The source has been updated. I needed to use the absolute value of the rate of tidal current. OpenCPN code calculates + and - values for the different direction of flow which meant that all -ve values showed as less than 0.5 kts (violet).
The compiled plugin for Win, O 3.2.2 upwards, is attached. Remove the pdf extension.
The choice of colours is difficult. I am looking at a colorpicker solution, as implemented by Scannav.
The source has been updated. I needed to use the absolute value of the rate of tidal current. OpenCPN code calculates + and - values for the different direction of flow which meant that all -ve values showed as less than 0.5 kts (violet).
The compiled plugin for Win, O 3.2.2 upwards, is attached. Remove the pdf extension.
The choice of colours is difficult. I am looking at a colorpicker solution, as implemented by Scannav.
Thanks.
Mike
The update looks really good.
Colorpicker would be very nice, as long as the selections you make are remembered every time you re-launch the program. I am not sure yet whether the different colors are useful. I would want to use it for awhile before deciding. But colorpicker give an option for everyone to customize.
Right now my thinking is the arrow size plus speed numbers already give me redundant speed information, and different colors would be a third layer of redundancy. My concern is that the colors could be the same as some other symbols on the chart, and thus less visible. With a colorpicker, users all over he world (thus with very different chart color schemes) could tailor the colors for their own charts. I'd have the option of setting all the speeds to the same color if I wanted, or set different colors like it is now.
As for ebb vs. flood, I think the direction that the arrows point is a very clear way to convey that. But I'm just one opinion.
The compiled plugin for Win, O 3.2.2 upwards, is attached. Remove the pdf extension.
The choice of colours is difficult. I am looking at a colorpicker solution, as implemented by Scannav.
very nice idea. i am starting to agree with rd, about direction, but would still like to see if there is some way to distinguish Flood from Ebb... Maybe Flood is Solid, Ebb is Hollow.
The otcurrent plugin now allows users to set the colours for the tidal current arrows. The colours are retained in opencpn.ini when the program/plugin closes.
The new color selection feature looks great! I've already used it with different color scheme from what it originally had (green-yellow-orange-red-violet for progressively higher speeds)
There is a slight bug that I've noticed in this and prior versions of the plugin. You can see in the attached pic of the entrance to the C&D Canal in Delaware, MD (USA) that there is very low-speed current at 341-359 degrees where the vectors should be pointing north, but instead they are pointing west. There's another one with 166 degree which should be pointing south, but it's also pointing west. When I advance to a different time with higher currents, the vectors point in the proper direction.
I have not seen this bug at other stations, just these three stations which are in the vicinity of the canal, where the currents always run east-west.
Note that the numerical value for the current direction is always correct. It's just the arrow that points the wrong way.
By the way, I do want to thank you again for this amazing plugin. Today I was doing some planning for an early May 2015 trip down the Delaware River, and it's great to be able to scroll forward in time with just a couple mouseclicks to see the currents all the way down the river. Previously I had to use the (hopelessly terrible) Garmin Homeport software for this capability. With your plugin, OpenCPN becomes a dramatically improved tool for future planning.
Do you have any plans to do a similar tool for tidal stations?
Another small bug: Your arrows are not aware of manual screen rotation (implemented with [ and ] keys). When I rotate the screen with these keys, the arrows do not adjust their direction with the chart.
I just confirmed that the same problem happens when running in "Course Up" mode. When the chart rotates to maintain "Course Up" the current vectors do not adjust properly.
I generally always use North Up when planning future routes, so it's not a serious problem for me. But it may be a problem for others.
Mike, deleted plugin otcurrent_pi and did a fresh git clone
git clone git://github.com/Rasbats/otcurrent_pi.git
mkdir build
cd build
copied opencpn3-2-2.lib to /build/opencpn.lib
cmake .. etc and I get 3 errors. Can you help me out?
Quote:
Build FAILED.
