BBO Web-client Thread 7

[fred]

Please post comments regarding BBO's web-client here!

 

You should access this version of BBO through the yellow link "click here to play or watch bridge" on our home page:

 

www.bridgebase.com

 

You can learn more about the changes that were introduced in the latest version of the web-client here:

 

Link to details of latest version of BBO web-client

 

Fred Gitelman

Bridge Base Inc.

www.bridgebase.com

[H_KARLUK]

Hi Everyone..

 

Seems an exact snapshot of the actual paper convention card. A resizable window. Please take a look. Cool.

 

Best...

Hamdi

 

ps. I couldn't see 'Toss a quarter to kib me, so lets hear clunk voice' option. Ooh my..Ahh I've to be patient ;)

[barmar]

Some of the fill-in fields in the ACBL CC don't allow enough characters. In "Leb ____ Denies", there only 3 characters are allowed, so you can't write "slow" or "fast" (what else would you want to write there?). And in "Systems on over", I wanted to write "X, Artificial 2C", but I had to cram it into "X,Art2C".

[babalu1997]

Hello

 

This concerns subbing the web version.

 

We sign up for subbing in any game and suddenly see ourselves removed from the so called expert team matches.

 

I have also been removed from some kind of paid game-- was unaware it was a paid game.

 

So if I refuse 2 substitutions, i am moved off the list, if i accept i end up being moved anyway.

 

Perhaps the partner of the sub should be able to reject the sub.

[mtvesuvius]

It would be nice if the tables in play list automatically updated itself without requiring a refresh. Also, I'd like a way to see kibitzers and still be able to see results, i.e. make it so that when I run my mouse over the Box in the top left corner I see the list of kibs.

 

Edit: It would also be helpful if the software showed the host of a team match once it has started.

Edited July 7, 2009 by mtvesuvius

[ulven]

a/ I'd like to be able to choose language, instead of letting the OS decide. I'm so used to English that I prefer that, but I'm forced into Swedish (with some awkward translations of bridge terms).

 

b/ Scores for each deal in "My results" isn't updated as they change (when more people played the hands).

[ulven]

c/ There's a bug in the chat function. Both when trying on my home (Samsung, XP, swe) and work (Dell, XP, eng) PC, the keyboard layout gets mysteriously re-mapped when <shift> is used.

 

;: are just some characters that sits to the right of <m> for me, available thru shift. In the web-client, it all comes out as >.

[fred]

c/ There's a bug in the chat function. Both when trying on my home (Samsung, XP, swe) and work (Dell, XP, eng) PC, the keyboard layout gets mysteriously re-mapped when <shift> is used.

 

;: are just some characters that sits to the right of <m> for me, available thru shift. In the web-client, it all comes out as >.

Thanks for the bug report, Ulven.

 

So far I can't replicate this problem - perhaps it has something to do with your keyboard layout. In any case, if you could answer the following questions it might be helpful:

 

1) Do the >s appear where you are typing or do the characters appear normally until the actual chat message itself is displayed in the area above where you type?

 

2) Assuming that the >s actually appear when you are typing, can you please try typing in some other areas and let me know if the same behavior occurs? For example, try editing the "Other" part of your user profile by clicking "My BBO" then "User profile".

 

Thanks,

 

Fred Gitelman

Bridge Base Inc.

www.bridgebase.com

[fred]

a/ I'd like to be able to choose language, instead of letting the OS decide. I'm so used to English that I prefer that, but I'm forced into Swedish (with some awkward translations of bridge terms).

 

b/ Scores for each deal in "My results" isn't updated as they change (when more people played the hands).

a/ For now the only way you can do this is to use this URL:

 

http://www.bridgebase.com/client/client.php?lang=en

 

The problem with this method is that your browser window will still contain all the normal controls at the top. Unless you have a big monitor, the vertical space taken up by these controls rates to have an adverse impact on user experience. You can get around this problem by hitting the F11 key after the software loads.

 

I have made a note to try to come up with a better solution.

 

b/ True. You have to click on a result in question to get an updated score.

