New Draft Utility

[gottimd]

Originally Posted by jdavidbakr

My thinking was that changing picks was a bit too abusable to give that power to non-admins. But I'm not beyond being talked out of that position

My only problem with that thinking is that with people all over the globe playing in MP leagues, the admin might be in the US and the trade may occur between GM's that are on the clock in Europe. The draft clock may run out before the admin signs on to switch the picks. I think there should be an option that allows GM's to trade picks, maybe if the admin checks a box or something?

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by jdavidbakr

My thinking was that changing picks was a bit too abusable to give that power to non-admins. But I'm not beyond being talked out of that position

It's not abusable for you to give away your own draft picks. And it's difficult to abuse with a commish and other owners watching the draft so closely. In practice, it works VERY well.

[marcmoustache]

Originally Posted by jdavidbakr

My thinking was that changing picks was a bit too abusable to give that power to non-admins. But I'm not beyond being talked out of that position

I think the catch all on that in the current utility is that it only allows you to send your own picks, so you can only lose out, not steal someone else's picks.

[DDT]

Using this tool in the AUFL right now. It seems like a big improvement over the other utility we'd been using in Shiba. I still find myself flipping between the game and utility quite a bit. I'm PC illiterate so I may be suggesting the moon here but the ability to add my scouts impression after the interview would be awesome. I have the game on 1 PC and find myself making ridiculously long and time intensive preference lists when I know I'm going to be away. Also it might eliminate some of the ' I got hung up at work and can't see the game right now will make my pick in 3 hrs.' posts we've all grown to love.

[jdavidbakr]

You guys convinced me Just added the ability to send your own picks to another team if they have not been made yet (version 0.13.1)

[jdavidbakr]

Originally Posted by DDT

Using this tool in the AUFL right now. It seems like a big improvement over the other utility we'd been using in Shiba. I still find myself flipping between the game and utility quite a bit. I'm PC illiterate so I may be suggesting the moon here but the ability to add my scouts impression after the interview would be awesome. I have the game on 1 PC and find myself making ridiculously long and time intensive preference lists when I know I'm going to be away. Also it might eliminate some of the ' I got hung up at work and can't see the game right now will make my pick in 3 hrs.' posts we've all grown to love.

The main problem with that is getting the info out of FOF and into the utility. I could let each team upload their own extractor export and apply that data to what they see maybe. I did think about having a custom comment column private for each team, but that would still require you to spend the time translating the info from FOF into the utility.

[gottimd]

Originally Posted by jdavidbakr

You guys convinced me Just added the ability to send your own picks to another team if they have not been made yet (version 0.13.1)

I know there was a linked version below, but as you make new versions, do you copy them over the demo so we can test it out as well?

[jdavidbakr]

Originally Posted by gottimd

I know there was a linked version below, but as you make new versions, do you copy them over the demo so we can test it out as well?

Doh, I forgot about the demo :-)

[DDT]

Quote:


The main problem with that is getting the info out of FOF and into the utility. I could let each team upload their own extractor export and apply that data to what they see maybe. I did think about having a custom comment column private for each team, but that would still require you to spend the time translating the info from FOF into the utility.
__________________
~jon

I like the idea of a comment column. The BPA at position X is a nice feature that I'm sure you worked hard on. That is appreciated, however, I don't honestly see myself using it. Let's for example say it's late in the draft and I need a G. If I'm looking to build a strong run blocking team and the best G available doesn't fit that mold I may have wasted a pick. I'm not looking to write volumes on each player just my scouts impression (2 letter abbreviation) and whether they are a good 'fit'. I understand that this is all accounted for in the selection priority screen, but again it's hard to reorganize a list when you don't have access to the game. A player could select and then assign a unique value to every player they have an interest in I suppose but that seems like a lot of effort for fake football. Anyway that just my $.02.

[jdavidbakr]

Originally Posted by DDT

I like the idea of a comment column. The BPA at position X is a nice feature that I'm sure you worked hard on. That is appreciated, however, I don't honestly see myself using it. Let's for example say it's late in the draft and I need a G. If I'm looking to build a strong run blocking team and the best G available doesn't fit that mold I may have wasted a pick. I'm not looking to write volumes on each player just my scouts impression (2 letter abbreviation) and whether they are a good 'fit'. I understand that this is all accounted for in the selection priority screen, but again it's hard to reorganize a list when you don't have access to the game. A player could select and then assign a unique value to every player they have an interest in I suppose but that seems like a lot of effort for fake football. Anyway that just my $.02.

I tend to agree with you on the BPA point, I would never use it either, but some guys asked for it and it was easy enough to implement.

