Gsak (geocaching Swiss Army Knife)

[+ClydeE]

My filter window will not go away - clicking X, Cancel, or whatever, it just hangs around. I have been trying to build new filters today for some trip planning. All my old filters are working fine.

 

Just upgraded to 5.6, but don't know if this is related to that or not.

 

Anyone have a fix for this?

I have not had reports of this problem specific to 5.6

 

However, I have had the odd occasion seen this on a windows 98/ME systems that is heavily loaded.

 

Do you still have the problem after a reboot of your computer?

[+stantastic]

If GPSBabel has enough information to deduce something is a geocache and deduce diff/terr and cache type, it will use it to modify the comment and icon types _unless_ the "-N" flag is passed.

 

<snip>

 

For now, Stantastic, just add -N to your GPSBabel invocation.

Thanks, Robert -- I'll give the "-N" flag a try next chance I get.

[+elsinga]

GSAK does allow you do add pictures (open up a user note and click on the "picture" button) and these will display in any offline HTML that GSAK generates.

 

Unfortunately the hint images are not included in the GPX file so GSAK does not know if a cache has hint images or not, so If you use this feature you will need to download manually.

 

However, right or wrong, many users have been getting around this by using the Spoilersync utility

 

Please do not ask me to put the same functionality as Spoilersync into GSAK as I have been told it violates the Groundspeak TOU

I know I can add pictures into GSAK, and it's that feature I want to use.

 

It also doesn't surprise me that the hint pictures aren't (mentioned) in the GPX file. So that makes it hard for GSAK to find out if there are pictures in the cache description at all... except for the HTML image references in the cache description. After all, they are also downloaded (when online) on the offline cache page.

 

I'll look into Spoilersync... and hope I don;t get my IP banned.

[+ClydeE]

I'll look into Spoilersync... and hope I don;t get my IP banned. 

Yea, it is a gray area all right but on the face of it I guess it is no less abusive than the many people that use plucker with the image option turned on.

[+SixTen]

I just got my friend interested in Geocaching...she is having a blast...she is getting all set up, but has a Macintosh...is GSAK not available in Macintosh format? (sorry if this has been covered...I did a search and didn't see anything...)

 

Thanks for your help!

Six

[+caderoux]

My filter window will not go away - clicking X, Cancel, or whatever, it just hangs around.  I have been trying to build new filters today for some trip planning.  All my old filters are working fine.

 

Just upgraded to 5.6, but don't know if this is related to that or not.

 

Anyone have a fix for this?

I have not had reports of this problem specific to 5.6

 

However, I have had the odd occasion seen this on a windows 98/ME systems that is heavily loaded.

 

Do you still have the problem after a reboot of your computer?

I'll try the reboot - the machine is an XP Pro laptop which rarely gets rebooted.

 

I'll post an update in a few minutes.

[+ClydeE]

I just got my friend interested in Geocaching...she is having a blast...she is getting all set up, but has a Macintosh...is GSAK not available in Macintosh format? (sorry if this has been covered...I did a search and didn't see anything...)

 

No.

 

There are users out there that run GSAK under virtual PC in the Mac, however there are issues with the Garmin USB support (only a problem if you have a Garmin GPSr that is USB enabled and you want to send/receive waypoints via USB)

[+caderoux]

My filter window will not go away - clicking X, Cancel, or whatever, it just hangs around.  I have been trying to build new filters today for some trip planning.  All my old filters are working fine.

 

Just upgraded to 5.6, but don't know if this is related to that or not.

 

Anyone have a fix for this?

I have not had reports of this problem specific to 5.6

 

However, I have had the odd occasion seen this on a windows 98/ME systems that is heavily loaded.

 

Do you still have the problem after a reboot of your computer?

I'll try the reboot - the machine is an XP Pro laptop which rarely gets rebooted.

 

I'll post an update in a few minutes.

Reboot fixed it - weird. Oh well, it's good to reboot once a month or so.

[+bassoonde]

My filter window will not go away - clicking X, Cancel, or whatever, it just hangs around.  I have been trying to build new filters today for some trip planning.  All my old filters are working fine.

