Users Guide - RenLib 3.7

RenLib homepage: http://www.renju.se/renlib

Frank Arkbo, Sweden, e-mail: renlib@renju.se



Introduction
Version History   Program Start   Create a Library   Display   Library   Branch   Game

Commands
File Menu   Edit Menu   View Menu   Move Menu   Position Menu   Options Menu   Browser Menu   Help Menu   Mouse Button


Version History

3.7 See Release Note 3.7 (2008-07-19)
3.6 See Release Note 3.6 (2006-07-16)
3.5.2 See Release Note 3.5.2 (2005-06-06)
3.5.1 See Release Note 3.5.1 (2005-05-17)
3.5 See Release Note 3.5 (2005-03-13)
3.4.2 See Release Note 3.4.2 (2004-05-12)
3.4.1 See Release Note 3.4.1 (2004-04-12)
3.4 See Release Note 3.4 (2004-03-28)
3.3 See Release Note 3.3 (2003-10-30)
3.2.1 See Release Note 3.2.1 (2003-05-31)
3.2 See Release Note 3.2 (2003-04-27)
3.1 See Release Note 3.1 (2002-03-23)
3.0 See Release Note 3.0 (2002-01-19)
2.7 See Release Note 2.7
2.6 See Release Note 2.6
2.5 See Release Note 2.5
2.4 See Release Note 2.4
2.3 See Release Note 2.3
2.2 See Release Note 2.2
2.1 See Release Note 2.1
2.0 See Release Note 2.0
1.3 See Release Note 1.3
1.2 New command: File | Read all games
1.1 New command: File | Read PBeM or PlaySite game
1.0 First version
 

Program Start

When the program is started an empty renju board is displayed.

If the size of the board is to big or small, adjust the size with the Size commands in the View Menu

To open an existing library, use the Open [Ctrl+O] command in the File Menu and select, for example, I7.lib or D4.lib. You can also double-click or use drag and drop to open files or select files from the recent file list in the File Menu.

To create a new library, see Create a Library.

When a library file has been read, information is displayed on the bottom status line about number of moves, comments and marks.

To check an existing move in the library, left click the mouse pointing at one of the smaller circles (variants). Then you will enter a new position (branch) and see new variants from that position.

To check a branch from an earlier position, press key B, or right-click the mouse, to go back one move at the time, until you reach the position where you want to check another alternative move.

You will see a small circle indicating an existing move (variant) while you are going back.

Click on another smaller circle, to enter a new position (branch) and see new variants from that position.

Note: A library is usually opened in Display Mode in which you can only check existing moves. You can not update the library in Display Mode.


Create a Library

To create a new library, use the New [Ctrl+N] command in the File Menu. To open an existing library, see Program Start.

You will see a renju board with one move already made in H8, the center position. Left-click the mouse to insert new moves until you have made a final position.

To enter alternative moves, press key B, or right-click the mouse, to go back one move at the time, until you reach the position where you want to make an alternative move.

You will see a small circle indicating an existing move (variant) while you are going back.

Click on an empty position to insert a new move, which will be in a new branch in the tree-structure. Enter all moves until you reach a new final position.

To insert more alternative moves, repeat the steps above, i.e. going back and clicking on empty positions.

When you have entered many alternative moves in the same position, you will see several small circles, one for each variant.

Finally, save the library using the Save [Ctrl+S] command in the File Menu.

You can also enter comments for a move in update mode.
It is possible to write two kind of comments: a one line comment and a multiple lines comment. You can also mark a move, so it is easy to find the position again. It is possible to search for comments and marks, using the Find Comment [Ctrl+F] and Find Mark [Alt+F] commands in the Edit Menu.

If you want to add more moves to the library, after saving and exiting RenLib: Open the library using the Open [Ctrl+O] command, change to update mode using the Update Mode [Ctrl+M] command in the Edit Menu and repeat the steps above to insert new moves.

Note: A new library is usually opened in Update Mode in which you can add, modify or delete information in the library.


Display

The board is displayed on the left of the screen. The moves are displayed from move no 1 until there are at least two variants, unless there is a start position for the library. Black and White circles indicates the positions saved in the library file. Smaller circles indicates positions of variants. The last made move is indicated with a small square. If there is only one variant the mouse pointer is placed on that variant.
On the top line of the screen, the eventual comment for the current move is displayed and multiple line comments are displayed to the right of the board.

On the bottom status line, information is displayed about:
- Board coordinate where the mouse is pointing at the moment.
- Indication if the move is a start position or is marked.
- Current move no.
- Number of variants in the branch.
- Display Mode or Update Mode.

When the library is updated, it is indicated with "*" in the window frame.

Library

To view a library it must be opened using the Open command, see File Menu.

A library is stored in a file with suffix .lib, for example I7.lib, using the Save command.

When you update a library and save it again, the previous version of the library file is renamed to suffix .bak (backup) so that in case you made a mistake you can go back to the previous version by renaming the .bak file back to .lib again.

Branch

It is possible to extract a branch of a library, i.e. a final position or a position with variant moves, and save it in a separate file, using the Save Position As... command, see File Menu.

This new file is also a library and can be opened with the Open command.
You can also merge another library into the current library using the Read... or Read All... commands.

Saving a branch can be useful, for example, when you want to show a renju position in your library to another player.

If you want to put together two libraries, one of the libraries can be opened and the other one added into the first one, using the Read... or Read All... commands.

The other library can be a branch or maybe only a final position, for example an actual game. Since the first library is going to be updated, the Read... and Read All... commands are only available in Update Mode.

Note that the Read... and Read All... commands can be used repeatedly to merge several libraries together.

Game

The text games are e-mails are or text info, which are stored as text files, with suffix .txt which can be read using the Read... and Read All... commands in the File Menu.

A game is in a way the same thing as a branch, and because it is not a library, it can only be added into an existing library.
A library must be opened and since reading a game will update the library, the Read... and Read All... commands are only available in Update Mode.

Note that the Read... and Read All... commands can be used repeatedly to add several games into the library.

The Open... command is a short cut command that first creates a new library and then reads the game into this new library.

The Read All... command can be useful when you have many e-mail games.

Example: You have received many e-mails from the PBeM-server with renju games and have put all of them in one directory. To make a big library containing all games, you can use the Read... command repeatedly for each game, but this takes too long time. The Read all... command simplifies this by reading all files in a directory and its subdirectories.

COMMANDS


File Menu

New [Ctrl+N] Create a new library, with first black move made in H8
Open [Ctrl+O] Open an existing RenLib library or open a Text game (TXT) file, Basecity game (WZQ) file, Datafree buf (BUF) file, GoRenjer (PDB) file, POS file, RenJS games (RENJS, REN) file, Smart Game Format (SGF) file, ShowRenju (BDT) file, Renju Dynamic Figure (RDF) file or RenjuNet Database (RIF) file as a new library.
You can also double-click or use drag and drop.
The following text game formats are supported: PBeM, PlaySite, Text Board, Blip, Kurnik and Renjuclass game.
Read... Read and merge selected file(s). Selection of one or more files is possible.
Read all... Read and merge all files in selected directory and subdirectories
Save [Ctrl+S] Save the current library
Save Library As... Save the current library in another file, as a new library, a GoRenjer PDB file or a ShowRenju BDT file.
Save Position As... Save the current position as a RenLib library, Text game, POS file, RenLib applet, Renartist applet, Renju class diagram or Bitmap file.
Export Library Text Board Save all end positions in text board format in a directory, using file names RenLib00001.txt, etc. It is possible to limit the number of saved positions by searching for a comment, for example player name, prior to running the command.
RenLib applet Save all end positions in RenLib applet format in a directory, using file names RenLib00001.htm, etc. It is possible to limit the number of saved positions by searching for a comment, for example player name, prior to running the command.
A "RenLib Applet" dialog is provided to edit title of applet, select size of applet and whether comments are displayed or not. A file games.htm is created, which lists links to all htm-files using one line comments as link names.
Game Collection Export positions in the library to game collection format. See Game Collection
Make tournament RenLib applets Create tournament html files displaying RenLib applet.
See Tournament applets
Recent File list When a library is opened or saved it is added to the recent file list, which can contain up to 10 entries. To open a file from the recent file list, simply select it from the File Menu. Also game files etc. are added to the recent file list.
Exit Exit program


