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Cachemate 3.5


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CacheMate 3.5 was released today, and includes the following features that have been requested for a while now...

 

Memory card support (OS 4.0 and later)

This feature will let you offload most, but not all, data from imported cache records to a memory card... I've got some example numbers here for those that are interested in the amount of space savings. Check the "Memory Card Support" section of the documentation for more details. That's one less thing for NightPilot to complain about :rolleyes:

 

Category pre-filter on the nearest cache search

Depending on how (and if) you organize caches and benchmarks into categories, this could make nearest cache searches quite a bit faster by not including the entire database in the distance calculations. It could also mean a lot more list rebuilding if you change search filters often, so it's been made into an optional feature. If it helps in your case, then use it.

 

Other changes include:

 

- Compatiblity fixes for Palm OS Cobalt (fix for the Garmin GPS plugin is coming)

- Auto-generated waypoint names for new records

- Clearing bookmarks by category

- Symbol selection for Garmin iQue export

 

As always, check the documentation and FAQ before asking something. There's been quite a few questions answered in the previous thread, so you can also check there.

Edited by Maeglin
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Always looking for more things to complain about. :rolleyes: I'll take a look, although I run it from the card, leaving nothing in memory except the a86 file, using LauncherX. The only drawback I've seen is that loading new caches is cumbersome, since I have to copy them to RAM. I seldom hotsync, because it's so much faster and easier to transfer everything via card reader to the card. I only hotsync for a backup on the PC, and do my regular backups to the card. If this version can read new .pdb files from the card, I'm happy.

 

I don't mean to sound grouchy about Cachemate, and rereading some of my posts makes me think I do come off that way at times. If so, I apologize.

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If this version can read new .pdb files from the card, I'm happy.

That's the entire point.. in fact, that's how I tested it :rolleyes: I took converted GPX files from a couple pocket queries, dropped them in /CacheMate on an SD card, and ran through a few tests on both my m125 and iQue. I did that with an external USB card reader that I have.

 

Due to the way it caches file information, though, unless you replace, rename or delete an existing PDB file when you add new ones, it won't scan the card for any new ones. Renaming one of the existing files, though, is an easy way to force that scan.

 

I don't mean to sound grouchy about Cachemate, and rereading some of my posts makes me think I do come off that way at times.  If so, I apologize.

No worries. You're just one of the few with really good ideas that are just slow to implement due to trying to figure out the best way. The way that memory card support is working now was designed to keep most of the functionality intact, but also save some major space in terms of the size of the main database (around a 90% savings in my case). If it ran entirely from the memory card, main database and everything, then over half of the functionality would have to go in order to support that.

 

It's a surprise that your mapping software doesn't run straight from the card, since it's highly unlikely that someone would be editing maps while they're trying to follow them. Otherwise, they're more cartographers than geocachers :tongue: That is, unless, it's one of those bitmap mapping things that have to be continuously calibrated to match the real world.

Edited by Maeglin
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I tried the new memory card support on my Clie. I generated a new PDB file for my watched caches. I moved this to a new folder on a memory stick. Cachemeate found it, and supposedly merged the data. The result is that my logs have disappeared from several caches I have visited recently (since mid March), and I have no idea what other damage has been done.

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Another problem -

 

Becasue my Palm was off wehen I removed the memory stick I had no idea that Cachemate was running when I switched it off. When I returned the card with a new PDB file on it and switched the defice back on Cachemate appeared and briefly came up with a message saying somethign like Cachemate has to be restarted as the contents of the memory stick have changed. Cachemate then closed and reopened.

 

None of the data in the PDB file has been merged into the databases, and changing or deleting files on the memory stick seems to have no effect.

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I tried the new memory card support on my Clie. I generated a new PDB file for my watched caches. I moved this to a new folder on a memory stick. Cachemeate found it, and supposedly merged the data. The result is that my logs have disappeared from several caches I have visited recently (since mid March), and I have no idea what other damage has been done.

Not sure what happened, but I do know that the memory card import process doesn't touch any of the fields on the Log page of the record view. I just tested it now with the final build on both a Clie emulator and one other emulated session, by importing a GPX file normally, putting in some log text, and then reimporting from a memory card.