 

Just upgraded to 5.6, but don't know if this is related to that or not.

 

Anyone have a fix for this?

I have not had reports of this problem specific to 5.6

 

However, I have had the odd occasion seen this on a windows 98/ME systems that is heavily loaded.

 

Do you still have the problem after a reboot of your computer?

I'll try the reboot - the machine is an XP Pro laptop which rarely gets rebooted.

 

I'll post an update in a few minutes.

Reboot fixed it - weird. Oh well, it's good to reboot once a month or so.

Hello Clyde

I also had this problem when I changed to the new version of GSAK. But I couldn't find a way to reproduce it. I know I played with filters to find caches with a DNF inside from me. There was no chance to close the filter window and the CPU-load raised to 50%. But I discovered if I press the ESC-key it close and I could work again.

A few filters later it happend 2-3 times again and also GSAK vanished completely without a message window. After restart I had to repair the database.

I use XP Media Center edition 2002 SP2

 

But until now it didn't happen again.

Chris

Edited June 26, 2005 by bassoonde

[+stantastic]

If GPSBabel has enough information to deduce something is a geocache and deduce diff/terr and cache type, it will use it to modify the comment and icon types  _unless_ the "-N"  flag is passed.

 

<snip>

 

For now, Stantastic, just add -N to your GPSBabel invocation.

Thanks, Robert -- I'll give the "-N" flag a try next chance I get.

Responding to my own response, I realized this morning that having to pass the "-N" flag to MacGPSBabel is going to require my getting OUT of the nicey-nice GUI application and INTO the Unix world of Terminal -- isn't it?

 

Ah, well -- I did it before to create a memory "dump" for Babel -- I guess I can do it again...

[+embra]

If GPSBabel has enough information to deduce something is a geocache and deduce diff/terr and cache type, it will use it to modify the comment and icon types  _unless_ the "-N"  flag is passed.

 

<snip>

 

For now, Stantastic, just add -N to your GPSBabel invocation.

Thanks, Robert -- I'll give the "-N" flag a try next chance I get.

Responding to my own response, I realized this morning that having to pass the "-N" flag to MacGPSBabel is going to require my getting OUT of the nicey-nice GUI application and INTO the Unix world of Terminal -- isn't it?

 

Ah, well -- I did it before to create a memory "dump" for Babel -- I guess I can do it again...

I think you can still take advantage of GSAK passing most of the parameters by putting together everything as you have in GSAK and doing the export...which will do it without the -N parameter, of course. But then you need only go to the BABEL.BAT file in GSAK and edit it to place the -N flag in the gpsbabel command.

 

In my BABEL.BAT I see that the flag is immediately after the gpsbabel invocation: "gpsbabel -N" etc.

 

Edit to add the probably obvious: after editing BABEL.BAT, run it.

Edited June 27, 2005 by embra

[robertlipe]

Embra, the (non-obvious) detail you're missing is that Stantastic is needing to run the _Mac_ GPSBabel here; he's using this under Virtual PC (a program to let him run windows stuff under OSX) which works for GSAK and works for GPSBabel itself but doesn't work for the Garmin USB driver and thus precludes his USB transfers he's seeking.

 

Stantastic, you're correct. I don't see a way to do this via the Mac GUI. You could, however, probably do it if you exported a less expressive format from GSAK to GPSBabel. GSAK'x GPX contains enough Groundspeak-isms that we can get clever with the icons but if you instead spun it off as, say, a Mapsource file GPSBabel wouldn't be able to do all that clever stuff. Then you could leave your keyboard packed away and do it all from the pointy clicky stuff. :-)

[+stantastic]

Looks like I have some experimenting to do :-)

[+MedicP1]

Clyde is there a way at present to include/transfer the current centre point as an actual point when creating GPX files from within GSAK, without my having to manually create one for each 'location' in GSAK.

 

I want to do this so when I am setting up views for GPS Visualizer I can see the centre point for reference.

