War Cabinet 0.8.3 is available!

[ErikCumps]

Originally Posted by Larry2017

I did see: PreferencesHelp1.png. The words "game folder" are at least part of what led me astray. I didn't even think to look at: PreferencesHelp2.png. But the words "installation folder" in that note would have put me on the right track. If I may suggest a note:

"This is the installation folder of the game, something like: ...\WinSPWW2 or ...\Steel Panthers World At War"

Hi Larry2017,

Again, thanks for your feedback.

Meanwhile work has started on improving this:



Done:

• The item name has changed from "Path:" to "Installation:"
• The note now explicitly mentions "installation folder"

I agree with your suggestion to remove references to "game config".

Busy:

• Highlight individual items in red, instead of the whole game config box
• In the note of an item, include an explanation for why an item is highlighted in red

Regarding your suggestion for preseeding each field with its note in a background color, I will keep that on hold for now.

Erik

[ErikCumps]

Originally Posted by ErikCumps

Meanwhile work has started on improving this:

Done:

• The item name has changed from "Path:" to "Installation:"
• The note now explicitly mentions "installation folder"

I agree with your suggestion to remove references to "game config".

In the mean time I have made further improvements:

Reworked the "Incomplete preferences" Error dialog box:

• It is no longer an Error, but a Warning instead.
• It now offers a "Review" button to return to the Preferences.
• It now offers a "Continue" button to dismiss the Preferences and continue anyway.

Improved the look&feel of the Preferences dialog box:

• Added explicit label about the expectations for the game configurations.
• Better feedback for incomplete/incorrect fields.
• Renamed "Default game config" to "Preferred game config".
• Slight reorganization of the Preferences items.

Improved the "New dossier" action behavior:

• If the Preferences are still incomplete when this action is invoked, a Warning dialog box is shown.
• This Warning dialog box offers a "Review" button to return to the Preferences so they an be completed/corrected.
• This Warning dialog box offers a "Continue" button to dismiss the Warning and stop the action.

Because I did not want to force users in an endless loop between the Preferences dialog
box and the "Incomplete Preferences" Warning box, I gave them a way out.

But that means that it becomes possible to try to create a New (empty) dossier, even if
no game configurations are filled in at all.

Without any game configurations, War Cabinet can not know for which OOB the dossier
should be made and from which savedir it should present savegames to add to the dossier.

This is why this action must be blocked in that case, while still giving the user the opportunity
to fix the issue by fixing the Preferences.

I wanted to add some screenshots of the new dialog boxes, but that doesn't seem to work
at the moment. I'll try again later...

Erik

[ErikCumps]

Originally Posted by ErikCumps

In the mean time I have made further improvements:

Reworked the "Incomplete preferences" Error dialog box:

• It is no longer an Error, but a Warning instead.
• It now offers a "Review" button to return to the Preferences.
• It now offers a "Continue" button to dismiss the Preferences and continue anyway.

Improved the look&feel of the Preferences dialog box:

• Added explicit label about the expectations for the game configurations.
• Better feedback for incomplete/incorrect fields.
• Renamed "Default game config" to "Preferred game config".
• Slight reorganization of the Preferences items.

Improved the "New dossier" action behavior:

• If the Preferences are still incomplete when this action is invoked, a Warning dialog box is shown.
• This Warning dialog box offers a "Review" button to return to the Preferences so they an be completed/corrected.
• This Warning dialog box offers a "Continue" button to dismiss the Warning and stop the action.

Because I did not want to force users in an endless loop between the Preferences dialog
box and the "Incomplete Preferences" Warning box, I gave them a way out.

But that means that it becomes possible to try to create a New (empty) dossier, even if
no game configurations are filled in at all.

Without any game configurations, War Cabinet can not know for which OOB the dossier
should be made and from which savedir it should present savegames to add to the dossier.

This is why this action must be blocked in that case, while still giving the user the opportunity
to fix the issue by fixing the Preferences.

I wanted to add some screenshots of the new dialog boxes, but that doesn't seem to work
at the moment. I'll try again later...

Erik

All feedback is welcome!

Here are the Screenshots
(these screenshots are based on the same kind of situation Larry2017 was in earlier,
trying to use the "PBEM Games" folder to configure the game path)

The new "Incomplete Preferences" Warning:


The new feedback for incomplete/incorrect fields:


'Hover' notes for the game path:


'Hover' notes for the game type:


The new Warning when trying to create a new dossier while the Preferences are still incomplete:


Erik