Change_Tracker Updated to Version 1.2 1/13/2K5!

[primelord]

SKYDOG EDIT 1/16/2007: Clarification for those new to the series: this utility, though originally written for FOF2K4, works with FOF2K7 as well.

I have finished another release of the change_tracker utility. For the most part it was a code re-write. I was not happy with a lot of the code, but the new revision is much cleaner and much easier to maintain. Not that any of that matters to you guys, but it will make adding features to this much easier for me in the future.

I did add a few new features in this version though. Release 1.2 includes:

- A new Combine button that will allow you to easily combine Scout Overview printouts from multiple teams into one document so you can track the ratings changes for several teams or even a whole league.

- New player reports no longer over write the old reports. Reports now have a simple revision number in the title (ex. player_report_1.html). The utility will now detect if you have any previously created palyer reports int he directory and if you do create a new report with a revision number 1 higher than the last.

- Top 10 possible Busts/Breakouts screen. After you hit the track button in addition to creating the report file the utility will spawn a new window that lists the top ten players with biggest drop in future rating and the biggest gain in future rating.

Here are a couple of screenshots of the new utility:





SkyDog has been a huge help in the past hosting this utility for me, but I finally have my own space to host it. This will make updating far easier because I can make small bug fixes and what not and easily upload them without having to hassle Ben about getting a new version up. You can get the new utility from the link below:

Change Tracker v 1.2

Utility Operation:

Since this is a GUI utility you just need to double click the executable. Since it is written in Perl and has the Tk libraries bundled into the executeable it will likely take a few seconds to load up. So if you double click on it and it doesn't immediately spring up don't worry.

This utility tracks the changes in players overall ratings from the Scout Overview screen. In order to track the changes you need to print to file your Scout Overview screen at whatever time frames you want to watch. If you only want to watch ratings changes from year to year you can print the Scout Overview screen at the end of every season or you can do it as often as every game.

The printouts need to be saved in the same directory as the utility and they need to be plain .txt files. I would suggest saving them with naming convention such as 2004.txt 2005.txt 2006.txt etc. Or for multiple points within the same year 2004a.txt 2004b.txt 2004c.txt and so forth. You can name the files anything you want, but the utility is going to process them in an ASCIIbetical format (similar to alphabetical exept that 10 would be listed before 2 and 20 before 3 etc.). The utility will automatically find any .txt files in the directory and display them in the scroll box. The order in which they are displayed is the order that they will be processed.

There are 4 different output types for the application:

HTML1 - This is the old HTML format from the previous versions of the utility. I think it is kind of ugly, but it is functional and can be pasted to the board with no problem.

HTML2 - This is a cleaner looking output, but doesn;t paste to the board very well.

CSV - This will create a comma seperated value report that can be read into excel or anything else that will import csv files.

Text - This is a plain text version of the report. This report doesn;t always line up right.

There are also two type of report type:

Short - This is the defualt report type and the one I think will be used by far the most. It reads in all of the scout overview files you have selected and if a player is not listed in the most recent file he will not be listed in the report. That keeps you from seeing the ratings from players who are no longer with your team.

Long - This version will display the ratings it finds for any player in the scout overview files even if they are no longer on the team. I don;t think it is particularly useful, but just incase someone wanted that info I decided to leave it in.

Once you have selected your output types just select the Scout Overview files you want to track from the scroll box list. You can highligh multiple files by holding down the Ctrl key as you click the files with your mouse. Any highlighted files will be processed.

Once you have selected the files hit the "Track" button and a player report will be created in the directory with the utilty. If you chose an HTML output it will be player_report.html. If you chose CSV it will be player_report.csv etc.

New in version 1.2

The combine button allows you to take Scout Overview files from multiple teams and combine them into one document. To make this work print to file the Scout Overview screen from as many teams as you would like to track. I would suggest naming them in a format such as newyork_2004.txt detroit_2004.txt newyork_2005.txt detroit_2005.txt etc. When you start the utility up these files will be listed in the scroll box. Select the files you want to combine and hit the Combine button. The utility will prompt you for the name that you want your new combined file to be called. In my example you would first highlight newyork_2004.txt and then detroit_2004.txt and then hit Combine. When the utility prompts you for a new name you would just enter something like 2004.txt. The utility will then combine the two files into one 2004.txt file. You would then follow the same process for the 2005 files. After the have been combined just highlight your new combined files and hit Track.

As always I want to hear any feedback you have on the utility. What type of things could make it better, what features are missing etc and of course if there are any bugs. Let me know if you have any problems.

[Suicane75]

Dude. Nice. The Only thing I can think of is that some names are so long they go on to the next line, but thats just a cosmetic thing really, a ticky tacky observation.

[Subby]

Oh you are just FREAKING AWESOME.

Thank you!!!!!

[Joe]

woot!

[primelord]

Originally Posted by Suicane75

Dude. Nice. The Only thing I can think of is that some names are so long they go on to the next line, but thats just a cosmetic thing really, a ticky tacky observation.

In both versions of the HTML out put or just the first one?

