Import GPX file

[Patrick]

Hi,

 

since iOS 13 I am not able to import .gpx files. I know there was a bug in earlier versions of iOS. But it looks like that is fixed now. Apps like Guru Maps now support the .gpx import again.

 

Is this a known problem?

[Team DEMP]

There seems to be an odd behavior in updating to iOS13 related to Cachly recognizing the GPX extension. The developer has reached out to Apple to see why iOS 13 breaks this connection where previous iOS upgrades were fine.

The situation resolves itself if you update Cachly AFTER you upgrade to iOS13 or an iOS13 patch such as 13.0.1 or 13.0.2.  If you haven't yet updated to the latest Cachly in the app store, doing so should re-create the link. If you update iOS13 (or a patch) later, it will likely break the connection to GPX again. 

[Nic Hubbard]

There will be a 5.2.9 update today with a small fix to see if this solves the issue. 

[Patrick]

Nice to hear can’t wait   

[Nic Hubbard]

The 5.2.9 update has been released. Can you give it a try?

[Patrick]

This is strange... 

On my iPad it works now, but on the iPhone it again doesn’t. 
Both devices have the same iOS Version 13.1.2

 

If you need further information, feel free to get in contact. I am also an iOS developer. So I can provide you some detailed logs. 

[Team DEMP]

For me, if you update Cachly AFTER an iOS13 upgrade (base or patch), the GPX option was there. If you upgraded iOS13 but have not installed a new version of Cachly, the option wasn't there for GPX. Have you updated Cachly after your most recent iOS 13 upgrade?

[Patrick]

I updated Cachly today, so no system update after that. I also deinstalled Cachly and reinstalled it again, without any change. 

[Patrick]

5.2.10 doesn’t fix the import problem on my iPhone. 

[Nic Hubbard]

19 minutes ago, Patrick said:

5.2.10 doesn’t fix the import problem on my iPhone. 

Can you please use the work around to zip the GPX files? Apple has broken the GPX import for some users in iOS 13 and sadly we cannot guarantee a fix for everyone.

[Patrick]

On 10/18/2019 at 7:04 PM, Nic Hubbard said:

Can you please use the work around to zip the GPX files? Apple has broken the GPX import for some users in iOS 13 and sadly we cannot guarantee a fix for everyone.

Thanks it looks like this workaround works for me.

[Patrick]

Don’t know if you know this thread:

https://forums.developer.apple.com/thread/118932

But it looks very interesting. 

[Team DEMP]

Looks like Apple broke this functionality for many apps. I didn't pick up on any solution in that thread. Every time someone claimed it was resolved, I'd expect updating to the next iOS patch or updating another installed app that uses the file extension (eg GPX) would cause the iOS bug to resurface. 

[Nic Hubbard]

15 hours ago, Patrick said:

Don’t know if you know this thread:

https://forums.developer.apple.com/thread/118932

But it looks very interesting. 

There isn't currently a solution to this. I have been working directly with an Apple engineer on the issue, and as mentioned in the above when multiple apps are registering for GPX files is when the bug occurs. He said there is no fix.

The one fix I do see in the thread is to allow Cachly to open ANY file type, which I am hesitant to do.

[Catweezle]

Hello I am new to this forum and I have just installed Cachly on my Iphone 8+. I also use GSAK for many years and I was very hopefull to see whether Cachly accepted a GPX file from my found caches data base in GSAK. So what I did was I imported this data file via Itunes to Cachly, but unfortunately Cachly didn't accepts the file.

See enclosed pictures. Any Idea what caused the problem?

[Catweezle]

Here are the details of my Iphone and Cachly version:

Cachly version: 5.2.13 (2)

Iphone 8+: 13.2.2 firmware

Premium member Groundspeak

 

[Nic Hubbard]

You have to tap the option to choose where you want to import the GPX file.

Hope that helps!

[Patrick]

With the latest update 5.2.14 the „Copy to Cachly“ action also works on my iPhone. 
 

Thanks

[ferda-mravenec]

With 5.2.20 version, when I select "Copy to Cachly" from within Files app, or Safari, Cachly just opens and nothing happens.

EDIT: Ok, it looks like it is because the file's name is "xxx.gpx.xml". Safari adds "xml" extension to the file name while downloading and Cachly refuses it. I did not find a way to remove the xml extension from within Files application. Any suggestions? Thank you.

[Nic Hubbard]

You are downloading GPX from Safari? From where?

[ferda-mravenec]

I have created an application, something like c-geo:

https://github.com/little-fish/gcUnicorn

And I have it up an running in case I need caches.