I'll put a comments column in after the vNFL and AUFL drafts are done (both of those are running on my server and I don't want to accidentally break them with an update like this that will require a database modification), I was wishing I had some sort of custom comments to put in on these drafts to help me sort my priorities.

[jdavidbakr]

New update now with the player comments in your priority list. I made it live on the two drafts running, but there is a new database table so if you've got a copy you'll want to re-run the installer by deleting the includes/config.inc.php file (or just add the last database table in the includes/mysql/install.sql file)

[PackerFanatic]

First off - killer utility. Love what I see and am excited to try it out in our league.

I just tried installing it and after entering all the info on the install page, I get this error:

Fatal error: Call to undefined function: file_put_contents() in /home/www/replicatednfl.com/draft/install.php on line 78

I checked the database info (thinking it might be wrong) but it looks like it actually created all the tables and all that good stuff. Missing function in the new update?

[jdavidbakr]

file_put_contents() is the function that actually writes the config file after getting it set up, I'm guessing that you are using PHP version 4 which does not have that function (PHP 5 has that function). Looks like I need to update the readme :-)

If you aren't able to run PHP 5, what needs to happen is a file needs to be written in the fof_draft/includes/ directory called config.inc.php with the following contents:

PHP Code:

<?
$user = "[database username]";
$password = "[database password]";
$database = "[draft database]";
$host = "localhost";
mysql_connect($host, $user, $password) or die ("I cannot connect to the database server because: ".mysql_error());
mysql_select_db($database) or die ("I cannot connect to the database because: ".mysql_error());
define (kAdminUser, '1');
?>

Replace "database username", "database password", and "draft database" with the username, password, and database name respectively, and it should launch in fine. Let me know if you have any other issues with PHP 4.

[PackerFanatic]

Yup, it is PHP 4. I will do what you said and see if that works - thanks for the quick reply!

[PackerFanatic]

All up and running! Thanks again for your help, Jon!

One suggestion I would have, and something that I have been wanting in a draft utility - I saw that you have the ability to manually skip a pick. It would be really nice to be able to set a time limit and then automatically skip a team's pick if they go over that time. That way the draft can keep moving and you don't have to have someone monitoring the room at all times (to skip picks when they come up)

[gottimd]

Originally Posted by PackerFanatic

All up and running! Thanks again for your help, Jon!

One suggestion I would have, and something that I have been wanting in a draft utility - I saw that you have the ability to manually skip a pick. It would be really nice to be able to set a time limit and then automatically skip a team's pick if they go over that time. That way the draft can keep moving and you don't have to have someone monitoring the room at all times (to skip picks when they come up)

That would be a nice option if you could disable and enable throughout the draft. For instance, in the NAFL, we draft from 9am EST to Midnight to accomodate all of the users who live in different time zones. It would be unfortunate to miss a pick if my time ran out at 4am EST when I was sleeping.

[PackerFanatic]

Very true - adding a time frame would be nice as well.

[marcmoustache]

Jon, it would be useful to add a page that had only your teams selections in it (if that's not already there).

[jdavidbakr]

Originally Posted by marcmoustache

Jon, it would be useful to add a page that had only your teams selections in it (if that's not already there).

It is there, if you go to the "selections" tab you can filter by team in the same way that the players list can be filtered by position, so you can see just your picks or anyone else's picks (including empty future picks for the team in question)

[jdavidbakr]

Originally Posted by gottimd

That would be a nice option if you could disable and enable throughout the draft. For instance, in the NAFL, we draft from 9am EST to Midnight to accomodate all of the users who live in different time zones. It would be unfortunate to miss a pick if my time ran out at 4am EST when I was sleeping.

I'm toying with figuring out the best way to handle this, whether to enable set times for each pick or to have the clock start at when each pick is made, having a window of time that the clock is turned on or just letting the admin turn the clock off at the end of the day and back on in the morning ... your comments could drive the direction here

[PackerFanatic]

The way that we usually do it is - have a time frame that the draft is "open" (like gottimd said, say 9 to Midnight for example) Then have a time-limit for each pick in that window (say 2 hours, for example) Turn the clock on at 9am, start with the next pick, they have 2 hours to pick. They miss it, they get skipped. When they make a pick, the clock starts (2 hours) for the next pick. If there are less than two hours remaining in the window when the final pick is up, I'd say make it so they have two hours starting the next day (that might be difficult, but not sure exactly how you'd handle that)

[gottimd]

Would it skip the GM's turn or would it pick the BPA by rating?

Could it work like the NFL draft where it doesn't skip but everyone can start picking, like what happened to I think the Vikings a few years ago. Their time expired and all of the other teams quickly picked before the vikings got up there?

