Feature Requests

[nohal]

Originally Posted by kevinvh

The F3 key does nothing on my Mac in any application. Tried pressing F3 key - nothing; the Fn-F3 key - nothing???

Well, on a "normal" macOS installation it does show/hide miniatures of the open windows, same as the three fingers "up" and "down" gestures on the touchpad. It probably can be enabled/disabled somewhere in the system preferences...

[rgleason]

Keving these questions are best asked in the appropriate thread where others can learn too.
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ng-100060.html

Originally Posted by kevinvh

Should have also mentioned that I am running OpenCPN for MacOS ver 4.8.2 build 2018-02-06 and WeatherRouting PI 1.11.0.

Also best not to post twice or in multiple places.
Thanks.

[Herreshoff]

I’m from Zulu Waterways, a crowd sourced guide allowing users to add information to a world map in the form of icons. We have had many requests from users to create an Open CPN plug in to display the information on Open CPN charts. Before confirming whether this is even allowed by Open CPN I have some concerns I would need to address first.

Firstly: While we understand we would be providing the information free to all who use Open CPN, we would need some assurance that the information we share with the plug in will not be redistributed to other platforms. Our business model depends on renting the information on our platfor with other mobile plotter companies, travel sites and other sailing information sources. We would be happy to make an exception when it comes to Open CPN, however as it’s open sourced I would be wanting some assurance that the information provided could not be redistributed.

Secondly I would imagine there is a fair amount of effort involved in transferring the icon information from Zulu Waterways and into a format that would work for an Open CPN plug in. This work would require a fair amount of effort/cost from our side. Are there programmers that are willing to contribute to the effort involved or is it up to us to do the programming to make this happen.

Thirdly: If we did so it would be good to get some kind of cross promotion/link back to our base site where users can add/edit information. Is this possible with an open sourced arrangement like this.

Thanks. Any guidance would be appreciated.

Niki from Zulu Waterways.

[CarCode]

Niki,

check the sQuiddio plugin:
https://www.opencpn.org/OpenCPN/plugins/sQuiddio.html

This will answer your questions.

Gerhard

[nohal]

Niki...

Originally Posted by Herreshoff

I’m from Zulu Waterways, a crowd sourced guide allowing users to add information to a world map in the form of icons. We have had many requests from users to create an Open CPN plug in to display the information on Open CPN charts. Before confirming whether this is even allowed by Open CPN I have some concerns I would need to address first.

Firstly: While we understand we would be providing the information free to all who use Open CPN, we would need some assurance that the information we share with the plug in will not be redistributed to other platforms. Our business model depends on renting the information on our platfor with other mobile plotter companies, travel sites and other sailing information sources. We would be happy to make an exception when it comes to Open CPN, however as it’s open sourced I would be wanting some assurance that the information provided could not be redistributed.

The data protection options you have vary. From virtually none (Or better say the protection of the data is you need them to be fresh, otherwise they very fast lose their value), as used by the sQuidd.io plugin to something trying to be and probably even being really protective. The more "secure", the more work, up to a lot of work involved in a scheme similar to the one used for the S63/oeSENC charts, where a binary server blob is used and and even the data is bound to the individual machine. Or requiring online access 100% of the time (This would make it unusable underway, of course, but we have already seen people thinking this is the only right way)? How far do you want to go?

Secondly I would imagine there is a fair amount of effort involved in transferring the icon information from Zulu Waterways and into a format that would work for an Open CPN plug in. This work would require a fair amount of effort/cost from our side. Are there programmers that are willing to contribute to the effort involved or is it up to us to do the programming to make this happen.

The amount of work depends on what you are willing to implement (read-only/both way integration? How strong the protection scheme? Do you already have some sort of API and data distribution mechanisms implemented and how well do they fit with what we already have?)
The will to implement part/all of it probably will depend on how much your expectations align with the the expectations of the forementioned programmers. I can sure imagine helping with this but I can also imagine staying as far away as possible shall it start to resemble some earlier experiences in similar field.

Thirdly: If we did so it would be good to get some kind of cross promotion/link back to our base site where users can add/edit information. Is this possible with an open sourced arrangement like this.

I suppose it is possible. What exactly do you mean? Make the plugin itself be branded and allowing opening a browser to the site? That sure should not be a problem.

Feel free to contact me privately if you would feel more comfortable discussing the details of data protection options available off-public.

Pavel

[kevinvh]

Can we get an UNDO button for OpenCPN for Mac please?

[nohal]

Originally Posted by kevinvh

Can we get an UNDO button for OpenCPN for Mac please?

