XBoard / WinBoard 4.6.0 released

[Michel]

So what you are really saying is that it should not start empty, but with some default in it. It seems "." would be an obvious choice for this, because "cd ." is a no-op.

I guess that would work.

[hgm]

With the current dialog, if you type in the new name, you get the message "file doesn't exist"

Indeed, that does not make much sense. I guess I should suppress the test if the file exists when you are just browsing to get a name in a text-edit, rather than for actually opening it. Unfortunately the browse buttons won't know whether you are browsing for reading or writing.

If there is any other file in the directory at all, you could select that, and replace the file-name part in the text-edit afterwards. (You might have to clear the extension field of the file browser to see files of other extension than you want to create.)

I agree that all this is very sub-optimal. But I did not want to spend too much time on a browser that was scheduled for abandonment because of the GTK version, which has a good standard file selector. Now that it seems we will abandon the GTK version, however, I really should do something about it.

[Richard Allbert]

I don't know what the dialog types are, I'm not familiar with them, but it has the same functionality as a winforms OpenFileDialog.

Another option may be to add underneath a Folderbrowser dialog to get the dir, and have a text field for the filename. Then both options are there - use an existing file, or choose a new name with dir.

This is what did with a GUI I made in C#, which looks a bit like yours! You've made it irrelevant with the TM

Ahhhh GUI's. Always fun.

[hgm]

Ok.... Unfortunately I cannot get this new feature to work as intended. Even if I move back to the beginning of the PV and release the mouse I am not in the original position. Perhaps I am doing the gestures incorrectly (I am using a trackpad and not a mouse). Perhaps other xboard users can comment?

Well, as long as you have a right-button that you can release without causing too much of a shake-up of the positioning device, it should work. I also run Linux on a laptop with a trackpad and two buttons underneath it, and I don't have any problems. At the moment you release, the game stays in the position that you were seeing at that instant on the board. So if you walked the PV all the way to the beginning, it should stay in the currently analyzed position. Do you see the position change at the moment you release the button, or is it that you cannot get back to the start of the PV in the PV walk?

I do notice something strange, though. When I do this with WinBoard on Win2k, the Engine-Output window tends to get cleared when the engine comes with a new line while I am walking an old line. On WinXP everything works normally, though: the line you are walking remains highlighted while it scrolls down to make room for the new one.

Now the amazing thing is that on Ubuntu 10.04 I sometimes get the same behavior with XBoard as in Win2K with WinBoard: the window gets cleared if a new line arrives when I am rapidly stepping up and down through the PV. But not always. This is really weird.

[hgm]

Another option may be to add underneath a Folderbrowser dialog to get the dir, and have a text field for the filename. Then both options are there - use an existing file, or choose a new name with dir.

Wait a minute! I get confused now. Are you talking about WinBoard or XBoard? When I go to the Options->Save Game dialog in XBoard, use the browse button next to the "Save Games on File" field, type something non-existing in the top line there (like "xblah"), and press OK (or hit <Enter>), the "xblah" neatly appears in the text edit. No problem at all.

Same thing with WinBoard on Win2k.

[Richard Allbert]

In the tournament dialog itself - Options -> Tournament -> File For Saving Tourney Games.

Press the browse button to enter the file. It's here that the "File doesn't exist" problem occurs. You can only select an existing file.

Setting through the other menu is Ok.

Using Winboard, not XBoard.

HTH

Richard

[hgm]

OK, this is a bug.

It turns out that there are two different Windows API functions, GetOpenFileName and GetSaveFileName. The browse buttons generated by the generic dialog generator (used for Engine Settings, Load Engine and Tournament dialogs) always use the former. But this one requires the file to exist.

The WinBoard native dialogs all know whether the file is going to be opened for reading or writing, and pick the applicable function to browse for the file name. I guess I should always use the GetSaveFileName in the Engine Settings dialog, because although WB engine options do tell if they are file or folder names, they do not tell if they are for reading or writing. (Big defect in WB protocol; I have not foreseen this. )

At least for the built-in option lists of the Tournament and Load Engine dialogs I could start making that distinction.

[Richard Allbert]

On the positive side, 12500 tournament games so far in a ten engine RR TC 10"+0.1" and not a hitch -> running 3xWB simulataneously.

[hgm]

Note that I started a new beta version at http://hgm.nubati.net/WinBoard-4.6beta.zip , which should fix the problem with the browsing for a save file.