Project Cerbera > Tools & Editors > GHBM > Changelog for GHBM

Changelog for GHBM

Changes for 6^th April 2009

Appearence & Theme

• Revised user interface.
• Switched to 3D border style since XP’s nice borders don’t work in Common Controls 6. (They do in 5.)
• MS Sans Serif replaced with Microsoft Sans Serif.
• Chat boxes now use the standard font, Tahoma at size 8.
• Icon is set at design time for all forms.

Lists

• Only the useful columns are shown.
• Created an AutoSizeColumns() subprocedure, with an Autosize! button.
• Names column renamed Players.
• Host column renamed Games.
• Vertically autosized the Games list.
• Fixed regression with flag icons in Games list.
• Games list uses CC column like Players list.
• Comment column hidden:
  • People rarely put useful stuff in it.
  • Even when useful it is rarely obeyed.
  • Took quite a lot of width, even when empty (840.18 twips or 56 pixels).
  • There’s a chat box and a big chat history window immediately below the games list. You can make as many comments as you want and as big as you want them. This is what players do naturally!
• LabelEdit is now (finally!) disabled for all ListViews.
• Pass column now says Yes or No instead of Y or N.
• Level column of Games list now uses description instead of .mmp filename when you change the level you are hosting from the Network GTA2 window.

Host Game

• Host Game button can be clicked before signing in. (Handy for testing levels and .mmp files.)
• Is now resizable.
• Width can be set much narrower than before.
• Is now modeless. (You can leave it open and still use main window.)
• Esc now closes it and added Cancel button.
• Buttons in conventional position and order, at bottom.
• Double-click list to host that level immediately.
• Removed tooltip from Play Alone button.
• PlayerCount column is now right-aligned.

Settings

• Made controls resizable.
• ImageComboBox hidden in favour of a new ListView.

System Tray

• Change from Hex() to named mouse button constants:
  • Copy-pasted from 1.492.
  • Right-click restores GH same as left-click does.

Optimisation

• Removed the DataGrid and DataList components, since they weren’t used.
• Replaced "" with vbNullString or vbQuote, as appropriate.
• Removed line numbers with MZ Tools as described by Sektor’s e-mail from 24^th March 2009.
• Rewritten resizing code.
• Removed frmSettings.txtGTA2folder = strGTA2path from the main window’s source code, as instructed by Sektor.

Changes for 8^th April 2009

Appearance & Theme

• Title bar:
  • Removed your IRC name. (You see it every time you send a message.)
  • Removed version number. (It’s in Help > About.)
  • Added BenMillard Edition to make clear this is not the official Game Hunter.
• Each window now defaults to normal state if WindowState registry value is empty.

Lists

• Games list default height is set 1 row taller than before.

Chat

• Reviewed every message GH displays:
  • Removed many useless messages.
  • Made colours more consistent and logical.
  • Shortened some useful messages.
  • QUIT and PART now have proper text.
  • Merged the code for QUIT and PART.
  • Gave proper text to some messages you get when a command goes wrong.
• Chat box regains focus automatically after you use the Autosize! button.

Host Game

• Comment box is now hidden for same reasons as the Games list.
• Checkboxes now enable and disable the corresponding controls.
• Ctrl+A does Select All in controls where it makes sense.

Settings

• Window size and position are stored:
  • New registry entries are consistent with other windows in GH.
• Ctrl+A does Select All in controls where it makes sense.
• Removed some old controls:
  • Dropdown list for location replaced by a table.
  • Notications when people join from locations 1 and 2 are gone.

Changes for 9^th April 2009

Chat

• Further tweaks to some messages:
  • Removed many useless messages.
  • Fixed a couple of mistakes I made with the colours.
• My first attempt at polite autoscroll for the chat history:
  • If you click or highlight an old message, new messages are still be added but you stay with the message you clicked.
  • If you scroll up without clicking some old text, autoscroll still happens.
• Identified as GTA2GHBM instead of GTA2GH1491 so Sektor can see who’s testing it.
• Links now have the hand cursor. Thanks Sektor!

Credits

• Help > About now displays all major contributors.
• Sektor made this change but I might neaten it up a bit more.

Changes for 14^th April 2009

Lists

• Autosize! button removed.
• Sizing is now done automatically.
• Took the approach suggested by Sektor on 11^th April 2009.
• First-letter capitals now used for Away and Hosting.

Chat

• Message colours:
  • Purple is only used for /me.
  • Normal connect, reconnect and disconnet are now green.
  • Kicks are green. Except for the player who got kicked; they get red.
• Turned off drag & drop editing.
• Scrollbar is now always visible.

Create Game

• Renamed Host Game to Create Game for consistency with GTA2, as suggested by Lantyz.
• Comment controls removed.
• Focus is immediately returned to the chat box after pressing Create Game.

