Author Topic: Version 2.5 beta 2  (Read 53930 times)

tandemrx

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Re: Version 2.5 beta 2
« Reply #30 on: January 08, 2008, 04:16:30 PM »
O.K., still playing around with 2.5beta2.

Now, working on my PC with dual monitor video card and extended screen.  I can have tourney main screen on one monitor, the settings screen on another.  All is good.

But when I try to move the main screen to my extended monitor, just to switch things around (for no good reason), the main tourney screen disappears (I can still put the settings screen on either monitor).  If I move it back, then it is all fine again.

Recently when I tried this, part of the main screen actually did show up on the extended monitor, but it was partially off the extended screen and I couldn't move it to fit the screen (I think something goofy was happening that time - I can't recreate that).

I will try to attach a couple pictures of the 2 states above.

Not really a problem (although I will have to try  this on my laptop to my splitter to see if it is problem there that will limit where I can send the main screen which obviously has to get off the laptop and onto my monitors).

Corey Cooper

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Re: Version 2.5 beta 2
« Reply #31 on: January 09, 2008, 02:15:12 PM »
I think I'll add an option for you to place the main window at the coordinates you choose.  In my testing, all I could really do is code it to work on the extended display that I have, and the others that I've seen.  Based on what you've written, I have to assume yours works differently.  In any case, the moving of the main window feature was added only because my personal PC with an extended display doesn't have a tool for moving windows between the displays, although most (all?) others I have seen do.

Actually, can you perform a test for me?  On the Preferences tab, select the option "Save dialog locations".  Make sure the option "Open dialogs on the main screen" on the Extended Screen dialog isn't checked.  Then, press the Config Files button (still on the Preferences tab) to open that dialog.  Move the dialog to your extended display, and then close the dialog.  Press the Config Files button again and verify that it opens in the same location on your extended display.  Close the dialog, and exit the TD.  Then send me your "prefs.sav" file (in the folder in which the TD is installed).  Might shed some light on this.

tandemrx

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Re: Version 2.5 beta 2
« Reply #32 on: January 09, 2008, 08:39:06 PM »
I will give that a try tomorrow for you.  In the mean time I figured out one thing.

On my display settings (right click desktop, properties, settings tab), if I change which monitor is my primary monitor, then the main tourney screen will show up on that screen (and I can move the settings screen to the other).  So, I can manage where the tourney screen is by changing which monitor is my primary monitor.

But, again, when I click on "move to extended monitor" on the TD preferences tab for extended monitor, the main screen disappears.

One goofy side effect of this is that if the main tourney screen is gone and I then close TD settings window, it appears as if TD is frozen because the program icon is still on the bottom of the screen, but if I click on it to "restore" the program, it won't do that.  Of course, if I hit "esc", it brings back the settings screen.

But, what I find interesting about this is that the first time I did it, I thought that TD had frozen, so I did a ctrl-alt-del to end the program, and TD didn't show up on the application list (?).

Corey Cooper

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Re: Version 2.5 beta 2
« Reply #33 on: January 10, 2008, 10:11:56 AM »
If the main window is minimized, or possibly off-screen as is your case, and there is a dialog window open somewhere, it will appear as if the app is frozen until you press ESC, which closes the dialog.

For example, with the TD in window mode (not full-screen mode), make some change so that if you try to exit, you'll get prompted to save the tournament.  Close the Settings window and then minimize the main window.  Now right-click on the TD in the Windows Taskbar and select "Close".  Now you won't be able to get the TD to "restore" from minimized state.  The problem is the TD opened the dialog prompting you to save the current tournament, but with the entire app minimize, the dialog didn't show up, but it's still there.  You have to answer Yes or No to get past the dialog (pressing Y or N will work), and the easiest way to do this is to press ESC.

The Tournament Director is hosted inside of Internet Explorer, so you won't see "Tournament Director" in the process list.  Instead you'll see "mshta.exe".  Why nothing shows up in the Applications list I have no idea.

