GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife)

[+maleki]

Also, are the arc/line/polygon filters working.  I've hung GSAK a few times now trying to experiment with them.  Once again, probably just me.

 

With my limited testing, yes they are working. If you can reproduce this problem describing the steps I would certainly like to know about it.

 

Any one else using these filters? Working? Having problems?

Clyde,

 

Here's what I've done to try the Arc/Line filter:

 

I've selected 2 waypoints about 30 miles apart in my database.

 

Clicked the search/filter button.

 

Clicked the Arc,Line,Polygon button (left all other Set Filter page options at default)

 

Clicked the 'Add User Flagged Wayoints'.

 

Selected a distance of 10 miles.

 

Filter type = Arc/Line

 

and hit OK then GO on the Set Filter page

 

I get an hourglass on screen but it never returns results. This particular filter has been 'running?' at least 10 minutes now - I don't expect it to return. It is very hard to clear this condition after it happens.

 

I expected the filter to return all caches within 10 miles of the line between the two selected caches. Is this assumption correct?

 

I'm testing this on and old P233 laptop w/ 98 mb of RAM and the dreaded Win Me (cringe). There are about 500 records in my test database. Previous versions of GSAK filtered fine an quickly on this system.

 

Thanks for any assistance.

 

maleki/Marty

[+ClydeE]

Here's what I've done to try the Arc/Line filter:

 

I've selected 2 waypoints about 30 miles apart in my database.

 

Clicked the search/filter button.

 

Clicked the Arc,Line,Polygon button (left all other Set Filter page options at default)

 

Clicked the 'Add User Flagged Wayoints'.

 

Selected a distance of 10 miles.

 

Filter type = Arc/Line

 

and hit OK then GO on the Set Filter page

 

I get an hourglass on screen but it never returns results. This particular filter has been 'running?' at least 10 minutes now - I don't expect it to return. It is very hard to clear this condition after it happens.

 

I expected the filter to return all caches within 10 miles of the line between the two selected caches. Is this assumption correct?

 

I'm testing this on and old P233 laptop w/ 98 mb of RAM and the dreaded Win Me (cringe). There are about 500 records in my test database. Previous versions of GSAK filtered fine an quickly on this system.

 

Thanks for any assistance.

 

maleki/Marty

Yes, 10 minutes is way too long for any filter - It should do it in a matter of seconds, even on that hardware.

 

Hmmm, tried exactly what you described but can't produce the problem. Tested on W2k and XP (I don't have a ME system to test on)

 

Does anyone else have this problem?

 

As GSAK is actually using GPSBabel to do this, the implication is that babel is not finishing or something like that. You might try running the babel conversion outside GSAK to see if there are any error messages that might give us a clue.

 

1. Start a command prompt

2. Change directory to the install folder of GSAK

3. run the file babel.bat

 

When done it should say "finish ok" or give some other error that I would like to know about.

[+nonnipoppy]

Clyde I am using 3.00 Beta. How do you control the waypoint name. I want it set back to display GCxxxx and I cannot find where to change. Thanks for all the work.

[+ClydeE]

Clyde I am using 3.00 Beta. How do you control the waypoint name. I want it set back to display GCxxxx and I cannot find where to change. Thanks for all the work.

Please refer to Item 4 of my release notes here

 

For more information I also posted a detailed explanation in the forum here

[+nonnipoppy]

Thanks!!!

[+maleki]

Yes, 10 minutes is way too long for any filter - It should do it in a matter of seconds, even on that hardware.

 

Hmmm, tried exactly what you described but can't produce the problem. Tested on W2k and XP (I don't have a ME system to test on)

 

Does anyone else have this problem?

 

As GSAK is actually using GPSBabel to do this, the implication is that babel is not finishing or something like that. You might try running the babel conversion outside GSAK to see if there are any error messages that might give us a clue.

 

1. Start a command prompt

2. Change directory to the install folder of GSAK

3. run the file babel.bat

 

When done it should say "finish ok" or give some other error that I would like to know about.

Clyde,

 

The command prompt babel.bat test worked fine.

 

The tried the arc filter again. Got the endless hourglass.

 

Interestingly(or maybe not), I can run other standard filters at this time, all while the hourglass is my cursor. I can see the cache number change at the bottom of the main GSAK window but the main GSAK page does not update. and I cannot close the filter window easily. I can click on help in the set filter box and my cursor returns to normal until I exit the help box.

