Author: William Penn
Date: 04:33:18 01/22/06
Go up one level in this thread
On January 22, 2006 at 03:18:24, Robert Hollay wrote: >On January 22, 2006 at 00:46:41, William Penn wrote: > >>On January 21, 2006 at 21:21:11, Mike Byrne wrote: >> >>>On January 21, 2006 at 18:09:20, Robert Hollay wrote: >>> >>>>On January 21, 2006 at 11:41:10, Mike Byrne wrote: >>>> >>>>>On January 21, 2006 at 10:18:26, William Penn wrote: >>>>> >>>>>>On January 20, 2006 at 08:15:24, Christopher Conkie wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>>>Life just gets better and better....... >>>>>>> >>>>>>>Go now........download........here........ >>>>>>> >>>>>>>http://www.playwitharena.com/ >>>>>>> >>>>>>>In the Arena Download section on the left hand side menu. >>>>>>> >>>>>>>:-) >>>>>>> >>>>>>>Christopher >>>>>> >>>>>>I haven't been able to use prior versions of Arena because they don't have a >>>>>>"replace" operation. I need to be able to load a game from a database, modify >>>>>>it, then replace it in the database at the same position. Arena only has a >>>>>>"save" operation, so the game is saved at the end of the database (appended) - >>>>>>messing up the order of games in the database. Can you tell me if this has been >>>>>>fixed/implimented in the new version? >>>>>>Thanks, >>>>>>WP >>>>> >>>>>No, it is not a fucntion that Arena has. Although, I agree it would be a "nice >>>>>to have" function. Perhaps if you contact the authors, they could add it to >>>>>their list? >>>> >>>> Games which are saved under Arena in PGN format are not in a database, but in >>>>an ordinary file, sequentially written. >>>> It's difficult to replace or delete games in a sequential file. >>>> The only possible operation is appending the new game at the end. >>>> It would be much better to use a true database for that purpose, a lightweight >>>>database, e.g. dBase or Paradox, which have indexed search capabilities and >>>>all the above mentioned functions. >>> >>>Good point - AFAIK, no one has a replace command when using simple text pgn >>>files. >>> >>>Michael >> >>Not true! >> >>The Chessbase Fritz GUI (such as came with Shredder 8) and the Shredder Classic >>9.1 GUI have a replace operation, and it works fine on PGN files. >> >>It is not difficult to do this with a sequential database. You divide the >>database into 3 strings, the middle string being the game that's modified. Then >>after modification, you put the 3 strings back together. Pretty simple. >>WP > > Of course it can be done. But it would be rather slow with larger databases, >especially on older hardware. > >Robert There was a bug with the replace operation in the Shredder Classic GUI with PGN files, but that has been fixed in the current 9.1 version. It works fine now. Maybe you could ask Stefan for the secret! :) I have never had a problem (no bugs) with the replace operation in the Chessbase/Fritz GUI with PGN files. I have been using the replace operation with PGN files in those GUIs for the past year, usually several times per day. I switched to PGN format (from CBH) in Feb'05 when I bought Shredder 9. That's because Shredder Classic can't handle CBH, and I needed a format which both GUI's could read. That's because the Shredder Classic GUI has superior analysis operations and outputs, while the Chessbase/Fritz GUI is superior for database and opening book preparation, handling, and access. They can both read/write the older Chessbase CBF format but I never found it satisfactory for my purposes, buggy with certain tournament titles and punctuation symbols, etc. So PGN was the best (only alternative) common denominator. My computer is about 3 years old and I've never noticed a slowdown with the replace operation. It appears to be instantaneous. Admittedly I don't use it with big PGN databases, just with my personal database of about 300 games. I expect most people who need a replace operation would also use it on small databases, for example correspondence chess players to update their current games in progress in their personal game database. But I wouldn't care if it were slow with bigger PGN databases, so long as it's available when occasionally needed. Bottom line, same as my opening line (if I recall correctly)... :) I took a look at Arena out of curiosity, but can't use it unless they decide to include a replace operation for PGN files. I don't have any particular affinity for Arena, and am not involved with their development. Also I'm not in love with PGN format, but it seems to be the best/only choice at present for communication between a wide variety of GUI's and chess operating systems. WP
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