[primelord]

Originally Posted by Subby

Oh you are just FREAKING AWESOME.

Thank you!!!!!

I am still planning on adding on option to piece together scout overview files from multiple teams that way you don't have to do that by hand. That is actually really easy to do, but I just wanted to make sure the GUI was stable before I started adding more features.

[Subby]

Originally Posted by primelord

I am still planning on adding on option to piece together scout overview files from multiple teams that way you don't have to do that by hand. That is actually really easy to do, but I just wanted to make sure the GUI was stable before I started adding more features.

The ability to do that would be pretty amazing.

Thank you, sir.

[Gallifrey]

This is great!
Thank You!

[cuervo72]

Thanks primelord!!

[Pyser]

looks fantastic. thanks for all the hard work!

[Fritz]

can you please add an mp3 player to the utility so I can listen to some pink thank you

[gottimd]

So I have the Text Files from my scout overview labeled 2004.txt and 2004a.txt which show up in the file screen. I have tried every combination, but each one is just an empty screen with the column headers. Am I doing something wrong? Its that simple correct? Why am I not wearing any pants?

[primelord]

Originally Posted by Fritz

can you please add an mp3 player to the utility so I can listen to some pink thank you

It's on the list.

[primelord]

Originally Posted by gottimd

So I have the Text Files from my scout overview labeled 2004.txt and 2004a.txt which show up in the file screen. I have tried every combination, but each one is just an empty screen with the column headers. Am I doing something wrong? Its that simple correct? Why am I not wearing any pants?

Are you clicking on the files in the list? You have ti highlight the files in order for them to be processed.

[Alf]

perfect ! And first breakout player noticed via the util (my guy is now Top 10 Tackle in IHOF league )

[DaddyTorgo]

hey primelord I bumped the topic the other day but got no reply. How's the situational utility coming along? (just asking, im sure you're a busy guy and i thank you for what you do for the community, but i'm curious to know as I think that will add a lot to people's enjoyment of the game).

[Eaglesfan27]

This looks great. Thanks for your hard work on this.

[jbmagic]

wow thank you so much


man FOF gets better each day..loving this game


just curious what periods you guys run the change tracker for your games? what the best time to do it?

thanks

[sovereignstar]

Originally Posted by jbmagic

wow thank you so much


man FOF gets better each day..loving this game


just curious what periods you guys run the change tracker for your games? what the best time to do it?

thanks

Before and after training camp, Before the end of a season and at the very start of the next season, and I'll also run it before preseason and compare the results to other stages of the season.

[primelord]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

hey primelord I bumped the topic the other day but got no reply. How's the situational utility coming along? (just asking, im sure you're a busy guy and i thank you for what you do for the community, but i'm curious to know as I think that will add a lot to people's enjoyment of the game).

Well I didn't quote you in the thread, but I did respond.

I was actually ready to rlease it, but some beta testing showed me somethings I missed. Most notably that there isn't an easy way to not read in exhibition and playoff games. However I have figured out a way around that now so I am working on implementing that.

I also went back and finished this first for a couple of reasons. It was a good way finished already and I knew several people were waiting on it and since the gui is working now I can re-use a lot of that code as a gui front end to the situational util.

I may still add a few things into this util, but I would say my best guess on the QB stat util would be a couple of weeks at the most. I tend to write code in streaks. Once I get going on it it should only be a few days.

[DaddyTorgo]

oops. well then something messed up or else I'm totally stupid. Sweet. If I was in the least bit good with that stuff I'd offer to help, but of course I'm not.

[Zone]

I can't seem to get it to work.

When I click the link to download it I get save to disk as my only option.
When I double click the program I get a blank player report page.
Anybody know what I am doing wrong.

Thanks.

[Suicane75]

Originally Posted by primelord

In both versions of the HTML out put or just the first one?

Sorry, the 2nd one.

http://home.comcast.net/~suicane/playerreport.html

[primelord]

Originally Posted by Suicane75

Sorry, the 2nd one.

http://home.comcast.net/~suicane/playerreport.html

They all fit on one line on my screen. The table is set to stretch to 100% of your screen size. What resolution is your screen set at?

[primelord]

Originally Posted by Zone

I can't seem to get it to work.

When I click the link to download it I get save to disk as my only option.
When I double click the program I get a blank player report page.
Anybody know what I am doing wrong.

Thanks.

You want to save the program to disk. Once you have downloaded the program and you double click on it you should see a list of the Scout Overview files you printed in the white box. Click on the ones you want to track and then click the Track button.

[Suicane75]

Originally Posted by primelord

They all fit on one line on my screen. The table is set to stretch to 100% of your screen size. What resolution is your screen set at?

Ahh, maybe thats it. 1024X768

[Zone]

Originally Posted by primelord

You want to save the program to disk. Once you have downloaded the program and you double click on it you should see a list of the Scout Overview files you printed in the white box. Click on the ones you want to track and then click the Track button.

When I double click the program I momentarily get the MS-DOS promt window that goes away in a few seconds then a blank player report screen shows up.

I am still not sure what I have screwed up.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Zone

Any suggestions?

