Merging sgf problem files?

[oca]

I did some more testing and went to some problems too.
that said, problems seems not to be related on the merging of files but more on a missing property needed by Many Faces of Go.

Here is what I did :

- dowloaded and installed "Many Faces of Go" trial version 12, later refered as "MFG" in this post
- dowloaded qjzm.zip and extracted files to a directory

from there, I just renamed one of the file from "qjzm1-1.sgf" to "qjzm1-1.prb".
I opened "qjzm1-1.prb" using the menu "File"->"Open/View/Edit Game"
then play then correct move for white and MFG told me that was the wrong move... then asked MFG to tell me what was the correct move and it showed me the same move I just played...

I then looked at another problem file that was part of MFG distribution (C:\Program Files (x86)\Many Faces of Go 12\Problems\lvl0.prb"
and that file worked fine...

so went back to the file qjzm1-1.prb and looked at its content .

The content was a valid sgf file.

(;GM[1]FF[3]SZ[19]
AW[rb][qb][pb][rc][rd]AB[ob][nc][pc][qc][qe][re]PL[W]C[White to play and live.];W[sa];B[sd];W[sc]
)

I then watched at diffrence between "lvl0.prb" and "qjzm1-1.prb" and found that there is a "TE" property in the working file. (in sgf, TE means for TEsuji move)

I then added that property to qjzm1-1.prb

(;GM[1]FF[3]SZ[19]
AW[rb][qb][pb][rc][rd]AB[ob][nc][pc][qc][qe][re]PL[W]C[White to play and live.];W[sa]TE[2];B[sd];W[sc]
)

and that change made the problem working right on MFG.

Unfortunately, that will not help you much... that just tend to indicate that MFG may rely on TE property that is not present in all files...

[edit]corrected some typo[/edit]

[Aidoneus]

oca: Thank you for looking into MFG. Without understanding sgf, which seems much more involved than pgn chess files, I couldn't tell anything by looking at the files in Notepad++. However, after looking at some single sgf files, I also noticed, like you, that some did not work right. Unfortunately, the apparent need to edit the sgf code for each problem before MFG can handle them properly seems to indicate that MFG is a poor choice (at least for me!) for problem collections.

As most problem sets seem to be split into single sgf files and GoGrinder handles single sgf files within a collection folder, I have turned my attention to trying to get GoGrinder to work right. I may have to start a new thread for GoGrinder problems, though!

If I add any second subfolder (even an empty subfolder!) under problems in GoGrinder, the program gives an error message. Then using the magnifying glass to open problem subfolders will result in an error dialog box that will not go away no matter how many times one clicks on OK--in fact, it seems the only choice is to use Task Manager to force quit GoGrinder. BTW, I have Java 7 update 51 installed and GoGrinder 1.14. Perhaps I need an older version of Java?

Is the Go community too small to support a robust software industry? Most software seems to be written by one or at most a few collaborating volunteers, often in Java, and infrequently updated. Which is quite understandable if the current audience for Go is too small to warrant full-time Go software companies. Coming from the chess world, with the proliferation of digital game collections and instructive material available for running in ChessBase or as stand-alone DVDs, I may be spoiled. This is not meant to disparage any of the work already done--other than sticking with Windows OS, I use open source programs when available. But I am willing to spend money to obtain superior products--just don't tell my wife how much I've spent on chess books, chess software, and Advanced Squad Leader modules.

[RBerenguel]

oca: Thank you for looking into MFG. Without understanding sgf, which seems much more involved than pgn chess files, I couldn't tell anything by looking at the files in Notepad++. However, after looking at some single sgf files, I also noticed, like you, that some did not work right. Unfortunately, the apparent need to edit the sgf code for each problem before MFG can handle them properly seems to indicate that MFG is a poor choice (at least for me!) for problem collections.

As most problem sets seem to be split into single sgf files and GoGrinder handles single sgf files within a collection folder, I have turned my attention to trying to get GoGrinder to work right. I may have to start a new thread for GoGrinder problems, though!

If I add any second subfolder (even an empty subfolder!) under problems in GoGrinder, the program gives an error message. Then using the magnifying glass to open problem subfolders will result in an error dialog box that will not go away no matter how many times one clicks on OK--in fact, it seems the only choice is to use Task Manager to force quit GoGrinder. BTW, I have Java 7 update 51 installed and GoGrinder 1.14. Perhaps I need an older version of Java?

Is the Go community too small to support a robust software industry? Most software seems to be written by one or at most a few collaborating volunteers, often in Java, and infrequently updated. Which is quite understandable if the current audience for Go is too small to warrant full-time Go software companies. Coming from the chess world, with the proliferation of digital game collections and instructive material available for running in ChessBase or as stand-alone DVDs, I may be spoiled. This is not meant to disparage any of the work already done--other than sticking with Windows OS, I use open source programs when available. But I am willing to spend money to obtain superior products--just don't tell my wife how much I've spent on chess books, chess software, and Advanced Squad Leader modules.

Check SmartGo. High quality (at least its iOS versions, if I had a Windows machine I'd buy it without a doubt), even if built by a very small team.

[Bill Spight]

Check SmartGo. High quality (at least its iOS versions, if I had a Windows machine I'd buy it without a doubt), even if built by a very small team.

Yes, Anders Kierulf certainly understands SGF. He invented it. (SGF = Smart Go Format)

[Aidoneus]

Ah, I will look at SmartGo again, thank you. I discovered it a day after purchasing MFG; I would still have bought it at the time but he told me that the Windows version was not compatible with his SmartGo books, which I was very interested in purchasing. I think that my wife might notice if I pulled out an iPad, so I have been hoping that he would make the books compatible with his Windows version. Still, I think that he had a demo of the Windows version, and if it can seamlessly handle Go problem collections (SGF single files) or merged files, I will buy it.

[RBerenguel]

Check SmartGo. High quality (at least its iOS versions, if I had a Windows machine I'd buy it without a doubt), even if built by a very small team.

Yes, Anders Kierulf certainly understands SGF. He invented it. (SGF = Smart Go Format)

Well, at the current point it is more like Smart Game Format. It also covers other games, most notably (for me) Hex. Of course, SGF[4] compliance of Hex programs is... Lacking, to say it neatly. Swapping essentially makes a world of difference to SGF parsing :S

[HermanHiddema]

Well, at the current point it is more like Smart Game Format.

Actually it is, and always has been, Smart Game Format. Anders designed version 1 for his Smart Game Board application.

[Aidoneus]

Hurray! I downloaded SmartGo and it seemed to have no difficulties with my merged sgf files, so I just sent off payment. Now I only wish that I hadn't already bought GoGoD as it apparently comes with SmartGo. (That and that I didn't buy SmartGo instead of MFG to start?!) Oh, and I really wish SmartGo books--even without touch pad features--were available for the Windows version of SmartGo.

Thank you to everyone who tried to help me!!

[Xiaoding]

Drago does it. Not complicated. File, collections, merge. Works good!