Import/Export is broken. Please login to Google.
Enter your new data into the spreadsheet(s).
Then download Olaf Greck's Fuel Log 3.
It is the same program, but with the problem fixed.
After you install Fuel Log 3, simply import your data.
The information here should still apply to Fuel Log 3.
We thank Mr. Greck for maintaing the software and keeping it free.
You must have a Google account. If you don't have one,
sign up here. Your iPhone
will need an Internet connection, of course, to connect to Google.
How do I export data?
Click "Cars" button. Choose a car by clicking its ">" button.
In the following screen, click the "Export" button. You are asked
to login to Google Spreadsheets. Enter your username and password.
Click the "Export" button. Off you go. (You can, but you do not
have to enter "@gmail.com" that you see in one of the screens above.
Fuel Log will add that part if you don't, to save you some finger
tapping).
If it fails, just click "Export" again. The link to Google is not
entirely reliable or "twice as fast" as we all know. So sometimes
errors happen. Just retry a couple times, or go somewhere with a
better wireless/3G connection.
The feature simply creates a spreadsheet in your Fuel Log folder in
your Google Docs. If the folder doesn't exist, Fuel Log will create
it. Once you export to Google spreadsheets, you can download the data
to your computer or import it to another iPhone. You can share the
spreadsheet with another driver of the car, etc. If there is
new data in the spreadsheet, you can import it back into your iPhone.
How do I import data?
Create a spreadsheet in the Fuel Log folder of your Google Docs.
Make sure the first row contains the labels date,
odometer, volume, cost and full,
all in lower case. Then fill in the data. Make sure there
are no empty rows between your data. This is important
because the Google software stops at the first empty row, and
skips all data after it.
If you are not sure, just create a new car on your iPhone and
export it. Then you will have an empty spreadsheet with the right
labels in the first row. You can then fill in the data and save the
spreadsheet.
To import a spreadsheet in your Fuel Log folder, first click the
"Cars" button. Then click "Import". Login to Google and choose
a spreadsheet to import.
Why does my imported data look completely wrong?
We thought this might happen but we could not actually make it
happen. Our theory is that you have entered dates and numbers in
formats that confuse Google and/or Fuel Log. This could happen,
for example, if in your country, numbers look like "123.456,78"
while Fuel Log expects "123456.78". We can't really predict or
control this because we don't know whether Google converts the
numbers, when it converts the numbers or how it converts the numbers.
These are the data formats that worked for us during testing:
12/31/2008 for the date, 123456.78 for numbers;
and Y, y, Yes, and yes for full tank,
any other text for partial tank.
Do not enter currency symbols or units.
What does Fuel Log import/export my Car as Car_1 or Car_1_2?
Data corruption happens. For example, the last time
we lost electricity, our computers shut off immediately. When
we restarted the computers, Firefox' <Back> button and
address box were broken. It turned out the address history database
was corrupted and had to be deleted. Several computers had this
problem. Another example, one of our Google spreadsheets mysterious
rolled back to a revision from 3 days ago. The newer revisions
disappeared without a trace. The data we submitted through Google
Forms disappeared as well.
So we want to give you a chance to
examine the data you import or export before deleting existing data.
For example, after importing Prius_1, you should first verify that
it has the correct data, then delete the original Prius and
rename Prius_1.
What do I do when I cannot connect to Google no matter what?
Most likely you have entered the username or password incorrectly
too many times. Google wants to send you a Captcha, i.e. a picture
with funny, obscured alphabets, for you to decode. But Fuel Log
does not and will not support them.
If you lock yourself out of Google, you might have to ask Google for
help, or sign up for a new account. Try signing in to your Gmail
account using Safari. If you succeed, possibly by solving a
Captcha, then Fuel Log should let you sign in when you return.
Give this a shot first:
So why won't Fuel Log remember my username and password?
Fuel Log 3.3 will save your username and password, if you want.
How do I import data on my Palm Pilot into my iPhone.
Method 1:
If you have PFuel, you can simply export the data to CSV.
Then synchronize the CSV file with your PC, Mac or Linux machine,
then to Google Spreadsheets. Make sure the column headers match
our iPhone Fuel Log's requirements.
Method 2:
If you have Palm Fuel Log, you can install PFuel which
will convert your Fuel Log data into PFuel data. Then you follow
method 1.
Method 3:
If you have Palm Fuel Log and do not want to install PFuel,
first synchronize your Palm Pilot with your PC, Mac or Linux machine.
You will need to find Fuel Log's backup database file. On our PC,
we found a file called fuelLogDB.PDB. Now you need to
run our converter to get CSV files, which you will upload to Google
Spreadsheets.
First download (save as fuellog.jar, not open)
fuellog.jar, then run
java -cp fuellog.jar FuelLog fuelLogDB.PDB
which will generate a CSV file for each car in fuelLogDB.PDB.
You will probably need Java 1.6, certainly at least 1.4.2.
This Java program is free and comes with no warranty. It works
with our IBM WorkPad C3 (Palm Vx) with Palm OS 4.1 and
Palm Fuel Log 1.0.0. This converter may not work with a different
device, different Palm OS version or different version of
Palm Fuel Log. You can modify the cryptic, uncommented
source code (FuelLog.java)
if you are able and motivated.
Will there be any more updates to Fuel Log after 3.0?
After 3.0, we will not be add more new
features to Fuel Log. We will continue to fix bugs. We will
incorporate patches from Apple and Google if they significantly
improve the behavior of Fuel Log.
When Google Docs Offline is completely rolled out, you will be
able to edit and graph your fuel efficiency with or without Internet
connection, free of charge. At that time, Fuel Log and its
competitors will be more or less obsolete, except as a way to back up
your data.
