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GPX Spinner 2 released!!


Lil Devil

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icon_biggrin.gif You've asked to run GPX Spinner locally instead of over the web.

 

icon_smile.gif You've asked for GPX Spinner to combine multiple GPX files.

 

icon_cool.gif You've asked for GPX Spinner to support an ignore list.

 

icon_rolleyes.gif You've asked for the ability to customize the output to your own particular taste.

 

icon_razz.gif You've asked for GPX Spinner to ignore caches you already found when creating lists of nearest caches.

 

Guess what? GPX Spinner now does all that and more! icon_biggrin.gificon_smile.gificon_biggrin.gificon_smile.gif

 

Get it now while its hot!

 

Lil Devil lildevil.gif

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Hmm. Thats strange. I just moved my copy to the desktop, set the config file, and it worked properly. Please double-check the path in the config file and email me directly if you still have problems.

 

Just to note, there are multiple ways that Spinner can find files to work with.

 

- Simply run the program, and it will search in the path specified in the config file. If it can't find that path, it will search in the program directory.

 

- Drag and drop a GPX file, or group of GPX files, onto the Spinner icon (or specify them on a command line), and it will load just those files.

 

- Drag and drop a folder onto the Spinner icon (or specify one on a command line), and it will search in that folder for files.

 

Lil Devil lildevil.gif

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quote:
Originally posted by LilDevil:

 

http://www.gpxspinner.com/ while its hot!

 

Lil Devil


 

I think this will be hot for a while. This is a great program! The speed is incredible when run locally, both on the GPXSpinner and the iSiloX side of things.

 

One question - how do you eliminate indexes you don't want? (Index by bearing, index by placed by, index w/travel bugs, by cache type...)

 

Thanks,

 

-Craig/TeamCNJC

 

... Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--

I took off through the thorns, chest high, ...

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Not only is the locally running version cool, but the added features are awesome! Makes me want to run out now and go caching!

 

Thanks for all the work you've done.

 

Beagle

 

As soon as you idiot proof something, they go and make a better idiot!

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quote:
Originally posted by TeamCNJC:

One question - how do you eliminate indexes you don't want? (Index by bearing, index by placed by, index w/travel bugs, by cache type...)


 

Guess I was a bit quick on the question. Removing the templates from the template folder did the trick.

 

Thanks again!

 

-Craig/TeamCNJC

 

... Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--

I took off through the thorns, chest high, ...

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I enjoyed playing around in the template stuff. The only reason I can't use the html files is because they are being generated with the decimal rather than the %I. I use the generated pages different from most in that I look at my GPS, see which is close, and then enter in the URL into my phone's browser (I upload all the generated .htm files to my web server). The information I have is the waypoint, which I am generating as %I-%d-%t. I would need the .htm files to be generated as %I.htm so that I can easily type in the URL. I don't want to have to convert from the waypoint HEX code (or what ever they are calling it now) to a decimal value. That would make my brain hurt. icon_wink.gif Maybe in the .ini file you could have a setting for how the files might be named.

 

--Marky

"All of us get lost in the darkness, dreamers learn to steer with a backlit GPSr"

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quote:
Originally posted by TeamCNJC:

One question - how do you eliminate indexes you don't want? (Index by bearing, index by placed by, index w/travel bugs, by cache type...)


And later...

quote:
Originally posted by TeamCNJC:

Guess I was a bit quick on the question. Removing the templates from the template folder did the trick.


As Craig found, simply deleting templates from the templates folder will prevent those indexes from being created.

 

Conversely, adding templates to the templates folder will add them to the output. New templates could be created to sort by hidden_date, state, difficulty, or latitude, just to name a few.

 

And any template can be modified to get just the look you want. Remove all images and replace them with text.. Move the logs section above the nearest cache list.. Remove the nearest cache list.. Move anything.. The templates are extremely powerful and virtually unlimited in what you can do.

 

The only problem, as I said before, is that documentation is lacking. For now, you can open the existing templates in a text editor like Notepad. Also check out the "_field_list.txt" file in the templates folder for basic information. I'll be working on more detailed docs in coming days.

 

And keep those cards and letters coming. icon_wink.gif

 

Lil Devil lildevil.gif

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quote:
Originally posted by Marky:

I enjoyed playing around in the template stuff. The only reason I can't use the html files is because they are being generated with the decimal rather than the %I. I use the generated pages different from most ...


At one point I tried using the GUID for the filename, but I ran into a problem. Unfortunately I don't remember what it was now icon_frown.gif but I think a change I made later in the template parser may have fixed whatever limitation I ran up against.

I'll look into it again, and into making it configurable and see what I can do.

