SQBS for Mac available soon

[bsmith]

SQBS, with the blessing of Chris Sewell, is currently being developed for Mac OS X. My father has been doing the Windows-to-Mac code conversion and I have been testing the "alpha" (if you can call it that) of the program. Currently, its purpose is to produce the data file and web pages; it won't have the schedule generators found in the Windows version.

I have attached some screen shots. What you may notice first is that everything is consolidated into one window with tabs (rather than having a separate window for rosters, games, reports, etc). First, the tournament setup screen:

TournSetup.jpg

Tournament setup screen

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Rosters can be imported, but from scratch, you press the "+" button to make a new team and enter player names. An individual team is currently limited to a maximum of 12 players; does anyone know of a reason why a team needs more than that? Also, options in the "Question Values", "Stat Tracking" and "Bonus Conversion Tracking" may be made uneditable after the first game has been saved; does anyone have a need to edit that information halfway through a tournament?

Next up is the game entry tab:

GameEntry.jpg

Game entry screen

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Fields for overtime, lightning round, and bouncebacks will appear when selected in the tournament setup. Tabbing between different fields follows the order that the Windows version uses. "Team Swap" is just there to switch the sides the teams appear on if you need it (eg: when forfeit defaults to the left team winning).

Finally a shot of the reports screen:

Reports.jpg

Quick report screen

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Unfortunately, you can't have BOTH a team and individual quick report open at the same time, but switching between the quick reports through the menu was very fast with the larger tournaments I tested on. If you really need it, the "print" button can also save to PDF.

There are still some bugs with save files and altering data, so it's not ready to be released yet. Getting it ready for the SCT weekend is probably too ambitious, but it should be ready sometime in February.

If you are a Mac user and have any requests for features/interface (that wouldn't alter the fundamental data in the SQBS file), please let me know here or contact me through president -AT- onqba.ca . Additionally, we have done all the testing in OS 10.6 - do people need it to cover 10.5 or 10.4 as well?

(Mods: if having picture attachments breaks rules, I can change it to links to a website)

[dtaylor4]

As someone who 1) uses a Mac, and 2) does stats a lot, I'd like to test this out.

I'll download this tonight, and see if I can find bugs.

Will the .dat files work across platforms?

EDIT: I misread. I'd still like to test this ASAP.

[andrewniess]

This will be very useful when we host our tournament at the end of March. Our team is made up of all Mac-users, so we appreciate the work you're doing. Looking forward to the release!

[deserto]

This will be very useful when we host our tournament at the end of [February]. Our team is made up of all Mac-users, so we appreciate the work you're doing. Looking forward to the release!

Ditto! Do you have a more precise estimate for when the program will be available?

[bsmith]

Ditto! Do you have a more precise estimate for when the program will be available?

I hope to use it when I do stats for a small tournament on Feb 11. If no issues arise after that, it will be made available for general use. This is not a guarantee, though.

Separately, SQBS will be able to run on all Intel Macs, but it cannot run on a PowerPC. Also, will any Mac users need FTP uploads within SQBS, or do most people use either third-party FTP or the HSQB DB?

[dtaylor4]

I used the most updated version (the one emailed to me two days ago) in a tournament today. There are still issues that need worked out, but I've been providing feedback regarding the program. If you're running a small-ish tournament and want to try it, I recommend emailing Ben and getting in on the testing. The program as it stands works, but more testers would be appreciated.

[bsmith]

The program should be able to run a "normal" tournament (tossups and bonuses) without issues. The user interface is a little different than the Windows version, but hopefully the tabbed format is more compact than the multiple-window style. By default, it saves tournaments with an extension (.qzx), but you can use "Save As" to make the extensionless Windows-compatible version.

Some "new" features compared to the Windows version:
-you can have multiple tournaments open at the same time (this supposedly would help with merging >3 tournaments, but I don't have experience with this and it may still be buggy)
-you can save game entry progress in the middle of entering a game's data
-in tournament setup, you can change the default (4) number of players per side; this allows 2, 3, or 5-player tournaments without needing to correct the GP column each time.
-the round report web page is, by default, checked, and the packet names list allows you to name some packets and leave other rounds blank

There may still be problems if a tournament is not "normal" (ie: lightning rounds, manual bonus entering), but, as with any other bugs, please send feedback so that they can be corrected.