 

As other users have noted there are other lists that do not update automatically (notably lists of tables, tournaments, and kibitzers). As I have noted, these issues are more complex than meets the eye mostly because we want the web-client and our servers to be able to perform well when there are a lot more people online than there are today - the more information that is automatically sent from server->client, the harder this becomes. The approach we take in the Windows client, where every client knows everything about the state of the entire system at all times is not scalable (and not necessary since 99% of this information is useless to the user).

 

All I can say for now is that we know that people would like to see improvements in this area and I expect they will come in time. I doubt we will set things up so that all of these lists update in real time, but periodic "autorefreshes" might be in the cards.

 

Fred Gitelman

Bridge Base Inc.

www.bridgebase.com

[fred]

Some of the fill-in fields in the ACBL CC don't allow enough characters.  In "Leb ____ Denies", there only 3 characters are allowed, so you can't write "slow" or "fast" (what else would you want to write there?).  And in "Systems on over", I wanted to write "X, Artificial 2C", but I had to cram it into "X,Art2C".

I will allow more characters in these fields in the next version. Let me know if you find additional areas in which such problems exist.

 

Keep in mind that the number of characters we allow has to be limited by screen space. If we let these fields scroll horizontally then it would be awkward for people to read their opponents' convention cards.

 

Allowing more physical space (and hence more characters) in some areas is not going to happen because we want the thing to look like an ACBL convention card.

 

This stuff is hard to get right because the many different types and versions of browsers and fonts that are out there mean that the number of characters that can be typed into these fields without scrolling will not be the same for all users. It was necessary to err on the side of caution, but it sounds like I might have been too cautious in some places.

 

Fred Gitelman

Bridge Base Inc.

www.bridgebase.com

[ulven]

c/ There's a bug in the chat function. Both when trying on my home (Samsung, XP, swe) and work (Dell, XP, eng) PC, the keyboard layout gets mysteriously re-mapped when <shift> is used.

 

;: are just some characters that sits to the right of <m> for me, available thru shift. In the web-client, it all comes out as >.

 

1) Do the >s appear where you are typing or do the characters appear normally until the actual chat message itself is displayed in the area above where you type?

 

2) Assuming that the >s actually appear when you are typing, can you please try typing in some other areas and let me know if the same behavior occurs? For example, try editing the "Other" part of your user profile by clicking "My BBO" then "User profile".

 

Thanks,

 

Fred Gitelman

Bridge Base Inc.

www.bridgebase.com

>s appears as I write. "Shifted" characters on all number (and other top-/sidelevel) keys are different as well. Seems pretty random to me, but maybe correlated to a US layout. Testing from work (eng XP, swe key layout).

 

When choosing Mailbox, Compose Mail from My BBO, only US letters and numbers 0-9 work. Any other key or shift doesn't produce anything. Shifting letters work, but shifting numbers doesn't return anything. Can't therefore produce @ or similar.

 

Also under My BBO, top alternatives, User Profile and Hands and results doesn't work (i.e nothing triggers).

[ulven]

>s appears as I write. "Shifted" characters on all number (and other top-/sidelevel) keys are different as well. Seems pretty random to me, but maybe correlated to a US layout. Testing from work (eng XP, swe key layout).

 

When choosing Mailbox, Compose Mail from My BBO, only US letters and numbers 0-9 work. Any other key or shift doesn't produce anything. Shifting letters work, but shifting numbers doesn't return anything. Can't therefore produce @ or similar.

 

Also under My BBO, top alternatives, User Profile and Hands and results doesn't work (i.e nothing triggers).

As I use Chrome, I just decided to try IE instead.

All worked fine there except the Mailbox issue. Still only able to use letters and 0-9 (no number shift). The other "mapping" issues seems browser related.

User Profile and Hands and results worked with IE.

 

FYI, I run Chrome on dev channel (3.0.191.3).

[fred]

>s appears as I write. "Shifted" characters on all number (and other top-/sidelevel) keys are different as well. Seems pretty random to me, but maybe correlated to a US layout. Testing from work (eng XP, swe key layout).

