Linebreaks, Nüvi Line

RT just loaded the above POI into my 660 and when the info is displayed it shows the two bracketts and <> br in between them for the different lines.

Thanks, got 'er.

RT

A "standard line break" consists of ASCII LF and CR.
Where did this < br > come from?

In addition to a bad engineering (programming) call, did Garmin also invent a new term ??

Actually, this approach does make some sense, as it allows CSV files with multi-line comments to be only one line long. If you're trying to work with CSV files, such as extract all of the lines that contain your state from a national file, this can be pretty important. But yes, it is unfortunate that Garmin uses different formats in different devices. Makes for more files to maintain and more confusion by new users on what to download.

Can anyone tell me how many lines are allowed in the files on the various units?

In web programming a "< br >" is a line break.

Daniel

I'm not sure of the max number of lines, but I can tell you that I have made csv files with 11 lines of information in the 4th column. I have loaded these on my 660 with no problem.

When I select one of these POIs and display it on my 660, it displays a "More" button to show the data in column 4. Since 11 lines is more than can be displayed on one screen, the 660 gives me the scroll up and down arrows to scroll through the data. I made these using the [Alt-Enter] method in Excel.

That is good to know, thanks.

If anyone know their gps lacks this flexibility please speak up, otherwise I'll likely cram as many lines into a csv file as I can.

This has been an issue with the nuvi 350/360 since day one of the nuvi 350. Do a search on 'linebreaks', 'nuvi 350', or any other related term and you'll find numerous threads. Also, check FAQ and its links at:
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/6679

<br> is html code for 'linebreak'.

We're just trying to determine which other nuvis are affected by this problem. It appears that most nuvi 2xx are.

RT

PS. To help those trying to post code:
copy and paste the following code to display <br> correctly without the spaces:
&lt;br&gt;

< br > WILL NOT work for linebreaks. Do not use spaces!

On my 265WT I get <br>'s showing up all over the place.

You need to be aware, that the .GPI files created by POILoader from .csv input have most of their internal data structures uninitialised. The pre-formatted areas for the address/phone and description fields are not present - but the 'comment' field is there.

Different units deal with the missing data in different ways. Most seem to try and substitute the 'comment' data in its place.

This is a good example. The comment data is initially output where the address data belongs, but it overflows it. This triggers the 6xx series into displaying Page 2, which behaves differently. When the data is displayed on this page, it adds the scrolling arrows and will now interpret any html markup (including <BR>) within it.

The 3xx Series is notably different, in that it never outputs a second page. All information is presented on one page. If the comment field is bigger than about 240 characters, it is truncated.

From what I've seen, the 8xx series *always* outputs the second page - but I've not finished investigating this yet.

(Of course, using .gpx input to POILoader allows direct access to all the fields in the .gpi file and avoids these random effects!)

Apparently not all 2xx's support the same format. Is there a simple (and free) utility than can scan a csv file for you and produce a line break version of the csv file from a <br> version? If not this should be trivial to write (and easier than going the other way).

It would be nice to standardize the data so all needed forms of POI files can be made available, but until then a simple <br> to line break tool could be handy.

not free. At one time you indicated you wouldn't consider using it. It will convert between standard and nuvi linebreaks; and it will remove all linebreaks for those gps units that can't use them.

RT

Thanks, got it.

RT

That makes sense since the csv format provides no way to tag or label fields. And people can be pretty creative about how they format things, even simple phone numbers. So I would expect, even when a phone number is contained in field 4, it is just treated as all or part of a comment.

It would be extremely helpful to have a contributor guideline that informed contributors of what different limitations there were. I thought that I had read somewhere that there was a 3 line limit (likely based on that 240 character limit as 240=3x80), but I find that my Nuvi will display more than 3 lines, although shorter than 80 characters each. With good guidelines we could choose to either compile data for the lowest common denominator or to produce multiple sets of data for systems with different capabilities.

Looking into the .gpx format is on my todo list. Certainly want to be able to make these for those with bluetooth or who otherwise need them. Now that you have me thinking about this, I'm not sure how it affects me with my modest nuvi 250 at all. Since I have no phone support, will I see a telephone number any differently if it is input through a .gpx file as a phone number than if it just comes in as a comment? Will I even see it at all without bluetooth support? It will be interesting to see how this works.

You program does a lot more than that. It might indeed be handy for someone who needs it's capability and doesn't mind dealing with .NET or the payment intermediary. But for something as simple as <br> to classic line break conversion I would have expected that there would be a simple and free utility. I don't have use for it myself ( my gps uses <br> ), but if no one else has a free solution I may provide one. No offence intended and I hope none is taken.

You can highlight the column in Excel and using the search and replace function search for the < BR > and replace it with a Hex 0011 by holding down the ALT key and keying in 0011. Nothing shows in the replace with field, but the lines are converted.

I'm not sure what you're referring to by 'second page'. The nuvi 350 displays similar to the way he explained his 660 displayed. If there is more than 11 lines in field 4, the up-down arrows become active and it will scroll a display page at a time (as long as the max character count isn't exceeded).

RT

Most units have the concept of a "MORE" button, apart from the 3xx series. So, by 'second page', I mean the screen that appears after pressing "MORE".

Any data that is o/p on that 2nd page may be interpreted differently to when/if it is o/p on the initial page. The most signficant difference is that Garmin's subset of html markup (GML) is honoured. In the context of this discussion, the interesting effect, is that the <BR> construct becomes active. (LF/CR remains active as well).

nuvi 260W requires --<br>--my personal experience