Conquer Club dashboard widget for Mac OS X

by **Janiv** on Thu Apr 05, 2007 3:41 am

With a premium membership I've started joining a lot of games and needed something to help me keep track of them all and let me know when to play. I looked around and found some nice programs for Windows computers and a Firefox extension but I was really looking for a dashboard widget.

I didn't find one so I went ahead and made one myself. Thought I'd post it here to share with others. If someone else has already made one, let me know and I can withdraw this one.

The widget can be downloaded at http://www.wussell.com/widget/ConquerClubWidget.zip

Once loaded up, you can flip the widget and enter in your Conquer Club username to configure the widget for you. You may also enter in other people's usernames to keep track of their games as well.

Once configured, the widget will display the username, their list of games, the status of the games and round number, along with a summary of how many games you are currently waiting on, ready to play, and eliminated in.
Each game can be clicked on to jump you to that game (provided you are signed in, of course).

The widget is sized to show four games but if you have more than four, an automatic scroll bar is added to the widget to allow you to scroll through the rest of the games in the list.

The status icons are the green dot for ready, the yellow arrow for playing, and the red square for waiting, and faded red square for eliminated.

The widget will update to your current RSS feed every time you open the dashboard or if the dashboard is open every minute.

Let me know what you think. There's probably some changes that need to be made and I welcome any suggestions you all have for it.

by **bigbullyweedave** on Thu Apr 05, 2007 3:46 am

Just installed it - fantastic! =D>

I'll get back to you with feedback after using it for a bit.

One thing though it took me a while to figure out how to enter my username. message said something abbout preferences which I couldn't find but when I hit "?" it allowed me to enter it.

by **Janiv** on Thu Apr 05, 2007 3:52 am

Good point. I'll see if I can't make how to enter the username a little more clear.

By the way, you can have multiple copies of the widget running each configured with a different username without causing any problems.

by **joeyjordison** on Thu Apr 05, 2007 4:19 am

looks cool but i won't load it as people might find out just how long i spend on the site

by **panicker** on Thu Apr 05, 2007 4:45 am

Janiv wrote:Good point. I'll see if I can't make how to enter the username a little more clear.

By the way, you can have multiple copies of the widget running each configured with a different username without causing any problems.

Multiple widgets for multiple usernames?? I hope your not incriminating yourself after putting so much work into this lol

by **Anarchy Ninja** on Thu Apr 05, 2007 5:12 am

bloody excellent!

its great, but is it possible to switch the icons to normal ingame ones i.e. green= ready for your turn
yellow= turn being taken
red= eliminated/waiting for your turn

by **bigbullyweedave** on Thu Apr 05, 2007 5:19 am

panicker wrote:
Janiv wrote:Good point. I'll see if I can't make how to enter the username a little more clear.

By the way, you can have multiple copies of the widget running each configured with a different username without causing any problems.

Multiple widgets for multiple usernames?? I hope your not incriminating yourself after putting so much work into this lol

Actually I tell you when it would be useful is when I've babysat games for people on holiday etc.

by **Janiv** on Thu Apr 05, 2007 11:40 am

panicker wrote:
Janiv wrote:Good point. I'll see if I can't make how to enter the username a little more clear.

By the way, you can have multiple copies of the widget running each configured with a different username without causing any problems.

Multiple widgets for multiple usernames?? I hope your not incriminating yourself after putting so much work into this lol

Sorry, no. I didn't mean for that to be unclear. It's more for watching your friends games, etc. I play with my brother and several friends and like to keep an eye on their games. Let's me know when they have one open for me.

Anarchy Ninja wrote:its great, but is it possible to switch the icons to normal ingame ones i.e. green= ready for your turn
yellow= turn being taken
red= eliminated/waiting for your turn

Very possible. I'll play around with some settings.

by **Janiv** on Thu Apr 05, 2007 12:20 pm

I updated the zip file above to a slightly updated version of the widget.

The instructions on how to set up your username should be clearer and I've changed the icons a bit to be more consistent with the in-game icons.

We know have yellow arrow for playing, green dot for ready, red square for waiting, and a faded red square for eliminated.

Keep the feedback coming!

by **chessplaya** on Thu Apr 05, 2007 12:30 pm

Janiv wrote:With a premium membership I've started joining a lot of games and needed something to help me keep track of them all and let me know when to play. I looked around and found some nice programs for Windows computers and a Firefox extension but I was really looking for a dashboard widget.

I didn't find one so I went ahead and made one myself. Thought I'd post it here to share with others. If someone else has already made one, let me know and I can withdraw this one.

The widget can be downloaded at http://www.wussell.com/widget/ConquerClubWidget.zip

Once loaded up, you can flip the widget and enter in your Conquer Club username to configure the widget for you. You may also enter in other people's usernames to keep track of their games as well.

Once configured, the widget will display the username, their list of games, the status of the games and round number, along with a summary of how many games you are currently waiting on, ready to play, and eliminated in.
Each game can be clicked on to jump you to that game (provided you are signed in, of course).

The widget is sized to show four games but if you have more than four, an automatic scroll bar is added to the widget to allow you to scroll through the rest of the games in the list.

The status icons are the green dot for ready, the yellow arrow for playing, and the red square for waiting, and faded red square for eliminated.

The widget will update to your current RSS feed every time you open the dashboard or if the dashboard is open every minute.

