Hi, Alexander.
I'm trying the new beta version 0.7, and everything works OK ! There is no problem with the "build zip packages for multiple games" option, and "access denied" file delete error.
I continue to trying this new version...
Thanks !

Hi skatz,

all of your bug reports and suggestions are fixed and done. I'm just working on some last little things and if no new bugs arise, I will release D-Fend Reloaded 0.7.0 beta 2 within the next days.

Hi Alexander

Will the next beta version ready for translations ? Or should we wait for a next beta ?
I would not like to miss it. 😉

By the way, I wonder if it could possible to create a RSS link or a special page on source forge for the translators, to alert them when a new version is ready for translation. Or maybe another forum entry.

Hi, Alexander!
Here is new bug/proposition report.
1. Genre/language translation. If I have add new line to genre/language list and another list (i.e. language/genre) has more lines than current,
this new line is filled with the data from that another list.
2. Link submenus.
a)menu for search engines has separators (when empty line is in list).
b)submenus are broken only by empty line. Example:

1a
2=b
3c

brings menu 'a' with submenus 'b' and 'c'. To put 'c' on previous level I should insert empty line before it.
3.It is not error, but exclude word 'zip' from messages/captions which are used for general archives (not PHYSFS).
4. Security option DeleteOnlyInBaseDir does not work on uninstall game (for both files and directories). If it is right behavior - change explanation message in setup dialog.
5. When on first run you search for lame.exe maybe you should check program and BIN folders before going to 'Program Files'.
6. ScummVM extra path setting:
a)when you select (by dialog) DFR program directory for extra path (or save game path) and use relative paths, the line in edit control is empty.
b) auto added line in [scummvm] section should be 'extrapath=' instead of 'extra_path='
6. ScummVM: when you add 'platform' parameter' to command line add '=' to it i.e. '--platform=...'.
7. ScummVM: platform initial default values are copied from render (erase section confopt.dat and look what lines are added).
8. ScummVM. 'Restore defaults' in setup dialog does not restore 'ScummVM game language' settings
9. Helper programs. Almost fine. When displaying message 'could not run' - restore minimized DFR window.
10. Custom archiver. When you construct filter for specific extension you create its name as 'ext Archive files (*.ext)' getting text from all archives filter. This form is not appropriate for all languages. May you make first part customizable as 'text %s text' replacing %s with extension and adding (*.ext) at the end?
11. CD mounting dialogs.
a) 'Ask for CD' dialog appears on saving profile with it.
b) Again error messages. Displaying NoCDDrive message restore minimized DFR.
c) Disk selection dialogs are not error, but user interface dialogs, so restoring minimized application is not acceptable. Better way is to insert

1  ForceForegroundWindow(Application.Handle);
2  Application.BringToFront;

before ShowModal of SelectCDDriveToMountForm in ShowSelectCDDriveToMountDialog function and SelectCDDriveToMountByDataForm in ShowSelectCDDriveToMountByDataDialog. As a fact they are displayed, but as application is not active they may hide behind another applications windows. And I think that game title should appear in some form on this dialogs. In general this method may be used before calling MessageDlg (instead of restoring), but I think that messages like 'File not Found' on empty screen may confuse user.
d) When running profile with CD dialog when DR is in tray we have another problem. Application is hidden and ShowModal does not lock other windows So you may restore DFR and run that (or alike) profile again. In this case you construct/delete dialog form in the same variable and get pointer errors. (Run profile, do not touch dialog, restore DFR, run profile again. Now you have two dialogs. Close first, close second. Get an error.) The simple solution is to use local variable instead of global (add variable SelectCDDriveToMountForm: TSelectCDDriveToMountForm to ShowSelectCDDriveToMountDialog function and SelectCDDriveToMountByDataForm: TSelectCDDriveToMountByDataForm; yo ShowSelectCDDriveToMountByDataDialog).
12. Repair filename conversion messages in RealDOSBoxShortNameErrorMessage:

1    tcrErrDelimiterInFileName     :  
2ErrorMessage:=Format(LanguageSetup.MessageShortNameErrorDelimiterInFileName,[LongName]);
3    tcrErrFileNotFound            :  
4ErrorMessage:=Format(LanguageSetup.MessageShortNameErrorFileNotFound,[LongName,RootPath]);

13. Export of games list to HTML.
a)You use special conversion only for standard list items. But column name (as they are translatable) should be converted too. And custom infos (names and values) also.
b) You set charset to Latin-1 and use conversion for German umlaut letters. If current language is not German some letters may appear wrong. I think you should convert only ampersand, quote and less\greater characters. For other letters I see approaches:
I) Specify in language file HTML code page and list of specific characters that should be converted.
II) Convert text to UTF-8 codepage. And set UTF-8 charset in HTML. Source codepage may be got from charset name already setted in language file.

