Feedback on XBoard menu dialogs welcome

[hgm]

I have a reasonably presentable version of XBoard now that implements menu dialogs XBoard so far was lacking. I also redid some existing popups, such as the Edit-Comment and Edit-Tags popups, the New-Variant dialog, the ICS Input Box, in order to simplify the code. There also is a user-configurable ICS Text Menu to send prepared commands to an ICS.

I am open to feedback on the current design. What option settings would you like in addition to see in dialogs, should there be more dialogs, etc.

The sources can be downloaded as the latest snapshot from the "popups" branch in my on-line repository:

http://hgm.nubati.net/cgi-bin/gitweb.cg ... ads/popups

[Peter Skinner]

I have a reasonably presentable version of XBoard now that implements menu dialogs XBoard so far was lacking. I also redid some existing popups, such as the Edit-Comment and Edit-Tags popups, the New-Variant dialog, the ICS Input Box, in order to simplify the code. There also is a user-configurable ICS Text Menu to send prepared commands to an ICS.

I am open to feedback on the current design. What option settings would you like in addition to see in dialogs, should there be more dialogs, etc.

The sources can be downloaded as the latest snapshot from the "popups" branch in my on-line repository:

http://hgm.nubati.net/cgi-bin/gitweb.cg ... ads/popups

It compiles cleanly under Windows, but I don't see the ICS Text Menu to send prepared commands anywhere.

Where could this be?

[hgm]

It should be in the View menu, but it is only enabled in ICS mode. To see something when you click it, the -icsMenu option should be defined, though. I the xboard.conf file that is in git I did put some demo definition:

Code: Select all

-icsMenu {+Q,ptell Give me a Queen!
-Q,ptell Don't let him have a Queen!
+R,ptell Give me a Rook!
-R,ptell Don't let him have a Rook!
+B,ptell Give me a Bishop!
-B,ptell Don't let him have a Bishop!
+N,ptell Give me a Knight!
-N,ptell Don't let him have a Knight!
+P,ptell Give me a Pawn!
-P,ptell Don't let him have a Pawn!
Who,who
}

So make sure this .conf file is installed.

In the future I want to converge the format for this option to what WinBoard has now. There you can indicate by two numbers 0 or 1 if it should send the command immediately, or just write it in the input field so the user can complete it, and if it should include the name you clicked to bring up the context menu. XBoard uses the X-term console for ICS output, though, so I cannot bring up the context menu like it happens in WinBoard, and as a consequence there is no such thing as the "clicked name". It might be possible to use the X-selection, though.

[Peter Skinner]

It should be in the View menu, but it is only enabled in ICS mode. To see something when you click it, the -icsMenu option should be defined, though. I the xboard.conf file that is in git I did put some demo definition:

Code: Select all

-icsMenu {+Q,ptell Give me a Queen!
-Q,ptell Don't let him have a Queen!
+R,ptell Give me a Rook!
-R,ptell Don't let him have a Rook!
+B,ptell Give me a Bishop!
-B,ptell Don't let him have a Bishop!
+N,ptell Give me a Knight!
-N,ptell Don't let him have a Knight!
+P,ptell Give me a Pawn!
-P,ptell Don't let him have a Pawn!
Who,who
}

So make sure this .conf file is installed.

In the future I want to converge the format for this option to what WinBoard has now. There you can indicate by two numbers 0 or 1 if it should send the command immediately, or just write it in the input field so the user can complete it, and if it should include the name you clicked to bring up the context menu. XBoard uses the X-term console for ICS output, though, so I cannot bring up the context menu like it happens in WinBoard, and as a consequence there is no such thing as the "clicked name". It might be possible to use the X-selection, though.

I see. It would be great if a command window for ICS mode would allow one to input various commands, and save them as a term. Then when the user wanted to execute that command, it was available via an ICS menu. One could have several batch commands saved for ease of use later on.

This would be nice for tournament managers and ICS admins.

Peter

[hgm]

I am not sure what exactly you propose here. In WinBoard the ICS context menu contains user configurable commands. Do you want to have a way to set the -icsMenu option to configure it from the menu? It would be easy enough to let the Edit-Tags dialog act on the -icsMenu (as I already added menu items to edit the -first/secondChessProgramNames and -icsNames).

