donb01

OK, here's my 2 cents worth because I have been screwing around with this for the entire weekend. I messed with Wherigo many years ago when I had a blackberry and there was an app in development I was helping beta test. I had forgotten about it until I was at a mega event last weekend and one of the people I befriended while I was there was doing them on her iPhone. I was like "Oh, so it works on other devices now?" So then I went to the app store that night in the hotel room and found WhereYouGo but the description was a little cloudy and I wasn't sure it was the same game, and dropped it for the rest of that weekend. Now this weekend when I was putting caches back on my GPS after I had cleaned it off for the event I noticed there were a few nearby. So I did more research and got WhereYouGo, set it up as best I could. It was referring to the sdcard for storage, but I didn't have one in this phone so I went to wally world and bought one. Came back, stuck it in the phone, made a directory (that I called wig) on the sdcard, dumped the file on there, went into the app and set that as the directory, and it refused to load it saying I had an invalid cartridge. I screwed around with the other 3 formats, renamed the file (suggested on Wherigo site) and screwed around for the better part of a day. There was something I noticed and it struck me as odd, so I tested out a theory. On my phone, under Internal Storage, there is a WhereYouGo directory that is already there. So I took the original download and dumped it into THAT directory. The thing I noticed is that before I ever went and bought the sdcard the phone already had a directory called sdcard. In order to get to the one I bought I had to back up a couple levels and choose External Storage/sdcard to find where I put the file. In this case I did not do that. I chose the sdcard folder that was already there, and inside of there was a WhereYouGo folder, and inside of there was the file I dropped in. As soon as I chose that file and went out the app fires right up and works normally! So apparently on my phone it thinks the INTERNAL STORAGE is already an sdcard (because there is already a folder with that name). Apparently when I installed the app it already created the folder called WhereYouGo, and I just had to go into settings and specify that directory path and I was good.... BUT... (Another Theory) Read the fine print VERY carefully when you go to select the directory. There needs to ALREADY be a .gwc file in that directory when you go in the app to choose the directory BECAUSE IT WANTS YOU TO SELECT A FILE IN THAT DIRECTORY TO COMPLETE THE PROCESS!! After you select the file, when it gets back to the settings screen it only shows the directory name - the filename you chose is not included! Now when you back out and hit start it will come up with a list of files in that directory, and you to choose one, and away you go! Some theories: Possibly the directory must be on INTERNAL storage and trying to use an add-on SD card doesn't work. Possibly the directory name HAS to be WhereYouGo. I started out by adding in an SD card, and I named my directory on that card "wig". So maybe it was the directory name, or maybe it was the fact that I was on an external sdcard. I am done ruling out the issues now because it appears to work. Hope this helps. I'm sure if these work when I drive over to try it out I will be quite hooked!

I'll check on the TrekBuddy thing later, but at the time of installation of openwig I opened the permissions wide open for everything. I'll have to look into the certificate store thing as well - not sure how that works. Also not sure (yet) if it makes a difference if the cart files are on the device or the extended memory card. Will keep you posted!

Latest update from my world. Just today I upgraded from the BB Curve 8330 to the Curve 8530 and I am VERY impressed with 95% of the results! First, I pointed the browser to the application and it loaded flawlessly OTA. Then, even though it found my bluetooth GPS and synced up with it right away I got better results just leaving it set to Internal. I loaded the tutorial cartridge on the external memory card and it loaded and ran without a problem. My only complaint is that unsigned application box. On my other curve it only popped up when you were first loading the cartridge. Now it pops up for at least 75% of everything you do - including game play. Now I loaded the cartridge onto an external media card, and I don't know if there would be any difference if I loaded it into the internal memory on the device - maybe I'll have to give that a shot. It's now tot he point where it's incredibly annoying ( How much does it cost to get you what you need to sign the application? Maybe we can all take up donations on PayPal to get you the cash you need to fix that problem??

Sorry that I seem to have disappeared. I am working on a 'construction project' for a new space in my basement and also co-creating a new cache series with 25 - 30 caches that will be released at a social event in about 2 weeks. Life has been nuts! I am also only a few weeks from upgrading to the new BB Curve 8530 (I believe), so I will then work on getting things going for that. As soon as my vendor has it available I will change. I am hoping the increased processor power and memory of that phone will make for a nicer experience, and maybe by now they have built in a better GPS.

All that matters to me is the number is going down the closer I get to the target, and I just figure 1 meter is equal to 3 feet - close enough for this application!!

I would assume so - it's just a java app, and if you had the appropriate runtime. Unless he is using some kind of mobile libraries or something. I think the default java stuff that gets loaded on the PC is designed to run apps inside of a web browser and you might have to look for something that will run it standalone. The trickiest part may be getting communications with your GPS puck up and running if you get the app to work. You also have to remember the screen image will be very small - so you might want to down-res your display to make it bigger. To M: Sorry I was testing for you and sort of disappeared. The weather here has been less than ideal and I have been very busy at work. o promise I will get back to it and continue.... Last I used it the app was running with a lot less effort than it was on my first trial.

