TB GUI

[burper]

The date and time from the tourney header should also be displayed somewhere. This will be especially imortant once the new scheduler goes in, because then a TD will be able to say to TourneyBot open this tourney tomorrow at 15:00 GMT and stuff like that, so perhaps a row for all such timestamps should be added.

Matt, the timestamp is from when the Tourney was created?
What are your plans for "timestamps"? Right now I have a log tab for all TB messages and events. Should the front tab contain a "this tourney will open at" and a "this tourney will start at" field only, or is there something else planned?

[socksey]

I'm all excited about trying it out, too!  No pressure?  Hmmmm.........I usually work better under pressure.  Otherwise, I just play bg and let the world go by.  Hurry up, burper, get it on!  ))

socksey




"I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and
as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical."
- Thomas Jefferson

[burper]

Alright, I'm crackin, I'm crackin!

I almost have phase I ready, believe it or not. Well, it's just the first two panels, but it's a useful subset of the functionality. It's not connected to the proxy yet either, but that's coming soon.

Tourneys Page:
http://www.fibsboard.com/chouettebot/tourneys.jpg

Controls Page:
http://www.fibsboard.com/chouettebot/controls.jpg

In a few days, if anyone wants to download and play with the GUI (only fake TB data so far) to get a feel for it (what a tease!), I'll be posting that too.

Things left to do:
-tweak the fake data so it's more consistent
-better list logic for those add/remove lists. there are cases where the same name can appear in both
-table column formatting and sortability
-get the players list when appropriate and put that on the brackets page for now, unless started tourney
-tweak the colors a bit. disabled colors are too dim
-finish debugging the proxy, it's close!
-talk to MadMatt about connecting the proxy to TB. do a clip-alike protocol first?

[MadMatt]

Matt, the timestamp is from when the Tourney was created?
What are your plans for "timestamps"? Right now I have a log tab for all TB messages and events. Should the front tab contain a "this tourney will open at" and a "this tourney will start at" field only, or is there something else planned?

The timestamp signifies the last change from one tourney state to another (CREATED, OPEN, PLAYING, DONE). I explain it in the News thread.

As to the rest, I haven't really thought much on how exactly the scheduling will work, but it will be possible to schedule creation, opening and starting a tourney at least.

[webrunner]

This might just get me to become a tourney director

[Kari_Grandi]

Are You sure, that you'll qualify?    

[webrunner]

hmm... you got a point there    

[Kari_Grandi]

I was just joking    

[webrunner]

I know  

[diane]

Had a bit of a play with what ya got so far - and of course - it is great  

My thoughts so far are:

Does the front page need to contain the create stuff? - Would a simple front page for players only be better.  Easy to read ifo about the tourney they are signing up for - the menu at the top for what is running as it is now, and then three buttons - one to join, one to dropout and one to register to be told about tourneys in the future?

So many times they type the wrong thing - and it always my fault - cos the info wasnt clear!!

Not altogether sure how useful the interest page is - what did you have in mind for that?  Cant imagine what it would be used for - but that doesnt mean it isnt vital - and i just didnt spot it  

Love the detachable bar - that will make life so much easier too.

[burper]

Great feedback diane, thanks!

After chatting with MM a bit yesterday, we decided that the Interest panel was pretty much redundant with a feature that he is working on for registering users, so I will get rid of it.

As for a simplified front page for non-moderators: point taken. It's still a bit busy. Here is what it would look like:
http://www.fibsboard.com/chouettebot/nonmod.jpg

All the information is relavent, but perhaps instead of subpanels with fancy borders we need something simpler, e.g.  "Type: bracket"

Note that the Commands tab is invisible, as well as the SET buttons, and the controls are all disabled. I still need to make the disabled grey colour darker.

[diane]

Thats looking better - still dont see a dropout button - for those little emergencies.  And im still not entirely clear where the playerlist will appear - though im happy to wait and see

[jinnate]

from http://www.pepsan.com/javamac/#anchor113864

I've downloaded a "cross platform" Java application, but how do I run it on a classic Macintosh?

