[nigulh]

I would like to create .lin files. Could anyone explain all the tags and possibilities of the lin format? (Is there a help-file or something like that available?)

[Erkson]

Hi, nigulh.

I worked a little on .lin files and enjoyed it.
I had to guess the meaning of the tags.
It is very easy for most of them.

I can relay to you the information I got about a few that I could'nt guess.

Erkson

[nigulh]

I am too lazy to discover all the tags myself. So I would appreciate, if you could just explain them to me. Please e-mail, or put them up here. Thanx.

[inquiry]

Hi nigulh

The lin file format was originally created by the e-bridge people I believe. It is actually fairly easy to read, and even lazy people like us can figure it out without much work.

Here is a poor man's way of creating a lin file (no play yet), and to learn how to read some of the key tags. Log onto BBO and start a chat room. Click on the "you hold" button and a window opens where you can type in the cards in all four hands. After you get all the hands typed in, click the save button and save the file to your disk.

When you do that, you get something like this (I created the following deal where everyone holds AKQ...7 in one suit and 65432 in another for illustrative purposes....


vg|Uploaded Deal,,I,14,14,,,,,|rs|,,|pn|South,West,North,East|pg||qx|o14|
md|4S65432CAKQJT987,SAKQJT987H65432,HAKQJT987D65432,DAKQJT987C65432|
sv|0|mb||pn|South,West,North,East|pg||

Here you can see some clues. Now click on the this saved lin file (or open it with bbo software by using the "open a file on my computer button).


You will see a title page with the title... Uploaded deal. Imangine what would happen in you changed the line that reads... vg|Uploaded Deal,,I,14,14(....) to read vg|Nigulh fantanstic hand,,I,14,14(...)? Yes vg must be the command to tell the computer this is a vugraph thing (vg=view graph).

Are the comma's necessary, and what does the "I" do? What does the 14 do? If you notice, on my example, the first line of the table (the only line), starts with board 14. What would happen if you change the first 14 to, say 3?

Ok...now instead of one board, starting with 14, 12 boards starting with 3 and ending with 14 show up.

What happens if you change rs|,,| to rs|4HNx=,4HNx-2|

Next you need to enter some bidding. Go back to the chat room and enter an auction and save it. The saved file will look something like this.


vg|Uploaded Deal,,I,14,14,,,,,|rs|,,|pn|South,West,North,East|pg||qx|o14|
md|4S65432CAKQJT987,SAKQJT987H65432,HAKQJT987D65432,DAKQJT987C65432|
sv|0|mb|--p1H7Sppp|pn|South,West,North,East|pg||

Notice when you save the bidding... it saved the hand too. The new stuff here is something between the mb|| that was missing in the earlier round. These are the bids I entered. I started with EAST with a pass and then had the bidding go 1H7S all pass... can you figure out waht --p1H7Sppp means?

You might want to play some cards in the hands you create. The way this is done is with the pc command |pc|H2| for instance plays the heart two.

The BEST way to learn the command, short of having a mole to tell you all the secrets, is to save a log file from a game on the bbo, open it with a text editor and change some things and see what happens. If you do so, you will find that sv|0| means no one vul, sv|E| means east west vul, you might guess what sv|B| means.

I think what Erikson was suggesting was that you play with it a little while and see what is what, and then come back and ask specific questions. I am sure someone here will be willing to help with how to make a certain feature work or answer a specific question if you have one, but who wants to type up ALL The commands and options, especially when they are so easy, and fun, to figure out.

BTW, you can do the same thing but record the play by the following. Start a teaching table, and take all four seats yourself. Open the movie hand thing and type in the hand you want (using clear if you like). After the hand is typed in, hit send. Then enter the bidding and then play all the cards like you want. When you finish the hand, from the movie display, hit the "save" button. Now all four hands, the bidding, and the play is saved for you.

Ben

[Erkson]

Hi.
I was trying to guess how to display a hand in a .lin file and be able to play the cards as I wanted.

I found that these tags work :
|pf|y|

And I applied it to an (interesting) deal played recently on BOL:

-------------3NS= West squeezed------------------
pn|South,West,North,East|st||st||md|2S34KAH257KD6KC79J,S2567JH389JD25AC6,SH4TAD378TJC24TKA,|
rh||ah|Board 1|sv|o|mb|p|mb|1C|mb|p|mb|1H|mb|p|mb|2D|mb|p|mb|2S|an|forcing|mb|p|mb|3H|
mb|p|mb|3N|mb|p|mb|p|mb|p|pf|y|

--------------------------------

I would like to know the meaning and use of "pf", and if there are other tags
useful for my purpose. For instance I found that "up|52|" allows to resume the play from
first card if a complete list of the cards played by a player has been included in the .lin file,
or "up|45|" if the play is interrupted 7 cards before the end by a claim as in this sample :

------------- 3NS-1 West not squeezed-----------
pn|South,West,North,East|st||st||md|2S34KAH257KD6KC79J,S2567JH389JD25AC6,SH4TAD378TJC24TKA,|
rh||ah|Board 1|sv|o|mb|p|mb|1D|mb|p|mb|1H|mb|p|mb|2C|mb|p|mb|2S|an|4ème|mb|p|mb|3H|mb|p|
mb|3N|mb|p|
mb|p|mb|p|pg||pc|S5|pc|D3|pc|SQ|pc|SK|pg||pc|C9|pc|C6|pc|C2|pc|CQ|pg||pc|ST|pc|S3|pc|S2|pc|D7|pg||
pc|S9|pc|S4|pc|S6|pc|H4|pg||pc|S8|pc|SA|pc|S7|pc|D8|pg||pc|CJ|pc|D2|pc|C4|pc|C3|pg||pc|C7|pc|D5|
pc|CT|pc|C5|pg||pc|CK|pc|C8|pc|H2|pc|H3|pg||pc|CA|pc|H6|pc|H5|pc|H8|pg||pc|DT|pc|DQ|pc|DK|pc|DA|
pg||pc|SJ|pc|HT|pc|D4|pc|D6|pg||pc|HJ|mc|8|pg||up|45|pf|y|nt|And now try to make it with the same
lead|

Erskson