Edit Menu

Update Mode [Ctrl+M] Change to update mode (from display mode)
Display Mode [Ctrl+M] Change to display mode (from update mode)
Problem Mode Change to problem mode TBD: Description
Mark Set or Clear Mark
Delete Move [Delete, Backspace] Delete current move and variants
Delete Variants Delete all variants in current position
Clear All Marks Clear all marks in the library.
Insert Pass Move Insert a pass move in current position
Find Comment [Ctrl+F] Find a comment or board text in the current branch. To search the library, go to first move before running the command. Run Find Next or Find Previous to continue search.
Choose option Board Text to find Board Text instead of comment text.
Find Mark [Alt+F] Find marked moves in the current branch. To search the library, go to first move before running the command. Run Find Next or Find Previous to continue search.
Find Move [Alt+M] Search move numbers in the current branch. To search the library, go to first move before running the command. Run Find Next or Find Previous to continue search.
Find Same Position [Ctrl+P] In any position, run the Find command to search for other positions that are same in the current library, i.e. the order of moves is different or the position is rotated and/or reflected. Run Find Next or Find Previous to continue search.
Find Similar Position [Alt+P] In any position, run the Find command to search for other positions that are similar in the current library, i.e. besides same positions, also positions that are same if there was no border, are searched. Run Find Next or Find Previous to continue search.
Find Next [F3] Find next mark, comment, move or position.
Find Previous [Shift-F3] Find previous mark, comment, move or position.
Set Start Position Mark a position in the library to be the starting
position when it is opened next time.
Clear Start Position Clear the starting position.
Find Start Position [Alt+S] Find start position in library.
Auto Enter Board Text [Alt+B] Toggles Auto Enter Board Text mode. When activated, Control + Left click will automatically enter board text in the position and next time the board text is incremented by one. This will allow you to enter 'A', 'B', 'C', ... 'Z', 'AA', 'AB' or '1', '2' , '3', ... '9', '10' etc to show move sequences without entering moves, for example a VCF move sequence. The next board text to be entered is displayed on the status line.
If there is no board text in the position, then 'A' will be the next board text. Otherwise, the highest board text in the position will be incremented by one and used for the next board text.
When you change position, the next auto enter board text is automatically updated.
Set Next Auto Board Text Set next 1-2 characters to be used for Auto Enter Board Text. Auto Enter Board Text mode is activated.
Find VCF [F4] Search VCF (Victory by Continuous Fours) in the current position. If VCF if found, the board displays the VCF move sequence and the status bar shows the number of moves.
Hide VCF [F4] Hide a displayed VCF sequence.
Find VCT [F5] Search VCT (Victory by Continuous Threats) in the current position. If VCT if found, the board displays the first move in the VCT sequence.
Hide VCT [F5] Hide a displayed VCT sequence.
Stop VCF/VCT [F6] Stop VCF/VCT search
Convert To Standard Convert positions in the library to standard.


View Menu

Size Large Change size of stones and board
Medium Change size of stones and board
Small Change size of stones and board
Default Size Change size of stones and board to the default size for current screen resolution.
Small is default size for resolution up to 800 x 600.
Medium is default size for resolution up to 1152 x 864.
Large is default size for higher resolution.
Coordinates None No Coordinates
A - O A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O
A - P A B C D E F G H J K L M N O P
Swap 1 - 15 Swap order of row numbers between ascending and descending.
Follow rotation and reflection Show coordinates according to rotation and reflection.
Font Comment Choose font... Choose comment font.
If you experience problems with your local language, try to choose another font/size.
Default Choose default font: System
Board Text Choose font... Choose board text font.
If you experience problems with your local language, try to choose another font/size.
Default Choose default font: System
Coordinate and Stone Number Choose font... Choose coordinate and stone number font.
If you experience problems with your local language, try to choose another font/size.
Default Choose default font: System
All Default Choose default font for all: System
Color Background Choose Color Choose color of background
Default Choose default color of background: Gray
Board Choose Color Choose color of board
Default Choose default color of board: Dark Yellow, RGB(192,192,0)
Choose Bitmap ... Choose bitmap of board
Default Choose default bitmap of board: Wood1.bmp
Stone Black Color Choose color of black stone
White Color Choose color of white stone
Default Choose default colors of stones: Black and White
Variant Black Color Choose color of black variant
White Color Choose color of white variant
Default Choose default colors of variants: Black and White
Last Move Choose Color Choose color of last move marker
Default Choose default color of last move marker: Dark Yellow, RGB(192,192,0)
Forbidden Choose Color Choose color of forbidden move marker
Default Choose default color of forbidden move marker: Red
VCF Black Color Choose color of VCF move marker for black
White Color Choose color of VCF move marker for white
Default Choose default colors of VCF move markers: Blue and Green
VCT Black Color Choose color of VCT move marker for black
White Color Choose color of VCT move marker for white
Choose default colors of VCT move markers: Blue and Green
Default
Auto Link Variant Black Color Choose color of auto link variant for black
White Color Choose color of auto link variant for white
Default Choose default colors of auto link variants: Blue and Green
Changed Order Of Moves Variant Black Color Choose color of changed order of moves variant for black
White Color Choose color of changed order of moves variant for white
Default Choose default colors of changed order of moves variants: Light Blue and Light Green
Comment Text Color Choose color of comment text
Background Color Choose color of extra comment backgound
Default Choose default colors of comment text and background: Black and White
Coordinate Choose Color Choose color of coordinate text
Default Choose default color of coordinate text: Black
Board Text Choose Color Choose color of board text
Default Choose default color of board text: Black
Stone Number Black Color Choose color of number for black stone
White Color Choose color of number for white stone
Default Choose default colors of stone numbers: White and Black
All Default Choose default colors for all
Board Text Show [Alt+Shift+B] Show board text
Extra Space Show extra space around board text, only available when board is painted.
VCF/VCT 1, 2, 3 Show VCF/VCT sequence: 1, 2, 3
A, B, C Show VCF/VCT sequence: A, B, C
a, b, c Show VCF/VCT sequence: a, b, c
Show Board Bitmap By default the board is displayed using a bitmap. To display painted board, uncheck the command.
Show Stone Bitmap By default the stones are displayed using bitmaps. To display painted stones, uncheck the command.
Show Numbers [Alt+N] Show move numbers
Show Last Move [Alt+L] Show last move box
Show Variants [Alt+V] Show variants
Show Comments [Alt+C] When Show Comments is unchecked, the comments are not shown in Display Mode, however comments are always visible in Update Mode to allow editing.
Show Forbidden [Alt+X] Show forbidden moves ( 3x3, 4x4 and Overline )
Auto Point Mouse [Alt+A] Autopoint mouse at variants
Auto Find Same Position After creating a new move or selecting an existing variant, an automatic search for the same position is made. If the same position is found, the status line will show how many other same positions are found. Run Find Next or Find Previous to view the found positions.
Show Auto Link Variants Show auto links to variants in other same positions
Show Changed Order Of Moves Variants Show links to variants in other same positions, where the last two moves are made in reversed order
Toolbars File Show or hide the file toolbar. This command is also available by right-clicking on the toolbar or the status bar.
Edit Show or hide the edit toolbar. This command is also available by right-clicking on the toolbar or the status bar.
Move Show or hide the move toolbar. This command is also available by right-clicking on the toolbar or the status bar.
Position Show or hide the position toolbar. This command is also available by right-clicking on the toolbar or the status bar.
Find Show or hide the find toolbar. This command is also available by right-clicking on the toolbar or the status bar.
Status Bar Show or hide the status bar. This command is also available by right-clicking on the toolbar or the status bar.