[PackerFanatic]

Haha, that was funny

I would say it just skips them and everyone else can pick - but they can still pick too once they are around. If the Commish wants to auto-pick them later on, he still can (with the current capabilities)

[jdavidbakr]

Originally Posted by gottimd

Would it skip the GM's turn or would it pick the BPA by rating?

Could it work like the NFL draft where it doesn't skip but everyone can start picking, like what happened to I think the Vikings a few years ago. Their time expired and all of the other teams quickly picked before the vikings got up there?

I think it actually works the way it's described above, where the team is skipped and the next team can make their pick at any time, in the case of the Vikings the next two teams jumped in and made their picks before the Vikings could get their pick in. Vikings Draft Blunder

So I'm thinking the admin would be able to set a start time and end time daily (or a 24-hour clock) and the time limit for each pick. If the pick time is 4 hours and there is only 3 hours left on the clock for the day, then the team that is up would have until one hour after the clock starts the next day to pick. If they make their pick, the next team would have until 4 hours after the clock starts the next day, and so on, until the clock starts again. The admin would still have the ability to pause the draft after any pick.

[gottimd]

Another nice option to have is to set the time limits per team. There are countless times in the NAFL draft where a GM forgets, doesn't notify, etc and we end up waiting the three hours. What happens then is that the GM is penalized and their "clock time" drops down to an hour. Would it be possible to add in that option per team or would the missed pick and everyone jumps ahead work?

Now when the Commish needs to enter the picks in the system, and something like the Vikings fiasco happens, I assume the commish needs to make the draft pick trades in the system to reflect the missed pick?

[jdavidbakr]

Originally Posted by gottimd

Another nice option to have is to set the time limits per team. There are countless times in the NAFL draft where a GM forgets, doesn't notify, etc and we end up waiting the three hours. What happens then is that the GM is penalized and their "clock time" drops down to an hour. Would it be possible to add in that option per team or would the missed pick and everyone jumps ahead work?

I probably could do that, what about making it a percentage of the current time, so that if the admin shortens the time in later rounds he doesn't have to keep going back in and updating any penalized teams?

Originally Posted by gottimd

Now when the Commish needs to enter the picks in the system, and something like the Vikings fiasco happens, I assume the commish needs to make the draft pick trades in the system to reflect the missed pick?

You'd have to do this if you wanted the pick order to be accurate in the game, but technically you could just assign the player they end up getting to that pick number, I suppose that'd be up to the commish how they wanted to handle that. I guess the best way would be to just trade the picks around to reflect the true order.

[PackerFanatic]

Originally Posted by jdavidbakr

I probably could do that, what about making it a percentage of the current time, so that if the admin shortens the time in later rounds he doesn't have to keep going back in and updating any penalized teams?

You'd have to do this if you wanted the pick order to be accurate in the game, but technically you could just assign the player they end up getting to that pick number, I suppose that'd be up to the commish how they wanted to handle that. I guess the best way would be to just trade the picks around to reflect the true order.

I think a percentage would be perfect - that way things could keep moving along (and really, as long as teams actually set a list - this should never be a problem, that is the best part about having a draft utility with a good list feature!)

And as far as the pick order, that is how I would do it. Even if they didn't actually pick that guy in that spot (but they picked him 3 spots later due to missing their time limit), that is still who they got and it doesn't really matter either way to me at least. But all the other information you have posted on it sounds awesome and would be a really killer feature (especially if you were able to get it in the next month before our draft starts, haha )

[jdavidbakr]

Ok, got part of the draft clock done, version 0.15 allows the admin to set a time limit on picks and a window that the clock is running. Don't have individual settings per team yet. Some other cool additions in this version:

* Comments can now be added from the players list without having to add them to your priority list. You can also select a player from the players list if you are on the clock.

* The chatroom is more incorporated into the site, the current chat pops up in the menu if you aren't in the chatroom.

* Made the e-mails optional and off by default, I had one GM whose web hosting provider was throttling his e-mail (either that or they have a really bad/busy server) and it was breaking the selection process. You have to go to the "options" panel as the admin to turn the e-mails back on.

Here is the link again:

http://www.catalystproductions.cc/pub/conscriptor.zip

To use this version you'll need to re-install as there were some database changes, so don't do it if you're in the middle of a draft.

[PackerFanatic]

Awesome work, jon! Thanks!

