iGeoCacher - "Chunker" functionality

Due to some limitations in the way the iPhone XML Parsing API manages memory, it is possible that with a large file the parser may exhaust the available memory space in which the program runs. This will cause a "crash." The good news is that caches are stored until the crash so you didn't lose anything up to the crash. To work around this limitation for those of you that like to load huge libraries of caches, I modified the server program to serve up the caches in "chunks."

1. Get an account from me. If you already have one for my server just use it. You don't need another for the chunker feature. It will generally be your email address.

2. Go into the settings on your iPhone/iPod and change the first URL so that it reads like:

http://www.ayefon.mobi/geo/chunker.cfm?id=youremail@yourmailserver.com

Next, obtain a pocket query or GPX file from Groundspeak. Make sure you've unzipped it if they sent it to you as a zip. You want the "vanilla" GPX file, not the one with WPTS in the name.

3. Using your PC browser, go to

http://www.ayefon.mobi/geo/upload.cfm

This same information you'll find on that page. It's worth reading through. Pick the GPX Upload file type if that's what you are using.

4. Enter your account id (email) in the first blank.

5. Browse and select your GPX file.

6. Hit send. Your GPX file data will upload in a few seconds

7. Now start iGeocacher and select the downloads tab.

8. Select the top right button "Ayefon" (was "Add Geocaches" in pre 1.11 versions.) Your data will begin to download. The default chunksize is 500 caches. You may need to come down on that if you have memory issues. You can do that by adding the url parameter "chunksize" to the URL thus:

http://www.ayefon.mobi/geo/chunker.cfm?id=youremail@yourmailserver.com&chunksize=400

Wait until the chunk is finished downloading and then hit the Ayefon button again to download the next chunk. Ideally you should have some idea of how many caches total you are downloading. However, another way you can tell when you are done is to simply note the number of caches downloaded. Your last "chunk" will generally be less than the chunk size you are using unless you get lucky and have a total load of caches that is an integral multiple of the chunksize.

Troublshooting:

iGeocacher uses the same communications method as the Safari Browser on your iPhone/iPod. So you can put the same URL

http://www.ayefon.mobi/geo/chunker.cfm?id=youremail@yourmailserver.com

in Safari and you should be able to see your data. It won't be pretty as it is XML and not HTML but the point here is establishing connectivity. If Safari can't see the data then neither can iGeocacher and you have a network connectivity issue of some sort.