Chart Downloader/Updater Plugin

[transmitterdan]

Gilletarom,

Perhaps it would be best to just delete these messages altogether if they are creating confusion. I was just trying to give the user a chance to think about what might be a very long download before starting it. We will hide the update all button and only show it if the user selects it in the preferences.

Regarding item 3, if the whole dialog box is sized so everything does not fit then vertical and horizontal sliders will automatically appear.

[Gilletarom]

Transmitterdan,

Originally Posted by transmitterdan

Gilletarom,

Perhaps it would be best to just delete these messages altogether if they are creating confusion. I was just trying to give the user a chance to think about what might be a very long download before starting it. We will hide the update all button and only show it if the user selects it in the preferences.

Hide the button if you like but keep your items. Your idea to alert the user is a good idea. I even think I requested it a few days ago. Just change the text as I suggested you. It requires almost no developer working.

Regarding item 3, if the whole dialog box is sized so everything does not fit then vertical and horizontal sliders will automatically appear.

Wouahhhh

[nohal]

Originally Posted by Wannabe-007

This thread is four years old, and the links in the original post haven't been updated.

Yes, I know how old it is, I started it... Sorry for that, try to talk to cruisersforum so that they make it possible. Now it is not.

Rather than suggesting one could read this 254 posts thread, perhaps you could just offer the correct location.

The latest version was announced less than 12 post before yours, I'm really sorry but can't repeat it after every post added to the thread just because people fail to read last 1 page of history - I unfortunately also need some time to create the stuff you then lynch me for.

...Im guessing it might be here:
opencpnplugins - Browse /chartdldr_pi at SourceForge.net

Your guess is right of course.

[Wannabe-007]

OK, i've gone through the process and here's my 2c...

Firstly, I love the plugin.
This would make it so much easier for new users.
Its great that I can updated all my charts easily while I have a broadband connection.
Well done, keep up the good work, congratulations on trying hard to make your documentation really good too.

I made notes as I went. Im very short on time, so its a bit of a brain dump. I hope its vaguely helpful.

I thought I was a 'new user' because i've never used the plugin - then I realised that I'm not 'new' to OpenCPN, so I switched to the other instructions.

I noticed there is a whole lot of valuable information in the 'new users' documentation that is not in the 'existing users' stuff.

ok, here's my notes:
Documentation:

Where do I keep my charts doc:
https://github.com/rgleason/chartdld...keep-my-charts

D1.0
Last line says Follow the directions below to make this directory an "Active Chart Directory"
…but there is no directions below


Existing User Documentation:
https://github.com/rgleason/chartdld...g-OpenCPN-user

D2.0
"After clicking OK you will be back at the main plugin screen. Click the button on the right labeled Update"

should read:
After clicking OK, select the region you have just added, and click the button on the right labelled Update.


D3.0
"If the status shows New for every chart you will may a message that no charts were selected for download"

Typo - should read (i think)
If the status shows New for every chart you will may receive a message that no charts were selected for download


Plugin:

P1.0 – Installation – Windows protected your PC
I’m sure you know already, but Windows 8 comes up with a warning on installation.

P2.0 - Multiple download failures
RNC Product Catalogue 40 Region
It took me 5 attempts to download all the update charts.
1 - 8 of 67 charts failed to download
2 - 3 of 8 failed
3 - 2 of 3 failed
4 – 1 of 2 failed
5 – Last chart updated

P3.0 – Right click option - counter-intuitive
There is a right-click ‘selective select’ options feel counter-intuitive to me.
This function would feel better if provided by a drop down box.

P3.1 – Right click option ‘select updated’
The option to ‘select updated’ actually selects items ‘to update’ – which is the opposite of ‘updated’. Suggest changing wording to: ‘Select to update’, or something similar.

P4.0
OpenCPN would regularly hang while dealing with large catalogs.

P5.0 - NZ Chart catalogue – lumped together
I required ~6MB of updates for y NZ Charts.
However, the updater downloaded 2 files - ~150MB of data in order to do this.
**edit**: This is a limitation of the way LINZ provides the charts. No way to get the files individually that I can find.

P5.1 – NZ Chart Catalogue could be renamed
Many users will not know that the NZ Chart Catalog is actually for the entire South Pacific.
If possible, it would be useful to make this known.
Eg. Rename to “NZ & South Pacific” ?

P6.0 – Pilot Charts
It could be nice to add a catalogue entry for pilot charts – just to make it easy for people who don’t have them.



Other nice to haves:
- Would be nice if the pluggin could include an option that calls OpenCPN db update. (already on your wishlist)
- Would be nice to know the actual file name of the files being downloaded so I can check it. Perhaps by rollover text?

[transmitterdan]

Wannabe,

Thanks for trying the plugin and giving feedback. We don't mind if others will help in updating the documentation. It's hard for me because I know too much about the plugin having been testing it for many weeks. If I get some time next week I will try to fix as much as I have time for.

Here are a few comments:

P1.0 - I think this is true for all plugins but not sure.

P2.0 - Download failure is probably an ISP issue. I get it once in a while when I am on the boat with long distance WiFi. It never happens on a real broadband connection. I'm not sure what we can do to help slow or intermittent connections. We could retry the download a few times but that could result in an even longer "hung" condition. We compromised by telling the user how many failed.

