drneau.com

[drneau]

Beta 1 features
Repository structure - All files used by the application are now contained in a single directory structure called a "repository". The repository can live wherever you like...even on a flash drive. The repository can easily be moved to another machine or sent to Dr. Neau for debugging purposes.

Icons - Mostly all buttons are now icons with tooltips. This really cleans up the user interface.

New welcome screen - A new intro screen with the following functionality:
- Selection for whether you are starting a server or a client.
- Memory of the last used repository location
- Information on the build you are running
- The ability to create a new repository or point to an existing one
- Validation that the repository you are referencing is good
- "Tip of the Start": A random nugget of knowledge that may be of use to you in using the application
- "News": Information downloaded from drneau.com that may be of use...for instance, a notification that there is a new release available.
- A picture of the rock

Components - The repository consists of components. Components are reusable assets you use to streamline the creation of tournaments and leagues. Components are aggregated into the types listed below. Each type has a library that lists all components of that type that reside in the repository. The list can be filtered to hide "core" components (those supplied with the tool). The library view provides a summary of each component when you highlight it so that you don't need to open the component to remember what it is. The library lets you:
- Create a new component
- Rename a component
- Open a component for editing
- Delete a component
- Copy a component

Component types include:
- Announcements - Information that you'd like to appear on the console before or during the tournament. For instance "Next Tournament on 1/9/08". Announcements are grouped into collections and treated as a set. An announcement collection is referenced by a "Console Theme".

- Audios - Audio files that are used for alerts. Fun stuff. Audios are referenced by the alerts configured in a "Console Theme" component.

- Betting Schedules - What Hold'em people call a "blinds schedule", but it's a lot more than just blinds, Jack. Antes, Bring-Ins, Bets and Blinds...as well as Games, Limit Types, the Layouts that should be used, the add-ons and rebuys that are available. You can also define fixed breaks that occur at a set time. A betting schedule component is owned by a "Tournament", meaning a tournament has its own copy versus pointing to a shared component.

- Checklists - Your to-do list for a tournament. Checklist items are grouped into "Sections" (a section might be "one month before", while items in that section might be "send out invites" or "disinfect"). Items can have associated help text or note text. A checklist is owned by a "Tournament".

- Chip Cases - A defintion of your chip case, including unit values, quantities, total value per chip type, chip design and colors. A chip case tells you how many chips it has and how much value it has. A chip case is owned by a tournament.

- Chip Designs - A definition of what a chip looks like. You use rules to construct your own chip. Using a combintion of "circles", "rectangles", "wedges" and "diamond rings", you can design your own chips for display on the console. The app comes loaded with 15 designs and I'm looking to add more...and create more rule types if needed. Chip designs are referenced by "Chip Cases".

- Console Layouts - A definition of a console that the user will see. Consoles present information about the state of the tournament to the user. A console layout is referenced by a "Console Theme".

- Console Themes - A collection of layouts, alert definitions, and pointers to information (announcements, hand nicknames, quiz questions, quotations, rules, terminology and trivia) that the user will see/hear during the tournament. A tournament references a "Console Theme", so a console theme can be reused by multiple tournaments. Think of a console layout as the "skin" for a tournament.

- Hand Nicknames - Collections of nicknames for hands that can be displayed before/during the tournament for entertainment purposes. Hand nickname collections are referenced by "Console Themes".

- Images - Image files that are displayed on the console during a tournament. Images are referenced by "Console Layouts".

- Leagues - A collection of tournaments...typically you create a league when you want to rank players across multiple tournaments. A league has a "Player Database" and an "Aggregation Method". Leagues reference "Tournaments".
Rule: Leagues and their tournaments must reference the same player database.
Rule: Leagues can only contain tournaments that manage players (therefore, leagues are worthless in Beta 1).

- Payout Schedules - A definition of how payouts are distributed for a tournament. Payout schedules can have multiple tiers so that you can have different distributions depending on criteria. That criteria is typically "Number of Buy-Ins", but can optionally include "number of add-ons" and/or "number of rebuys". A payout schedule can round payouts to whatever amount you specify. Within a tier, you define how many spots are paid (manually specified or calculated), how percentages are distributed (manually specified or calculated) and any fixed cash or non-cash prizes. A payout schedule is owned by a "Tournament".

