BluewaterRacing Route to __brainaid_ DCs

This is a small tool to convert a route created in BlueWater Racing to a list of DCs suitable for input using brainaid’s DC Editor.

Example route loaded

Above is the tool with a sample route loaded. To load a route, 1st save the route to a text file in BWR (make sure to have ‘Directions -> True’ selected) then right click  in the textbox where the route is shown in the tool example above (it will be blank when 1st loaded) and select ‘Open BWR Route’ then navigate to the file you saved the route to. Once the route is loaded click ‘Convert’, and the tool processes each line containing a sub-path of the route.

All the tool really does, is pull out the date and time BWR estimated for the course change, and the Rhumbline Course value, and reformats it into {date} {time} CC {cog} in the format expected by brainaid’s DC Editor. It also removes any duplicate CCs that are subsequent to each other, so you don’t have a string of DCs all heading the same direction.

Once the DCs are listed in the lower ‘output’ textbox, they can easily be copied to the clipboard by either double-clicking the DC list itself, or by clicking the ‘Copy DCs to Clipboard’ button. The tool will skip any commands with timestamps in the past (often the first when computing a high resolution route), and merges all identical commands to a single one.

If you haven’t already logged into brainaid’s SOL toolbox, do so now and go to the DC Editor (tools listed on left). Click in the textbox and use ‘Ctrl-V’ or right click and ‘Paste’, then click ‘Apply’ and your route has been sent to SOL as a list of DCs!

DC Editor in brainaid's SOL toolbox

I would recommend using this tool immediately after optimizing your route, and paste into brainaid’s site as soon after as possible (to avoid ‘Command time is in the past’ errors). If you want to modify anything, you can do so after you have initially sent the DCs to the sailonline server (such as move a command forward or back a few minutes, or delete or insert one).

Download from here. Unzip into a folder and run ‘setup.exe’. Uninstall any previous versions if you are updating.

A shortcut will be placed in your Start Menu->Programs->SOL Tools…

Use the comments below to leave feedback, suggestions or questions and any bugs.

• 5 March 2011 – Updated to parse sub-path lines starting with ‘GPS’, no need to modify to a number.
• 3 March 2011 – Updated to bypass any locale specific date formatting, or date field separator characters. Should now output yyyy/MM/dd from any locale.
• Late Feb 2011 – Initial release.
• Nov 2011 – Version 2, see post detailing improvements.