Put it in the folder where your text files to track are.

[Zone]

Thanks for the suggestions guys but I still got nothing.
These are my steps:
1. Download link.
2. Print to file player overview's as a .txt file in the same folder as the tracker.
3. Double click the tracker (it is saved as change_tracker.exe)
A blank MS-DOS prompt pops up then goes away and that's it. Nothing else.
Sometimes in the folder a player_report.html appears but that is blank also.

[gottimd]

Are your Scout Overview pages saved as a numerical year (ie 2004.txt, 2005.txt) in the same place as the Change Tracker?

Did you highlight those text files when they are in the list box(see below)?



The MS-Dos prompt shouldn't come up, at least it doesn't for me, just the above picture and then I select the files and press track, and its done. The old version had the MS-DOS prompt screen.

[Zone]

The above picture does not come up for me.
I download the program from the link at the top of the thread. So something isn't right I just don't know what.

[primelord]

Originally Posted by Zone

The above picture does not come up for me.
I download the program from the link at the top of the thread. So something isn't right I just don't know what.

It does sound like you are using a copy of the old version somehow. Try opening up a MS-DOS window and running the program from the DOS prompt. Type in change_tracker.exe -f list in the directory where you have saved change_tracker. If the program comes up and asks you to enter some file names you are still using the old 0.5 version.

[Zone]

Primelord,

Thanks I do have version 0.5. I downloaded it by clicking the link at the top of this thread.

Any idea's how to get your 1.1 version.

Thanks for all your inputs guys.

[primelord]

Originally Posted by Zone

Primelord,

Thanks I do have version 0.5. I downloaded it by clicking the link at the top of this thread.

Any idea's how to get your 1.1 version.

Thanks for all your inputs guys.

I have to admit I don't know how you are still getting the old version. SkyDog overwrote the old version with the new one. I would suggest deleting the version you have now and try downloading it again. If that doesn't work let me know and I can e-mail you a copy of the latest version.

[Ben E Lou]

I'm wondering if he saved the new version somewhere else. There's no way he downloaded the old version from my server. As primelord said, I overwrote it yesterday, before he posted this thread. The old version isn't there.

[Zone]

When I click the link I save it in my tracker folder. the size of the file I save has always been 1460kb if that means anything?

Thanks guys.

[sovereignstar]

I noticed that a really long name caused a overrun problem with the HTML1 option. I use a 1152x864 resolution.

[JeeberD]

Outstanding, thanks Primelord!

[primelord]

Originally Posted by Zone

When I click the link I save it in my tracker folder. the size of the file I save has always been 1460kb if that means anything?

Thanks guys.

Try saving the file somewhere else and then run it wherever you save it. If it works copy it over into your tracker folder and overwrite the exisiting one.

[primelord]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar

I noticed that a really long name caused a overrun problem with the HTML1 option. I use a 1152x864 resolution.

What do you mean by overrun? The name ran into the table element next to it?

[sovereignstar]

Originally Posted by primelord

What do you mean by overrun? The name ran into the table element next to it?

Sorry for being cryptic. I'm PMing you a link to a screenshot of what it looks like.

[maximus]

Awesome work primelord. Thank you.

[jbmagic]

Originally Posted by Zone

Thanks for the suggestions guys but I still got nothing.
These are my steps:
1. Download link.
2. Print to file player overview's as a .txt file in the same folder as the tracker.
3. Double click the tracker (it is saved as change_tracker.exe)
A blank MS-DOS prompt pops up then goes away and that's it. Nothing else.
Sometimes in the folder a player_report.html appears but that is blank also.

did you delete the old change tractor first, before you downloaded the new gui version?

[primelord]

The soon to be released 1.2 version:

[jbmagic]

Originally Posted by primelord

The soon to be released 1.2 version:

wow very nice

is those busts based on runing the change tractor before and after draft? or before and after training?

[primelord]

Originally Posted by jbmagic

wow very nice

is those busts based on runing the change tractor before and after draft? or before and after training?

That is actually based on a shot right after training camp over 4 years. It's maybe not the best example, but I wanted to get something up quickly. Carrington had such a huge drop because he suffered a severe knee injury.

[maximus]

primelord,

When I hit the print button on the game screen, I am given two options to print. One to be printed throught the printer, the other through MS Office image viewer. How do you print to file? Thanks.

[jbmagic]

Originally Posted by maximus

primelord,

When I hit the print button on the game screen, I am given two options to print. One to be printed throught the printer, the other through MS Office image viewer. How do you print to file? Thanks.

http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/%7Efof/f...ght=print+file

[maximus]

Originally Posted by jbmagic

http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/%7Efof/f...ght=print+file

thanks.

[Alf]

While we are at "Print to file" questions.

Since I switched to WinXP, my "Generic Printer" to print to file only opens a window to enter the filename to save. So far, so good. But afterwards, I have no idea where the file is store. It is stored randomly on my C:\ disk and I have to make a research to find it (and it is sometimes on the hidden part of the files.....).

So my, question is : can I do something to have it stored where I want (and no, there is no option in the Generic Printer configuration...)