 

Hit reset and cancel MANY times Until I could finally click on th GSAK screen again.

 

When I try search again it get an error box saying.

 

Exception Log

Cannot make a visible window modal

 

I sent the error dump this AM.

 

I have to restart GSAK at this point and the database rebuilds.

 

I will try to test on some other system today(without ME) but it will be much later.

 

Would be nice to here from other that have tried it. AFter first encountering the problem, I tried it on your sample database, also with the same results

 

Thanks for your great efforts.

[+maleki]

Clyde,

 

I had a few minutes before I have to leave so I downloaded the program again on a different computer(win98 this time) to eliminate download errors.

 

Installed on a system that has never had GSAK on it b4.

 

Loaded GSAK and your sample database and did several normal filters without problem.

 

Cancelled filters and reset filter window to defaults.

 

Selected arc/line/polygon filters.

added two selected caches for a lline filter

chose distance

hit OK

hit Go in main Set Filter page

endless hour glass again

 

Do any of the settings in the main Set Filter page have anything to do with the result once you choose 'Arc,Line or Polygon'?

 

I've tried my line filter withour changing anything on the main 'Set Filter' page. Perhaps I'm missing something.

 

I'll be back later today to try some other things.

 

Thanks again and sorry for the problem report. Perhaps it's just my ancient(as computers go) operating systems.

 

maleki/Marty

[+GLM]

Did the Drop GPX Here box go bye bye in 3.00 Beta?

[+Olar]

Did the Drop GPX Here box go bye bye in 3.00 Beta?

He! He! Shocked me the first time I dragged in a gpx too. There I was clicking & dragging and suddenly discovered no more drop box. Now what to do. Finally my finger got tired and let go. File loaded OK.

 

Cheers, Olar

[+Hi-Tek]

Clyde,

 

I had a few minutes before I have to leave so I downloaded the program again on a different computer(win98 this time) to eliminate download errors.

 

Installed on a system that has never had GSAK on it b4.

 

Loaded GSAK and your sample database and did several normal filters without problem.

 

Cancelled filters and reset filter window to defaults.

 

Selected arc/line/polygon filters.

added two selected caches for a lline filter

chose distance

hit OK

hit Go in main Set Filter page

endless hour glass again

 

Do any of the settings in the main Set Filter page have anything to do with the result once you choose 'Arc,Line or Polygon'?

 

I've tried my line filter withour changing anything on the main 'Set Filter' page. Perhaps I'm missing something.

 

I'll be back later today to try some other things.

 

Thanks again and sorry for the problem report. Perhaps it's just my ancient(as computers go) operating systems.

 

maleki/Marty

I've just followed these steps and it seems to work fine on my system. I've tried various filters, found, not found, archived etc. and every time I get a sensible result. (Using Win 2K here BTW).

[+maleki]

[i've just followed these steps and it seems to work fine on my system. I've tried various filters, found, not found, archived etc. and every time I get a sensible result. (Using Win 2K here BTW).

I've had no prob with all the 'normal' filters. Have you tried an arc, line, or polygon filter?

 

That's where I've encounterd my problem - not on the initial 'Set Filter' page.

[+Hi-Tek]

[i've just followed these steps and it seems to work fine on my system. I've tried various filters, found, not found, archived etc. and every time I get a sensible result. (Using Win 2K here BTW).

I've had no prob with all the 'normal' filters. Have you tried an arc, line, or polygon filter?

 

That's where I've encounterd my problem - not on the initial 'Set Filter' page.

Yes - note the following quote in my post:

 

Selected arc/line/polygon filters.

added two selected caches for a lline filter

chose distance

hit OK

hit Go in main Set Filter page

 

It works fine for me with arc, line & polygon filters plus selecting various subsets of found, not found etc. on my dB of 350+ caches.

[+ClydeE]

I had a few minutes before I have to leave so I downloaded the program again on a different computer(win98 this time) to eliminate download errors.

 

Installed on a system that has never had GSAK on it b4.

 

OK, looks like the problem is win98/me related. I will track down a 98 box and see if I can reproduce the error. Once I can, I'm sure I'll get further on this than I am now

[+ClydeE]

Did the Drop GPX Here box go bye bye in 3.00 Beta?

He! He! Shocked me the first time I dragged in a gpx too. There I was clicking & dragging and suddenly discovered no more drop box. Now what to do. Finally my finger got tired and let go. File loaded OK.