 

Lil Devil lildevil.gif

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I got three private emails that pointed out another problem:

quote:
when I preview the html files before syncing to my Palm, the image for “Not Found” logs does not show. I can see the image in the “image” directory but there seems to be something wrong with the reference.

Argh. It worked fine on Windows XP, but not on some other Windows versions. I've made a change in the image URL mechanism so it will now work on all platforms. You can download the new version here.

 

Note the only things changed are the program file and three image filenames (in the images subdirectory) so if you've modified any templates, you don't have to lose those changes.

 

Lil Devil lildevil.gif

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- Fixed a problem with the %imagepath% variable. It will now use a relative path when possible, and a correctly formatted absolute path when necessary.

- Improved command line parsing. Will now accept multiple paths and/or filenames. Files are taken literally and paths are searched for any GPX files.

- Fixed a minor problem with the Smart Truncation routine.

 

Only the GPX Spinner.exe file has changed, so you don't have to lose any changes to your templates or config files.

 

And its also available as a zip, for the firewall-challenged icon_wink.gif

 

Lil Devil lildevil.gif

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From what I've seen so far, this is really the ticket!

 

I've only been able to browse the templates a little and it looks very powerful.

 

One question, can the <% if not found %> statement be used in the gpx_template file weed out the caches I've found already? I haven't had the time to try it yet, but it would be good to be able to load only the caches I haven't found in the GPS.

 

This is outstanding, I must say.

 

CR

 

72057_2000.gif

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quote:
One question, can the <% if not found %> statement be used in the gpx_template file to weed out the caches I've found already?
All templates go through the same parser, so yes. Just make sure if you nest any IF statements to specify the field in the closing ENDIF statement. See the field_list.txt file for more info.

 

Lil Devil lildevil.gif

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Ok, so far SWEEEEEETTTT!!! Awsome Job!! icon_cool.gif

 

I have one request though. I have my email client set up to automatically extract my GPX files to the GPXSpinner directory, and want to schedule a task to automacially run Spinner after the last file arrives.

 

My only problem seems to be that I'm receiving the GPX files as .zips, and would like to continue to do so, but the standalone version of Spinner doesn't recognize these. Any chance we can get it to recognize zip files like the classic version did?

 

Thanks for the hard work!

 

skydiver-sig.gif

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"We never seek things for themselves -- what we seek is the very seeking of things."

Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)

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quote:
Originally posted by skydiver:

I have one request though. I have my email client set up to automatically extract my GPX files to the GPXSpinner directory, and want to schedule a task to automacially run Spinner after the last file arrives.

 

My only problem seems to be that I'm receiving the GPX files as .zips, and would like to continue to do so, but the standalone version of Spinner doesn't recognize these. Any chance we can get it to recognize zip files like the classic version did?


 

I was thinking of automating a few things too. What software are you using to do the automation?

 

About zip files, I don't think perl can access zip files without calling an un-zip program. Can your scheduler un-zip the files by calling an un-zip program before it calls GPX Spinner? You know what un-zippers are installed on your system and GPX Spinner doesn't.

 

However, it would be nice if GPX Spinner had a way to do zips. Maybe an INI file parameters which points to an unzipper or using a standard like Zlib which the user would have to install.

 

The new stand alone is awsome!! I made templates for my Tungsten that use color for found/unfound caches instead of italics/bold and it was very easy.

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quote:
About zip files, I don't think perl can access zip files without calling an un-zip program.
Yes it can, by using the Perl Module Archive::Zip, I am in the process of writing a "GPX Remailer" it allows someone to send their zipped GPX to a special email address, the remailing program opens the zipped attachment extracts the GPX, convert it to HTML, converts the HTML to Plucker file and the emails it. The idea is that the file arrives in ready to use form.
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quote:
Originally posted by John E Cache:

I was thinking of automating a few things too. What software are you using to do the automation?


I'm using 'The Bat!' as my email client. Has the most robust email filtering options I've ever seen. For the scheduled tasks, just using XP's 'Scheduled Tasks' option in the Control Panel.

 

quote:

About zip files, I don't think perl can access zip files without calling an un-zip program.


What Allen said.

 

skydiver-sig.gif

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"We never seek things for themselves -- what we seek is the very seeking of things."

Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)

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I think for simplicity I'd rather leave zip support out of Spinner. The old web-based Spinner just called pkzip extenally because it was easier than figuring out Archive::Zip.

