[International Draughts] GUI - Enhance History and Clock visibility

[IgorLeMasson]

Users could have a way to control if the History (game notation) and Clock will stay always visible. It is quite useful mostly to improve game time management and to be easier see the moves played.

[mi-g]

The idea in JoclyBoard is that when users play frequently a given game, they should use templates (just setup the windows the way you want, then click Save template). This way, the history and clock windows (visibility, size and position) are persisted when you start the template.

[IgorLeMasson]

The "Template" feature works well to save user settings, but it doesn't offer a way to show History and Clock at same time, it is the main goal.

[mi-g]

If you open a match, open the clock and history windows, then save as a template, whenever you start this template, the clock and history windows open automatically. Isn't it what we are talking about ?

[IgorLeMasson]

I expected see the Board window maximized, and History and Clock simultaneously in same fashion of others draughts softwares GUIs, but as this layout is only possible if the Board window is under reduced size. Actually it is not a critical issue, but this tip could be described in user Help.

[mi-g]

Oh i see, you mean having the history and clock windows on top of the board window. Yes, that makes much sense and shouldn't be too hard to setup. I'll come back on this with a solution.

[IgorLeMasson]

Add a window joining Board + Clock + History would be nice, it will enhance the visibiity, but in my point of view, the current design should be kept, since it is very flexible, allowing set each window size and position.

Update: I have tested "Save template" feature, trying to save these windows dimensions and positions: Board, History, Clock, 'Possible Moves' and Players, but I verified that Players window position doesn't persist when the saved template is loaded.

That limitation brought me an insight, why not add the players names on the board window?

[mi-g]

There is no need to persist the Players window as this is input-only data and those data are persisted. In addition to the board window, the 3 windows that are persisted in a template are history, clock and possible moves. Adding player names in the board window would waste space for no real benefit.

[IgorLeMasson]

There is no need to persist the Players window as this is input-only data and those data are persisted.

Keep the names visible is useful when we have 2 instances of JoclyBoard playing a DXP match for instance

[mi-g]

Note that the names appear in the clock window.

[IgorLeMasson]

Yes, I see it. But I was just trying be sure each one is White or Black :) But it's persistent (White on left and Black on right).

[mi-g]

Depending on the game (or even the skin), it can be yellow/red, red/blue, ... This is why in Jocly the distinction is A (playing the first move) and B, and JoclyBoard provides the ability to rename the player.

[mi-g]

Pushed to master branch: History, Clock and Moves windows are now children (i.e always on top) of the board window. This will be in the next 0.9.11 release.