[+ClydeE]

Clyde is there a way at present to include/transfer the current centre point as an actual point when creating GPX files from within GSAK, without my having to manually create one for each 'location' in GSAK.

 

I want to do this so when I am setting up views for GPS Visualizer I can see the centre point for reference.

Sorry, in a word, "no"

[+elsinga]

Clyde, I'm running SpoilerSync at this moment and it grabbes all pictures from the cache pages. Now I want them to be in the GSAk database...

 

Is there a way to do this automagically? Can a macro do a directory listing, find all images (all in JPG, AFAIK) and add a link to the images into the cache description, just like I would do manually? Or would I be wasting my time if I went to study the GSAK macro language (since I never needed it, it would be my first attempt...)?

[+ClydeE]

Clyde, I'm running SpoilerSync at this moment and it grabbes all pictures from the cache pages. Now I want them to be in the GSAk database...

 

Is there a way to do this automagically? Can a macro do a directory listing, find all images (all in JPG, AFAIK) and add a link to the images into the cache description, just like I would do manually? Or would I be wasting my time if I went to study the GSAK macro language (since I never needed it, it would be my first attempt...)?

My best advice is to wait until version 5.7 (sorry I can't give an ETA at the moment)

 

Version 5.7 has a whole swag of macro enhancements that will enable you to do this.

 

Even then I would not worry about having to write the macro. I know there are already others users wanting this, and there is a good chance such a macro will be shipped with the install, or at the very least find its way to http://gsak.net/Macros.php

[+Partic]

BUG: The Microsoft Streets & Trips CSV file export current exports a tab seperated CSV file as opposed to a comma seperated CSV file.

 

The resulting file then has to be converted back to comma seperated file for what I then do to it to import it into Destinator as a Favourites

How exactly is it a bug that a Streets & Trips file that imports perfectly into Streets & Trips (and the European Autoroute product, unlike earlier versions) doesn't import into some other program?

Apologies, used my file type logic... I considered the fact that it says CSV - and that it had previously been exporting with commas - and that it now creates a Tab Seperated Values file, that that would be considered a bug.

 

As I've been VERY happily using all those nice menu driven features in GSAK for six months now, it had never occurred to me to even consider using GPS Babel to get what I wanted.

 

I'll check Clyde's suggested posting, sort it out for myself, and post the resulting assistance for those who may be interested in the future.

Edited June 27, 2005 by Partic

[+KaiserKlan]

Clyde,

 

Two quick things.

 

1) My filter window is not closing most of the time either, I am on XP Pro.

 

2) I create a lot of filters on XP but my lap top, and home computer are both Macs where I run Route 66 quite a bit. Is it possible for GSAK to output the waypoints in Route 66 format so I can import them there? I usually just use my flash drive to carry stuff around, so i could download to that to make it available to my Mac.

[+ClydeE]

1) My filter window is not closing most of the time either, I am on XP Pro

I have XP Pro also, but have never been able to reproduce this problem. However, I would really love to track down what the cause is.

 

As a side question, does using the escape key work for you?

 

What I really need is for you (or anyone) to be able to reliably repeat this behaviour and document the exact steps to cause it. With these steps and a backup of your database I am hoping I will be able to replicate the problem and get to the bottom of it.

 

2) I create a lot of filters on XP but my lap top, and home computer are both Macs where I run Route 66 quite a bit. Is it possible for GSAK to output the waypoints in Route 66 format so I can import them there? I usually just use my flash drive to carry stuff around, so i could download to that to make it available to my Mac.

Not natively, no. However, if GPSBabel supports this format, then you could use the File=>Export=>Custom option to generate the file.

Edited June 27, 2005 by ClydeE

[+KaiserKlan]

What I really need is for you (or anyone) to be able to reliably repeat this behaviour and document the exact steps to cause it. With these steps and a backup of your database I am hoping I will be able to replicate the problem and get to the bottom of it.

 

Change the query, save it, then press GO, this seems to cause it to happen every time I've tried it.

