Avantgo Problem

terryd · Posted: Fri Dec 10, 2004 7:00 pm Post subject: Avantgo Problem

I have a similar problem to Anvar on 12 Oct. I have the PocketGPS news items but when I click on an item it stays on the subject heading page.

What do I need to do?

My channel set up is:

Max size: 200k
Link Depth: 1
Images: On
Offsite Links: Off

DavidW · Posted: Fri Dec 10, 2004 10:36 pm Post subject:

Though I don't have this site in AvantGo, what happens if you increase the link depth to 2?

David

terryd · Posted: Sat Dec 11, 2004 1:01 am Post subject:

Thanks David for thought but still does not work. Any other thoughts?

Dave · Posted: Sat Dec 11, 2004 6:42 pm Post subject:

I also don't have AvantGo setup, but I think it's something that they've changed because you can mirror what AventGo is seeing by going to http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/modules.php?name=AvantGo

Clicking on the various subject headings takes me direct to the news article so I can only assume that for some reason AvantGo is having a problem and modifying the link structure.

terryd · Posted: Sun Dec 12, 2004 3:54 pm Post subject:

Thanks Dave, I will take this up with Avantgo and let you and everyone know the outcome.

Dave · Posted: Tue Dec 14, 2004 12:09 am Post subject:

Keep me posted on what they say. AFAIK nothing has changed in the site code to cause a problem, and it's viewing fine via standard HTML so I can't really see where the problem would lie on the site.

The only thing that I can see might be a problem is if AvantGo have changed something that only looks at physical pages rather than database driven pages, but if this is the case then it will be causing a problem with a lot of websites like ours.

terryd · Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2004 3:52 pm Post subject: Reply from AvantGo

Thanks Dave your further note. I have contacted AvantGo and they say:

"Unfortunately they are not a Channel partner and I can not trouble the content publishing issues. I would contact them directly for suppoert. You can download a web page of your choice to your handheld by creating a custom channel for the website. For information on how to create custom channels please refer to: http://avantgo.com/doc/mobile/palm/desktop/dkownchannel.html "

I await your further views
_________________
Terry:

IPhone SE, TomTom GO, Memory Map (UK & France), Linesman

DavidW · Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2004 6:28 pm Post subject:

It's an AvantGo bug - I've just spent three hours investigating. First off, I found a complete synchronisation of Pocket GPS World with images was taking 400KBytes - but increasing the channel size until my synchronisation history didn't show a "channel size exceeded" error didn't solve the problem.

There is a later version of the AvantGo software for the Pocket PC - and that works properly with Pocket GPS World as a custom channel.

However, when you install the AvantGo 5.2 update, AvantGo no longer works through Internet Explorer, instead installing a separate AvantGo program onto the Pocket PC. That program is, IMHO, quite ugly - the formatting isn't as good as Pocket Internet Explorer, also it's not a VGA application. It takes about 3MBytes of RAM - far more than the DLLs downloaded to the device by the ActiveSync version of AvantGo. I soon gave up with it.

To get back from that program to the original ActiveSync version of AvantGo was really awkward. Uninstalling the new program from both desktop PC and Pocket PC didn't really help.

In the end, after I'd uninstalled the new AvantGo from my desktop PC, I had to reinstall ActiveSync over itself on the desktop PC, delete my partnership, hard reset the Pocket PC, restore this morning's Sprite Backup file (don't try experimenting without one!), and finally create a new partnership - resetting various document conversion options that mysteriously got lost in the process before turning File synchronisation back on.

I think the unfortunate conclusion is that AvantGo as shipped in the latest version of ActiveSync is broken. Use the AvantGo 5.2 client if you must, but it has drawbacks and it's extremely awkward to revert to the ActiveSync version of AvantGo.

The ideal would be if Dave could find a way to offer the information in the Avantgo section as RSS - Ilium Software's NewsBreak works really well with RSS feeds.

David

Dave · Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2004 10:59 pm Post subject:

Thanks David. I thought it was an AvantGo issue because nothing has changed here for the site.

TBH I haven't used AvantGo for several years now, since they decided to charge websites like ours to host with AvantGo. After all AvantGo wouldn't be alive today if it weren't for PDA websites promoting it.

I jumped to Mazingo, but alas it's no longer, so now use RSS where possible.

BTW, if anyone wants to RSS this site, link to http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/backend.php

terryd · Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2004 4:08 pm Post subject:

Thanks David and Dave for the time you have spent on this. I can't say I understand all the ins and outs of your comments but I feel I have opened a hornets nest!! I think I will forget AvantGo and have Pocket GPS as one of my mobile favourites.

Having recently updated my versions of Activesync and AvantGo should I do anything to debug my system? Could the AvantGo issue be anything to do with the hang-up I have with my Haicom 303s which I have posted elsewhere?
_________________
Terry:

IPhone SE, TomTom GO, Memory Map (UK & France), Linesman

DavidW · Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2004 5:08 pm Post subject:

The AvantGo issue is self-contained; I was testing with the version of ActiveSync in my signature - 3.7.1 Build 4034, which I don't believe has been superseded.

I can't think this issue is in any way related to your Haicom issue (which I've just found and posted a reply to - I was meaning to do that earlier).

You can set up the 'backend' in NewsBreak, but you only get the headline and a 'Read More Online' link which takes you to the story online - complete with all the 'clutter' of a regular Pocket GPS World page when viewed in Pocket Internet Explorer. If the text of the story could be included in the RSS feed, it would be far more useful.

I can't recommend the 5.2 AvantGo client; in my opinion it has far too large a memory footprint, is too poorly integrated with Pocket Internet Explorer (that is, not at all) and doesn't format anything like as well as Pocket Internet Explorer either. That it's so awkward to remove and get back to 'standard' AvantGo is just another reason not to bother.

David

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