Slot Tournaments "Live" Toolbar

**Simmo!** · 6th November 2007, 05:02 PM

Hi chaps,

If anyone is interested, I have managed to get a live feed of the MG slot tournaments working. Its in BETA so there may be the odd time-related bug (outside of my control), but now I have also put something together in a toolbar that acts as an "reminder" system (I'm always forgetting to register or play lol).

It can be viewed at http://www.slottournaments.net/feeds/

Also, if anyone would like to try out the IE-only toolbar "reminder" version and feed back, that'd be good (screenshot below). There is a zipfile available at http://www.slottournaments.net/feeds...ts-dynamic.zip which you can download - easy to install and perfectly safe* (it also has an uninstall option on the toolbar menu). I don't think Vista will allow it to be installed as it's strict on security certificates and I haven't bought one (yet), but I have it running on XP ok. But if anyone can find a way to install it on Vista I'd love to know.

sttoolbar.jpg

The biggest issue I had was ensuring all the times displayed in "local" time depending on where you are - so I would be keen for people to check that bit seems ok. It should update the latest tourney "on the fly" in your timezone.

Anyway - there you go. I'll do some more work on it when I get some feedback

Cheers

Simmo!

* By safe I mean no viruses, trojans etc

Actually, some virus checkers see toolbars as potentially harmfull, but in this case if it does, it's not! Er...if that makes sense.

**chayton** · 6th November 2007, 05:16 PM

hey this is cool! Thanks Sir Muppet!

**Simmo!** · 7th November 2007, 11:49 AM

I've made an update to the Beta toolbar to display a countdown to each tournament (see screenshot). Those who have installed it already needn't do anything - it will automatically update itself. Note the countdown, like the tournament "start time" displayed, is based on your local time, so if your PC clock is a few seconds out, the countdown will be too.

sttoolbar2.jpg

The countdown clicks in with 20 minutes to go and changes colour to red with 10 minutes to go, then tells you a tournament is "In Play" for 10 minutes, like this:

sttoolbar3.jpg

After 10 minutes has elapsed, it picks up the next tournament and repeats the cycle. If no tournaments are open, it displays a message with a link to the full schedule. In fact, while the tournament name displayed has lost the underline, it also still links to the full schedule.

I've also added a "Post Feedback" item to the menu which brings you here

Cheers,

Simmo!

**Simmo!** · 9th November 2007, 09:49 AM

Just an FYI for anyone running it last night - if the toolbar disappeared from your IE menu, it was my fault... I put an invalid character into the toolbar XML file. My bad

It's back now when you restart your browser.

**brianzz** · 9th November 2007, 01:04 PM

I had a dll error for it last night, but it's all better today. Neat idea, thanks

FYI - the countdown is not there anymore, just the time the next tournament starts

**Simmo!** · 9th November 2007, 02:23 PM

Originally Posted by brianzz

I had a dll error for it last night, but it's all better today. Neat idea, thanks

FYI - the countdown is not there anymore, just the time the next tournament starts

Hmm I'll check the countdown. It was ok this morning but maybe it turned off. Edi: Countdown seems to be working OK - try a browser reload - may be a hangover from my cockup last night

That dll error i had once - i think i know what causes it. Was it when you clicked on the toolbar dropdown menu at the same point a web page was loading?

I emailed the toolbar software maker's support team, but can you tell me what version of Windows and IE you are running Brian? You only have to restart the browser to fix it btw, but it would be nice to isolate it.

**brianzz** · 9th November 2007, 08:47 PM

yep, it was when I clicked the menu. I'm running XP SP2 and IE 7.0.5730.11

**Simmo!** · 10th November 2007, 10:20 PM

Originally Posted by brianzz

yep, it was when I clicked the menu. I'm running XP SP2 and IE 7.0.5730.11

Same as me....

OK well, I may have found the problem - I think, anyway. It needed a second "Visual C" DLL distributing with the toolbar. I have been testing it and it seems fine so far (24 hrs). So here you go:

Toolbar Download (zip file, 441kb)

Just uninstall the old one from the "Toolbar Options / Uninstall" in the dropdown menu, then bang this one in Brian

Cheers and thanks for your help.

Simmo!

**brianzz** · 10th November 2007, 11:46 PM

I un and re-installed and still get no count down, not that it's important I just need the time to hang up there to remind me there's another tournament to play that'll cancel as soon as it starts (Tomb Raider) or to score less than 1000 points in (Thunderstruck)