 

When choosing Mailbox, Compose Mail from My BBO, only US letters and numbers 0-9 work. Any other key or shift doesn't produce anything. Shifting letters work, but shifting numbers doesn't return anything. Can't therefore produce @ or similar.

 

Also under My BBO, top alternatives, User Profile and Hands and results doesn't work (i.e nothing triggers).

As I use Chrome, I just decided to try IE instead.

All worked fine there except the Mailbox issue. Still only able to use letters and 0-9 (no number shift). The other "mapping" issues seems browser related.

User Profile and Hands and results worked with IE.

 

FYI, I run Chrome on dev channel (3.0.191.3).

Thanks for the good news.

 

I think the explanation for the mailbox isssue is that you are typing in the "send to" area. This area is intended for a BBO user ID so you can only type characters that can legally be used in a BBO user ID.

 

Hopefully if you type in the "message" area below that you will be able to get the full range of characters.

 

Sorry you are having problems with your preferred browser, but it doesn't sound like the bug is ours. Most likely either Chrome itself or the Chrome version of Flash Player is the source of this bug. Hopefully either Google or Adobe will do something about this before too long...

 

About "user profile" and "hands and results" appearing to do nothing under Chrome, I suspect that problem is a function of (perhaps temporary) network slowness rather than a Chrome-specific problem. If I am right then the problem should go away if you stay logged in for a couple of minutes and then try it. If that doesn't help, exit the web-client, clear your cache, and try again.

 

Or just use IE :P

 

Fred Gitelman

Bridge Base Inc.

www.bridgebase.com

[uday]

We sign up for subbing in any game and suddenly

 

Subbing works much the same in both versions, except that in the web version you have the ability to sign up for 'any Tournament' while in the windows version you can only sign up for specific tourneys.

 

A TD who cares is expected to look at the list and pick the one he wants . Some of them doubtless pick 'any sub' then replace that sub if they dont like what they get. that isn't too nice.

 

U

[TimG]

I have a two questions that likely have to do with my personal browser settings, but I'm checking anyway.

 

My default browser is Mozilla Firefox. When I go the bridgebase site and click on "Click here to play or watch bridge in your web browser" link, a new window is opened with the web-client (without the usual toolbars and tabs) which is a good thing.

 

If I bookmark http://www.bridgebase.com/client/client.php and attempt to use that to get to the web-client, the window (or tab) that BBO is opened in comes with the tool bars. Does anyone know if there is a way to get to the web-client in a single step rather than two steps: go to bridgebase.com then click the link?

 

Second, and of more interest, I generally resize the panes in the web-client. These settings are not saved for my next visit. Is this a fault of my cache/cookie/etc settings or is the resize information intentionally not saved? There doesn't seem to me to be an obvious option setting in BBO to save the resize, but I have missed such things in the past.

 

Thanks,

Tim

[fred]

I have a two questions that likely have to do with my personal browser settings, but I'm checking anyway.

 

My default browser is Mozilla Firefox.  When I go the bridgebase site and click on "Click here to play or watch bridge in your web browser" link, a new window is opened with the web-client (without the usual toolbars and tabs) which is a good thing.

 

If I bookmark http://www.bridgebase.com/client/client.php and attempt to use that to get to the web-client, the window (or tab) that BBO is opened in comes with the tool bars.  Does anyone know if there is a way to get to the web-client in a single step rather than two steps: go to bridgebase.com then click the link?

I don't think there is any way to do this.

 

Second, and of more interest, I generally resize the panes in the web-client.  These settings are not saved for my next visit.  Is this a fault of my cache/cookie/etc settings or is the resize information intentionally not saved?  There doesn't seem to me to be an obvious option setting in BBO to save the resize, but I have missed such things in the past.

 

If you actually log off (instead of exiting by closing your browser window) these settings will be saved.

 

Fred Gitelman

Bridge Base Inc.

www.bridgebase.com

[TimG]

Second, and of more interest, I generally resize the panes in the web-client.  These settings are not saved for my next visit.  Is this a fault of my cache/cookie/etc settings or is the resize information intentionally not saved?  There doesn't seem to me to be an obvious option setting in BBO to save the resize, but I have missed such things in the past.