 

Did you put your logs in the description field or something? That and the past logs are the only things that get cleared from existing records that get updated, in favor of the data sitting on the memory card.

 

Becasue my Palm was off wehen I removed the memory stick I had no idea that Cachemate was running when I switched it off. When I returned the card with a new PDB file on it and switched the defice back on Cachemate appeared and briefly came up with a message saying somethign like Cachemate has to be restarted as the contents of the memory stick have changed. Cachemate then closed and reopened.

1. If the memory card is removed, you'll see a message to that effect from CacheMate, saying that you need to restart it to have it recognize the card again. After the card's been removed, it won't try to access it again until it is restarted.

 

2. The contents of the memory card are only checked for changes when CacheMate starts up. Turn off and on the device doesn't do that.

 

3. I don't see how CacheMate can close and restart itself. At least in the emulator (and the real device should behave the same way, I'd think), it goes back to the launcher screen automatically when you put in a card.

 

So... what happened?

 

To get it to try another scan of the card, try renaming all of the CacheMate PDB files on that card. That, or put in another card with none of those files on it, start CacheMate, then pop that card back out and put the original one in. Looks like it cached the file info at some point and it won't try looking for new files unless one of the ones that it's found has changed.

Edited by Maeglin
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I always input my log at the site, and have always used the log screen. I know I input the logs because I copy them to GC.com ASAP and they appear there faithfully reproduced.

 

I accept that transfer from memory card may not be to blame, and I have recently started using GSAK to creae PDB, but nothing else has changed that might destroy logs I have written in cachemate, and change found items to Unfiled category.

 

As for the second problem,

 

I did renamre the files on the card and it had no effect. I do not even see the message thet a change on the card has been noticed since I saw the message about Cachemate being restarted. I have changed the name, removed the file, reloaded it under several names etc, and all Cachemate does is access the card long enough for the access light to falsh, and nothing else.

 

I have another card so can try that -

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I accept that transfer from memory card may not be to blame, and I have recently started using GSAK to creae PDB, but nothing else has changed that might destroy logs I have written in cachemate, and change found items to Unfiled category.

It shouldn't be changing the category either. If it's overwriting an existing record, it gets the category from the existing record instead of using what's selected in the dialog box that appears when it detects a new/changed file.

 

If you're using the waypoint name generation in GSAK, I'm almost wondering if there's not 2 sets of the records in there, possibly because of different waypoint names. That's what the program uses to confirm matching main database and memory card records, and that's why the waypoint field in memory card records is read-only.

 

I did renamre the files on the card and it had no effect. I do not even see the message thet a change on the card has been noticed since I saw the message about Cachemate being restarted. I have changed the name, removed the file, reloaded it under several names etc, and all Cachemate does is access the card long enough for the access light to falsh, and nothing else.

Another thing to try would be deleting the CardInfo-cMat database, as that's where the cached card file info is. I guess one thing to add to the next release would be to have a menu option for that.

Edited by Maeglin
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Yes the same file on a second card genrated the message that the file had changed. I cancelled out of that, then changed cards, restarting cachemate then forced it to merge the original file I was trying to merge all along.

 

Lesson 1 - removing a card when the machine is switched off but cachemate is running is bad

 

Lesson 2 - inserting a second card when cachemate is running is good!

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Bad news though - I went through all 214 caches in my cachemate database and generated a PDB file that would include all files using GSAK. I placed this on a memory card, leading to the previous problems. I though this would be a good way of reducing Cachemate's memory footprint. Instead of releasing memory as data was moved to the card, Cachemate now takes up 35% more room!

 

I want my memory back! Maybe I misunderstand how all this works, but i thought using cards to store data was meant to increase free memory, if not, how do I go back to what I had before?

 

I also do not understand how data is stored on cards. Do I have to leave every PDB file there indefinetly? What happens if I change one? I do not see a new Cachemate file on the card that keeps the data Cachemate is using, so how do I ensure I preserve what Cachemate needs when managing files on the card? Is there any way of managing data on the card from within Cachemate? What happens, if like me, you use more than one card so can't guarantee Cachemate won't see different data when started? What will this do? Are there any risks?

