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GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife)


ClydeE

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Hi!

 

I really really like GSAK but I am confused. Say I have a GSAK database set up for a 25 mile radius of my home zipcode (downloaded as a pocket query GPX file from geocaching.com and then opened up in GSAK).

 

I go looking for and find some caches that are in this database. I come home and log into geocaching.com and log my finds. Now, how do I go back into GSAK and "update" that GSAK database's "Found by" column to show that I found these caches? I have my geocaching name set up as an "Exact Match under the "Method for matching placed (hidden) and found caches." Is that right?

 

Do I just go and run the same exact pocket query in geocaching.com and then open the resulting gpx file in GSAK again as I did when I first set up my database, or can I just do something within GSAK to have my database reflect that I have found whatever caches I was able to find?

 

I guess I am having some trouble in understanding all the great bells and whistles you have put into your program (I love bells and whistles once I can figure them out).

 

Thanks for all your help!

Le Moore aka TeddyTexas

Yes there are two ways to indicate the caches have been found by you.

 

1. After logging your founds at geocaching.com do the exact same Pocket query as before and when you get the GPX file from GC.com, load into the same database. All your finds will then be automatically updated.

 

2. Some users don't want to wait until they get the GPX file from gc.com (they could be on the road or only log finds once per week). In such cases you can log your find manually:

 

First make sure you have the found column visible in the grid display (if not add it via Tools=>Options=>Display)

 

Now just mouse click in the found box for the caches you want to update as found. When you do this GSAK updates the status of the cache to found, and the Found by me date to the current date. If you don't want the found by me date to be the current date, then double mouse click in the found box and GSAK will open up the edit screen with a calander you can select the date from.

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3 things this post:

 

1) Clyde you have once again outdone yourself with the latest update 4.2...LOVEIT!!!!

 

2) I am still working on getting all of the postal codes and the related coords. for Canada. I have got the contact person that supplies Canada Post and just have to finally link up with him.

 

3) I am my area's Rep for the Ontario Geocaching Association, and have been trying to get GSAK to assist me with one of my duties and so far have been unable to acheive success. So here it is, how can I get GSAK to filter my database's waypoints most recent finds, for say the last 3 or 4 finds being unfound. This way I know to check up on the status of the cache with the owner to see if it needs to be archived or adopted. I am only one of a number who could use this feature, within Ontario at least.

Edited by MedicP1
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3) I am my area's Rep for the Ontario Geocaching Association, and have been trying to get GSAK to assist me with one of my duties and so far have been unable to acheive success. So here it is, how can I get GSAK to filter my database's waypoints most recent finds, for say the last 3 or 4 finds being unfound. This way I know to check up on the status of the cache with the owner to see if it needs to be archived or adopted. I am only one of a number who could use this feature, within Ontario at least.

The new log filter allows for all sorts of filtering by different log types.

 

What you are asking can certainly be done using this filter. Please see the examples in the help file or online here http://www.gsak.net/help/hs4970.htm

 

If you still can't work it out, let me know and I am sure we can get to the bottom of it all.

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Every time i import a gpx file, it gets to 89% then gives me an error...

 

Data set must be in Edit or Insert mode to update.

 

Is there anything i'm doing wrong? I haven't had this problem until i upgraded to 4.2.

Yes, there is a problem with 4.2 in this area.

 

The full GSAK 4.2.1 maintenance release will be out shortly, but if you want a quick fix now:

 

Download this zip file http://gsak.net/GSAK421B14.zip

 

Unzip the contents to the install folder of GSAK making sure to override the old version of gsak.exe

 

Start up GSAK, then click on Help=>About - The version should show as 4.2.1 (Build=14)

 

Let me know if this fixes the problem for you

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Another quick question

when I send my files to the GPS I Hit

send wypts

tag name %code which makes the GPS show the caches with the GC code

( which is what I like)

 

then I click

file

export

cachemate

tag name %code

but cachemate shows the caches with the cache names not the GC codes

 

am I doing something wrong in GSAK

 

or is it something in cachemate I need to change?

 

Part 2 I like to try all the GSAK options to see what things do.

I get quite a few error messages that say

should I send to clyde?

I always say no thinking I'm probably doing things I shouldn't

and don't want to bother you.

or would you prefer I do send the info????

Thanks again for THE BEST caching program ever!

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Sorry, can't help too much with the CacheMate question as I don't own or use (Pocket PC person myself) Perhaps a CacheMate user can jump in on this one.