- Player Databases - A player database is a collection of information about players. For each player, you can track League ID (integer), First Name, Last Name, Nickname, Display Name (for the console...great for bar leagues who need to track players by name but don't want to display their name on the console), Birthday (age derived), Address, Email, Phone, as well as an associated audio and image. The display name can either be manually specified or automatically generated using a pattern. Audios and images may be used in the future for alerts. If you like, your player database can be set to require unique names and/or unique display names. Player databases are referenced by "Tournaments" and "Leagues".

- Quiz Questions - Collections of questions and answers that can be displayed before/during the tournament for entertainment purposes. Quiz question collections are referenced by "Console Themes".

- Quotations - Collections of quotations that can be displayed before/during the tournament for entertainment purposes. Quotation collections are referenced by "Console Themes".

- Ranking Methods - Note that in v3 each tournament in a league can have its own ranking method.

- Rules - Collections of tournament rules that can be displayed before/during the tournament for entertainment purposes. Rule collections are referenced by "Console Themes".

- Table Configurations - A collection of tables in breakdown order. Each table can have a different number of seats. A table configuration is owned by a "Tournament".

- Terminology - Collections of terms and definitions that can be displayed before/during the tournament for entertainment purposes. Terminology collections are referenced by "Console Themes".

- Tournaments - The reason you are using the app. Tournaments can be referenced by "Leagues". Tournaments own one "Betting Schedule", one "Checklist", one "Chip Case", one "Payout Schedule", one "Table Configuration". Tournaments reference one "Console Theme", one "Ranking Method" and possibly one "Player Database".

- Trivia - Collections of useless information be displayed before/during the tournament for entertainment purposes. Trivia collections are referenced by "Console Themes".

Networking - Networking is vastly improved over v2:
- The client and server work to verify that they are same build and alert you if they aren't.
- The client and server provide must more robust debugging information when something goes wrong.
- The client remembers the last IP address and port it used, so that you don't have to retype it every time you restart.
- The client has its own local repository that is refreshed automatically upon startup. This improves performance during the run of a tournament.
- All alerts and overlays displayed on the server are also displayed on the client.

Alerts - Alerts are broken into "Simple Alerts" that occur because of an event and "Time-Based Alerts" that occur sometime before an event will occur. All alerts can have multiple associated audio clips.

Simple Alerts include: "Break Started", "Elimination (First Player Out)", "Elimination (General)", "Elimination (In the Money)", "Elimination (On the Bubble)", "New Blind Level Started", "Player Added On", "Player Bought In", "Player Rebought", "Timer Started", "Timer Stopped", "Tournament Started" and "Tournament Ended".

Time-Based Alerts include: "Time to End of Break", "Time to End of Round", "Time to Start of Break" and "Time to Start of Tournament". For each time-alert, you can specify how long before the event it should fire. You can also have multiple of each time, so fire one 5 minutes before the break ends, another 2 minutes before and another 1 minute before.

Betting Schedule - Betting Schedules now have "Fixed Breaks" that can occur at a set time for a set duration. During play, you can also have an "Ad-Hoc" break that occurs when you want for a specified period of time...better than simply stopping the clock. For each of these breaks, the betting schedule will pick up right where it left off, even if the break occured during a level.

Betting Schedule Wizard - There is a betting schedule wizard that lets you create betting schedules for not only NLHE tournaments, but Limt Hold'em, Pot-Limit Hold'em, Mixed-Limit Hold'em, Limit H.O., Limit HORSE, Limit Omaha, Pot-Limit Omaha, No-Limit Omaha, Limit Omaha 8/b, Pot-Limit Omaha 8/b, No-Limit Omaha 8/b, Limit Razz, Limit SHOE, Limit Stud and Limt Stud 8/b. Send me more ideas!!! The wizard takes the following parameters to create a suitable schedule for you:
- Target duration
- Duration per segment
- Duration per break
- Time between breaks
- Extra segments to add in case tournament runs long (default is 50%)
- Duration cut per extra segment (default is 50%)...to get the tournament over with
- Chip Case to use
- Round factor to use (determines when chip-ups occur)
- Buy-in/Add-on/Rebuy chips and purchase estimations
- Initial large blind % of starting stack
- Final large blind % of chips in play
The wizard can also be used to multiple of divide all bets by the same amount in one operation

Betting Schedule Design - The betting schedule designer is very robust and streamlined. You can add levels anywhere in the schedule, you can move levels up and down and you can change any information for multiple levels at one time. There are also buttons for quickly selecting all levels, all pre levels, all breaks or all play levels.

