Release [Explorer's Application] Captain's Log

[disorganise]

Yes....i missed the squish. Got all excited by the screenshot


Edit....aaand i missed the fact the body was already there. Doh! Not sure how. I only saw the jumponium and afm indicators and system name. Utterly missed the body and materials, yet thought to myself seeing that line would be ideal. It was pre-coffee which can be my only excuse :/

 

[VerticalBlank]

Change request: make the Imgur queued vs immediate flag persistent.

When I come across an opportunity for a "beauty shot", I tend to take quite a few and then pick the one or two that came out best -- quite a common photographic technique.

Now the thing is, unless I remembered beforehand to go in and set CL's Imgur upload to "queued", it's already gone and uploaded them all and so I have to go onto Imgur and delete the unwanted ones. Not to mention the unwanted bandwidth usage, which may be a concern for users on a metered connection.

If CL simply remembered my Imgur queued vs immediate flag then all this would be solved instantly and there would be much rejoicing. [squeeeee]

I hope I've persuaded you!
o7

 

[Genar-Hofoen]

Captain's Log 2.0.0 Beta 4 now available for download/testing...

As per title. Beta 4 is hot off the presses!

Changelog:

- Created an new overlay widget
- new overlay widget will be a sort of cut down version of the main window, only showing information useful/pertinent to the immediate needs of an explorer.
- added stylesheets for the overlay versions of the widgets
- corrected some package creation configuration errors
- the new overlay widget is movable (can be dragged via the small dot at the top right hand corner of the widget
- overlay widget's position is saved
- created overlay versions of the planet table (shows info on last planet scanned) , AFMU and Jumponium widgets
- created overlay versions of the stylesheets for these
- created a system tray icon for Captain's Log 2
- Captain's Log main window will become hidden in Overlay mode , until the hotkey ALT-C is pressed, which will toggle its appearance and disappearance.
- Captain's Log main window will hide again with either ALT-C or blind clicking the game window or the small overlay widget
- Overlay mode windows no longer produce a taskbar entry, so no more pesky taskbar appearing due to Captain's Log
- Fixed a bug in the search function - it should work as planned, now
- Imgur "Queue Only"/"Upload to Imgur" selection is now saved and is persistent.
- The Configuration Manager now opens up as a widget on the main Captain's Log window
- Atmosphere type for planets is now shown on both the planet info in the main window, and on the overlay widget
- Terraforming state, Volcanism, and Atmosphere are shown on the overlay window
- If a HMC, Rocky, or Water World are terraforming candidates, use the appropriate Terraformable version of their icons
- make sure atmosphere type is hidden on overlay if no atmosphere
- make sure overlay properly cleared after an FSD jump
- About window no longer has a taskbar entry
- close Configuration manager after importing logs
- Version bumped to 2.0.0 Beta 4

Download link : https://www.dropbox.com/s/5yjo2ugslop9xzh/Captain's Log 2_2.0.0 Beta 4_setup.exe?dl=1

 

[VerticalBlank]

Wow, great job!

 

[Skyflyer]

Just a minor issue/question. Is there a reason why Captain's Log 2 is installed in a folder called "Captain's Log 3" in the Program Files folder as default during installation? I'm guessing it is just a typo.

 

[Genar-Hofoen]

Just a minor issue/question. Is there a reason why Captain's Log 2 is installed in a folder called "Captain's Log 3" in the Program Files folder as default during installation? I'm guessing it is just a typo.

It'll be yet another 'accident' in the package creator's configuration file. I shall now kick myself.

EDIT: Try uninstalling then reinstalling it - it's probably an artifact of the previous Beta 3, and is what I fixed for this version.

Regards o7

 

[Skyflyer]

It'll be yet another 'accident' in the package creator's configuration file. I shall now kick myself.

EDIT: Try uninstalling then reinstalling it - it's probably an artifact of the previous Beta 3, and is what I fixed for this version.

Regards o7

Thanks! When I uninstalled it and then installed it I got Captain's Log 2 as default folder.

 

[disorganise]

As per title. Beta 4 is hot off the presses!

Download link : https://www.dropbox.com/s/5yjo2ugslop9xzh/Captain's Log 2_2.0.0 Beta 4_setup.exe?dl=1

Totally awesome. This is soo usable

Suggestion....Clean up on detection of Elite not running anymore; I quit the game and the overlay still shows the last planet scanned. I might even suggest that the overlay only appears when the game is running since it serves no purpose otherwise (I tend to leave both CL and EDD running all the time).
Disappointed alt tab no longer works, and I have to learn alt c instead - how will I cope?

