[po-s]

Hi all coaches, teachers. mentors, advisors....

In the old world - when we had downloaded BBO to our own pc we could get records of play (and I believe also pure bidding) sessions sent home to us - unless you were a Mac person
It was convenient to study a session without having to click to each board, and to each trick which I think is necessary with the web version centrally saved "Movie" files.

I have two questions:
Can I get a whole session as some form of text file with the tricks and bids listed ?

Is there a way to save a bidding session?


And of course perhaps a software improvement suggestion:
If the answer to my questions above is NO then please, make it possible!

If the answer is YES, how do I do it or where do I find out how?

Regards
PO Sundelin
(trying to follow the efforts of my junior coachees without having to kibitz everything realtime...)

[PhilKing]

They should be saved automatically to your computer. Mine are saved like this:

C:\Bridge Base Online\hands\philking

This includes bidding practice sessions and hands I have played or watched (although I almost never watch, as it is a tedious waste of time). They can be opened as lin files in BBO Handviewer, or converted to pbn files and opened in jack or BridgeComposer or whatever. The hands should be there somewhere. I use the PC download program to access BBO - maybe it is different if you go via the web browser. Then you will need to get all your proteges to access BBO via the old ways ...

[po-s]

 PhilKing, on 2013-June-21, 20:00, said:

They should be saved automatically to your computer. Mine are saved like this:

C:\Bridge Base Online\hands\philking

This includes bidding practice sessions and hands I have played or watched (although I almost never watch, as it is a tedious waste of time). They can be opened as lin files in BBO Handviewer, or converted to pbn files and opened in jack or BridgeComposer or whatever. The hands should be there somewhere. I use the PC download program to access BBO - maybe it is different if you go via the web browser. Then you will need to get all your proteges to access BBO via the old ways ...

Yes Phil,
It can be done in the download version to the actual players/bidders and actual kibitzers (if you marked that option in your profile).
However, I am told that it is no longer possible to download BBO.
So what if you/they are (stuck with) using the web one? Can I find and access my pupils´ bidding sessions later even if I wasn´t there at the time?

[PhilKing]

 po-s, on 2013-June-22, 04:56, said:

Yes Phil,
It can be done in the download version to the actual players/bidders and actual kibitzers (if you marked that option in your profile).
However, I am told that it is no longer possible to download BBO.
So what if you/they are (stuck with) using the web one? Can I find and access my pupils´ bidding sessions later even if I wasn´t there at the time?

Try this:

http://www.bridgebas...ide_for_bbo.php

If it works, they can do the same.

[jandrew]

 PhilKing, on 2013-June-22, 05:50, said:

Try this:

http://www.bridgebas...ide_for_bbo.php

If it works, they can do the same.

My understanding is that you can download the software, as above.
BUT - if you joined BBO after September 2012, that software will not work for you.

[po-s]

 jandrew, on 2013-June-22, 05:58, said:

My understanding is that you can download the software, as above.
BUT - if you joined BBO after September 2012, that software will not work for you.

Thankyou guys,
If I understand your answers correctly:

1. It should be possible to download BBO but only if you were a member before September 2012. And using that you can as participating player or kibitzer get recorded sessions if you asked for it.
Sadly new members (to bridge or to life...) won´t be able to do so (unless they can inherit somebody else´s user name)
My Mac user friends were unable to do it last year - perhaps it is technically possible now....

2. As neither of you suggests a way to reach bidding sessions using the web version I assume that as far as you know it isn´t possible. That should mean there is some kind of software on and off switch to save or not to save bidding sessions depending on your using download or web version (as opposed to playing which is always saved)?


So what can newcomers do?

[inquiry]

 po-s, on 2013-June-22, 08:35, said:

Thankyou guys,
If I understand your answers correctly:

1. It should be possible to download BBO but only if you were a member before September 2012. And using that you can as participating player or kibitzer get recorded sessions if you asked for it.
Sadly new members (to bridge or to life...) won´t be able to do so (unless they can inherit somebody else´s user name)
My Mac user friends were unable to do it last year - perhaps it is technically possible now....

2. As neither of you suggests a way to reach bidding sessions using the web version I assume that as far as you know it isn´t possible. That should mean there is some kind of software on and off switch to save or not to save bidding sessions depending on your using download or web version (as opposed to playing which is always saved)?


So what can newcomers do?