 

Part 2 I like to try all the GSAK options to see what things do.

I get quite a few error messages that say

should I send to clyde?

I always say no thinking I'm probably doing things I shouldn't

and don't want to bother you. 

or would you prefer I do send the info????

Thanks again for THE BEST caching program ever!

These are known as "error dumps". They occur when some unexpected action causes an error in GSAK, and I do like to know about this so I can either fix the problem or code around it so it doesn't cause GSAK to crash.

 

The biggest help here when you do send me one of these "error dumps" is if:

 

1. You can replicate the problem

2. Describe the steps to me to replicate the problem

 

Failing 1 and 2, at least a description (as you recall) of how the error came about would still be helpful.

Edited by ClydeE
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Hi!

 

I really really like GSAK but I am confused. Say I have a GSAK database set up for a 25 mile radius of my home zipcode (downloaded as a pocket query GPX file from geocaching.com and then opened up in GSAK).

 

I go looking for and find some caches that are in this database. I come home and log into geocaching.com and log my finds. Now, how do I go back into GSAK and "update" that GSAK database's "Found by" column to show that I found these caches? I have my geocaching name set up as an "Exact Match under the "Method for matching placed (hidden) and found caches." Is that right?

 

Do I just go and run the same exact pocket query in geocaching.com and then open the resulting gpx file in GSAK again as I did when I first set up my database, or can I just do something within GSAK to have my database reflect that I have found whatever caches I was able to find?

 

I guess I am having some trouble in understanding all the great bells and whistles you have put into your program (I love bells and whistles once I can figure them out).

 

Thanks for all your help!

Le Moore aka TeddyTexas

There is a third way, one that I use. When you Log a find, and when it comes up with the successful log screen (I forget exactly what is says, but it has a link to the Cache Page) click on the link to the cache page, then click on the download gpx file on the cache page. This downloads a file with your find listed. After completing the logging of you finds, just drag the folder where you saved all the new files into GSAK, making sure to check load folder on the options window. Now all you new finds should be updated along with the logs for you finds.l

 

Cache Well

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Another quick question

when I send my files to the GPS I Hit

send wypts

tag name %code which makes the GPS show the caches with the GC code

( which is what I like)

 

then I click

file

export

cachemate

tag name %code

but cachemate shows the caches with the cache names not the GC codes

 

am I doing something wrong in GSAK

 

or is it something in cachemate I need to change?

 

I know the confusion... I was struggling with this earlier today. It's a CacheMate change - choose Option/ "List Options" and "Extra Info" - and pick Waypoints from the drop down box. That should solve your problem I hope.

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Second question, for some reason no matter what name I put for the LOAD command it always tries to load the last single file that was used. Eventhough the debug prompt tells me it wants to load the correct filename, each time it loads a previous GPX say its called badfile.gpx. Now manually going into GSAK load screen, under single file it shows C:\windows\desktop\badfile.gpx

 

Here's my current .txt file:

 

DEBUG STATUS=on

LOAD file="C:\windows\desktop\buddytst\buddy1.gpx" database="cachebuddy"

LOAD file="C:\windows\desktop\buddytst\buddy2.gpx" database="cachebuddy"

LOAD file="C:\windows\desktop\buddytst\buddy3.gpx" database="cachebuddy"

LOAD file="C:\windows\desktop\buddytst\buddy4.gpx" database="cachebuddy"

LOAD file="C:\windows\desktop\buddytst\buddy5.gpx" database="cachebuddy"

LOAD file="C:\windows\desktop\buddytst\buddy6.gpx" database="cachebuddy"

FILTER NAME=cachebuddy

EXPORT TYPE=GPX File="c:\WINDOWS\DESKTOP\CACHE-BUDDY.GPX"

EXIT

I tried the same thing with a bunch of my gpx files and had exactly the same problem.

I am not using GSAK in a 'live' environment yet but figured it would be nice to automate more... I went back to EasyGPS and CMConvert for now... But if you find a solution let me know - I'll try again and see if I get this working...

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I tried the same thing with a bunch of my gpx files and had exactly the same problem.

I am not using GSAK in a 'live' environment yet but figured it would be nice to automate more... I went back to EasyGPS and CMConvert for now... But if you find a solution let me know - I'll try again and see if I get this working...