[bwyant32]

Originally Posted by jdavidbakr

file_put_contents() is the function that actually writes the config file after getting it set up, I'm guessing that you are using PHP version 4 which does not have that function (PHP 5 has that function). Looks like I need to update the readme :-)

If you aren't able to run PHP 5, what needs to happen is a file needs to be written in the fof_draft/includes/ directory called config.inc.php with the following contents:

[php]

Replace "database username", "database password", and "draft database" with the username, password, and database name respectively, and it should launch in fine. Let me know if you have any other issues with PHP 4.

I to am running PHP 4 and I did what you said above here and got this:

Warning: mysql_connect(): Access denied for user '[draftutil]'@'68.178.254.85' (using password: YES) in /home/content/b/w/y/bwyant32/html/fof_draft/includes/config.inc.php on line 6
I cannot connect to the database server because: Access denied for user '[draftutil]'@'68.178.254.85' (using password: YES)

I double and triple checked everything and it looks good. I did replace 'local host' with my database host 'p50mysql89.secureserver.net'

Any idea what I could be doing wrong?

[jdavidbakr]

Originally Posted by bwyant32

I to am running PHP 4 and I did what you said above here and got this:

Warning: mysql_connect(): Access denied for user '[draftutil]'@'68.178.254.85' (using password: YES) in /home/content/b/w/y/bwyant32/html/fof_draft/includes/config.inc.php on line 6
I cannot connect to the database server because: Access denied for user '[draftutil]'@'68.178.254.85' (using password: YES)

I double and triple checked everything and it looks good. I did replace 'local host' with my database host 'p50mysql89.secureserver.net'

Any idea what I could be doing wrong?

Try removing the brackets from around the values (the brackets were my indication that those were the areas you need to modify, but they shouldn't be there after you change the values ... sorry for the confusion )

[bwyant32]

Originally Posted by jdavidbakr

Try removing the brackets from around the values (the brackets were my indication that those were the areas you need to modify, but they shouldn't be there after you change the values ... sorry for the confusion )

haha I'm an idiot, thank you

We will be using the utility for the Cyber Football League (http://www.cyberfootballleague.com)

[bwyant32]

Everything came up ok when I logged in, but this is at the top of the page

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/content/b/w/y/bwyant32/html/fof_draft/includes/config.inc.php:9) in /home/content/b/w/y/bwyant32/html/fof_draft/includes/classes/list.inc.php on line 56

[jdavidbakr]

Originally Posted by bwyant32

haha I'm an idiot, thank you

We will be using the utility for the Cyber Football League (http://www.cyberfootballleague.com)

BTW, be sure you run the installer up to the error so that the database tables are created before making that config file.

[bwyant32]

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/content/b/w/y/bwyant32/html/fof_draft/includes/config.inc.php:9) in /home/content/b/w/y/bwyant32/html/fof_draft/options_set.php on line 108

I get this when i try to save the settings. I did run the install file before doing the config file.

[jdavidbakr]

Originally Posted by bwyant32

Everything came up ok when I logged in, but this is at the top of the page

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/content/b/w/y/bwyant32/html/fof_draft/includes/config.inc.php:9) in /home/content/b/w/y/bwyant32/html/fof_draft/includes/classes/list.inc.php on line 56

Check to make sure you don't have any blank lines or characters before the starnig (most likely on line 9 )

[bwyant32]

Under which file?

[jdavidbakr]

Originally Posted by bwyant32

Under which file?

The config file you created. My guess is you may have a space or something after the ending ?>

[bwyant32]

I think I got it now, thank you

[Landshark44]

we just used this utility in the vNFL, and it was very easy to use. draft went as smooth as any i have been involved with. great work....

[Militant]

Sorry John, I think you answered this above but I can't figure out how this is applying to me.

I am getting "I cannot connect to the database server because: Access denied for user 'avants432'@'72.167.131.98' (using password: YES)"

I do not have any previous mysql databases on my server... so the one i created has nothing in it. (version 5, shared server - godaddy)

do i need to write something in php to get past this?

Thanks!

[jdavidbakr]

Originally Posted by Militant

Sorry John, I think you answered this above but I can't figure out how this is applying to me.

I am getting "I cannot connect to the database server because: Access denied for user 'avants432'@'72.167.131.98' (using password: YES)"

I do not have any previous mysql databases on my server... so the one i created has nothing in it. (version 5, shared server - godaddy)

do i need to write something in php to get past this?

Thanks!

The good news is that the app is successfully finding the mysql server, the bad news is that it is unable to connect for some reason. There are usually two potential causes for this - 1) the user you are trying to connect with does not have appropriate access. If the mysql server is on the same server as the web server, make sure you have "localhost" in the host and not the server IP address; if it's a different server, be sure that the mysql server allows connections from 72.167.131.98 (this is accomplished different ways depending on the service provider). 2) You have entered the wrong username or have misspelled the password, so double-check to make sure those are correct. You can change those values directly in the includes/config.inc.php file.