Guapo

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Re: Version 2.5 beta 2
« Reply #34 on: January 11, 2008, 07:24:24 AM »
Hello,

I have not had time to read all the replies here but I just wanted to let you know I used this Beta version in my Poker club for 80 people last Friday night, the most important item for me is the multi monitor aspect as I have a Plasma showing the "customer information" whilst the data entry is done on a separate pc within the kiosk/office area where people sign up.
I has tested it a few days before and no problems so that made me decide to use it on the tournament night, however just before we started the tournament I was unable to get the "Tournament Screen" to stay on the Plasma and every time I used ESC it would come back onto the office PC, I uninstalled the app and reinstalled but the problem still remained, time was of the essence so I quickly reverted back to the Plasma mirror imaging the PC (Which is how I have used the non BETA SW for last year) It just means I keep having to either turn the Plasma off when updating any confidential data or allow the customers to see what is going on !

Can't really give you any more feedback than this yet as the SW has been in use every night (BETA) all seems stable apart from the issue mentioned above.
We have an even bigger tournament tonight so I will have another try to see if I can sort the screen issues out first - but would you have any advice for me, does the instal make any changes to the PC which remain even after install/reinstall. Sorry for the somewhat abbreviated post and lack of info
Many Thanks

Corey Cooper

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Re: Version 2.5 beta 2
« Reply #35 on: January 11, 2008, 10:24:28 AM »
Uninstalling / re-installing won't have any effect.

Are you saying that you've placed the Game window (tournament screen) on your extended display, but when you press ESC to open the Settings window, the Game window suddenly jumps over to the PC display?  That would be a new one.  If that's happening, the only thing I can think to do is to have the TD try to move the Game window to its "previous" location each time you open the Settings window, just in case this weird situation occurs.  But I'd be reluctant to do that given that it could cause problems for other users.

The only workaround I can suggest is: don't close the Settings window.  There's no reason, as far as the TD goes, that you can't just leave it open all the time.  You may have other reasons, I guess, but as far as the TD is concerned, it can stay open the whole time.  On the Preferences tab, uncheck the option "Auto-close Settings dialog".  That way if you use the Hotkeys or the main buttons to display one of the Player Rankings/Seating Chart/etc pages the Settings window won't close.

tandemrx

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Re: Version 2.5 beta 2
« Reply #36 on: January 11, 2008, 12:55:17 PM »
Corey, FWIW, I haven't done what you asked me to try on my desktop PC where I had some extended monitor issues (only trying to swap which monitor held the tourney screen).

But . . .

I also just installed 2.5beta2 on my new laptop running XP (2.2ghz core duo, 2gb ram) and ran a mock tourney using a monitor attached to the laptop with the stand alone monitor acting as an extended screen and laptop as the main monitor. 

I was able to send the tourney screen to my "extended monitor" and the settings screen was on the laptop.

Mock tourney was 2 table game with about 16 people.  Busted everyone out and completed tourney.

I didn't have any problems with the tourney and everything acted as I expected to.  No computer slowing (understanding I just ran through a few rounds, but I did bust everyone out).  I may now try to run my live tourneys with this version. 8) 8)

Also FWIW, I was using a 4:3 aspect monitor and I have a widescreen laptop . . . but as long as I set both monitors to 1024x768 then I get the proper resolution of TD on both monitors (just some blank areas to the left and right of the TD program on the laptop.  You may remember that I was worried about how this would work with different aspect monitors.

My only comments (more in line with "suggestions" so they might be feature requests):

  • The only way I could close TD was to go to the game tab and click on exit.  This is because when I close the settings screen using the "x" button, I cannot access . . . . . ooops, I was going to say I couldn't move the mouse to that extended screen to close the tourney screen, but I guess I could have, its just that the extended monitor was 10 feet in front of me to my left and I forgot that I set up the extended screen to the default "position" directly to the right of the laptop monitor . . . so I guess if I would have slid the mouse arrow to the right off of the laptop monitor it would have gone to the other monitor . . . duh ::).  Forget this comment.
  • On the control tab, there is a button to "set the clock".  It would be awfully nice if you could bring back the drop down list for the hours/minutes/seconds to choose the time you want to set it to the way it used to be when you would set the time using the hotkey in previous version.  Having to change the defaul round time to say 10 seconds (or whatever) seems to require a lot of mouse movement and keying to delete numbers that are there or replace the existing numbers with something else.  I use this function to test events and also in tourneys when I need to adjust the time for some reason
  • Any chance of making the box that surrounds "bust out" on the control screen bigger or bold or something?  It is the button I probably use most during a tourney and it would nice if it could kinda be a focal point (I know, I know, others might not think this is the most important button on the page or are as far sighted as I am :-\)


