+macfamily6 Posted March 25, 2003 Share Posted March 25, 2003 I've developed a geocaching Widget for Konfabulator. Konfabulator is a JavaScript runtime engine for Mac OS X (version 10.2 or higher) which runs little mini-applications called Widgets. There are Widgets for doing all sorts of things, like displaying stock prices, weather conditions, eBay auctions, etc. Most of these Widgets pull real-time information from various Web sites. The "Geocaching!" Widget I've written displays the 25 geocaches closest to a given location, which can be specified via latitude-longitude or U.S. Zip code. Behind the scenes, it uses the geocaching.com Web site to perform the searches, and refreshes its list every five minutes. The Widget can optionally display only the new caches amongst the closest 25. Here's a screenshot of the Widget in action: You'll notice that the format of the data somewhat mirrors the cache results page on geocaching.com. I made the blue cache image a live hyperlink to the cache type informational page, and the cache name is a live hyperlink to the actual cache page on geocaching.com. If you're a Mac OS X user and want to try the Widget, go download Konfabulator (available here) and my Widget (available here) and try it out. Thanks, Mike of macfamily6 mike.elness@pobox.com [This message was edited by macfamily6 on March 25, 2003 at 09:44 PM.] Link to comment
+parkrrrr Posted March 25, 2003 Share Posted March 25, 2003 quote:Originally posted by macfamily6:searches, and refreshes its list every five minutes. The Widget can Every five minutes? Don't you think that's a little... um... compulsive? We're lucky if there's a new cache here every five days. Link to comment
Dru Morgan Posted March 25, 2003 Share Posted March 25, 2003 It reloads information from the site periodically? Just think of what would happen if all 3 Mac users decided to turn this thing on at the same time? Please reconsider before you pull down the server. Ever notice that anyone that caches less than you do is a moron, while anyone that caches more than you do is a maniac? -Dru Morgan Link to comment
+Marky Posted March 25, 2003 Share Posted March 25, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Dru Morgan:It reloads information from the site Just think of what would happen if all 3 Mac users decided to turn this thing on at the same time? Now, now, be nice to me and the other two Mac users. --Marky "All of us get lost in the darkness, dreamers learn to steer with a backlit GPSr" Link to comment
Elias Posted March 25, 2003 Share Posted March 25, 2003 quote:Originally posted by macfamily6:Behind the scenes, it uses the geocaching.com Web site to perform the searches, and refreshes its list every five minutes. This is a little too agressive. Ok, actually, I think its way too agressive. Would you mind changing this to refresh every hour or so? We don't get anywhere near enough new cache listings to make a 5 minute refresh useful, and the hit to the database from even a small number of Mac users is just too much. With the release of the new Geocaching site, we'll have better tools in place to allow applications like yours to access the data without impacting the performance of the rest of the site. Thanks, Elias Link to comment
+macfamily6 Posted March 25, 2003 Author Share Posted March 25, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Elias:Would you mind changing this to refresh every hour or so? Elias Okay, I will update the Widget to refresh its list once per minute..., er, hour. Mike of macfamily6 Link to comment
+Metaphor Posted March 25, 2003 Share Posted March 25, 2003 Hey Marky- If you're one and I'm one, who's the other Mac user? "All of us are standing in the mud, but some of us are looking at the stars." Oscar Wilde Link to comment
+TeamVE Posted March 25, 2003 Share Posted March 25, 2003 Ooops, my reply ended up here thanks to some oh so friendly Micro$oft technology .... Check out Centris's profile pic.... ---------------------------------- ---------------------------------- "The number you have reached is imaginary, please rotate your phone 90 degrees and try again... " Link to comment
FullOn Posted March 25, 2003 Share Posted March 25, 2003 quote:Hey Marky-If you're one and I'm one, who's the other Mac user? That would be me. Actually I use 3 differnt Macs (OS X, OS 9.2 and OS 8.6) along with 2 or 3 PCs, but my OS X dualie is my main machine. I only use the PCs to convert Access databases into something usable. Link to comment