1function GetCharsetCodePage(CharSet: Integer): Integer;
2var
3 CharSetInfo :TCharsetInfo;
4 cset: DWORD;
5begin
6    if CharSet=OEM_CHARSET then
7    begin
8     Result:=GetOEMCP;
9     exit;
10    end;
11    Result:=GetACP;
12    cset:=CharSet;
13    if TranslateCharsetInfo( PDWORD(cset)^, CharSetInfo, TCI_SRCCHARSET) then
14      Result:=CharSetInfo.ciACP;
15end;

Convert text form this codepage to widechar (MultiByteToWideChar) and to UTF (WideCharToMultiByte).
And, please, add BALTIC_CHARSET (186) to your charsets list.
14. When you select for DOSBox keyboard layout and codepage that are incompatible, DOSBox does not set anything of it. I think that stating this fact in help would be enough. You may also suggest taht user would try in plain dosbox command like 'keyb us 437' if something goes wrong. Compatibility list may be found on freedos site, but reading it may be difficult.

Hi curieux,

the next beta version of D-Fend Reloaded (the second beta release) will be ready for translation.

Having some RSS file containing beta information probabily would be a good idea. The main problem at the moment is I'm the only person working on D-Fend Reloaded. I do the coding, keep the homepage up to date and write these forum posts. And at the moment again I have very little free time to do this all. But anyway, together with the next homepage improvement step I will try to introduce some beta RSS file.

Hi skatz,

oh, some many bugs and so little time. Today I have started fixing them:

Bugs 1, 2a+b, 5, 6, 7 and 12 are fixed.
And until now I cannot confirm / reproduce 8.
All other bug reports are still on my todo.

If I will find enough free time during the next days, I will try to finish your list over the next weekend.

Greetings
Alexander

Hi, ALexander!
About number 8:
Open setup dialog and go to defaults pages. Select 'ScummVM game language'. Erase all. Press OK. Open that dialog again and select 'Restore defaults'->'This page'. Data are still empty.
As I understand for now this function restores not default data but data loaded on dialog opening.

Hi skatz,
sorry, but I still cannot confirm this bug. I have exactly done your steps and for me it's working. I have also checked the source code and it is looking right. I have tried closing and reopening DFR before opening the setup dialog again and I have tried the whole procedure while russian language is active. In all cases: It works. But perhaps there are some other older changes I have made since beta 1 which fix this problem. I have only checked it with my current work in progress code and not with the DFR 0.7b1 source code. So I would suggest you wait for beta 2 and if the bug is still present for you in beta 2, we can have a closer look at the problem.

And a little status update:
Fixed 6a+b.
Fixing 6a was much more complex than just this one input line. In all places where selected directories where made relative this problem occured.
Still on my todo: 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, 13 and 14.

Before my questions, I must commend you on a fantastic front-end. The more I use Defend Reloaded, the more I'm amazed. Thank you!

On to the questions...

#1. Is there a way to make D-fend Reloaded remember the width "spacing" of individual columns? D-Fend forget the width adjustments every time I close the front-end.

#2. Is there a way to have D-Fend Reloaded display "User-Defined Information" in the games list? After much looking, there doesn't seem to be an option to do so.

Hi Casublett,

sorry, but this two things are not yet implemented. Perhaps I can do #1 in beta 2. At the moment the column width is calculated automatically. (And this will stay the default option even if I implement storing custom widths.) For #2 there is a bit more to do because the whole column ordering has to be extended for this. I have added this to my 0.8 todo.

BTW: 3 from the long list fixed.

Thanks for the answer Alexander 😀

Ok, I have a new question...

I've been manually transferring my D.O.G. (front-end) installed games over to D-Fend and I'm running into a weird issue.

A few games that work fine in D.O.G. won't work properly in D-Fend... with the EXACT same settings.

Some issues are small... like mouse issues in Cannon Fodder 1 & 2, while others are show stoppers like Battle Chess Enhanced and Case of the Cautious Condor not even loading.

I've combed over every tab and option available in both front-ends and nothing is visibly different.

Suggestions?

Export the dosbox.conf file for both, and compare them. If in doubt check
what happens if you use those settings without a frontend at all.

Good idea, I'll do it and see what I find.