[+ClydeE]

What I really need is for you (or anyone) to be able to reliably repeat this behaviour and document the exact steps to cause it. With these steps and a backup of your database I am hoping I will be able to replicate the problem and get to the bottom of it.

 

Change the query, save it, then press GO, this seems to cause it to happen every time I've tried it.

Sorry to be so pendantic but saying "change the query" won't cut it.

 

What query? Any query, a saved query, only certain items filled in (what items) etc

 

Save it. Under what name? Are you saving a query that already exists? Are you selecting the "save centre point" option.

 

I really need as much information as you can provide to enable me to replicate this. (screen shots would not go astray)

 

If you could do a File=>Backup and select just one database you can reliably produce this error on (make sure to also tick the settings box) then email me the generated zip file together with the answers to my questions and anything else you feel may be a contributing factor.

 

Thx

Clyde

[+elsinga]

Clyde, I'm running SpoilerSync at this moment and it grabbes all pictures from the cache pages. Now I want them to be in the GSAk database...

 

Is there a way to do this automagically? Can a macro do a directory listing, find all images (all in JPG, AFAIK) and add a link to the images into the cache description, just like I would do manually? Or would I be wasting my time if I went to study the GSAK macro language (since I never needed it, it would be my first attempt...)?

My best advice is to wait until version 5.7 (sorry I can't give an ETA at the moment)

 

Version 5.7 has a whole swag of macro enhancements that will enable you to do this.

 

Even then I would not worry about having to write the macro. I know there are already others users wanting this, and there is a good chance such a macro will be shipped with the install, or at the very least find its way to http://gsak.net/Macros.php

Thanks! I only hope 5.7 and the macro will arrive before I go on vacation (which is in a month).

[+DaJudges]

Hello Clyde,

 

In the last month or two, I've noticed that the "last GPX" is not being updated on some of the caches in GSAK. For example, on the cache "Fallen Fronds" (GCMK7E), the "last GPX" is 5/16/05 but the last log on the geo.com website is dated 5/28/05. I get weekly PQ updates, so there has been an opportunity for this to be updated in GSAK about 6 times. The cache is not locked in GSAK.

 

I have approximately 30 or 40 caches in GSAK that have logs in geo.com after the "last GPX" date - and they are not all with a last GPX of 5/16 (that is just the oldest one). The most recent one is Crooked Cache (GCP9FP). In GSAK, the "last GPX" is 6/20/05 and the "last found" is 6/17/05. When I look at geo.com, there was a log on 6/20 and two on 6/22. The most recent PQ update was done today, 6/27.

 

Any suggestions on why these might not be updating? I can provide more examples if you need them.

 

Thanks!

[+Kai Team]

In the last month or two, I've noticed that the "last GPX" is not being updated on some of the caches in GSAK. 

I've found two reasons why the last GPX date doesn't update in GSAK, both related to Pocket Queries (PQ's), not GSAK:

 

1) The cache has been archived. GC.com PQ's don't include archived caches.

 

2) New caches are displacing some of the older (but still active) ones from the PQ because of the upper limit on the number of caches in the PQ (either what you've defined, or the max of 500 defined by GC.com).

 

The way to test if it's the PQ or GSAK is to open the PQ GPX file in any text editor (e.g. Notepad) and search for one or more of the missing caches (search by GC code is the easiest, Edit>Find within Notepad). If it's not in the PQ, then GSAK can't update it!

 

If it turns out the caches are being dropped from the PQ, and you can figure out why (e.g. archived, max number exceeded) there are workarounds - post here if you need help figuring one out and someone will help!

[+DaJudges]

Well, they aren't archived - not even temporarily disabled. I checked that before I posted. And I've set up the PQs to pull based on year placed so I don't get too many at a time. I'll check in the PQ file as you suggested and see if the missing ones are there. Thanks!

[+ClydeE]

Well, they aren't archived - not even temporarily disabled. I checked that before I posted. And I've set up the PQs to pull based on year placed so I don't get too many at a time. I'll check in the PQ file as you suggested and see if the missing ones are there. Thanks!

One other reason for this would be if in GSAK you have "locked" the cache.