IRC

• Sektor reported flags disappear in GHBM.
• Dafe reported this also happens in official GH, rarely.
• Sektor confirms a netsplit causes this in official GH. has some ideas for fixes.

Code Reduction

• Replaced every Foo.Item(Index) with the Foo(Index) shorthand.

Changes for 17^th April 2009

Create Game

• Nudged each text box a little bit closer to its label.
• Cancel button is now same width as Create Game and Play Alone.

Lists

• Shortened Hosting to Host in Status column of Players list.
• When empty, Games list now says No games have been created. (Suggested by Lantyz.)

Chat

• Consistently uses red for the message GTA2 is already open […].

Settings

• Removed some old controls:
  • Notification by 1^st and 2^nd location.
  • Notification by ping. (Ping code hasn’t worked for ages.)
  • Reconnection checkbox. (Always reconnect.)

Sektor’s Advice

• E-mail from Sektor on 14^th April 2009.
• Readme no longer mentions Autosize! button, since that works automatically now.
• Help > Contents now opens readme.txt instead of GTA2GH.txt.
• Removed the invisible Send button.
• Project internally renamed from GTA2 Game Hunter to GHBM.

About

• Cleaned up and compacted the Help > About window.
• Window title changed to About instead of mirroring the main window.
• Added CubanPete: Icon.
• Credits text moved from runtime to design time.
• Version and edition are hardcoded into the credits text.
• Now uses title case and colons.
• Is centred on main window.
• Is modeless but stays on top, like similar windows in other programs.
• All names are visible without scrolling.

Code Reduction

• Removed some large sections of commented-out code.
• Merged cmdExit_Click into Form_QueryUnload.
• Re-arranged some code to put related stuff closer together.
• Size of main window now set using .Move to reduce Form_Resize calls at startup.
• Used MZtools to remove lots of dead variables and code, such as tmrWordBreakProc_Timer().
• Moved some initial chat box properties to design time.
• Removed lots of old commented-out code from frmGH.
• Removed code for notifications by location and by ping.

Changes for 1^st May 2009

Lists

• Turned on gridlines to test if they help at all.
• Games list sizing:
  • No longer makes space for a horizontal scrollbar now that it’s so narrow.
  • Now fits precisely to the number of games.
  • Minimum height leaves space for 2 games.
• Replaced - with vbNullString everywhere except Hamachi password stuff. (Did this break anything?)
• Added full country name in tooltip for CC column in Games list.

Chat

• QUIT now includes the host name of the player reliably.

Tools Menu

Now has these common sizes:

• 600×480
• 800×600
• 1024×768
• 1280×960
• Helps when taking screenshots.
• Helps to see how things look maximised on common screen sizes.
• Vike agreed this could be useful on 18^th April 2009.

Code Reduction

• Replaced remaining ListItems.Item(i) syntax with ListItems(i) shorthand.
• Removed the frmUpdate window. This was unused, so it won’t affect EXE size.

Changes for 4^th May 2009

IRC

• Would not run when Connect at startup was enabled:
  • Might be the problem reported by B-Shep?
  • Sektor debugged the cause as being my use of ActiveControl.Name in the polite autoscroll code.
  • The form now displays itself before trying to connect at startup, so ActiveControl exists.
  • Also used Sektor’s suggested code which checks window is visible before using ActiveControl.
• Updated the internal servers list:
  • E-mail from Sektor on 3^rd May 2009.
  • Also add 83.133.124.161 in case of DNS problems.
  • Kept the servers.ini support for now.
  • Included an updated servers.ini.

Lists

• Incorrect flag sizes reported by Lars Gaastra:
  • Confirmed in official GH.
  • Setting sizes on the ImageList works.
  • Sektor noted it's because 00.gif (the question mark for unknown Country) is 18×12 when other flags are 16×11.
  • I resized 00.gif and it’s included in this release.

Chat

• Now prevents pasting of rich formats into chat box:
  • Colours from messages in chat history.
  • Formatting from web pages, e-mail, word processors.
  • Screenshots, files and other objects.

Create Game

• Custom .mmp data such as Author is no longer displayed.

Fixed Bugs

• Solved a process handle leak using the fix Sektor sent on 4^th May 2009.
• Now catches the error when the selected server number is 1 greater than the final server in the list.

Changes for 15^th May 2009

Chat

• Made the dark red for private messages a more visible orange colour.

Flags

• Embeded flags into EXE instead of loading them each time GHBM starts:
  • Added them to the ImageCombo at design time.
  • Missed quite a few out after my first try.
  • All flags are now present and correct.
  • Didn’t do benchmarking but it seemed faster at startup.
• Added flag for Timor-Leste (TL).

Lists

• CC column in Games list now shows Country name in tooltip when you are the host.

Create Game

• Selected game is now last selected game:
  • If you close the window, the selected level is now saved.
  • Official GH 1.491 doesn’t do this.