P3.0 - The use of right click is an OpenCPN "standard" way to not need any drop down menus at all. The options dialog has no drop down menu at all. We don't have an easy way to add drop-down menus to the options dialog. I think this would require a change to the whole options dialog structure. Anyway, the best we can do is document it for now. Probably should do a better spike out of this feature in the docs.

P3.1 - Select updated is technically correct. It selects only those charts that have been updated by the chart provider since you downloaded those charts.

P4.0 - Not sure what you mean. It is true that you can't use O when downloading charts. If you mean something else please describe in more detail along with what you did to get out of the "hang".

P5.0 - You are right we don't have any way to break up the NZ chart database into smaller files.

P5.1 - NZ chart catalogue name comes from the .xml file. You can change this yourself if you like. After the chart catalog update finishes click the "Show local files" button. Open the .xml file with a text editor. Change the "title" text at the top of the file to anything you like without changing the <title></title> tag name around it. After you close the OpenCPN options dialog and come back to the downloader your new text will be displayed as the description of the catalog. For the most part these names are assigned by the respective hydrographic office and not by us. Unfortunately it will revert to the HO assigned title when you update the catalog again. (But it will not change when you update charts.)

P6.0 - Having a pilot charts catalog is a good idea.

[Wannabe-007]

P2.0 - Multiple failures
I should have said I was on a good broadband connection.
Thats why I thought it was worth mentioning.
Perhaps a single forced retry at the end would be a good idea?
Perhaps just a yes/no dialogue to say x failed, do you want to retry?

P4.0 - OpenCPN Hangs
No, i don't just mean you can not use O while downloading.
The window will change to 'not responding'.
Sometimes the background window (O / charts) will go completely black.
I'll repeat if I have time, and provide screenshots.

[Wannabe-007]

Well, that was easy...

I clicked on update for the RNC line, it updated quickly.
I clicked on update for the ENC iine, and it hung for ~30 seconds(see screenshot).
I downloaded some updates, and it hung again for ~30 seconds at the end.
I clicked update (ENC) again and it hung again... (so it seems very repeatable)

I think the update 'hang' occurs before any progress is seen.

I updated a 3rd time, and progress was seen, then it hung just before (or during) the update of the display in the 'charts' area of the screen.


Black vs white / round 'thinking' icon / etc is just the impact of mouse clicking. ie. background screen goes black and 'not responding'. If you click it, it will go white. Click on the foreground screen and it will go ghosty-white.


Plugin 0.8
OpenCPN: Version 4.0.0 Build 2015-01-08

[transmitterdan]

Wannabe,

Which button did you click to get this screen? It looks as though the catalog is trying to populate the list of charts. That is not dependent on Internet connection, I don't have Windows 8 to test on. How do you get out of this state? If it recovers on its own what does the popup message say exactly?

[transmitterdan]

This ENC catalog alone is about 3.6 MB and contains hundreds of charts. If you really want all ENC charts for US waters I recommend to add either all the Coast Guard districts or all the Regions. There are fewer Districts than Regions but they both contain the same charts. You will thank me later.

[Wannabe-007]

The screen shots are subsequent to clicking the update button.

However, I've also had this happen when clicking download. (See earlier report).

This hangs for roughly 30 seconds, then just carries on as usual. It doesn't really bother me, but it's obviously less than ideal.

There is no popup.


I'm sailing in the south Pacific and don't really care about the U.S. Charts (except American Samoa), but it seems I already had all the charts anyway, so figured I might as well update while I have good, free, fast internet.

Sent from my GT-I9295 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[Wannabe-007]

By the way, if it's not obvious, that is O in the background. In a normal state, you will see the active chart in the background.

Sent from my GT-I9295 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[transmitterdan]

Originally Posted by Wannabe-007

The screen shots are subsequent to clicking the update button.

I downloaded that catalog and all the charts as a test. I have a 20megabit broadband connection and it took a while.

The "delay" you see is the downloader rooting through over 1,000 folders and 8,000 files checking dates to make sure everything is up to date. It just takes time and is mainly a function of your disk speed. Here are some statistics for that catalog:

Files: 8,550
Folders: 1,092
Bytes: 1,722,782,825

It isn't possible to dig through that much data in zero time. So if this is a problem use it as an excuse to buy a faster computer (or download the individual catalogs for districts or regions as already suggested). A solid-state disk would help too.

[Wannabe-007]

The delay is not a problem.
Its not the actual update, or the actual download that is the issue here.
I think it is some other process that happens just before and/or just after.

The problem is that the whole application freezes.
- Windows says it is 'not responding'.
- The windows crashy/not respondy/thinky icon appears
- The windows turn black or greyed out if you click on them

Something is going on to make windows believe the application is not responding.
Somehow, the app needs to communicate better with the OS to avoid this.

If you're happy with this behavior, then... ok.

[Gilletarom]

Hello Transmitterdan and Pavel

I tried a version of that Chartdownloader RGleason has posted there two or three days on the thingie.

What I have seen working. But there is a problem with the window. A slider problem.

It is possible to expand the fenêttre horizontally but not to increase its height. Result, the 3 buttons at the bottom are almost invisible.

[transmitterdan]

Gilletarom,

If you go to Options->Plugins->ChartDownloader->Preferences and turn on the bottom most check box does that make the problem go away?

You may have to resize the dialog by dragging the lower right corner around a bit. After that it works for me.