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TwinFeats
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TwinFeats E-Mail Chess README
http://www.twinfeats.com
kent@twinfeats.com
August2, 2001
Installation
Just create a directory/folder for TwinFeats E-Mail chess and place the chess.jar file there.
Starting
To run just issue this command from the same directory where you've placed chess.jar:
java -classpath chess.jar Chess
E-Mail Config
When you run for the first time the E-Mail config window will come up automatically, and you can also using the menu option E-Mail/Configurtion. Here you configure your smtp server address, pop3 server address, pop3 user name, pop3 password, and your email address. The email address is important because this is how the app will determine in a given game if you are playing white or black. You can use an existing normal email address since the app will only pull from the pop server emails with the right subject line that indicates that message was generated by TwinFeats E-Mail Chess. However, if you read the chess email from your normal email client then of course the app would never see them, so just keep that in mind.
Playing a Game
Once you've configured your email, you can start a new game by pressing the New button from the main chess board window (if necessary, if you've just started the app the board is already set up). To configure the players (and other PGN fields) click on the Details button. The fields you see on the Details window are the standard PGN (Portable Game Notation) fields and they are all optional except White and Black for the players. These fields should be filled in like:
Kent Smotherman<kentchess@twinfeats.com>
The email address is enclosed in <>. Your own email address must match one of these fields or you won't be able to send the game. Click on the OK button when you're done.
On the chessboard window if you're playing black use the Options menu and select White on top to flip the board. This is the only time you'll need to do this manually as once the game is underway the board will flip automatically based on the data it finds in the PGN files. Now just make a move by clicking on a piece followed by clicking on the target square to move to. To send (and automatically save) the game just click on the Send button.
To check for games in your email, just click the Receive button. Any games that come in will be displayed in the "Game files from E-Mail" list, while all games remembered on disk are displayed in the "All game files" list. To review any saved game at any time just select it from the list. Once a game file is selected all games stored in that file are displayed in the "Games" list (normally for E-Mail chess there is only one game per file but PGN supports multiple). To see the game just click on it in the "Games" list and it will be automatically shown on the chess board. Use the < and > buttons to move back and forth through the game one move at a time while << rewinds to the beginning and >> plays to the end.
When you make your move and send it with the Send button the game is removed from the "Game files from E-Mail" list automatically.
The text area below the chess board is used to add/view comments. Any text typed into this text area will be placed into the PGN file at the current board position. Replaying a game will also show these comments as the moves are replayed.
Miscellaneous
Several files are created in the application’s directory. Most notable is the chess.ini file which remembers all your email settings, received email games not responded to yet, and window/panel positions/sizes. As games are created and received their PGN files are also stored here. To aid in organization of these games you can merge multiple pgn files into a single pgn file with the text editor of your choice, and then remove the individual pgn files. The app can successfully parse multiple games per file that have been archived in this manner but DO NOT try to do this with games in progress or you’ll lose data!
Buttons
Main Chessboard:
< Go back one move
<< Go back all moves
> Go forward one move
>> Go forward all moves
New Reset board
Details Show PGN details window
Save Save current game
Make PNG Snapshot current board position into PNG graphics file
Send Save current game and email to opponent
Receive Check email for games
Known Bugs
1. If you receive an email game and then use the chessboard to do some analysis of future moves, those future moves might make it into the PGN sent when you make your move even if you’ve used the < button to take the moves back. The safest work around right now is that if you have done some analysis on the board just reload the game by clicking on the file and then the game description, then make your move and press the Send button.
To-Do’s
1. Add RAV (Recursive Alternate Variations) support so you can send what-ifs to your opponent.