Corey Cooper

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Re: Version 2.5 beta 2
« Reply #37 on: January 14, 2008, 10:29:20 AM »
  • The only way I could close TD was to go to the game tab and click on exit.  This is because when I close the settings screen using the "x" button, I cannot access . . . . . ooops, I was going to say I couldn't move the mouse to that extended screen to close the tourney screen, but I guess I could have, its just that the extended monitor was 10 feet in front of me to my left and I forgot that I set up the extended screen to the default "position" directly to the right of the laptop monitor . . . so I guess if I would have slid the mouse arrow to the right off of the laptop monitor it would have gone to the other monitor . . . duh ::).  Forget this comment.
  • On the control tab, there is a button to "set the clock".  It would be awfully nice if you could bring back the drop down list for the hours/minutes/seconds to choose the time you want to set it to the way it used to be when you would set the time using the hotkey in previous version.  Having to change the defaul round time to say 10 seconds (or whatever) seems to require a lot of mouse movement and keying to delete numbers that are there or replace the existing numbers with something else.  I use this function to test events and also in tourneys when I need to adjust the time for some reason

Sure, but I actually changed this because I thought the other "select-list" version was cumbersome.  I put a lot of work into the new control to make it easy to use.  You can move back and forth throw the input using tab and shift-tab, or by using the cursor keys.  Moving up and down with the cursor keys also changes the values.

If the old way was better, I'm definitely for making it as easy to use as possible.

Quote
  • Any chance of making the box that surrounds "bust out" on the control screen bigger or bold or something?  It is the button I probably use most during a tourney and it would nice if it could kinda be a focal point (I know, I know, others might not think this is the most important button on the page or are as far sighted as I am :-\)

This is a good point, and I actually did put some thought into it.  If you right-click on the page in any of the various sections, you'll see that you can modify the colors for the section.  I wanted to have a way to make it easy for someone to navigate through the many, many buttons on that tab.  I didn't go so far as to allow this type of highlighting on a per-control basis, but I did consider highlighting a few buttons - the ones I thought would be most used.  But I also don't want to go overboard.

I think maybe highlighting these: "Pause/unpause clock", "Buy-in", "Rebuy", "Add-on", and "Bust-out".

Thoughts?

The_Duke

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Re: Version 2.5 beta 2
« Reply #38 on: January 14, 2008, 03:40:33 PM »
A bit late, but had to attend some other important things here that kept me away from here.
But your last comment of sending TD to a plasma has interest to me as I will soon run into that situation.
Why couldn't you send V2.4.3 to a plasma TV (since I will probably be using 2.4.3 for a good bit of time until 2.5 is well established)?
Offcourse every program can be send out, but..
1. I just don't like to switch screens for settings, buy-ins and all other stuff on the same screen that players are viewing. I want them to read the houserules in PRE tournament state and not seeying me click on a buy-in.
2. Some little problems (might have to do with my widescreen display and using 4:3 playerscreens). When switching back and forth between settings and playerscreens sometimes the screen ratio gets screwed up. So when using the dual monitor option this problem is instantly solved ;)

I would be interested to know what problems you anticipate as I may be called over to my neighbors to run a tourney and also don't want to haul any monitors, but I know he has a big plasma TV.   I was planning on just bringing a VGA cable and do what I usually do or possibly bring an S-video cable just to try out that connection type just in case I need to do that in the future.
Interested to know what issues you have had/anticipate with V2.4.3
There aren't many problems to solve but i suggest testing your external video connector because every video card has it's own strange behaviours when using the 2nd output.