[Nic Hubbard]

11 hours ago, ferda-mravenec said:

I have created an application, something like c-geo:

https://github.com/little-fish/gcUnicorn

And I have it up an running in case I need caches.

If you are controlling the GPX download could you zip it? If not, I do not know why Safari would give it a XML extension, are you sending the correct mime-type?

[ferda-mravenec]

Will give it a shot while I am back from holiday. Thanks for suggestions. 

[ferda-mravenec]

Hi there. Is there any progress related to this issue? Currently, I am able to compress gpx file and import it into Cachly. But I am not able to import a gpx file directly - if I try to do that, I select output list and Cachly displays a popup saying "Processing..." with the wheel spinning indefinitely.

[Nic Hubbard]

5 hours ago, ferda-mravenec said:

Hi there. Is there any progress related to this issue? Currently, I am able to compress gpx file and import it into Cachly. But I am not able to import a gpx file directly - if I try to do that, I select output list and Cachly displays a popup saying "Processing..." with the wheel spinning indefinitely.

Where are you trying to import the GPX file from?

[ferda-mravenec]

I downloaded it via Safari - so from Safari's download context menu. And I tried it from Files app (from Downloads folder) as well.

EDIT: Then I compressed the gpx file directly inside Files app and imported the compressed file into Cachly. 

[Nic Hubbard]

4 minutes ago, ferda-mravenec said:

I downloaded it via Safari - so from Safari's download context menu. And I tried it from Files app (from Downloads folder) as well.

EDIT: Then I compressed the gpx file directly inside Files app and imported the compressed file into Cachly. 

Do you have a link to this specific GPX file so I can test it? Also, what version of iOS are you using?

[ferda-mravenec]

Test gpx file. I am using the latest version of iOS (13.5.1) on iPhone SE.

[Nic Hubbard]

3 hours ago, ferda-mravenec said:

Test gpx file. I am using the latest version of iOS (13.5.1) on iPhone SE.

That link opened up Dropbox and from there I was able to successfully import into Cachly. Here is a GPX file I uploaded to the Cachly website, are you able to use the share option in Safari and open it in Cachly? 

https://www.cach.ly/__data/assets/file/0005/14756/1,000-Caches.gpx

[ferda-mravenec]

Nope. When I long press on the link and select Share option, there is no "Open in Cachly" option. So I have to download it first, compress it and import the compressed file.

[Team DEMP]

Everyone's system is a little different depending on what apps are installed, etc so I'll try and walk you through me processing the link you said. It might not be 100% the same for you but maybe close enough. I have Dropbox installed on my phone but I didn't us it as part of the steps. 

1. I long press the link to https://www.dropbox.com/s/42k9u1acr92reh3/gcunicorn_2020-06-25_11-02-21.gpx?dl=0 and open in a new tab in my browser (Chrome). 
2. I select continue to the web site vs install/use the dropbox app.
3. That presents a browser screen with a Download link that I click and select Direct Download (vs Save to my Dropbox).  
4. I get a small option at the bottom of that browser screen and press Download again, 
5. I get another small option at the bottom of that browser screen with two options. One lists your file name and Open in... and the other option, for me, was for Google Drive. I select Open in...
6. My phone opens a familiar window when you typically do a Share on the phone. Here again depending on what you have installed, Cachly might be in different places. I don't have anything for Cachly if I scroll down the options on that window, and I don't show anything for Cachly when I scroll across the listed app icons, so at the end of the app icon list I select the icon with three dots labeled More. 
7. The more screen brings up a long list that will depend on what you have installed. For me, I scroll way down the list and I see Copy to Cachly there. When I tap Copy to Cachly, it launches Cachly and goes to the Import GPX screen in Cachly
8. Not sure if you needs steps from here but I'll include them. I tao Choose Offline List at the top of the Cachly Import GPX screen 
9. Select an existing list or press the + in the top right of the Cachly screen to create a new list which you then need to select
10. After selecting a list, adjust any other options and then tap Import in the top right of the Cachly Import GPX screen
11. Tap the Lists icon at the bottom and re-select your list and you should see the caches

If the above doesn't work, which step in the process are you not able to match against something on your phone?

[ferda-mravenec]

Thank you for detailed info.

When I go step by step with using Chrome, it works fine and I am able to import the GPX file. +1! (I do remember that I had problems with Chrome months ago.)
But when I use Safari or Files app, it doesn't work - it hangs on nr. 10. - after tapping on Import, Processing... dialog appears with the wheel spinning. And here it hangs. I can notice small shift of the Processing... popup dialog after a few seconds. Can you please test it with Safari or Files app?
I recorded the screen with the issue: 20200627_193919.mp4

[Team DEMP]

In Safari it is even easier/less steps and it worked for me. 