[Militant]

Jon,

Thanks for your help with this. I BELEIVE I have progressed into a new issue...

I started from scratch and now I am getting this:

"I cannot connect to the database server because: Client does not support authentication protocol requested by server; consider upgrading MySQL client"

I read earlier in this thread it is a php issue, so I copied your code and inserted the appropriate information in the brackets and uploaded it to my server.

Now I am getting:

"\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\cocoartf949\cocoasubrtf270 {\fonttbl\f0\fswiss\fcharset0 Helvetica;} {\colortbl;\red255\green255\blue255;} \margl1440\margr1440\vieww9000\viewh8400\viewkind0 \pard\tx560\tx1120\tx1680\tx2240\tx2800\tx3360\tx3920\tx4480\tx5040\tx5600\tx6160\tx6720\ql\qnatural\pardirnatural \f0\fs24 \cf0 I cannot connect to the database server because: Client does not support authentication protocol requested by server; consider upgrading MySQL client"

Sorry I am making a mess of this, this is my first experience with mysql.

Thanks!

[jdavidbakr]

Originally Posted by Militant

Jon,

Thanks for your help with this. I BELEIVE I have progressed into a new issue...

I started from scratch and now I am getting this:

"I cannot connect to the database server because: Client does not support authentication protocol requested by server; consider upgrading MySQL client"

I read earlier in this thread it is a php issue, so I copied your code and inserted the appropriate information in the brackets and uploaded it to my server.

Now I am getting:

"\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\cocoartf949\cocoasubrtf270 {\fonttbl\f0\fswiss\fcharset0 Helvetica;} {\colortbl;\red255\green255\blue255;} \margl1440\margr1440\vieww9000\viewh8400\viewkind0 \pard\tx560\tx1120\tx1680\tx2240\tx2800\tx3360\tx3920\tx4480\tx5040\tx5600\tx6160\tx6720\ql\qnatural\pardirnatural \f0\fs24 \cf0 I cannot connect to the database server because: Client does not support authentication protocol requested by server; consider upgrading MySQL client"

Sorry I am making a mess of this, this is my first experience with mysql.

Thanks!

Hmmmm.....

Do you know what versions of MySQL and PHP are running on your server? I'm not sure where all that extra garbage text is coming from, you might want to delete the config.inc.php file and run the installer again, because you were closer at that point. The fact that the config.inc.php file was successfully written indicates that you have a good version of PHP, and your errors are on the MySQL end.

Sometimes the hosting provider has a pre-prepared PHP code to connect to the database, which you can use to replace the content inside the <? ?> (except the define(kAdminUser, 1); line, that one has nothing to do with the database connection and removing that line will break the admin login). Beyond that, if you want to PM me your login info to your control panel I can look at it, or you can contact your hosting provider's tech support and see if they can figure out why that error is happening.

[camulos]

Just installed it on the OSFL site as a demo for our commish. I really like it so far. Being able to add multiple players to your list and enter the numbers for priority is a huge improvement over the current utility we're using.

I do miss a few things though:
- Color coded combine numbers
- Giving users the ability to see if other teams are set to autopick and how many players they have in their queue. This helps people plan ahead a little bit.

Overall, I really like this utility. Great job!

[jdavidbakr]

Ok, I'm really excited about this version, 0.16:

* Added the ability for each team's clock to be adjusted by a percentage of the regular pick clock.

* Teams now can choose what columns they want to display in the lists. There are more columns available.

* Added all columns that Extractor exports as available for the lists. Some of course will not be applicable, depending on whether you are doing a full draft or an amateur draft. This includes the bar values!

* Changed BPA to use the bar values.

* Allowed the user to upload their own Extractor export so that they can see their scout's impression!

* Fixed a bug that caused a manual pick to fill a prior skipped pick. Priority picks worked fine.

[Yoda]

[nthinch]

Wow, this thing has really evolved since we started our league draft. Even with the old version (0.11.1) though the draft has run very smoothly through 40 rounds. Would have been impossible without this. Thanks J.

A 7 round rookie draft will never seem the same though after 3 weeks of league drafting.

[gstelmack]

Looks like I have some work to do if I'm going to use this. I already have a "team" table, so I have to modify my existing database and web app before using it. Prefixes are good (as I've learned myself and just have not applied to my original tables just yet...)

[ace1914]

Originally Posted by jdavidbakr

* Allowed the user to upload their own Extractor export so that they can see their scout's impression!

You are setting the bar for functionality, man. Good job.