![]() | ![]() | ![]() | Names and renaming |
There are important issues concerning names: which characters
can be used in them, what is their maximum length and how to rename
items either to avoid clashes with existing names or to follow the
constraints on acceptable characters or length. Allowed characters and
length depend on the receiver
brand and model: GPSMan behaviour is controlled by some user
options on this.
There should be some caution in setting these options. For instance,
if data files are to be shared among users with receivers
of different brands, the more strict rules should be followed. In
particular, using a large maximum length may result in data loss
if names are truncated and then become equal to existing names.
Waypoint names
obey the following rules:
When a waypoint name with characters not allowed or exceeding the
maximum length is read from a file or from the receiver, the user is
asked for a new name but has the choice between applying a
renaming method to it or letting GPSMan
automatically generate a new name for it. This can be done not only
for the present name but also for any forthcoming unacceptable name in
the current input operation. The replacement name can neither be in
use by other waypoint in the data-base, nor be the same as a previous
replacement name in the current input operation (there is no check on
whether the name is listed in a route or a group). The user can also
choose to cancel the renaming in which case the waypoint is
ignored. This will cause an inconsistency if it belongs to a
route.
A renaming method can also be applied to waypoint
names from
Allowed characters in route
names
also depend on the brand
of the receiver. Although some receivers require route names to be numbers,
there are others accepting letters and other characters as well.
GPSMan does not check the characters in the route name, but will
refuse to output a route with a non-numeric name to a receiver or file
if the receiver protocol or the file format disallow it.
When
working with Garmin receivers GPSMan will, if the option on this is
selected, automatically give numbers to routes with non-numeric names
when putting them on the receiver, avoiding numbers already in use for
routes and without affecting the data-base. There is a counter for
this, initially set to 1 and that can be reset from the receiver
window or the receiver menu
( A unique name
is used for each item of each type. When a new item
is read in and it has the
name of an item of
the same type in the data-base the latter is
forgotten and overwritten.
Exceptions to this are waypoints with the same name and different
positions
It should be noted that
Renaming raises the problem of
generating a new suitable name for the item. Currently, GPSMan will
try to keep the first part of the old name following it by digits. If
the constraints on name length and uniqueness cannot be met, the new
name will be a two-letter code for the item type and a hyphen followed
by a number.
When an item is renamed, its previous
name is kept in the remark field.
When generating a name for a new item or for replacing names with
unacceptable characters, GPSMan will use a name with a two-letter
code for the item type and a hyphen followed by a number, except in
the case of routes for which a number will be used.
Renaming waypoints can lead to ambiguities in what are the actual
waypoints of groups. This will only happen when reading from a file
in GPSMan format having groups in which there are different waypoints
under the same name.
To minimise the problems with these situations, GPSMan creates a
group containing the items that were renamed and those for which
there may be ambiguities, after any input operation in which they
occur.
Each renaming method has a name, a remark and a textual description of
the operators to be applied in order, one per line. The list of operators
is edited from a dialog that opens up by clicking on the text. This
dialog shows the same text, which can be cleared ( The operators available are:
Examples of renaming methods are as follows:
Data items have names (or identifiers) that are unique for each
type of item: no two items of the same type may have the same name.
Data
in the map window
Use WPs->Change Name->...
Put->Route->Set counter to 1
).
in which case automatically generated names will be used for them.
Renaming methods
for waypoint names can be defined and inspected by the user from the
Definitions
menu. Each method gives a sequence of operations
that are applied to the original name in order to get a new name. If
the resulting name is not already in use it will be given to the
waypoint; otherwise GPSMan falls back to its default method of
generating names.
Clear all
button) and where an operator can be selected and deleted
(Delete
button) or moved up or down (dragging with the mouse
right-button). The buttons under the Add
label
correspond to operators that can be added to the list, some
of them having parameters. At the end of the dialog there is an area for
experimenting the current definition on a given name: clicking on
the Apply
button the resulting name is shown together with an
indication on whether the name is acceptable and not in use.
AB
and zC
means that each A
will be replaced by a
z
and each B
by a C
, in this order (left to
right in each string), making AMB0aXA
into zMC0aXz
regsub
with the -all
option; for further details see
the Tcl manual pages for regsub
and re_syntax
will convert 00
at the beginning
Labrusques
into La00brusqu
, i.e., the
two first characters are preserved, 00
is inserted at the
beginning of the remaining string and the result of the insertion
is cut down to 8 characters
will convert all letters to upper-case and then deletes all vowels
AEIOU
this last step may fail in giving an acceptable name, but as
already mentioned if the renaming method fails, GPSMan will
generate a new name using its default method.
GPSMan User Manual
©1998-2009 Miguel
Filgueiras,
mig_at_ncc.up.pt
, LIACC & DCC Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto
Names and renaming