with ACBLscore -1
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Using Multiple Monitors with ACBLscore -1 |
Nowadays, many clubs wish to display charts of Section Leaders or other information on a big remote TV that is easy for the players to see. Although there is more than one way to accomplish this, I offer a highly efficient, 'tried and true' solution that is both inexpensive and very easy to use.
ACBLscore is an antiquated program, written long before the usage of multiple monitors became popular. As such, some of its code is notCertain ACBLscore functions entail the display of dialog-boxes
that request information, such as a menu option or a board number. In particular,
when accessing any of the [score-edit]
functions, the dialog box is programmed
to pop up in the horizontal center of the Windows Desktop, whereupon
the user has but two options: enter a meaningful choice, or press [Esc]
.
The text box cannot be moved, nor can it be closed down in any other manner.
This is fine, as far as it goes.
What many clubs do is simply to set up remote monitors that merely duplicate the console screen. This primitive approach is easily implemented and does work, provided that nothing else must be done on the computer while some chart or graphicis being displayed, and provided that it is deemed okay for everyone in the room to view all the computer activity.
Another common practice is to use two monitors at the desktop. One is devoted to running programs, while the other can be duplicated around the room just for display purposes. This also is easy to set up in Windows; but all remote screens display the same information, and other tedious procedures ensue as well.
Obviously, there are limitations to both setups. One highly desirable feature
would be the ability to display discrete data on each screen, such as rankings
for each of two or more sections. One way to accomplish that would be to extend
the Windows Desktop space over all monitors, which also is easily done.
The fun ends there, however, because now certain functions of ACBLscore
cannot be used at all without some third-party assistance.
Consider this scenario: Hypothetically, you have set up a big external monitor
on the far side of the playing area as part of a Windows Extended Desktop.
At some point during the game, a scoring correction is in order. You press
[F2,Correct board]
That scenario clearly is unworkable. Unfortunately, the ACBL decision-makers, being as antiquated as the program, have placed a low priority on modernizing ACBLscore just for the purpose of accommodating multiple screens.
Another work-around utilized by some clubs is actually to to use two or more
computers — one for running ACBLscore, and the other solely for
managing the remote displays. Data such as Leader Charts are saved to a text file,
then moved to the other computer, either on a thumb drive or via a Wi-Fi
connection. The file then is loaded into another text editor and relocated to
the desired screen. Although this tedious and expensive fix sounds like a
nightmare to me, in many cases an ACBL official has been hired to travel to the club
and oversee the installation of such an operation. As far as I am concerned,
that scenario is an abomination; but because some executive is paid the big bucks for
such 'expertise', one hardly can expect the company to tout my $50 solution.
The good news is that it doesn't have to be that way!
The Sacramento Bridge Center now has a 4-monitor setup
that works beautifully and with total flexibility — and on a single
computer! Every screen can display either the same or unique data, and getting
it there is quick and easy. Your club could do the same.
The key element is a third-party program that actually can re-route a
pop-up window from the center of an Extended Desktop to a screen of one's
choice. Several video-card manufacturers support that capability in one
fashion or another; but for various reasons, those options did not work out for us
despite exhaustive testing.
Additionally, none of the available third-party screen-management utilities
could do it either — that is, until the advent of this 2017
program upgrade:
DISPLAY FUSION PRO, ver. 9.1
This and later versions feature a 'trigger' mechanism that can force a newly created window from any application back onto the main screen. That is precisely what is needed, and it works! The $30 utility can be set to run at Windows Startup; so after configuring the program, users can pretty much forget about it.
Another significant issue is that of Cursor Control. If the Extended
Desktop is set up so as to encompass the entire available space with no duplication,
then the mouse is free to roam anywhere at all. This means that an errant
hand-movement could cause the cursor to disappear onto a space that might
not be visible or might even be powered off; restoring order then is problematical.
After the testing of numerous third-party apps that manage such things, this one
was selected:
DUAL MONITOR TOOLS (ver. 2.4)
This utility locks the mouse cursor onto the main screen, where it needs to be. As with DisplayFusion, you can install it and forget about it. The program is freeware (donations accepted).
The combination of DisplayFusion and Dual Monitor
Tools alone is sufficient to keep ACBLscore in line, and
having all of those monitors is great; but there needs to be a way to transfer data
among them. Because the mouse no longer moves among the various screens, one
cannot simply drag a window to a new location. Something else is in order, and
Windows provides a way. Any Active Window can
be moved to another monitor, in stages, by utilizing [WinKey]
One must not simply move an ACBLscore Leaders window itself
to another screen, however, because nothing else can be done in the program while that
window remains open. One solution is the aforementioned text-file transfer
method. There is a cleaner and faster solution yet, however, which simply
is to perform a screen-capture of the desired data. Of course, many
utilities exist for that purpose; yet as usual, just one program was found to provide
a critically important function that also is easy to implement, and it costs just $20:
FASTSTONE CAPTURE (ver. 8.7)
Data are captured from the Active Window to an image file in a choice of
formats. What separates this one from the competition is its ability to accommodate
large game sections by easily performing a Scrolling Screen Capture
of an entire page, irrespective of its size!
When listing section leaders via [F8]
, a chart pops up. Depending
upon the number of tables in the section, choice of fonts, and monitor
pixel-resolution, the result might be a window with Scroll Bars, indicating that
not all the information is showing on the screen. FastStone enables
the capturing of the entire page — not just what is currently visible, with
just two additional keystrokes. This eliminates the necessity of a text-file
method of acquiring the data. As with the other two apps, one can just set it
and forget it.
The remaining challenge is how to display the graphic itself. Because Faststone doesn't feature a good method for that, the best available option is this popular freeware utility:
IRFANVIEW (ver. 4.3.8)
Captured data can be positioned and resized, unwanted screen clutter can be removed from view, and any number of graphics can be displayed simultaneously.
FastStone can be set up to launch Irfanview, which then loads the new file and displays it. The process is both fast and transparent to the user. (IrfanView is not launched at Startup.)
Note: the first time in a session that this tandem is executed, there is about a
three-second delay; after that, there is no delay at all.
I admonish readers not to be put off by the seeming complexity of the suggested system. Remember that it needs to be installed only once, and no specialized training is required.
After that, with a little practice, a director should be able to post an appropriately
formatted chart of Section Leaders to a screen of choice within 5-10 seconds,
start to finish.
The next page details the precise configurations of the four utility apps, and suggests some additional functions that can make a director's life easier.
A real human would be happy to converse on this topic.
