- Is it possible to make a switch to extract a list for printing, or for display in the log, of the locations by piece name and hex location for either side?
Other possible selections also.
Try the Text Capture Tool (Map Component)
Yes, that is a start.
Is it possible for VASSAL to edit the list. By that I mean to provide a selection criteria. For example, I tried that with the TRC module. I got a long list, in no apparent sequence, of every location on the “board” and the “piece identity” of each counter in that board location.
By “board” I mean all locations with hex numbers (the map) and all “offboard” locations where pieces sat on turn tracks and holding boxes. As few of the “offboard” locations were specifically identified, there were maybe 60-70 unidentified “offboard” locations.
The “piece identity” was short and abbreviated, such as “R 4 inf.” The purpose in having the identity so short was so that when a mouse pointer was hovering over a group of pieces, entire identity could be printed below the counter. Extensive names overlap when more than one counter is in a hex.
So, is it possible for VASSAL to allow a selection criteria where, for example, the player could select: On Map or Board or Various Pools, Axis or Russian, ascending or descending sequence, piece identity, class data (Attack, Defense, Movement) and possible other selection criteria.
No, that’s it. It is very old component which no doubt had some use at some point.
Yes, it is probably old and undeveloped.
Here is why I believe that it could be use…
In another question I asked if the Movement LogFile could be turned on and off by a Player. In the VASSAL Russian Campaign module, I turned off the Movement LogFile in the Module Editor because some felt that its seemingly endless move and unmove of pieces was detrimental to game play. Extensive movement of pieces using non-linear undos does not provide a coherent LogFile picture of movement. While use of a non-linear undo may seem mutinous to game players rising from a chess game tradition where removal of the hand ends movement of a piece, not all game players have inherited that philosophy.
So, how can the Movement LogFile provide a meaningful picture?
The Text Capture Tool does provide a path, if it can be tamed, to do that. The LogFile would need to provide written picture of a player’s units before movement to complement the visual picture. Also the LogFile would need to provide an end of movement written picture as well. The text Capture Tool can do this. However, it would have to remove units not on the map (those with no hex numbers), those belonging to the enemy (those with a RU or those with a GE, R, I, H or F), and provide the hex numbers in some order. Basically, that is just editing out material that is there and providing organization to the hex grid numbers.
The next step in publishing the result not as a text file but simply a listing in place of the Movement LogFile.
Would that be so difficult?