Game History functionality

The following is in no way meant as a criticism of a wonderful site (both in terms of the Chess and the programming). As a frequent user I find that the bugs that have crept into the site recently are irritating.

A. In the Game History window is it possible to provide a button to turn of the Manipulate Pieces Dialogue Box.?

It is very annoying that the all-obscuring dialogue box appears almost every time that a piece is left_mouse_button selected for moving on the board when using the board to evaluate variant moves of the current game.

I assume that in the design of the program software the evaluation of variant moves was the primary function of the History window.

The secondary function, using the Manipulate Dialogue Box, to assemble set pieces, is a worthwhile function but not when it overrides and threaten to obliterate the primary function.

I would like to suggest that even when setting up or playing set pieces then the appearance of the Manipulate Pieces dialogue box should appear only when deliberately invoked (ie only with a right mouse click as was the case formerly) and not unpredictably as it does now in unpredictably accompanying left_mouse click selections of pieces on the board graphic. In other words the dialogue box should be completely dissociated from the left_mouse button.

The annoyance is that when the dialogue box appears it obscures large areas of the board graphic and takes time and the effort of an accurately placed mouse click (the click box is tiny) to turn it off.

This upredictable and annoying appearance differs in frequency from session to session and has only presented in the last couple of months.

B. Another annoying idiosyncracy which has appeared in the window accessed from the Game History button of the Main Board in the last 6 months is this:

Previously, in the Game History window the function of the right hand most arrow on top of the Game history scroll panel was to retrieve the current move position of the pieces on the board.

Left_mouse_clicking this button had two effects:

a. It caused the scrolling panel highlight to move to the most recent move in the move history sequence and placed it at the bottom of the scrolling panel.
b. At the same time the arrangement of pieces on the board graphic made by the operator in the course of evaluating future moves, viewing past move configurations or assembling set piece plays was returned to the current move configuration of the pieces on the board.

Function a. still exists but function b. has been lost.

Now, for example, if a move or a number of moves have been made on the board graphic from the current move configuration (or from any one of the move positions in the game history) the only way to retrieve the current board configuration is by:
1. left_mouse _clicking the righthandmost left_pointing arrow (which gives the latest move configuration less one)
2. and then left_mouse_clicking the rightmost right_pointing button.

As mentioned above, previously only Step 2. was required. Now both steps are required.

Is it possible to return the full function of the right hand most button?

Originally posted by romang
The following is in no way meant as a criticism of a wonderful site (both in terms of the Chess and the programming). As a frequent user I find that the bugs that have crept into the site recently are irritating.

A. In the Game History window is it possible to provide a button to turn of the Manipulate Pieces Dialogue Box.?

It is very annoying th ...[text shortened]... steps are required.

Is it possible to return the full function of the right hand most button?

You should use the 'analyse board' link for exploring other lines in the game. The 'game history' to me is just that - a review of the history of the game, not a place in which to test positions.
The 'manipulate pieces' menu only pops up when I right-click or double left-click on the board - If you're having intermittent problems then check your mouse settings - Sounds like you're double-clicking to me.

Same goes for the clicking on the arrows for game navigation. I have no problem with these and suggest that your mouse could be at fault?

The 'analyse board' link has much better tools for exploring alternative lines through a game. Play out a few moves then use the previous and next links to scroll through the moves made.

[edit: Also see Ragnoraks reply in the other thread you posted this question in]

Originally posted by romang
The following is in no way meant as a criticism of a wonderful site (both in terms of the Chess and the programming). As a frequent user I find that the bugs that have crept into the site recently are irritating.

A. In the Game History window is it possible to provide a button to turn of the Manipulate Pieces Dialogue Box.?

It is very annoying th ...[text shortened]... steps are required.

Is it possible to return the full function of the right hand most button?

No need to post the same suggestion more than once...

Please refrain.

Originally posted by orangutan
[b]You should use the 'analyse board' link for exploring other lines in the game. The 'game history' to me is just that - a review of the history of the game, not a place in which to test positions...........

Thanks Orangutan for calling my attention to the Analyse Board function and the added functionality of the “next position”, “previous position” for evaluating future moves.

Regarding your suggestion: the mouse is not the problem since a change of mouse does not make any difference and the settings are fine.

In the Analyse Board function the buttons on the scrolling panels work correctly, ie the right hand button has the same function as the “reset all” button whereas in the Game History the same button has lost that function (in today’s boards, entirely!)

In the Analyse Board function the appearance of the Manipulate Pieces dialogue box occurs correctly with a left mouse button double click or with a right mouse button single click whereas in the Game History function it appears intermittently with a single left mouse button click and precictably with a right mouse button click.

The point is that the mouse button function and the scroll button functions work correctly in the Analyse Game function as they appear to have been designed. The same functions however do not work in the almost identical environment of the Game History function.

The coding must be very similar so it would seem a small matter to fix if just for consistency. Other wise, limit the Game History to just being for the history of the game without being able to manipulate the pieces either through the dialogue box or the piece selection and use the Analyse Board just for that function.