 

As Kai Team suggested, the acid test to determin if this is a PQ issue or a GSAK issue is to interrogate the GPX file.

 

If you find the cache in the GPX file, we need to investigate further.

[+DaJudges]

Well, I'll be! You're right - they aren't in the PQ. Seems I wasn't paying attention to my extract from 2005 and there have already been more than 500 placed since the beginning of the year! So... I'll split my 2005 extract into more than one PQ.

 

Thanks so much!

[+caderoux]

What I really need is for you (or anyone) to be able to reliably repeat this behaviour and document the exact steps to cause it. With these steps and a backup of your database I am hoping I will be able to replicate the problem and get to the bottom of it.

 

Change the query, save it, then press GO, this seems to cause it to happen every time I've tried it.

Sorry to be so pendantic but saying "change the query" won't cut it.

 

What query? Any query, a saved query, only certain items filled in (what items) etc

 

Save it. Under what name? Are you saving a query that already exists? Are you selecting the "save centre point" option.

 

I really need as much information as you can provide to enable me to replicate this. (screen shots would not go astray)

 

If you could do a File=>Backup and select just one database you can reliably produce this error on (make sure to also tick the settings box) then email me the generated zip file together with the answers to my questions and anything else you feel may be a contributing factor.

 

Thx

Clyde

I have not been able to reliably reproduce it. When it does happen, I can click go and see the caches update in the grid in the background - I can even drag the filter window down and work with the filter window in the foreground.

 

I don't believe it is database or filter-related, as a reboot clears it up without any changes to the db, but as you mentioned, possibly system resource-related.

 

I will run Spy++ or something similar next time to see what I can see going on the window messages.

[+stantastic]

needing to run the _Mac_ GPSBabel here; he's using this under Virtual PC (a program to let him run windows stuff under OSX) which works for GSAK and works for GPSBabel itself but doesn't work for the Garmin USB driver and thus precludes his USB transfers he's seeking.

 

...You could, however, probably do it if you exported a less expressive format from GSAK to GPSBabel... say, a Mapsource file GPSBabel wouldn't be able to do all that clever stuff. Then you could leave your keyboard packed away and do it all from the pointy clicky stuff. :-)

Tried this option and it worked -- when exporting as a Mapsource file from GSAK, it allows you to easily select the icons for Not Found (e.g., Navaid Red in my case, along with Blue and Green for two other databases). (Can do the same exporting as GPX XML output but have to set up the GPS Export dialog box beforehand -- and as discussed, MacGPSBabel seems to cough up those "other" symbols for multi's, virts, etc. when it uploads to the GPSr).

 

Anyway, I dragged the files exported as Mapsource.mps files to the Mac OS X side, ran MacGPSBabel, and pumped all 900 waypoints into the 60CS in about 5 seconds -- and all the symbols stuck -- just like I wanted!! Cache names came across as I expected. Cool...

 

Thanks, Robert :-)

[robertlipe]

Great. Send groupies. I can't remember if Clyde or I got the last one, so you can pick who gets this one. :-)

 

The reason that you get non-obvious results for the GPX case is becuase the GPX that GSAK hands GPSBabel now contains enough information for GPSBabel to say, "hey, this is a pocket query, I know how to help the user by picking icons and such". In your case, you _don't_ want that help and you can't get to the light switch to tell it to quit helping you.

 

I don't know what I'm going to do about all this, but it does strike me that perhaps we should make the "don't help me" setting be the default. I'm not sure that's the best plan yet, but it's something I'm considering.

[+dapperdave and turtle]

Has anyone noticed a slow down in the speed of the new version of GSAK (5.6.0) when exporting files to MSST? I have a large benchmark database (13k) records and it takes over two hours to export it. In the older version it would only take about 3 or 4 minutes.

[+ClydeE]

Has anyone noticed a slow down in the speed of the new version of GSAK (5.6.0) when exporting files to MSST? I have a large benchmark database (13k) records and it takes over two hours to export it. In the older version it would only take about 3 or 4 minutes.