Move Menu

Back [B, Left Arrow] Go back one move
Forward [F, Right Arrow] Go forward one move, i.e. repeat previous move
Down [D, Down Arrow, Page Down] Go down, i.e. make moves as long as only one variant
Up [U, Up Arrow, Page Up] Go back until branch
First Move [1, Home] Go back to first move
Last Move [L, End] Go forward to the end of the move sequence
Pass Move If there is a pass move in current position, display the pass move


Position Menu

0 degrees Turn position to 0 degrees, i.e. normal
90 degrees Turn position to 90 degrees
180 degrees Turn position to 180 degrees
270 degrees Turn position to 270 degrees
Turn +90 degrees Turn position +90 degrees
Turn -90 degrees Turn position -90 degrees
Reflect Left/Right Reflect position Left/Right, 8th column
Reflect Up/Down Reflect position Up/Down, 8th row


Options Menu

Environment Associate .lib Associate file extension .lib, Library file, with RenLib, i.e. open RenLib when double clicking
Associate .wzq Associate file extension .wzq, Basecity game, with RenLib, i.e. open RenLib when double clicking
Associate .buf Associate file extension .buf, Datafree buf, with RenLib, i.e. open RenLib when double clicking
Associate .pdb Associate file extension .pdb, GoRenjer PDB, with RenLib, i.e. open RenLib when double clicking
Associate .pos Associate file extension .pos, POS file, with RenLib, i.e. open RenLib when double clicking
Associate .renjs and .ren Associate file extension .renjs and .ren, RenJS games, with RenLib, i.e. open RenLib when double clicking
Associate .sgf Associate file extension .sgf, Smart game format, with RenLib, i.e. open RenLib when double clicking
Associate .bdt Associate file extension .bdt, ShowRenju file, with RenLib, i.e. open RenLib when double clicking
Associate .rdf Associate file extension .rdf, Renju Dynamic Figure file, with RenLib, i.e. open RenLib when double clicking
Associate .rif Associate file extension .rif, RenjuNet Database file, with RenLib, i.e. open RenLib when double clicking
Associate All Associate file extensions .lib, .renjs, .ren, .buf, .pdb, .wzq and .pos with RenLib, i.e. open RenLib when double clicking
Evaluator Renju Class / Renju Solver Use Renju Class evaluator (by Lu Wenzhe) and Renju Solver (by Xiangdong Wen) for showing forbidden points and finding VCF/VCT.
None Don't use any evaluator. Forbidden points and VCF can not be displayed. This option will speed up display of moves.

Browser Menu

Open diagrams [F10] Open diagrams as a new library
Read diagrams Read and merge diagrams
Open default browser [F12] Open current page in default browser
RIF - Renju International Federation Open RIF - Renju International Federation
Online Renju Class Open Online Renju Class
Forum - Online Renju Class Open Forum - Online Renju Class
RenLib Web Site Open RenLib Web Site
RenLib News Open RenLib News page
RenLib User's Guide [F1] Open RenLib User's Guide
Start Page [F11] Open Start Page
Use current page as start page Use current page as start page
Ignore Keyboard Ignore keyboard when browser tab is activate

Help Menu

About Renlib Display program version, e-mail address
Buttons to open User's Guide, RenLib homepage and Renju International Federation homepage (RIF)
RenLib User's Guide [F1] Open User's Guide


Mouse Button

Left Click Display Mode: Make selected move (variant) or the only variant.
Update Mode: Insert new move in empty position.
Problem Mode: Insert black move in empty position, swap color from white to black or remove black move.
Right Click Display Mode: Go back one move.
Update Mode: Go back one move.
Problem Mode: Insert white move in empty position, swap color from black to white or remove white move.
Control + Left Click To enter Board Text, 1-5 characters, which will be displayed on the surface of the board, point the mouse at an empty position or variant and click the left mouse button at the same time the control key is down. When Auto Enter Board Text is activated, board text will be entered automatically, otherwise a dialog is displayed where you can enter the board text. The board text will be underlined if there is a variant in the same position. To edit a board text; control + left-click at the position of the board text and when the dialog is displayed, edit the text. To remove a board text; remove the text in the dialog.

Read text game

An e-mail containing a game from PBeM or PlaySite, a text board should be saved as file type TXT, for example: game123.txt

RenLib commands:

1. File | Text game | Open...

or

1. File | Open... (an existing library)
2. Edit | Update Mode
3. File | Read...

If the position is not according to standard, you will be asked if you want to convert the position.

The position of last move is displayed and the comment indicates black and white players and how the game ended.

Read all games

The e-mails containing the games from PBeM or PlaySite should be placed
in a common directory or subdirectories.

RenLib commands:

1. File | New
2. File | Text game | Read all...

or

1. File | Open (an existing library)
2. Edit | Update Mode
3. File | Read all...

Tournament applets

Tournament games can be published in a number of HTML pages, each displaying a RenLib applet. These HTML pages are automatically linked from a summary page listing the tournament games.

Steps:

  1. Create a directory for the tournament files.
  2. Save each game in a separate library file following the naming schema NAMErNNgMM.lib where NAME is the name of the tournament, rNN is r00-r99 and gMM is g01-g99.
    Example: The file name wc2003atr01g01.lib indicates that the name of the tournament is wc2003at, the game is number 01 of round 01. There must be a one line comment in the last position of each game, containing the name of players and the result of the game.
  3. Run RenLib command: File | Make tournament RenLib applet. A "Select directory" dialog is displayed. Select the directory containing the tournament files and then click Ok. A "RenLib Applet" dialog is displayed. Edit title of applet and game web pages, select size of applet and whether comments are displayed or not, and then click Ok.
    4. For each library file, an htm file is created. The file games.htm, listing rounds and games, is created.
  4. Open the file games.htm in a browser and view the applets.

Game Collection

This function satisfies the following requirements:

- Make it possible to printout a game collection, for example e-mail games
- Paper size A4
- Black and White only to make cheaper printouts
- Order games in a specific order
- Show symbols for Black Win, White Win and Draw

The function is realized using RenLib applets to show the board on the left side and comments on the right side.
When there are not too much comments, three renju boards can be displayed on each A4 page.
Web pages are produced, which holds the RenLib applets and comments, but there is no need to have internet connection.
RenLib applet is included in RenLib and the produced web page can point out java classes on your disk.

The one line comment (above the board) is used for ordering games. If you have less than hundred games,
add a one line comment "01", "02", and so on, to each final position.

The multiple line comment holds the comment which is displayed on the web page. To display a symbol,
put "result-text" first on any line. RenLib will find the text and substitute with html codes.

Symbol for Black Win, use one of
 "1 - 0"
 "1-0"
 "BLACK"
 "SVART"

Symbol for Draw, use one of
 "0,5 - 0,5"
 "0,5-0,5"
 "0.5 - 0.5"
 "0.5-0.5"
 "DRAW"
 "REMI"

Symbol for White Win, use one of
 "0 - 1"
 "0-1"
 "WHITE"
 "VIT"

When your library is prepared, run RenLib command: File | Export Library | Game Collection

A dialog is displayed where you can specify the name of the produced web page (htm file).

