Messages

61

Help Me / Re: Assisting a Friend Remotely with TD Setup – Keeping Files In Sync

« on: September 11, 2023, 08:59:28 PM »

how are you doing this?  Are you simply copying the modified files from your desktop over to the laptop?

I'll be putzing with all sorts of settings, layouts, stats, etc etc. And worry about capturing everything.
- Is there a way to do a sort of master backup so I can move all changes I've made over to the second machine? I want to make this as idiot proof as possible!

-can you save all data, config, setup files etc in a cloud location where both PCs can access them?

For me, I usually modify layouts and rounds schedules and those types of files on my desktop PC, and I transfer them manually (as in I make note of which files I changed and make sure to transfer those files).  I used to use a thumb drive but now I just drop files into my Dropbox folder to facilitate the transfer.

If you don't want to worry about which files to transfer, and just want to move everything, you can use the backup/restore features found on the Database tab.  The backup feature allows to to pick and choose items to backup (broadly, such as your player database and/or your templates folder, etc).  Whatever you select will be zipped up into a single file, making it easy to move it to another PC, where you can then restore the backup.  This method is more foolproof and requires less work.  But you do need to perform the steps of backing up, copying the backup, and restoring the backup any time you want to switch which PC you're working on.  Otherwise you could forget to transfer something and accidentally overwrite it later.

And yes you can also use Dropbox or OneDrive or other cloud sync options to do this.  You could configure your cloud sync provider to include the Tournament Director folder (in your Documents folder).  I've not done this before, but just a quick glance at the settings in Dropbox and I see where you can configure your Dropbox folder.

Alternatively you can configure the TD to save its data in the default cloud sync folder.  There are two ways I can think of to do this.  First would be to simply create another Data Store inside your cloud sync folder and use that.  To do that you need to create a new Data Store folder and move your existing data from the default Data Store folder to your new one.

To do that, you just need to press the Data Stores button on the Preferences tab, create a new Data Store, and make it the Active data store (right-click and select "Make active").  You would probably then want to exit the TD and copy all of the data from the original Data Store to the new one.  As an example, if I were to do this I would:

* Press the Data Stores button on the Preferences tab
* Press the New button
* Press the Browse... button and browse to my Dropbox folder (or OneDrive or whatever cloud sync app you're using).  In my Dropbox folder I would create a new folder named TournamentDirectorData
* Once I've selected the folder the Data Store name will automatically fill in with the folder name.  Press OK.  You'll be prompted to initialize the data store.  Don't bother, just press Cancel
* Right-click on the Default Data Store and and select Explore folder.  This will open Windows File Explorer to your current Data Store.
* Select all files (should be all folders) and press Ctrl+C to copy them
* Back in the Data Stores window, right-click on the new Data Store and select Explore folder.  When the folder opens in File Explorer, press Ctrl+V to paste, which will copy everything from the current data store to this new one in your cloud sync folder.
* Back in the Data Stores window, right-click on the new Data Store and select Make active

You have now moved all of your data to a new location, which is cloud sync'd, and told the TD to start looking in this new folder for all of those files.

Another way to do this would be to simply tell the TD that your "Documents" folder is somewhere else.  Since the TD, by default, stores all preferences and saved data in your Documents folder, if your Documents folder were inside of your cloud sync folder (or the TD thought it was), you'd get cloud sync automatically.  This method is a little easier, and you get the benefit of including the TD preferences file in your cloud sync.  To configure this method, you just need to create a new file in the right place with the right contents.  In Windows File Explorer, enter %appdata%\TheTournamentDirector into the location bar at the top and press Enter.  This should navigate to one of the TD's installation folders.  For me it opens C:\Users\Corey\AppData\Roaming\TheTournamentDirector.  In this folder, create a new file named "specialFolders.txt" (right-click and select New -> Text Document).  Double-click the new file to edit it and add the following:

documents=C:\Users\Corey\Dropbox\TournamentDirectorData

You'll need to put in the path to the folder you want to use in your cloud sync folder.  I used mine from the previous example.  Once you restart the TD, it will simply pretend the folder you specified is your actual "Documents" folder.  You will still need to copy all of your data from the default data store to this new location.

A note about using cloud sync: while I cannot say this with absolute certainty, I believe some bug reports I have received may be due to the cloud sync software locking files while it syncs.  When this happens, the TD is unable to access the files (even to read them), and you may run into issues.  One issue I have yet to publish the fix for is if the TD is unable to access the data stores preference file when the TD starts up, there's a bug in the TD that will cause the TD to exit instead of continue, and you cannot continue until that file is unlocked.

62

Help Me / Re: points for playing

« on: September 04, 2023, 02:34:01 PM »

Unfortunately at this time there is no way to know what the player would have ranked had they not rebought.