Leaks & Bugs Fixed

• Sektor e-mailed me some upgrades on 12^th May 2009, including:
  • Fixed handle leak in cRegistry.cls.
  • Added error trapping to frmProbeGTA2.
  • Added proper handle fix to IsCheckProcess().

Changes for 5^th June 2009

Done very little to GHBM during the past couple of weeks.

Keyboard Shortcuts

• Realise Alt+E was conflicted between Edit menu and Settings button.
• Now uses Alt+N for Settings.

Lists

• Games list now says Games (n) just like Players list says Players (n), where n is the number of games or players.
• The sort arrow is redrawn whenever the text changes.
• This is handled in AutoSizeColumns() so the code is centralised.

Chat

• Polite automatic scrolling:
  • Can now Tab into the chat history instead of clicking.
  • Should no longer flicker when new messages are added.
  • Dafe checked MSN Messenger’s polite autoscroll. It only scrolls back down after you scroll down to the bottom manually.
  • Basing autoscroll on the scrollbar will be the next improvement.
• Sektor’s GTA2GHBOT is now a visible user.

Create Game

• Sektor suggested lvMaps.SelectedItem.EnsureVisible should go in frmHost.Form_Resize on 18^th May 2009.

Changes for 10^th June 2009

Settings

• Window size and position are now saved properly when you exit GHBM:
  • Start, note position, change position, exit, restart: GHBM is in the new position.
  • I broke this some time ago by ending the program too abruptly if you use File > Exit.
  • It is definitely fixed now.

Lists

• Vertical scrollbar in Players list no longer causes a horizontal scrollbar.

Enhanced GTA2 Network Screen (mpaddon.exe)

• If you enabled this option in official GH, GHBM would sometimes fail to join games:
  • If a game had no comment, GHBM sent an empty comment.
  • mpaddon.exe does not allow empty comments.
  • GHBM now sends a single - like the official GH does.
  • Sektor and I have confirmed this fixes the problem.
  • The solution was found by Sektor.

Changes for 3^rd July 2009

Appearence & Themes

• Main window titlebar now says GHBM instead of GTA2 Game Hunter (BenMillard Edition):
  • Easier to tell apart from official GH, especially when running both.
  • Taskbar only shows the GTA2 Game Hunter portion.
  • GHBM is much, much shorter and still identifies the program uniquely.
  • Only trusted players are testing GHBM and that’s what they know it as.

Lists

• Players list is now sorted after a /nick name is changed.
• GTA2 Version column renamed GTA2. (GHBM hides this column.)

Chat

• The message Player was denied access. is now shown, so the host can see if joiners need help with the password.
• Output of /wi command tidied up by copying code from GH 1.5 by Sektor.
• Swapped lvGH_ItemClick() for lvGH_Click:
  • Clicking a player you are already typing a message to no longer erases your message.
  • Joining a game should no longer cause you to join it twice.
• Topic is now left-aligned instead of central.

Code Reduction

• Flattened the code which processes incoming messages.
• Replaced all uses of = True Then with Then.

Changes for 13^th July 2009

Chat

• Sektor made times and durations only display the non-zero parts.
• Sektor disabled Virtual Hosts.

Create Game

• Column header now says Levels (n) instead of Description.

Lists

• Clicking on an empty Games list no longer displays an error message.

Code Reduction

• Replaced .ListSubItems with .ListItems whenever reading and writing simple strings.

Changes for 18^th July 2009

Lists

• Games list now shows version in GTA2 column again:
  • v11 is being tested and I keep forgetting to switch back.
  • Sometimes I join 9.6 games and later host 9.6 instead of 9.6F.
• Games list can have horizontal scrollbar and this no longer causes vertical scrollbar:
  • Some maps have a very long Description.
  • GHBM might be very narrow, like an IM window.
  • Turning off the horizontal scrollbar would stop user from seeing all details.
• Sorting the Players list by Status will now update dynamically.

Chat

• Shortened and re-organised the Help > Commands text.

Create Game

• Restored the list for selecting GTA2 version.

Settings

• If the selected Location is hidden while resizing the window, the list will scroll to show it.

Changes for 29^th December 2009

Chat

• Can drag and drop text into and out of the chat box again!
• You can drop files like in 1.491 but they are instantly cleared.
• Formatting in the chat box is now removed in a more brutal but robust way.
• The new code uses txtChatBox_Change() to store, clear and restore the .Text.

Appearence & Themes

• All windows now use Microsoft Sans Serif instead of MS Sans Serif.

IRC

• Unofficial clients are now processed for country code in /who output.

Code Reduction

• Removed a Debug.Print which was firing every time AutoSizeColumns() was called.
• Removed server.ini file from package. It’s been optional for ages.
• Replaced all App.Major and App.Minor code with constant called APP_VERSION. (GHBM will always be 1.491 underneath.)

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Last modified on Friday 3^rd April 2015 at 11:15pm UTC.