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Cachemate 4.1


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CacheMate 4.1 was released today, with several fixes and enhancments including the following:

 

- Support for left/right buttons for record view navigation, at least on PalmOne and Treo devices

- Ability to assign program functions to any of the 4 hardware buttons

- Selective decoding of hints by highlighting text to decode

- Overview scroll position retained across app switches

- Dutch Grid (RD) projection support, with the updated Coordinate Formats plugin

 

The 4.0.4 release was actually meant to be part of this one, except for a few fixes that I decided to release sooner rather than later.

 

This release also adds features to the plugin interface for developers, and a new revision of the plugin SDK is available with documentation and support for those changes.

 

As always, please check the documentation, FAQ, and previous thread(s) for answers to any questions you may have, before asking them again.

 

Enjoy!

Edited by Maeglin
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- Ability to assign program functions to any of the 4 hardware buttons

-

I looked thru the faq & doc and you don't use the term program functions there.

What does that mean?

 

Delete records?

It would be nice if there was an easy way to delete a large number of

records with a minimum of motions.

 

Perhaps you could have a box like the found or bookmark box,

a person could go thru the database and check it, then an action

like delete or move would apply to all that are checked.

 

I'm a registered user.

jimmy :P

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- Ability to assign program functions to any of the 4 hardware buttons

I looked thru the faq & doc and you don't use the term program functions there. What does that mean?

Take a look at the popup itself (Options menu -> Buttons), and it should be pretty clear. For now, what's available there is either the view select function (replaces the View Select key selection in earlier versions), or a list of menu options that are available and the same between the list and record views.

 

Delete records?

It would be nice if there was an easy way to delete a large number of records with a minimum of motions.

 

Perhaps you could have a box like the found or bookmark box, a person could go thru the database and check it, then an action like delete or move would apply to all that are checked.

webscouter's suggestion works for that. You can already do a mass delete of records in a category, and moving all bookmarked records is the closest equivalent to the rest of what you're asking for.

Edited by Maeglin
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I would be very surprised if it didn't!

It doesn't.. only kidding :P

 

Here it is from the web site...

 

Once you have registered one of our products, you are entitled to free upgrades to newer versions of that product. Unless otherwise stated, the same registration code should remain valid. When that changes, you will be notified, and a method for obtaining a new registration will be provided free of charge.

It's funny that, whenever I release a new version, this is always asked. No one ever seems to look first :P

Edited by Maeglin
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Hi,

 

I just downloaded Cachemate 4.1 and it works fine on my Tungsten E2. Even the left/right buttons work (what isn't the case in some other applications).

 

I have one question I couldn't solve: is it possible to see in the list view, that a cache is inactive? I didn't find any option to e.g. have these caches in different color or have a line through the name.

 

The background for my question is: I daily merge my pocket query around my home into cachemate. There I have two possibilities:

 

1) I only choose active caches in cmconvert to transfer to my palm. But if a cache gets inactive, I will still have the old record in my palm with the old status "active".

 

2) I merge all caches (active/inactive) with cmconvert into cachemate. Then I have the correct status for each cache, but I have to check the description to see it. The nearest cache search can't filter inactive caches either.

 

Any suggestions to solve this problem? How do you handle this?

 

Best regards Martin

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2) I merge all caches (active/inactive) with cmconvert into cachemate. Then I have the correct status for each cache, but I have to check the description to see it. The nearest cache search can't filter inactive caches either.

 

Any suggestions to solve this problem? How do you handle this?

Your #2 idea would be my first suggestion, but do presorting in CMConvert first... one import file with all active caches, one all inactive. If you want to use categories to separate the active and inactive caches, you can do that then with a minimal amount of steps.

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Hi Maeglin,

 

I changed my batch files to separate active and inactive caches and put them into different categories. It works, but I have to take care while importing into cachemate to select correct categories.

 

Is there any hope for a future release of Cachemate to have something like a strike out font (or a marker, different color) in the list view?

