CUCC Expedition Handbook

Troggle - what it is

Troggle is the software which runs the the expo cave survey data management and website.

• Troggle initial training: for complete beginners
• For day to day cave survey work on the expo laptop, see: the expo survey handbook (not the place to start learning)
• For what you can do with troggle: expo data management with troggle reports.
• For data management using your laptop: set up your own laptop.
• For the history of expo use of computers, see: website and troggle history.
• For system maintenance, see: the system maintainers manual.

Troggle - what it does

Troggle manages all cave and expo data in a logical and maintainable way and publishes it on the web.

The troggle software is written and maintained by expo members.

Examples of troggle-generated pages from data:

• expo.survex.com/caves - list of caves surveyed and links to guidebook descriptions
• expo.survex.com/pubs.htm - reports, accounts and logbooks
• expo.survex.com/expedition/2018 - Members on expo 2018: . Scroll down for a list of all the data typed in from survey trips.
• expo.survex.com/survexfile/caves/ - List of caves with all the surveys done for each.
• expo.survex.com/survexfile/caves-1623/115/cucc/futility.svx - Cave survey data from 1983 in Schnellzughohle.
• expo.survex.com/survey_scans/ - List of all scanned original survey notes.
• expo.survex.com/survey_scans/2018%252343/ - list of links to scanned notes for wallet #43 during the 2018 expo.

If you want to find out how to do something using troggle, then you may find it the data maintenance manual or the system maintenance manual

Troggle - why we developed it

Troggle..

1. Coherently publishes expo data by cave, by expedition, by person, by trip or by survey - without requiring duplicate data entry.
2. Manages and safely archives the typed and scanned survey data, entrance data, trip records (logbooks) and expo records.
3. Encourages consistency - making it easier to detect inconsistencies and omissions, and making mistakes visible
4. Publishes the "guidebook descriptions" of caves by a combination of online forms and uploading files.
5. Supports the process of turning scribbled notes into finished cave surveys
6. Generates prospecting guides so that we don't waste time looking at holes which have already been explored
7. Reformats the webpages such that they have a coherent style and have a small menu at the top-left hand corner. These are the handbook you are reading now and the historic records of past expeditions.
8. Provides a way of editing individual pages of the handbook for very quick and urgent changes. [This is the "Edit this page" capability; see for how to use it and how to tidy up afterwards].

Troggle - who uses it?

The "use-case" users are described in Who needs to know What and When.

Troggle - where it gets the data

All the data of all kinds is stored in files. When troggle starts up it imports that data from the files. There are other scripts doing useful things (folk, wallets) and these too get their data from files.

There is never any need to back up or archive the database as it is rebuilt from files. Rebuilding troggle and re-importing all the data on the server takes about 5 minutes (as of November 2021).