Another dialog is displayed where you can choose location of the RenLib applet, to show the board
and which background color to use. Default is to use applet on RenLib web site, not to show board
and to use white background.

The produced web page is displayed in the RenLib Browser. Press F12 to open your default web browser.
Select Print Preview, adjust the page margins, header and footer.
Currently, printout of the produced web page is best for A4 paper size, so you should adjust the settings
until you can see 3 boards on each page.

Manual Merge

When one or several libraries are merged and conflicting comments are detected, a message is displayed. To manually merge the comments, run command Find Next or Find Previous, however if you want to ignore comments from merged libraries, you don't have to do anything more.

When selecting Find Next or Find Previous, a dialog is displayed with three edit boxes:
- Current : The comment from the current position
- New : The comment from a merged library
- Combined : Both comments

If you want to keep the current comment (default) just click OK to continue merging comment for next/previous position.
You can edit a comment before klicking OK.
If you click Cancel, the merge will interrupt, however you can continue by running Find Next or Find Previous again as long as there are more conflicting comments.


Release Note 1.3

The one line comment length is increased from 70 to 80 characters.

A new extra comment, which can be several lines long is displayed inside a box to the right of the board. Each line can be up to about 40 characters, depending on font size and if text is bold or normal. The total extra comment length can be up to 1000 characters.

The window is now maximized at startup to allow display of the extra comment.

Coordinates can be displayed on the left side and under the board.

A new command to open a PBeM or PlaySite game, which is a combination of commands New + Read PBeM or PlaySite game.

New commands

File | Open PBeM or PlaySite game

View | Coordinates | None
View | Coordinates | A - O
View | Coordinates | A - P

View | Font | Large
View | Font | Medium
View | Font | Small
View | Font | Bold

The selections made from the View menu are saved in the Windows Registry (HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Renju/RenLib) at program exit and are set next time at startup, i.e. Size, Coordinates and Font.

Bug fix - Move | Forward command

When a new game was read, with less moves than the previous game, then the additional moves from the previous game could be repeated using the Forward command.


Release Note 2.0

The comments can be written in local language, i.e. not english only.

Note: The file format has changed because of this. The file extension has changed from .dat to .lib to avoid reading new file format with older version of RenLib.
Version 2.0 can read .dat files as well as .lib files, but when saving the file extension will be .lib

The window is only maximized at startup if it was maximized at program exit last time.

New commands to turn and mirror displayed position.

New commands

Position | 0 degrees
Position | 90 degrees
Position | 180 degrees
Position | 270 degrees

Position | Turn +90 degrees
Position | Turn -90 degrees

Position | Mirror Left/Right
Position | Mirror Up/Down


Release Note 2.1

New commands to read games from Datafree Buf file
- File | Open Datafree buf
- File | Read Datafree buf

New commands to choose board color
- View | Color | Choose Color
- View | Color | Default Color

The previous font commands are replaced by new commands to choose comment font
- View | Font | Choose Font
- View | Font | Default Font

New command to continue search of mark or comment
- Edit | Find Next [F3]

The dialog that was displayed after every found mark or comment is no longer displayed. Instead the Find Next command is used to continue search for the next mark or comment.

The size of the extra comment window adjusts to the size of the current window.

New command to diplay renju links from China
- Help | Links China

A new library file AllRenjuOpenings.lib containing 37263 moves is included, thanks to xingji

After Find Comment and Find Mark commands the Forward command was sometimes enabled.

During search of Marks, the last made move was not correctly indicated.

Release Note 2.2

It is possible to display move numbers, see View Menu.
Move numbers and coordinates are displayed with the same font as comments.

View Menu
Turn On and Off display:
- numbers (new in 2.2)
- last move
- variant
- comments
- auto point mouse

By turning Off display of all of these, you can use RenLib to practise different openings and variants.

Help | About RenLib
New buttons to:
- open Users Guide
- goto RenLib homepage
- goto RIF homepage

Help | Links China
New buttons to goto the listed URL's

File Menu
Changed names of branch commands:
- from Read Branch to Merge Branch
- from Save Branch to Extract Branch
because there has been some confusion about which command to use when saving a library.
To save a library, use File/Save [Ctrl+S] command.

User's Guide
Added and improved description of how to use RenLib.

Release Note 2.3

  • Open a RenLib file by double clicking on the file icon (shell open) when the file associations are configured.
    It is recommended to have RenLib.exe in a permanent directory, for example C:\RenLib, when the file associations are configured to start RenLib.exe when .lib or .dat files are double-clicked.

  • Open a RenLib file by dragging the file icon and dropping it on the active RenLib window (drag and drop)
    You can drag and drop a file with extension .lib, .dat, .txt or .buf onto RenLib window and the library, game or datafree buf will open. Other extensions are not accepted by RenLib.

  • New Edit Menu commands:
    - Set Start Position
    - Clear Start Position
    - Find Start Position [Alt+S]

    Mark a position in the library to be the starting position when it is opened next time. When a library is opened, the start position is displayed and the text Start is displayed in the status bar, in the same box as Mark.
    If there is no start position, it will work as before, i.e. the position with at least two alternative moves is displayed.

  • New Edit Menu command:
    - Clear All Marks
    Clear all marks in the library.

  • New Edit Menu command:
    - Find Move [Alt+M]

    Search move numbers in the current branch:
    Entering a smaller number than current move number will search backwards.
    Entering a bigger number than current move number will search forward for all moves with the chosen number.
    Entering no number will search for all end positions.

  • New Move Menu command:
    - Last Move

    When you have navigated up the branch to a previous move, you can go back to the end of the move sequence.

  • New View Menu commands:
    - Size | 11 mm
    - Size |  9 mm
    - Size |  7 mm
    - Size |  5 mm
    - Size |  4 mm
    - Size | Default Size

    Range of stone sizes increased from 6, 8, 10 and 12 mm to 4 - 12 mm plus an option to set Default Size for the screen resolution you have.

  • When the mouse moves over the board, the coordinate is displayed in the status bar if coordinate display is enabled.

  • Japanese font problem corrected in Edit Comment and Find Comment dialogs. Default font changed from Arial to System and the chosen font is used in these two dialogs.

  • Read a PlaySite game:
    An incorrect game can be read, i.e. first move H8 is missing and Black and White moves are made by opposite color. (PlaySite bug)

  • EditComment dialog:
    Word wrap is enabled when entering extra comment long lines. Previously horizontal scroll was enabled.

  • Reading datafree buf file:
    Summary information about empty records is given. Previously information was given for each empty record.

  • Status line:
    Information is given when F3 key can be used to search next comment, mark or move or when not found.

  • The frame of the extra comment box is now updated properly when using a mouse wheel to scroll vertically.

Release Note 2.4

  • Updated Edit Menu command:
    - Find Next [F3]

    The Find Next is still available after using other commands, for example Back, Edit comment, Delete move, etc. The status line shows information about what is searched, the sequence number of the displayed position and the total number of positions found. The sequence number is increased for each Find Next. Sequence number 0 means the position where the find was initiated.

  • New Edit Menu command:
    - Find Previous [Shift+F3]

    The function is the reversed of Find Next

  • New Edit Menu command:
    - Find Same Position [Ctrl+P]

    In any position, run the Find command to search for other positions that are same in the current library, i.e. the order of moves is different or the position is rotated and/or reflected. Run Find Next or Find Previous to continue search.