 

It all looks very confusing to me, and I am not exactly a novice. Sorry, but so far I have seen no advantages and plenty of problems from following the advice in the documentation on using cards.

 

BTW - enjoying your birthday has prirority over any of this! :-)

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If you're using the waypoint name generation in GSAK, I'm almost wondering if there's not 2 sets of the records in there, possibly because of different waypoint names. That's what the program uses to confirm matching main database and memory card records, and that's why the waypoint field in memory card records is read-only.

I have no idea what you are talking about. I use GSAK like this -

 

1. File Export Fugawi and then use the resultant file in Fugawi to show caches on an Ordnance Survey map.

 

2. Tick on caches that I want to see in Cachemate - filter by selected - File - Export - Cachemate.

 

If GSAK is buggering about with the data I will stop using it, I have only started using a few days ago and could live without it.

 

GSAK is the only input method I have used between entering a cache on Monday and the cache log disappearing from Cachemate when I used a GPX file today (Saturday).

 

I do not have any duplicate entries as I went through the lot ticking them off in GSAK.

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Bad news though - I went through all 214 caches in my cachemate database and generated a PDB file that would include all files using GSAK. I placed this on a memory card, leading to the previous problems.  I though this would be a good way of reducing Cachemate's memory footprint. Instead of releasing memory as data was moved to the card, Cachemate now takes up 35% more room!

If an existing record is overwritten, and contains description (and possibly past log) text, that text is cleared from the main database and is loaded on demand from records on the memory card that become referenced in the main database. Information is added to the records to tell where the memory card records are, but that information per record is not large at all. If new records are being added, then obviously there will be some memory use for that. It finds matching existing records by using the waypoint name. I think GSAK can regenerate the waypoint name, but I don't know if it does that by default.

 

Oh, and CacheMate doesn't move any data to the card. It only reads data from the card. Anything that's already in the main database stays where it is.

 

I also do not understand how data is stored on cards. Do I have to leave every PDB file there indefinetly? What happens if I change one? I do not see a new Cachemate file on the card that keeps the data Cachemate is using, so how do I ensure I preserve what Cachemate needs when managing files on the card? Is there any way of managing data on the card from within Cachemate? What happens, if like me, you use more than one card so can't guarantee Cachemate won't see different data when started? What will this do? Are there any risks?

When a new or updated PDB file is read from the memory card, the references in the main database are either added to or updated, for new and updated records respectively. As long as the PDB file that is referenced can be found on the memory card, the description and past logs will be loaded on demand (when the record is viewed) from the file on the memory card, while the rest of the information is taken from the main database. If any file in the program's cached information is missing or different (in terms of size or timestamp) when it starts up, it'll scan for new and updated files and add or update records in the main database to keep things up to date.

 

If there is a record that references a memory card file record, and the record it's referencing doesn't exist, all you'll get is a record with a little more than what a .loc file will give you... the description and past logs will be blank. It'll work again as expected once a memory card file with a matching waypoint in it is read by CacheMate. The reference will be restored (and possibly corrected) at that point.

 

BTW - enjoying your birthday has prirority over any of this!  :-)

LOL! That's all done :tired:

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It seems to work pretty well for me. I loaded a few .pdb files I had lying around on my card, and the merges seemed to work OK. I had missed seeing that you can put the databases in /Cachemate on the card - that makes it easier, being able to keep them separate, and not having to put everything in /Palm/Launcher. Too many programs only look there.

 

I've never seen GSAK change the data in caches on export, other than changing the names if you have it generate Smartnames for GPS export. I'm not sure what happened to Learned Gerbil's import, but I have loaded a number of files, mostly older and containing mostly duplicates, with no problems at all. Removing the card while most programs are running results in the app just exiting, no notice, no nothing, or else they exit when the card is reinserted. Handling card removals and insertions gracefully is a major plus.

