CacheMate 2.3

1.2k · October 3, 2003

Version 2.3 of CacheMate was released today, with the following additions:

- Waypoint projection

- Filters for the nearest cache search function

- Option to re-run the last nearest cache search (skips the coordinate and filter dialogs)

- Hardware button and jog wheel support for the nearest caches list

- Searching the list view by entering characters

- Option to display waypoint as name in the list view

- Line for travel bug IDs in the items taken/left log notes template

- "Please wait" popups whenever the main database is resorted

The list view has also been optimized for speed (which speeds up the nearest caches search and record importing a bit as a side effect).

If you have any questions, be sure to check the documentation and FAQ for CacheMate before asking. They are both on the Smittyware.com site, as well as in the CacheMate download package.

1.4k · October 3, 2003

Whoo Hoo!

October 3, 2003

It just keeps getting better!!!! Search nearby cache by cat. ... that is what I had in mind and it works perfect!!!!!

1.2k · October 3, 2003

Anyone reading this who uses CacheMate on an iQue should either hold off on installing 2.3, or avoid launching it with the virtual Graffiti area minimized. mrkablooey notified me about a crash when you do that.

I've found and (I think) fixed the problem, so I should be able to release a version 2.31 with the fix tomorrow.

1.2k · October 4, 2003

Version 2.31 is now on the site, with the aforementioned bug fix. The coast is clear for all of you iQue users :-)

3.8k · October 4, 2003

youdaman!

~robert

www.CacheGear.com

October 4, 2003

Is there a way to pay with paypal vs the esellerate site ?

-Robert

1.2k · October 5, 2003

I have a PayPal account, so it's technically possible. I don't do that normally, though, because I can automate things with eSellerate and a few other sites that I sell through. That's how I can say that I can usually get a registration code sent off within an hour (best case). Since I can't securely automate things with PayPal, I don't tend to do sales through them as it's a very manual process by comparison.

If none of those sites (eSellerate, PalmGear or Handango) work for you, then send some email to sales at smittyware dot com and I can set you up with some details.

I hope I haven't just set a precedence, here... I chose to automate things for a reason :-)

October 7, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by Maeglin:
Version 2.3 of http://www.smittyware.com/palm/cachemate/ was released today <big snip>.

Thank you for your outstanding support and frequent upgrades. This program has really added to my fun factor of caching, which is the whole point!

October 7, 2003

From what I have read, it appears that CacheMate would be a great program and am just about willing to send off the $7 registration just to try it out....

But there is my hangup, I don't want to send $$ just to try the program and don't feel that the ability to import from a memo is sufficient to get some test data in to try it out.

Here is what would be great

- and maybe it is there and I am just too dense to figure it out -

I would like for there to be a sample database enclosed with the zip file so I can play with it a little to see if it would work. I have no way now to see how the logs from a cache look, etc, without some sample data. And unless you find a way to only allow say 25 records for unregistered users and let them download their own data - then a test file to play with would be nice.

Thanks - and am guessing the $7 will be on its way soon either way.

3.8k · October 7, 2003

To start with I don't have any affiliation with Cachemate.

I would be more than happy to send you my PQ but you wouldn't be able to see it until you registered.

That being said I would be willing to bet you $7.00 that you love the product. You don't like it I'll pay for it, you do and you pay for someone elses registration that can't afford it or is hesitant to buy it.

October 8, 2003

I also would make the same offer as webscouter495! The product should be costing a lot more than $7.00!!!

1.4k · October 8, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by YeOleImposter:
But there is my hangup, I don't want to send $$ just to try the program and don't feel that the ability to import from a memo is sufficient to get some test data in to try it out.

I agree that YeOleImposter has a valid point. It's an issue I also faced. (I registered and haven't regretted it.)

Either a sample or a limit (I'd suggest 10) to import from a file for unregistered users.

1.2k · October 8, 2003

There's already a limit on records for the demo version (and it's set at 10), so I could enable LOC/GPX import in the next version, fitting in that same limit. A sample database, unless I came up with the data off the top of my head, would be in violation of Groundspeak's license agreement, so I couldn't do that.