  • New Edit Menu command:
    - Find Similar Position [Alt+P]

    In any position, run the Find command to search for other positions that are similar in the current library, i.e. besides same positions, also positions that are same not considering the border, are searched. Run Find Next or Find Previous to continue search.

  • New View Menu command:
    - Coordinates | Swap 1 - 15

    Swap order of row numbers between Bottom-Up and Top-Down.

  • New View Menu command:
    - Show Forbidden [Alt+X]

    Show forbidden moves ( 3x3, 4x4 and Overline )
    Thanks to K.Yamamoto

  • New View Menu command:
    - Auto Find Same Position

    After making a new move or selecting an existing variant, an automatic search for the same position is made and the search result is displayed on the status line. Run Find Next or Find Previous to view the found positions.

  • Move Menu commands:
    - Forward
    - Last Move

    When you select one of several branches:
    - If there is only one variant move, Forward will make the move.
    - As long as there is only one variant move, Last will make the moves.

  • Help | About RenLib
    - goto RenLib homepage

    Link updated to RenLib new homepage: http://renlib.hem.netlink.se

  • Help | Links China
    - Links updated and added.

  • Name Correction
    - changed all "Mirror" to "Reflect"

  • Status line:
    Variant box now shows number of variants in current position, before total number of variants in the branch.

Release Note 2.5

  • View | Auto Find Same Position
    - The state of this option is now saved between sessions.
    - Search of same positions is now also done after Back, Forward, Up, Down, First and Last and not only when left clicking the mouse.

  • New View Menu command:
    - Show Auto Link Variants

    Activated when searching for same positions with command Edit | Find Same Position [Ctrl+P] or View | Auto Find Same Position

    After search for the same positions, the variants found in other branches which are not present in current branch, are marked with a variant circle with a different color. The color can be changed using new commands in the View Menu. Clicking a variant circle, changes branch and makes the variant move in that branch. If necessary, the position is rotated and reflected so the position is displayed the same way as before. All commands to move Up, Down etc. are applied to the new branch.

  • New View Menu commands:
    - Color | Choose Black Auto Link Variant Color
    - Color | Choose White Auto Link Variant Color
    - Color | Default Auto Link Variant Color

  • New File Menu command:
    - Save as XML
    Save the current position in XML format.
    Thanks to Tongxiang Zhang

  • Changed name of View Menu commands to:
    - Color | Choose Board Color
    - Color | Default Board Color

  • New Help Menu command:
    - RenLib User's Guide [F1]
    Another way to open User's Guide from Help menu, or simply by pressing key F1.

  • View | Show Forbidden
    - Display of some 3x3 positions corrected.

  • Edit | Find Move
    - Find a specific move number corrected.

  • Forbidden symbol X
    - The small circle for a variant move is now covering the red X.

Release Note 2.6

  • New View Menu command:
    - Show Changed Order Of Moves Variants

    Activated when searching for same positions with command Edit | Find Same Position [Ctrl+P] or View | Auto Find Same Position

    After search for the same positions, the variants found in other branches where the last two moves are made in reversed order, are marked with a variant circle with a different color. The color can be changed using new commands in the View Menu. Clicking a variant circle, changes branch and makes the variant move in that branch. If necessary, the position is rotated and reflected so the position is displayed the same way as before. All commands to move Up, Down etc. are applied to the new branch.

  • New Move Menu command:
    - Back Changed Branch Variant [Ctrl+B]

    Go back to the previous position after clicking a variant circle for Auto Link Variants or Changed Order Of Moves Variants. This command is meant to be used immediately after a branch change.

  • View | Color Menu commands:
    - Background (ChooseColor | Default)
    - Board (ChooseColor | Default)
    - Stone (BlackColor | WhiteColor | Default)
    - Variant (BlackColor | WhiteColor | Default)
    - LastMove (ChooseColor | Default)
    - Forbidden (ChooseColor | Default)
    - AutoLinkVariant (BlackColor | WhiteColor | Default)
    - ChangedOrderOfMovesVariant (BlackColor | WhiteColor | Default)
    - Comment (TextColor | BackgroundColor | Default)
    - Coordinate (ChooseColor | Default)
    - StoneNumber (BlackColor | WhiteColor | Default)
    - AllDefault

    All colors on the surface can now be chosen. There is a command to set all colors back to default.

  • New File Menu command:
    - Recent File list

    When a library is opened or saved it is added to the recent file list, which can contain up to 10 entries. To open a file from the recent file list, simply select it from the File Menu. Also game files and data free buf files are added to the recent file list.

  • Library File Open/Save
    - The time to open and save library files has been reduced, by reading and writing a larger number of bytes each time. The time difference should be best noticed on larger library files.

  • Correction of position display after changing branch. Now the position should always be displayed with correct rotation and reflection.

Release Note 2.7

  • Smoother screen updates
    The screen flicker is now reduced as much as possible, by using a bitmap, instead of drawing directly on the screen.

  • Extra Comment Text Box
    The extra comment is now displayed in a read-only textbox, to enable scrolling when there are many lines of text.

  • New File Menu command:
    - Image | Save as BMP

    Save the image of current position in a bitmap file.
    If there is no extra comment, the saved image is made smaller.
    When the file is saved, the bitmap properties are displayed in a dialog.

  • New File Menu command:
    - Basecity game (Open | Read | Read all)

    Open Basecity game as a new library. You can also use drag and drop.
    Read and add Basecity game to the current library.
    Read and add all Basecity games in selected directory.

  • New Edit Menu command:
    - Delete Variants

    Delete all variants in current position.

  • New View Menu command:
    - Coordinates | Follow rotation and reflection

    Show coordinates according to rotation and reflection.

  • New Toolbars
    - File commands toolbar
    - Edit commands toolbar
    - Move commands toolbar
    - Position commands toolbar

    File commands: New, Open, Save.
    Edit commands: Update/Display, Start, Mark, Comment.
    Move commands: First move, Up, Back, Forward, Down, Last move and Back branch.
    Position commands: 0, 90, 180, 270 degrees, rotate +90/-90 degrees, reflect Up/Down, Left/Right.

  • New View Menu commands:
    - Toolbars (File | Move)
    - Status Bar

    Show or hide a toolbar.
    Show or hide the status bar.
    These commands are also available by right-clicking on the toolbar or the status bar.

  • New View Menu command:
    - Arrow keys

    Use arrow keys, home, end, page up/down keys for move commands.
    When deselected, the arrows keys are used for scrolling.

  • Help | About RenLib
    - goto RIF, Renju International Federation homepage

    Link updated to RIF new homepage: http://renju.nu

Release Note 3.0 (2002-01-19)

  • File format change
    The RenLib file format has been extended, which means that older versions of RenLib can not read library files created by version 3.0
    Version 2.7 will inform you about this in case you try to open a library created by a newer version of RenLib.

  • New Edit Menu command:
    - Find VCF [F4]
    - Hide VCF [F4]

    Search VCF (Victory by Continuous Fours) in the current position. If VCF if found, the board displays the VCF move sequence and the status bar shows the number of moves.
    The current algorithm may include meaningless 4 in VCF answer. The algorithm will be improved later.
    Thanks to K.Yamamoto

  • New View | Color Menu command:
    - VCF (BlackColor | WhiteColor | Default)

    Choose color of VCF move marker for black
    Choose color of VCF move marker for white
    Choose default colors of VCF move markers: Blue and Green

  • New View Menu commands:
    - VCF | 1, 2, 3
    - VCF | A, B, C
    - VCF | a, b, c

    Show VCF sequence: 1, 2, 3
    Show VCF sequence: A, B, C
    Show VCF sequence: a, b, c

  • New Board Text command:
    - Control + Left Click

    Point the mouse at an empty position or variant and click the left mouse button at the same time the control key is down.
    A dialog is displayed where you can enter Board Text, 1-5 characters, which will be displayed on the surface of the board. The board text will be underlined if there is a variant in the same position.

