War Cabinet 0.8.3 is available!

[ErikCumps]

Originally Posted by Larry2017

About the mechanism for displaying: PreferencesHelp2.png. That mechanism: "select the question mark icon at the top of the dialog box and click on the input field" doesn't seem like a standard UI interface process to me. I can't say that I've ever seen it used.

In my opinion, helpful hints need be obvious; background text or a question mark icon to the right of the field. Having to click twice to see a hint is at least one click too many. But that's just my opinion and I'm not the programmer, you are.

Larry2017,

This is not a mechanism that I invented.

It's the "What's This?" help feature, for which the Qt framework has standard support.
It seems this feature has gone out of fashion, which is why you don't see it very often
anymore.

Except in War Cabinet, but that's simply because it is old: the first implementation
of the preferences dialog box dates from... 2005.

Yes, 15 years of War Cabinet already!

For more info about the "What's this?", see here.

Erik

[ErikCumps]

Originally Posted by ErikCumps

Meanwhile work has started on improving this:

Done:

• The item name has changed from "Path:" to "Installation:"
• The note now explicitly mentions "installation folder"

I agree with your suggestion to remove references to "game config".

In the mean time I have made further improvements:

Reworked the "Incomplete preferences" Error dialog box:

• It is no longer an Error, but a Warning instead.
• It now offers a "Review" button to return to the Preferences.
• It now offers a "Continue" button to dismiss the Preferences and continue anyway.

Improved the look&feel of the Preferences dialog box:

• Added explicit label about the expectations for the game configurations.
• Better feedback for incomplete/incorrect fields.
• Renamed "Default game config" to "Preferred game config".
• Slight reorganization of the Preferences items.

Improved the "New dossier" action behavior:

• If the Preferences are still incomplete when this action is invoked, a Warning dialog box is shown.
• This Warning dialog box offers a "Review" button to return to the Preferences so they an be completed/corrected.
• This Warning dialog box offers a "Continue" button to dismiss the Warning and stop the action.

Because I did not want to force users in an endless loop between the Preferences dialog
box and the "Incomplete Preferences" Warning box, I gave them a way out.

But that means that it becomes possible to try to create a New (empty) dossier, even if
no game configurations are filled in at all.

Without any game configurations, War Cabinet can not know for which OOB the dossier
should be made and from which savedir it should present savegames to add to the dossier.

This is why this action must be blocked in that case, while still giving the user the opportunity
to fix the issue by fixing the Preferences.

I wanted to add some screenshots of the new dialog boxes, but that doesn't seem to work
at the moment. I'll try again later...

Erik

[ErikCumps]

Originally Posted by ErikCumps

In the mean time I have made further improvements:

Reworked the "Incomplete preferences" Error dialog box:

• It is no longer an Error, but a Warning instead.
• It now offers a "Review" button to return to the Preferences.
• It now offers a "Continue" button to dismiss the Preferences and continue anyway.

Improved the look&feel of the Preferences dialog box:

• Added explicit label about the expectations for the game configurations.
• Better feedback for incomplete/incorrect fields.
• Renamed "Default game config" to "Preferred game config".
• Slight reorganization of the Preferences items.

Improved the "New dossier" action behavior:

• If the Preferences are still incomplete when this action is invoked, a Warning dialog box is shown.
• This Warning dialog box offers a "Review" button to return to the Preferences so they an be completed/corrected.
• This Warning dialog box offers a "Continue" button to dismiss the Warning and stop the action.

Because I did not want to force users in an endless loop between the Preferences dialog
box and the "Incomplete Preferences" Warning box, I gave them a way out.

But that means that it becomes possible to try to create a New (empty) dossier, even if
no game configurations are filled in at all.

Without any game configurations, War Cabinet can not know for which OOB the dossier
should be made and from which savedir it should present savegames to add to the dossier.

This is why this action must be blocked in that case, while still giving the user the opportunity
to fix the issue by fixing the Preferences.

I wanted to add some screenshots of the new dialog boxes, but that doesn't seem to work
at the moment. I'll try again later...

Erik

All feedback is welcome!

Here are the Screenshots
(these screenshots are based on the same kind of situation Larry2017 was in earlier,
trying to use the "PBEM Games" folder to configure the game path)

The new "Incomplete Preferences" Warning:


The new feedback for incomplete/incorrect fields:


'Hover' notes for the game path:


'Hover' notes for the game type:


The new Warning when trying to create a new dossier while the Preferences are still incomplete:


Erik

[Second-Maître Laurent]

Originally Posted by ErikCumps

Hi Larry2017,

Thanks for your report.