Yes, this is a known bug with version 4.2

 

Please see my earlier post for the fix

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I tried the same thing with a bunch of my gpx files and had exactly the same problem.

I am not using GSAK in a 'live' environment yet but figured it would be nice to automate more... I went back to EasyGPS and CMConvert for now... But if you find a solution let me know - I'll try again and see if I get this working...

Yes, this is a known bug with version 4.2

 

Please see my earlier post for the fix

Thanks - it's working now! I am already starting to love GSAK :-)

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GSAK Version 4.2.1 now available

 

Version 4.2.1 is a maintenance release for version 4.2 to address issues that have now come to light:

 

Fixed "Dataset must be in edit ..." crash on load of some GPX files

Fixed "Invalid variant type conversion" crash after restore of settings from a pre 4.2 backup.

Fixed crash when trying to associate GPX files with GSAK on a computer that does not have sufficient privileges.

Fixed refresh of drop down database after database restore.

Fixed the macro LOAD command incorrectly using the last file loaded rather than the file specified with the file= command.

Fixed obscure instance of the "Cannot focus a disabled or invisible window"

Fixed incorrect display of grid after update of user data with a filter of "User Data" = "Not Empty"

Fixed obscure Message: '00:00:00' is not a valid time" crash with language set to Norwegian (Bokmal) - perhaps others?

Fixed problems with filters not returning the correct waypoints after a global replace.

Fixed crash on edit of waypoint, after global replace of the "Placed date" to a blank date.

Fixed crash when you switch to an empty database (only happens when smart names needed recalculation)

Fixed refresh of filter drop down boxes after a settings restore.

Added link to the current GSAK thread at geocaching.com in the Help=>About box

Minor help file changes.

 

This is a recommended update to all users.

 

Download from the GSAK home page here http://gsak.net

 

Cheers

Clyde

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Oh wow! Condensed print is exactly what I was wanting!

Went out on a caching trip yesterday--utilized the condensed print for the first time. It's great, except I noticed that it leaves out the difficulty and terrain ratings. Any way to include this important information?

 

Jamie

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I'm sure there is a way to do this, but I was wondering if there was a way to get GSAK to spit out a list of UTMs, along with cache code, or some such thing.

I'm looking at trying to get an idea of cache density in a given area, to help me decide where I should go out next. This of course requires the calculation of distances between points, which is much easier to do with XYs over lat-lons. I might then weight this funciton based on distance from my home coordinates. To try to figure out an optimum place to go caching.

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Even if you can't get this from GSAK (and I'm not saying you can't) you can get this from GPSBabel (which you CAN drive from withing GSAK if that turns you on) but it's in a pretty freakish way. The output format called "text" will output each cache with the first line including the GC# and the UTM coords.

 

gpsbabel -i gpx -f ~/src/geo/mgpx/MyMiddleTN -o text -F -

 

I trust if you're prepared to do the matrix trig that extracting the lines that start with "GCxxxx " isn't an intimidating thing...

 

As a sidebar, GPSBabel's innards have most of what your need. The proximity filter already knows how to parse GPX and then compute a big honkin table containing the distance to every other waypoint. It would be a mere matter of programming to sort that and report it in some useful way....

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Oh wow! Condensed print is exactly what I was wanting!

Went out on a caching trip yesterday--utilized the condensed print for the first time. It's great, except I noticed that it leaves out the difficulty and terrain ratings. Any way to include this important information?

 

Jamie

If you are not getting the difficulty and terrain in you print then it sounds like you have changed the default set up for (all) HTML descriptions.

 

Tools=>Options=>HTML

 

In the waypoint description for HTML view box enter

 

%name by %by (%dif/%ter)

 

This is the default, but obviously you can use any of the GSAK special tags to put whatever information you like on that line.

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I'm sure there is a way to do this, but I was wondering if there was a way to get GSAK to spit out a list of UTMs, along with cache code, or some such thing.

I'm looking at trying to get an idea of cache density in a given area, to help me decide where I should go out next. This of course requires the calculation of distances between points, which is much easier to do with XYs over lat-lons. I might then weight this funciton based on distance from my home coordinates. To try to figure out an optimum place to go caching.

Currently you can only see the UTM coordinates in the "condensed print format" (You must also have the "Show UTM coordinates in HTML" box ticked via Tools=>Options=>HTML)

 

For a listing of just the cache code and the UTM coordinates the "grid print" would be just the ticket. Unfortunately there is no %UTM special tag to add this column. I will add this tag in version 4.3

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Thank you all that have emailed me with positive feedback to the release of version 4.2

 

As usual there are often the unsung heroes behind the scenes. For those not aware, GSAK uses GPSBabel for many of the conversions and in particular sending waypoints to your GPSr.