If you would like to have a copy of a beta version (with the awareness that a bug may pop up), send me an email at president -AT- onqba.ca or a private message on this forum with your email address.

[Kyle]

Donald sent me his version of this a couple of weeks ago. The interface is wonderful and it looks great, and a huge thanks to Ben for working on this. Unfortunately, my version doesn't save correctly, so when it unexpectedly quits (which is every time I attempt to enter a game ID number), I lose all of my tournament. Is this a universal problem or just something that isn't working for me?

EDIT -- the new version works beautifully.

[bsmith]

Donald sent me his version of this a couple of weeks ago. The interface is wonderful and it looks great, and a huge thanks to Ben for working on this. Unfortunately, my version doesn't save correctly, so when it unexpectedly quits (which is every time I attempt to enter a game ID number), I lose all of my tournament. Is this a universal problem or just something that isn't working for me?

For the other potential users out there: his quitting problem was fixed before this release, and there will hopefully be no crashes when making a standard-format tournament. Nevertheless, it's always good to save your work regularly!

[Kyle]

I did save regularly, but the older version didn't save the team data! Anyway, the new version works great.

Now my new problems are tiny:

(a) If you uncheck the box for using powers, it rechecks itself as soon as you go from the Tournament Setup to the Game Entry, Reports, or Settings screens.

(b) If you type in the name of the French player in your tournament and include the accent in his name, he will be omitted from all of the reports.

[bsmith]

(a) If you uncheck the box for using powers, it rechecks itself as soon as you go from the Tournament Setup to the Game Entry, Reports, or Settings screens.

(b) If you type in the name of the French player in your tournament and include the accent in his name, he will be omitted from all of the reports.

Thanks. If other people find problems, there will likely be another update with fixes in time for the Feb 11/12 weekend tournaments.

Separately, it is recommended that users do as much of the Tournament Setup as possible before entering games (specifically question values and bonus types). In fact, you're not actually supposed to be able to change that stuff mid-tournament in the Windows version: everyone's just exploiting a design flaw in the "new tournament" command. I'm aware that users see it as a feature rather than a bug, and we're trying to incorporate as many mid-tournament adjustments as possible, but some choices compromise game data and we have to disallow them.

[Dan-Don]

I'm having no problems setting up my tournament, but if I close SQBS and then try to come back to my tournament later, SQBS crashes or just otherwise can't seem to open it.

edit: Ben figured out that this is a small bug: you can't save a tournament unless the teams have players on them and are sorted into divisions (if you're using divisions).

[deserto]

I used the program at a local tournament today, and it worked wonderfully! Thanks, Ben!

[Corry]

I don't have much experience in stat keeping, but I have tried both the Windows version and Mac version of SQBS, and I like the interface this new Mac version a lot better. I suppose it's because the consolidated tournament setup window just makes a lot more sense in my mind. I'm planning to use SQBS for Mac at Arcadia's tournament in September, so I'll report back in a few months.

[bsmith]

The Mac version can be downloaded from the SQBS site ( http://ai.stanford.edu/~csewell/sqbs/index.html ) - it is the second link on the downloads page. I believe it is the newest version, which was also circulated to some people by email. If there are problems or other feedback, send them to me and we can prepare them into an update when needed.

[The Laughing Cavalier]

So, I'm getting an error when I try to create a web report. The command box is titled Style Sheet not found. and reads "style sheet name from Settings/Report: _statkey.html". Thoughts on how I can fix this?

[The Laughing Cavalier]

So, I'm getting an error when I try to create a web report. The command box is titled Style Sheet not found. and reads "style sheet name from Settings/Report: _statkey.html". Thoughts on how I can fix this?

I'll be fine at the end of the day to upload stats because I can save the tournament as a Windows-compatible file and get a web report from Windows SQBS, but I would still appreciate thoughts on making this work in the Mac version. Thanks, quizbowl internet!