I'll test it more, but it definitely DOES run on the blackberry now and I did notice a new file pop up after I exited the application mid-game and then came back - I'm pulling from a weak mind here, but I think it was a .gvl or .gcl file or something like that... I'll mess with it more tonight. Thanks!

OK, this is seeming very strange and am wondering if something bogus is going on. Converted the jar file the same way I did with the last one. Deleted 0.3.91i and rebooted the phone. Used app loader to load the converted file from 0.3.93. Yes it runs. But on the main screen right after you star the app it says it's v312, and if I go into the blackberry and look at the modules it says the module is still 0.3.91. I don't know if you didn't update the variables for the version number before you compiled or if the 0.3.91 module was never deleted off the blackberry when I deleted the app. Regardless, it works the same way - internal GPS and no changes in text size or scrolling. That is why I'm not sure if I really got the new versions or not. I may try one more thing with the jar/jad files just to be sure I have the new version... EDIT: Dumped the 2 files on my website and tried to load them OTA. When I choose the .jad file it still says 0.3.91, and when I say to download it comes up and says invalid .jar file. I was sure to purge out my browser cache before attempting to install it.

Grabbed the zip but am heading for bed. Will install tomorrow night hopefully and put some time on it. I'll report back the results. Thanks!

I certainly understand the scary part! I am not resistant to change, but I usually prefer to take a known route rather than make up a new one unless I'm bored and have time to kill... It's like my own website - I got bored with it and loaded Joomla on my server. I started teaching myself how to create a web environment in there and then got bored with that too... It looks really cool but never got more than half done! )

OK, trying this again - I forget what I all said when I first wrote this, but.... The first thing to note is that on a BB the screen is wider than it is high, which may be the reason for the annoying scrolling effects. If there is a way to make it auto-resize I'll have to figure it out. So it starts like this: You will notice there are no softkeys or commands listed on the screen, and You have to scroll down to see the bottom. At this point, a first-timer like me has no clue what to do so I click the trackball and get the menu: And then I have to click again to select OK - so that's 2 clicks to do anything. That brings me to the next screen On which I have to scroll down again to read it all, and then Press the trackball to get the menu and again to select OK. This goes on and on and becomes tedious. The same thing happens for the main menu. You have to press the trackball or menu key (I forget) to bring that up, then select your action type, such as Give, and then click on give, etc... lots of clicks. Overall the concept is great, and on a real trek one would think you have to travel further and click less than in the tutorial, but it's the same general concept.... Hopefully it shows up this time!!

I'll do it over tonight if I have time - the hardest part was learning how to take screenshots of the BB and downloading all the applications needed. I assume this isn't your first rodeo, but did you check to make sure your thread subscription is still valid under My Controls?

Did the mod delete my post or something?? I remember spending an hour posting my BlackBerry screen shots and comments here but they're gone today - no one ragged on me about anything I did wrong....

I'll be happy to help you sort out some of the BlackBerry stuff. I can't do development because besides the Java programming knowledge it also requires some kind of developer approval thingy from RIM. Yes the bluetooth keychain was turned on and also BB Maps was running and acquiring signal. I figured the app would need to see the GPS being online and active per previous comments. I didn't try running the app and turning on the GPS after and then doing the search - but internal works good in my case. I'll try to test the other case for thoroughness of testing. I thought the issue with the digital signature was when I went to download the app and was told it was not from a known source and asked me if I wanted to trust it - i didn't correlate that to it asking me if it was OK to access my data files once it was already on the device. It only happens when loading the card so it's just a minor inconvenience vs not being able to play at all. The "OK" after every message or action in the game play was tedious. Is that a function of the original player, or could it be changed to some sort of "hit any key to continue?" It's more of the fact that it doesn't tell you to hit OK to continue - you first have to push the track ball and then it first gives you the OK? prompt and then you have to hit the track ball again. The .a1x and .cod file pair is equivalent to the .jad and .jar pair except the .jad/.jar is more easily installed OTA and the .a1x/.cod can be downloaded to your PC and installed using the BlackBerry Desktop Manager. You can PM me where to send the files and if it's ok to zip them up or if you want them individually (total 112K). I can also wait till the new version comes out and make a set for that instead if it works. If I can be of any other help feel free to ask.

