GoodAnchorage.com Plugin – Alpha Release

[Skipper Web]

boat_alexandra,

Thank you for a comprehensive post. Plenty to think about.

- Version 3.2.2. After looking at the code it seems that only versions 4.0 and above can be supported. The plugin relies on MouseEventHook method only recently introduced in OpenCPN.

- Amount of data and network latency. Several users emailed about their plugin experience. Network connectivity, even under the existing setup, remains a problem for some. This is especially noticeable for those who are located far from "developed world". Certainly compression would help. I was thinking of adding a simple Gzip to start.

- Plugin hanging and separate thread. Thanks for narrowing down the problem! I had an open issue for this problem but you've helped with the actual code line: https://github.com/goodanchorage/goo...ge_pi/issues/9

- Also opened issues for offline mode icon, preferences dialog and stale marker removal: #10, 11, and 12.

- Yes, eventually we will allow adding new anchorages through OpenCPN. Good point about a simple website link though.
https://github.com/goodanchorage/goo...ge_pi/issues/6

- Tracks would be a great feature. Want to explore it a bit more before saying definitively. One of the things we are trying to do is to not blindly repeat features that others have done. Happy to bounce the ideas on this one.

I'll absolutely turn to you with some questions about OpenCPN. There are already a couple of bugs that I can't figure out on my own. Of course me not being a C++ developer doesn't help the progress either. :-)

Considering how many features remain to be build on our site, I'm looking for somebody to hopefully take over GA's plugin. Not sure how these arrangements work, but open to suggestions and grateful for any help.

[rgleason]

The plugin for Windows has been uploaded to

OpenCPN Beta File Thingie rguser rgpass

In 4.0 PI Win folder
goodanchorage_pi-0.2-d-ov4.0-win32.exe

It will only run in OpenCPN 4.0 (as intended)

[Viking Sailor]

How about the following use case:

Vessel in route must changes course to a new destination - needs new GA info - no internet connection - requests GA info via GRIB like (hf or sat comm) email.

[Skipper Web]

Viking,

Valid point. We've considered building something for those without network connection. Although haven't thought about combining it with OpenCPN yet.

Thanks!

[seandepagnier]

Originally Posted by Skipper Web

- Amount of data and network latency. Several users emailed about their plugin experience. Network connectivity, even under the existing setup, remains a problem for some. This is especially noticeable for those who are located far from "developed world". Certainly compression would help. I was thinking of adding a simple Gzip to start.

gzip is ok, but lzma or lzma2 is better compression, I think we should use that. In any case, it needs to be implemented on the server.

This might be completely crazy, but in the future we might get better compression by having a builtin dictionary for nautical terms and frequent words in anchorage descriptions.

I would really like to see tracks, but maybe we should wait on this. It would take a lot more bandwidth.

I'll absolutely turn to you with some questions about OpenCPN. There are already a couple of bugs that I can't figure out on my own. Of course me not being a C++ developer doesn't help the progress either. :-)

What bugs?

Considering how many features remain to be build on our site, I'm looking for somebody to hopefully take over GA's plugin. Not sure how these arrangements work, but open to suggestions and grateful for any help.

I cannot "take over" as I have too many plugins to maintain, and have a lot of big plans for opencpn itself. I do work on other plugins and send pull requests.

[seandepagnier]

I am surprised to see, the plugin compiled perfectly using mingw, and works perfectly in opencpn running in wine. This is good because it allows me to verify stuff works in windows.

[Skipper Web]

Originally Posted by boat_alexandra

I am surprised to see, the plugin compiled perfectly using mingw, and works perfectly in opencpn running in wine.

That's Pavel's achievement -- he tweaked Cmake files for smoother discovery of SQLite headers.

The bug that bothers me most of all is the "disappearing" anchorages. When you double-click on the map the list is loaded, but not shown. The user has to move the map or zoom in/out to see the anchors.

Could this be related to how layers are added? I'm guessing that some sort of display refresh call needs to be made. As a hack solution, perhaps the screen needs to be shifted by a pixel or two to the left, and then back to right.

[seandepagnier]

Why don't you just call RequestRefresh(GetOCPNCanvasWindow()) ?

[Skipper Web]

Originally Posted by boat_alexandra

Why don't you just call RequestRefresh(GetOCPNCanvasWindow()) ?

Thanks! Pushed the fix to Github.

[rgleason]

Operation Description
1. Options > Plugins > Enable.
2. Click on GoodAnchorage Icon to highlight and engage.
3. Double left mouse click in area where anchorage is needed.
4. Anchorages should be downloaded from website and stored as waypoints.
5. To turn off Good Anchorages simply click on the Plugin Icon.
6. Later while offline, Click on Good Anchorages Icon, highlighting it,
7. Then double click in the area you need an anchorage. Range of anchorages is determined by the extent of the chart window too.

--Is this correct?
--Is there any more information needed?

[Skipper Web]

Originally Posted by rgleason

Operation Description ...

Looks good. Could you add one more point though? After #4:

Right-click on an anchorage and select Properties to view the details.

Also, we put together this page for our members. It has some screenshots, as well as FAQ:

Good Anchorage OpenCPN Plugin | Good Anchorage

Thank you!

[rgleason]

Added a page to Plugins GoodAnchorage Plugin | Official OpenCPN Homepage

[rgleason]

Added
List of Future Improvements
FS#1701 : List of Future Improvements & Ideas
to Tracker

[Skipper Web]

Thank you Rick. That's one long list. Plenty of work to do. :-)

[rgleason]

Dear Skipper Web, Did not intend to imply its all your work Hopefully Sean and others skilled at programming will assist too. I believe Sean could help with the compression part but you'd have to have the server prepared.

It's just a summary of your discussions.