 

Martin

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I changed my batch files to separate active and inactive caches and put them into different categories. It works, but I have to take care while importing into cachemate to select correct categories.

Support was added in 4.0.3 for deriving the default category name from the PDB file name... if the file name matches a category name, that category will automatically be selected. I forget if the matching is case-sensitive or not, but that could be worth a try.

 

Is there any hope for a future release of Cachemate to have something like a strike out font (or a marker, different color) in the list view?

It's something that I can look into, but can't really promise (esp. when it comes to a timeframe) at the moment.

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I didn't know about the category <-> file name mechanism. I changed my procedure and now the categories are selected automatically during import. That's very helpful, thanks a lot.

 

Just keep the list view feature somewhere in mind, may be someday you implement it in a new version.

 

Anyhow, Cachemate was one important reason for me to ruefully come back from a pocket pc to a palm.

 

Thanks a lot for the support,

Martin

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Two idea that I think would be great for CacheMate:

 

1. Voice memos. Often when you're in the field, it takes too much time to type in a memo. I know some people who carry around voice recorders instead of writing things down. It would be cool if you could record a voice memo from the cache log view so it would be associated with the cache data and date/time.

 

2. View this cache online. For Treos and other internet-connected PDAs, I often end up loading a cache's webpage to get updated logs or older info. A menu option that opened the web browser given the GC id would be a huge timesaver. Even better would be if the URLs were templated, so I could modify it with options for the printer-friendly version or to show all logs. Example: I could configure a URL like http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...&log=y&decypt=y and it would launch this URL with the GC# substituted for %WP%.

 

Thanks for considering them.

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Both of these could theoretically be done with plugins, not even involving changes to the main app. Doing it that way has the added bonus of not adding bulk where it's not needed or not usable. There's some details, though, that are outside of my domain knowledge.

 

1. Voice memos. Often when you're in the field, it takes too much time to type in a memo. I know some people who carry around voice recorders instead of writing things down. It would be cool if you could record a voice memo from the cache log view so it would be associated with the cache data and date/time.

I've never done sound recording or playback on Palm OS, before... ever :rolleyes: If someone did have that kind of knowledge, though, they could take the SDK and do it.

 

2. View this cache online. For Treos and other internet-connected PDAs, I often end up loading a cache's webpage to get updated logs or older info. A menu option that opened the web browser given the GC id would be a huge timesaver. Even better would be if the URLs were templated, so I could modify it with options for the printer-friendly version or to show all logs. Example: I could configure a URL like http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...&log=y&decypt=y and it would launch this URL with the GC# substituted for %WP%.

I've thought about this one before, but there's a hiccup... is there a Palm-based web browser out there that will accept a URL from an external program at launch time? If there is, and someone can fill me in on how to do that, it should be pretty easy.

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I don't know anything about Sound Recording either, but this little program does voice recording nice. Perhaps the author could help. http://www.infinityball.com/soundrec.aspx

 

As for launching a web page -

 

From the PalmOS docs:

Opening a Web Page from an Application

You can either launch or sublaunch Web Browser from a Palm OS

application by using the

sysAppLaunchCmdGoToURL

launch code.

 

http://www.palmos.com/dev/support/docs/cre...enabledapps.pdf

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I don't know anything about Sound Recording either, but this little program does voice recording nice. Perhaps the author could help.

I don't know how feasible a plugin would be to tie in with that, but if he could key voice memos by waypoint ID, and then add support for CacheMate to that so that it could pass a waypoint ID to it, that may work. The author of Outdoor Navigator did the same thing... the way that plugin support works with CacheMate, a separate plugin isn't needed. The support can go directly into the target application.

 

As for launching a web page -

From the PalmOS docs:

Opening a Web Page from an Application

You can either launch or sublaunch Web Browser from a Palm OS application by using the sysAppLaunchCmdGoToURL launch code.