First, the error:

You get the incomplete preferences error, because your game configuration is indeed not complete:
the game config entry in the preferences screen is highlighted in red.

It is highlighted in red, because the path you entered in the game config is not pointing to the game
folder, but to a subfolder of it instead: "C:\...\WinSPWW2\PBEM Games\".

To fix this, enter the correct game folder path: "C:\...\WinSPWW2\".

Secondly, from your screenshot, I assume you are interested in using War Cabinet with PBEM games?

Please note that War Cabinet has NO support for PBEM games.

This is because secured PBEM games are encrypted, but the details of the encryption mechanism are
unknown to me and War Cabinet is therefore not able to decrypt the PBEM savegames.

Erik

Thank you Erik for this new version of Warcab.
I've had the same issue than Larry (because I'm another Larry ??).
Anyway, with your explanation, warcab is working!
Good job Erik. Well done and thanks a lot for your work.

[Second-Maître Laurent]

Hi Erik.

Have you a "Warcab Handbook for Dumbs"?

Actually I've installed Warcab, ok.
I've created a new dossier, ok.
Then I go in the tab "Game" and click on "Add Standalone Battle From Savegame". I found my saved scenario and write the name, then click on the name in the list, then "ok" and ... a few seconds later, Warcab shutdown and disappear.

What's the issue?
How can I had my scenarion in my dossier?

Thanks to help me.

Sub-item: is Warcab works with SpmBt, or will it?

[ErikCumps]

Originally Posted by Second-Maître Laurent

Hi Erik.

Have you a "Warcab Handbook for Dumbs"?

Actually I've installed Warcab, ok.
I've created a new dossier, ok.
Then I go in the tab "Game" and click on "Add Standalone Battle From Savegame". I found my saved scenario and write the name, then click on the name in the list, then "ok" and ... a few seconds later, Warcab shutdown and disappear.

What's the issue?
How can I had my scenarion in my dossier?

Thanks to help me.

Sub-item: is Warcab works with SpmBt, or will it?

Hello Second-Maître Laurent,

Warcab shutting down and disappearing after adding a standalone battle, is probably a crash.

If you send me that savegame, as well as the OOB data files from your winSPWW2 folder
(unless these are the same as the v11.0-DL version), I can try to investigate what went wrong.

You can send the files to erik.cumps@gmail.com.

Erik

PS: winSPMBT support is under construction.

[Second-Maître Laurent]

Hi Erik.
Great.
I'll send you that.

Great news for SPMBT.
so long.

[ErikCumps]

Originally Posted by Second-Maître Laurent

Hi Erik.
Great.
I'll send you that.

Great news for SPMBT.
so long.

Hi Second-Maître Laurent,

Wanted to let you know I received the files, thanks.

I don't have any CD versions of winSPWW2, just the free download (V11).
It's unlikely, but possible, that the issue could be related to the content of
the OOB data files. If that's the case, I'll ask you for your OOB data files
as well.

Will let you know as soon as I know more about this issue.

Erik

[ErikCumps]

Originally Posted by ErikCumps

Hi Second-Maître Laurent,

Wanted to let you know I received the files, thanks.

I don't have any CD versions of winSPWW2, just the free download (V11).
It's unlikely, but possible, that the issue could be related to the content of
the OOB data files. If that's the case, I'll ask you for your OOB data files
as well.

Will let you know as soon as I know more about this issue.

Erik

I have been out of service for a bit too long on this forum, it seems.

Just noticed there is a patch available to V13, I will download and use that instead.

Erik

[ErikCumps]

Originally Posted by Second-Maître Laurent

Hi Then I go in the tab "Game" and click on "Add Standalone Battle From Savegame". I found my saved scenario and write the name, then click on the name in the list, then "ok" and ... a few seconds later, Warcab shutdown and disappear.

Hello Second-Maître Laurent,

I have been able to take a first look at this.

Warcab is indeed closing because it crashed, and it crashed because warcab got confused while detecting
the units and formations in the savegame.