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Removing the card while most programs are running results in the app just exiting, no notice, no nothing, or else they exit when the card is reinserted.  Handling card removals and insertions gracefully is a major plus.

CacheMate doesn't exit or anything like that, because it can still function without the card in there. You just won't have all of the information for records coming from the memory card, but that will be corrected when the card is put back in :tired:

 

As far as handling card re-insertions, the exiting at that point is done by the OS. Why that is, I don't know. Even if I could override that and handle re-insertions seamlessly, that would involve another check of the files on the card to see if they've changed or not. I'd much rather keep that check in a predictable spot (currently right after the startup check for any import files installed in the device's main memory), as it makes some things easier if there are changes.

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Ok, after some testing I got it.

 

1) sync files to card

2) open 'filez' and create 'CacheMate' directory on card

3) use filez to move files to the before mentioned card

4) IF cachemate does NOT stll see them rename one of the files.

 

It works, It seems to prefer the directory named cachemate though.

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If it's a limitation of Hotsync that's not letting you put them all on there, then that's a Palm Desktop problem. If you're having problems because you're putting them on the card one at a time, then that's a "not paying attention" type of problem.

 

The fact that CacheMate caches information about files and won't read any new ones that you put on there until one of the existing ones is deleted, updated or renamed is in the documentation. In fact, I reiterated that one yesterday in this same thread...

 

Due to the way it caches file information, though, unless you replace, rename or delete an existing PDB file when you add new ones, it won't scan the card for any new ones. Renaming one of the existing files, though, is an easy way to force that scan.

I'll be adding an option to a 3.5.1 release to reset that cache and make it rescan the next time it's started. That'll be in another week or 2, to give time for any more problems/requests to filter down.

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Due to the way it caches file information, though, unless you replace, rename or delete an existing PDB file when you add new ones, it won't scan the card for any new ones. Renaming one of the existing files, though, is an easy way to force that scan.

Sorry, but I can't see anywhere where the documatation says you can't add new files without renaming something. If thast is true then it needs ot be explicit. What it says is cached files need to be renamed to be rescanned. Also, I have not found it to be necessary. Sometime new files are seen, and sometimes renamed ones are not.

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I had just noticed that despite Cachemate not seeing files some of the data had appeared in cachemate despite the message never appearign to ask the category to merge the new caches into.

 

Anyway, installed the new version and selected the option to rescan the card. All files were found, including renamed ones that cachmate had ignored, and I was finaly asked which category to assign for the caches that had mysteriously appeared despite apparently being in files that had not been spotted.

 

BTW, now this process has happened, the memory record appears to be coorect at last.

 

My only concern now is that I had multiple versions of files on the card with various names which Cachemate had ignored, it has now processed al lof them, in no particular order, will it have properly detirmined which version of descriptions and past logs is correct?

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My only concern now is that I had multiple versions of files on the card with various names which Cachemate had ignored, it has now processed al lof them, in no particular order, will it have properly detirmined which version of descriptions and past logs is correct?

When each file is processed, it replaces the reference "tag" in the main database record with whatever it has, for matching waypoint names.

 

The order that they're processed in is whatever order that Palm OS gives me the names in those directories on the card. I don't have much control over that one. It does check each directory in the order they are listed in the docs, though, so if you have certain files that you know for sure are pretty old, you can put them earlier in that search order to have them read first.

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Well, I noticed that with 3.5 building the cache list is BLAZING FAST and i cant thank you enough for that. I think I know why but that is beside the point.

 

A feature that would be nice would be for cachemate to TEST it's filters when you do a search so say you have all directions chosen and you have it doing a pre-filter on your catagory and nothing else, it should theoretily give you all caches back as a result. So why does it HAVE TO apply filters. Couldn't it just skip that step and speed things up or is applying filters also sorting the list?

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If you're using memory card support, then the fact that the records in the main database that have to be loaded aren't nearly as large probably has something to do with that :rolleyes: If you're using the category prefilter, that helps even more.

 

Applying of filters and sorting the list are definitely two separate operations. I can probably add that optimization in the next release.

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Another Idea for cachemate...