Thanks for that. I was aware of that launch code, but wasn't aware of anything that was non-defunct (like Clipper, apparently) that still used it. I'll see what I can do.

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is there a way in cachemate that I can delete the " from the start of files so all files will be listed alphabetically? the ones that start with " are always listed first

I think I requested that in the past.

 

Anyway, I preprocess my PQs to remove that stuff as well as move "A" and "The" to the end with a comma. This is probably more likely to be implemented in something like GSAK.

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is there a way in cachemate that I can delete the " from the start of files so all files will be listed alphabetically? the ones that start with " are always listed first

I think I requested that in the past.

Actually, it's been an option in CMConvert for over a year now :unsure: GSAK doesn't seem to bring that option through to its CacheMate export dialog, but I don't know if it can do that on its own anyway.

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is there a way in cachemate that I can delete the " from the start of files so all files will be listed alphabetically? the ones that start with " are always listed first

This used to bug me too until I switched to sorting the list by Waypoint rather than Name. That way the Palm matches up with the GPS and there's less chance of confusion.

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is there a way in cachemate that I can delete the " from the start of files so all files will be listed alphabetically? the ones that start with " are always listed first

I think I requested that in the past.

Actually, it's been an option in CMConvert for over a year now :P GSAK doesn't seem to bring that option through to its CacheMate export dialog, but I don't know if it can do that on its own anyway.

If you're willing to learn write a macro, the latest version of GSAK has some good string functions that could be used for this purpose (i.e. you can preprocess the cache names in GSAK with an automated macro, then export to Cachemate).

 

However, like Rubber Toes, I've found the easiest way is to sort by waypoint code rather than cache name. This approach not only avoids the leading characters problem and also avoids looking at the description for one cache while you're trying to find another similarly named cache with your GPSr! :lol:

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I send the waypoints to my GPSr from GSAK with a 10 character smart name (Garmin 60C).....then I look them up on my palm by waypoint name since I don't have them in my GPSr in waypoint code....once found I log found and it sends them to my found folder on my palm....then when I get home, I convert the waypoints from the waypoint name to the waypoint code GCXXX then I log them on gc.com

Edited by birddog14
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I send the waypoints to my GPSr from GSAK with a 10 character smart name (Garmin 60C).....then I look them up on my palm  by waypoint name since I don't have them in my GPSr in waypoint code....once found I log found and it sends them to my found folder on my palm....then when I get home, I convert the waypoints from the waypoint name to the waypoint code GCXXX then I log them on gc.com

Then you could just use the 10 character smart name (%smart) in GSAK to export to Cachemate, which would give you the same exact name on your PDA and your GPSr.

 

I have the Garmin 60CS and I use GSAK to send the gc waypoint code (dropping the redundant "GC"), the container, the difficulty and the terrain (%drop2 %con1%dif=1%ter=1 in GSAK) as the 10 character waypoint name, and the cache name as the "waypoint description" (this shows up in the "comments" on the 60C/S and can contain up to 30 characters).

 

I also use the "%drop2 %con1" tag to export from GSAK to Cachemate, and use the waypoint sort in Cachemate so that the information on the GPSr and Cachemate sync up perfectly (I find it alot easier to find a 4 character code than a name in the Cachemate database). This approach also provides a lot more information on your GPSr than the smart name alone.

Edited by Kai Team
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I'm not sure this is the right place to ask this question, but it's worth a try. I'm using a Garmin Ique 3600 for geocaching and driving directions. Cachemate works great.

 

Imagine the situation. I'm out driving around, go to cachemate, and find the nearest geocache to my present location. This is very easy. Once I find the cache I want to go to, the Nav function works fine for telling me which direction the cache is and how far away. Wouldn't it be great if you could route to the waypoint (on roads) directly to the cache from within Cachemate.

 

Is this possible?

 

What I usually have to do is load all my cachemate waypoints into the address book. Once I find the nearest cache, I have to open the address book, search for the waypoint, select it, then select route to. Once I am near the waypoint on road, I switch back to cachemate, then select CacheNav to get me to the cache (on foot).