This is what it finds:

For player #0 (player)

FLIST: { { s.nidx=150 }, cnt=2 }
    [00000] (      Kommandeur) P<000> L<00000> H<00000> status=000 units=001 OOB 016: [00001] FID<00000> RAW<00000>
        [000] ptr[00000]
    [00001] (   Infanterie Kp) P<000> L<00001> H<00000> status=000 units=002 OOB 016: [00006] FID<00001> RAW<00001>
        [000] ptr[00001]
        [001] ptr[00002]
ULIST: { { s.nidx=10 }, cnt=6 }
    [00000] (      Kommandeur) UNIT leader=[00000] abandoned=0 loader<65535> vrf=N vrfneed=N  OOB 016: [00244] F[00000]<00000,000> ptr[00000] link crew=nil[65535], parent=nil[65535]
    [00001] (  Infanterie Grp) UNIT leader=[00001] abandoned=0 loader<65535> vrf=N vrfneed=N  OOB 016: [00098] F[00001]<00001,000> ptr[00001] link crew=nil[65535], parent=nil[65535]
    [00002] ( (sw) Inf Gruppe) UNIT leader=[00002] abandoned=0 loader<65535> vrf=N vrfneed=N  OOB 016: [00779] F[00001]<00001,001> ptr[00001] link crew=nil[65535], parent=nil[65535]
    [00003] (    MG34 MMG Grp) SPAU leader=[00003] abandoned=0 loader<65535> vrf=N vrfneed=N  OOB 016: [00095] F[00001]<00001,002> ptr[00001] link crew=nil[65535], parent=nil[65535]
    [00020] (     8cm GrW Grp) UNIT leader=[00020] abandoned=0 loader<65535> vrf=N vrfneed=N  OOB 016: [00093] F[00007]<00007,000> ptr[00007] link crew=nil[65535], parent=nil[65535]
    [00021] (     8cm GrW Grp) UNIT leader=[00021] abandoned=0 loader<65535> vrf=N vrfneed=N  OOB 016: [00093] F[00007]<00007,001> ptr[00007] link crew=nil[65535], parent=nil[65535]

For player #1 (opponent)

FLIST: { { s.nidx=77 }, cnt=3 }
    [00008] (       Polish HQ) P<001> L<00022> H<00022> status=000 units=001 OOB 002: [00001] FID<00000> RAW<00000>
        [000] ptr[00022]
    [00009] (   Rifle Platoon) P<001> L<00023> H<00022> status=000 units=000 OOB 002: [00039] FID<00001> RAW<00001>
    [00010] (  Machinegun Sec) P<001> L<00027> H<00022> status=000 units=000 OOB 002: [00035] FID<00002> RAW<00002>
ULIST: { { s.nidx=7 }, cnt=7 }
    [00022] (       Polish HQ) UNIT leader=[00022] abandoned=0 loader<65535> vrf=N vrfneed=N  OOB 002: [00250] F[00008]<00000,000> ptr[00008] link crew=nil[65535], parent=nil[65535]
    [00023] (     Rifle Squad) UNIT leader=[00023] abandoned=0 loader<65535> vrf=N vrfneed=N  OOB 002: [00300] F[00009]<00001,000> ptr[00009] link crew=nil[65535], parent=nil[65535]
    [00024] (     Rifle Squad) UNIT leader=[00024] abandoned=0 loader<65535> vrf=N vrfneed=N  OOB 002: [00285] F[00009]<00001,001> ptr[00009] link crew=nil[65535], parent=nil[65535]
    [00025] (     Rifle Squad) UNIT leader=[00025] abandoned=0 loader<65535> vrf=N vrfneed=N  OOB 002: [00271] F[00009]<00001,002> ptr[00009] link crew=nil[65535], parent=nil[65535]
    [00026] (     Rifle Squad) UNIT leader=[00026] abandoned=0 loader<65535> vrf=N vrfneed=N  OOB 002: [00285] F[00009]<00001,003> ptr[00009] link crew=nil[65535], parent=nil[65535]
    [00027] (   wz.30 HMG Plt) UNIT leader=[00027] abandoned=0 loader<65535> vrf=N vrfneed=N  OOB 002: [00335] F[00010]<00002,000> ptr[00010] link crew=nil[65535], parent=nil[65535]
    [00028] (          Sniper) UNIT leader=[00028] abandoned=0 loader<65535> vrf=N vrfneed=N  OOB 002: [00261] F[00010]<00002,001> ptr[00010] link crew=nil[65535], parent=nil[65535]

I am not sure what the actual formations and units should be for this game, so could you please tell me?

Erik