"C:\Data-Dart\Up-Soft\Navigation\o-plugin\otcurrent_pi\build\ALL_BUILD.vcxproj"
(default target) (1) ->
"C:\Data-Dart\Up-Soft\Navigation\o-plugin\otcurrent_pi\build\otcurrent_pi.vcxpro
j" (default target) (3) ->
(ClCompile target) ->
c:\data-dart\up-soft\navigation\o-plugin\otcurrent_pi\src\otcurrent_pi.h(43):
fatal error C1083: Cannot open include file: '../../../include/ocpn_plugin.h': N
o such file or directory [C:\Data-Dart\Up-Soft\Navigation\o-plugin\otcurrent_pi\
build\otcurrent_pi.vcxproj]
..\src\otcurrentOverlayFactory.cpp(45): fatal error C1083: Cannot open include
file: 'dychart.h': No such file or directory [C:\Data-Dart\Up-Soft\Navigation\o
-plugin\otcurrent_pi\build\otcurrent_pi.vcxproj]
c:\data-dart\up-soft\navigation\o-plugin\otcurrent_pi\src\otcurrent_pi.h(43):
fatal error C1083: Cannot open include file: '../../../include/ocpn_plugin.h': N
o such file or directory [C:\Data-Dart\Up-Soft\Navigation\o-plugin\otcurrent_pi\
build\otcurrent_pi.vcxproj]
0 Warning(s)
3 Error(s)
did git fetch
and got 3 errors.
went back and did git pull, downloaded several files.
compiled and got the 5 errors.
yes, I can't cpack it using NSIS now.
nohal has an earlier version that does compile here which might help. https://github.com/nohal/otcurrent_pi maybe a file comparison would shed some light.
Quote:
Build succeeded.
"C:\Data-Dart\Up-Soft\Navigation\o-plugin\otcurrent_pi\build\ALL_BUILD.vcxproj"
(default target) (1) ->
"C:\Data-Dart\Up-Soft\Navigation\o-plugin\otcurrent_pi\build\otcurrent_pi.vcxpro
j" (default target) (3) ->
(ClCompile target) ->
..\src\otcurrent_pi.cpp(405): warning C4800: 'long' : forcing value to bool 't
rue' or 'false' (performance warning) [C:\Data-Dart\Up-Soft\Navigation\o-plugin\
otcurrent_pi\build\otcurrent_pi.vcxproj]
..\src\otcurrent_pi.cpp(406): warning C4800: 'long' : forcing value to bool 't
rue' or 'false' (performance warning) [C:\Data-Dart\Up-Soft\Navigation\o-plugin\
otcurrent_pi\build\otcurrent_pi.vcxproj]
..\src\otcurrent_pi.cpp(407): warning C4800: 'long' : forcing value to bool 't
rue' or 'false' (performance warning) [C:\Data-Dart\Up-Soft\Navigation\o-plugin\
otcurrent_pi\build\otcurrent_pi.vcxproj]
c:\data-dart\up-soft\navigation\o-plugin\otcurrent_pi\src\otcurrentuidialog.cp
p(724): warning C4700: uninitialized local variable 'text' used [C:\Data-Dart\Up
-Soft\Navigation\o-plugin\otcurrent_pi\build\otcurrent_pi.vcxproj]
c:\data-dart\up-soft\navigation\o-plugin\otcurrent_pi\src\otcurrentuidialog.cp
p(728): warning C4700: uninitialized local variable 'spinner' used [C:\Data-Dart
\Up-Soft\Navigation\o-plugin\otcurrent_pi\build\otcurrent_pi.vcxproj]
Excuse me Mike, I had not run
cmake --build . --config release
then ran
cpack
and it compiled fine.
will put on Opencpn Beta File thingie. File Thingie 2.5.7 rguser rgpass
Under 3.2.2 PI Win
Plugin works fine. Needed to select colors because all fill colors were red.
Would like to have Outline colors with hollow, for ebb tide.
There were two files that had not been updated: otcurrent_pi.pot and POTFILES.in. They referred to tcurrent names not otcurrent.
GitHub has been updated for this.
However ... using Git I am producing a plugin with strange characters. And the plugin crashes OpenCPN. This does not happen when using VS2010 Express. In the past I found that this indicated a UNICODE (lack of) problem.
Mike, I just git fetch and compiled the exe version with 0 warnings and 0 errors!
So it works excellently on this end. Hope that helps.
Also updated the file on Opencpn Beta File thingie
"using Git I am producing a plugin with strange characters." Do you mean cmake?
from build directory?
cmake ..
cmake --build .
cmake --build . --config release
cpack
This looks perfect for my needs, i just cant figure out how to install it. Its not listed in PlugIns | Official OpenCPN Homepage is that because its still in beta? I would love to try it out, but just don't understand the install.
Download from the the user forum using the link I provided, rename the file to .dll, move it into the \Program Files\opencpn\plugins folder (will be in Program Files (x86) on 64-bit Windows systems), then launch OpenCPN and activate it in Options-Plugins