  • New Edit Menu command:
    - Auto Enter Board Text [Alt+B]

    Toggles Auto Enter Board Text mode. When activated, Control + Left click will automatically enter board text in the position and next time the board text is incremented by one. This will allow you to enter 'A', 'B', 'C', ... 'Z', 'AA', 'AB' or '1', '2' , '3', ... '9', '10' etc to show move sequences without entering moves, for example a VCF move sequence.

  • New Edit Menu command:
    - Set Next Auto Board Text

    Set next 1-2 characters to be used for Auto Enter Board Text. Auto Enter Board Text mode is activated.
  • New View | Color Menu command:
    - Board Text (ChooseColor | Default)

    Choose color of board text.
    Choose default color of board text: Black

  • New View Menu command:
    - Board Text | Show [Alt+Shift+B]

    Show board text.

  • New View Menu command:
    - Board Text | Extra Space

    Show extra space around board text.

  • New Edit Menu command:
    - Find Comment : Find Board Text

    Run Edit | Find Comment and choose option Find | Board Text to find Board Text instead of comment text.

  • New File Menu command:
    - Save As...

    Save the current library in another file.
    This is the same as going to first move and run command Branch | Extract, but this possibility was not obvious.

  • New File Menu command:
    - GoRenjer PDB (Open | Read)

    PDB-file, played games, can be read by RenLib, but not problem positions, because the first move is not always in the center of the board. Information about this application is found at http://www.gonnta.ne.jp/~itty/GoRenjer-en.html GoRenjer runs on over PalmOS 3.1

  • New Toolbar
    - Find commands toolbar

    Find commands:
    - Comment
    - Move
    - Start Position
    - Mark
    - Same Position
    - Similar Position
    - Previous
    - Next
    - VCF

  • New View Menu commands:
    - Toolbars (File | Move)
    - Status Bar

    Show or hide a toolbar.
    Show or hide the status bar.
    These commands are also available by right-clicking on the toolbar or the status bar.

  • One-line comment text-box
    The one-line comment is now displayed in a text-box above the board. There was a problem to see a long comment line when using smaller board sizes.

  • About Renlib & Links China
    Hyperlinks instead of buttons.

  • Sometimes the red X was not displayed for all double fours on the same line.
    Sometimes the red X was not displayed for a double three.

Release Note 3.1 (2002-03-23)

  • New File Menu command:
    - Text Board (Open | Read | Read all)
    - Image | Text Board | Copy To Clipboard
    - Image | Text Board | Save In File

    Files saved in the new Text Board format, e.g. from Renjuclass Virtual Class Room, can be read.
    Current position can be saved in Text Board format.

    Thanks to Wenzhe Lu, designer of Text Board layout

  • New File Menu command:
    - POS (Open | Read)
    - Image | Save as POS

    File saved in POS format can be read.
    Current position can be saved in POS format.

    Thanks to K.Yamamoto for source code.

  • New File Menu command:
    - Image | Renju Class Diagram | Copy URL To Clipboard
    - Image | Renju Class Diagram | Open URL In Browser

    Current position can be saved as an URL to display a renju class diagram.

  • New File Menu command:
    - Renju Class Game (Open from clipboard | Read from clipboard)

    Games from renjuclass server can be read from clipboard.

    Login to renjuclass game server. Select a game and display the Game Board Window in your browser. Right-click inside the window and select View Source, which displays two lines of html-code. Copy these two lines to clipboard (Control-A & Control-C) and then run the RenLib command.

    Thanks to Wenzhe Lu for source code and detailed description.

  • PBeM format change
    RenLib can now read a PBeM file, which has the new header "Eks (x) Ohs (o)"

  • Help | About RenLib
    - e-mail address
    - goto RenLib homepage

    E-mail address updated to: frank@renlib.com
    Link updated to RenLib new homepage: http://www.renlib.com

  • RenLib Window Title
    RenLib version is displayed, e.g. RenLib 3.1

Compatibility
  • Library files created by version 3.1 can be read by version 3.0

Release Note 3.2 (2003-04-27)

  • Editing of comments improved
    The dialog box used for editing of comments is removed. Now it is possible to edit directly in the comment boxes in update mode. One key accelerators like 'M', 'B', etc are removed, including Delete key.
    Note: To delete a move, use Ctrl+Delete.
    Command "View|Arrow keys" is removed, since arrow keys, Home, End, Page Up, Page Down, etc. will be handled by the edit boxes.

  • VCF search function improved
    Solution contains no unnecessary fours anymore.
    Thanks to Keisuke Yamamoto.

  • New Edit Menu command:
    - Convert To Standard
    Convert positions in the library to standard
    When opening libraries, merging, etc, a check is made and eventually you will be asked to convert the library.
    In case you decide not to convert the library, you can do it later by running this command.
    Note: Only renju openings are converted, i.e. other openings like Five-In-A-Row are ignored.

  • New File Menu command:
    - Branch | Merge all ...
    Read and merge all libraries in selected directory and subdirectories.
    Manual merge of conflicting comments, see Manual Merge

    Comments are also merged when reading:
    - PBeM, PlaySite or Text Board game
    - Basecity game
    - Datafree buf
    - GoRenjer PDB
    - Renju Class Game

  • New File Menu command:
    - Datafree buf | Read all ...
    Read and add all datafree buf games in selected directory and subdirectories.

  • New File Menu command:
    - GoRenjer PDB | Read all ...
    Read and add all GoRenjer PDB games in selected directory and subdirectories.

  • New File Menu command:
    - POS | Read all ...
    Read and add all POS games in selected directory and subdirectories.

  • New File Menu command:
    - Image | Text Board | Save All
    Save all positions in text board format in a directory, using file names RenLib00001.txt, etc. It is possible to limit the number of saved positions by searching for a comment, for example player name, prior to running the command.

  • New View Menu commands:
    - Font | Comment | (Choose Font... / Default)
    - Font | Board Text | (Choose Font... / Default)
    - Font | Coordinate and Stone Number | (Choose Font... / Default)
    - Font | All Default
    The font can be changed for Comment, Board Text, Coordinates and Stone Numbers.

  • File | Branch | Merge
    File | PBeM, PlaySite or Text Board game | Read
    File | Basecity game | Read
    File | Datafree buf | Read
    File | GoRenjer PDB | Read
    File | POS | Read
    Selection of one or more files is possible.

  • File | PBeM, PlaySite or Text Board game | Read all
    File | Basecity game | Read all
    Files in selected directory and subdirectories are read.

  • File | PBeM, PlaySite or Text Board game | Read
    File | PBeM, PlaySite or Text Board game | Read all
    Removed indication of games containing less than 5 moves.

  • File | Datafree buf | Read
    File | Datafree buf | Read all
    Removed indication of empty records.

  • Auto Enter Board Text
    When Auto Enter Board Text function is activated, the next board text to be entered is displayed on the status line.
    If there is no board text in the position, then 'A' will be the next board text. Otherwise, the highest board text in the position will be incremented by one and used for the next board text.
    When you change position, the next auto enter board text is automatically updated.

  • Font size
    Font sizes are automatically adjusted when changing size of the board.

  • New View Menu command:
    - View | Auto Font Size
    Enable/disable automatic font size adjustment when changing size of the board.

