Comments Field in EasyGPS

[+HartClimbs]

Anyone have any experience with EasyGPS and comments. When I was using .LOC files downloaded from webpages manually - EasyGPS was populating the "Comments" column with a "shortened" cache name (which was very handy).

 

Now I've switched to pocket queries (with .GPX files) and the comments are gone. I checked the EasyGPS website and it says that the comment column is autopopulated by EasyGPS, but it doesn't appear to be working for me. It was a handy feature - so I thought I'd post a quick question to see if anyone had any insight as to the problem?

 

I'm running EasyGPS V1.2.2 and my GPS definitely supports the "Comments" field. As I said, it was working before....and then it was gone. I haven't posted a ? to TopoGrafix yet since I suspect it's something I'm doing wrong - and not a bug in their code.

 

Any and all suggestions or solutions welcome!

 

Thanks,

 

HartClimbs

 

[This message was edited by HartClimbs on February 14, 2003 at 06:04 PM.]

[Dale_Lynn]

I have version 1.2.2 and the "comment" field is definitely there and auto populated with same as cache description..

 

And the comment " xxxxxx " show up in "text" editor (notepad).

 

Dale

 

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I'm Diagonally Parked, In A Parallel Universe.

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[+HartClimbs]

...and hopefully I'll find what I'm doing wrong.

 

I checked - the .gpx files sent from pocketquery don't have the tags - so I know it's not a case of "empty" tag fields being sent.

 

I open the .gpx files with EasyGPS - but the comment field remains blank. Save and reopen the file - still blank. It's got to be some wierd setting on my PC that got snafu'd. I even downloaded the new beta version of ExpertGPS and the behavior is the same. I checked the registry entries (I'm using Win2K) for Topografix but didn't see anything obvious.

 

Hope I can get this working again - it's a really useful feature. Any and all ideas welcome.

 

[This message was edited by HartClimbs on February 16, 2003 at 07:15 PM.]

[+HartClimbs]

One benefit of a snowy day is that it gives me a little time to experiment. I tried EasyGPS on my Windows 98 system - works like a champ. Comments field populated as expected from my .gpx files. (the files come in without a tag and it's populated when EasyGPS opens the file.

 

So - I know it's something different on the Win2K laptop that I normally use. I'll spend some time comparing registry entries - but this "trial and error" method's probably not most productive.

 

Got to be a setting on my PC that's stopping this comment field from being populated. Argh!!!

[topografix]

Sorry for the delay in responding - I was on vacation last week. I'm looking into this bug right now (and snow is piling up outside). I think the problem is with the GPS model you've selected, and not with the software. If Easy/ExpertGPS doesn't think your GPS supports comments, it won't auto-generate them.

 

I need to know what GPS model you're using in order to track this down. If you've got a 76-series Garmin, the problem is already fixed in the latest ExpertGPS beta/

 

--

Dan Foster

TopoGrafix: GPS Software, Waypoints, and Maps

http://www.topografix.com/

[+jonboy]

I also get a version of the cache name in the comment field, and I am using the second edition of Windows 98. What I am doing is putting the county where the cache is in that location field. This helps me organize caches in states like New Jersey or New York that have hundreds of caches. I keep files by county, the biggest I have is Bergen County, with something like 80 caches (I don't consider virtuals caches). When I cut it down by making a file of Bergen County caches needed, it is a manageable number of caches.

[+HartClimbs]

...and I hope you had a nice vacation.

 

I'm using a Rino 120 (latest s/w rev level). Strange that it appears to work with my Windows 98 machine. I tried deleting and re-adding the GPS (on the Win2K machine), but no dice.

 

Also, I tried downloading the ExpertGPS beta - but it appears to work the same way (at least on the laptop). I'm sure it's something I have set wrong that's causing this - I'm just coming up empty on finding the root cause!

[Dale_Lynn]

hmmm.... have a bit of a correction to make...

 

When back and did a new test download...

 

I download a file with a .loc extender, loaded it into a EasyGPS and then saved it in .GPX format ... Comment field remained through out the whole process and yes it was populated by EasyGPS with the same as the description....

 

Dale

 

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I'm Diagonally Parked, In A Parallel Universe.

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[This message was edited by Dale_Lynn on February 17, 2003 at 08:27 PM.]

[+HartClimbs]

... I changed the GPX unit to "GARMIN XXX - all SYMBOLS" and it worked fine.

 

It's probably just that EASYGPS doesn't recognize the comment capability of the Rino 120. I've noticed (since spending time experimenting with this product) that it's fairly tempermental and doesn't provide easily used diagnostics (at least to the end user).

 

I've also seen where it stops parsing a .gpx file but doesn't give any indication of an error (other than there's not the complete set of waypoints displayed). I really like the interface and the usability of the tool - but I'd recommend including some additional error messages.

 

Something like "unexpected error found before end of .gpx file" would be a handy addition. Anyway - figured I'd pass along the info if anyone else with a Rino has a similar issue.