What is an UNDO button? Something that does the same thing as Cmd-Z now?

[kevinvh]

Originally Posted by nohal

What is an UNDO button? Something that does the same thing as Cmd-Z now?

Thanks Nohal - Cmd_Z doesn't quite do it. I see that it will remove a WP that I created on the chart, but it won't undo most actions in OpenCPN. For instance, one of the things that I do all the time is inadvertently (unintentionally) click on the chart and the chart centres where I clicked. I would like to recover this mistake and return to where I was previously on the screen.

Another example, I inadvertently deleted a weather-routing configuration. I would like to recover from this mistake and return the weather-route that I deleted.

Think I could find many more examples where Cmd-Z does not work, and very few where it does work. In most Mac Apps you would go to Menu/Edit/Undo.

I can see that I keep wanting to turn OpenCPN into the standard Apple Menu format, and as you have explained before, this is not possible because of the coding incompatibility (and probably other good reasons).

[Herreshoff]

Originally Posted by nohal

Niki...


The data protection options you have vary. From virtually none (Or better say the protection of the data is you need them to be fresh, otherwise they very fast lose their value), as used by the sQuidd.io plugin to something trying to be and probably even being really protective. The more "secure", the more work, up to a lot of work involved in a scheme similar to the one used for the S63/oeSENC charts, where a binary server blob is used and and even the data is bound to the individual machine. Or requiring online access 100% of the time (This would make it unusable underway, of course, but we have already seen people thinking this is the only right way)? How far do you want to go?

The amount of work depends on what you are willing to implement (read-only/both way integration? How strong the protection scheme? Do you already have some sort of API and data distribution mechanisms implemented and how well do they fit with what we already have?)
The will to implement part/all of it probably will depend on how much your expectations align with the the expectations of the forementioned programmers. I can sure imagine helping with this but I can also imagine staying as far away as possible shall it start to resemble some earlier experiences in similar field.

I suppose it is possible. What exactly do you mean? Make the plugin itself be branded and allowing opening a browser to the site? That sure should not be a problem.

Feel free to contact me privately if you would feel more comfortable discussing the details of data protection options available off-public.

Pavel

Pavel.

Thanks for the quick reply and quality of response.
To touch on some points. We would probably require the information we share to OCPN to be unalterable, expect through our service. This has nothing to do with getting more traffic to our platform and everything to do with being able to monitor the quality of the information added. In terms of the information it self, we would commit to updating the information regularly. We certainly don’t intend to let the information get out dated and if that were to happen we would not present it anywhere (including on our own platform). Much effort is put into facilitating the easy updating of information through our service. New icons and updates to old icons could be uploaded to OCPN at regular intervals.

To achieve the requirements stated above would require having a link to our service within the information presented on OCPN. At the minimum, would be a request form that can be sent by the user showing lon/lat with the users suggestion for an information change/add. Once our offline version is complete, the adding/altering of information will also be able to be done in offline mode for the user. These stipulations would also lend itself to making the programming simpler for the plug-in as there would be no need to program in the adding of information options to the plug-in.

We wouldn’t require the information to be ‘branded’ so to speak, but it would need to state that the source is Zulu Waterways. But we wouldn’t require bells and whistles to do so.

I suppose the last point would be that we reserve the right to remove the information when we choose and without warning.

I will have to think more concerning the security of the information however I have already found some good solutions to this I think.

So, these are my thoughts at this point. It’s hard not to sound ‘hard edged’ but sharing to an open source platform like OCPN has inherent risks which must first be addressed. At this stage I would love to keep the discussion going and see where we end up.

We would very much enjoy becoming part of this wonderful free platform if we can find a good way to do so.

Thanks Pavel.

[bdbcat]

Herreschoff...

I read with interest your ideas for Zulu Waterways Plugin for OpenCPN. Of course, we like to see Plugins of all sorts created for OCPN. Crowd-sourced information display and feedback is particularly interesting these days.

You have some questions regarding the development and data deployment model for your proposed Plugin. Regarding this, let us make sure a couple of points are well understood by all.

1. You don't need permission from OCPN developers, or anyone else, to build and deploy an OCPN Plugin.

2. If you plan to distribute an OCPN Plugin to end users, then you will probably need to comply with the terms of the GPLv2 license.

3. You will find sharp folks on the OCPN dev team, and lots of helpful advice will be available when it comes to the actual implementation. But the responsibility for coding the Plugin is yours.

4. If you have proprietary business data you wish to protect, the model you choose will be your decision. The data flow will be between your Plugin and your users, and will not directly involve OCPN. So the notion of "sharing" data with OCPN is not relevant. We have some experience in data flow protection, which ideas we can freely share.