On top of that, the betting schedule gives you great feedback based on the information is has available, including:
- When it thinks each level will begin and end.
- When it thinks the tournament will start.
- How long until the tournament will start.
- How much time is remaining in the current segment.
- How long until the next break (including fixed breaks).
- When the last segment will end.
- A graph of your betting schedule progression, to easily make sure you have no absurd leaps between levels.

Cash Flow Report - The cash flow report details all incoming and outgoing monies for a tournament...making it very easy to reconcile whether or not you hold the correct amount in your hand, how much goes to the league, how much to the house, expenses, etc.

Chip Designs - See the "Chip Design" component above. You can now create your own designs!!! Including plaques!

Chip Distribution Planner - A great distribution planner. Rather than removing chips from your case, just denote which ones you want to use in this tournament. You specify the target value per player and the target quantity per player, let the planner go to work and then adjust as needed.

Console Layout Design - Vastly improved layout designer. Components can overlap. Columns and rows can have different heights/widths. You can modify multiple components at one time...including multiple properties that they have in common.

Console Themes - See the "Console Theme" component description above.

Console Overlays - You can overlay all kinds of information on the console:
- Betting Schedule (targeted for a future beta)
- Chip Distribution Plan (targeted for a future beta)
- Chip Case (in Beta 1)
- League Standings (targeted for a future beta)
- Payout Plan (targeted for a future beta)
- Results (targeted for a future beta)
- Seating by Player (in Beta 1)
- Seating by Table (in Beta 1)

Expenses - You can track all expenses, and specify which ones should be raked from the prize pool.

Help - Extremely accessible and detailed help. Available from everywhere, and the links will bring you right to the help you need.

Payout Schedule Previewer - Ability to test out your payout schedule. Supply it with a few parameters to see how it will work out.

Streamlined Payout Explanation - The payout schedule now has a "Master Payout Schedule" screen and the "Current Schedule/Results". The Master is the plan with all possibilities, while the Current is what the story is right now based on the selected tier. You also get an explanation of why the current tier has been selected.

Player Databases - See the "Player Database" component above. Player databases can be exported to and imported from CSV format.

Ranking Methods - Tournaments rather than leagues now specify the ranking method, so that each tournament in a league can now have its own ranking method. A new type of ranking method, called a "spreadsheet" has now been added.

Roberts Rules of Poker - with the permission of Bob the Man, Roberts Rules are now available right within the tool.

Tournament Type "Traditional-Simple" - A new type of tournament that does not track down to the detail of tournaments in v2. No player tracking. No league. No bounty tracking. No seating management. No ranking method. Just betting schedule, console, payout schedule, expenses, chip case, financials, checklist, cash flow report, and simple history. Great for large touraments, bar leagues, etc....basically anytime you don't need to track every little detail. Note that even though you aren't tracking players by name, you can still enter names into the results for display or history...it just isn't tied to a database. For this tournament, you still enter buy-in/add-on/rebuy types, but rather than have players purchase them, you simply denote how many of each have been purchased.

New Tournament Wizard - A fabulous wizard that walks a novice through the creation of a tournament, step-by-step.

League rake - For buy-ins, add-ons and rebuys you can specify the league rake for each. You can also have a fixed league rake for the tournament.

House rake - For buy-ins, add-ons and rebuys you can specify the house rake for each. You can also have a fixed league rake for the tournament.

Timer bar - The main server panel now has a timer bar at the top that is always visible. It shows you what level you are on and how much time is remaining. It has function buttons for starting/stopping the timer, changing the level and changing how much time remains.

Auto-saving - Everything is automatically saved

Self-healing - Upon startup, all components are verified and validated upon being loaded. If any inconsistencies are discovered, you are prompted with the exact problem. You can then either have the app fix the problem, delete the component or abort the loading of that component.

Improved performance - All over the place.
_________________
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Dr. Neau (not a real doctor)
http://drneau.com
http://home.comcast.net/~jneau