Announcement: little tool MGTray

[m0ellemeister]

Hi,
i just want to introduce shortly a little program i've written: MGTray

Update, 04/12/12
Latest release (at the moment for Linux 32Bit only) http://sourceforge.net/projects/mgtray/files/v0.1.6/MGTray.gz/download

Windows Version will follow as soon as i find some time for setting up cross compiler environment on my Linux box. Maybe over the upcoming weekend.

Update, 04/10/12
Latest testing version (at the moment for Linux 32Bit only) http://sourceforge.net/projects/mgtray/files/pre-v0.1.6/MGTray_Linux_pre-v.0.1.6.gz/download

Old version: http://sourceforge.net/projects/mgtray/files/MGTray-0.1.4/ Source code can be obtained by cloning the git repo: git clone git://git.code.sf.net/p/mgtray/code mgtray-code

MGTray is a little tool for everyone who wants to play MegaGlest online, but don't wants to stay ingame in the Game Lobby, waiting for an online match. MGTray will stay in your Systray and checks in regularly intervals if any match waiting for players is available. If one (or more) games are waiting for players, a little Baloon Hint will show up. When you double click on the MG icon in Systray a window will pop up which shows you the available games. Just click on one in the overview and click the 'Join' button. MGTray will start MegaGlest with the option "--connect=<ip of server>" which should connect MegaGlest directly to the game.

Screenshot:

More information (HowTo Build) and binary releases will follow as soon as i find some more spare time ;-)

MGTray is written in ObjectPascal using Lazarus 0.9.30/FreePascal 2.4.2.

[tomreyn]

As discussed with m0ellemeister, please report back any test results and issues by e-mail to mgtray[AT]megaglest.org. Thank you!

[ultifd]

Sounds and looks good. Hopefully after we make sure it's stable on all platforms, we can include it with MG.

[m0ellemeister]

Short Update:

thx tomreyn for testing. It's tourned out that Lazarus 0.9.30 is REQUIRED for building a proper working version of MGTray.

The source was updated and here's the updated Tarball: http://nichthelfer.de:8083/MGTray_0.1.2.tar.gz
md5sum: 44187f9d0d170e9d1a240fe65cc977cf
sha256sum: a36ab816da0dfedae6917d7464b2bf295876bb916fd78ada88267d547b3068e2

Here's Linux 32Bit binary (gzipped): http://nichthelfer.de:8083/MGTray-i386-Linux.gz
md5sum: 7d483bd8961bf934c667adcb4bd4d521
sha256: 63cbfd8a29ae7a6df9605cd91be5c5b70226dba0726039cc31033c1348460e37

Here's another screenshot showing the Windows Version:

The screenshot was taken using this binary built on Win7 (Win32): http://nichthelfer.de:8083/MGTray.zip
md5sum: d05537841369be36eb225a33ff20e6b1
sha256sum: 75d25b80b6219af23b361ac2edf0e8816fd6cbfaf2c17314dad654ca1b022726

[m0ellemeister]

Here's a manual to MGTray: http://nichthelfer.de:8083/MGTray/MGTray-Manual/MGTray-Manual.html

Thx to tomreyn who helped with the translation.

[tomreyn]

I still haven't had the time/nerve/mood to compile the new version, however I did try the Linux build you uploaded, and it works very well for me. All the important functionality just works. Just the icon is still too large. And I'm missing a 'host now!' button.

Whoever hasn't tried this yet: you definately want to give it try, whether you run Linux or Windows. See the "Linux 32Bit binary" and "binary built on Win7 (Win32)" download links m0ellemeister has posted above. And please report back!

[m0ellemeister]

In the next version i'll implent a Host Now Button. Good idea 

The size of the icon will be fixed too. Under KDE and Windows the icon is scaled automatically to the right size. Thx for your feedback.

[wciow]

Works ok for me 

[uncle]

Cool tool, thanks!

I just noticed that when I want to launch the game from the MGtray window, there is no music.
(And the icon is also too large.)

I use the precompiled 32bit version on Ubuntu 11.04.

[m0ellemeister]

Many thx for the feedback. The size if the icon will be changed in the next version. I never noticed that the music is missing in MegaGlest when it has been started by MGTray. If i missed music, i pressed 'k'. But the sounds are playing?