 

I like to get multiple PQ's for different cache types and arange them by catagory in cachemate. BUT when I search for nearest caches this poses a problem of not being able to see all the caches I have loaded unless I merge catagories.

 

Now, the idea is to have a SUB-Catagory that two or more regular catagories could be considered a part of so as to give the ability to search say 2 or 3 of your cache catagories at a time.

 

maybe an idea, maybe not... or maybe we could have the option to search multiple catagories from the nearest cache page.

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I would like the next version of cachemate to have a selectable checkbox on the log page. When I log the cache in Cachemate I put it in a not logged but found catagory. Once I log it on GC.com I change it to found. If the Found box on the log page was selectable I could save myself having to go to the log page and then the main page.

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Just had the realization that you can only have 15 catagories :lol: Is this a palm 'feature' or a cachemate feature?!? if it is cachemate, can we have more?

It's a Palm OS limit. One that's going away in OS 6, but apparently only if the app is an ARM-native one... a move that I'm not ready to make just yet (not that you could take advantage of it now, anyway).

 

As far as a search including more than one category, I don't know that I could fit another category selector in the search filter popup. It was difficult enough to squeeze another checkbox in for the category pre-filter. Actually, there'd have to be another checkbox as well, because not everyone will need/want to select more than one.

 

I would like the next version of cachemate to have a selectable checkbox on the log page. When I log the cache in Cachemate I put it in a not logged but found catagory. Once I log it on GC.com I change it to found. If the Found box on the log page was selectable I could save myself having to go to the log page and then the main page.

Sounds like what you're wanting is to be able to select the category to move records to when you check that checkbox. Is that the case? If so, I can look into that for the next release. That was actually one of the things I was thinking about when I first put that thing in... decided to go with the easier choice at the time, but it's not that hard to expand on it.

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I would like the next version of cachemate to have a selectable checkbox on the log page. When I log the cache in Cachemate I put it in a not logged but found catagory. Once I log it on GC.com I change it to found. If the Found box on the log page was selectable I could save myself having to go to the log page and then the main page.

Sounds like what you're wanting is to be able to select the category to move records to when you check that checkbox. Is that the case? If so, I can look into that for the next release. That was actually one of the things I was thinking about when I first put that thing in... decided to go with the easier choice at the time, but it's not that hard to expand on it.

Yes that is exactly what I would like.

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2 things

 

1 if I add a file that has the same info as a different file it stays in the old location... i know i should know why... it didn't do that in the past at one time.

 

2 this is the important one actually. could there be for files added fram a memory card an option, button maybe instead of OK or CANCEL, that would allow you to load the files to the memory card BUT it wouldn't read the contents... maybe just have it acknowledge the file exists. the reason for this is that I have found that if i load 10000 benchmarks things are slow... BUT if I add 10000 benchmarks and then delete them all the file is still on the memory card able to be re-added. this allows me to cary 10000 marks but only have to have 500-800 loaded at once. it i didn't have to scan the whole file at load time it would be much faster. then I just rename the file when I want to use it.

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If you want to put files on the card that Cachemate doesn't see, just put them in some other directory, not in /Cachemate, or in /Palm/Launcher. Then move them to the /Cachemate directory when you want to use them. Any good file manager will let you do this. I use FileProg, which is freeware and widely available.

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If you want to put files on the card that Cachemate doesn't see, just put them in some other directory, not in /Cachemate, or in /Palm/Launcher. Then move them to the /Cachemate directory when you want to use them. Any good file manager will let you do this. I use FileProg, which is freeware and widely available.

that is true i can do it tthat way... I use Filez

 

this isn't my ideal answer but there really isn't one to this issue i have. i has not happy having to load then delete 209mb of cache data. so your idea is better than the first way i did it though. Thanks

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1 if I add a file that has the same info as a different file it stays in the old location... i know i should know why... it didn't do that in the past at one time.

Huh? :P

 

2 this is the important one actually.  could there be for files added fram a memory card an option, button maybe instead of OK or CANCEL, that would allow you to load the files to the memory card BUT it wouldn't read the contents... maybe just have it acknowledge the file exists.