 

If you actually log off (instead of exiting by closing your browser window) these settings will be saved.

That works if I log off and then log back in without ever closing the BBO window. But, if I log off and then close the window, the next time I come back to the web-client I am back to the default size rather than the resized window.

[fred]

Second, and of more interest, I generally resize the panes in the web-client.  These settings are not saved for my next visit.  Is this a fault of my cache/cookie/etc settings or is the resize information intentionally not saved?  There doesn't seem to me to be an obvious option setting in BBO to save the resize, but I have missed such things in the past.

 

If you actually log off (instead of exiting by closing your browser window) these settings will be saved.

That works if I log off and then log back in without ever closing the BBO window. But, if I log off and then close the window, the next time I come back to the web-client I am back to the default size rather than the resized window.

Sorry I thought you were referring to the BBO-specific settings (not the settings related to the size/position of your browser window).

 

We intentionally do not save these settings - the popup window always fills up most/all of your screen.

 

We might be able to do something about this in the future.

 

Fred Gitelman

Bridge Base Inc.

www.bridgebase.com

[A2003]

It looks like I can not have both ACBL convention card and Full disclosure convention card with the same partner. Program shows only one type of convention card with the same partner. Also, Like to see 10 text line box to write some system notes in ACBL convention card.

[fred]

It looks like I can not have both ACBL convention card and Full disclosure convention card with the same partner. Program shows only one type of convention card with the same partner. 

Each partnership can have only 1 registered convention card - type does not enter into the equation.

 

Also, Like to see 10 text line box to write some system notes in ACBL convention card.

 

I am not sure I understand what you mean, but our goal was ot make the ACBL convention card look like a real ACBL convention card. Keeping that in mind, if you want to try to clarify what you were trying to say, I will try to answer.

 

Fred Gtielman

Bridge Base Inc.

www.bridgebase.com

[sfbp]

Javascript debugger after the following error:

 

"Cannot focus an invisible window"

 

IE6 (last version)

 

What more you need?

 

Stephen

[fred]

Javascript debugger after the following error:

 

"Cannot focus an invisible window"

 

IE6 (last version)

 

What more you need?

 

Stephen

Thanks for the bug report, Stephen.

 

What I need to know is what you did to create this state of affairs. Were you using the Windows client or the web-client? Which series of clicks caused this to happen? Can you replicate the bug?

 

I suspect this is happening only on older versions of IE. If it is practical for you to try to replicate it using a different browser, that would be great (but don't worry if this turns out to be non-trivial).

 

Once I know how to replicate this bug, it should be easy to fix. Most likely there will be a new and improved version of the ACBL CC editor/viewer available within the next few days which hopefully will contain a fix to this problem.

 

By the way, if you see Javascript report a problem in the future, there is no need for you to include the massive block of code. I realize you didn't know that and I appreciate you trying to provide me with information that might have turned out to be useful.

 

Fred Gitelman

Bridge Base Inc.

www.bridgebase.com

[sfbp]

Sorry about the mess, I need to be able to edit the post and I can't.

 

Yes, completely reproducible (at least with my current CC).

 

I couldnt make a screen shot easily, so this was my next alternative.

 

(maybe you can fix the [ / CODE] tag to be in the right place, then it wont mess up the BBOF screen)

 

I'm not going to update to IE7. Sorry.

 

I actually wish that instead of invoking iexplore.exe you instead were able to use the default browser. Then I am betting this wouldn't happen at all.

 

Cheers

 

Stephen

 

added: finally found the edit button it was way off screen because of the mess

 

I have a nasty feeling I may have tried to click on some card lead that wasn't allowed. I tried to set the lead to something that showed there but it didn't highlight (green frame) after I clicked it. Maybe that is the problem.

[uday]

FG has replicated this, we'll have a fix up shortly

[fred]

The bug Stephen reported is now fixed.

 

In theory everyone should pick up the new version of the ACBL convetnion card editor/viewer automatically, but you may have to clear your cache in order to make sure that happens.

 

Some other minor improvements have also been implemented in the new version.

 

Fred Gitelman

Bridge Base Inc.

www.bridgebase.com