 

I would again like to thank the Babel team and in particular chief babel head Robert Lipe for this little gem of a program. Robert is the man that gets down in the trenches when there are issues in this area. Just ask him how much he likes the Garmin protocol ;) . I must confess, when it comes to the internal workings of the GPSr I am clueless :lol: .

 

Robert is also a tireless servant of the Geocaching community in general. The next time you marvel at how the waypoints suddenly appear in your GPS from GSAK, spare a thought for Mr Lipe. Gifts or groupies would be great, but the odd thankyou would not go astray ;) .

 

Don’t forget, GPSBabel is a program you can also use stand alone. To get the most out of it you do need to be comfortable with the command line. However, if you can tame this beast, it is a mighty powerful tool. There is always the GPSBabel mailing list if you need help. For tips and to find out more about GPSBabel please visit the home page at http://www.gpsbabel.org

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I considered starting a seperate thread for this.

 

A case in support of Back-up of your GSAK files!

 

A recent problem with my GSAK Database, thru no fault of the program nor(as far as I can tell) me, as caused me to once again issue the above overused yet rarely headed advice.

 

Several weeks back, during an import of a GPX file, I got an error that lead to a data dump that I sent to Clyde. Within 24 hours, he sent me a fix to the issue and all seemed good with the world. A day or two later, I started to notice that my CacheMate DB seemed to have some corrupted data. Having used PDA’s almost since their inception, I am used to occasional “blips” and decided to just wipe it out and re-install it from GSAK when time permitted.

 

After receiving the fix from Clyde for the original problem, I suddenly could not read MPS files created by GSAK with MapSource. Several emails, FTPs, etc later, Clyde was able to determine that my database was so “scrambled” it creating unreadable files for MapSource to use. I have not seen any other complaints of this nature and Clyde has not seen a database screwed up like mine to date, so this is rare, however.

 

You cannot just do a GPX from GC to correct this after wiping out your DB, especially if you maintain a large DB. You lose many ARCHIVED files you are either watching, DNF or found. The later can be solved by a found by me, however you risk losing notes.

 

Do a quick backup before importing or upgrading and keep at least two or three previous back-ups. I will grant you that most don’t maintain a 14 MB DB, however suffice it to say it took a lot of time and work to restore my DB, both to GSAK and then to CacheMate. You never know what "gremlins" are waiting to invoke Murphy's law on your system. At the very least, let GSAK do a back-up when it closes.

 

Clyde's support has been phenomenal to say the least and, if nothing else, this taught me how I have come to rely GSAK. Clyde and Robert, thanks for such a great program.

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Clyde,

 

After months of working with GSAK I want to ask or should I say re-ask for a feature. Some months ago I asked if it wasn't possible to have a way of storing a set of BASE waypoints that do not have their waypoint codes changed on export. At that time you gave a number of suggestions around this and I've tried to use them but ... alas... I keep coming back to my original idea.

 

Most of us keep a set of base waypoints, home, work, sisters house, etc. their codes are HOME, WORK, KAREN, etc. some longer... when exported they are frequently shortened to ME, RK, REN, etc. kind of useless... but without doing multiple exports and changing the options between or having multiple data bases, what's a guy to do? I've gone the route of naming them kkKAREN, or kkHOME but that's a pain in the rump plus even then I have %typ1 and %con1 tagged onto the end so they come out "HOME O T" or some such thing.

 

Please consider adding a check box column or maybe by use of a keyword in the 'User Data' field that tells GSAK not to "smartname" or change these waypoint codes at export time.

 

Thanks.

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Clyde,

 

After months of working with GSAK I want to ask or should I say re-ask for a feature. Some months ago I asked if it wasn't possible to have a way of storing a set of BASE waypoints that do not have their waypoint codes changed on export. At that time you gave a number of suggestions around this and I've tried to use them but ... alas... I keep coming back to my original idea.

 

Most of us keep a set of base waypoints, home, work, sisters house, etc. their codes are HOME, WORK, KAREN, etc. some longer... when exported they are frequently shortened to ME, RK, REN, etc. kind of useless... but without doing multiple exports and changing the options between or having multiple data bases, what's a guy to do? I've gone the route of naming them kkKAREN, or kkHOME but that's a pain in the rump plus even then I have %typ1 and %con1 tagged onto the end so they come out "HOME O T" or some such thing.

