Menu Changes | Analysis Line Promotion | Right click menus | Drag 'n Drop | New analysis methods |
Analysis Trees | Save search criteria | File and game validation | Keyboard shortcuts | Miscellaneous |
Changes
To Menus
A number of changes have been made to the menus from earlier versions,
and this document supersedes the help file..
The Search menu has been removed, and redistributed as follows:
Search | to Position Menu |
Quick Search | to Position menu as "Search on current position" |
Find Duplicates | to File Menu |
Open XRF File | to File Menu |
File | Convert XRF File to Tree - see in
appropriate section under Trees
Validate - File self-validation |
Game | Validate - Check the currently open game for internal errors. See under file self-validation for more details |
Position - Analysis | Attach and Attach on close
- see under new method of adding analysis
Make Tree File - uses the current position to make an analysis tree and stores in a new file Add Tree - uses the current position to make an analysis tree and stores in the current game Next Alternative see navigation in Trees Previous Alternative see navigation in Trees Find Line - see navigation in Trees |
List | Convert To Tree - use the references in a currently open XRF file (if the correct type) to make an analysis tree. |
Help | Extra help for V2.5 - on the first use, you may be asked to supply a full path name to an application which will display HTML files. |
Analysis
Line Promotion - improved version
You can now promote from any level to any other lower level. All analysis
is maintained, and the old main line, in whatever board you are promoting
to, is turned into analysis, with any analysis after the insertion point
also maintained. In other words, nothing is lost, but the game is restructured.
Any open analysis boards are closed to do this. If this is necessary,
you will be warned, and have a chance to back out.
The method is either to select a line and use the main menu (Position
- Analysis - Promote), or right click on a selected line and use the
popup, or (quickest) use drag and drop (see below). Promotion is done as
far as the main line of the board in which you selected the analysis line
- i.e. if the board in which you select the line is itself an analysis
board, promotion will only be done as far as its own main line.
Drag 'n
Drop.
You can drag moves from the move list, or lines
from the lines list to various places, as in the table below. Dragging
and dropping with any other combination of source and destination will
have no effect. The symbol * used in the destination column means that
you can drop anywhere in the designated area. If the symbol * is not shown,
the exact position of the drop is used.
Source | Destination | Meaning |
Move List | Another Board * | Merge moves. Extend main line (if relevant) and add analysis nodes as suitable. (Program finds matching position) |
Move List | Another Move List | Merge moves. The positions MUST match immediately before the move indicated. |
Analysis List | Own board or own move list * | Promote analysis to main line of active board. |
Analysis List | A main line board, move or analysis list in a different game * | Add this analysis to destination board. The analysis must be at level 1, and any nested analysis will also be merged. Positions MUST match at the move where the new analysis is to be inserted. |
Analysis List | Another line in same list | Promote to main variation in destination line, which must be in the same chain (sub-line promotion). |
Normally a merge is almost instantaneous, although there is a lot of processing taking place. However, when I tried merging a complex tree of more than 2500 lines into a game without any analysis, it took an appreciable time (around a couple of minutes on a Pentium 200PRO with 128MB extra memory) - but at least it worked!.
New Method
of Adding Analysis
Double click on a move in the main line. You will get a board with
green surround (adding analysis) and showing all the moves in the main
line up to the point at which you clicked. You may edit this is any way
you like, overwriting it, or adding new moves. To turn it into analysis,
go to the Position menu (or use the right click menu) and "Attach".
Alternatively, if you have "Attach on close" checked in the menu
(it is checked by default), the analysis will be attached when you close
the board. This means that you can now have analysis without having to
have a main line. (If you double clicked on the last move of a game, then
added more moves, this will become analysis – a posible continuation rather
than an extension to the main line). This should be useful for games in
progress, coupled with the new promotion options. One minor restriction
is that for technical reasons you can only have one of these boards open
at once. Before adding another line, you must "Attach" or abandon
the current one.
The old method stays for the moment for those who are used to it. Even here there is a way, albeit a clumsy one, to add a possible continuation without having to have a main line. Just use the menu Game - Result to set a result. "Incomplete" (Game – Result – Incomplete) is probably best. Then add analysis to the last move using the old "IF" method. When you later add more moves to the main line, the old "result" is removed, but the analysis stays. This has always been possible (and requested) – but I only realised how to do it while working on the latest changes!