  • New Options Menu commands:
    - Environment | Associate .lib
    - Environment | Associate .wzq
    - Environment | Associate .buf
    - Environment | Associate .pdb
    - Environment | Associate .pos
    - Environment | Associate All
    Associate file extensions with RenLib, i.e. open RenLib when double clicking on a library file.
    Note: Command to associate extension .txt is not available.

  • View | Size | Default Size
    12 mm is default for resolution 1280x1024 or higher.

  • Help markers
    Small squares are displayed in H8, D12, L12, D4 and L4.

  • Tab control
    - Tab Comment displays the extra comment
    - Tab Statistics is not used yet (preparation for statistics function)

  • Confirm Save dialog
    Attempting to open a new library without saving an updated library, will display a Confirm Save dialog. It is possible to retain the updated library position by clicking Cancel in the dialog or to click Cancel in the Save As dialog after clicking Yes.

  • Renju Class Diagram
    URL corrected due to server change.

  • File | Save
    Indicates number of saved moves, comments, board texts and marks.

  • Status line
    Indication improved to show more info during merge, read and about toolbar commands.

  • Move | Back Changed Branch Variant
    It is possible to go back to previous branch at any time.

  • Links | China...
    Command removed, due to obsolete links.

  • Reading of basecity games (.wzq) corrected.

  • Find end positions failed to find moves with only board text.

  • Open/Merge command : indication of number of read moves included number of board texts.

  • Empty board texts were kept in library, but they are now removed before saving a library file.

  • Display of "changed order of moves" did not work correctly when the same variant move appeared in several positions.

Compatibility
  • Library files created by version 3.2 can be read by version 3.1 and 3.0

Release Note 3.2.1 (2003-05-31)

  • Screen flicker concerning comment box updating is reduced.

    One key accelerators are back again.

      Delete Move Delete, Backspace
      Back B, Left Arrow
      Forward F, Right Arrow
      Down D, Down Arrow, Page Down
      Up U, Up Arrow, Page Up
      First Move 1, Home
      Last Move L, End

    The one key accelerators are working only when the focus is not set to one of the comments edit controls. If an edit control has focus, then the key strokes are interpreted by this control.

  • Display of RenLib Users Guide, from about dialog and F1 button, did not work properly when starting RenLib by double clicking a lib file. The users guide is assumed to be located in the same directory as the exe-file, but only the file name was used for opening in the web browser. Now the full path name to the Users Guide is used.

  • Display of forbidden moves corrected. Bugs were reported in online renjuclass forum.
    Thanks to K.Yamamoto

  • Screen flicker concerning comment box updating is reduced.

Release Note 3.3 (2003-10-30)

  • New View Menu commands:
    - Show Board Bitmap
    - Show Stone Bitmap
    By default the board and stones are displayed using bitmaps. To display painted board and/or stones, uncheck the corresponding command.

  • View | Color | Background | Default
    Default color of background changed from White to Gray.

  • New View Menu command:
    - Size | (Large / Medium / Small)
    Three sizes of stone bitmaps are used, which determines the size of the displayed board.
    The commands 12 mm, 11 mm, ..., 4 mm are replaced by Large, Medium and Small.

  • View | Size | Default Size
    Small is default size for resolution up to 800 x 600.
    Medium is default size for resolution up to 1152 x 864.
    Large is default size for higher resolution.

  • Command View | Auto Font Size has been removed.
    The font size is kept for each board size.
    Inital sizes: Small 6 points, Medium 10 points and Large 12 points.

  • New View Menu command:
    - Color | Board | (Choose Bitmap ... / Default)
    Choose bitmap of board or use default bitmap. Choose one of the supplied bitmaps or any other bitmap available.

  • View | Board Text | Extra Space
    Extra space around board text is available only when board is painted.

  • New Options Menu command:
    - Evaluator | (Original / Renju Class / None)
    Select which evaluator to use for display of forbidden moves:
    - Original: forbidden points and VCF can be displayed.
    - Renju Class: forbidden points can be displayed, but not VCF.
    Thanks to Wenzhe Lu, author of renju class forbidden point evaluator.
    - None: forbidden points and VCF can not be displayed. This option will speed up display of moves.

  • Multi line comment box
    The box width has increased.

  • New Options Menu command:
    - Environment | Associate .renjs and .ren
    Associate RenJS extension with RenLib, i.e. open RenLib when double clicking on a RenJS file.

  • Modified File | Open command:
    Open an existing RenLib library or open a Text game, RenJS games, Basecity game, Datafree buf, GoRenjer PDB or POS file as a new library. You can also double-click or use drag and drop. The following text game formats are supported: PBeM, PlaySite, Text Board, Blip, Kurnik and Renjuclass game.

  • New File Menu command:
    - Read...
    The command reads files accepted by RenLib. Read and merge selected file(s). Selection of one or more files is possible.
    The following file formats are accepted: RenLib library, Text game, RenJS games, Datafree buf, GoRenjer PDB, POS file and Basecity game.

  • New File Menu command:
    - Read all...
    Read and merge all files in selected directory and subdirectories.

  • New File Menu command:
    - Save Position As...
    Save the current position as a RenLib library, Text game, POS file, RenLib applet, Renartist applet, Renju class diagram or Bitmap file.

  • New File Menu command:
    - Make tournament RenLib applet
    Create tournament html files displaying RenLib applet.
    See Tournament applets

  • Replaced File Menu commands:
    - Branch
    - PBeM, PlaySite or Text Board game
    - Basecity game
    - Datafree buf
    - GoRenjer PDB
    - POS
    - Renju Class Game
    - Image
    These commands are replaced by Open, Read... and Read all...

  • File Menu command:
    - Export Library | Text Board
    Renamed from Image | Text Board | Save All

  • Save Library As...
    The current library can also be saved as a GoRenjer PDB file.

  • Old Library File
    Files with extension .dat and libraries without RenLib header are no longer accepted by RenLib. Workaround is to use previous version of RenLib, open the library and save, which will add a RenLib header to the saved file.

  • Window Title
    The window title changed to standard format, displaying library file name first.

  • About Dialog
    Homepage address and e-mail address changed.

  • Comment for previous move was still displayed when a new move was entered.

  • Display of forbidden moves corrected.
    Thanks to K.Yamamoto

  • Status line indication of Auto Find Same Position restored.
    Previous search operation, for example comment search, is cancelled when entering a move or taking back a move in order for auto find same position to display information and let the user find next or find previous same position.

  • Unchecking and checking Show Comments was interpreted as comment changes and the library was erroneously updated. When Show Comment is unchecked, the comments are not shown in Display Mode, however comments are always visible in Update Mode to allow editing.

Release Note 3.4 (2004-03-28)

  • The tab control is extended with a third tab named Browser, containing an IE browser control. By making the window bigger, the browser tab is also made bigger.

    When RenLib is started, the defined start page is opened, default is www.renju.net and it is possible to defined another start page via browser menu command. F11 key opens the defined start page.

    An internet address can be typed in the browser address combox and navigation starts after clicking Go button or hitting Enter key. One of the predefined addresses can be selected in the combox list or via the browser menu.

    Right-clicking is possible in the browser tab, for example to navigate back to the previously visited web page.

    It is possible to drag-and-drop a web page on RenLib board to open it in the browser tab.

    The current web page can be opened in the default web browser via browser menu command or F12 key.

    F1 key opens RenLib User's Guide in the browser tab.

    Commands that generates web pages on disk opens them in the browser tab:
    - Save Position As ( RenLib applet, Renartist applet, Renjuclass diagram )
    - Export Libraray As ( RenLib applet )
    - Make Tournament Applets

    Via browser menu commands Open Diagrams [F10] and Read Diagrams, all Renjuclass diagrams and RenLib applets on the current web page are read by RenLib and displayed on the board together with comments and board text from the web page and applets.