I opened https://www.dropbox.com/s/42k9u1acr92reh3/gcunicorn_2020-06-25_11-02-21.gpx?dl=0 in Safari and most of the same steps take place. It is a little different after the Download step as I need to click the Download link at the top to the right of the URL bar. That opens a Downloads dialog and clicking that, for me, opens Cachly at the Import GPX screen.

Do you get this screen/dialog and what happens when you press on the downloaded file?

[Team DEMP]

I watched the video and I see where it's not working - sorry for not checking before I posted.

Is that an existing list you are loading into? Can you try a new list, which is what I did and worked for me. Just as a test.

[ferda-mravenec]

Yes, I tried to import into existing list. I have just tried it with new list creation upon import process and it doesn't work either. 

[Team DEMP]

We'll have to wait for Nic to chime in. I don't know what might be cause the spinning on import. 

[ferda-mravenec]

Fair enough. Thank you anyway.

[Nic Hubbard]

I am just not sure how to proceed since I am not able to replicate this issue, and not sure how our steps are differing, as they seem the same.

 

[ferda-mravenec]

I do understand that without a log or debugging you are blind. Personally, I ask "a customer" to enable debug logging for a short period of time and gather log files. Anyway I am open to help you out. Just tell me what to do

[Nic Hubbard]

21 hours ago, ferda-mravenec said:

I do understand that without a log or debugging you are blind. Personally, I ask "a customer" to enable debug logging for a short period of time and gather log files. Anyway I am open to help you out. Just tell me what to do

Do you have another device such as an iPad that you could test this same scenario on?

[ferda-mravenec]

I've made a few tests. If the app is freshly installed, import process works fine (both, gpx and zip import methods). But after any update, it breaks. The most recent update broke both (gpx and zip) import methods on my device. So I reinstall the app and it works fine again.

Any ideas what is going on?

[Nic Hubbard]

On 7/4/2020 at 1:37 AM, ferda-mravenec said:

Any ideas what is going on?

All I can guess is this is an iOS bug. Nothing has changed for GPX import in the update.

[ferda-mravenec]

Hi there. The issue is back. It happens even after uninstall and fresh install. I am no longer able to use the app. Any idea how to track the isssue down? 
Thank you. 

[Nic Hubbard]

Nothing has changed in Cachly. I suspect this is an iOS issue. Can you import using another method other than Dropbox?

[ferda-mravenec]

I have tried it from within Files app as well. 

Does Cachly have any kind of debug logging? 

[Nic Hubbard]

On 7/31/2020 at 10:59 AM, ferda-mravenec said:

Does Cachly have any kind of debug logging? 

Cachly does have a lot of debugging built in for crash logs, etc, but nothing to help debug this particular issue. Since it isn't a crash, without plugging your device into my computer I am not sure what else to try unfortunately.

[mustakorppi]

On 6/25/2020 at 2:16 PM, ferda-mravenec said:

Cachly displays a popup saying "Processing..." with the wheel spinning indefinitely.

 

On 8/3/2020 at 9:06 PM, Nic Hubbard said:

without plugging your device into my computer I am not sure what else to try unfortunately.

I experienced the same symptom described by ferda-mravenec when rying to import a GPX file from Files, and found this thread when googling about it. For me the solution was to actually download the file to the phone first from iCloud, before copying it to Cachly.

That is to say, when I ran into this problem, I had downloaded a GPX to my computer and transferred it to my phone by uploading it to iCloud. When done like this, the file appears on the phone's Files app, but it has a little cloud icon on the upper right corner indicating it's not stored locally on the phone. Trying to copy a file to Cachly from this state gets me the infinite Processing wheel every time. If in I tap Download first in Files and then copy it to Cachly, that works like a charm.

Not sure if there's anything Cachly could do in that scenario except fail gracefully, but I hope this helps some future googlers, and I guess following these steps might help let you debug what the app is trying to do when it gets stuck in in processing a GPX file.

[Nic Hubbard]

On 1/4/2021 at 10:56 AM, mustakorppi said:

When done like this, the file appears on the phone's Files app, but it has a little cloud icon on the upper right corner indicating it's not stored locally on the phone. Trying to copy a file to Cachly from this state gets me the infinite Processing wheel every time. If in I tap Download first in Files and then copy it to Cachly, that works like a charm.

Yes, this appears to be the root of the problem. I will see if there is anything I can do on my end.