actual PDFs.

I want to get this fixed, but it will likely involve significant refactoring of the bullet optimization subcomponents. Creating an issue here so I don't forget.