Re: [Gpsbabel-code] Bensman Issue?

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> >handing GPSBabel, we've had a user request to "fix" the <URL> that gets
> >passed to us so an export to a file format with a URL link goes to the
> >local hard drive.  Let's talk about the 'Bensman' issue on the -code
> >list if that doesn't make sense.)
> 
> Correct. It makes no sense to me. Please explain.

Thanx for the follow-up.  I asked this be moved here becuase we have a
couple of programs with the same issue - you were just hte one with the
user that explained it most clearly. :-)

This originally started as a feature request in GPSBabel, but after
cross-examining him, I think this belongs up in GSAK (and spinner and
similar).  Let's talk it through and see if you agree.

In short, by my understanding, you're taking a GPX file with <url> tags
and creating an HTML image of the cache page on the local filestore,
but leaving the <url> pointing to the "real" page.  For a disconnected
user (think geocacher with laptop in the car) the link in the file
that he just pulled into S&T, Ozi, or SAPlus now goes to the "wrong"
place - he want it to go to file://d:\mycaches\GC1234.html instead of
http:/geocaching.com/whatever.asp?guid=forsaken-id-number-to-identify-
uvery-molecule-in-the-universe.

I could do a lot of hand-waving (pathname conventions, directory names,
case conversions, suffixes, etc.) and synthesize the URL tag, but it
occurs to me that you're rewriting this data _anyway_ and you already
have these these things.  Does it make sense to write the output to
include the <url> tag to reference the local copy and perhaps add an
additional <a href> to point to the site on gc.com when you write the
HTML? This way we'd require no special casing in GPSBabel to teach it
geocaching or GSAK name conventions.  His argument 'my cache pages are
always in c:\mystuff and the cache name is always upper case and they're
always ".htm" seemed sound to him, but just won't work in a general case
program like GPSBabel.

This really makes the most sense when you think about map programs that
include the ability to click on a marker to bring up a cache page - you
probably want it to bring up the local copy by default and if there
happens to be a linky link to the master site in that page, great.

In my own little geocaching page maker thingy, it's done as Javascript
so that Plucker won't convert it...

$ more 100155.html
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
  <title>Dragon Micro #2</title>
</head>
<body>
<script type="text/javascript">
<!--
document.write('<a href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=10
0155&decrypt=y">Page on Geocaching.com<\/a><br>')

Does that help you understand what this user was wanting and why I think
it's better done upstream from GPSBabel?   Do you agree with that line of
reasoning?

Thanx!
RJL