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Cachemate "notes" Question (mobile Pc Version)


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After having a major “deleting” problem with a different PDA/Geocaching program I decided to try CacheMate (Mobile PC version) on my HP 4705.

I tried it yesterday as I found 4 local caches and used it to make some notes on my finds and to also record a TB that I left in one of the caches that I found.

 

Later I tried to export this info into GSAK, I used the “GPX Export” feature and eventually the file was saved to my laptop. Using my laptop I opened GSAK and imported the file that was made by CacheMate but all it seemed to do was mark the four caches that I found as being “Found” in GSAK, nowhere in GSAK was I able to see the notes that I recorded in the field using CacheMate, not even the TB that I dropped off? Is this normal or does something need to be configured?

 

Going back to my PDA, I even used the “HTML Notes Report” feature and I can see my notes but I’m not able to see the TB that I left in one of the caches.

 

I guess what I’m trying to do is this, I’d like to be able to use CacheMate to record my finds, log any notes that I might make and log any TB’s that I may pick up or drop off. Later I would like to be able to take all of this info (not just part of it) and be able to see it in GSAK.

I was using GPX Sonar and I was able to do this using that program, it would let me import this info into the “Notes” section in GSAK for each specific cache, but after losing all the notes for 27 caches that I found last Sunday I decided to try CacheMate.

 

Any help would be appreciated!

 

Steve (JetMonkey)

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What menu option are you using to load the CacheMate GPX file back into GSAK? There's a "Load GPX file" option, but there's also a "Load CacheMate Logs and Finds" option. The latter is what you should be using.

 

As far as seeing what TBs went where, that isn't automatically placed in the log text (yet... want to make that a feature request? :-), but there is a log that you can access via the Options menu at the list view that will show you TB movement since the log was started or last cleared.

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Thanks for the reply back, I'm not sure of the setting, I'm sure it's probably set to the default setting because I don't recall ever changing it. I'm at work right now but I'll check the setting once I get home. As far as the TB log I'll look for that on my PDA, I think I saw it earlier as I was trying to figure things out. I think it would be a great addition to have TB movement built into the field notes display when the records are accessed later. I dropped one TB in a cache yesteday and after I finished my log entry on Geocaching.com I realized that I forgot all about the TB since it's movement wasn't in the field note. This would seem like a logical place to see TB movement since this is where it would seem that people would want to see all info that they have logged about a particular found cache (Nice hide, muddy today, my #300 find!, TNLNSL, Retrieved "Insert TB name here" TB...I like the sound of it already!!!).

 

This would be great to see in the future!

 

Thanks for the tip on the GSAK setting!

 

Steve (JetMonkey)

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Hmmm...Well not quite there yet. Made a couple of "fake" finds including some notes using CacheMate and then exported the info using "GPX Export". The file went to my laptop and then I opened GSAK and yep, I saw the "Load CacheMate Logs and Finds" option. Using this feature on GSAK I located the file that I transferred from my PDA but when I try to load the file I get this message

 

"File: <unknown>. Line 673 Col: 1 Error: Badly formed UTF-8 character in stream"

 

Any ideas?

 

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

Steve

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"File: <unknown>. Line 673 Col: 1 Error: Badly formed UTF-8 character in stream"

 

Any ideas?

If you want to send the exported GPX file to the Smittyware support address, I can check it to make sure it's valid. Should be, as I've validated GPX files coming out of it before.

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"File: <unknown>. Line 673 Col: 1 Error: Badly formed UTF-8 character in stream"

 

Any ideas?

If you want to send the exported GPX file to the Smittyware support address, I can check it to make sure it's valid. Should be, as I've validated GPX files coming out of it before.

 

Thank you sir, I'll send it off once I get home.

 

Thanks again for the help!

 

Steve

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"File: <unknown>. Line 673 Col: 1 Error: Badly formed UTF-8 character in stream"

 

Any ideas?

If you want to send the exported GPX file to the Smittyware support address, I can check it to make sure it's valid. Should be, as I've validated GPX files coming out of it before.

 

Thank you sir, I'll send it off once I get home.

 

Thanks again for the help!

 

Steve

 

No need, I think you will find that the file is indeed perfectly valid.

 

However, like CacheMate has an "issue" with the install program to the PPC I too have an "issue" with the XML reader I am using. This error only occurs on the GPX files generated by the new PPC version of Cachemate.

 

I have tracked this down to the inconsistent way CacheMate outputs "new lines" in the file. This version generates GPX files that have some new lines with carriage returns only . This did not happen with the CM2GPX created GPX files, as every new line was output consistently with a cr/lf pair. This causes the XML reader I am using to "barf" on some of the UTF-8 encodings. Strictly speaking, this shouldn't happen, but this is the first time this component has come across a GPX file with only single Carriage returns followed by a UTF-8 encoded string.

 

I have coded a fix for this in the latest version of GSAK (still in Beta) by just replacing orphan carriage returns with cr/lf pairs and reports show this has fixed the problem. However, that doesn't help users on previous versions of GSAK.

 

Brian, would it be possible for you to humour me by changing the PPC version of CacheMate to ensure that GPX generated file always has new lines with a cr/lf pair.

Edited by ClydeE
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Wow, I’m very impressed! I had a question/problem with some software, I post a question, two different programs are involved, both sides talk things out (without any finger pointing) and release a solution/bug fix later the same day? Awesome! Man after writing this I sure hope the software works! :ph34r:

 

Thanks Brian (CacheMate) and Clyde (GSAK), I wish your efforts of support were emulated more often by others who’s idea of support might not be as focused as yours, I appreciate your efforts.

 

Steve

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Thanks Brian (CacheMate) and Clyde (GSAK), I wish your efforts of support were emulated more often by others who’s idea of support might not be as focused as yours, I appreciate your efforts.

 

Which is exactly why these two programs are worth buying. :P When you toss USAPhotoMaps into the loop life is good. ;)

 

-al

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Just a quick follow-up. I installed the updates for both CachMate and GSAK. Yesteday I found 19 caches and logged everything using CacheMate (mobile PC version) and when I got home I used the GPX Export feature in CacheMate, loaded the file into GSAK and everything loaded just fine. I opened my notes in GSAK and tweaked them as needed! Now when I get home from work today I'll copy and paste my notes as I log my finds on Geocaching.com. Finished!

 

Thanks again guys, so far everything seems to be working just fine!

 

Steve (JetMonkey)

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Just a quick follow-up. I installed the updates for both CachMate and GSAK. Yesteday I found 19 caches and logged everything using CacheMate (mobile PC version) and when I got home I used the GPX Export feature in CacheMate, loaded the file into GSAK and everything loaded just fine. I opened my notes in GSAK and tweaked them as needed! Now when I get home from work today I'll copy and paste my notes as I log my finds on Geocaching.com. Finished!

 

Just a quick tip... if you put your notes in the Log entry of GSAK then click the Log Entry button, it will copy your log text into the Windows clipboard and bring you directly to the gc.com log page. Simply click on the log text area and do Edit->Paste (or CTRL-V) to paste this info in.

 

-al

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