The SGF editor

User Manual
editor

Replaying a game

This is the main window of RubyGo, which essentially provides the functionality of an SGF reader. It should be fully compatible with the FF[4] standard. Please provide feedback to me if you encounter any problem reading an SGF file.

The File menu

Open: Read an SGF game from disk.
Open URL: Get games form the web (see below)
Save : save the game in SGF format to review/edit it later.
Save variation : save the current variation from the beginning to the current node in SGF format .
Edit : launch Go Editor directly on that game.
Score : try to make an estimation of the score of the game. A new window opens. You can add/remove stones in the same way that with the setup window of the editor,or remove them simply by clicking ont them, and score again with the file menu of that window. In the setup window like in the 'score' window, you can drag entire group of connected stones by control-shift-clicking on one stone.
Print : open the print window
Export : export the board in ascii format into a file
Quit

The View menu

This menu allows you to open/close the frames around the board (actually only one):

Commands : right window

The Game menu

That's where you get the SGF functionalities:

Info : informations about the file.
Collection : A SGF file can be a collection of several game trees. Here you can choose from one tree to another.
Variations : There is two kinds of sgf viewers:
- show variation as wchildrens,
- or siblings. RubyGo allows you to choose, which can be useful when reading files made with other programs and to have the comments synchronised with the board.
- Show letters : This show variations moves as letters on the board. (main variation is always 'A')
Move numbers show the move numbers on the stones:
- Numbering Remake all the numbers on this position. (use only to print diagrams, don't change to another node)
- Don't show
- Show start showing numbers (real move numbers) from there. Here you can navigate to other nodes.
- Modulo 100 moves greater than 100, 200 etc are numbered from 0.
Figure This options are used on the node to print the board (see The RubyGo printing system)
- show coordinates
- show hoshis
- show diagram name Show the title at the bottom with the diagram printed.
- remove captured stones In the diagrams on the books, captured stones are not removed, further moves are listed below the diagram instead.

The commands panel

There are 3 kinds of navigation in the game-tree:

Navigate: allow you to go from one node (move) to the next in the same branch (first variation). '>>' make 10 moves.(configurable). There is now a cursor to go directly to the desired move faster. The left button go back to the beginning of the current variation (the beggining of the game in the main branch). The right button go the next node with a variation, or to the end of the game if there is no more variations.
Play : the game is played automatically, with 1 second for each move, or 1/10 for '>>'.
Variations : if there is more than one variation in the current node (independantly of 'childrens-sibling' option), you can change from one node to another either by using arrows or by clicking directly on the list

Keyboard shortcuts

beginning of file: Home
fast backward: Shift+Left
backward: Left arrow
forward: Right arrow
fast forward: Shift+Right
end of game: End
play: Enter
fast play: Shift+Enter
stop: Space
previous variation: Up arrow
next variation: Down arrow
the next node containing a comment: Control+Right
the previous node containing a comment: Control+Left
Control+click on a stone go to the node where the move was made
click on a variation letter choose that node

The player information

This widget present information about a player, his name, rank, and when recorded into the sgf file, or when observing/playing live on the server, the time remaining, byo-yomi stones to play, and prisoneers. Additionaly, the name is a button that you can click to get more information about that player. When it is a pseudo on the server, it opens the 'stats' window. But when reading a sgf file, RubyGo will use a small database to try to translate from japanese/korean names to english names of pro players. When clicking on the name, it will try to open a browser pointing to a web page about that player. (actually it is on a korean server, but you get a picture and an email at least ;-). RubyGo try to determine which method to use to open the browser, but you can help it by defining the environment variable 'BROWSER'.

opening files from the web

There are two ways to open a sgf file directly from the web:

you can configure your browser to launch the script 'rubygo.sh' or 'rubygo.bat' each time you click on a link of MIME type 'application/x-go-sgf'
If you know the adress of a web page where you use to get a sgf file, you can use the menu 'file->open URL'. A window open with two lists. The left list is a list of bookmarks of web pages where to find the files (i.e. containing links to these files). Select one and click on 'browse'. A list of sgf files appears in the right list. You just have to select one and press 'open', or 'cancel' to close the window. Note that some servers can ask for a password to get files, in this case RubyGo will not open it. In case there is some need by users, I will try to add the necessary code.

The Editor window

It is the same with GoReplay that editing features are added. When you click at a location on the board you add a move to the game, depending on which player turn it is. To add stones that are indepedent of the turn, for example to design a game problem, add a 'setup' node. You type directly into the comments window to edit the text that will be displayed with the corresponding node.
You can put letters and symbols on the board within a node with the mouse by using functions keys:

F1 Triangle
F2 Circle
F3 Square
F4 Cross
F5 A letter. The letter is incremented automatically. Hit F5 again to put an 'a'.
F6 Erase a mark or letter.
Escape Return to normal 'move' mode.

File menu:

New : allow you to create a new sgf file, with separate width and height.

Node menu:

Setup: add a "setup" node: see below
Cut : cut the branch of the tree at this node. Be careful: all the nodes beyond this one will be lost too.
Name : The node name. Used as the title of the printed diagram.
Set turn change the normal turn (useful after a setup node)
Pass
Move Number Change the move number of that node and of the others after it.
Set a annotation about that node. It corresponds to the 'AN' SGF property.
- Nothing
- Good for white
- Good for black
- Even position
- Unclear position
- Interesting move

Collection menu:

New: add a new game to the collection
Name: rename the current game

The setup window

Here you can add and remove stones, symbols, text and areas that are hidden or dimmed. You can "drag and drop" objects, with dragging an object outside of the board to remove it, by pressing "Control" and left mouse button. If you don't like drag&drop, the left mouse button will add/remove black stones (or group of stones). Right button for white.

When you are satisfied, use the menu:"File -> add/replace node" to add the node to the Go editor, or simply 'quit' and don't add the node at all. You are now able to work with 'two -points' objects like lines, arrows and dimmed areas, all of which can be dragged but they now have two squares that can be dragged to change their dimensions. Red rectangles are 'Views', used to select a region to be printed. In the setup window like in the 'score' window, you can drag entire group of connected stones by shift-clicking on one stone.

File menu:

Add node : added at a variation of the node
Replace node : replace current node (cannot be the root node)

The Review window

This window allows you to observe games edited with the 'review' commands, but not edit it yourself, because this command is not yet documented. You can observe this game and send messages in "real time". If you want to navigate in the game yourself, use the menu file--edit. You can save it in sgf format too.

For further information, send me a mail