Marker Name property

[58gschol]

Hello,

I am new to OpenCPN, and I did try to study the manual, but I did not find a solution for my problem; could someone help me?

Ido try to use a marker on the map, showing the name and the properties of a bridge. To do so, I would like to put that information into 2 lines, as a name of a marker.
However, I do not see a possibility, to break the long name into 2 lines, so it will show on the map.

Is there a way of doing so, and if yes, what is the trick?

[nohal]

No, the waypoint names can't span multiple lines.

[58gschol]

That's a pity.

In case there is a workaround, without putting lots of different symbols (one per bridge) into UserIcons, please let me know.

A possible solution could be that instead of a name, the description could be used, to get displayed on the map, but then modifications to the software needs to be made, I presume.

Thanks.

[nohal]

Displaying the description is of course pretty much exactly as much work as allowing for the name to span over more lines.
An obvious workaround is to invent a naming system that does not need several lines to work.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, 58gschol.

[58gschol]

Nohal:
it has nothing to do with naming, but all with information about the name itself, water depth, width and height of the bridge and in case it's lock, the length of the lock.
In that case it makes it easier to sail inland, to see if our boat can pass the obstacle.

[nohal]

Originally Posted by 58gschol

Nohal:
it has nothing to do with naming, but all with information about the name itself, water depth, width and height of the bridge and in case it's lock, the length of the lock.
In that case it makes it easier to sail inland, to see if our boat can pass the obstacle.

That is obvious. And you need to get all this info on one line forming the waypoint name if you want to use OpenCPN's waypoints to display this information on the chart.

[jongough]

If you want special points that can contain more information have you tried the OCPN_Draw_pi plugin? It is designed to allow drawing of objects on the chart and one of these is callled a text point, which I think does exactly what you want. It allows multi-line information to be attached to a geo-referenced point.


The plugin is available as a download from the opencpn web site, you will find it under the 'Safety' section.


Regards
jon

[cagney]

Originally Posted by 58gschol

Nohal:
it has nothing to do with naming, but all with information about the name itself, water depth, width and height of the bridge and in case it's lock, the length of the lock.
In that case it makes it easier to sail inland, to see if our boat can pass the obstacle.

Your idea would lead to an unbearable clutter on the screen.
Your asking the wrong question!
OpenCPN has a very good way to handle all the info you want about waypoints/markers. In the waypoints "Properties" dialog there is a tab called "Description" were you can enter all your required info.

Please read https://opencpn.org/wiki/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=opencpnpencpn_user_manual:advanced_f eatures:extended_marks

If you want to see at a glance if you can pass a certain bridge with a boat, just come up with a good naming convention. Call the wpt for example "MyBridge 59", if it has a 59' clearance, and that is what matters most for you.

Thomas

[58gschol]

Originally Posted by jongough

If you want special points that can contain more information have you tried the OCPN_Draw_pi plugin? It is designed to allow drawing of objects on the chart and one of these is callled a text point, which I think does exactly what you want. It allows multi-line information to be attached to a geo-referenced point.

Thanks, I did get the plug-in, did install it, but how can I get it to work?
I did not find any differences in OCPN, before of after installing, and there is nu menu or Windows entrance. Also a manual (if any) cannot be found.

[skipperearly]

Originally Posted by 58gschol

Thanks, I did get the plug-in, did install it, but how can I get it to work?
I did not find any differences in OCPN, before of after installing, and there is nu menu or Windows entrance. Also a manual (if any) cannot be found.

click on the toolbar "Draw" select icon for text draw. click on map to set text point, select this point with right click and enter whatever you want in the display text. Its rather straight forward - just try it.

... ah I assumed that you have enabled draw_pi - if not do it.

[58gschol]

Originally Posted by skipperearly

click on the toolbar "Draw" select icon for text draw. click on map to set text point, select this point with right click and enter whatever you want in the display text. Its rather straight forward - just try it.

... ah I assumed that you have enabled draw_pi - if not do it.

Thanks for the response, but following the instructions from the manual, the plug-in is not appearing in the list of plug-in's. So I am not able to enable it.
The 'dashboard_pi.dll' file is in the 'plugins' map of OCPN.

What is going wrong?

(OpenCPN version is: 'Version 4.8.8 Build 2018-11-06')

[bcn]

Do you have just version of OpenCPN or are you running some parallel versions?
Just to confirm: this is Windows, right?

[58gschol]

Yes, it is Windows-7 Professional 32-bit, and I am only running 4.8.8 Build 2018-11-06.

Same result on 2 different machines, of which the latter one (laptop HP Probook) was reinstalled last November from scratch.

[bcn]

You are installing the plug-in from here:
https://github.com/jongough/ocpn_draw_pi/releases

and you are sure that you followed the instructions:
https://opencpn.org/wiki/dokuwiki/do...all_and_enable

Be aware that under Windows you will have to close OpenCPN and open it again to see enabled plug-ins.

If all this is positive, then we would like to see your OpenCPN log file.
You access to it via the Help Button from the tool bar ("?") or F1

Hubert