63

Help Me / Re: Random Bounty

« on: September 04, 2023, 02:27:05 PM »

I assume you're triggering your events off of "A random player is chosen for a prize" (for the random bounty) and "A player busts out" for the other bust outs.  Just move the "random bounty" event above the "bust out" event in the list of events.  Both are triggered off of a bust out, but the "random bounty" even will only fire when the random bounty player is knocked out, and skipped on all other bust outs, which will then "fall through" to the "bust out" event.

Use the "Sort Events" button on the left to sort the events, or right-click on any event and select "Move event up" or "Move event down".

64

Templates, Layouts and Sounds / Re: Prizes/Payouts visible at Round 5+

« on: August 18, 2023, 05:02:12 PM »

Sure.  It is a little more complicated than that.  Basically, for the default layout that is blue on odd-numbered rounds and green on even-numbered rounds, there are two property sets for most layout cells: "Even rounds" and "Default".  All cells will have a Default property set, and that one gets used when no other property set matches the current tournament conditions.  So there's an Even Rounds property set that displays the cell in green on even-numbered rounds, and then on odd-numbered rounds there's no specific property set that matches so the Default property set is used to display the cell in blue.

To achieve the effect of hiding the prizes we'll need to create two new property sets, one for even-numbered rounds before round 5 and one for odd-numbered rounds before round 5.  In those property sets we'll hide the prizes.

First, create a new property set and name it "Even Rounds before round 5".  Select this property set and press the "Copy" button.  Select the Even Rounds property set and press Copy.  This will basically make the new property set "Even Rounds before round 5" a copy of the "Even Rounds" property set.  Now press the Conditions button, and then check the "Use advanced conditions" checkbox.  In the "Conditions" input, enter the following:

(roundNum < 5) and (roundNum % 2 = 0)

Press OK to close the Conditions window.  Now click on the Contents and set the value to:

<div style="visibility: hidden">
  <prizes orient="horizontal">
</div>

This will actually render the prizes, but it will be hidden.  That makes it take up the same amount of space on the screen, but the space will be blank.  I personally like this because the other items on the screen will remain the same size.  If you'd rather the cell disappear entirely, you can check the "Hide cell" checkbox, too.

Now repeat the above, but create the property set "Odd Rounds before round 5", and copy the Default property set instead of the "Even Rounds" property set.  Set the Conditions to:

(roundNum < 5) and (roundNum % 2 = 1)

Set the Contents to the same as above.

Finally, move the new property sets to the top of the list using the arrow buttons.  You should end up with something like this:

65

Help Me / Re: Dynamic break

« on: August 18, 2023, 04:19:28 PM »

I've had ad-hoc breaks on my radar for a while, and they're planned for a future version, but they are not here yet.

However, while you can't have an ad-hoc break that acts like a scheduled break (counts down for a specific amount of time then resumes the game automatically), you can certainly have the TD alert you when these conditions arise and pause the clock.

Just create an event that fires when the on-the-bubble players busts-out.  The event can display a message, play a sounds, and/or pause the clock:

66

Help Me / Re: Font not found in TD3

« on: August 18, 2023, 04:08:38 PM »

The name you see underneath each font preview is the correct name.  So in your example case, PP Monument is correct.  I struggled with making this work in all cases, too, and what I found is what seems like a weird quirk of Chromium.  Web documentation says to use quotes when specifying font names that have spaces in them (or numbers or punctuation).  But because the TD basically "injects" font names into the layout, this shouldn't be necessary.  But it turns out it is.  So this is a bug and I'll fix this in an upcoming version.  The quirk, however, is that some font names with spaces work just fine, while others do not and require quotes around them.  I have no idea why.

So, again, I'll fix this in an upcoming version, but for now you can use quotes to work around this.  In the font selector, enter "PP Monument" and hopefully that will make it work.  I don't have PP Monument but I do have Bookshelf Symbol 7 which has the same issue.  Without the quotes, the font remains unchanged (the Sample is using the Times New Roman font, which is the default or fallback font):


With quotes the Sample previews the correct font:


Thanks for bringing this to my attention!

67

Help Me / Re: Font not found in TD3

« on: August 17, 2023, 04:34:48 PM »

This is a limitation of the new framework the TD is now built on.  It's in the release notes that pop-up when you first installed and ran the TD software.  You can read the release notes from the "About" window - just right-click anywhere and select "About The Tournament Director", then press the "Release Info" button.  I believe there has been some progress towards being able to access the installed fonts, but I have not had a chance to explorer it yet.  Hopefully this will be addressed in a future version.  FYI, just because it doesn't show up in the list doesn't mean you can't use it.  You just need to write in the font name yourself, and make sure you type the name exactly.

68

General Discussion / Re: Hello and thank you!

« on: August 14, 2023, 10:10:49 PM »

Thanks!  Yes, there's always a new version in the works, but it is definitely a much slower cycle nowadays.  Finding time to work on the software is becoming harder every day, but I still love to do it so I find time when I can.

