Searching for past DNFs

[+gasbottle]

Is there some way I can search the web site for caches that I have logged a DNF on and that I haven't subsequently found?

 

I never got on too well with GSAK, and the nag screens now make it unusable. I don't want to pay for a tool for a one-off requirement so I'd prefer some other solution if that's possible.

[+lee737]

You may need to use the shoeleather approach if you want it free, bring up your list of 'all logs' on the GC website, and then check which ones you haven't subsequently found.

[Pup Patrol]

Is there some way I can search the web site for caches that I have logged a DNF on and that I haven't subsequently found?

 

I never got on too well with GSAK, and the nag screens now make it unusable. I don't want to pay for a tool for a one-off requirement so I'd prefer some other solution if that's possible.

 

https://www.geocaching.com/my/default.aspx

 

Your Logs (Last 30 Days)

Show all logs for: Geocaches, Trackable Items, or Benchmarks ***click on "geocaches" to get to:

 

Your Geocaching Logs (All)

Show: Attended, Didn't find it, Enable listing, Found it, Needs archived, Needs maintenance, Owner maintenance, Post reviewer note, Temporarily disable listing, Update coordinates, Will attend, Write note, All Logs

 

You can then chose to see only "Didn't Find it" logs

 

 

B.

Edited December 20, 2016 by Pup Patrol

[+Team DEMP]

A shortcut to the above steps to show DNF logs is https://www.geocachi...s.aspx?s=1&lt=3 but that won't remove any where you subsequently found the cache after the DNF.

Edited December 21, 2016 by Team DEMP

[+gasbottle]

It seems that there is no easy way to do this (except perhaps GSAK). From the suggestions above I can get a list of the caches I've logged a DNF on. I can also get a list of those I have found. If I could get these lists in a machine readable format I could create a short script in, say, PHP to match them up and get the result I want.

 

So the question now is, can I download these lists in, perhaps, CSV format? I could go with XML (maybe even GPX) but that makes things more complicated.

 

Ultimately I suppose I could simply save the HTML and process that but parsing the HTML is a complexity I could really do without.

 

Alternatively, is there some way to get all my log entries (again, preferably in CSV format)? Provided there's a field that ties the log entry to the cache I can quickly create a script that will extract the data I'm after.

Edited December 21, 2016 by gasbottle

[+ecanderson]

Alas -- as in so many cases, GSAK is indeed the 'easy' tool for this kind of work. Load up your PQs and give it a quick search on the DNF date and bingo... you have your list, ready for CSV export.

Takes all of about 15 seconds to complete the whole process, right down to CSV creation.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

It seems that there is no easy way to do this (except perhaps GSAK). From the suggestions above I can get a list of the caches I've logged a DNF on. I can also get a list of those I have found. If I could get these lists in a machine readable format I could create a short script in, say, PHP to match them up and get the result I want.

 

So the question now is, can I download these lists in, perhaps, CSV format? I could go with XML (maybe even GPX) but that makes things more complicated.

 

Ultimately I suppose I could simply save the HTML and process that but parsing the HTML is a complexity I could really do without.

 

Alternatively, is there some way to get all my log entries (again, preferably in CSV format)? Provided there's a field that ties the log entry to the cache I can quickly create a script that will extract the data I'm after.

 

You can use the gpsbabel tool (https://www.gpsbabel.org/), which GSAK uses, to transform a MyFInds pocket query output (in gpx format) to CSV. However, as far as I know, there isn't a way to get a list of DNFs from the geocaching.com web site, other than as a web page. I don't program in PHP unless I have to but you could probably find a html parser library that could parse the html output of the https://www.geocaching.com/my/logs.aspx?s=1&lt=3 links. Unfortunately that doesn't have GC codes, which means you'd probably have to resolve the link for each cache in the list to get it, and would probably mean some screen scraping, which may be in violation of the TOU.

[+HHL]

[...] to transform a MyFInds pocket query output (in gpx format) to CSV. [...]

 

The MyFinds PQ unfortunately only Contain DNFs that are changed to a Found later. All the DNFs without a following Found are not part of this PQ.

 

Hans

[+HHL]

Here are your DNFs as a CSV file (just code and name):

Gasbottle's Dnfs

 

Hans

 

NB: I suppose that a list with just codes and names is not violating the ToU.

Edited December 21, 2016 by HHL

[+NanCycle]

Is there some way I can search the web site for caches that I have logged a DNF on and that I haven't subsequently found?

 

I never got on too well with GSAK, and the nag screens now make it unusable. I don't want to pay for a tool for a one-off requirement so I'd prefer some other solution if that's possible.

 

https://www.geocaching.com/my/default.aspx

 

Your Logs (Last 30 Days)

Show all logs for: Geocaches, Trackable Items, or Benchmarks ***click on "geocaches" to get to:

 

Your Geocaching Logs (All)

Show: Attended, Didn't find it, Enable listing, Found it, Needs archived, Needs maintenance, Owner maintenance, Post reviewer note, Temporarily disable listing, Update coordinates, Will attend, Write note, All Logs

 

You can then chose to see only "Didn't Find it" logs

 

B.

 

Here's my method--it will be time-consuming if you have a lot to start with, but not difficult to keep it up to date.

 

Take the list of "Didn't Find It" logs created as above, bookmark all those caches. Then when you look at the bookmark list, it will show the ones you subsequently found. Delete those from the bookmark list.

For the future, whenever you DNF a cache, add it to the DNF bookmark list.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

[...] to transform a MyFInds pocket query output (in gpx format) to CSV. [...]