[smatovic]

I am open to feedback on the current design. What option settings would you like in addition to see in dialogs, should there be more dialogs, etc.

Compiles and runs fine under Ubuntu Linux 10.10.

Optic looks like an huge improvement to me. With the yellow arrows i can follow games a lot of easier. thx.

--
Srdja

[Peter Skinner]

I am not sure what exactly you propose here. In WinBoard the ICS context menu contains user configurable commands. Do you want to have a way to set the -icsMenu option to configure it from the menu? It would be easy enough to let the Edit-Tags dialog act on the -icsMenu (as I already added menu items to edit the -first/secondChessProgramNames and -icsNames).

I would like a window to popup from a menu item that will allow me to enter 5 or 6 commands and be saved as a single command. For instance:

Window pops up, and I type in the commands:

peter create tournament
peter set time control 50
peter set inc control 3
peter set name CCT 14
peter set open

All of the above would be saved under a command "CCT 14" from a menu dialogue, and when clicked on, would issue all those commands in the order they appear.

Then I could set multiple menu items based on event type and name. Do you see what I mean?

Peter

[hgm]

Just to be sure: are you talking about WinBoard or XBoard now?

In WinBoard the ability to hide prepared user-defined commands under a button is realized through the ICS context menu. This includes groups of multiple commands like you show above. Currently, the only way to configure that in WinBoard, however, is to edit the settings file, in particular the /icsMenu={...} multi-line part of it.

I guess there are really two issues here:
1) It should be possible to configure this from the menus, rather than through editing a settings file.
2) Parsing of the menu string to recogize the items is crappy, making definition of multi-line commands very non-obvious.

The current syntax of the menu string is

Code: Select all

<menuDefinition> &#58;= <itemDefinition>
                | <itemDefinition> ';' <menuDefinition>
                | <itemDefinition> '\n' <menuDefinition>
<itemDefinition> &#58;= <menuText> ',' <IcsCommand> ',' <number> ',' <number>
<number> &#58;= '0'
                | '1'

Parsing of the definition strig is currently a bit flakey, though, as after locating the second number (third comma) in an item, it does not test if the following character is a ';' or linefeed separator, but simply skips to the next one. This can cause problems by skipping to an intra-command ';' of a following item (thus getting out of phase, and skipping a number of item definitions). Perhaps I should make that more stringent. But then in principle the followig item definition should always work:

Code: Select all

CCT 14,peter create tournament
peter set time control 50
peter set inc control 3
peter set name CCT 14 
peter set open,0,1

The second point is how to allow making such a definition from the menu, rather than by editing an ini file. But when there wold be a dialog that brigs up the entire -icsMenu string for editing (similar to the "Options -> Add ICS..." menu that brigs up an edit dialog for the -icsNames option), wouldn't that be good enough?

Perhaps I should allow the syntax of the definition string to be more free-format, allowing the use of tabs and linefeeds which are then ignored (i.e. ignore a linefeed after comma, and all tabs after linefeed). This would allow the menu-definition string to appear in the edit box as:

Code: Select all

CCT 14,
        peter create tournament
        peter set time control 50
        peter set inc control 3
        peter set name CCT 14 
        peter set open,
0,1
who,
        who,
0,1
finger (name),
        finger,
1,1

An alterative would be to switch to a format that puts the numbers specifing the behavior immediately behind the item text. Or better yet, do away with the numbers completely, and adopt the convetion that any %s in the command would be replaced by the clicked word in stead, and that commands that end in an empty line are sent immediately:

Code: Select all

CCT 14;
        peter create tournament
        peter set time control 50
        peter set inc control 3
        peter set name CCT 14 
        peter set open

shout;
        shout
tell (name);
        tell %s
who;
        who

finger (name);
        finger %s

mailstore (name);
        mailstor %s -1

It would make the editing of existing commands, or adding new ones a much more intuitive process. And by using ';' after the item text in stead of ',' to indicate this new format, it can be destinguished from the old format without loss of backward compatibility.