If it's not too much (at least a little less restriction is going in), I might also truncate the descriptions (of course, with an explanatory bit of text at the end). I know that, in my case, I don't usually have even 10 records loaded (just those that I'm interested in seeking or are in the field looking for), but I've been glad lately that I put the longer description support. After all, the whole point behind shareware crippling is to make something tryable but not fully functional.

3.8k · October 8, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by Maeglin:
There's already a limit on records for the demo version (and it's set at 10), so I could enable LOC/GPX import in the next version, fitting in that same limit. A sample database, unless I came up with the data off the top of my head, would be in violation of Groundspeak's license agreement, so I couldn't do that.

If it's not too much (at least a little less restriction is going in), I might also truncate the descriptions (of course, with an explanatory bit of text at the end). I know that, in my case, I don't usually have even 10 records loaded (just those that I'm interested in seeking or are in the field looking for), but I've been glad lately that I put the longer description support. After all, the whole point behind shareware crippling is to make something tryable but not fully functional.

I don't know for sure but I would guess that if you asked Jeremy if you could do a 10 cache PQ from the headquarters of Groundspeak to include in the zip file he would not be opposed to that.

October 8, 2003

quote:
If it's not too much (at least a little less restriction is going in), I might also truncate the descriptions (of course, with an explanatory bit of text at the end). I know that, in my case, I don't usually have even 10 records loaded (just those that I'm interested in seeking or are in the field looking for), but I've been glad lately that I put the longer description support. After all, the whole point behind shareware crippling is to make something tryable but not fully functional.

Sounds like a workable idea if TPTB won't allow you to use 10 records off the database.

You say you usually only have 10 records loaded - how about everyone else - what do you keep loaded?

My normal GPX file has 100 of the nearest records.

Has anyone used this with BMGPX to track benchmarks too?

My system right now is to use GPX2HTML and Plucker to create pages I can view - and then I use ShadowPlan to keep track of notes, etc. I was thinking this would allow me to combine the two into one program.

1.4k · October 8, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by YeOleImposter:
You say you usually only have 10 records loaded - how about everyone else - what do you keep loaded?

Oh, about 1,000 benchmarks.

quote:
Has anyone used this with BMGPX to track benchmarks too?

I wrote a program to trim the descriptions down in size first, but it does work. I still run into descriptions that are too long for CacheMate from time to time. Not sure what can be done about it.

1.4k · October 8, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by Maeglin:
I know that, in my case, I don't usually have even 10 records loaded

Ah, that explains some of the product's early issues with the need for a "Please wait".

There isn't much to wait for with only 10 items. I'll have to get you hooked on benchmarking - and wanting to load all the benchmarks for you county.

A feature I'm missing now is the ability to upload locations to my GPS. There are other Palm products that will do that, but I hate to have to carry duplicate database in my Palm. Since my GPS only holds 500 points, I can't load my full database. <sigh>

October 8, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by GeckoGeek:

quote:
Has anyone used this with BMGPX to track benchmarks too?
I wrote a program to trim the descriptions down in size first, but it does work. I still run into descriptions that are too long for CacheMate from time to time. Not sure what can be done about it.

Hmmm. Sounds like would be a good 'error-check' on CacheMate's part to truncate any descriptions that are too long? Or do you prefer doing it by hand?

October 8, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by YeOleImposter:

You say you usually only have 10 records loaded - how about everyone else - what do you keep loaded?

My load size is evolving. I started with the nearest 400 to my home coordinates. While that is nice if I get out of the area a bit, its a lot of stuff to scroll through. With ver 2.3 and the ability to search by category, I have created smaller categories limited by miles.

Here is what I do right now.

Home area for 10 miles of 200. Not sure which is the limiting factor as there are a ton of caches around here.

Santa Cruz to Monterey area - 50 miles (gets a lot of isolated ones that I may be motorcycling on) for 200. I suspect this query is limited by miles as opposed to numbers.

