Rehash +

[flattop]

Hi Fred (and Sheri and Uday),

 

Here are some items that I had referred to you in an email last march, while you were in Reno, and to which I only received an immediate acknowlegment of receipt but nothing since. The message must have fallen through the cracks, I guess. So I'll try again in this forum with an additional item, this time.

 

Problem:

 

- When typing text without first hitting the chat button, the first character, if it happens to be a french accented character, somehow gets lost in mid-air and the transmitted chat message starts with the second character. That first character does not trigger the appearance of the chat window.

 

- Oops!... Maybe it was taken care of after all because it no longer happens. Maybe someone else reported it. Thanks for the fix in any case.

 

Special need:

 

- Could there be a way for the BBO program to supply us with the username of players present at the table where we are playing. My specific and current need is usernames of RHO, Partner, LHO and table Host, for automating chat messages to the table from a script (Hi!, Thanks, Well done, Please clear scores, all followed by their username) .

 

- Perhaps the use of a keyboard shortcut such as Alt-L to obtain LHO's username, relative to the requester's position at the table, could get the BBO program to place LHO's username in the Clipboard, from which the user or his script (ie OKScript) could pick it up.

 

- Similarly, Alt-R/P/H could be used to obtain RHO's/Partner's/Host's usernames and certainly more possibilities exist for any other program variable that may be useful to our members (dealer, declarer, whose turn to play or bid, private club name, ...?).

 

- Any shift key (Ctrl, Alt or Shift), or any combination thereof, could be used along with a letter, and even Fkeys could be used, in combination with others or not, if available in sufficient number.

 

- By the way, a list of all keyboard shortcuts used in the program could (should) be made available in the bridge library, with their function and place of availability, for everyone's benefit and your tranquility. Thanks for providing me with such a list last year, when I asked you. Actually, why not have such a list displayed with a right click, for instance?

 

Convenience:

 

- It would be nice if the text found in the chat box at the bottom (not the Chat window) could be highligthed and lifted by a user to copy and paste email, teacher material, free advice, etc...

 

- The same holds true for the information found in the users' profiles, to copy someone's system or email when they are given in their profile.

 

Browser:

 

- Would it be possible, when calling on Internet sites such as the link for the current invitation to subscribe to The Bridge World in the news window, and anywhere else in BBO for that matter, to invoke the user's default browser as opposed to always IE.

 

- I use, am more familiar with and prefer Netscape 7.2. I did subscribe to TBW, using Netscape and your link, and all worked fine. I know some sites are not optimized for Netscape, particularly when it comes to forms filling and submission, but they are relatively rare and are indeed at fault, in my opinion.

 

- I know, I know, even your coachee's MSN Gaming Zone will not do it for us! I still believe it should remain a user's choice, however.

 

- Note that the access to this BBO Forum actually did use my preferred browser.

 

 

Thanks again for this beautiful online bridge site and for all the work and long hours you all keep putting in for us.

[uday]

Fred is away again (this time, to Pittsburgh for the ACBL nationals) until Mar 24

 

I will save a reference to this post for his return.

 

I can't speak to the client issues, tho I find the alt- sequences to be an intriguing idea.

 

About the browser:

 

We use a browser in three places.

 

1. In embedded BBO popup windows (lobby news is the only current example)

2. In the main BBO window ( Lobby->Shop Bridge->examine BBO$ activity)

 

In these two places, we are "forced" to use IE for simplicity. I am aware of some flawed alternatives.

 

3. When someone sends you a message like "please visit http://online.bridgebase.com"

and you click the link in the chat window.

 

Here, we "open" the URL and let Windows decide which browser to use. I use Firefox, and these links open in Firefox.

 

If your PC uses Netscape when you click START/RUN and paste in http://online.bridgebase.com

then BBO will launch Netscape when you click on a URL in a chat message.

 

 

 

Once you are in an environment like (1) or (2) above, IE will insist on using IE to open links. I don't know of a way to make IE use the default browser here, or whether it is advisable to do so.

 

uday