 

Cheers, Olar

Correct. The whole GSAK screen now supports drag and drop.

[+ClydeE]

Also, are the arc/line/polygon filters working.  I've hung GSAK a few times now trying to experiment with them.  Once again, probably just me.

 

Ok, I managed to get hold of a Win98 box and duplicate the problem. The root of the problem is that on win95/98/me when you execute a dos command it does not automatically close the window (unlike 2K/XP). Hence the constant hourglass as GSAK is waiting on the dos command to finish.

 

I have done some research on the Internet on this and unfortunately I have been unable to come up with an "automated" solution yet. However you can fix this yourself now.

 

1. Start windows explorer

2. Navigate to the install folder of GSAK

3. Right mouse click on the file babel.bat, select properties.

4. Click on the program tab

5. Check "close on exit" box (see picture below)

6. Click on OK

7. Fixed! - I hope

 

Edited March 17, 2004 by ClydeE

[+maleki]

That took care of it Clyde.

 

You are a MASTER!!!!

 

Very cool to filter that way. It will help me greatly on an upcoming trip thru at least 8 states. GSAK will definetly get a thorough workout.

 

Sorry to bring up problems raised by Win ME/98. I fear my old laptop would grind to a halt with XP or 2k so I'm stuck with it.

 

maleki

Marty

[+GLM]

I'm sure reports of minor bugs have not stopped comming in yet, and there is this idiot requesting a possible future addition to the code......Oh, that's me

 

I love being able to add my own waypoints for things other than GC waypoints. Any chance in a future version to put a non-geocaching symbol for the "Type" icon? That would allow me to sort on Type and see all my added waypoints grouped together.

 

OR

 

Does anyone else have another way to group your non-geocaching waypoints together(other than user Flags or Placed By)?

 

Gary

[+ClydeE]

I love being able to add my own waypoints for things other than GC waypoints. Any chance in a future version to put a non-geocaching symbol for the "Type" icon? That would allow me to sort on Type and see all my added waypoints grouped together.

 

OR

 

Does anyone else have another way to group your non-geocaching waypoints together(other than user Flags or Placed By)?

 

Gary

I’m sure this won't be the last of such requests. Often new features spawn requests for yet more new features.

 

The Beta releases are more about getting version 3 stable for the feature set that I have currently added. Once 3.00 goes final, then I will look at adding more/new features. No problems to mention though, as it will get added to my "to do list"

 

Suggested work around: (obviously only applicable if you have no other use for these fields when adding your own waypoint)

 

1. Use the State field or

2. Set the placed date to 1/1/1901 or

3. Use the new "User Data" field

[+Volwrath]

Clyde,

 

Quick question. Is it possible to take GSAK and stick it in a directory and have it work? I am locked out of my computer at work, so cant 'install' it. D@$% IS powerhungry gestapo. Why would theuy lock out their engineers? hehe

[COCyclist]

Quick question. Is it possible to take GSAK and stick it in a directory and have it work? I am locked out of my computer at work, so cant 'install' it. D@$% IS powerhungry gestapo. Why would theuy lock out their engineers? hehe

 

Clyde posted the following back on page 9...

 

Hope this helps,

COCyclist

 

If you currently want to do this manually for backup purposes, or you want to migrate EVERYTHING to another computer, what you need to back up is:

 

1. "GSAK.ini" and "*.cds" from the Install folder of GSAK

2. The folder "data" and ALL its subfolders and files. This folder also resides in the install folder of GSAK

 

Of course you could just use Winzip (or some other utility) to zip up the install folder of GSAK and all sub folders. This would also do the trick, but would be much larger because it would contain the help file and everything that comes with GSAK.

[+Volwrath]

Thanks for going back and finding that for me COC. That should/may work I dont know how I could have missed it thoufh

[+ClydeE]

Thanks for going back and finding that for me COC. That should/may work I dont know how I could have missed it thoufh

There is one extra "gotcha" the install does that may catch you out.

 

GSAK needs to use a DLL called Midas.dll

 

The install program puts this dll in you windows system folder and then registers this DLL with windows. If you already have this DLL and it is registered, then there should be no problems. If you do not, then there is a good chance you will get the error "Error loading midas.dll"

 

Anyway, give it a bash and see how you get on. If you get this error I can give the manual instructions on how to register this dll, but success of this will depend on how "locked down" your system is.