Trees
Tree Files and Display – Some inevitable
compromises...
Tree files are simply GMS files with a lot of analysis. ("Simply" is
a bit of an understatement, in view of the amount of new code which has
gone in to support them!) This is not ideal, but better than nothing. There
will be better ways of displaying the data in V3, but I was not about to
reinvent the Tree control for WIN31! By keeping Trees as GMS files, you
can put them in separate files, or mix them into any other file. They can
be named differently from games (see below). But since tree files can be
very large, my own feeling is that they are better handled on their own.
A Tree will show a summary of results from each line in the Analysis Lines window, and the result of each line at the end of its moves (if a result was recorded). Unfortunately, there is nowhere to store the text details of each line (such as who played who) given the current file format. This is a drawback, I know, but if you have an XRF file of the same tree (see below), you will at least be able to look up more details of lines there. It is also very awkward, given the current database design, to transfer comments and annotations from their source games to the tree, so I have not done so. I hope you can live with this for the sake of the extra features until V3 comes along. (You may like to know that in version 3, trees are automatically created as a consequence of the database design - now completed).
I have tested trees up to 4000 lines, resulting in Analysis 16 levels deep (one game in the Ruy Lopez branched at move 36!). The display in the list of analysis lines has been altered to simplify navigation, and a horizontal scroll bar has been added.
Tree Name
In v2.5 the tree takes its name from the Remark field in the Game Details,
if this field is not blank. Otherwise, it will try first to use the Opening,
and then the Player names. If you make a tree from the search dialog (see
below), you will be able to type in a name for the tree in that dialog.
To name an otherwise anonymous Tree, go into the Game Details as
if for a normal game, and edit the Remark field.
Making from the menu
You can make a tree which is saved on its own, or add a tree to the
current game. If you use the menu (Position - Analysis - Make (or Add)
Tree) to do this, you will also be able to choose between using the
current file or all files. When a tree is made it is immediately displayed
in the current game (if "adding") or on its own, so that you can go into
Game Details and edit the name (Remark field – see above). Note that all
the old Search options are now to be found in the Position menu, which
seems more natural.
Making from the Search Dialog
You can make a tree from the Search Dialog by clicking on the Make
Tree box. You can also give the tree a name (Position tab). Trees can
only be constructed from exact position or ECO code searches. If you select
the Make XRF box as well, you will also get the normal Cross Reference
file (otherwise the program will make a temporary one). The program will
ask you for a name for the XRF file (unless it’s to be a temporary one),
and when the search has completed, it will ask you for a name for the tree
file, which it will then make from the XRF file (temporary or otherwise).
One obvious consequence of this is that you can now effectively make Opening Books from any ECO code.
Navigation
Trees can be very large, and it can be difficult to find what you want
in them (as I discovered during debugging!). A few tools have been added
to make things easier. To find any line starting with a certain move (e.g.
Nd2), use Position - Analysis - Find Line. Type in the move you're
interested in, and use Next or Previous as required. Once
a line has been defined in this way, you can use Control + N or
Control + P to look for the next or previous instances of the same
move in the list of lines. Those familiar with Windows may prefer to use
F3 and Shift F3 to do the same thing. Note that this way
of finding a line does not take move number, depth of line, or colour into
account. Also note that in order to use Control + N for this purpose,
the old use of this key, which turned the board algebraic surround on or
off, has been replaced by Control + A.
A second way of getting around, which may be more useful in many cases, is available whenever an analysis line is already selected - either by you or by the program as you play through the game. If you now use Shift UP or DOWN arrows, the program will highlight the next alternative at the same move (if any). This way you can quickly see all available alternatives at any move, which may be widely separated in the list of analysis lines for a large tree. The menu options Next Alternative and Previous Alternative (in Position - Analysis) do the same thing.
Both these searches wrap round - i.e. they automatically continue searching from the start of the list when the end has been reached, and vice-versa.
Making from an XRF file
When a suitable XRF file is open in a list window (suitable means that
it has been made either from a search on an exact position, or an ECO code),
the menu option "List - Convert to Tree" is enabled. Please note
that any XRF files made before V2.5 are not convertible as there has been
a small change to the format. However, 2.5 will of course still be able
to use these files for all other purposes.
There is also an option (in the file menu) to make a tree directly
from an XRF file without having to open it first. If the XRF file does
not support trees (pre 2.5), the program will tell you.
