[ggo-discussion] problems viewing sgf files

I've had some problems viewing an sgf file.

http://www.kleemann.org/crap/gogames.tgz

The example sgf file is rjs.sgf in the above archive.

1) Old markup commands are not supported.  e.g.

B[rc]
;
W[pc]
;
B[re]
;
L[lc][kc]
C[White should playan extension at "a" or "b". A black move
 there would leave the white stones around p16 without a base to live.]
W[ep]
;

The above L[lc][kc] should show an "A" and "B" on the board.

2) I thought the above problem might be a problem with the parser.  I 
selected the old parser and loaded the file and received a bunch of the 
following messages in the console window:
Exception exceptions.TypeError: 'expected string or Unicode object, int 
found' in 'sgf.parseNode' ignored

3) Opening the tree via the menu View.Tree hangs the program.  I can 
open the Tree List on the side with no problem.

4) I tried to view the variations with the tree list open using the 
keyboard and had a few problems.

a) On my screen (with large fonts) having both the tree list and the 
sidebar open at the same time squeezed the board such that not all of 
the board was visible.  It would be great if the board automatically 
scaled itself such that it was always completely visible in whatever 
client space was available.

b) I tried to view the game using the keyboard with the tree list open.

i) I figured out that right arrow meant next move and left arrow meant 
previous move.  Some ui that showed these key bindings would be great. 
Maybe display the keybindings from within the mouseovers of the toolbar 
icons?

ii) The current move in the tree view is indicated by the small circle 
in the stone.  This is difficult for me to see.  Perhaps have the entry 
listed in reverse video such as when the mouse clicks on it?

iii) Once you start viewing the variations the keyboard commands became 
unintuitive.  When you reach the first variation in rjs.sgf (16) you 
will natually skip it if you keep pressing the right arrow.  To open the 
variations you have to be on the 16 entry and hit the up arrow.  From 
now on you are locked in the variation track so the right arrow takes 
you down into the variation.  To get out of the variation you have to be 
on the first variation stone and press the down arrow.  I haven't 
figured out how to close a variation branch with the keyboard.

When there are several variation branches open the keyboard controls are 
very confusing:

The right arrow moves you down
The left arrow moves you up
The up arrow opens a branch moving you right and down.
The down arrow takes you out of a branch moving you up and left.

I think the reason this may be a bit confusing is that most go viewers 
use this same keyboard configuration but display the information with 
the progressive moves moving towards the left with branches going down.  
If the tree view were placed at the bottom of the screen (short and 
wide) it could follow this layout.

iv) It would also be handy if the current locked, variation path were 
highlighted.  cgoban2 does this by greying out stones that are not in 
the current path.  This also gives you feedback when you press the up or 
down arrow to change the current path.

Robert.

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