[+ClydeE]

I am getting an alarming number of e-mails which basically say something along the lines of "I am only getting smart names for my waypoints. Where has the GCXXXX option gone?"

 

Please Note: Version 3 completely changes how you generate Waypoint names. It s now a lot more flexible and you have many options at your disposal.

 

I did make mention of this in point 4 of the release notes here

 

For a more detailed explanation see my post in the forum here

[+Volwrath]

Thanks for going back and finding that for me COC. That should/may work    I dont know how I could have missed it thoufh 

There is one extra "gotcha" the install does that may catch you out.

 

GSAK needs to use a DLL called Midas.dll

 

The install program puts this dll in you windows system folder and then registers this DLL with windows. If you already have this DLL and it is registered, then there should be no problems. If you do not, then there is a good chance you will get the error "Error loading midas.dll"

 

Anyway, give it a bash and see how you get on. If you get this error I can give the manual instructions on how to register this dll, but success of this will depend on how "locked down" your system is.

Thanks for the midas dll. I think I can register dlls on my machine. I am not absolutely sure, but will find out. Thanks again

[+ClydeE]

Again, thanks for the feedback and error reports on Beta 1. I have just about got enough fixes to justify pumping out Beta 2. The issues I have addressed so far in the Beta 2 development version of GSAK are:

 

Fixed comma as decimal separator crashing edit/add of waypoint (my humble apologies to our European users)

Fixed mystery cache being update as a multi cache.

Fixed "User Data" not being loaded from a GSAK generated GPX file

Fixed Filter "NONE" to behave as if you clicked the cancel filter button

Fixed error on smart name length - smart names must be set to at least 4 characters

Fixed Wisconsin-WI should be Wisconsin=WI in abbreviations. Note: must refresh abbreviations to see this.

Fixed Lockup on arc/line/poly filters for win95/98/me

Fixed problem if you inadvertently set your filter.cds file to read only

Fixed problem where data base was not being updated to version 3 if you selected the database when loading a new GPX file

 

Add option on filter to select "equal to", "not equal to" for state

Add option to HTML export to list hints on same page

 

Any other bugs or anomalies so far I have missed?

 

The option of allowing you to put the hints on the same page when generating HTML is not strictly a bug fix. However, there have been discussions about the abnormal time taken for plucker to generate its output using GSAK generated HTML. This new option allows you to set the plucker depth from 4 to 3 (and still get the hints) and user feedback is that it dramatically reduces the time taken to generate the plucker file.

[Cachengrab]

Not sure if this is a GSAK issue or not Clyde. After the last Beta update and just the last day or so my GSAK was unable to locate my GPS'r located at com port one. I mention that I am not sure due to the fact that I sent my GPS'r to the repair shop since it was acting up for the past 2 weeks and needed a rubber boot replaced as well.

[+Rosco Bookbinder]

Any other bugs or anomalies so far I have missed?

 

Still noticing that it takes for ever to send wp's from my receiver to the program. Sending to the receiver works as fast as always.....

 

Thanks

[+ClydeE]

Not sure if this is a GSAK issue or not Clyde. After the last Beta update and just the last day or so my GSAK was unable to locate my GPS'r located at com port one. I mention that I am not sure due to the fact that I sent my GPS'r to the repair shop since it was acting up for the past 2 weeks and needed a rubber boot replaced as well.

First thing to try is to re boot in case something else has locked up COM1 on your computer (standard procedure for these types of errors)

 

Failing this, you can track this down by using other software (EasyGPS or whatever came with the GPS) to communicate to it via COM1

 

If they also have problems, then it is a good bet it is not GSAK.

[+Volwrath]

Clyde,

 

Not exactly a bug or anomaly, but one more nice tweak to the smartname convention would be to have the smartname use the same number as the original, ie zzzzzzzzzz73 = zzzz73 instead of zzzzi5. Very minor point, but something to put on the list if its not too much.

[+ClydeE]

Still noticing that it takes for ever to send wp's from my receiver to the program. Sending to the receiver works as fast as always.....

 

Thanks

Anyone else noticed this?

 

As GSAK uses GPSBabel for this, could you try downloading waypoints just using GPSBabel and see if you get the same problem. Be careful to read the babel docs to make sure you are receiving at max speed. It may be something that needs to be chased up on the Babel list.

[+ClydeE]

Clyde,

 

Not exactly a bug or anomaly, but one more nice tweak to the smartname convention would be to have the smartname use the same number as the original, ie zzzzzzzzzz73 = zzzz73 instead of zzzzi5. Very minor point, but something to put on the list if its not too much.