If I understand this one correctly, you want to be able to skip a file when going through the memory card merge process, but have it store information on that file so it won't try to read it again it until you trigger a re-scan? If so, that's not hard at all and is in fact a pretty good idea.

 

Until I get the next version out, though, NightPilot's suggestion is a good one... if you look at the appropriate section of the docs, you'll see that there's only 4 directories on the card that CacheMate checks for files. It doesn't scan the entire card.

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If I understand this one correctly, you want to be able to skip a file when going through the memory card merge process, but have it store information on that file so it won't try to read it again it until you trigger a re-scan? If so, that's not hard at all and is in fact a pretty good idea.

 

Until I get the next version out, though, NightPilot's suggestion is a good one... if you look at the appropriate section of the docs, you'll see that there's only 4 directories on the card that CacheMate checks for files. It doesn't scan the entire card.

well atleast I was understandable for this part of the post. you got it dude.

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i has not happy having to load then delete 209mb of cache data.

You have 209 megabytes of cache data? I didn't think every cache in the world would take that much room.

Sounds like you weren't the only one itching for memory card support, huh? :huh:

 

It could be benchmarks in there along with the caches, though. That would fill up some space.

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One of the things I'm planning on in the next CMConvert release is being able to auto-install files to the memory card via Hotsync, for those that don't have separate card readers. I'm also thinking getting auto-install working in the Win32 command-line build, using -I and/or --install parameters or something like that.

 

I don't know if there are any monitoring this thread and using Unix version of the program with pilot-link but, if there are, would it make sense to you guys to have those two linked together? pilot-link does have a library that I can use to make that happen.

 

I can probably also make it open-ended enough to let others submit code for hooks into other Palm OS desktop software... say, whatever's most popular for Mac OS X, if possible (would look into that myself, but I don't have the hardware).

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Need a question answered.

 

Is there anything in the works that will allow Cachemate to import the GPX files without using GSAK.

 

I have a PalmOS-based PDA that has built-in WiFi and would like to use the PDA only without a PC to do the conversion.

 

Thanks in advance!

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You need to use CMConvert or something that embeds it (like GSAK).

 

Even if I were to put the functionality of CMConvert into a Palm OS app, it would probably take an ungodly amount of time compared to the current import process, as there's quite a bit going on to distill GPX files into the CacheMate database format. The most inefficient part of that (which would cause a lot of the delay on a PDA) is the part that takes HTML descriptions and condenses those down to their plain text equivalents.

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Two ideas for the next version of cachemate:

 

I'd like an option that would automatically set the end time on the log sheet when I check the "found" box. That would save me two clumbsy thumb presses per cache.

 

Another thing I'd like to do is to be able to specify the category with cmconvert. What I do now is merge several pocket queries with GPSbabel into one gpx, then run it through cmconvert. This makes it really quick to upload new data because I can get several pocket queries with one upload. The only problem is that I lose the ability to import those pdb files with different categories, so all my locationless caches and "away" caches are mixed in with my "closest to home" caches. Not a big deal really, but would be nice.

 

I've also been working on some tools to take cachemate generated memo logs, parse them, and put them into a web page interface that's easy to post to gc.com. Right now it's kinda cumbersome as you need to export from cachemate to memo pad, sync, export the logs from Palm Desktop, then upload the file to my tool. Any plans to make getting data out of cachemate easier? I guess something like "cmunconvert" would do it?

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Two ideas for the next version of cachemate:

Really? I count three :D

 

I'd like an option that would automatically set the end time on the log sheet when I check the "found" box. That would save me two clumbsy thumb presses per cache.

I can look into squeezing that into the same check that is done to auto-set the category. May take more rearranging of the Preferences dialogs, but I was thinking about doing that anyway.

 

Another thing I'd like to do is to be able to specify the category with cmconvert. What I do now is merge several pocket queries with GPSbabel into one gpx, then run it through cmconvert. This makes it really quick to upload new data because I can get several pocket queries with one upload. The only problem is that I lose the ability to import those pdb files with different categories, so all my locationless caches and "away" caches are mixed in with my "closest to home" caches. Not a big deal really, but would be nice.

