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Playing With Log Files


Ranger Fox

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I had some free time to play with the Google Maps API and began working on a way to consume the Wherigo cartridge log files. It's a mostly a for the heck of it kind of thing. However, if there's interest, I'll continue to pursue it. Later, I'm thinking about open-sourcing the code.

 

I made the application as a web site. I've considered posting it to my development site. To post it, though, I'll have to change the web server from using .Net 1.1 to 2.0 (I made the site using .Net 3.5's ASP .Net AJAX extensions). That will mean some downtime for the Statbar Modifier, meaning it'll take me a while to prepare and get it done. The site I made, though, does not contain functionality to upload log files at the moment.

 

Here are some screen shots:

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This is the initial screen. At the moment, I don't have the pins numbered. The route is outlined in red. Each pin is clickable and will display information about the event that occurred at that location. If multiple events occurred on a pin, it will tell you how many, which you can then click on to see a list.

 

You'll notice to the right is a drop-down list (DDL) box that contains each time a cartridge was played; logs can contain multiple playthroughs. Below the playthrough DDL is your timeline. It gives you a list of times things happened and tells you how many events occurred at that time.

 

 

02_thumb.jpg

If you click on something with multiple events, it will tell you which events, in order, occurred at a location.

 

If you click on a map pin with just a single event, it'll display the information as you see to the left.

 

 

03_thumb.jpg04_thumb.jpg

These two show samples of what event information looks like.

 

 

So, am I on the right track? Is this something useful for everyone or should this just remain a useful learning experience? I'm fine either way--it was the latter, initially, but I thought to post here to see if anyone was interested.

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Looks great. Actually I am doing same thing. On my pages (Wherigo.geoteam.info) I had a gwl parser. Pages are only in czech language yet, sorry.

Actually my site only generates statistics for cartridges (average playing time and average distance). But google maps and other statistics are in my todo list.

In my DB i have about 50 gwls from czech cartridges and still grows.

 

RangerFox: It would be great to participate and to connect our projects. My site is on my own hosting on Win2k3 with asp.net 3.5 enabled. If you are interested in this, please contact me.

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I like it. It could be quite useful debugging a cartridge when someone else has a problem. I have a cartridge (my first) that blew up on a friend. It took me quite awhile to figure out that he stepped out of the zone before completing a Q/A. With this, it would have been easier.

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RangerFox: It would be great to participate and to connect our projects. My site is on my own hosting on Win2k3 with asp.net 3.5 enabled. If you are interested in this, please contact me.
Sounds good. Perhaps I'll contact you in a few days to get the demo I created set up. At the moment, I need to add some necessary features and such.

 

I still have to get a lot more of the site done and tested. Also, I'll begin asking people for GWL files I can use to test what I'm doing. Once I'm satisfied with a usable version, we can post it and release the source so others can contribute. I'm not familiar with how open source software gets a stable release out of everyone developing, so I'll have to learn about that, too.

 

One thing I'll insist on throughout this project: globalization. Having translations available in the first version will be a good thing.

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I've been playing with trying to get it working on me2d09's site. Here is a version that's a bit wider than what his site's template allows. There's another version (viewer.aspx, of course) I was playing with to get it sized to his template.

 

Have at it and tell me what you think. I already know I need to number the balloons. I thought about including something to let you "play" the cartridge like a film reel (e.g. it'll cycle through every event as they occurred, giving you five or ten seconds to see the content). Another feature I'd like to add is a filtering ability so you can see events of only certain types (e.g. cartridge, zone, message box, input, audio, etc.). I'm thinking of making icons and a toolbar to handle the filtering--click on and off. But I'm not sure at the moment.

 

One fun thing about this is I went from a US development environment to a European hosting environment. That meant the time formats and numbers were different and I couldn't simply parse them as they show in the cartridge. I took the easy way out and did a try/catch block at the moment. That way, I can run the code on both my laptop and me2d09's site without flipping any switches.