+srumrill Posted March 25, 2003 Share Posted March 25, 2003 A recent "switcher" with a brand spankin' new 17" flat screen iMac! Any suggestions on how to interface my Garmin GPS with my Mac easily? Scott Link to comment
kablooey Posted March 25, 2003 Share Posted March 25, 2003 Sheesh, if hitting the website every five minutes is too much, why do you make me load three extra pages every time I want to log a cache? Link to comment
kablooey Posted March 25, 2003 Share Posted March 25, 2003 I'm a Mac user, but I'm stuck on OS 9 right now. I need to upgrade. Anybody want to sell me a G4 cheap? Link to comment
+macfamily6 Posted March 25, 2003 Author Share Posted March 25, 2003 quote:Originally posted by macfamily6:Okay, I will update the Widget to refresh its list once per minute..., er, hour. Mike of macfamily6 As promised, I have updated the Geocaching! Widget for Konfabulator from a five-minute refresh period to a sixty-minute period. I'll be adding more features (e-mail me those suggestions!), but I wanted to get this fix in quickly. Note: I will _not_ be adding an option to grab more than 25 caches at a time. Mike of macfamily6 mike@elness.com Link to comment
+The Cheeseheads Posted March 26, 2003 Share Posted March 26, 2003 I was actually thinking of trying to write something like this for K, but now you've saved me the trouble! Thanks! - - - - - Wisconsin Geocaching Association Link to comment
+jeannine Posted March 26, 2003 Share Posted March 26, 2003 I'm a mac user too!!! My first computer was an Apple IIe. Now I use OSX on a G4 Powerbook I love my mac, but i have to admit I get pretty frustrated by the lack of software and excessive pricing ..no AutoCAD, no good topo(at least I haven't found any), even Pixar's Renderman is only being made for windows and UNIX and Pixar/Disney/Apple are related companies. Every once in a while I think about selling the Mac and going to PC so I can use AutoCAD and 3Dmax ...but I just don't have the heart to do it. Link to comment
FullOn Posted March 26, 2003 Share Posted March 26, 2003 Finding good topo software is a problem. I've got one of the Nat'l Geographic packages for Southern California that's not bad, but it has kind of a clunky interface and the maps are pretty outdated I just got MacGPS Pro which isn't bad, but doesn't do everything I want by any means. As much as I love my mac I'm thinking I may buy a Windoze machine just for GPSing, topo and some HAM stuff that I want to do. XP really isn't too bad as long as nothing goes wrong with it. The interface is a lot like OS X actually. One of the main reasons I haven't bought an XP box is because I'll have to go buy Photoshop, Illustrator and Quark all over again. That adds another $1500 to the price tag! Link to comment
RedShoesGirl Posted March 26, 2003 Share Posted March 26, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Metaphor:Hey Marky- If you're one and I'm one, who's the other Mac user? Me. Link to comment
RedShoesGirl Posted March 26, 2003 Share Posted March 26, 2003 quote:Originally posted by FullOn:Finding good topo software is a problem. I've got one of the Nat'l Geographic packages for Southern California that's not bad, but it has kind of a clunky interface and the maps are pretty outdated I just got MacGPS Pro which isn't bad, but doesn't do everything I want by any means. I bought that and just got OSX hoping to be able to make the interface from the Garmin and Palm and computer all play nice together. I also bought the Garmin map for cities. With OS X do I still have someone else load those maps onto the GPS? You're in Orange County? I am out in the Mojave desert. Link to comment
+jeannine Posted March 26, 2003 Share Posted March 26, 2003 quote: One of the main reasons I haven't bought an XP box is because I'll have to go buy Photoshop, Illustrator and Quark all over again. That adds another $1500 to the price tag! ...like upgrading to OSX all over again ..I still haven't bought my updates for illustrator, Quark and InDesign (although I upgraded photoshop) so I have to start up in system 9 to run them. Link to comment
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