Ohhhkayyy, thanks to all for the non-help, but since I'm not that way here is the scoop: BlackBerry 8330 Curve on Cellcom (a regional Midwest US carrier) unlocked. Software version 4.5.131 - it's the Sprint version, I just removed the vendor.cnf file and loaded it a long time ago. 0.3.92 did not work for me as dowloaded OTA - it gave me the error message listed above. So I downloaded the zip of 0.3.91i and copied the jad/jar files to my webspace so I could load them OTA. I first deleted version 0.3.92. Unfortunately the 0.3.91i version would not load properly because it said I had the 0.3.92 midlet already there and was trying to overwrite it with 0.3.91. So what now? I downloaded a handy and cheap .jar to .a1x converter and converted the jar file to .a1x - then used the BlackBerry Desktop Manager's application installer to load it on the device. Bingo! Up it came and ran fine. Then I had to figure out the GPS issue. I am using a Freedom Keychain GPS 2000 external bluetooth GPS because, honestly, the one built into the BlackBerry sucks butt. I tried telling the software to use a bluetooth GPS under options and it kept telling me no bluetooth devices were found - even though it was up and running with BB maps in the background when I started the software. No such luck. So I tried Manual GPS, and that told me the GPS was online but wasn't providing any data, so no luck there either. Finally, because under Options - Advanced - GPS in my BlackBerry I have the GPS data source set for Keychain GPS 2000 for all GPS functions I chose Internal GPS. that went right to work and accessed the GPS and gave me a full data stream. I then downloaded the Wherigo tutorial cartridge for Pocket PC because I had no idea which version to choose and thought that would be closest to my Java application. I connected the BB to my PC and let it go into media card mode - then I just copied the cartridge file over to the BlackBerry. Note that the application would not let me access the data card until I disconnected the BB from the PC, so I did that. I chose Start and browsed to the cartridge file and selected it, and then hit Start to begin the game - I had no problem completing it and getting the unlock code at the end. While I was browsing for the application and loading it the blackberry asked me a whole bunch of times if it was OK to let the application access the local data and I said yes every time. it did not do that during the game. The only thing I found unwieldy during the game was that after every single message I had to keep hitting OK to go on to the next step.... Otherwise, cool software - thanks for writing it. I look forward to trying to create one of my own now that I know it works. I will be happy to provide the .a1x file of 0.3.91i to anyone else who wants to try it on their BB - or provide it to the author so he can make it downloadable from the project.

Just found out about this app today because I was investigating a strange cache icon on the google map. Downloaded the latest version to my BlackBerry 8330 Curve using the OTA link provided. App comes up with the message "Error starting OpenWIG: Symbol 'CommandListener.SELECT_COMMAND' not found." So I took a hint from another post and went in to Applications and deleted it. Then I downloaded the .zip of 3.91i and put the files on my webspace so I could OTA it from there. That gives me some kind of message about midlet 3.92 being present and I'm trying to load 3.91 so it fails on the install. I haven't been able to back up a version and try that. I do realize I'm butchering the notation of the version numbers, but you get the point. Any hope for me to get this App running on my BlackBerry?? Or if I upgrade to the BlackBerry Tour will I have any better luck?

I just started this past Sunday while on vacation in a primarily wilderness kind of area. I felt so stupid on my first one because I really had no idea what I was looking for, where, or whatever, and I remember how excited I was when I found it and realized I really could do it. I hit the next 10 or so without a miss and really thought I was getting a feel for it. Then I started to run into a couple that p-d me off and was getting discouraged, but got a couple more on the way home that got me going again. Several locations I spent over an hour in and I looked in every nook and cranny, looked for piles of wood out of place or anything else. Problem was most of the ones I couldn't find were in sucky areas. The GPS was bouncing all over the place and had me going in circles, and then a couple areas had so much deadfall and recent brushwork in the area that all the piles looked the same - finally gave up. One I think I know where it may have been but I chose not to stand in a 2 foot ditch full of nice fresh stream water in October (and no doubt high-suction mud at the bottom), and one was under a railroad trestle and the GPS was giving me completely unrelated values depending on which side of the trestle I stood on - I spent an hour and a half on that one. It was a middle sized cache and I went thru the area with a fine tooth comb and still didn't find it. I found one where there was a jar buried in a wad of "great stuff" that looked just like a hunk of bracket fungi, was creatively splattered with the kind of "gunk" you'd find on a such an item and it was placed next to a downed tree... I was on my way out and said "what the heck is that" and when it moved with my foot I flipped it over and saw the jar. Another one was just a magnetic key box with a rolled up paper log in it stuck to a pipe right out there in front of God and everyone.... I have to admit I had a bit of the devil in me when I put some of them back, and took advantage of a little time to arrange their cloaks a bit more natural, sprinkle on a nice touch of pine straw or some dead leaves, etc... Now that I'm back home and looking at what's around here, some of these people seem to take great pleasure in making you do psychotic math equations in order to get the GPS coordinates, and other things to make them seem way more difficult at home.... Hang in there, and get a Garmin GPS. Then you can download the waypoints right into it to make things a bit easier.

Hmmm... It does seem to let me edit waypoints. I'll have to try that tomoorw and see if it works. Thanks.

I just started this week and I'm using my eMap that I bought many moons ago and then later bought a TomTom for my truck so it was relegated to a shelf. I dug it out for this and it has been working great. The only thing I haven't figured out how to do (or can't) is to enter the coordinates off the sheet if I forgot to download the waypoint into the GPS and then navigate to them.... I was trying to drive and watch the numbers move, which makes for a sucky driving experience!