 

Does anyone know a "more appropriate" thread or forum to ask this question?

Thanks for any help, oppinions, or ideas.

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Imagine the situation.  I'm out driving around, go to cachemate, and find the nearest geocache to my present location.  This is very easy.  Once I find the cache I want to go to, the Nav function works fine for telling me which direction the cache is and how far away.  Wouldn't it be great if you could route to the waypoint (on roads) directly to the cache from within Cachemate.

 

Is this possible?

Not really, because CacheMate doesn't know the first thing about auto-routing. That's what the iQue's mapping software is good at :laughing:

 

The way you're doing it is the best way at the moment. If you want to be more selective about waypoints you copy to the address book, you can use the single-record variation of that (hint: there's a "Map" button in there, too).

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I don't know the first thing about programing or anything but would it be difficult to be able to add something to search by end time of hunt? I currently move caches I find during the day to a folder called "found today". aAs I log them I would like to be able to search for them in order of finding that day. Right now the only way I know is to either change the name of the cache with a number in front, which I would then have to change again when I log and send to the found folder, OR open each log and physically look at the time on each cache. Anyone have a better way or is it possible to search this way?

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Today we did three filters on a GSAK database exporting each one as a Cachemate file. The intent was to put them into three different categories in the same Cachemate database on the Palm. When we HotSynced, we highlighted all three files. When we went to the import screen in Cachemate, we expected to find 3 groups to import. Instead there was only the first file there.

 

We had to go back and do two more separate HotSyncs to get the remaining two files. Did we miss something, or is Cachemate designed only to import one file per HotSync?

 

Thanks

 

 

On another question.... A while ago, I HotSynced and added a file to the Palm that I then decided I did not want. Of course, when I then opened CacheMate, I was asked where to import the records to. As I did not want the records in any CacheMate Db, I just wanted to delete the records, not import them. I never could find the menu to do this and ended up importing them and THEN deleting them. Not a big deal, but I was wondering if that was the correct and only way to do it, or was there some way I missed to delete them before importing them?

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I don't know the first thing about programing or anything but would it be difficult to be able to add something to search by end time of hunt?

http://www.smittyware.com/palm/cachemate/faq.php#date_sort

 

If you're wanting to see them in order inside CacheMate, though, then what you're doing with prepending the number to the name is what some others are doing.

 

We had to go back and do two more separate HotSyncs to get the remaining two files.  Did we miss something, or is Cachemate designed only to import one file per HotSync?

Did you change the name in the GSAK export dialog for each one, or did you rename the files after they were created? If you did the latter, that explains what happened, as the name that matters is inside the file, not the name of the file. Current versions of everything will handle more than one export file per Hotsync/import cycle.

 

On another question....  A while ago, I HotSynced and added a file to the Palm that I then decided I did not want.  Of course, when I  then opened CacheMate, I was asked where to import the records to.  As I did not want the records in any CacheMate Db, I just wanted to delete the records, not import them.  I never could find the menu to do this and ended up importing them and THEN deleting them.  Not a big deal, but I was wondering if that was the correct and only way to do it, or was there some way I missed to delete them before importing them?

Skip the import for that file (there is a button for that), then get something like Filez to go in and delete the import file from the PDA.

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Did you change the name in the GSAK export dialog for each one, or did you rename the files after they were created?  If you did the latter, that explains what happened, as the name that matters is inside the file, not the name of the file.  Current versions of everything will handle more than one export file per Hotsync/import cycle.

 

Skip the import for that file (there is a button for that), then get something like Filez to go in and delete the import file from the PDA.

Yes, they were exported from GSAK with different names and they all showed up in the Palm Quick Install program. We selected them all to install during the next HotSync. After the HotSync, when we started CacheMate, there was only one file, (the first one in the Quick Install list), to import.

Since your answer seems to imply that it should have worked the way we were expecting it to, maybe I should do the same process again and post back just to make sure it repeats the same behavior.