There were changes to the MSST format in version 5.6

 

Version 5.6 included a version of GPSBabel which added extra information to the export. However, 2 hours for 13000 waypoints does seem excessive.

 

Just so we can track this down, the MSST is a two step process. Firstly, GSAK generates a file for GPSBabel to process, then calls Babel to do the actual conversion.

 

When GPSBabel is running you will see the box "Running GPSBabel under the hood". So my question is, which section is taking up all the time?

[+ClydeE]

Has anyone noticed a slow down in the speed of the new version of GSAK (5.6.0) when exporting files to MSST?  I have a large benchmark database (13k) records and it takes over two hours to export it.  In the older version it would only take about 3 or 4 minutes.

There were changes to the MSST format in version 5.6

 

Version 5.6 included a version of GPSBabel which added extra information to the export. However, 2 hours for 13000 waypoints does seem excessive.

 

Just so we can track this down, the MSST is a two step process. Firstly, GSAK generates a file for GPSBabel to process, then calls Babel to do the actual conversion.

 

When GPSBabel is running you will see the box "Running GPSBabel under the hood". So my question is, which section is taking up all the time?

I think I might know what the problem is.

 

When you click on Help=>About, what version of GPSBabel does GSAK show?

 

It should be 1.2.6_Beta06072005

 

If you have somehow got an older version of GPSBabel in the install folder of GSAK, It will generate "Unknown style directive: ...." warnings because the earlier versions did not know about the new fields in the GSAK style file for version 5.6

 

The conversion will still work but it does slow down GPSBabel dramatically as it has to issue a number of these warnings for each waypoint processed.

 

If you do have an earlier version of GBSBabel shown when you click on Help=>About, please go to this link and download the latest windows beta of GPSBabel and unzip to the install folder of GSAK. Confirm, the you have infact overriden the old version via Help=>About

 

Does that fix the problem?

Edited June 28, 2005 by ClydeE

[robertlipe]

Yeah, what he said.

 

I just touch-tested GPSBabel reading a pocket query of 9,413 uniqe caches and writing a S&T file. It took 38 seconds. Knowing that reading XML is expensive (and knowing that what GSAK hands GPSBabel is much simpler than that) I converted those 9,413 caches to what I think GSAK would hand GPSBabel[1] and then timed the conversion of that to s_and_t in 1.4 seconds. So we're not testing the exact same thing, but if you find a case of 13,000 waypoints taking two hours (on a reasonable computer, of course; I don't care about an 8MB system running Windows 3.1) I'm most interested in the details.

 

[1] I _did_ find a problem triggered by caches with insanely long (multiple page) hints. I doubt you're running into that with benchmarkes, but I'll work that with Clyde separately.

[+dapperdave and turtle]

Thanks for the quick response. I am using the most current version of GSAK (5.6.0) and GPSBabel version 1.2.6_beta06072005. The problem occurs before GPSBabel is invoked.

 

I have tried reloading the GSAK software. Also the export works fine on smaller filters of the database. I suspect that there may be a bad record in the database. One other item of interest: it takes 2 hours on an XP machine but on a Win2000 machine the process stops responding almost immediately and hangs. This occurs right after the window appears that reads "Generating Streets & Trips file".

 

Thanks for your help.

[+ClydeE]

Thanks for the quick response. I am using the most current version of GSAK (5.6.0) and GPSBabel version 1.2.6_beta06072005. The problem occurs before GPSBabel is invoked.

 

I have tried reloading the GSAK software. Also the export works fine on smaller filters of the database. I suspect that there may be a bad record in the database. One other item of interest: it takes 2 hours on an XP machine but on a Win2000 machine the process stops responding almost immediately and hangs. This occurs right after the window appears that reads "Generating Streets & Trips file".

 

Ok, then it looks like this could be a variant of the "Virus software real time protection problem"

 

Please see http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php...dpost&p=1389954 and

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php...dpost&p=1297746

[robertlipe]

[1] I _did_ find a problem triggered by caches with insanely long (multiple page) hints. I doubt you're running into that with benchmarkes, but I'll work that with Clyde separately.