[bsmith]

So, I'm getting an error when I try to create a web report. The command box is titled Style Sheet not found. and reads "style sheet name from Settings/Report: _statkey.html". Thoughts on how I can fix this?

Are you trying to use a style sheet? I have no experience with them, and in fact I'm getting a whole separate issue of being unable to keep that box in the report settings checked without reverting to unchecked. I can ask the person who did the programming how style sheets are supposed to be incorporated and how that error message would be generated.

If you're not using a style sheet, then I'm not sure how you would get an error like that, and I would probably need to look at the file itself.

[The Laughing Cavalier]

So, I'm getting an error when I try to create a web report. The command box is titled Style Sheet not found. and reads "style sheet name from Settings/Report: _statkey.html". Thoughts on how I can fix this?

Are you trying to use a style sheet? I have no experience with them, and in fact I'm getting a whole separate issue of being unable to keep that box in the report settings checked without reverting to unchecked. I can ask the person who did the programming how style sheets are supposed to be incorporated and how that error message would be generated.

If you're not using a style sheet, then I'm not sure how you would get an error like that, and I would probably need to look at the file itself.

Every time I try to uncheck the style sheet, it rechecks it. I don't know what a style sheet even is, which I assume is part of my problem.

[The Laughing Cavalier]

Now that I actually look at my desktop, each time I've asked it to generate a report it's created individual files. It won't make a folder like the box said it was trying to, but all the files seem to be there. The error message threw me off and made me assume it hadn't done anything. Once we're at lunch I'll see if it will let me upload the prelim stats. I very much like the interface (and the fact that it doesn't seem to be causing my old-ish computer as much stress as running the Windows version through Wine and a flashdrive always does). Thanks!

[bsmith]

Heads-up to any other users: the column alignment problem Patrick mentioned in the original Penn-ance thread is in fact a symptom of a bigger bug where packet names are not saving properly. I'm seeing my dad (the programmer) tomorrow, so he may have insight into the bugs Sarah and Patrick found.

[The Laughing Cavalier]

Heads-up to any other users: the column alignment problem Patrick mentioned in the original Penn-ance thread is in fact a symptom of a bigger bug where packet names are not saving properly. I'm seeing my dad (the programmer) tomorrow, so he may have insight into the bugs Sarah and Patrick found.

Yeah, I'm not sure why it's displaying that error message, but it is still generating perfectly usable files when I ask for a web report. I'm just bad at computers and it took me a while to think to check my desktop for files. Thanks!

[Dan-Don]

When trying to merge prelims and playoffs, I get this error message. Any ideas?

[bsmith]

When trying to merge prelims and playoffs, I get this error message. Any ideas?

First, I assume the "index: 2" for Whitney Young is the error message not displaying "index: 23", rather than you putting that team in the third slot of one file for some reason. Also, I assume the team names and player names were copied between the files, so there are no typos between the two sets.

My guess is that you have different divisions between the files. Try altering a copy of the prelims with division names and assignments changed to line up with the playoffs (or vice versa). You can't merge files such that teams would have 2 different divisions assigned to them.

If none of those issues is the problem, I probably need to see the actual files.

[Dan-Don]

That worked--thanks.

[ScoBo]

I've never used the Mac version myself, but I think there is a bug in the generation of the individuals report, at least in the version that was used for the VA NAQT States tournament. It looks like the <table> tag is never closed, which causes the copyright to appear above the table when uploaded to the database (example here)

[bsmith]

I've never used the Mac version myself, but I think there is a bug in the generation of the individuals report, at least in the version that was used for the VA NAQT States tournament. It looks like the <table> tag is never closed, which causes the copyright to appear above the table when uploaded to the database (example here)

It appears that the version that can be downloaded from the SQBS website was made in March 2012; there was a later version in October 2012 that corrected the table column glitches, which likely includes what you described. I'll see about getting the later version put on Sewell's website.

I'll host the later version on the ONQBA website for now: http://onqba.ca/stats/SQBS.zip