 

Since the new Spinner can accept its file (or directory) list from the command line, its easy to just create a batch file that lumps it all together. Here's a batch file I just threw together:

 

1: "C:Program FilesPKzippkzip" -extract=update *.zip

2: "C:GPSProgramsSpinnerGPX Spinner.exe" "C:GPSWaypointsGeocachingRoseville" "C:GPSWaypointsGeocachingFoundCachesWithTravelBugs"

3: "C:Program FilesPluckerplucker_desktopplucker-desktop.exe" --update-selected "Roseville"

 

Note I used pkzip but you could just as easily use winzip or whatever, assuming they can be called from the command line.

 

I used line numbers to show individual lines since they were wrapping here.

 

Lil Devil lildevil.gif

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Just FYI an example of using perl to read a zip file

 

use Archive::Zip;# lots of code# where $path contains the full path to zip filemy $zip = Archive::Zip->new($path); my @members = $zip->memberNames();for my $member (@members) {   my $Content = $zip->contents($member);#  code to convert GPX which is in $Content to HTML}
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quote:
Originally posted by AllenLacy:

Just FYI an example of using perl to read a zip file

 

use Archive::Zip;# lots of code# where $path contains the full path to zip filemy $zip = Archive::Zip->new($path); my @members = $zip->memberNames();for my $member (@members) {   my $Content = $zip->contents($member);#  code to convert GPX which is in $Content to HTML}

 

Shoot! Allen beat me too it! icon_mad.gificon_wink.gif

 

But I can even simplify. Since the zip files we get from geocaching.com always contain one, and only one .gpx file...

 

use Archive::Zip;# lots of code# where $path contains the full path to zip filemy $zip = Archive::Zip->new($path); my @members = $zip->memberNames();my $Content = $zip->contents($members[0]);#  code to convert GPX which is in $Content to HTML

 

skydiver-sig.gif

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"We never seek things for themselves -- what we seek is the very seeking of things."

Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)

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[This message was edited by skydiver on April 01, 2003 at 09:58 AM.]

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quote:
Originally posted by AllenLacy:

Well then you need to get rid of the last } or it will not compile.


 

You're right. did it.

 

skydiver-sig.gif

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"We never seek things for themselves -- what we seek is the very seeking of things."

Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)

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I have run into something...

 

I spun my latest GPX and in the "index page by distance to home" I get distances like

 

2254.79 mi. E GC1F3B Suwannee Lagoon

 

Everything seems to be based on Sacramento, CA. But the "Near Jacksonville" ones display the correct data.

 

Other than the documented .ini file, is there other doco for this app? Lil Devil refers to a help file. Where would that be?

 

Thank you. I am hopelessly hooked on GPX SPinner.

 

The A.I.M. Team: Ali, Ivan and Lil Mikayla, Jacksonville, Florida

Equipment: Garmin eMap 32MB memory, Palm VIIx, Old College Eastport backpack, VW Jetta Wagon and Isuzu Trooper (hers) icon_wink.gif

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quote:
I get distances like 2254.79 mi.
The distances are based on locations in the RefLocations.txt file. You can add, delete, and change lines in that file to get more, less, or different indexes.

 

Sorry. Documentation is coming soon.

 

Lil Devil lildevil.gif

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quote:
Just FYI an example of using perl to read a zip file
Splendid. I didn't know it was so easy.

 

But... when I threw the code into Spinner, it made the Unicode::String stuff start barfing out hundreds of warnings like

Data outside latin1 range (pos=1678059, ch=U+2019) at spinner.pl line 1702.Data outside latin1 range (pos=1678191, ch=U+201c) at spinner.pl line 1702.

..as if -w is specified. I tried throwing in "no warnings;" in various places, but no luck. I also tried commenting out "use warnings;" in Zlib.pm, but I still get all those warnings.

 

Any idea how to make it stop all that nonsense?

 

Lil Devil lildevil.gif

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Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but I cannot get the stand alone version to work at all on my computer. In fact everytime I use spinner 2 my computer locks up and crashes hard. It will parse the caches in the file, but when it goes to write it out along with the html code, it freezes. The last time I tried, it finished parsing, and then rebooted my computer.

 

Any thoughts?

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quote:
Originally posted by DenaliNW:

... everytime I use spinner 2 my computer locks up and crashes hard. It will parse the caches in the file, but when it goes to write it out along with the html code, it freezes. The last time I tried, it finished parsing, and then rebooted my computer.


Wow! I have no idea why that may happen. All it is doing at that point is reading some template files and then creating new HTML files based on those templates.

 

Just out of curiosity, what happens if you temporarily remove all the files from the 'templates' folder? It should throw up a couple of error messages about not finding the templates, but it shouldn't crash. icon_eek.gif

 

Lil Devil lildevil.gif

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Dammit Jim, I'm a Programmer, not a Writer

 

Well I just made my first attempt at a couple of help pages, Getting Started and Customizing. As you'll see, writing instructions is not my strong suit icon_rolleyes.gif

 

Over time I'll be improving these pages when the creative mood strikes. Please feel free to email me and ask further questions so I know what to document next. But be nice.

