I have just uploaded installers for the above new releases of BridgePalServices and BridgePal Server to the BridgePal website.
The main purpose of BridgePalServices 2.1.0 is to address issues that a small number of users were experiencing with bridgepalBroadcast occasionally not being started at PC boot time by the windows service controller. It is strongly recommended that all users of BridgePalServices 2.0.0 or later upgrade to this new version as it should eliminate this potential problem.
BridgePalServices 2.1.0 must be downloaded and installed from the "Download PC Components" page of the BridgePal website. BridgePal Server 2.1.0 can also be downloaded from that page, or via the "Upgrade" menu in BridgeScore.
After BridgePalServices has been installed the BridgePalServices Monitor will be visible as a taskbar icon (a pair of cogwheels). It must be left running in order for BridgePal wireless scoring to function. Clicking on the icon will bring up a window showing the status of all three background tasks (bridgepalBroadcast, nginx web server, and PHP server). It shows whether the PC has an active connection to a router, and if so indicates the ip address of this PC. The checkbox at the top left allows bridgepalBroadcast to be shut down if required. This is sometimes useful if two PCs with BridgePal software installed are connected to the same wifi network - only one of these PCs can be actively used for wireless scoring so bridgepalBroadcast should be shut down on the other PC to prevent phones/tablets "hunting" between the two PCs. The setting for bridgepalBroadcast (on or off) can also be saved as a default setting via the "Save As Default" button, so that this setting is remembered the next time that the PC is restarted. If bridgepalBroadcast is running, a timestamp is displayed to the left of the ip address showing the time at which the last broadcast message was transmitted, providing additional confirmation that bridgepalBroadcast is actively transmitting.
The new version of BridgePal Server, when launched from the scoring program, will automatically start BridgePalServices Monitor if it has been previously been shut down by the user. The main feature of the new BridgePal Server is that it enables adjustments (e.g. 60%/40%) to be input from the phone/tablet via a new "Award Adjustment" entry on the Director Functions menu. An adjustment can be entered at any time for a board which has previously been played, or for the current board if the BridgePal is currently positioned on the contract entry screen for this board. Possible adjustment values are 40%, 50%, or 60% for each direction. When the values have been entered and "OK" is pressed the Director's PIN is requested and after this a confirmation screen is displayed. However, the traveller display is not shown (in case the director is playing in the session). When OK is tapped on the confirmation screen the BridgePal will return to its previous position. However, if the adjusted score was entered for the current board the BridgePal will advance automatically to the next board or the start of the next round (if the current board was the last board of the round).
It should be noted that not all scoring programs process adjusted scores in the same way. Some process 60% as "Average+" and 40% as "Average-", whereas others just allocate 60% or 40% irrespective of the average for the NS or EW pair in this session. What this means is that, if score adjustments have been entered on BridgePal, the ranking screen at the end of the session on BridgePal may differ from the ranking as displayed by the scoring program, depending on which scoring program is being used. The latter is of course the authoritative source.
The documentation, including the BridgePal App User Guide and the Scoring Program Guides, on the BridgePal website at
http://bridgepal.co.uk will be updated in the next couple of days.
John