And I guess the reason alt tab doesn't work is because there's no icon in the task tray any more. Per above with disabling overlay if game isn't running, maybe it could toggle to task tray/alt tab type - I sometimes look through the data after I finished playing the game.

Great work

 

[VerticalBlank]

Liking beta 4 a lot. Had a quick play with the bookmarks manager and realised that it's not very discoverable now that the tools menu is gone. Maybe it needs its own button between "About" and "Configure".

[Edit, just noticed there is in fact a Bookmarks button in the title bar of the systems table. I had completely missed it all this time. I think this is for two reasons: (a) it doesn't look like a button, I subconsciously assumed it was a label and (b) I'm conditioned to all the buttons being in the top row.]

If you put CL2 in non-overlay mode, then pin to taskbar, then put it in overlay mode, the pinned item on the taskbar becomes just an icon, like the non-running apps. If you click that, it brings up an alert that CL2 is already running. I assume Windows is trying to start a second instance of CL2: feels a bit wierd anyway.

Hope this helps.

 

[Cometborne]

Currently test-driving beta 4, and the new overlay is BRILLIANT. Additionally, one of the things you did fixed the input focus switched I mentioned, hitting ALT-C to go from the big overlay to the widget now puts the input focus back to E.

However, I did notice one small issue with the volcanism issue: If you scan a planet/moon with volcanism and jump to another system immediately afterwards, the volcanism info is removed from the widget. Once you scan the star in the new system, the info is displayed again. K class star, with major water geysers.

 

[Genar-Hofoen]

Totally awesome. This is soo usable

Good good

Suggestion....Clean up on detection of Elite not running anymore; I quit the game and the overlay still shows the last planet scanned. I might even suggest that the overlay only appears when the game is running since it serves no purpose otherwise (I tend to leave both CL and EDD running all the time).

I've opted for the latter part of that suggestion.

My dev version of CL2 now has that behaviour - you can set overlay mode (and it's persistent between runs, always has been) and if the game isn't running, you get the main window. Only when you press Play on the launcher and the game has launched will the main window disappear and you're left with the smaller overlay at the top - ALT-C brings the main window up too and ALT-C again hides it (as well as clicking back to the game).

Disappointed alt tab no longer works, and I have to learn alt c instead - how will I cope?

Muscle memory works really well after your Nth time remembering it

Seriously, it becomes second nature

And I guess the reason alt tab doesn't work is because there's no icon in the task tray any more. Per above with disabling overlay if game isn't running, maybe it could toggle to task tray/alt tab type - I sometimes look through the data after I finished playing the game.

Yep it's a compromise between either having the taskbar appearing whilst the game is running - which lots of people don't like - or not having the taskbar appearing with the overlay but having to use ALT-C - which I'm sure is the better option for most.

Anyway, seeing as the main window automatically comes out of overlay mode when the game is stopped - and the top overlay disappears too - then I think the best solution has been arrived at

Great work

Thanks o7

 

[Genar-Hofoen]

Liking beta 4 a lot. Had a quick play with the bookmarks manager and realised that it's not very discoverable now that the tools menu is gone. Maybe it needs its own button between "About" and "Configure".

[Edit, just noticed there is in fact a Bookmarks button in the title bar of the systems table. I had completely missed it all this time. I think this is for two reasons: (a) it doesn't look like a button, I subconsciously assumed it was a label and (b) I'm conditioned to all the buttons being in the top row.]

I'll try to change the styling for those buttons in order to make them look more like buttons. The logic behind moving the bookmarks button was that the bookmarks are on a per-trip (DB) basis, so it's bookmarks for the trip, and therefore the button should go into the header for the trip jump table.

If you put CL2 in non-overlay mode, then pin to taskbar, then put it in overlay mode, the pinned item on the taskbar becomes just an icon, like the non-running apps. If you click that, it brings up an alert that CL2 is already running. I assume Windows is trying to start a second instance of CL2: feels a bit wierd anyway.

Hope this helps.

Yeah this is a Windows thing more than a Captain's Log thing. Looks like Windows counts on there being a taskbar entry for its fancy 'pinned to taskbar' thing, and just assumes that 'if a running program isn't on the taskbar, then it can be started from the pin'. Best thing to do would be to realise not to try clicking on the pinned shortcut when the program is running.

I think this is somewhat mitigated now by the changes I've made to CL I mentioned in my last post above - CL2 will no longer hide/overlay until the game is running, and will unhide/un-overlay after the game stops.

You'll get this once I release another beta version.

Regards o7

 

[Genar-Hofoen]

Currently test-driving beta 4, and the new overlay is BRILLIANT. Additionally, one of the things you did fixed the input focus switched I mentioned, hitting ALT-C to go from the big overlay to the widget now puts the input focus back to E.