I tracked it down. This is only a problem when GPSBabel is writing geocaches with a hint longer than 1K with a custom XCSV format. GSAK doesn't actually _do_ that - it writes those files and GPSBabel reads them.

 

So while I fixed that bug in GPSBabel, it's a non-evnt for GSAK.

 

Oh, and I observed that hints didn't get field and record separators stripped out of them when GPSBabel wrote to those format (again, a non-event for GSAK) so I fixed that at no additional charge.

[+dapperdave and turtle]

Additional information on the MSST export:

 

I took off the filter that I have on the database and exported the data and it works fine.

 

The filter has two arguments in it:

1) in the first tab "found" is unchecked and "not found" is checked and

2) on the dates tab the DNF Date is marked on or before 12/31/1999.

 

Once I put the 12/31/1999 date in the filter it causes the speed problem!

 

If I run the filter with only the first filter argument it works fine.

 

If I run the filter with another date it causes the problem.

 

Thoughts?

[+MedicP1]

If I run the filter with another date it causes the problem.

 

Thoughts?

My thoughts are you should be doing other stuff on your dates than playing with GSAK filters...ROTFLMAO

[+ClydeE]

Additional information on the MSST export:

 

I took off the filter that I have on the database and exported the data and it works fine.

 

The filter has two arguments in it:

1) in the first tab "found" is unchecked and "not found" is checked and

2) on the dates tab the DNF Date is marked on or before 12/31/1999.

 

Once I put the 12/31/1999 date in the filter it causes the speed problem!

 

If I run the filter with only the first filter argument it works fine.

 

If I run the filter with another date it causes the problem.

 

Thoughts?

Very, strange.

 

I have a test database of 23,000 benchmarks and can't replicate this.

 

A couple of things you could try:

 

1. In your "not found" part of the filter, make sure you also uncheck the box "exclude caches placed by you" (you can't place a benchmark anyway)

 

2. Sort on the DNF Date column (by clicking on its heading). It is a good idea to to this anyway as it will very much speed up the generation of your filter. For the reason why please see "Speed tips for the power user" in the help file or online here http://gsak.net/help/hs22150.htm

 

Let us know how you get on

[+Hynr]

Clyde,

 

I was killing time reading the thread and noted that an issue came back that I reported a long long time ago: inability to close some dialog. I still do bump into this occaisionally. So I tried to see whether I can reporduce the situation reliably.

 

When I run into this problem it is generally when I have other programs running and switch between them and GSAK. Also, remember that I am running some sort of "Plus" enhancement for Windows XP from Microsoft, and I think a lot of folks have that. One enhancement is that when you switch between running tasks, you actually see a small picture of the the task that you are switching to (rather than just the icon). With GSAK, I see two GSAK icons and can switch between the main display (which is represented with a nice small picture) and a dialog (which shows no real picture). If a dialog is open when I swtich from another application to the GSAK main view, the keyboard is locked out and the mouse has no effect. I get a tone with each keystroke telling me that the the program is not getting it. When I switch to the dialog I can do most everything normal. Sometimes when I switch around a bit and forget what is going on I will eventually come back to the dialog and then I sometimes find I cannot close the filter dialog. In fact, at that point I cannot get to the main view to close the program. I can replicate this reliably with version 5.7.0

 

Here is how I am replicating it at this moment:

I have Nestcape 7.2 running; No other program.

I run GSAK;

in GSAK, hit CTRL-F and select a saved filter that I use routinely to generate a local set, not-found, within a polygon, - click GO.

Hit -CTRL-F to bring the dialog back on the screen.

Switch to Netscape and do some stuff there (e.g. I am typing this message)

Now I switch to the GSAK main screen (not the dialog)

Click around on the screen a bit - nothing works; tones tell me that the keyboard is locked out

Swtich back to the Filter Dialog and again click GO

Now I try to close the dialog and can't.

 

Things are now quite flakey.