 

Please consider adding a check box column or maybe by use of a keyword in the 'User Data' field that tells GSAK not to "smartname" or change these waypoint codes at export time.

 

Thanks.

This issue was addressed in release 4.1 released 3rd September, 2004

 

The help section on "Using special tags" will give you more information, but the quick solution to your problem-

 

For your waypoint code enter something like:

 

%smart %notGC %code

 

This means that any waypoints that are geocaching.com waypoints (Begin with GC) will use all the tags before the %notGC and any waypoints that are not geocaching.com waypoints will use the ones after %notGC

Edited by ClydeE
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As usual there are often the unsung heroes behind the scenes. For those not aware, GSAK uses GPSBabel for many of the conversions and in particular sending waypoints to your GPSr.

 

I would again like to thank the Babel team and in particular chief babel head Robert Lipe for this little gem of a program.

Well, thanx. GPSBabel has unsung heros, too. Ron Parker did most of the interesting filters including arc and polygon (those are the "caches along a route" and "caches in/out of this squiggly shape" features, respectively) and Alex Mottram implemented the CSV infrastructure and many of the those formats. I think those are two of the biggest jewels in the GPSBabel crown.

 

A lot of GPSBabel's mojo comes from the fact that it is open source. Anybody that wants a feature or change badly enough to do it is free to pop the hood and do it. They're welcome and encouraged to share that change with us so we can then make it available to others. Several of the formats came from such user contributions. Since all the code is open, if I should decide to hang up my battery charger tomorrow and become a monk in Tibet, the program can live on.

 

I mostly just laid the foundation and said "no" a lot.

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Hi Clyde,

 

I decided to register GSAK, since i really love working with it.

GSAK & GPXSonar are a great combination for paperless geocaching.

 

Tonight i created a fully working Macro, however, it would be nice if the macro's could run silent(in the background) , i already tried to run in minimized in the shortcut properties but that doesn't work either.

 

If some knows how i can automate saving attachments in outlook. i could have fresh gpx files everymorning :lostsignal:

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I have a new suggestion/request for GSAK filtering.

 

I'm assembling a database of all my logs. Mostly this is a tedious process not only because some of my finds have been archived or are pretty far away (which makes it quite hard to get them in PQ) but also because I like to have caches where I've logged a DNF or note.

 

To me, DNFs are just as importants as finds.

 

So here's the deal. I can easily filter out my finds from GSAK, or look at only the caches I've found. But I can't look at those caches for which I've logged a DNF.

 

Therefore, I suggest the following change to the "Found Status" filter.

 

Instead of checkboxes for "Found" and "Not Found" there should be two sets of three checkboxes.

 

Caches where I've logged a:

  • Find
  • Did Not Find
  • Note

But not:

  • Find
  • Did Not Find
  • Note

This way a person could still filter only those caches he/she has found (or not found) just like now. But also, you could filter for caches where you've logged a DNF. Or you could filter for caches where you've logged a DNF and a Find (you know, when you have to go back and try again). Or caches where you've logged a note, but neither a Find or DNF.

 

Basically, you could filter for any combination of your own logs.

 

Clyde, is this possible or desireable?

 

Jamie

Edited by Jamie Z
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I have a new suggestion/request for GSAK filtering.

 

I'm assembling a database of all my logs. Mostly this is a tedious process not only because some of my finds have been archived or are pretty far away (which makes it quite hard to get them in PQ) but also because I like to have caches where I've logged a DNF or note.

 

To me, DNFs are just as importants as finds.

 

So here's the deal. I can easily filter out my finds from GSAK, or look at only the caches I've found. But I can't look at those caches for which I've logged a DNF.

 

Therefore, I suggest the following change to the "Found Status" filter.

 

Instead of checkboxes for "Found" and "Not Found" there should be two sets of three checkboxes.

 

Caches where I've logged a:

  • Find
  • Did Not Find
  • Note

But not:

  • Find
  • Did Not Find
  • Note

This way a person could still filter only those caches he/she has found (or not found) just like now. But also, you could filter for caches where you've logged a DNF. Or you could filter for caches where you've logged a DNF and a Find (you know, when you have to go back and try again). Or caches where you've logged a note, but neither a Find or DNF.