Shouldn't be too hard to do.

 

Would you be able to send me a GPX file that has said cahces so I can test this out.

 

I know I could just create a few myself, but I would rather have a look at "actual" cache names so I get a better understanding of how this should work.

 

Thanks

[+elmo-fried]

Sorry if this is in the thread, but I got to page 5 (of 11) and got a little tired reading thru it all (might I make a suggestion of splitting the thread into 3? Announcements, Troubleshooting, and Feature Requests).

 

Anywho, I'd taken a break through the winter and just getting back into the GC scene, and I must say GSAK rocks. I was using a combination of Watcher, Spinner, and gpsbabel, and I'm glad to see all these features in one package (probably still going to use Spinner/gpsbabel to automate exporting to my GPSr, but love that I could send a handful of GC's from my "database" program straight to my GPSr).

 

Feature request: Benchmark icon/"cache" type. I'd also like to see NGS benchmark files be able to directly be imported, or at least be able to handle GPX output from Fuzzy's bmgpx conversion tool (source is GPL2). What I'm thinking might be required during import is a checkmark for to tell GSAK that it's a BM GPX file and not a GC file and to flag all the items being imported as the right type (as the GPX file just uses the "mystery" cache icon type by default).

 

Also, while I'm at it, it'd be useful to have two sets of coordinates for each BM. Often they're 150-300 ft. "off" from their "official" LAT/LON coordinates vs. the accuracy of a GPSr. Part of the goal of benchmarking is to record the "accurate" LAT/LON info.

[+katguy]

Just a thought....

 

Double-clicking on the archived count on the status bar sets a filter to show only the archived caches. I never want to see this list. However I often want a list less the archived caches. Would it make sense to change the function from filter to show only archived to set filter to hide archived. I understand that this would make the "polarity" of this tool opposite to that of the found and not-found selectors, but for me, at least, it would be more useful that way. As it is now, one can double-click on the "not-founds" but then has to go to the filter page anyway to hide the archived/disabled. Or maybe I'm just overlooking something (again).

[+Olar]

Hi ClydeE. Slight little problem. Clicking on 'clear all user flags' will only clear one at a time. I inadvertantly 'set all user flags' in my attempts to figure it out and now I have approx. 1500 to clear one by one.

Any thoughts or recommendations?

 

Thanks, Olar

[+Olar]

Hi ClydeE. Slight little problem. Clicking on 'clear all user flags' will only clear one at a time. I inadvertantly 'set all user flags' in my attempts to figure it out and now I have approx. 1500 to clear one by one.

Any thoughts or recommendations?

 

Thanks, Olar

Never mind. Found a solution. Reversing the display order, decending to ascending, of flag column allowed me to clear all.

Whew! Had me worried there for a while.

 

Cheers, Olar

[+Olar]

Found another little bug. I have dragged 2 columns to different display locations. Whenever I add or hide any other columns the original 2 move back to their default positions. No big deal so don't spend any time on it.

 

Thanks, Olar

[robertlipe]

Not exactly a bug or anomaly, but one more nice tweak to the smartname convention would be to have the smartname use the same number as the original, ie zzzzzzzzzz73 = zzzz73 instead of zzzzi5. Very minor point, but something to put on the list if its not too much.

I'll let Clyde answer if he uses his own Smartname code or lets GPSBabel do it, but GPSBabel tries very hard to preserve trailing numbers in a cache name. It doesn't do Roman numerals and if the number is in the middle (i.e. "The Rambling Cache Series: 123 in the ongoing series") it isn't able to preserve those and instead has to punt to the "best it can, stick a number on the end, and increase it until it's unique" code path.

 

Smart names are hard to get "perfect", but it's worth the pain to get them as good as you can and get database record numbers (ick!) out of the GPS...

 

(And since Volwrath lives within bicycling distance of me, I'll suggest that I understand his inspiration for asking. :-)

[+elmo-fried]

Basically that is what the filters are for. I suggest you just get a PQ of all the caches you want then let GSAK create your required subsets via filters. If you find this a problem becuase you have to set up different filters all the time, don't forget you can save your filters. That way you only have to create the filter once, then select it on demand without any re typing.