In fact to close the program I have to right-click on the icon on the Start bar and select Close. But when I run GSAK again I get very strange bahavior with task switching and cannot close the program at all (now I have to do Ctrl-Alt-Del and force gsak to be closed. I will send this off and then reboot, because past experience has taught me that Windows is now crippled.

[+Hynr]

After the above-mentioned cold reboot and GSAK rebuilding the database due to abnormal termination, I can replicate the exact same thing.

 

One additional bit of strangeness: when I get to the point in the above procedure where I run the filter the second time and then cannot close the filter dialog: if I switch to Netscape and come back, the filter dialog is gone and things seem normal and I can close GSAK without errors. ....strange....

[+DeViDe]

Just for the heck of it, I tried to see if I could replicate this problem. I am running XP Home Second Edition. I opened GSAK and a filter window, switched programs did a few things and came back. GSAK worked just fine. Tried several time with the same result each time. Not sure what it all means. Just glad mine works.

[+ClydeE]

Just for the heck of it, I tried to see if I could replicate this problem.  I am running XP Home Second Edition.  I opened GSAK and a filter window, switched programs did a few things and came back. GSAK worked just fine.  Tried several time with the same result each time.  Not sure what it all means.  Just glad mine works.

Yep, and there are thousands of other users this works fine for as well. No matter what steps I try or what computer I try on I can't replicate this either.

 

There just seems to be a select few that run into this issue and I am still having problems working out the commonality between them. I suspect it is something peculiar in the set up and use of the computer that GSAK doesn't like - I just wish I knew what the heck it is.

 

I am currently working with a couple of users that can produce this behaviour *most* of the time, so I will keep you all posted if/when I find something.

Edited June 29, 2005 by ClydeE

[+logger&trail]

Here's a question,

 

When I use the export HTML it creates the master index page. Each link on the master index links to the individually generated local HTML pages. Is there an easy way to change this so it will link to the GC.com page rather than the local cache page?

 

Ultimately I would like to be able to post the master index page on my website so that I can link directly from there to the GC.com cache page.

 

Thanks in advance for the help!

[+ClydeE]

Here's a question,

 

When I use the export HTML it creates the master index page. Each link on the master index links to the individually generated local HTML pages. Is there an easy way to change this so it will link to the GC.com page rather than the local cache page?

 

Ultimately I would like to be able to post the master index page on my website so that I can link directly from there to the GC.com cache page.

 

Not exactly.

 

The main thrust of the HTML generation was so users can view the data offline (On a PDA, or windows computer when not connected to the internet)

 

However, if you tick the box "Include current details link at top of page" GSAK will generate a link at the very top of each HTML page that will take you to the online version.

[+logger&trail]

Here's a question,

 

When I use the export HTML it creates the master index page. Each link on the master index links to the individually generated local HTML pages. Is there an easy way to change this so it will link to the GC.com page rather than the local cache page?

 

Ultimately I would like to be able to post the master index page on my website so that I can link directly from there to the GC.com cache page.

 

 

Not exactly.

 

The main thrust of the HTML generation was so users can view the data offline (On a PDA, or windows computer when not connected to the internet)

 

However, if you tick the box "Include current details link at top of page" GSAK will generate a link at the very top of each HTML page that will take you to the online version.

 

Problem is you are not allowed to post the cache information on a website as it violates your user agreement. Can I use the custom Babel export to generate such an HTML file or would the result be the same?

[+ClydeE]

Problem is you are not allowed to post the cache information on a website as it violates your user agreement. Can I use the custom Babel export to generate such an HTML file or would the result be the same?

I am not quite sure on this. If GPSBabel can do it, then yes a GSAK custom export will do it.

 

However, the default GPSBabel conversion to HTML probably converts enough information to put you in violation of the agreement too, so you would perhaps need to do this via a syle file so only the code, description, and url are output (or whatever won't put you in violation of the agreement)

 

Unless Robert chimes in here, this question is probably best asked/answered in the lGPSBabel mailing lists

[+logger&trail]

Thanks Clyde I will play around with it and see what I can come up with.

 

Keep up the good work!