[uncle]

The sounds are available only when the game itself is started.
The music in the lobby (or what is the name for the game room) does not play.

PS: When the game starts, this happens to the MG tray window:



I cannot close/minimize the window to the tray icon.

[m0ellemeister]

Uncle, thx for reporting this Bug. I'll fix this in the next version too (hopefully). I'll try to change the behavior of MGTray in the way that it will minimize it's self to the tray after MegaGlest has been started. Maybe i can provide a new version within a couple of days, but i can't promise.

[m0ellemeister]

Here's (hopefully) a fixed version: http://sourceforge.net/projects/mgtray/files/MGTray-0.1.3/Linux-32Bit/

Please try it and report back. Thx.

[uncle]

It still does not work how it should be. When I close the window, it stops to respond.
And now the notification bubble cannot be closed.

[m0ellemeister]

I thought it was an good idea to put MGTray into "freeze" for the time MegaGlest is being executed. I'll change the behaivior completly in the next version.

[m0ellemeister]

Here's another Binary release for Linux/Windows (both 32Bit):

http://sourceforge.net/projects/mgtray/files/MGTray-0.1.4/

The Windows version was compiled on a Debian testing box and roughly tested on a Win7 system. Please try it out and report issues. Thx.

[uncle]

When I connect to a game via the MGtray app, the MGtray window frozes including the notification bubble, which does not diasppear untill I quit MG or kill it.

But i can see the content of the window, which is probably the only difference between this version and the previous one.

[m0ellemeister]

That's a strange behaivior. I've tested 0.1.4 on Win7 and i hadn't such an issue. When i started MegaGlest using MGTray, MGTray has minimized it's self to the systemtray (closed the window by it's self)  as supposed. I'll try to take the time to test it by myself on FreeBSD/Linux. Uncle, on which platform are you running MGTray? Ubuntu with the Unity Desktop?

Btw: many thx  for taking the time to test MGTray  

[TotalNoob]

I see someone has implemented my idea (description here https://forum.megaglest.org/index.php?topic=7336.0 in case you did not see it, check out titi's list of proposed features) , that's good I'll be happy to test your app and give feedback. Please update first post in this thread with link to the newest version when it appears. Thanks!

I also had in mind to make a list of users connected to the IRC channel for MG lobby and notify (optionally) if someone has just joined. Maybe you will also like this idea?

[uncle]

Uncle, on which platform are you running MGTray? Ubuntu with the Unity Desktop?

I am using Ubuntu 11.04 with GNOME. Unity is ugly

[m0ellemeister]

I've updated 0.1.4. (see link in first Post) The size of the tray icon should be fixed now, really

If MegaGlest has been started by MGTray, it will close it's own window and stops checking for new games. It's possible to do right click on the tray icon and the menu will show up. When you click on "show" nothing will happen as long as MegaGlest is running. When you click on other items in the menu, e.g. "exit" MGTray will execute this command as soon as MegaGlest has exited. This way it's secured that MGTray will stay in the systray and won't disturb MegaGlest (hopefully). Any feedback is appreciated. Thx,

[uncle]

Works fine for me.

Maybe there should be a sound played when a new game is available.

[tomreyn]

Looks good now!

Improvements I'd like:
* Do not repeatedly display notification popup available new servers, just display it once when a new server (which hadn't been there during the last refresh) becomes available.
* table sort by click on column heading
* table column reordering by mouse drag + drop
* join/connect by double-clicking a given row
* Fix of disable text entry on "refresh interval in seconds" box - whatever you enter there, it always switches to 100
* The MegaGlest notification bar / tray icon is no longer too large, but actually a little undersized now ;-)
* Make "Start MegaGlest as Host" more accessible.
* 'Join' buttn is not always disabled when it should be.
* Add optional filters to only display servers which can be joined, servers of a given version, servers located in a preconfigured set of countries, servers using a given techtree
* Hide path to MegaGlest input box
* Move all configuration items to a separate window, accessible through context menu and/or click of a button on the main window / server list
* more suggestions: see my post on Titi's tool

[m0ellemeister]

Many thanks for your feedback 

@tomreyn, uncle, TotalNoob
i put your suggestions on the ToDo list. I'll start working on the requested features/reported bugs over the next days. It'll takes some time till i release a new version.

[tomreyn]

Thanks, I'm looking forward to it .