 

As to your answer to the second question.... I understand. In the very few instances we may decide we don't want a CacheMate file sent to the Palm, it not a big deal to go ahead and import the file, then delete it from CacheMate. Filez seems like a great little utility, so I think I'll get that.

 

Thanks!

Edited by Cheminer Will
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On another question....  A while ago, I HotSynced and added a file to the Palm that I then decided I did not want.  Of course, when I  then opened CacheMate, I was asked where to import the records to.  As I did not want the records in any CacheMate Db, I just wanted to delete the records, not import them.  I never could find the menu to do this and ended up importing them and THEN deleting them.  Not a big deal, but I was wondering if that was the correct and only way to do it, or was there some way I missed to delete them before importing them?

Skip the import for that file (there is a button for that), then get something like Filez to go in and delete the import file from the PDA.

On my Palm m515, you tap on the applications "button" to the left of the graffiti area to bring up any category, then tap the drop down menu "button" (also to the left of the graffitti area, below the applications button) and select "delete".

 

Use the drop down menu at the top of the next screen to select either "handheld" or "SD Card" and bring up the file list. Select a file and click on "delete". No need for an added utility like Filez.

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On my Palm m515, you tap on the applications "button" to the left of the graffiti area to bring up any category, then tap the drop down menu "button" (also to the left of the graffitti area, below the applications button) and select "delete". 

 

Use the drop down menu at the top of the next screen to select either "handheld" or "SD Card" and bring up the file list.  Select a file and click on "delete".  No need for an added utility like Filez.

Ok - Thanks, I'll try that. Right now when I do it there are five files listed that can be deleted. One of them is the CacheMate application itself. Then there is graffiti, Datemate data and preferences, and MathLib. I aasume that after I HotSync a Cachemate file, but before I import it, that file will be listed also.

 

Kai Team - Have you ever put more than one CacheMate file on the palm during a single HotSync? Does that work, or is the problem I first described normal?

Edited by Cheminer Will
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Kai Team - Have you ever put more than one CacheMate file on the palm during a single HotSync?  Does that work, or is the problem I first described normal?

I am not part of Kai Team, but I can answer this.

 

The answer is a QUALIFIED "Yes It does work"

 

It works IF you assing the .PDB file different names. Like "Found.pdb", and

"Not Found.pdb". This is done on the first line of the GSAK Export Cachmate PDB File screen labeled PDB file to create

 

Hope that helps a little .... BTW as a neat side, If your PDB name Exactly matches a category in Cachemate, it the import screen with be preset to that category.

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The answer is a QUALIFIED "Yes It does work"

 

It works IF you assing the .PDB file different names. Like "Found.pdb", and

"Not Found.pdb". This is done on the first line of the GSAK Export Cachmate PDB File screen labeled PDB file to create

 

Hope that helps a little .... BTW as a neat side, If your PDB name Exactly matches a category in Cachemate, it the import screen with be preset to that category.

Ok - we did have very different names and did select all three files from the quick install window. When we went to the Palm, there was only one file, (the first in the list), to import. I will go through this again today to make sure it was not just a one time occurrence or mistake of some sort on our part.

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Ok - we did have very different names and did select all three files from the quick install window.  When we went to the Palm, there was only one file, (the first in the list), to import.  I will go through this again today to make sure it was not just a one time occurrence or mistake of some sort on our part.

Ok,

If you quick install showed the 3 different named files and you hit done. Then do the Hot Sync.

 

When you open Cachemate, It will present you with a screen to merge in the first of the PDB. Once you merge this one, another screen should pop up to merge the second one, and so on.

 

I have had an occation where one of them did not (in this case #2 of 4) all I did was close Cachemate and open it again ... and there was a screen popped up to merge in the second one.

 

BTW .. I have a Palm M515

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All right folks, here is the scoop. As is often the case with computers, it is just a matter of asking questions until you get enough answers to figure out what YOU, not the computer is doing wrong.