For trips I just add a category-- this weekend I'm going to San Luis Obispo to see my godson where he just started college, so I built a closest 100 by zip code only and filtered out all but the traditional stuff as I will not have time to do puzzles, etc.

I also do a found cache query that I update once a week. Usually I will update it an make a note on the Palm when I find it. When I do the update found query, it merges the caches and keeps the notes I made. Cool!

I created a batch file to convert the .gpx to .csv and load query to MS Streets & Trips. Nifty way to see the groupings and easier to use than the Garmin software.

I load the same queries to my eTrek Vista using EasyGPS.

I'm still trying to figure out how to efficently use spinner, babel, plucker, etc. I think I don't need plucker at all cause I have CacheMate.

What a deal for $7!!

1.2k · October 8, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by YeOleImposter:
Hmmm. Sounds like would be a good 'error-check' on CacheMate's part to truncate any descriptions that are too long? Or do you prefer doing it by hand?

It already does (well, the file converter does), and that's his problem

In Palm OS, I have to set the maximum size for fields to something... can't have them be indefinite. I've already bumped up the max. length from 3k to 8k, which is about as far as I can go without running into problems.

quote:
Originally posted by GeckoGeek:
A feature I'm missing now is the ability to upload locations to my GPS. There are other Palm products that will do that, but I hate to have to carry duplicate database in my Palm. Since my GPS only holds 500 points, I can't load my full database. <sigh>

If only the different manufacturers would freakin' standardize on that!

I am working on an idea that tackles that from another perspective, though... a "go to" navigation plugin for CacheMate... something close to what GPS Pilot is, but which CM can hook into (call the plugin app and feed coords to it). I don't think that functionality is in Cetus currently... would be interesting to ask about it, though.

1.2k · October 8, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by GeckoGeek:

quote:
Originally posted by Maeglin:
I know that, in my case, I don't usually have even 10 records loaded

Ah, that explains some of the product's early issues with the need for a "Please wait". There isn't much to wait for with only 10 items. I'll have to get you hooked on benchmarking - and wanting to load all the benchmarks for you county.

I also wasn't able to gauge bottlenecks really well until I started testing with the one emulation (OS 4.0 debug) that seemed to magnify any slow parts of the app... and that was working with 100 records.

5.3k · October 8, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by Maeglin:
I am working on an idea that tackles that from another perspective, though... a "go to" navigation plugin for CacheMate... something close to what GPS Pilot is, but which CM can hook into (call the plugin app and feed coords to it). I don't think that functionality is in Cetus currently... would be interesting to ask about it, though.

If you're saying that I think you're saying, I've been flirting with a similar idea.

GPSBabel is in ANSI C and has fairly small serial I/O modules. If we jettison the complicated parsers (the XML brothers) and keep just the Garmin and Magellan modules, I think a reasonably portable uploader/downloader (handy for club meetings, etc.) could be created without a lot of pain. The GPSBabel internals lend itself well to the "hook in and feed coords" thing because that's how all those formats talk to each other internally.

If I've understood what you're considering and you would be interested in partnering up on that, contact me. (CacheMate has been on my "stuff to look at" list now for a couple of weeks...)

October 8, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by Maeglin:

quote:
Originally posted by YeOleImposter:
Hmmm. Sounds like would be a good 'error-check' on CacheMate's part to truncate any descriptions that are too long? Or do you prefer doing it by hand?

It already does (well, the file converter does), and that's his problem In Palm OS, I have to set the maximum size for fields to something... can't have them be indefinite. I've already bumped up the max. length from 3k to 8k, which is about as far as I can go without running into problems.

Ok, I was thinking 'Name' not description. 8k record length sure sounds like alot!

1.4k · October 9, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by YeOleImposter:
Hmmm. Sounds like would be a good 'error-check' on CacheMate's part to truncate any descriptions that are too long? Or do you prefer doing it by hand?