Clyde & Olar,

 

I understand your rationale. But right now I've got 150+ caches and since you are relegated to 500, that only leaves 350 caches. Normally that would be great, but I commute 30 miles to work and I don't want to start missing caches due to caches I've found. Everytime I download my latest PQ, I ALWAYS have 500 caches (and thats throwing out virtuals).

 

I am going to try just creating one query for Not Found and Another for Found, and do it that way for a while. Notheless thanks for a great program!

I have a similar problem. Because I do service work, I am constantly driving all over a wide area of southern California (100 to 150 miles a day), where there is also a zillion caches. 500 caches will only get me a small area, so I created multiple queries to cover a wide area. 5 queries each with 500 caches gives plenty of room for overlapping queries. That way I am sure I have them all, even the few I have found so far. Just open them all in the same database, and GSAK will merge them, and you will get all you need. GSAK is truly an amazing program.

The hack of a solution I have to get the most caches possible downloaded daily (or weekly, now that we get 20 PQs and I spread out the load) is to have the same center, but different date ranges (2100 right now going out about 120 miles).

 

2000-20020531

20020601-20031231

20040101-20041231

 

(actually, I have 5 different PQs to cover my present date ranges and 120 miles, but I don't feel like typing them up). I did this back when you could only have 5 PQs max (instead of 20 now, and run up to 5 on different days). I just took the date ranges and 100 miles and chopped it up so I got somewhere between 450-499 caches in each PQ.

 

Now that we can have 20 queries total, I have one that is just "found" caches that runs once per week and all the other queries are for not found and they run on different days of the week. Each day I run a PQ of the 500 closest GCs to my house (no date filter), as the other 5 PQs are offset about 50 miles south-east from me (to try and avoid Sacramento and Fresno but still cover a large area around where I live).

 

Anyway, with proper date filtering, you could easily have 18 PQs running off the same LAT/LON (save a PQ for your closest 500 non-date-filtered caches that will run daily and another spare for "emergency" runs):

 

Each day (except Sunday as we run out of total PQs):

1 closest 500

3 date-filtered

1 unused (for "emergency travel")

 

Weekly look

M: 1,3abc,1

Tu: 1,3def,1

W: 1,3ghi,1

Th: 1,3jkl,1

F: 1,3mno,1

Sa: 1,3pqr,1

Su:1,none,1

 

Note that the 3 date-filtered PQ that would run each day would be unique and repeated only once per week. Oh, ack, make that 17 date-filtered PQs as you'll probably want 1 that contains "found" caches.

 

17 PQs x 7650 is a heck of a lot of GCs ;-) The trick is the work it takes to split out the dates to get ~450 GCs per PQ. But you know that the older date ranges will never grow, and in fact they'll slowly shrink as caches are archived (or you find them)... anyway, I'm sure Jeremy would just love us all if we're running 5 PQs per day, but I guess it's ok since he has a dedicated server for it now ;-p

Edited March 18, 2004 by elmo-fried

[robertlipe]

Still noticing that it takes for ever to send wp's from my receiver to the program. Sending to the receiver works as fast as always.....

 

Depending on the receiver, the definition of "forever" and so on, this may be a perception problem.

 

GPSBabel (the code that does the receiver communications for GSAK) operates in a pretty strict "one job at a time" model where in the common case, it reads all the stuff and then writes all the stuff. It's more flexible and complicated than that, but the point is that it never intermingles. So if you're writing to the receiver from a file on your computer, it'll read that file in a few zilliseconds and then take a few tens of seconds to blast it to your receiver while you can watch the waypoints appear on the display. When doing the opposite action, it'll read all the waypoints from your unit (taking the tens of second or whatever) and then BLAP they appear on the host as a burst.

 

This may or may not be what you're describing, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

[+ClydeE]

Found another little bug.  I have dragged 2 columns to different display locations.  Whenever I add or hide any other columns the original 2 move back to their default positions.  No big deal so don't spend any time on it.

 

Thanks, Olar

This one is a quirk of the grid control. When adding or deleting columns to the grid it will always reset all other colums to the default order and size.

 

Hopefully, not something you would do a lot of

Edited March 18, 2004 by ClydeE

[+ClydeE]

Sorry if this is in the thread, but I got to page 5 (of 11) and got a little tired reading thru it all (might I make a suggestion of splitting the thread into 3? Announcements, Troubleshooting, and Feature Requests).

