Re: [XBoard-devel] WB installer, detailed proposal

[h.g. muller]

One remark on the start-menu items the installer should make for starting 
up WinBoard in various modes:

I don't know how this was done in the previous installl, but I suppose a 
start-menu item is basically a
short-cut that defines a command line, and that WB was controlled through 
opton arguments on this line.
I want to propose to use indirection files for this in the 4.4.0 install, 
like defining a command line

c:\chess\winboard\winboard.exe @fics.ini

for connecting to FICS, where a fics.ini file in the WinBoard directory 
would then contain something like

/ics
/icshost=freechess.org
/icshelper=timeseal.exe
/engineOutputUp=false
/evalGraphUp=false
/saveSettingsOnExit=false

This would allow quite elaborate tailoring of the WinBoardsettings to 
optimize it for the seleted purpose,
without running into any length limit of an actual command line. The small 
.ini files would also provide
nice 'building blocks' for people to customize their own settings. E.g. 
they could make several 'themes'
for WinBoard, defining bitmaps for the board texture in combination with 
Chess fonts and colors for the
piece rendering, and put these in .ini files. They could then combine those 
orthogonally with ini files for
defining the function. E.g.

winboard @pgnViewer @Wood
winboard @FICS @Marble
winboard -zp @ICC @Glaurung @Wood

Where the file Glaurung could contain

/fcp=glaurung.exe
/fd="c:/chess/glaurung"
/fUCI
/firstHasOwnBookUCI=false
/firstLogo="c:/chess/glaurung/logo.bmp"

and Wood could contain something like:

/liteBackTextureFile="textures/wood_l.bmp"
/darkBackTextureFile="textures/wood_d.bmp"
/liteBackTextureMode=2
/darkBackTextureMode=2
/overrideLineGap=0
/renderPiecesWithFont="Chess Mark"
/fontPieceBackColorWhite=#ffffff
/fontPieceForeColorWhite=#000000
/fontPieceBackColorBlack=#ffffff
/fontPieceForeColorBlack=#000000
/fontPieceSize=80
/fontPieceToCharTable="pnbrqkomvtwl"
/saveSettingsOnExit=false

Note that it is possible to type WinBoard command-line arguments in the 
start-up dialog, either in
the field at the bottom, or simply behind a selected engine or ICS. So 
running a bot in zippy mode
could be done by selecting the ICS from the pre-defined list in the 
start-up dialog, and then as
extra arguments type "-zp @engine.ini", where all settings needed for the 
engine would be pre-defined
in an engine.ini file for it, like the Glaurung file above.

This pervents combinatorial explosion of the number of short-cuts you would 
need if you play many
different engines on several ICS, and also like to switch theme now and then.

We should prepare some of these .ini files for themes and engines in the 
install, for people to use
them as an example.

H.G.