Would that satisfy your needs?

[Peter Skinner]

Just to be sure: are you talking about WinBoard or XBoard now?

In WinBoard the ability to hide prepared user-defined commands under a button is realized through the ICS context menu. This includes groups of multiple commands like you show above. Currently, the only way to configure that in WinBoard, however, is to edit the settings file, in particular the /icsMenu={...} multi-line part of it.

I guess there are really two issues here:
1) It should be possible to configure this from the menus, rather than through editing a settings file.
2) Parsing of the menu string to recogize the items is crappy, making definition of multi-line commands very non-obvious.

The current syntax of the menu string is

Code: Select all

<menuDefinition> &#58;= <itemDefinition>
                | <itemDefinition> ';' <menuDefinition>
                | <itemDefinition> '\n' <menuDefinition>
<itemDefinition> &#58;= <menuText> ',' <IcsCommand> ',' <number> ',' <number>
<number> &#58;= '0'
                | '1'

Parsing of the definition strig is currently a bit flakey, though, as after locating the second number (third comma) in an item, it does not test if the following character is a ';' or linefeed separator, but simply skips to the next one. This can cause problems by skipping to an intra-command ';' of a following item (thus getting out of phase, and skipping a number of item definitions). Perhaps I should make that more stringent. But then in principle the followig item definition should always work:

Code: Select all

CCT 14,peter create tournament
peter set time control 50
peter set inc control 3
peter set name CCT 14 
peter set open,0,1

The second point is how to allow making such a definition from the menu, rather than by editing an ini file. But when there wold be a dialog that brigs up the entire -icsMenu string for editing (similar to the "Options -> Add ICS..." menu that brigs up an edit dialog for the -icsNames option), wouldn't that be good enough?

Perhaps I should allow the syntax of the definition string to be more free-format, allowing the use of tabs and linefeeds which are then ignored (i.e. ignore a linefeed after comma, and all tabs after linefeed). This would allow the menu-definition string to appear in the edit box as:

Code: Select all

CCT 14,
        peter create tournament
        peter set time control 50
        peter set inc control 3
        peter set name CCT 14 
        peter set open,
0,1
who,
        who,
0,1
finger (name),
        finger,
1,1

An alterative would be to switch to a format that puts the numbers specifing the behavior immediately behind the item text. Or better yet, do away with the numbers completely, and adopt the convetion that any %s in the command would be replaced by the clicked word in stead, and that commands that end in an empty line are sent immediately:

Code: Select all

CCT 14;
        peter create tournament
        peter set time control 50
        peter set inc control 3
        peter set name CCT 14 
        peter set open

shout;
        shout
tell (name);
        tell %s
who;
        who

finger (name);
        finger %s

mailstore (name);
        mailstor %s -1

It would make the editing of existing commands, or adding new ones a much more intuitive process. And by using ';' after the item text in stead of ',' to indicate this new format, it can be destinguished from the old format without loss of backward compatibility.

Would that satisfy your needs?

Yes I suppose that would satisfy them. Let me know when you have something I can compile and test.

Peter

[Dirt]

I am open to feedback on the current design. What option settings would you like in addition to see in dialogs, should there be more dialogs, etc.

Why, when I paste in this game, am I told that Houdini doesn't support variant wild35?

[Event "W 035"]
[Site "W 035"]
[Date "1989.??.??"]
[EventDate "1989.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[Result "0-1"]
[White "H R Rost"]
[Black "E Sneiders"]
[ECO "C34"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[BlackElo "?"]
[PlyCount "20"]

1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e5 Nh5 5. Be2 d6 6. O-O dxe5
7. Nxe5 Bc5+ 8. Kh1 Ng3+ {? This tempting sacrifice is unsound.}
9. hxg3 fxg3 10. d4 {? 10.Bb5+! followed by 11.Qh5! keeps White's
advantage} Qh4+ 0-1

(Another problem I have is that I only see half the menus. For instance, in edit position I only see the black options. I'm using Fedora 13, though, with who know what software environment. I doubt anyone can help if they cannot reproduce it.)