You have to play around with the "exent desktop" setting, because it is the combination of computer/plasma resolutions that will decide for you what setting is best. When you consider you have to deal with 2 resolutions and at least 3 settings concerning widescreen options; then you'll understand there are 12 combinations available; and only 1 of them will give you a fullscreen resolution without strange stretch effects on your plasma or lcd.
I have to install a non official ATI driver if i want to run external screen on a choice for 4:3 or 16:9 resolution. If i would use the standard ATI drivers i could not set 16:9 for external resolution...

Offcourse HDMI, DMI, VGA and such are the best for quality. But S-video is also fine for stuff like this. S-video is not very detailed but playerscreens usaly don't need such high detail and every TV,LCD, Plasma can handle this.

Tip for plasma: Alltough i have a good quality plasma and one of the newest models. Still i make the brightness a bit low when displaying this program. Burn-in on plasma's is still something to consider and better be save then sorry.
« Last Edit: January 14, 2008, 03:47:56 PM by The_Duke »

tandemrx

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Re: Version 2.5 beta 2
« Reply #39 on: January 14, 2008, 07:14:04 PM »
thanks Duke.

And Corey . . . re: the "set clock" dialog.  On the laptop I was using I didn't notice that the hours:minutes:seconds fields were shaded a bit (like fields might be), which might have clued me into the idea that cursor keys would change them.

  • Now that I have tried what you mention, I actually MUCH PREFER this method (cursor changing) of changing time elements than the previous drop down lists.  In part because if I would use my mouse as I usually would to choose say 10 seconds left, the 10 seconds would not be visible and I would first have to scroll to it and then change it.  With the new "tab" then "cursor" I can blast in the changes more quickly and with less mouse movement.  So, as long as you mention how to change the time elements is in the final help file with the new version release then I think you have made improvements and I don't think it is worth going back.
<br>
  • I agree that you should not go overboard on highlighting any keys on the control panel since everyone probably has different priorities for what buttons are important.  IF you were to highlight any keys, I totally agree with your ideas of just highlighting "pause/unpause, buy-in, rebuy, add-on, and bust out".  These are clearly the most common control buttons I will use on a regular basis (although I am thrilled that you have all the other buttons you currently have, they meet and exceed exactly what works will for my tourneys)

Excellent

tandemrx

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Re: Version 2.5 beta 2
« Reply #40 on: January 14, 2008, 09:47:46 PM »
Another beta question (brought up in another thread)

Could the control tab include a button in the clock area to bring up an instance of the hand timer (maybe each time you click the button it brings up another hand timer?

I would like to second the request for having a minute adjust control to add minutes as well as seconds (because in theory I will use the hand timer to time penaly time outs, although I haven't used this yet - I am sure I will).

Also, I thought that in 2.4.3 you could have multiple instances of the hand timer all going at once.  I tried to use the hot key for the hand timer in 2.5beta2 and can only bring up one timer.

Corey Cooper

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Re: Version 2.5 beta 2
« Reply #41 on: January 15, 2008, 12:50:56 PM »
I'll put this stuff on the to-do list.

You most definitely can have multiple hand-timers going.  You're probably experiencing a "focus" issue.  Hit H and the hand timer comes up.  The hand timer window will now have focus, and the hotkeys aren't "hot" on the hand timer window.  You'll have to click or alt-tab back to the main TD window first.

tandemrx

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Re: Version 2.5 beta 2
« Reply #42 on: January 15, 2008, 01:29:00 PM »
Yes, Corey, you are correct about the focus issue (another "duh" moment, . . . of many).  It works fine to bring up multiple instances with the hot key.

DragonII

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Re: Version 2.5 beta 2
« Reply #43 on: January 15, 2008, 03:23:35 PM »
Good idea!

And also i want have network support too, but seem its hard for Corey to make it?

Due example a other PC at entrance can take $ and let them put paid player, other PC (the main + server) will noticed it and can put them on list before random seating (or auto seating). I dunno if it is possible to have 2 PC at same time?

UPT

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Re: Version 2.5 beta 2
« Reply #44 on: January 15, 2008, 10:11:04 PM »
Corey any chance of having some more items on the setttings "controls" page... maybe have the ability to add some things like add the game name to the clock or level area.