Tarot 6.2 Beta

[Programmer]

Hi Everyone,

A beta version of 6.2 is now ready to download - here are a list of the bug fixes and new features. I would really appreciate if everyone who recognises one of their bugs/requests in the following list could check and make sure it is working. I hope to get this live quite quickly.

Hopefully fixed:

When you do an incremental zoom on a reversed card the zoomed image was not reversed.

If your preference was to NOT show the background, this got lost when coming out of OTZ.

Navigation in the Tarot Zone - I have changed the code again (since the last beta), to get rid of the effect whereby the selected item jumps to the top of the tree. Does it still work for everyone though?

New Features:

In the reading notes window there is a mini-menu where the export button used to be, allowing you to import from rtf files created in other, flashier word processing programs.

In the same form, typing a URL will show up as a link. Clicking the link will launch Internet Explorer.

On the options form the dropdown lists that show one's decks now show ALL one's decks (before it was buggy and missed some out). Also, they are all shown in alphabetical order from the top down, not just alphabetically within their folders. I am referrring to the list that you can use to select a start-up deck, and the lists which you can use to associate decks with Control+Alt keys.

The DeckCollectionData.xml file now no longer holds user preferences re curved edges, transparency or the number of cards in each deck. This data was duplicated because it is also held on a deck-by-deck basis in the PackInfo.xml file. Originally I thought it might be worthwhile to allow the user to have preferences that differed from the Pack author/compiler. I have got rid of it though because it is generally a bad principle to have data in two places, in a case like this where 99 of the time the data is the same. Now changes to curvature/transparency/number of cards on the Options form only update the packinfo file, and that is where these preferences are read from when switching decks.

In line with this, the pack info no longer has a separate utility for editing - it is all done directly on the options form.

The program no longer shows the little form which asks you to specify how many cards there are in a new deck. It does something very clever and COUNTS the cards. (If the file name is numerical it is added to the count, if not it is ignored, so back.jpg and box.jpg don't get counted in).

Not Included in the Beta:

A couple of times people have remarked on the problem with the + and - keys not resizing cards when the program is used on a laptop. I can probably fix this but I need get someone who is having the problem to help me with a couple of tests. Please let me know...

Marvin, I haven't been able to do anything about the problem you reported happening when you leave the OTZ, ie menu items not working etc. I haven't been able to reproduce the effect at all, and no-one else has reported it. Are you still getting this bug happening? Does it always happen or only under certain circumstances? Any feedback greatly appreciated!

URL: You can get the beta from http://www.orphalese.net/beta/tarotexe.exe

Thanks!!!

Richard

[Marvin]

Hi Richard,

So far everything has run smoothly since you posted the last betafor Aurora, Gisela, and me.
The only thing that I find a possible problem is that the files that Gisela and I have set up for removal since then have not been deleted.
I don't know if this is a problem, or if you have just been too busy to get to it.

Other than that, everything is running fine now.

Thanks,

Marvin

[Cowhead]

Looks great so far, Richard.

>> If your preference was to NOT show the background, this got lost when coming out of OTZ. > In line with this, the pack info no longer has a separate utility for editing - it is all done directly on the options form. <<

Much handier now! I like it.

Thanks!

-- Cowhead

[Cowhead]

Richard,

I think there might be a problem with the feature that counts the cards in a new deck. I just added two new packs, only to find that the card-counter had gotten things mixed up on both packs. (Unless I just did something wrong, which is always possible...) Somehow, a majors-only pack got its card count set to 78, and a full deck got its count set to 22.

Anyone else seeing this happen, or is it only me?

-- Cowhead

P.S. I like the idea!

[Programmer]

Hi Cowhead,

I definitely agree there is a problem somewhere, I think it is that PackInfo settings from one deck are somehow leaking over to the next deck. It won't be that the actual card counting routine is getting it wrong because that is really simple, and obviously the numbers 78 and 22 haven't come out of nowhere. Also I have seen something similar with edge rounding preferences, but I haven't been able to repeat it yet. I am going to look at it now.

BTW, I hadn't seen the Phantasmagoric Tarot before - wow!!!

Richard

[Cowhead]

Now that I try, I can't replicate the problem either.

One detail that might help, or might be a red herring: During the same session, I was using the Deck Management tool. I have noticed something a bit similar, i.e. inheriting characteristics from another deck. There's a status line at the bottom of the form showing card count and other data. If you click on a deck with no pack info, that status line doesn't change. it just shows whatever was there before.

So, could there be some circumstance during deck management that would trigger creation of PackInfo.xml without actually counting the cards first? If so, it might just write the value of a variable that had been initialized from a previous pack. All of which is painfully obvious, I'm sure.

And yeah, the Phantasmagoric Theater pack is cool. A really interesting blend of 'cute' and 'creepy'. I'm definitely going to have to buy that one.

Regards,

Cowhead

[Programmer]

Hi Cowhead (and Everyone),

Good guess, but it won't have been that because during deck management mode there is no currently selected deck, so there is no activity as far as packinfo files go. Actually I am 99 sure I found the problem: it was because the deck raises a PackChanged event which is picked up by the Options form. At this point any changes to the PackInfo file made on the Options form are saved, before the next file is loaded. However, I was doing things in slightly the wrong order and some of the time the program was actually saving the details of the new deck for curvature, transparency and number of cards.

Anyway, I was convinced enough that this was the problem to have gone live with version 6.2. Anyone who has been beta testing should download the new, non-beta 6.2 in the download pages. This is in spite of the fact that the side panel will say that your program is up to date - it only checks the first three numbers. The new version is actually 6.2.0.2.

Part of my eagerness to get this version released is because I had a really great idea for a new feature, and I want to start work on the next beta almost right away! Perhaps this doesn't sound very humble (sorry!) but here is my great idea: in addition to the upwards pointing triangle used to deal cards, the pack is also going to show (when relevant) a left facing and a right facing triangle. These will be used as back and forward buttons to load the previous deck that the user was using, the deck before that etc etc! This occurred to me because I found myself wanting to be able to do just that - it could save a lot of time as against using the My Decks list when it comes to comparing decks side by side. What d'ya think?

Cheers,

Richard

[Cowhead]

Thanks Richard. I knew you would figure it out.

The new deck-switcher buttons sound like a *great* idea. I'm looking forward to it!

-- Cowhead

[Thomas H]

And I just got used to just one Triangle on the deck (snicker).
If you think it works and is useful, it is okay with me.

Cheers

Thomas