Hope this helps your scoping of the project.

Dave
Lead Developer, OpenCPN

[Herreshoff]

Originally Posted by bdbcat

Herreschoff...

I read with interest your ideas for Zulu Waterways Plugin for OpenCPN. Of course, we like to see Plugins of all sorts created for OCPN. Crowd-sourced information display and feedback is particularly interesting these days.

You have some questions regarding the development and data deployment model for your proposed Plugin. Regarding this, let us make sure a couple of points are well understood by all.
Dave
Lead Developer, OpenCPN

Dave.

This clarifies a lot so thanks for posting this here. It saves me sifting through other information to find the points I needed confirming.

So, my understanding is: We can create the plug in without need of approval from anyone at OCPN provided we comply with the GPLv2 license. As we are developing it on our own we have control over how we wish to protect certain information and display the information we provide. While it is up to us to develop the plug-in there are some smart folks who would be willing to offer advice.

That all sounds good Dave. I will continue to develop the idea with an aim to begin programming the plug-in sometime in the near future.

Thanks for your interest and time.

Regards,
Niki

[nohal]

Originally Posted by kevinvh

Thanks Nohal - Cmd_Z doesn't quite do it. I see that it will remove a WP that I created on the chart, but it won't undo most actions in OpenCPN. For instance, one of the things that I do all the time is inadvertently (unintentionally) click on the chart and the chart centres where I clicked. I would like to recover this mistake and return to where I was previously on the screen.

Another example, I inadvertently deleted a weather-routing configuration. I would like to recover from this mistake and return the weather-route that I deleted.

Think I could find many more examples where Cmd-Z does not work, and very few where it does work. In most Mac Apps you would go to Menu/Edit/Undo.

Unfortunately OpenCPN is not a text editor, where the undo actions behaviour is clear - revert changes to one widget containing text, but a collection of very different functions, often having nothing to do with each other. With the plugins, which are very independent in what they do, even more complicated.
So yes, we will need that list and we will need to go through it item by item to asses whether we really need that type of undo and whether there is someone willing to implement it. It honestly never even came to my mind that I would want it for a pan or zoom of the map for example (And probably have never seen a mapping application with such a functionality, including Apple's own Maps.app)

I can see that I keep wanting to turn OpenCPN into the standard Apple Menu format, and as you have explained before, this is not possible because of the coding incompatibility (and probably other good reasons).

It si hard(ish), not impossible. The questions for a lot of things are "Is it needed?" and "Is it worth the effort?"

Pavel

[kevinvh]

Originally Posted by nohal

Unfortunately OpenCPN is not a text editor, where the undo actions behaviour is clear - revert changes to one widget containing text, but a collection of very different functions, often having nothing to do with each other. With the plugins, which are very independent in what they do, even more complicated.
So yes, we will need that list and we will need to go through it item by item to asses whether we really need that type of undo and whether there is someone willing to implement it. It honestly never even came to my mind that I would want it for a pan or zoom of the map for example (And probably have never seen a mapping application with such a functionality, including Apple's own Maps.app)


It si hard(ish), not impossible. The questions for a lot of things are "Is it needed?" and "Is it worth the effort?"

Pavel

I have a habit of clicking on an underlying window (if I can see part of it) to bring it to the front and this is where I run into trouble with OpenCPN - it centres on where I clicked. It is forcing me to use the Dock as intended.

I won't pursue the Undo examples any further at this moment because I am sure there are much greater priorities on everyone's list at the moment.

Thanks Pavel

[Tupaia]

Originally Posted by kevinvh

I have a habit of clicking on an underlying window (if I can see part of it) to bring it to the front and this is where I run into trouble with OpenCPN - it centres on where I clicked. It is forcing me to use the Dock as intended.

Using Alt-Tab to change windows instead of clicking may solve some of your issues.

[kevinvh]

Originally Posted by Tupaia

Using Alt-Tab to change windows instead of clicking may solve some of your issues.

Unfortunately, using Alt-Tab or Cmd-Tab do not help with hidden windows when you are in OpenCPN. You have to move the top window around on the screen to expose the window underneath. Clicking on the underneath screen does not bring it to the top. For example, the Weather Routing Configuration window (where you set the WR parameters) sometimes gets hidden by the Chart window, then you have to move the Chart window to expose the WR Configuration window, but moving the Chart window back into place coves the Configuration window again. There are a number of windows that behave this way on the Mac, not just with the WR PI.

Pavel and Co are well aware of the issue and hopefully they can find a better solution with the next release of the WR PI and OpenCPN.