 

Anywho, I'd taken a break through the winter and just getting back into the GC scene, and I must say GSAK rocks. I was using a combination of Watcher, Spinner, and gpsbabel, and I'm glad to see all these features in one package (probably still going to use Spinner/gpsbabel to automate exporting to my GPSr, but love that I could send a handful of GC's from my "database" program straight to my GPSr).

 

Feature request: Benchmark icon/"cache" type. I'd also like to see NGS benchmark files be able to directly be imported, or at least be able to handle GPX output from Fuzzy's bmgpx conversion tool (source is GPL2). What I'm thinking might be required during import is a checkmark for to tell GSAK that it's a BM GPX file and not a GC file and to flag all the items being imported as the right type (as the GPX file just uses the "mystery" cache icon type by default).

 

Also, while I'm at it, it'd be useful to have two sets of coordinates for each BM. Often they're 150-300 ft. "off" from their "official" LAT/LON coordinates vs. the accuracy of a GPSr. Part of the goal of benchmarking is to record the "accurate" LAT/LON info.

GSAK (version 3.00) already has limited support for benchmark files and can load GPX files generated via BMGPX. I eventually plan to add full benchmark support to GSAK, but as the program is primarily used for geocaching, those features are currently getting top priority. A very good post explaning all this can be found here

 

Also, while I'm at it, it'd be useful to have two sets of coordinates for each BM.  Often they're 150-300 ft. "off" from their "official" LAT/LON coordinates vs. the accuracy of a GPSr.  Part of the goal of benchmarking is to record the "accurate" LAT/LON info.

GSAK provides the "Corrected coordinates" option which I believe fits this perfectly.

[+bons]

Does anyone have a translation table between the long list of GPS III icons (I believe that's what they are anyway) and the short list of GPSII icons (16?) that the cheaper models can display. I'm having a devil of a time finding the icon for [?].

[+PDOP's]

GPSBabel (the code that does the receiver communications for GSAK) ....

Robert/Clyde

 

I was trying to send waypoints to a Palm using the GPilotS program in "Host" mode which accepts uploads from other programs (Fugawi, Trackmaker). Using GSAK setup for a Garmin GPS I get this error "GPS_Packet_Read:No DLE GARMIN communications error sending waypoints" . Any idea why this wouldn't work?

 

I know that GPSBabel supports the GPilotS PDB format and I have used that successfully to convert GPX files but I'm curious why the GPilotS "Host" mode would have problems with Babel's Garmin serial protocol.

[robertlipe]

GPSBabel (the code that does the receiver communications for GSAK) ....

Robert/Clyde

 

I was trying to send waypoints to a Palm using the GPilotS program in "Host" mode which accepts uploads from other programs (Fugawi, Trackmaker). Using GSAK setup for a Garmin GPS I get this error "GPS_Packet_Read:No DLE GARMIN communications error sending waypoints" . Any idea why this wouldn't work?

 

I know that GPSBabel supports the GPilotS PDB format and I have used that successfully to convert GPX files but I'm curious why the GPilotS "Host" mode would have problems with Babel's Garmin serial protocol.

I don't know what "host mode" in this context means.

 

To GPSBabel, GPilotS is a Palm/OS file format; there is no serial/comm protocol. If you're telling it to write to a file using the Garmin serial protocl, you'll get (and you deserve) the error you're describing.

 

If you can reproduce this problem outside of GSAK and supply details to the GPSBabel and/or GPilotS lists, I encourage you to do so.

[+elmo-fried]

*snip*

Also, while I'm at it, it'd be useful to have two sets of coordinates for each BM.  Often they're 150-300 ft. "off" from their "official" LAT/LON coordinates vs. the accuracy of a GPSr.  Part of the goal of benchmarking is to record the "accurate" LAT/LON info.

GSAK provides the "Corrected coordinates" option which I believe fits this perfectly.

Doh! Newbie to the app, didn't spot that! Thanks. Are the corrected coordinates sent to the GPSr on a transfer, or the original (one would think the corrected coordinates should be sent).

 

One more URL for you to add for BM lookups:

NGS=http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/ds_mark.prl?PidBox=%code

Edited March 18, 2004 by elmo-fried

[+ClydeE]

*snip*

Also, while I'm at it, it'd be useful to have two sets of coordinates for each BM.  Often they're 150-300 ft. "off" from their "official" LAT/LON coordinates vs. the accuracy of a GPSr.  Part of the goal of benchmarking is to record the "accurate" LAT/LON info.

GSAK provides the "Corrected coordinates" option which I believe fits this perfectly.