 

Basically, you could filter for any combination of your own logs.

 

Clyde, is this possible or desireable?

 

Jamie

Jamie, you CAN filter on your DNF's now.

 

Take a look the "other" tab in the filter dialog. With a bit of creative thinking, you will find it will take care of what you are trying to do (I hope) :lostsignal: .

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Not sure whether this is a GSAK problem or a gpx issue. I downloaded my nearby caches, and while browsing through GSAK, was pleased to see that Reindeer Run by MedTexPlacer was no longer shown as archived (it is one of my few dnf's). But when I clicked on the cache, Geocaching.com tells me it is archived. Any clue why the discrepancy? I can send my GPX files to you if that would help.

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Not sure whether this is a GSAK problem or a gpx issue. I downloaded my nearby caches, and while browsing through GSAK, was pleased to see that Reindeer Run by MedTexPlacer was no longer shown as archived (it is one of my few dnf's). But when I clicked on the cache, Geocaching.com tells me it is archived. Any clue why the discrepancy? I can send my GPX files to you if that would help.

The simple fact is that GPX files sent to you from Groundspeak do not contain archived caches.

 

Disabled status (temorarily unavailable) is but archived not. There has been requests to Groundspeak about this, but nothing concrete yet has eventuated. The latest thread asking for this change can be found here. Perhaps all GSAK users might want to add your request to this thread.

 

Unfortunately this means that whenever any cache in your GSAK database is archived at gc.com there is no automatic way of knowing about this in GSAK.

 

However, there are some reasonable work arounds for the GSAK user. These were discussed in and old GSAK thread starting here

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I'd just like to say thanks to Clyde and Mr. Lipe and all the others "behind the scenes" developing this software to work with the GPS'. I am fairly new to Geocaching and very new to GSAK. A lot of what I read here is over my head yet. For now I was just looking for a faster way to get the coordinates into my Vista. But after a day of working with negative employees and ignorant/rude customers, it is pleasing to read some of the very helpful replies to the questions and problems that some of you have come across. This "family" of Geocaching is a relaxing break from the day-to-day crap.

Edited by MeisterCrew
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Take a look the "other" tab in the filter dialog. With a bit of creative thinking, you will find it will take care of what you are trying to do (I hope) :mad: .

Clyde,

 

You know, I've never noticed the DNF status filter before. I'm glad you pointed it out.

 

It does mostly what I want to do. However, is there a way to filter for caches where I've logged a DNF, regardless of whether I've since found it?

 

Jamie

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Take a look the "other" tab in the filter dialog. With a bit of creative thinking, you will find it will take care of what you are trying to do (I hope)  :rolleyes: .

Clyde,

 

You know, I've never noticed the DNF status filter before. I'm glad you pointed it out.

 

It does mostly what I want to do. However, is there a way to filter for caches where I've logged a DNF, regardless of whether I've since found it?

 

Jamie

Yes, there are actually 2 ways you can do this, but firstly let me explain how the DNF works.

 

When you log a DNF (or load a GPX file that contains your DNF) GSAK updates the DNF flag and the date of the DNF. When you log a find (or load a GPX file that contains a find for that cache) GSAK clears out the DNF flag but NOT the DNF date. That way you still know at some point you did log a DNF on that cache, even though you now may have found it.

 

So if you wanted a filter on all the caches you have logged a DNF (regardless if you have since found or not) just set a Date filter on DNF date During the last xx years (xx years being at least since you started geocaching) Don't forget, if you would like to see the DNF date you can also add this column to your display via Tools=>Options=>Display (just doing a reverse sort on this date would bring all your DNF attempts to the top of the screen)

 

The other way is to use the Log filter tab (with use of the "and log is by a certain person"). This is a little more complicated, but it does enable you more flexibility on the logs you search on. For examples on log searches please see the help file or online here

Edited by ClydeE
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Smart Name Tip - HTML

 

Many users now prefer the GSAK smart name to the rather obtuse looking GCXXXX code when sending waypoints to the GPSr

 

These same users often generate HTML (File=>Export=>HTML) to download to the PDA.

 

I have had quite a few users saying:

 

It would be great if the HTML pages and indexes used the smart name rather than the GCXXXX code. That way, when I look up a waypoint in my GPSr it would be so much easier to find in my PDA (and vice versa)

 

Well, version 4.2 does allow you to do this.

