Help
http://www.bridgebase.com
and click on the yellow link near the top of the page.
You can log in with the same user ID and password that you normally use when you log in using our Windows client program.
The main focus of this release is support for Partnership Bidding, hosting Teaching Tables, various "hand management" tools, and renting robots. Here is a (probably incomplete) list of some of the other changes and new features that are being introduced in this version:
- in the list of vugraph tables, the number of kibitzers at each table is now displayed
- vugraph commentators can now use the web-client
- yellow functions are now available through the web-client (including a feature that is not available in the Windows client, chat->hosts, that will make it easier for yellows to communicate with each other)
- if you have selected the option to show user profiles upon mouse over, profiles will remain on the screen as long as your mouse remains over the user name in question
- the list of results you see when you are at a table is more intelligent about scrolling itself as new results are achieved
- refresh buttons have been added to some lists (including the lists of tournaments and team matches)
- you can now refresh the list of kibitzers by re-clicking on the top of the "Kibitzers" tab
- the web-client is now smarter about remembering more of your options
Here is a summary of what you need to know about the major new features in this release. Most likely additional details about some features will be posted at some point. We are currently working on updating the help files.
1. Partnership Bidding
- In the web-client Partnership Bidding tables are called "Bidding tables". Unlike the Windows client, there is no dedicated area for Partnership Bidding - you can start a Bidding table in any bridge club. People using the Windows client will still see all of these tables appear in the Partnership Bidding area. When these tables are created using the Windows client, web-client users will see them appear in the Main Bridge Club.
- To start a bidding table with the web-client, go into the bridge club of your choice and click "Start new table". Select "Bidding" as the type of table.
- Our current plan is to provide free robots in Partnership Bidding, both for your partner (if you want to practice) and/or for the opponents. There is a real $ cost for us associated with doing this so we are not making any promises about keeping this feature free forever. Robots can only be used if the the host of the table in question is using the web-client and if he/she is sitting. You will be able to figure out how to sit the robots in the appropriate seat(s). If you want East and West to pass throughout then don't put any robots in those seats.
- Defining the constraints of the hands that are dealt can be done through what is called the "Deal Source dialog box". The host of the table can access this dialog box through the "Deal source" button at the far right of the row of buttons below the table.
The basic method of defining hand types is similar to the method that is used in the Windows client, but it is now possible to define hand types for all 4 players. This is useful if you want to try to force the robots to bid a certain way.
We are now using a powerful program named "Dealer" in order to generate constrained random deals. This program allows you to specify various properties of hands that cannot be specified directly through the traditional mechanism in the BBO user interface. Advanced users might be interesting in sending parameters directly to the Dealer program. This can be done through the "Advanced" tab in the Deal Source dialog box. Information about how the Dealer program works is available through:
Link to Dealer program home page
It is also possible to upload prepared hands to a Bidding table. This can be done by clicking the button for "Use saved deals" at the top of the Deal Source dialog box (instead of the default option of "Use random deals"). After you click this button you will presented with a list of "hand folders", each of which can contain deals that you have previously saved. If you select a folder in this list, subsequent Redeals will upload deals from the folder in question. Note that, unlike the Windows client, the Redeal button itself will take care of uploading the next deal in the set of deals you selected (ie this does not have to be done through a mechanism like the "Send" button in the Movie window in the Windows client).
More information about how to create hand folders and how to save deals in them will appear later in this post.
2. Hosting Teaching Tables
- This is the first version of the web-client that includes support for creating and hosting Teaching Tables. Most aspects of these processes are similar to how things work in the Windows client.
- The same "Deal source" button described above for Bidding tables is also available to the hosts of Teaching Tables. Clicking it will result in the same Deal Source dialog box appearing. This allows web-client Teaching Table hosts to constrain the hands that will be dealt at their tables (a feature that is not available in the Windows client).
3. Hand Management Tools
- It is now possible to save and later recall bridge deals that you find interesting for whatever reason. The programming environment (Flash) that we used to create the BBO web-client does not allow files to be stored on your local hard disk so instead the deals you save will be stored in a database on our servers.
- The deals you save are stored in what we call "hand folders". You can access a list of existing hand folders (you already have one named "My favorite hands") by clicking the "My BBO" button at the top of the web-client screen followed by "Hands and results" in the window that appears. Your list of existing hand folders will appear in the lower part of this window. It should be fairly obvious how to create a new hand folder or how to rename, delete, or show the contents of an existing hand folder. You should also be able to work out how to display a given deal in a given folder.
- In the BBO web-client, a list of the deals that have been played at your current table appears on the right side of your screen (click "My results" instead of "Who's Online" in order to see this list). You can click items in this list to make the deal in question appear at the bottom of the right side of your screen. Click the "Options" button below the deal followed by "Export deal" command on the menu that appears. Another menu will be displayed that contains a list of things you can do with the deal in question. One of these items will be "Save deal as...". If you click that item you will be asked to provide a title for the deal and the hand folder where you would like to save the deal.
- The "Export deal" sub-menu also appears when you click the "Options" button below deals that appear in the window you see when you click the "My BBO" button followed by "Hands and results" (through which you can review results from recent tournaments you have played in and deals you played recently on BBO). You can save copies of the deals that appear in this window in the same way that you save deals that appear at the bottom right side of the screen when you are at a table.
- The "Export deal" sub-menu has several other useful features. You can use it to create a link to the Handviewer program (try this one - it is very cool!), send a movie to a friend as a BBO mail message, and in some circumstances send a report of the deal in question to either our abuse department or to our GIB programmer. Most likely we will support other export options in the future (export to text file, export to html, etc.).
- The "hands and results" window contains a hand editor through which you can enter, annotate, and save your own bridge deals and movies. Access this editor via the "hand editor" button near the top of the home screen of the "hands and results" window. By entering a partial deal and then clicking the "Redeal" button to the left of the deal, the rest of the deal will be filled in randomly according to the constraints specified through the Deal Source dialog box (which you can launch via the "Deal source" button to the left of the deal). You can click Redeal more than once in order to do an informal simulation of a bridge problem.
- Deals that appear elsewhere in the "hands and results" window can be exported to the hand editor and then annotated via the "Hand editor" command on the "Export deal" sub-menu of the "Options" menu.
- Most likely we will be introducing some additional hand management tools before too long (including the ability to automatically log deals you play to a hand folder that you specify).
4. Renting Robots
- It is now possible to rent robots (GIBs) through the web-client. We have tried to make this process much easier and more salient than it is in the Windows client.
- When the host of the table in any bridge club is sitting, empty seats will include buttons that say "Click for robot". If you have already rented robots then clicking one of these buttons will result in a robot player sitting in the seat in question. If you have not previously rented robots, clicking one of these buttons will give you the option to rent robots. If you are interested you will be guided through the process and you will then be able to play at a table with 1, 2, or 3 robots.
- There are new buttons under "Help me find a game" and "Robot World" for "Take me to a table with 3 robots". This makes it easier and faster to get a table going where you can play against 3 robots.
Several bugs have been fixed in the latest version, but given the number of new features and their complexity, it should not come as a surprise if some new bugs have been introduced. If you see any problems or have comments or suggestions, please let me know either by e-mail (fred@bridgebase.com) or by posting to this Forums thread:
Link to web-client comments thread
I am going to be away from my office at the ACBL Nationals between March 11 and March 23. During that time I will do my best to fix any problems that arise, but I may not be able to respond to e-mail or to reply to posts made in Forums. If you really need help and I am not responding, please send your questions to: support@bridgebase.com
We have worked hard on this - I hope you like it
Fred Gitelman
Bridge Base Inc.
www.bridgebase.com