Somewhat delayed OKAPI news!

It has been a while since the last post has been published here. OKAPI is as "alive" as it has ever been, but the blog is not being updated regularilly, sorry about that!

Here's what has changed in the last two years (!) - sinrce version 896 up to 1116 (7622a48):

• OKAPI Project home page has moved from Google Code to GitHub. Since we're using Git now, our SVN-like revision numbers are no longer "real" revision numbers. However, for readability and backward compatibility, we're keeping the "legacy" version sequencing intact. The only difference is that we're now calling them "OKAPI version numbers" instead of "OKAPI revisions". Two new fields has been added to the services/apisrv/installation method: okapi_version_number and git_revision.
• New fields in the geocache method: short_description and short_descriptions.
• New save_personal_notes method has been added. Also, the GPX formatter now may take the my_notes=gc:personal_note parameter.
• New GGZ formatter has been added. You can also use it with the older garmin formatter by providing the caches_format parameter.
• The http://www.opencaching.org.uk/ has been removed from the official list OKAPI installations. It still works, but it has not been updated in years, and we cannot get in touch with its admin.
• New OC+OKAPI installation is "live": http://www.opencaching.ro/.
• New search parameters supported: powertrail_only and powertrail_ids (only on some OC sites).
• Basic support for user-supplied "custom" coordinates (only on some OC sites): See location_source parameter of nearest and bbox methods, location_source_prefix of GPX formatter, and new user-coords alt_wpts type.

The attrs module and other new features

Some of the new OKAPI features added over the last months (r776-r896):

• Introducing the new attrs module.
• It allows you to retrieve attribute names and descriptions along with basic icons (provided by the local OC server).
• See the attribute method for the full list of available data fields.
• List all available attributes with the attribute_index method.
• OKAPI uses global attribute IDs called A-codes to reference attributes. Attribute names and descriptions are also global (we store them in our repository). You're welcome to send us translations for your language.
• By "global" we mean that they are shared between all OKAPI installations. A single A-code refers to exactly the same attribute on OCPL, OCDE or any other installation.
• New fields in the geocache method: gc_code, hint2, hints2, attr_acodes, protection_areas.
• The hint and hints fields of the geocache method are now deprecated (why?).
• The attrs parameter of the gpx formatter can now support multiple options (instead of just one). Also, two new values for this parameter were added: gc:attrs and gc_ocde:attrs.
• New protection_areas parameter was added to the gpx formatter.
• oc_team_entry field added to the logs/entry family of methods.

Welcome, OKAPI Germany!

Finally, after almost two years since its launch, OKAPI has been installed on Opencaching.DE! We encourage the developers of all existing OKAPI applications to add this new node to their apps.

• http://www.opencaching.de/okapi/

Also, there were many new features added since the beginning of this year (r776):

• You can now submit Will attend and Attended log entries (for the Event caches).
• Added the mark method (for marking the caches as watched or ignored).
• Added attribution_append parameter to the geocache method.
• Added log_fields parameter to the geocache method.
• Added descrefs:thumblinks option to the images parameter of the gpx formatter method.
• Added many new fields to the geocache method:
• willattends,
• trip_time,
• trip_distance,
• preview_image,
• attribution_note,
• country,
• state,
• is_watched,
• is_ignored.
• Added type and type_name keys to the descriptions of additional waypoints returned in the alt_wpts field of the geocache method.
• Added watched_only parameter to the searching methods.
• Added new fields to the log entry method: was_recommended, images, internal_id.
• Added comment_format parameter to the submit method.
• Fixed some minor bugs and clarified documentation in all the existing methods.

OKAPI Browser

Recently, we published a simple project called OKAPI Browser.

It is open-source, written in C#.NET and WPF platform. You can fork it, play with it, submit you patches, or you can simply run the Installer for Windows.

Being made crude and fast, it is not as stable as we'd like, but it still might be a handy tool for some of you (i.e. when you want to test a method which requires OAuth).

Also, there were some minor changes made to OKAPI last month (r518):

• A new caches/search/save method was added.
• Three new parameters were added to the searching methods: with_trackables_only, ftf_hunter and set_and.

November update

What changed since June (r495):

• size2 and oxsize fields added to the geocache description (and the replicate module).
• size2 parameter added to the searching methods.
• size fields and search filters are deprecated, developers should use size2 instead. The deprecated fields and parameters will continue to work, but you should avoid them. More information.
• xmlmap2 output format added, xmlmap format is now deprecated. More information.
• needs_maintenance parameter added to the submit method.
• exclude_ignored search filter added.
• rating search filter now supports the "|X" suffix.
• owner_uuid search filter now supports the "-" prefix.

New features in June

Features added last month (r404):

• Added is_not_found field to the geocache objects.
• Added some new features to use when submitting a new log entry: on_duplicate to prevent duplicate log entries, recommend allows users to recommend the geocache, needs_maintenance allows them to notify that the cache needs maintenance.
• Added some new statistics fields to user objects: cache_found, caches_notfound, caches_hidden, rcmds_given.
• New interactivity option gives you some more control when authorizing your users.

Welcome, Opencaching Netherlands!

OKAPI have been installed on a new OC server:

• http://www.opencaching.nl/okapi/