    When the browser tab is selected the one key commands are disabled.

  • Commands Make tournament RenLib applets and Save Position As...
    A "RenLib Applet" dialog is provided to edit title of applet and game web pages, select size of applet and whether comments, coordinates or command panel are displayed or not. It is also possible to select the background color.

  • New command File | Export Library | RenLib applet
    Save all end positions in RenLib applet format in a directory, using file names RenLib00001.htm, etc. It is possible to limit the number of saved positions by searching for a comment, for example player name, prior to running the command.
    A "RenLib Applet" dialog is provided to edit title of applet, select size of applet and whether comments are displayed or not. A file games.htm is created, which lists links to all htm-files using one line comments as link names.

  • First move can be placed anywhere on the board. The File|New command will insert a move on H8, but it is possible to delete this move. It is also possible to go back to move zero using commands First Move, Up and Back and insert a first move anywhere.

  • SGF-files (Smart Game Format) from ORC game server can be read. A pass-move is indicated by a comment.

  • Games played on Zjrenju System are saved in POS-files where information is put in the file name. The file name can be parsed and comments are added according to this information.

  • Game files with non-H8 first move are accepted.

  • Lib files without RenLib header where first move is H8 can be opened again.

  • Improved decoding of buf-files. Information about result, file name, record number, 5th move, reverse and time loss is displayed.

  • Improved handling of bitmap for board. In case the previously chosen bitmap can no longer be found, an attempt to load the default bitmap is performed. In case this also failed, then the user will be asked to choose another bitmap. The board will display "Invalid bitmap" until a new selection is made.

  • A position saved as a Renju Class Diagram will display the diagram directly in the web page, i.e. not only a link as before.

  • Shortcut Control+F (Find Comment) works again.

  • Find Next/Previous (Board Text) works again.

  • Corrected display problem of board and background when window height was changed and scrolled.

  • Confirmation to save updated file was not asked before opening a file from the recently used list.

  • Deleting moves after using the VCF function, could lead to display of false VCF markers for new moves.

  • After converting a position to standard, the first move was not shown and command "Last Move" was available, but could cause error.

Release Note 3.4.1 (2004-04-12)

  • RenLib could not be started by double clicking a file associated with RenLib.

Release Note 3.4.2 (2004-05-12)

  • Libraries containing positions with many moves could not be merged.

Release Note 3.5 (2005-03-13)

  • VCF and VCT function from Renju Solver

    The VCT function, now introduced in RenLib, is written by Xiangdong Wen.
    Information about "Renju VCT Problems Solver" is found on http://math.temple.edu/~wen/renju/vct/.
    From here you can download VCF and VCT problems to use for test.

    New Edit Menu commands:
    - Find VCT [F5]
    - Stop VCF/VCT [F6]

    The Renju Class evaluator (by Lu Wenzhe) and Renju Solver (by Xiangdong Wen)
    are now used for showing forbidden points and finding VCF/VCT, i.e. replacing
    the old evaluator.

  • New command: File | Export Library | Game Collection
    Export positions in the library to game collection format, for printout or
    publishing on a web site. See Game Collection

  • Improved reading of games from Renju Class Forum pages.
    Sometimes all games were not read.

  • Improved reading of kurnik games
    - recognition of several headers [Site "kurnik"] and [Site "www.kurnik.pl"]
    - multiple kurnik games in same text file can be read with commands "Read..." or "Read All..."

  • POS-files can be read where first move is not in center of board,
    for example problem positions to test VCF/VCF function

  • New command: Browser | RenLib News
    Open the latest RenLib News page, usually in Online Renjuclass Forum.

  • Hanging problem solved
    When RenLib starts it tries to access RenLib site to check if there are updated news.
    If there was no connection RenLib hanged until the internal webbrowser timed out.
    This has been solved by using a separate thread to access RenLib site.


Release Note 3.5.1 (2005-05-17)

  • Reading ShowRenju bdt file.

  • New Options Menu command:
    - Environment | Associate .bdt
    Associate ShowRenju extension with RenLib, i.e. open RenLib when double clicking on a bdt file.

  • In RenLib applet dialog a one line comment can be selected, which will be repeated for every move that has no comment already. For example, it is possible to generate applets that show the comment for the last move, usually the player names and result, for every move in the game.

  • In Merge Comment dialog (one line comment, multiline comment, board text) there is a new checkbox "Apply selection to all" to make it possible to automatically apply the merge selection (Current, New, Combined) to all comments, instead of stepping through them one by one.

  • After search for end positions (or comments etc), it is now possible to step through the moves using arrow keys or mouse button AND then continue searching next/previous position using F3 key or toolbar button. In other words, you can, for example, search for all games by a specific player, and step through the moves in all games, game after game.

  • Correction in reading PBeM games, where moves marked as "--" was not recognized. Now these will be noted as PASS moves, i.e. empty move plus comment.

  • Correction in reading Kurnik games. The algorithm could read renju games but not go-moku games, due to different format. Now go-moku games as well as renju games can be read. To read Kurnik "transcripts of all games from the currently viewed list", use commmand "Read ..." or "Read All ...".

  • Stepping through a game containing pass move, with option "Auto Find Same Position" activated, could cause RenLib to crash.

  • Keyboard keys were active during VCF/VCT search.

Release Note 3.5.2 (2005-06-06)

  • Improved Open/Read Diagrams from web page.
    RenLib applets embedded in Mambo pages, for example on the swedish web site, have a different layout, which now can be interpreted.

Release Note 3.6 (2006-07-16)

  • Extended command: File | Save Library As... | ShowRenju file (*.bdt)
    A library can be saved in ShowRenju (BDT) format.

  • New command: Edit | Problem Mode
    Use left- and right mouse clicks to quickly enter moves in any order.
    It is possible to set up a position with unequal number of black and white moves.
    Use left click to insert black move, swap color from white to black or remove black move.
    Use right click to insert white move, swap color from black to white or remove white move.
    Note: Show Numbers and Show Last Move are disabled when entering problem mode.

  • Reading Renju Dynamic Figure rdf file.

  • New command: Options | Environment | Associate .rdf
    Associate Renju Dynamic Figure extension with RenLib, i.e. open RenLib when double clicking on a rdf file.

  • New command: Edit | Insert Pass Move
    Insert a pass move in current position.
    Makes it easier to enter real games which has pass moves.

  • New command: Move | Pass Move, Toolbar Move: P
    If there is a pass move in current position, display the pass move.
    This is a possibility when many games are merged togheter.

  • VCF/VCT function disabled for pass moves.
    If there are pass moves in the current position, for example for a real game or problem mode position,
    the VCF/VCT function is disabled since it doesn't expect pass moves.


  • Updated URLs.
    RIF home page: www.renju.net
    RenLib home page: www.renju.se/renlib
    RenLib applet: www.renju.se/renlib/applet
    renartist applet: www.renju.se/renlib/renartist
    RenLib e-mail: renlib@renju.se

Release Note 3.7 (2008-07-19)

  • Reading RenjuNet Database (RIF) file.
    See RenjuNet News No. 245, 2008-04-28 and RenjuNet Games about how to download the database.

  • New command: Options | Environment | Associate .rif
    Associate RenjuNet Database (RIF) file extension with RenLib, i.e. open RenLib when double clicking on a rif file.

  • New command: Browser Menu | Ignore Keyboard
    When browser tab has focus, key strokes which normally are interpreted by browser are ignored and thus passed on to the board.

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