 

The MyFinds PQ unfortunately only Contain DNFs that are changed to a Found later. All the DNFs without a following Found are not part of this PQ.

 

Hans

 

The MyFinds PQ only contains a list of caches that have been found, and as you say there is no information regarding whether any of the caches were previously attempted. In order to create a list of cache that one has DNFd, but has not subsequently been found, a list of DNFs needs to be compared to a list of caches that have been found.

 

 

[+TriciaG]

I add caches I DNF to a bookmark list. I can go to https://www.geocaching.com/my/lists.aspx and view my list. Each one that has been found since is denoted as such by the system. I can delete those, and voila - a list (which can be made into a PQ) of my DNFs that I have not subsequently found.

 

Can this list be exported as text? I dunno.

Edited December 21, 2016 by TriciaG

[+The Leprechauns]

I do the same thing, TriciaG. My DNF bookmark list is linked below in my forum signature line. It's a great record of my many misadventures and failures!

 

You mentioned making a pocket query of your DNF's from the bookmark list. What's more, you can then map the PQ results. Here's my footprint of epic fails across the country:

 

 

I can also run that pocket query and download the results into GSAK. Because it's a special load, I can tell GSAK to change the icons associated with caches I've DNF'd. That way, they display differently on GSAK's map. That is how I solve for another common request in these forums: a way to show your DNF's on a cache map.

[+gasbottle]

Here are your DNFs as a CSV file (just code and name):

Gasbottle's Dnfs

 

Hans

 

NB: I suppose that a list with just codes and names is not violating the ToU.

 

Thanks for this. It gives me an idea of the scale of the problem - that is, it's not huge. A quick visual check suggests that about 80% have been found. I can quickly remove those that I recognise as found immediately leaving about 25 that I need to check manually. The objective is to create a Bookmark list to track this, and for 25 or so caches the complexity of an automated search really isn't justified, nor is fighting with GSAK.

 

Thanks again for your help

[+gasbottle]

I add caches I DNF to a bookmark list. I can go to https://www.geocaching.com/my/lists.aspx and view my list. Each one that has been found since is denoted as such by the system. I can delete those, and voila - a list (which can be made into a PQ) of my DNFs that I have not subsequently found.

 

Can this list be exported as text? I dunno.

 

A bookmark list is my objective, but since I didn't start it on day one I need an initial list of qualifying caches to set it up. Exporting the caches was only a possible route to automating the process.

 

Thanks for your input

[+HHL]

[....] The objective is to create a Bookmark list to track this, and for 25 or so caches the complexity of an automated search really isn't justified, nor is fighting with GSAK.

 

Thanks again for your help

 

The bookmark lists automatically show found caches as such. There is a Greasemonkey script "Geocaching.com Bookmarks Helper" that flags them in one go and let you bulk delete the found caches.

 

Hans

[+Isonzo Karst]

The MyFinds PQ only contains a list of caches that have been found, and as you say there is no information regarding whether any of the caches were previously attempted.

 

A merely technical detail, a MyFindsPQ will include ALL of your logs on that cache - any DNFs, Write Note, etc. So if you log a DNF on a cache you later find, your DNF log will come in PQ.

In GSAK I filter on MyFinds for DNFs and find that 115 caches in that query were previously DNF'ed by me.

I assume there are other ways to do this.

[+gasbottle]

The MyFinds PQ only contains a list of caches that have been found, and as you say there is no information regarding whether any of the caches were previously attempted.

 

A merely technical detail, a MyFindsPQ will include ALL of your logs on that cache - any DNFs, Write Note, etc. So if you log a DNF on a cache you later find, your DNF log will come in PQ.

In GSAK I filter on MyFinds for DNFs and find that 115 caches in that query were previously DNF'ed by me.

I assume there are other ways to do this.

That will tell me the DNFs for caches I have found. I want the DNFs for caches I haven't found

[+gasbottle]

After reading the comments here and experimenting a little this is what I arrived at:

 

Go to Geocaches | All logs and save the resulting page locally

Run a short script on the saved file to filter the logs in the way I want and generate a clickable list that I can work from to set up a bookmark list.

 

It took me about 90 minutes to write the script - probably faster than I could have done the job with GSAK - and now it's done I can set up a bookmark list and I won't have to run it again.

 

Job Done!

Edited December 24, 2016 by gasbottle

[+ecanderson]

Definitely not faster than you could have done it with GSAK, especially if you just load it with the queries that you have already created on gc.com.

Once you load your PQs into GSAK, it really is about 15 seconds (maybe even less) to achieve your DNF list and export it.

[+The Leprechauns]

The objective is to create a Bookmark list to track this, and for 25 or so caches the complexity of an automated search really isn't justified, nor is fighting with GSAK.

For 25 caches, I would have gone down the list of all my DNF logs, right-clicked to open each cache in a new tab, then gone through the tabs to close the ones that showed my smiley at the top right of the cache page (resolved DNF), and to bookmark the ones with no smiley at the top right (unresolved DNF). Would take about 10 minutes, tops.

[+HHL]

[...]

 

It took me about 90 minutes to write the script - probably faster than I could have done the job with GSAK - and now it's done I can set up a bookmark list and I won't have to run it again.

 

Job Done!

 

It took me less than 2 minutes to get all your DNFs using GSAK and the api. Another minute to create a bookmarklist and bulk upload those DNFs. Another minute to bulk delete the finds.

 

Hans