 

I did everything correct, except in the naming of the files. What I previously did to make the file names unique, was to append "found", "not found", etc. to the END of the original file name. However, because there appears to be a limit on the length of the file names Quick Install will recognize, and I had reached that length before the unique appends, Quick Install read the files as having the same name. When I get the import screen in CacheMate, I don't see a note of the file name you are importing so I did not recognize the problem there.

 

Once I suspected the file name length may be the problem and made the file names exported from GSAK unique by changing the BEGINNING of the file name, it all worked as it should.

 

Thanks!

Edited by Cheminer Will
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I would have posted this yesterday, if not for getting annoyed over a server that went down in the middle of getting the update on the site that I wasn't able to get up and running until this morning...

 

...but I digress.

 

CM2GPX 1.0.4 is available now. Before, the CacheMate GPX extension was only added if you entered any log notes or set the hunt end time. Now, it is included even if all you do is check the "found" checkbox. If nothing is entered and nothing is checked on the Log view, it's still not added.

 

This should get GSAK's note importing working correctly, even for the minimalists out there :lol: Enjoy!

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Sure would be nice if the Cachemate 'L' screen could be longer (even if one has to scroll).

 

This would be a great place to log answers to questions for virtual caches AND to put in field notes such as 'big shady trees on the way to this cache' or 'nice new homes here', etc, etc. This would be great information to have for the log when posting a find at GC.Com When I get home, after finding 10 or more cache, I have forgotten most of the experiences.

 

Just a request and I hope a simple one at that. Thanks

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Sure would be nice if the Cachemate 'L' screen could be longer (even if one has to scroll).

2048 characters isn't enough? That's what you can put in there now (yes, it'll scroll) and, from what you're talking about, it seems like that should be more than enough.

Well, there ya go. I was confused because I saw the last line under 'L' was 'TB'.

I guess I was looking for a word like 'Other' or 'Notes', I didn't realize I could bring up TB and do a carriage return and then put my data there, this is a good thing. Thanks for the making me aware of this feature I didn't even know existed.

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I'm a long-time paperless cacher but a brand new CacheMate user with a question on searching for nearest caches.

I've created 3 categories of lists (via GSAK) within my database: Found, Not found (sorted by waypoint code), and Not Found (sorted by placed by). As a result I get duplicate entries in the "All" category list which is no problem.

However when I'm in a "Not Found" list and do a nearest cache search it will calculate from the "All" list and return results with duplicates and with "Found" caches. Is there a way to have the search only examine the current category list that I'm in and not from "all"? Duplicates of not found caches I can live with but getting my found caches in the nearest list will definitely throw me off. I can see me going after one that I may have found 4 years ago. :(

 

Thanks for any help and may I say that so far CacheMate looks fantastic. My time needed from PQ to PDA is greatly reduced.

 

Cheers, Olar

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I import two different databases. I use a GSAK (GeoCaching Swiss Army Knife) filter to filter out my Found caches and then export the result into cachemate as my default database. I then use a GSAK filter to show my Found caches and export them into a separate "Found" database. Then if I need to switch and look at some info on the old Found log I can do that. But when I am using the defualt database, it does not show the found database in the search results.

This also helps when you are ready to post the GeoCaches that you found that day. Once you set the 'Found" flag in CacheMate and do a sync with your PC, you can use the import feature in GSAK to import your found caches. Once they are imported, you can adjust the log (if needed) and then start posting them in geocaching.com with the click of a button.

 

Hope this explanation helps. :(

Edited by MamaMouse
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Is there any way for a disabled (inactive) cache to show up differently in the list view? Found caches get a "+". But disabled ones look just like the rest.

That info is stored in the description text, which may not be available from the list view in some cases (primarily, when you're using memory card support). There's a performance hit in any case, and I'd have to check the multi-site support in CMConvert to see if it makes the status text consistent.

 

Basically, I'll look at it, but no promises.

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