Shut off splash graphic in Vassal 3.0 ?

[Brent Easton]

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On 15/01/2008 at 12:22 PM Joel Uckelman wrote:

I'm not sure that we need a spec document. Is there anything more to
it than

1) creating a launcher which loads VASSAL
2) creating a launcher which loads VASSAL + editor
3) showing a splash screen for each while it loads, which can be
switched off
4) moving editor-related buttons into menus in the editor
5) moving server status button into a 'Tools' menu?

I think Ben was hoping to see

6) write new front-end with gui support for tracking modules/games/logs etc.


____________________________________________________________
Brent Easton
Analyst/Programmer
University of Western Sydney
Email: b.easton@uws.edu.au


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[bsmith]

1) creating a launcher which loads VASSAL
2) creating a launcher which loads VASSAL + editor
3) showing a splash screen for each while it loads, which can be
switched off
4) moving editor-related buttons into menus in the editor
5) moving server status button into a 'Tools' menu?

No prob. Looks fine to me.

[rk]

1) creating a launcher which loads VASSAL
2) creating a launcher which loads VASSAL + editor
3) showing a splash screen for each while it loads, which can be
switched off

These are all good. For the splash screen, we should try to show a module-specific image if VASSAL is launched specifying a module file on the command line. This used to be accomplished by telling module editors to include a file named " Splash.gif" Now the About Screen component should provide the splash image, but you have to at least parse the buildFile before you know what it is, and parsing the buildFile is one of the time-consuming operations during which that you'd like to have a splash screen up. You really need a well-known file name for the splash image if you're going to display it right at the start. One idea is to make AboutScreen automatically rename the image to Splash.XXX when saving.

4) moving editor-related buttons into menus in the editor

Good.

5) moving server status button into a 'Tools' menu?

The reason people asked for a server status button in the main window was so that they could check to see what games were being played before deciding which module to load. We should still make this possible.

rk

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[bsmith]

The reason people asked for a server status button in the main window was so that they could check to see what games were being played before deciding which module to load. We should still make this possible.

This shouldn't be an issue Rodney, they would go into Tools|Server Status to see which games are being played; Then go into File|Load Module. Or we could even put a button on the Server Status dialog to eliminate the extra clicks.

Is that kind of what you were thinking of doing Joel?

[uckelman]

Thus spake "bsmith":

The reason people asked for a server status button in the main window was s

o that they could check to see what games were being played before deciding w
hich module to load. We should still make this possible.


This shouldn't be an issue Rodney, they would go into Tools|Server Status to
see which games are being played; Then go into File|Load Module. Or we coul
d even put a button on the Server Status dialog to eliminate the extra clicks
.

Is that kind of what you were thinking of doing Joel?

Yes, exactly.

--
J.

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[bsmith]

Joel. Before I forget.

One more thing you need to add to your list for when you do the interface mods, we need to popup a username/password prompt if a user attempts to open a module with no login details configured.

I also suggest not using "Please enter your full name as your username", I doubt many users adhere to that rule.

[uckelman]

Thus spake "Rodney Kinney":

1) creating a launcher which loads VASSAL
2) creating a launcher which loads VASSAL + editor
3) showing a splash screen for each while it loads, which can be
switched off

These are all good. For the splash screen, we should try to show a
module-specific image if VASSAL is launched specifying a module file on the
command line. This used to be accomplished by telling module editors to
include a file named "Splash.gif" Now the About Screen component should
provide the splash image, but you have to at least parse the buildFile
before you know what it is, and parsing the buildFile is one of the
time-consuming operations during which that you'd like to have a splash
screen up. You really need a well-known file name for the splash image if
you're going to display it right at the start. One idea is to make
AboutScreen automatically rename the image to Splash.XXX when saving.

4) moving editor-related buttons into menus in the editor

Good.

5) moving server status button into a 'Tools' menu?

The reason people asked for a server status button in the main window was so
that they could check to see what games were being played before deciding
which module to load. We should still make this possible.

rk

Rodney,

I'm looking at this now and I'm seeing some things in Main which I
don't understand. What's the purpose of the -auto option? It looks
to me like it causes an empty module to be loaded. Why do that?

--
J.

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[rk]

What's the purpose of the -auto option?

It's possible to embed a module in a .jar file in the classpath rather than have to load it from a file. The commercial Dan Verssen modules are distributed this way, as will the latest version of VASL. The -auto option instructs VASSAL to look for and launch an embedded module.

rk

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[uckelman]

I have something for people to look at now:

http://www.nomic.net/~uckelman/tmp/vass ... splash.zip

Unlike other builds I've posted, this one is really just a mock-up. I don't
recommend that anyone actually use it for playing a game. Once you've opened
a module and had a look at the menus, there's nothing else to see.

What is here:

* No splash screen.
* If you run this build, you'll get the Player only (right now there is no
way to get the Editor).
* Server Status, Preferences moved to the Tools menu.
* Everything related to Files is under the File menu.

What I still intend to do:

* Add back a splash screen which can be turned off in the Preferences.
* Show the Welcome Wizard or something like it in a dialog over the
main window, which can also be turned off in the Preferences.
* Make the entries in the menus enabled/disabled as appropriate.

[bsmith]

I have something for people to look at now:

http://www.nomic.net/~uckelman/tmp/vass ... splash.zip

Unlike other builds I've posted, this one is really just a mock-up. I don't
recommend that anyone actually use it for playing a game. Once you've opened
a module and had a look at the menus, there's nothing else to see.

Looks fine to me Joel.

[uckelman]

Here's a version of the consoleless/wizardless version which is current with
the trunk, and mostly works:

http://www.nomic.net/~uckelman/tmp/vass ... vn3004.zip

Left to do:

* Add a splash screen which displays on startup, which can be turned off.
* Pop up a dialog to get username/password when VASSAL has none.
* Create a launcher for the Editor.

[uckelman]

This builds add a splash screen which displays on startup, but which can be
turned off in the preferences:

http://www.nomic.net/~uckelman/tmp/vass ... vn3005.zip

Left to do:

* Pop up a dialog to get username/password when VASSAL has none.
* Create a launcher for the Editor.

[bsmith]

This builds add a splash screen which displays on startup, but which can be
turned off in the preferences:

http://www.nomic.net/~uckelman/tmp/vass ... vn3005.zip

Left to do:

* Pop up a dialog to get username/password when VASSAL has none.
* Create a launcher for the Editor.

Very nice, thanks Joel. By the way, the batch file is throwing "could not find the main class"

[uckelman]

Thus spake "bsmith":

Very nice, thanks Joel. By the way, the batch file is throwing "could not fi
nd the main class"

Thanks for spotting that. It will be fixed the next time I post a build.

--
J.

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[uckelman]

This builds gets the Editor to work (maybe, as I haven't thoroughly tested
it) and corrects the Windows batch file:

http://www.nomic.net/~uckelman/tmp/vass ... vn3012.zip

Left to do:

* Pop up a dialog to get username/password when VASSAL has none.

Also:

* Does anyone know whether the "Translate VASSAL" option really depends
on GameModule? (I think it doesn't.) This matters for determining when
exactly the option is enabled.

* Does anyone have an opinon on what the names of the launchers should be?
Should the player be VASSAL? VASSALPlayer? Player? Something else?
Should the editor be VASSALEditor? Editor? Something else?

Should we call the player Rodney and the editor Kinney? (Joking.)