69

Help Me / Re: need formula for a tournament

« on: August 14, 2023, 10:09:43 PM »

Computing the chips is pretty easy.  If you're not using the Points for Playing formula for something else, just set Points for Playing to:

max(0, 11 - r) * 1000

If you're already using Points for Playing, you can set your Tournament Score formula (on your Stats Profile) to the above formula instead, and then set one of the Overall Score formulas to:

sum(scores)

However, when players chop you're going to have to manually intervene.  In this case it will be easier if you're using Points for Playing.  Then you can edit a player and set their Points Adjustment field to a positive or negative value in order to get the right value.  But there's no way to do that when using Tournament Score and Overall Score formulas.  You'd have to do that part yourself, outside of computing stats.

70

Help Me / Re: On going points for league

« on: August 14, 2023, 01:18:21 PM »

So there is not a function to do a season where it auto collects points from game to game. Like if I wanted to use it to create a final table after say 10 games. I have to save the files. Open them, and add them all up one at a time?

If thats not a function of the program it would be a cool addition

This is a feature today.  On the Stats tab, press the "Refresh Stats" button.  Each saved tournament will be scanned and stats computed and displayed.

71

Help Me / Re: On going points for league

« on: August 05, 2023, 02:39:50 PM »

Sorry I bought this today and have been playing with the program for a couple hours. Added all of last nights stats  from last night in. Simulated the game. I got everything the way I want it. However when I click new game to start a new game in our season, I lose the previous games points. How do I end a game, save the points and have it track with the players until the season ends?

Tournaments should be saved individually, each into its own file.  Think of setting up and running a tournament like writing up an email or document.  When you write your next document, you don't clear out the contents of the last one and start writing again.  You save the last one and start a new one.  That way you have both.  Unless of course your next document is very similar to the first one, in which case you would load the first document, make some minor changes, and then save it as a new file (not save over the last document).

Tournaments are the same.  Start a new tournament, configure it, run it, save it as its own file.  Actually it should be more like:

* Start a new tournament
* Save it as its own file (with a unique file name)
* Configure it
* Save it
* Run it
* Save it

In other words, make sure you save often so you don't lose anything if there's an accident or unexpected event (like a power outage).  Or even better:

* Start a new tournament
* Click Auto save
* Give the tournament a unique file name and save it
* Configure it
* Run it

After you run your first tournament, you can easily use that first tournament as a basis for your next one.

* Load the last tournament
* Save it as a new file.  Make sure this is the first thing you do so you don't accidentally save over the previous tournament.  So after loading the previous tournament, immediately press Save As... and give it a new file name
* Press Reset on the Game tab to reset the tournament
* Make any changes you need to (different players?  different structure?  etc)

Statistics are computed using those saved tournament files.  If you don't save your tournament, there's nothing from which to compute.

Also if we decided to run two tournaments back to back is there a way to simply end the game and start a new one?

I think this is covered by the last steps above: after the first tournament ends (and since you're running back-to-back, you've already got the first tournament loaded and up and running), after making sure the first tournament is saved, press the Save As... button and save it as a new file, press Reset, and you're off on to the next tournament.

72

Help Me / Re: Edit BlindsSchedule screen

« on: July 21, 2023, 06:11:43 PM »

Unfortunately right now this isn't possible because the built-in screens (Player Rankings, Seating Chart, etc) don't have the ability to embed layout tokens in them.  But that's on the list, although it's still unclear exactly how that will be implemented.  It would be ideal to be able to make the content of the built-in screens into layout tokens, then the built-in screens would basically be built like any other layout screen (fully modifiable).  Alternatively it might be better (and easier) to simply allow layout tokens to be used in the header and footer of the built-in screens.

73

Help Me / Re: Calculating and showing average big bets

« on: July 18, 2023, 11:00:35 AM »

Close:

buyins + totalRebuys

Unfortunately the <expression> token today isn't linked into the formula window, so you have to go over to the "Points for Playing" field on the Game tab to work on the formula you'd like the <expression> token to display.

74

Help Me / Re: Player entry problem

« on: July 18, 2023, 10:56:56 AM »

Excellent advice, Stuart.  However, I think in this case slimyslim is not referring to the Find field, but rather what happens when you don't have the Find field open.  In that case, your keystrokes will cause the list to "jump" to the corresponding player, whereas using Find causes the list to filter out names that don't match, leaving you with a shorter list.

I had to go back to the code to make sure how this works, and one take away was you need know that the field your keystrokes are matched against is the column you are sorting your list by, which will also depend on which columns you are showing.  If you've only got the default "Name" field showing, as in Stuart's screenshot, obviously it should match that column.  But if you have other columns showing, like First name or Last name, it will match on the column that is being used to sort the list.

75

Help Me / Re: Player entry problem

« on: July 17, 2023, 01:51:22 PM »

Odd indeed.  I just tried it with a DB of 350 players and it seemed to work just fine for me.  Probably something to do with your specific database.  Hard to really diagnose without that data.  If you'd care to share it I'd be happy to look.  Email me at support@thetournamentdirector.net if you would like me to investigate it more closely.