There is no simple/single answer. Even though people may say their Java application is "cross platform" that doesn't mean it works on a Macintosh (or on any range of Java platforms). We've seem cross platform claims for applications that only work on Windows 98 and Windows NT! Sometimes cross platform means Solaris and Windows, but not Linux. And yes, sometimes it includes the Macintosh. Some applications, even though never tested on a Macintosh, work just fine (for example, most of IBM's Java-based XML tools work great on a Macintosh). They seemed surprised when we told them! If the developer did not provide a Macintosh-based installer then you are probably on your own in trying to get it to work. A friendly email to their tech support people might help, but if they don't have Macintosh experience they simply won't know the answer. You will at least need to download the MRJ SDK so you have access to JBindery, the main tool for creating a double-clickable wrapper for Java applications. See the topic on Java development on the Macintosh, near the beginning, for where to obtain the SDK. Once you have the SDK, you may want to use JBindery and open the JBoundApp file from one or more of our examples (http://www.pepsan.com/downloads.html) to see what a working file looks like.

It's relatively easier to port "cross platform" applications to Mac OS X. Usually you will want the package created for Solaris (not Linux since those are usually packaged as RPMs that Mac OS X can't install). The details of what's needed does vary greatly from package-to-package.

----

found more at http://developer.apple.com/java/javatutori...oubleclick.html. a tutorial on making java apps double-clickable.

[alef]

Have had a look at the testgui.jar on my Mac OS 10.2. Just double clicking the download immediately launched it. Generally looks very good, although:
-With my monitor normally set to 1024x768 I can't see the bottom and lose the tournament description
-Tabs between sections ('Tourney', 'Controls', etc) don't highlight properly (probably a mac thing?)

Wish I think of more that's constructive, but to be honest it looks very well thought and thorough!

[burper]

Lots of good comments here, thanks all:

-sizing: I need to reduce the spacing and font size so the thing fits on the screen better, especially vertically.

-mac packing: when the time comes, I will look into it, or ask for help (I don't have a mac).

-alef: tell me more about the tabs thing you mentioned. is there a screen shot?

-at the appropriate times, the JOIN button changes into a DROPOUT button.

-the player list will be on the brackets page I think. I might need a slightly more general name for that than "Brackets". Any ideas? Something more specific than "Information".

-diane got me thinking about making things simpler, and said something about the toolbar being the most useful thing. Does it belong on the first page with all possible buttons, i.e. join/dropout, create/open/start. Someone could detach the toolbar, minimize the main window, and just use that. When a new tourney is announced, the tourney number could be displayed on that bar. For a non-TD, that might be all they see: "Tourney: 345 JOIN".

-cekerr gave me a couple other ideas, but I think they will wait for a next release. Mostly it's a help guide popup that indicates to a newbie what the next logical step would be. They could turn it off.

[diane]

Aww thats clever - i see now!

And yes - the detachable toolbar sounds good used like that - nice and simple for the majority - and yet more info available to those who want to go look.

[jinnate]

The GUI will appear on your desktop, the same way that javafibs or 3dfibs does now. What oyu would do is down and install the software the same way as you would anything else. The only adjustment you have to make after that is changing your client to connect to "localhost" instead of "fibs.com".

is macfibs going to be able to connect to the localhost instead of fibs? is that something i need to start banging on fergy's door about?

[alef]

any client should be able to be redirected to the local proxy *but* you'll need to be able to run java i presume.

i miss MacFIBS    because i like saving my matches for gnubg analysis and i rarely use classic i've been adapting to JavaFIBS which runs beautifully in OS X. my old MacFIBS preferences file contains colourings/buddies/gags/notes for over 700 FIBS usernames! that long list was started well before RepBot...

[jinnate]

don't forget different sounds for different "buddies"!  

i ain't never leavin' macfibs!   ^_^  

[burper]

Yes, you should be able to connect ANY client to the local proxy.

Is the format for that old friends file in a plaintext format alef? Maybe it can be converted? Send me a snippet.