Hi Casublett,

using the "EXACT same settings" is a bit complicated because D-Fend Reloaded cannot read D.O.G files directly. Only the D-Fend prof files which D.O.G. can create can be imported. The original D-Fend format does not cover all options available in D.O.G. and also D-Fend Reloaded uses some new data fields in the prof files which D.O.G. does not know. So comparing the created conf file will probabily be the best idea. In most cases there are problems with the mounting settings.

And some little status update:
Fixed: 4, 9, 10, 11a+b+c+d, 13a+b, 14 (that's the rest from the long list)
Still open: #1
Additionally I will try to offer the next beta version in one more new format.

@skatz:
I have really no idea how you have found 11d. Why there is a access violation and how to solve it is obvious but I really can't imagine how you have found this one. I have never thought of restoring the main window while the select CD dialog is opened when starting a profile from the
tray icon.

Hi, Alexander!
To be specific, I didn't run profile from tray icon, but used autominimize-on-profilerun option. But this is irrelevant.
I usually use file manager(FAR) for browsing folders and launching apps. So, when DFR (in tray) asks for CD, dialog window appears hidden behind filemanager window. And I see only DFR icon in tray and nothing more. When I've guessed what's happened, I can found dialog by Alt-Tab. But first thought was to restore window and look at DFR. Restored window brings to front main window and dialog also, which should be modal, but wasn't. Occasionally I pressed 'Enter' and main window (which had focus) launched same profile.

Hi, ...

---
I see that in the, Beta Dfend-Reloaded website.

= D-Fend Reloaded PortableApps installer package.

What do you mean, with that [PortableApps installer package] ? 😕

Did it mean that, you will made a portable ".paf.exe" package ?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Do you have an idea, of when the Beta 2 will be released ?

--------------------------
Sylvain St-Amand (sst)

sst wrote:

Did it mean that, you will made a portable ".paf.exe" package ?

Exactly this. And it's already working very well. 😀

sst wrote:

Do you have an idea, of when the Beta 2 will be released ?

The good thing: My todo list for beta 2 is very short by now.
And the bad thing: It's a bit uncertain how much time I'll have this week. So it's a good idea to expect beta 2 between Wednesday this week and Wednesday next week. (But of course this will only hold if there will be no new bugs.)

Hi everybody,

I have just uploaded D-Fend Reloaded 0.7 beta 2. You can find it as usual on the beta download page.

The beta 2 release is string complete to the final release of 0.7.0 and therefore ready for translation.

From beta 2 to the final release there will be no new features or changes to the language strings. Only new reported bugs will be fixed and I will wait for the updated translations.

Have fun with the new version.
Alexander

Hi Alexander,

sorry about not getting about the last 0.6 beta back then, was really occupied with university. I did a little testing of this beta and it looks good so far. All of the bugs we talked about back then are gone and some of my feature requests in there too, thanks 😀

The only bug from back then still present is the screenshot bug with the PNGs not looking as good as when opening them in an external tool.

One small thing I noticed: in the program settings, the freedos settings seem to be called "Search for SCUMMVM executable" ?? The setup dialog itself also contains some references to scumm instead of freedos!

Hi hydr0x,

hydr0x wrote:

and some of my feature requests in there too, thanks 😀

And if the rest of your feature requests is not on my todo for version 0.8 (also listed on the beta download page), tell me.

hydr0x wrote:

The only bug from back then still present is the screenshot bug with the PNGs not looking as good as when opening them in an external tool.

I will look at this one tomorrow.

hydr0x wrote:

in the program settings, the freedos settings seem to be called "Search for SCUMMVM executable" ??

There are some language strings mixed up. Moreover: The 4 FreeDOS related language strings are always overwritten in the language ini file. (But because this 4 strings are not new in 0.7.0 I will restore them from 0.6.1 before releasing 0.7.0 RC1. So to all translators: Just ignore this bug.)

Hi, ...

I use "PortableApps, LupoPensuite, WinPenPack", for portable softwares, ...

Then i have downloaded, the (D-Fend Reloaded Beta 2 PortableApps version).

---

Did you think to release it, in the WebSite =

http://portableapps.com/development/test

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For testing the Beta 2.
--------------------------

In the (D-Fend Reloaded Beta 2 PortableApps version).
-----------------------------------------------------

I see that the help.html file, link to English.chm file and an other language.

= (Can it be made for others language = I can try to made the, French translation, but i dont know how to made a "French.chm", file ?)
---
Also, i see that you dont use, the "Data directory section, please redirect the "VirtualHD, and others configuration" =, to the Data directory" = to made it a real PortableApps software program.
------------
Also, can you made that the Capture directory, can be made portable ???
------------

Further testing , of the Beta 2 later, ...

--------------------------
Sylvain St-Amand (sst)