New Waypoint Properties Implementation

[nohal]

Tore...
You can delete both these lines

Pavel

[sinbad7]

Pavel..

Thanks,I will delete these lines.

I understand the POI's in the 'layers' area are protected from change,is this done through setting some key in the opencpn.ini file by any chance?

I find it very strange that loading the same group of POI's from the same directory,shows different results,depending upon whether it was loaded up in the layers or the WPT areas.

Tore

[nohal]

Tore...
There is no setting in the ini affecting layers. You just have to understand how the whole layers thing works. The layers are loaded just when OpenCPN starts. You have to restart it to make the GPX files in the Layers folder to reload.

Pavel

[sinbad7]

Pavel..

I am sorry,but I think you missed the point.. I have restarted OCPN a hundred times since I made the URL addition to the 'Mykonos' POI.

The point is,the change is ONLY shown if you import the group file to the WPT area. The same file read automatically into the layers area of the Route Manager does NOT show the additional URL. See the screen dumps attached.

Tore

[cagney]

Originally Posted by sinbad7

Pavel..

I am sorry,but I think you missed the point.. I have restarted OCPN a hundred times since I made the URL addition to the 'Mykonos' POI.

The point is,the change is ONLY shown if you import the group file to the WPT area. The same file read automatically into the layers area of the Route Manager does NOT show the additional URL. See the screen dumps attached.

Tore

It works for me. This is the way I do it.

1.Open Route manager-Import GPX and find the gpx file in the correct layers directory. Click OK. Note that I have no other marks displayed.
2 Create a new mark with a link to the Internet.
3 RouteManager-ExportAll and once again find the original gpx file in the layers directory. Mark it. Save. Answer yes to overwriting the existing file.
(back up the original as a safeguard against mistakes).
4 Close and then start OpenCPN.
5 The new mark is now a part of the layer.

Thomas

[sinbad7]

Tomas..

That's exactly how I do it now,but I still get two different results depending on whether I read the POI's from the layers or the WPT area of the Route Manager. See the two screen dumps I posted.

All my new or edited URL entries saves ok from the WPT area to the 'layers' directory,but they do NOT subsequently show up in the layers area,having to import the .gpx group file AGAIN into the WPT area before the edited POI's show up. Very cumbersome way to work. Are you also on Vista?

I've just this moment rebooted OCPN for the umpteenth time,and THIS TIME,it works the way it should. Hope it stays this way...

Tore

[sinbad7]

Pavel/Thomas..

I wonder if this delayed action in displaying updated POI's could be caused by some sort of buffer? After SEVERAL re-starts of OCPN,the layers area finally shows the change.

Tore

[cagney]

Originally Posted by sinbad7

Tomas..

........
Very cumbersome way to work.
......

Tore

Absolutely!
But then it is not the intended or recommended way to develop layers.
The layers directory with auto-loading on start, should only be used for a fully developed gpx files that you are happy with. The above process could do for changing the odd niggle.

To develop a layer, make sure there ere no marks in the Route Manager.
Create your marks and export to an external file.
Import again, as above, do your changes. Export.
Test the gpx file as a layer, by using "Temporary Layer".
When things are perfect, and the file is worth keeping as a layer, move it to the layers directory.

For major changes to an existing layer, copy the file to a directory of your choice and work on it as above.

Thomas

[sinbad7]

Thomas..

I'm in complete agreement with you,but the POI's by their very nature will be revised all the time and I can see no reason why a file should be read differently in the layers area. I can see the reason for not editing in the layers area,but you can delete?

Anyway,Pavel has done a great job creating this interface which seems to be working ok now. I have just updated both my Northern Europe.gpx as well as the Eastern Europe.gpx without any problems,apart from having to re-boot OCPN many times before the changes were visible in the layers area.

You can download them here:http://www.4shared.com/folder/EFf9eWg_/FINAL_.html


Tore

[nohal]

Tore...
As you have sure already discovered, if you hit the delete button in the Layers part of the route manager, the layer appears again after the restart.
That the buttons are there at all is misleading and they should be removed or at least disabled on this tab, which I will do when I find time to do it.

Pavel

[cagney]

Pavel
I just had an idea about extended Waypoints......
If you have followed the thread "Tide Units" you will be aware of some of the problems with OpenCPN and tides.

What about.....if a mark could include a command as well as an URL.
If we could run

xtide -l "Patos Island Wharf"

as a link in the properties dialog. Well then all the xtide stations could be developed into regional layers, and we would avoid some headache and simplify OpenCPN.
I don't know how this would affect Windows though.

Something like this:


Thomas

[sinbad7]

Pavel.

I found the solution to my mysterious pink track lines below 'ownship.gpx'
Somehow,down the line,combining POI's into groups,I inadvertently included a couple of short tracks from MY area in Ubatuba.

Here comes the problem.. I edited the three .gpx group files concerned and deleted the irrelevant code which was obvious from the geo locs and saved them in the 'tmp' directory within the layers directory. I saved copies of the original .gpx files (luckily) and copied the edited files to the layers directory.

To my horror,none of the edited files displayed any POI's,not even importing them into the WPT area. I then noticed that the appendage 'copied file' had been added to the filenames. I then renamed the files to the original names and started OCPN again. The same happened this time,no POI's in either WPT or layers areas.

Finally,I imported each individual .gpx group file to the WPT area before exporting them to the layers area. Now all was back to square one,including the pink track marks.
Perhaps I edited out too much code,I don't know.

Tore

[sinbad7]

Pavel...

As I am discovering slowly,editing POI's is a virtual mine field...

The two short offending entries from my own area causing the pink track lines under the ownship icon were duly deleted from the end of each of the three .gpx group files and saved in a separate directory. Imported the files,(one by one) to the WPT area and exported them to the layers area.

Starting OCPN from fresh,the pink track lines gone and all the POI marks visible,I thought,hey,I've done it! Until I started examining the contents of each POI.
All the URL's had disappeared... weeks of work gone down the pan!

Now I have no option but to revert back to the original backup files and forget about the unwanted track lines until I can think of a better idea.

I attach one of the files if you have time to examine it for me.

Tore

[sinbad7]

Pavel..

I don't know if I mentioned it before but the AIS target query aborts OCPN.
Perhaps this is a known fact in this version?

Tore

[nohal]

Tore...
What did you use to edit this file??? It has the links screwed up to be HTML tags and moved to the Description field of the waypoints.
I strongly discourage you from trying to edit the GPX files by hand, but if you really feel that you need to, use something that's good at it and does not try to be smarter than you.
XML Copy Editor is a good choice and is able to check if your file is well-formed and valid - great protection from breaking things...

Pavel