Have someone who is not a newcomer to kibitz the game with the older version. The bidding should show up in their (the older players) hand record (I haven't tried this, but in theory it works I think). He or she can then email the hands to the newcomer. I know this is a pain for some newcomers, but if they have an instructor at the table (or if their partner has been around long enough) they should be able to get the hand record. An instructor might even want to "write up" what went right (give praise) during the bidding, and where the bidding could have been improved before he emails it.

[Zelandakh]

So you are saying that the old version is essentially still indispensible Ben? I have a few old accounts - I wonder if I can ebay one of them to new joiners who do not have this choice.

[PhilKing]

 Zelandakh, on 2013-June-24, 06:59, said:

So you are saying that the old version is essentially still indispensible Ben? I have a few old accounts - I wonder if I can ebay one of them to new joiners who do not have this choice.

No - Sweden have done far too well of late. The last thing we need is P.O. passing wisdom to TNG.

[Zelandakh]

I know TNG as The Next Generation but P.O. is tough - President Obama? I guess I am not Trekkie enough...

[po-s]

You are so helpful!

Yes, I suppose I can ask friends to kibitz to be able to collect files from a dozen pairs.
Yes, I may be able to find some resigned or deceased BBO users who are willing to give their user names to TNGs (or new TOGs). But it is hardly a satisfactory solution, and certainly not a long-term one.

So nag,nag...I try once more:
(Do BBO insiders read this forum, and can say yes, no, planned?)


Can bidding sessions be saved in the web version?
Can I access them without being one of the bidders or having kibitzed?

Is it possible to convert a session (of play or just bidding) to some text format that you can read without having to click through tricks or bidding rounds?
Something like:

Date and Name of tournament (if any)
Board 1
W N E S
John Jack Jill Sue
bid bid bid bid
bid bid all pass

Tricks
HA H2 H4 H7
H3 HT HK H9
etc

Board 2
---

The trick part skipped for bidding sessions - if anyone was in doubt.

[inquiry]

It is less likely that fred, uday, or gerado read random forum post (barry, is more likely). If you want to propose such changes to the software, the place to do it in the suggestion for the software forum. There is a problem with Flash -- apparently it doesn't have the ability to write stuff to your hard drive, which is why the windows client saves hands to your hard drive and flash doesn't. It is possible they could save the bid hands somewhere else like myhands of course.

[gnasher]

You're unlikely to get the software changed, but the thing that determines whether you can use the Windows client is probably just a setting in BBO's membership database. Maybe an email to Fred or Uday would do the job?

Quote

Is it possible to convert a session (of play or just bidding) to some text format that you can read without having to click through tricks or bidding rounds?

The Windows clientproduces .lin files. These can be converted to a number of other formats using Richard Pavlicek's converter, from here:
http://www.rpbridge.net/t/bfc.txt

[PhilKing]

 po-s, on 2013-June-25, 04:55, said:

Is it possible to convert a session (of play or just bidding) to some text format that you can read without having to click through tricks or bidding rounds?
Something like:

Date and Name of tournament (if any)
Board 1
W N E S
John Jack Jill Sue
bid bid bid bid
bid bid all pass

Tricks
HA H2 H4 H7
H3 HT HK H9
etc

Board 2
---

The trick part skipped for bidding sessions - if anyone was in doubt.

Convert the lin files to pbn files by opening them in bridgecomposer. This is a cheap program available from http://bridgecomposer.com/

It displays the hands in an attractive and easy to read format (but with DD analysis available if needed), and is better for non-techies like me who have not managed to get Richard Pavlicek's converter to work. And you can write any comments on the bidding underneath each auction.

[nige1]

Download Double dummy solver by BridgeCaptain, an excellent free program that allows you

• to download deal records played on BBO by specified players in recent competitions and store them as pbn files in a folder on your computer.
• to sequentially play through the hands with double-dummy analysis.
• to analyze pbn records from other sources (or you can make them up yourself).

[drinbet]

 nige1, on 2013-July-27, 20:20, said:

Download Double dummy solver by BridgeCaptain, an excellent free program that allows you

• to download deal records played on BBO by specified players in recent competitions and store them as pbn files in a folder on your computer.
• to sequentially play through the hands with double-dummy analysis.
• to analyze pbn records from other sources (or you can make them up yourself).

Seems Very nice software, do you know if it has option to export hands as text?

[drinbet]

hand by hand i see can, want know all same time to word...