OpenCPN General

[wdkester]

Originally Posted by transmitterdan

I'm ok with requiring all unique chart files to have unique file names. I haven't found any government supplied chart datasets that violate this rule.

I would not like to have to read entirely every chart file to build the database. The process is slow enough already.

Random thoughts.

To be clear, are you saying you wouldn't check for duplicate file names?

This would be true for the quilter, the downloader, and update control?

It seems to me that it would be easy have 2 NOAA charts, different editions, but with the same file names.

How about a third update control that scans for duplicates and allows you keep both or discard one?

I'm done thinking for the day.

[bdbcat]

Folks...

re:
It seems to me that it would be easy have 2 NOAA charts, different editions, but with the same file names.

Leaving aside the question of GL cache coherency...

You may want this scenario exactly. As long as the two charts were in different directories, they could be configured into different groups. And then viewed separately. Maybe as part of an effort to track or archive chart editions, or....

The problem only appears when you try to view two different charts with the same name at the same time. This is clearly ambiguous.

There are some implications regarding the chart downloader as designed. Quite often the same small-scale chart will exist in two different NOAA regions or states, for instance. Example is 411, Gulf of Mexico. This is probably in several state compilations as defined by NOAA XML catalogs.

The downloader will normally place these redundant charts in separate directories. Fine so far. Assuming there is only one chart group defined, the quilter will discard all but one of the redundant charts while composing the quilt.
So all is well. He currently does not try to be clever when deciding which of the multiple copies to display, so this could be improved. Maybe always choose the most recent.

I think this is OK. I entertain pathological cases, for discussion.

Still thinking..
Dave

[transmitterdan]

Originally Posted by wdkester

Random thoughts.

To be clear, are you saying you wouldn't check for duplicate file names?

This would be true for the quilter, the downloader, and update control?

It seems to me that it would be easy have 2 NOAA charts, different editions, but with the same file names.

How about a third update control that scans for duplicates and allows you keep both or discard one?

I'm done thinking for the day.

So far as I have found NOAA never uses the identical file name for two different charts. O already checks for duplicate file names and will only display one such file. This avoids problems with the quilter quilting the same chart on top of itself. This is the issue under discussion as I understand it.

I think we should avoid annoying the user with choosing between duplicate files. Maybe we should put a message in the log file when a chart file has been "ignored" because it has a duplicate name.

It might be a good idea if the GE chart creation tool always created unique file names for the charts it creates. Sort of like a camera download program does to avoid duplicate photo file names.

[did-g]

hi,

Originally Posted by transmitterdan

So far as I have found NOAA never uses the identical file name for two different charts. O already checks for duplicate file names and will only display one such file. This avoids problems with the quilter quilting the same chart on top of itself. This is the issue under discussion as I understand it.

it doesn't work, if you have the same charts (same name) but with different file time in two folders they both show in the piano.

It is (was?) a pain with vector charts as they are sharing the same SEC name.

[bdbcat]

did...

re:
it doesn't work, if you have the same charts (same name) but with different file time in two folders they both show in the piano.

You are correct, that needs fixing.

Sorry, what is SEC name?

Dave

[rgleason]

Perhaps, the user should be able to intentionally load a duplicate chart into the database? I suppose that would presume the user is sophisticated enough to know about making Kap and using them, which is not necessarily assured.

In the Gulf of Mexico 411 example, it seems to me that if the chart is in two separate Chart Groups and possibly two separate NOAA USCG Region chart directories , that the chart should remain accessible from each of the chart groups, rather than trying to complicate things...

Having said that, I am not sure what is being done now, and I certainly commend the effort to reduce the database scanning loads to just what is found to be necessary.

I think if a user adds two or three directories to a Chart Group and those directories have duplicate files, that one of the files should be used for the database. Why enlarge and complicate the OpenGL cache, etc?

--PS: I've entered this discussion without having read the entire string...and gone through the whole thought process.

[wdkester]

If you attempt to put 2 charts of the same name in the same folder, GE2Kap will stop and ask if you want to overwrite. However, it will allow you to put 2 charts with the same name in 2 different folders. It does not keep track of all the charts it creates.

Tangent Alert

Would it speed up the Update Control process if we could point to the one branch branch of the chart tree we just made chart changes to?

[did-g]

Originally Posted by bdbcat

did...

re:

Sorry, what is SEC name?

Dave

Oops typo, opencpn SENC cache name, the .S57 generated file.

[bdbcat]

@Pavel...

re:
Perhaps we should look at the size of the file? Faster than checksum/fingerprint and IMO much more reliable than name+date...


Done. Now using KAP file size and date and KAP header Edition Date, if available. Should be unique, and not too expensive to compute.

Thanks
Dave

[rgleason]

TDan:

I think we should avoid annoying the user with choosing between duplicate files. Maybe we should put a message in the log file when a chart file has been "ignored" because it has a duplicate name.
--- I agree not to annoy user...but would the log file get too big?

It might be a good idea if the GE chart creation tool always created unique file names for the charts it creates. Sort of like a camera download program does to avoid duplicate photo file names.
--- This sounds like a good idea to me, how does this suggestion get to Phil?

[wdkester]

TDan

Phils name is Paul Higgins.

As I said before. "If you attempt to put 2 charts of the same name in the same folder, GE2Kap will stop and ask if you want to overwrite. However, it will allow you to put 2 charts with the same name in 2 different folders. It does not keep track of all the charts it creates." There is no master directory.

There are various features in GE2Kap that contribute to forming different names for different charts. e.g. The polygon or path name is combined with the zoom level and a 5 digit sequence number to produce a file name and the NA= field. An example of this is "Conception_Z16_00015"

If you produce this same chart in 2 different folders (by accident or on purpose) you will end up with 2 identical chart names, same size, but different time of day and/or date.

I you start out with a good naming convention it is possible to prevent duplicate names. I personally have not found the need to place the same GE2Kap chart in 2 different folders.

[transmitterdan]

I think this is now fixed in the next release. But there was never a problem with identical charts with identical names in different folders. The problem came with identical name charts that were not actually identical. Only one chart of each name would be quilted. Now Dave has built a way to identify if the charts are in fact different but with same name.

[Baikal]

Is it possible to change the location of the plug-in icon?
Or it can be done only in the source, where the source code is edited?

[rgleason]

At present it is not possible. However the order of plugins under options - plugins can be dragged and dropped. There is a suggestion to have plugins also show in the toolbar in that same order.

[Vesta]

Where can I find OpenCPN 4.2 ?