All Waypoints and Tracks Gone in Open CPN.

[bcn]

Mestrezat,

under Win7 (at least on all W7 installs I've seen) the data - not your chart folder, this is something that you can change at install - you will find at:

My PC
OS (C: )
ProgramData
opencpn
- which contains for instance the
opencpn.ini
opencpn.log
and the navobj.xml files
plus folders for the processed chart files

The path you can check as well open OpenCPN (at the risk that the navobj.xml will be copied back as navob1.xml) and clicking at the help button ("?")
--> Logfile location: ..............

In the Windows Explorer you will modify the options (which files are shown, extensions etc) under
Organize
Options Folder and searching

For visualization use "Details", "show hidden files", show "System files", don't "hide common extensions" .

The exact name of the commands may be slightly different as the Win/ PC I'm working on is not an EN/US install.

And don't double click desperately on files (or highlight them and push ENTER, that's the same): if executable they will run and do something you might not want to provoke...

[mestrezat]

OK, I finally found the navobj files and yes, I've opened OpenCPN enought times that the file that probably had my waypoint and anchorages on it is long gone. I tried one of the "searches" on the computer and it still says I don't have any in the computer. Go figure. I did go in and told it to show the hidden files and it still says I don't have the navobj files.
In the future, I take it that I should back up these files to another location in case the same thing happens again? Any suggestions as to a good logical place?
I do have the waypoints on a separate chart plotter so all is not lost, it will just take me a while to re enter them into the program. Oh well.
By the way, I re downloaded the program while we were in Singapore and then, only once. This problem cropped up several weeks later as we were past Langkawi.

[nohal]

Originally Posted by mestrezat

OK, I finally found the navobj files and yes, I've opened OpenCPN enought times that the file that probably had my waypoint and anchorages on it is long gone.

Sorry to hear that. Not that it will help you this time, but I have just commited a patch that should help in cases like this and rotate the backups just in case the navobj.xml file has changed since the last backup was created, thus not overwriting everything with the same broken version.

Pavel

[mestrezat]

Thanks for the help but, one last question. How do I save my new waypoints in the future so I don't fall victim to this again?

[bcn]

Just copy the navobj.xml periodically to another folder - or a pen drive or...
That's a back-up.

And by the way: did you find the file finally in the standard location? And what did you had to change to see it (in order to have an idea what to ask if this happens to anybody else...)?

Hubert

[nohal]

You basically have 2 options:
1) Make regular backups of the navobj.xml file.
2) Export what you need from Route manager dialog every once in a while.

Pavel

[mestrezat]

Being the incredibly computer savvy person(NOT), I was simply looking in the wrong area. Still don't understand why the search function doesn't see the files.
Thanks to everyone for their help. With luck, I won't have this happen again.

[PjotrC]

Still, it would be nice to have the good old "Save All" button in the Route Manager...

Simple and easy to use.
Visible (and inviting... ).
Self explanatory - no instructions needed.
Works same way on all platforms.

Why not?

[nohal]

Pjotr...
It is on the list as I said elsewhere. Save all (that's not a layer, visible or not)...

Pavel

[fgd3]

Originally Posted by mestrezat

Being the incredibly computer savvy person(NOT), I was simply looking in the wrong area. Still don't understand why the search function doesn't see the files.
Thanks to everyone for their help. With luck, I won't have this happen again.

Windows search function has been broken since XP. Don't beat yourself up trying to make it work, it isn't your fault.

As to saving waypoints, if you want to keep anything, export the route, track, or waypoint from the Route Manager. You get to specify the location and name the file, so you'll be able to find it again later.

Think of the "Export selected" and "Import GPX" buttons in the Route Manager as "Save" and "Open". When you're finished using a route delete it. Deleting removes it from OpenCPN. It doesn't delete a GPX file you've saved. If you use "Export selected" to save individual routes you can then load (Import GPX) just the routes you need to work with in your current session. Your chart won't be so cluttered with unused routes, you'll know where to find your routes and waypoints, and they won't be deleted if you accidentally choose the wrong option when you install an upgrade.

Fabbian

[Sandpiper1972]

A new enquiry: Pavel, can you help? A 'helpful' crew was trying to delete a MOB he had put in for fun, and, after much effort, deleted that and all of my previous tracks and history since instalation of OpenCPN.
Before I could get online to look you up, Open CPN was used plenty (>5) times, so no navobj possibilities...?
It was running on xp pro, so logbook extractor wouldn't work. I now have finally bought a win 7 pro laptop, and the old one is here. Can I somehow use the new laptop to recover my track from the old laptop/hdd?
thanks,
Rupert

[nohal]

Rupert...
Which OpenCPN version was that? I have improved the rotation to take place just in case there actually are changes in the recent betas, so the backups survive way longer...
To be sure, look at the sizes of the navobj files. If they are all small, too bad, the data is lost.

If you have the logfile, the positions can still be extracted from it - even if the LogBookExtractor tool does not work (It has always been a bit too picky about locales and similar stuff anyway) Put it on dropbox or google drive an PM me the link and I will extract whatever I can from it.

And start making backups of your data, it's worth it

Pavel

[seandepagnier]

On my last passage I confirmed that if you have tracking enabled, and opencpn crashes or is killed, the current track is lost.

I don't understand why this is the case, shouldn't the current track be written to the changes file?

[Sandpiper1972]

Hi, It was 3.2.2 I was using. I have system restored as far back as possible, but I am still missing that all important month which got deleted. I shall try and go through the Logbook Extractor steps again, and see if I can find anything in there, but all those navobj files (up to 5) seem small...
Rupert

Originally Posted by nohal

Rupert...
Which OpenCPN version was that? I have improved the rotation to take place just in case there actually are changes in the recent betas, so the backups survive way longer...
To be sure, look at the sizes of the navobj files. If they are all small, too bad, the data is lost.

If you have the logfile, the positions can still be extracted from it - even if the LogBookExtractor tool does not work (It has always been a bit too picky about locales and similar stuff anyway) Put it on dropbox or google drive an PM me the link and I will extract whatever I can from it.

And start making backups of your data, it's worth it

Pavel

[Sandpiper1972]

One other thing: should I be able to load the logbook extractor in XP? I am unable to do this, it seems, and have downloaded several copies to try it with...