Doh! Newbie to the app, didn't spot that! Thanks. Are the corrected coordinates sent to the GPSr on a transfer, or the original (one would think the corrected coordinates should be sent).

 

One more URL for you to add for BM lookups:

NGS=http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/ds_mark.prl?PidBox=%code

Yes, it is the corrected coordinates that are sent to the GPS.

 

Also, in split screen mode and offline browse view the word "corrected" is shown in red so you know these coordinates are different to the original ones.

 

Note: The original coordinates are not deleted. You can still view these by using the corrected coordinates option. If you delete the corrected coordinates, the original coordinates are restored.

 

One more URL for you to add for BM lookups:

NGS=http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/ds_mark.prl?PidBox=%code

 

Please note: These URLs are user configurable and not limited, Tools=>Options=>Html tab (polite way of saying do it youself )

Edited March 18, 2004 by ClydeE

[+elmo-fried]

*snip*

One more URL for you to add for BM lookups:

NGS=http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/ds_mark.prl?PidBox=%code

 

Please note: These URLs are user configurable and not limited, Tools=>Options=>Html tab (polite way of saying do it youself )

Understood and I've added it for myself (great feature allowing us to easily add them).

 

Perhaps something to put on your low-priority list when you get around to doing all the BM stuff (it's the official US NGS site, which naturally has all the most up-to-date content vs. the more stale GC.com data)?

 

I'm guessing you don't have BM's "down under" (or at least not supported by GC.com), but it's really nice while out cachin' to have all the BM data side by side with caches you're searching for... I don't "plan" to go after BM's (well, that's not true, if I spot someone else has found one nearby, I'll go after it since it is know that it can be found), but if I'm close by, why not...

 

Keep up the good work, keep focusing on the Geocaches first, and just add our BM suggestions to the bottom of your todo's ;-)'

 

However, I'm betting if folks had a better way to manage BM data, they'd be more inclined to go after them when they go out Geocaching.

 

Shoot, I've already got another "feature request" to add to that low-priority BM todo list ;-p

 

How about the ability to filter BMs against GCs within a giving distance? Say .1 mile or so. In other words, just show me the immediate BMs around a GC. Obviously it'd be CPU intensive and you'd only want to run specific times (like, uh, when you know you're planning to go after a handful of caches). Maybe even have it tied to the user-selected button.

 

Oh, and you should set up a Paypal account so we can tip ya for the good work.

[+PDOP's]

I don't know what "host mode" in this context means.

 

If you can reproduce this problem outside of GSAK and supply details to the GPSBabel and/or GPilotS lists, I encourage you to do so.

Robert

 

Sorry I should have explained that better. GPilotS in "Host" mode emulates a Garmin GPS . Programs like EasyGPS see the PDA as a GPS and can transfer data as such.

 

The error occurs in Babel outside of GSAK giving the same error with the Garmin serial protocol. I will cross post to the Babel list as you suggest.

[+ClydeE]

How about the ability to filter BMs against GCs within a giving distance? Say .1 mile or so. In other words, just show me the immediate BMs around a GC. Obviously it'd be CPU intensive and you'd only want to run specific times (like, uh, when you know you're planning to go after a handful of caches). Maybe even have it tied to the user-selected button.

 

You can really do this now (ok, bit of a "kludge" I know)

 

1. First of all you need some way to identify your benchmarks as opposed to cache data (Athough not perfect even using the mystery cache type would be very close). If there is nothing already unique about the benchmark data that filters can use consider my suggestions here

 

2. Right click on the cache you would like to see the closest benchmarks, then select "set this cache as centre point"

 

3. Set a filter using distance AND the unique identifier you have used to identify Benchmarks.

 

Done

Edited March 18, 2004 by ClydeE

[+ClydeE]

Hi ClydeE.  Slight little problem.  Clicking on 'clear all user flags' will only clear one at a time.  I inadvertantly 'set all user flags' in my attempts to figure it out and now I have approx. 1500 to clear one by one.

Any thoughts or recommendations?

 

Thanks, Olar

Never mind. Found a solution. Reversing the display order, decending to ascending, of flag column allowed me to clear all.

Whew! Had me worried there for a while.

 

Cheers, Olar

Olar,

Can you reproduce this. It sounds like a bug, and I would like to know how you got into this position in the first place.

 

When you click on "Clear all user flags" it should always clear every one. I have tried all sorts of combinations but can't reproduce this problem.