 

Good thing my employer pays other people to write the manuals for the software I develop. The company would be out of business if I wrote the manuals...

 

Lil Devil lildevil.gif

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quote:
Originally posted by LilDevil:

But... when I threw the code into Spinner, it made the Unicode::String stuff start barfing out hundreds of warnings like

Data outside latin1 range (pos=1678059, ch=U+2019) at spinner.pl line 1702.

.... I tried throwing in "no warnings;" in various places, but no luck. I also tried commenting out "use warnings;" in Zlib.pm, but I still get all those warnings.

 

Any idea how to make it stop all that nonsense?


My first version read the gpx directly, and I could have sworn I got those errors, I always assumed they came from Unicode::String. In my case I don't worry about them since they come out on stderr on my server and I don't see them.
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quote:
Originally posted by AllenLacy:

... In my case I don't worry about them since they come out on stderr on my server and I don't see them.


Excellent. That clue that the messages were coming out on STDERR instead of STDOUT was perfect. Now I just redirect STDERR and the user doesn't have to see that mess. Thanks.

 

Lil Devil lildevil.gif

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quote:
Just out of curiosity, what happens if you temporarily remove all the files from the 'templates' folder? It should throw up a couple of error messages about not finding the templates, but it shouldn't crash.

 

If it is throwing up a couple of error messages, I'm not seeing it in time, because I still get the Blue Screen of death. I updated to the new version, and in both attempts to use it crashed. In the first attempt it did create a new spun gpx file, and in the second it just laughed at me in a blue sort of way.

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Lil Devil, your Spinner program is great. Been using it and modifying the the templates to suit my needs.

 

I have a couple of requests/suggestions:

 

- How about a <% if owned %> tag? We can put our ownerID in the .ini file and have spinner make decisions based on if we own the cache or not.

 

- multiple .GPX outputs. I'd like to create one GPX file upload to my GPS and another for importing to MSS&T and USAPhotos.

 

Thanks for the program!

 

CR

 

72057_2000.gif

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I have a suggestion.

I use two differnet GPS units. In order to create correct files for them I have to maintain and rename two .ini-files.

It would be great if Spinner could take the name of an .ini file as command line argument.

/Åke S

 

GpxView for Pocket PC 2002 can be found here

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Another request: RefLocation cutoffs.

 

If I'm managing a caches file in a 160 miles radius and put in RefLocations for different places I like to sort my caches from, I don't need caches listed out to the far end of my area. It's simply a waste of my poor little Palm's power and resources.

 

I like to be able to specify how far out from a location I want in that list. For instance:

 

Home, xx.xxxx, -xxx.xxxx, 160 #Or a zero for all of them.

Columbia, xx.xxxx, -xxx.xxxx, 30

Smallstown, xx.xxxx, -xxx.xxxx, 20

 

...and so on.

 

I think that could be a usefull addition.

 

Thanks!

 

CR

 

72057_2000.gif

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quote:
Originally posted by jtice:

i double click the icon that it put on my desktop, but it doesnt work, it just runs a small dos window for a sec then disappears.

Whats up?


Drag and drop your GPX file onto the Spinner icon on your desktop. It will spin the file, and create a new set of files in the same place as your GPX file.

 

Lil Devil lildevil.gif

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First time trying this program.

Is anyone using it with a Meridian? What are the waypoint allowed characters? So for I've only figured out the waypoint size, 8. Does the Meridian have a waypoint description, how big and what allowed characters?

 

I saw mention of image files not working. When I copy the cache folder over to my card reader none of the images work. I have an iPaq PPC with IE.

 

39197_2700.jpg

I am the result of genetic manipulation of superior Geocacher DNA. Faster, stronger with superior reasoning and logic.

Mokita!

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quote:
Originally posted by jtice:

OK, Next stupid question......

what is a GPX file? And where do I get it?

And what is Spinner going to do with it?

Oh, im so confused, lol. icon_confused.gif


 

If you become a member you have the ability to download lists of caches (and their info) in a file format called GPX. This GPX file can be used to (among other things):

- upload the cache waypoints into your GPS (using EasyGPS or similar software)

- sort and filter the caches (using Watcher or Spinner)

- create cache pages on your PDA (using Spinner or GPX2HTML along with Plucker)

- MUCH MUCH more...

(sorry to anyone who's applications I left out!)

 

homer.gif

"Just because I don't care doesn't mean I don't understand."

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