 

The test log file, this time, is the J2B2's flea market puzzle. I found the log on my computer when I was looking through cartridges I've played.

 

So, how does everyone like it? Any features you'd like? Do you think it would be useful to you?

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And a nice first version is here for any of the log files stored on the site.

 

Now I need me2d09 to finish his end and offer an English translation so the rest of us can upload a cartridge. (Note: The cartridges displayed at the moment are regardless of user account logged in. Those are all the cartridges' logs on the site.)

 

Since the "Engine" line wasn't stored in the database, I had to do a little hack from my original version. Quite a few little hacks involved number conversion of the original text log files, too... I need to learn a little more about switching individual project's localization within an application.

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Yes, it would be a very useful tool for reviewing log files for those who have put out Wherigo caches. Also, I've searched without any luck, but what exactly are the contents of the GWL files? Really just one field I can't identify, so I'm curious what it is. Why don't they at least include a header row???

 

Looks like time, in YYYYMMDDHHMMSS format, Lat, lon, altitude in meters, ????, Comments???

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Hi to all,

Is this still being developed?

project is not dead, but last month I was little bit out of time.

 

Now I want to put my code and Rager fox code together, because it is still not fully compatible.

 

After that there is a lot of stuff to do...

 

Looks like time, in YYYYMMDDHHMMSS format, Lat, lon, altitude in meters, ????, Comments???

???? = GPS proximity

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Yeah, I was curious and made my own, too. me2d09 is in charge of localizing it on his site. I haven't pursued the matter much since it was mostly an "I wonder if I can do this" project.

 

I have a sample working on my mail server. It separates a log file into different playthroughs. In my example (it uses a real log file), the third playthrough is the one of interest. You'll have to view it in IE to see the map markers.

 

I suppose I could finish the project if there's any interest and participation from people. Though, this time, I'll have to get it off my mail server before I release it to the public. Same with the Statbar Modifier; I should have given that thing its own domain before releasing it. Now, it serves several gigabytes of statbars a month. Lesson learned.

Edited by Ranger Fox
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I only work on it when someone requests some work to be done. To upload a GWL file, go to this page.

Thanks. It work nicely. I think it is a great tool for debugging so I love it. I will go from emulated to a physical BETA any day now. Plan is to do it with some friends. (Origon, Colorado and AndroidApp) Gathering logs and analyse them would be a great tool.

Is there any distant statistics in the tool today. (couldn't see one) Any plan to add it?

Love your work.

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I only work on it when someone requests some work to be done. To upload a GWL file, go to this page.

Hi.

I’m getting to publicizes my orienteering WiG at any day now. I have walked the distains I few times and learned a lot. Last time I walked it with my HTC Hero Android (cell phone) and a friends Garmin Colorado.

 

When I uploaded her log on your site it looked very nice. I will investigate it further to learn even more.. But…

When I uploaded my Android log file it crashed. (every time or any Android-WhereYouGo log I tried)

I’ll send you the two files and the screen dump I got to you in a mail.

post-920481-1282285578.jpg

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I uploaded a new version of the Wherigo Log Viewer application. In short, the Android openWIG implementation creates a completely different log file from the Garmin and PocketPC units. The rest of the application is unchanged except for the log upload page; I added a little there.

 

I did not have enough time to add distances to the UI.

 

By the way, the cache run I went on was very successful. I found around 1,400 caches. One of these days, I'll get some time to log them all. I should be able to pass 20,000 before my five year caching anniversary in April.

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I'll have to visualize what you're asking before I can build that in. I could always implement a "play" functionality within a timeline. You could watch the events pop up in the same relative time as they did for a player or you could tell it to play through the events in five second intervals. Once I can visualize the interface, I can develop it.

 

As for 1,400 caches over a weekend, that's atypical and due to that power trail everyone has been talking about. If I travel somewhere, I can usually only do 400 caches in the same time period. Speaking of 400 caches, I still have to log that many before I'm up to date.

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