The desktop routine does the job nicely without any fuss. However it doesn't tell you if it had to truncate things. I did add a thing to my "trim" program to the end of each description. If it don't see that in CacheMate, I know the description got cut. The trim program does cut out about 30% of the stuff, but every once in awhile you'll find one mark with a long history that everyone had to write long paragraph on.....

I think it's maybe 2% of the marks in my area.

It would be nice if I could know which ones it was so I could look at hand trimming those.

1.4k · October 9, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by robertlipe:
If we jettison the complicated parsers (the XML brothers) and keep just the Garmin and Magellan modules, I think a reasonably portable uploader/downloader (handy for club meetings, etc.) could be created without a lot of pain.

Ohhhhhhh baby! If this works I'd never have to come home! Oh, wait. I still have to log my finds. OK, so I'd still have to come home.

1.2k · October 9, 2003

I've just released CMConvert 1.42, which fixes a bug with the invalid XML character stripping when there's more than one of those characters in a row in the XML file. There's also the reminder message when you're importing LOC files that you don't get a lot of information

For the Windows version, there's an added auto-install feature. That should work with Palm Desktop 4.0 and later, but I'm not sure about earlier versions.

October 9, 2003

Ok, let me try to get this straight. If I try out Cachemate without registering, I can't import the GPX or LOC file? What's the use then?

3.8k · October 9, 2003

You can imput the data manually you just can't use the PQ input. Try it you won't be dissapointed.

1.2k · October 10, 2003

Indeed. Copy/paste text from the cache pages into specially formatted memo records (there's information and a template in the documentation for doing that), then import those into CacheMate.

October 10, 2003

I just bought & installed the regged version and it looks like a great value. However I can't seem to successfully search by waypoint ID. I enter the ID in the "Find" function, but don't get any results. Searching by name seems to work fine, it's just the GCXXXX waypoint searches that don't work. I have tried with both sort options, no luck. What am I doing wrong???

1.2k · October 10, 2003

What version of Palm OS are you running? There seems to be a problem with that with any version earlier than 4.0... I guess I need to update the FAQ, huh?

What you can do instead, with 2.3 and later, is go to the list, select the waypoint sort order, and start entering the character in the waypoint ID (Graffiti or an attached keyboard should work). It'll do a case-insensitive search through the waypoint IDs and scroll to the matching entry.

October 10, 2003

Thanks, Maeglin, I thought that might be the case since I read about "ealier OS's" in the readme. I'm running it on an OLD Palm m105, the OS is 3.5, which may be as high as I can go... Perhaps it's time to upgrade! Thanks for the tip on scrolling, too!

1.2k · October 10, 2003

Yeah, I noticed that when I went to go update the FAQ on the site about the list view search function. I've clarified that a bit (stated version 4.0), and the Readme.html in the download package will be updated with the next release.

1.2k · October 11, 2003

Do you guys think that the relaxing of the GPX/LOC import restriction is critical enough for a 2.4 release, or can it wait to be folded into a version 3.0?

I've got plans to do some more advanced waypoint calcs (including things like circum center and triangulation), as well as a rather open system for plugin support (the iQue mapping support will likely be broken out and become the first of those). Of course, that wouldn't be all

I'm not sure at this point just how long it'll take to do all of that, though, especially the plugin support.

1.4k · October 11, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by Maeglin:
Do you guys think that the relaxing of the GPX/LOC import restriction is critical enough for a 2.4 release, or can it wait to be folded into a version 3.0?

The question needs to be put to those evaluating the product since it doesn't affect us registered users. I know it did slow me down a bit to not be able to see the thing loaded up before plunking my cash down. I guess the question is how bad do you want more users?

1.2k · October 11, 2003

Good point

Well, the changes are done... just need to run some tests on it and I should be able to get it out sometime tonight or tomorrow. That way, I'm free and clear to start on 3.0.

There'll be something in 2.4 for registered users as well... an option to display UTM coords for a record (originally added the conversion for the advanced waypoint calcs, but figured it'd be good to have a UTM display in there as well).

CacheMate 2.3

Recommended Posts

Join the conversation