I'm not sure about that one, for several reasons. Are you aware, though, that you can batch import separate converted files (v3.0+ I think)? If you keep the GPX files separate, you can convert them separately with CMConvert using different names for the output files, and Hotsync them all to the PDA at once. When you start CacheMate to finish the import, it'll prompt for a category for each import file.

 

I've also been working on some tools to take cachemate generated memo logs, parse them, and put them into a web page interface that's easy to post to gc.com. Right now it's kinda cumbersome as you need to export from cachemate to memo pad, sync, export the logs from Palm Desktop, then upload the file to my tool. Any plans to make getting data out of cachemate easier? I guess something like "cmunconvert" would do it?

I'm working on something to produce a GPX file from a CacheMate PDB file. It might be possible to export what's on the Log page as well, but it'll have to be another namespace in the GPX file... don't want to step on anything that Jeremy, etc. might add to their file format.

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If you guys want to help out, I could probably use as many votes as I can get in the SIAF People's Choice Award... thanks!

 

This week is also time for nominations for the official awards. Last year, CacheMate was nominated for one of those, and that was version 1.1. Hopefully this year the changes so far will be enough for a win <_<

Edited by Maeglin
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I'm not sure about that one, for several reasons. Are you aware, though, that you can batch import separate converted files (v3.0+ I think)? If you keep the GPX files separate, you can convert them separately with CMConvert using different names for the output files, and Hotsync them all to the PDA at once. When you start CacheMate to finish the import, it'll prompt for a category for each import file.

 

I've also been working on some tools to take cachemate generated memo logs, parse them, and put them into a web page interface that's easy to post to gc.com. Right now it's kinda cumbersome as you need to export from cachemate to memo pad, sync, export the logs from Palm Desktop, then upload the file to my tool. Any plans to make getting data out of cachemate easier? I guess something like "cmunconvert" would do it?

I'm working on something to produce a GPX file from a CacheMate PDB file. It might be possible to export what's on the Log page as well, but it'll have to be another namespace in the GPX file... don't want to step on anything that Jeremy, etc. might add to their file format.

I've merged all my pocket queries into one and run cmconvert so I can avoid any merging that cachemate has to do. I've waited literally hours to do merges of one pdb into the cachemate database.

 

But I guess since I'm starting fresh, I could uncheck the Merge import file records option and it should be a lot faster right? Only downside would be that I'd have to download multiple pdb files since I don't run cmconvert on the same machine that I hotsync from. But I can live with that.

 

Without the logs in "cmunconvert", it wouldn't be very useful to me. You could always add your own XML namespace and you'd be sure that you won't ever collide with Jeremy.

 

Anyway, if you want to see what I'm after, you can check out my "Geocaching Express Logger for Cachmate" at http://boulter.com/geocaching/logger/

 

Oh, and you've got my vote. :-)

 

Jeff

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But I guess since I'm starting fresh, I could uncheck the Merge import file records option and it should be a lot faster right? Only downside would be that I'd have to download multiple pdb files since I don't run cmconvert on the same machine that I hotsync from.  But I can live with that.

That would certainly speed it up, yeah. Another way to go, if your PDA supports it, is to use the memory card support that's in there now. The logic behind merging those records into the database is much different, and doesn't take a speed hit necessarily when records already exist. You can also choose a category for each file, like you do with normal importing.

 

Without the logs in "cmunconvert", it wouldn't be very useful to me.  You could always add your own XML namespace and you'd be sure that you won't ever collide with Jeremy.

 

Anyway, if you want to see what I'm after, you can check out my "Geocaching Express Logger for Cachmate" at http://boulter.com/geocaching/logger/

That's the plan with the namespaces... will just have to look at the best way to do it. At least I don't have nearly as much info as is in the Groundspeak namespace to deal with :-)

 

Thanks for the link... will take a look when I have more time (and an install of Palm Desktop handy to try it out).

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is there a way in cmconvert from the comand line to select multiple source files to output in a single files as a merged pdb?

Yup. Just separate the files with commas on the command line. It's in the Manual.html file :mad:

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