[WT-support] Win-Test 2.20.0 is out!

[Laurent HAAS - F6FVY]

Hi Simon, Pete & WT users !

First of all, being the coder of this very new feature, I must confess I 
was not aware of the discussion list Pete mentionned...  Maybe the 
founders of this discussion list didn't even know the existence of WT 
(like K1AR who do not even mention it in his annual survey...), as we 
didn't received any information on this topic !

Simon Pearson a écrit :

> I agree; implementation into the logging software is *the* ideal. It
> requires no further work on the operator's part, which is of utmost
> importance. I'm sure such a system will be implemented into Win-Test. 

As usual, when I implemented this feature (yesterday afternoon, to be 
honest, just before Olivier released), I had flexibility in mind. 
Sending the UDP frames, and documenting these data is the best way to 
allow any "casual" programmer to get the score and use it, whichever OS 
he's using, and whichever language (C++, PERL, PHP, Delphi, Java or even 
VisualBasic) he is familiar with.

I'm almost sure (well, I hope) that talented programmers in the WT 
community will write soon various softwares, to :

- Interface with the public scoreboards you were talking abt.
- Update in real time a web page, allowing the use of a user-defined 
template (and CSS).
- Display the score in a fullscreen window when taking part in a public 
demonstation of contesting
- Etc etc.

A lot of "week-end projects" !

(*)

Regarding the implementation of the scoreboards updates *into* WT, I 
have a different feeling ;-)

1/ It implies to write (more or less) a FTP client. From scratch (as we 
always did), I'm afraid it will take "some time"... and will make WT 
bigger, (a bit) slower, etc...
2/ It also implies the master machine to have an access to the Internet, 
meaning it will be *exposed* to it, and it needs safety measures 
(firewall, etc.).

That's why I rather prefer to have a "third-party" application (which 
can even be running on a separate PC exposed to Internet, and tailored 
for that, with no threat on the Win-Test logs) to do this periodic task.

The same concept also applies to the DX cluster connection with WtDxTelnet.

73

Larry - F6FVY

(*) Disclaimer : The last 4 paragraphs are my own opinion, and Olivier 
can have a different point of view. If he decides to include a FTP 
client in WT, be assured it will be done ;-)