 

When you generate HTML, take a look at the "Waypoint Code" box. In here enter %smart instead of %code. However, you are not limited to these two tags. You can place any of the GSAK special tags here. I would honestly suggest you use the exact same tags you use for the waypoint code when you send to your GPS. For example I know %drop2%con1%typ1 is a very popular combination. That way our GPS and PDA will be exactly in sync. :rolleyes:

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[Yes, there are actually 2 ways you can do this, but firstly let me explain how the DNF works.

I hereby proclaim that GSAK is complete. There will be no further updates. There cannot possible be any more features added that would make it better.

 

Jamie

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There cannot possible be any more features

Don't believe it. I had to buy a new hard drive just to hold "the list" :rolleyes:

 

that would make it better

Good point. I do have to be careful that GSAK doesn't just become bloatware. However, I get the feeling there will always be users that "want more".

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I am a newbie at this so excuse me if this is not the hardest question..

 

I am debating between .loc and gpx (i.e. paying the $30). No I am not cheap, just like to know how the process works first of importing to my gps.

 

Anyway, I have imported the sample.gpx into gsak and I am exporting to my Mapsource so that I can customize the output before I sent to my gpsmap 76c. I have everything working except "hint" . I see the %hint, but is there a way to see the hint in gsak? I ask because the %hint does not work on the sample data and I am not sure if it is not in the sample.gpx or if I am doing something wrong. Plus it would be nice to be able to "edit" the hint for length, etc.

 

Any help would be appreciated.

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I am a newbie at this so excuse me if this is not the hardest question..

 

I am debating between .loc and gpx (i.e. paying the $30). No I am not cheap, just like to know how the process works first of importing to my gps.

 

Anyway, I have imported the sample.gpx into gsak and I am exporting to my Mapsource so that I can customize the output before I sent to my gpsmap 76c. I have everything working except "hint" . I see the %hint, but is there a way to see the hint in gsak? I ask because the %hint does not work on the sample data and I am not sure if it is not in the sample.gpx or if I am doing something wrong. Plus it would be nice to be able to "edit" the hint for length, etc.

 

Any help would be appreciated.

Yes, you can see the hint in GSAK in the split screen view for the cache(View=>View/Hide split screen or F2 or use the tool bar). Note: hints (and a lot of other information is only provided in GPX files) are included in the sample.gpx file, so you should be able to see these.

 

You can either have GSAK show the hint on the same page, or as link (set this via Tools=>Options=>HTML)

 

As for sending the hint down to your GPS, you must put the %hint tag somewhere in the "Waypoint description format" box.

 

To control the length of the %hint token it also supports the format %hint=nn, For example to keep the hint to 30 characters use %hint=30

 

For more information see "using special tags" in the help file or online here

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I am a newbie at this so excuse me if this is not the hardest question..

 

I am debating between .loc and gpx (i.e. paying the $30). No I am not cheap, just like to know how the process works first of importing to my gps.

 

Anyway, I have imported the sample.gpx into gsak and I am exporting to my Mapsource so that I can customize the output before I sent to my gpsmap 76c. I have everything working except "hint" . I see the %hint, but is there a way to see the hint in gsak? I ask because the %hint does not work on the sample data and I am not sure if it is not in the sample.gpx or if I am doing something wrong. Plus it would be nice to be able to "edit" the hint for length, etc.

 

Any help would be appreciated.

One thing about gpx files is they basically contain the whole cache page displayed on gc.com. The Garmin 76C does not really have enough display space to have all the information about the cache that I like to have with me when I go caching, therefore I use a Pocket PC based PDA with GPXSonar. I don't know anything about the Palm base PDA Geocaching Software but there similar programs. These allow you to see a version of the cache page in the field, including the hint.

 

Combining GSAK, GPXSonar and my 76C has been a good setup for me.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Cache Well

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I have Gsak installed on my primary (desktop) computer witha database of caches set up for a trip I'm taking.

 

I also have Gsak on my laptop. Is there a way to export the database from the desktop to the laptop for portability?

 

Thanks!

Ed

Resigtered and very happy user!

You might already have a backup if you have GSAK automatically prompting you to backup often, but you can force a backup by clicking File / Backup and selecting the database(s) you want. It will create a ZIP file which you can then File / Restore on the other machine.

 

Check or uncheck the GSAK Settings checkbox on the Backup if you just want the data and not the settings (options) within GSAK to be copied to the other machine.

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