HG Dashboard *Updated May 22, 2009*

[helbrax]

You shouldn't really need a second cache to be able to highlight new run messages, you could fake the "new run messages" feature by highlighting any run message less than 20 minutes old (again, configurable?) according to its timestamp.

Ok, I get what you are saying. That should be easy enough to do then.

Unfortunately, this can't be done for market items, since there's no "start time" available for those, only an "expiration date". I'll have to think about how to handle that.

At the moment, it isn't possible, but if Yomi has the time to convert it to XML, then a start time may be a valid tag. We'll just have to wait and see

[uncanny]

Another little thing regarding refresh:
Would be nice if refresh could be halted on lists currently holding focus - makes it harder to read all the entries when the list is refreshing halfway through

Otherwise, really nice tool. Many thanks for doing it up

[helbrax]

I'll see what I can do about that. I'll probably refresh the list anyway, but keep a marker of what item you had focused, and reselect that item.

[helbrax]

Updated the code some more. Working on some of the posted improvements as well.

[helbrax]

Added column sorting, highlighting run server message < 30 minutes old, various bug fixes.

[helbrax]

I just noticed a bug with the player list when someone is shackled. I'll fix it when I have a chance.

Does anyone out there run NWN on linux and if so, have you had any success with this program using the mono framework? So far I've been impressed with the results but I'd like a second opinion.

[arek]

It works for me, but then again I'm now using the same distro you use for testing (Ubuntu Jaunty). I still use liferea for the runlist and the webpages for everything else, tho...Dashbord seems nice, but still needs some polishing imo.

--Arek

[helbrax]

but still needs some polishing imo

Could you give some suggestions so I can look into them. I have an update pending to fix the shackling bug in the player list, but if there is something else I can implement that would be great too.

[arek]

A few suggestions for changes...

For all the lists:

• Have the row backgrounds alternate colors between white and a light grey/blue/green. This will give more distinction between items.
  
• Make the filter a one-line textbox/inputbox above the lists, and move the help to a tooltip. This will make more visible room for the lists, or for other items of interest on a particular page.
  
• If you haven't already done so, poke Mish and see if all of the info from the webpages is available in xml form (and use that instead of parsing the html where possible - it'll save you a lot of headaches).

For the run listing:

• Have the bottom area (where the filter currently is) show the full text of the currently selected run message (leave blank if none selected).
  
• Have the run listing always be sorted by time, with the newest messages at the top (I have no idea how it was sorting for me...but that wasn't it, I had to manually click the time header twice to get it that way)

For the player listing:

• The current freeform filter is a nice idea, but it may be a bit lacking here. I'd suggest adding a "buddy list" and a "guild watch list" that you can add names to or remove names from with a button.

For the Server Status:

• Make the columns a bit narrower so that they'll all fit visibly in the default window.
  
• Shorten uptime from Xh, XXm to X:XX.
  
• Highlight runs called/in progress/complete with/complete/despawned, similar to how it's done on the webpage. Might want to change "Called" to "A", in order to accommodate the narrower columns, too.

Hope to see some improvements again soon...nice-looking app. Will be great once the kinks get worked out.

--Arek

[arek]

May 20, 2009 14:19:29 GMT arek said:

For the player listing:

• The current freeform filter is a nice idea, but it may be a bit lacking here. I'd suggest adding a "buddy list" and a "guild watch list" that you can add names to or remove names from with a button.

Actually, this wouldn't be quite right, either...a combobox where you could enter a new name at the top to be added, or select a name and press delete to delete it would be better.

--Arek

[helbrax]

Have the row backgrounds alternate colors between white and a light grey/blue/green. This will give more distinction between items.

Easy enough.

Make the filter a one-line textbox/inputbox above the lists, and move the help to a tooltip. This will make more visible room for the lists, or for other items of interest on a particular page.

Again, simple.

If you haven't already done so, poke Mish and see if all of the info from the webpages is available in xml form (and use that instead of parsing the html where possible - it'll save you a lot of headaches).

At one time, it was. It doesn't seem to be available anymore. The XML format would be sooo much easier, I agree!

Have the bottom area (where the filter currently is) show the full text of the currently selected run message (leave blank if none selected)

Sounds good.

Have the run listing always be sorted by time, with the newest messages at the top (I have no idea how it was sorting for me...but that wasn't it, I had to manually click the time header twice to get it that way)

Already is. This is a bug in the Mono framework implementation of the listview I believe. It works find in Windows.

The current freeform filter is a nice idea, but it may be a bit lacking here. I'd suggest adding a "buddy list" and a "guild watch list" that you can add names to or remove names from with a button.

I actually thought about this, but couldn't decide between the filter and an actual "buddy list". The buddy list would require another form, and I'd have to test to make sure everything would work well on Linux. I'll definitely look into it.

Make the columns a bit narrower so that they'll all fit visibly in the default window.

The columns fit the width of the content(or the headers, I can't remember). Making them so narrow you can't see the contents is useless just to fit them in the window is counter-productive. Instead of having to scroll the window, now you have to resize the columns. I'll look into other alternatives. To be honest, the whole quest parser is a piece of junk tacked on at the last minute .

Shorten uptime from Xh, XXm to X:XX.

I don't really see why that's necessary.

Highlight runs called/in progress/complete with/complete/despawned, similar to how it's done on the webpage. Might want to change "Called" to "A", in order to accommodate the narrower columns, too.

I was planning on doing this eventually. As I mentioned a few paragraphs up, the quest parser is a mess.

Hope to see some improvements again soon...nice-looking app. Will be great once the kinks get worked out.

Thanks!

[arek]

Xh, XXm doesn't quite fit in the *current* column widths for the run status, at least on Mono...X:XX would probably fit in slightly narrower (by default) columns.

Really, there isn't much info to show in those columns...(blank), A (Called), I X/Y, IC X/Y, C, P, D. If done correctly, the columns could probably be made little wider than the server number, and doing so should improve readability.

--Arek

Edit: I just manually narrowed the columns on my running copy, and the only thing that doesn't fit with the columns as narrow as "Called" allows them to be is the server uptime, which could be shortened as I mentioned earlier or (with the screen real-estate saved by doing so) moved to one side of the quest listing, outside of the grid.

[helbrax]

I was actually thinking about just showing stuff that had relelvant information. For instance, if MoaD isn't dead, called, etc, there is really no reason to even show it. I'll have to investigate that one further.

[arek]

May 20, 2009 14:55:44 GMT helbrax said:

I was actually thinking about just showing stuff that had relelvant information. For instance, if MoaD isn't dead, called, etc, there is really no reason to even show it. I'll have to investigate that one further.

Actually, there is information in a blank box/line...the fact that the run hasn't been called/started/etc. The run status is nearly fine as it is, it just needs the columns narrowed so that they all fit, and some highligting on the rows (to separate them) and any non-blank boxes. Uptimes could be moved into a space at the bottom of the list, or to one side, as they're the only thing that doesn't really fit into the narrow columns. Also, for us mono folks, and for readability for all, could you also move player counts out of the listing? I think this listing is affected by the same bug as all the others (programmatic sorting not working for some reason), but can't be manually sorted to have the appropriate stuff at the top.

Hope this helps.

--Arek

[arek]

One last suggestion, if you can manage it....Something that would be nice on the run listing page (and possibly also on the market and player pages): A "join server" button which, when pressed, runs nwn (location and command configurable), with +connect server to the appropriate server. Of course, this won't work correctly on linux, but it would be a really nice option for all the windows users out there (and might even be handy for us linux users, in a way, if you can at least get it to run a custom command when the button is pressed).