However, I did notice one small issue with the volcanism issue: If you scan a planet/moon with volcanism and jump to another system immediately afterwards, the volcanism info is removed from the widget. Once you scan the star in the new system, the info is displayed again. K class star, with major water geysers.

Thanks

I'll fix that one - it's annoying me too and should have been fixed before the beta 4 release but apparently wasn't.

Regards o7

 

[Fizzbin]

First of all thanks for a fantastic logging app, perhaps the best and getting better all the time. You can expect a donation from me in the near future

Now a request, it may have been asked before but I can't find it.

When planets are scanned they are listed in numerical order 1,2,3 etc but when it reaches 10 it is listed after 1 (computers do this), any chance of changing this so that 10 is listed after 9?

Thanks in advance o7

 

[disorganise]

Thanks

I'll fix that one - it's annoying me too and should have been fixed before the beta 4 release but apparently wasn't.

Regards o7

Not sure if it's the same thing you're referring to, but I noticed last night that both atmosphere and features information tend to stick around until you scan a planet that doesn't have them. EDIT; even I'm confused by what I meant by that :/ Jumping to another system clears it this morning so either it stops after a number of jumps, or I was scanning other stars in system.....will make better notes next time..
Edit2; so I found atmosphere is not always cleared on new system jump - I think jump 18 was after a WW scan and the atmosphere stuck on next jump. 2nd jump it cleared though. and I just noticed it again, but only after I scanned the star
Edit 3; yes that's it The entire row (features, atmosphere etc) is redisplayed from the last planet scan when scanning a star. So if the planet happened to have atmosphere or whatever, it'll show up in the overlay when scanning the star, if the last planet had a blank row then obviously it is blank on start scan. Phew....thought I was going nuts for a second

With J1/2/3 indicator being system wide, might it be an idea to add a small J1/2 icon for the actual body if applicable? ie, this one body has all you need for J1 (or J2, so far I never came across one that has everything for J3)

also...probably something for a little while down the track but...overlaying the %age of the materials on their icons would be pretty cool, and probably a lot of work.....or, maybe easier is to add another row for the %ages to sit just under the mats but in a smaller font

 

[VerticalBlank]

System name not included when renaming screenshots.

Steps:
1 Configure The screenshots tab so as to include system name (I tried both prefix and suffix).
2 Take a screenshot.
3 Observe renamed screenshot in destination folder.

Expected:
Screenshot to include system name as specified.

Observed:
System name is missing, all other specified name components present.

In case it matters, my specifier is %Y.%m.%m-%H.%M.%S- with the system name suffixed. System is Meene.

 

[Genar-Hofoen]

System name not included when renaming screenshots.

Steps:
1 Configure The screenshots tab so as to include system name (I tried both prefix and suffix).
2 Take a screenshot.
3 Observe renamed screenshot in destination folder.

Expected:
Screenshot to include system name as specified.

Observed:
System name is missing, all other specified name components present.

In case it matters, my specifier is %Y.%m.%m-%H.%M.%S- with the system name suffixed. System is Meene.

Squished that bug now - thanks o7

 

[Genar-Hofoen]

Captain's Log 2.0.0 Beta 5 Now Available For Download/Testing

As per title.

Changelog :

- Fixed a bug where the system name didn't get added to the converted screenshots if configured as such
- Overlay mode overhauled such that when the game isn't running, and even if Overlay is checked, the main window will show as normal.
- When game starts, CL2 automatically goes into actual overlay mode - the small overlay widget appears and the main window will disappear - ALT-C toggles its appearance as per usual
- Small overlay widget clears contents after a jump - except if you jump back to a previously scanned system, where it'll show the existing data for it.
- When game is exited from, CL2 automatically closes the overlay mode windows and displays the mainwindow as a normal window.
- Added material percentages underneath the material icons in the small overlay widget
- Tweaked the table row height to accomodate the material icon and %
- Tweaked the planet Designation column width to accommodate longer body name strings
- Version bumped to 2.0.0 Beta 5

Download link :

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5k608m0de86m136/Captain's Log 2_2.0.0 Beta 5_setup.exe?dl=1


Screenshot (overlay) :

Enjoy o7

 

[disorganise]

That looks awesome

About to jump in my car in RL for a 11 hr trip so won't get to try this new version until tomorrow but can hardly wait.

 

[Aura Lorell]

I have a problem with the latest overlay. When it's enabled and I press Alt-C to open the window, the top part is hidden, including the actual overlay button, this preventing me from turning it off and switching to normal window mode. Additionally, if I close Elite entirely it will switch to the normal window mode but the top window bar is outside my screen boundaries and I cannot drag it anywhere.