Search
Dialog – Save search criteria
There are now buttons on the Dialog to enable you to save and reload
any set of criteria to a QRY file (Save/Load Settings).
Right Click
Menus
There are now right click menus to be found in
a number of places. The best way of finding them is by using the right
button - for instance, select an analysis line, then right click - or right
click on the board, and so on.
Validate
You can now validate files or games. This is an important check if
you are finding that crashes occur when you use any multi-file functions,
such as searching. This can be caused by a corrupt file, perhaps one which
has not been used for some time, so the corruption has not come to light.
Needless to say, such problems are very difficult to track down, so validation
has been added as much for my peace of mind as yours! File - Validate
option allows you to validate all files or a selected one. The program
will attempt to repair any errors it finds. The bad news is that most types
of error (such as corrupt indexes) cannot be repaired. The good news is
that by far the most common errors are a type that can be repaired - internal
errors within a game. As a rough guide, when validating my own collection
of about 150,000 games, I found no errors which could not be repaired.
It is nevertheless a good idea to back up all your data files before validating them. If validation reports that a game cannot be repaired, you should probably try to delete it, although if the culprits were internal references, it may be impossible for the program to find the different parts of the game. There is a last resort option (see below) to delete faulty analysis. If all else fails, you will probably still be able to extract all the valid games to a different file, and then delete the old file. If a corrupt index is reported (unlikely), you will probably be able to extract all the games either side of the corrupt index (e.g. if the error is reported at game no 12, extract games 1-11 and 13 onwards). However, the program does not try to do this automatically, as further errors could have serious consequences for the remainder of the validation checking.
Other action to try on validation failure: Use the options in the Tools - Options - System tab to deal with games separately. (Note that these options do not apply to file validation - they only work on a game by game basis). These options allow you to proceed a step at a time. Until you check Validate on Open, the game will be opened anyway (if possible), so that you can try to see what the problem is yourself. If you check Validate on Open without checking Attempt Repair, any faulty game will not be opened. If you check Attempt Repair as well, a faulty game will be opened only if it can be repaired (and you should then re-save it, of course). In the last resort, check Delete Orphans to remove any analysis that the program cannot attach to a parent line (and this is by far the most common cause of validation failure). This may of course have a far-reaching effect, but may be better than losing the game altogether. It is not a good idea to check any of these options unless you are specifically investigating a particular set of games, as although it may appear to make little difference to the speed of opening or saving a game, you will certainly notice a slow down if you do a search or any other multi-file operation with these options on.
You may also validate any currently open game (Game - Validate), though if it seems to be working OK, it's probably fine. (If it's not broke, don't try to fix it!)
Keyboard
shortcuts
Delete (Analysis
line). You can now delete an
analysis line by selecting it and pressing the Delete
key. This will only have any effect when the Analysis list window has the
focus, and since you can’t tell by looking, that effectively means just
after you’ve selected the line you want to delete, and before you click
on something else – which is more or less what you’d do anyway!
Control Double Click on Analysis
lines
In order to simplify viewing of analysis lines without all the lines
which lead to them being opened, it is now possible to view an analysis
line on a separate board as though it was the main line. Hold down the
Control key when double clicking on an analysis line. The line is
then opened as if it was a new game, starting at move 1. If you want to
save it separately, you can do so, though you might like to complete the
game details first, since these will be blank.
Control + S
This will now save a game - or call Save As
if that is appropriate. Save Into may be reached through Control
+ Shift + S.
Other new shortcuts are Control + A, Control + N, Control + P, F3,
Shift F3, Shift + UP/DOWN. See under Trees
- Navigation.
Other changes
XRF files do not now abort when a game cannot be found, but if there
are missing references, the search analysis dialog may refuse to show certain
subsets of data (though it will show the complete set satisfactorily -
or rather, as much as it has managed to find).
Copy Moves to Clipboard will now copy only the moves in the active board - so if this is an Analysis Board, it will not copy the game moves, only the ones in the analysis line.
Save Into now works correctly in that it subsequently allows a normal Save as well as a Save As.
Import from and Export to PGN will now cope with starting positions. PGN imports have also been tweaked so that a faulty move in analysis - which occurs more frequently than a mistake in a main line - is ignored and does not cause a "bad game" error. The analysis in such cases is imported up to the point that the error was encountered.
Freeware features |