Let me know what you think. There's probably some changes that need to be made and I welcome any suggestions you all have for it.

ummmm the turn indicator is working fine why do we need this again??? :roll:

by **Janiv** on Thu Apr 05, 2007 12:50 pm

chessplaya wrote:ummmm the turn indicator is working fine why do we need this again???

The idea behind the widget is you can quickly check the status of all your games from any program you're currently in without having to load up your web browser, logging into the site, and checking out your my games page, and scrolling through everything.

Instead, all you have to do is push f12 or whatever hotkey you have assigned to your dashboard and instantly you have a summary of your games and know if you need to take or turn, etc.

Examples of my use is I'm grading a bunch of student reports and papers online. I need a break from grading and spreadsheet entry so I check on my game. Without losing my spot in my spreadsheet, I just push f12 and see that I have no games ready for me to play on Conquer Club. I go back to grading and don't get distracted by surfing other pages on the web and can check back later with just as much ease when my break is finally ready to catch up with me.

It may not be for everyone but it sure is helpful to me so I thought I'd share it.

by **Wisse** on Thu Apr 05, 2007 1:02 pm

w00t thnx! this is great! (how do you make widgets, can you teach me that?)

by **spinwizard** on Thu Apr 05, 2007 1:11 pm

and me! (can u make them 4 windows on PC's?)

by **Wisse** on Thu Apr 05, 2007 1:28 pm

spinwizard wrote:and me! (can u make them 4 windows on PC's?)

nope windows doesn't have widgets

by **spinwizard** on Thu Apr 05, 2007 1:29 pm

i know but is there anything u can make that tracks games in windows?

by **tahitiwahini** on Thu Apr 05, 2007 1:36 pm

spinwizard wrote:i know but is there anything u can make that tracks games in windows?

Aren't there already 4 or 5 things that do this for windows?

Conquer Tell Notifier by jonducrou
Firefox extension shows at the bottom of the browser and tells you when it's your turn
http://www.conquerclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8225

Tell Me When Notifier by Fantius
Sits in your Windows system tray and tells you when it's your turn
http://www.conquerclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9004

Desktop Notifier by kevinc
Floats on your desktop and tells you when it's your turn
http://www.conquerclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2017

and this one which is very similar:

http://www.conquerclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=15810

by **spinwizard** on Thu Apr 05, 2007 2:10 pm

i don't have firefox and can't get the others working!

by **Wisse** on Thu Apr 05, 2007 3:13 pm

spinwizard wrote:i know but is there anything u can make that tracks games in windows?

not that i think, or you must make a program of it...

by **Janiv** on Thu Apr 05, 2007 3:16 pm

Wisse wrote:w00t thnx! this is great! (how do you make widgets, can you teach me that?)

Making a widget is just as easy as making a webpage. If you HTML, CSS, and JavaScript you can make one. PM me and I can get you started. if not, learn those languages first and then you'll be good to go.

I made a few more updates on the widget. It now defaults to the back of the widget when it first loads for you to enter a username. I also made it so games you are playing show first, then games ready, then waiting, and then eliminated show last. The sorting should help you get to the games that are ready to go and not have to scroll through to find them.

Also, I updated the AJAX code to hopefully update the game list better than before.

Sorry, I thought I was done with it last night when I uploaded it but all these ideas are hitting me know. Keep any other suggestions coming.

by **tahitiwahini** on Thu Apr 05, 2007 3:23 pm

spinwizard wrote:i don't have firefox and can't get the others working!

Only the first is related to Firefox I believe. Not sure what problems you're having with the rest. If you could be more specific, I might be able to help.

by **Wisse** on Thu Apr 05, 2007 4:48 pm

Janiv wrote:
Wisse wrote:w00t thnx! this is great! (how do you make widgets, can you teach me that?)

Making a widget is just as easy as making a webpage. If you HTML, CSS, and JavaScript you can make one. PM me and I can get you started. if not, learn those languages first and then you'll be good to go.

I made a few more updates on the widget. It now defaults to the back of the widget when it first loads for you to enter a username. I also made it so games you are playing show first, then games ready, then waiting, and then eliminated show last. The sorting should help you get to the games that are ready to go and not have to scroll through to find them.

Also, I updated the AJAX code to hopefully update the game list better than before.

Sorry, I thought I was done with it last night when I uploaded it but all these ideas are hitting me know. Keep any other suggestions coming.

i can html (i make sites), never tryd to learn css and i tryd to learn javascript but it is just to difficult...

by **Janiv** on Fri Apr 20, 2007 3:05 am

In using this widget, I noticed that I was interested in watching and keeping track of my teammates and friends games to see what games they were participating in and how they were doing, etc.

I was ending up with a lot of the Conquer Club widgets on my screen so I decided to recode the widget to be able to handle more than one username in the same widget.

The widget can now accept multiple usernames. These names are stored in dropdown boxes and you can easily select the user you wish to view or delete from this watch list.

Other slight changes are that status icons are hiding by default until a user is selected, correctly alternating the colors of the games, improved Ajax calls, and slight text changes.

Enjoy and let me know of any feedback you have or problems that you run into!

I'm open to suggestions as well. Remember, I can only do what's inside of the RSS. If it's not in the RSS feed, it'll have to be added there first before I can add it to the widget.

by **fishbonex** on Sat Apr 21, 2007 6:56 am

this is great, very helpful for those playing at work and dont want to get caught with a CC screen up all the time, as you check to see if your turn is up!

Thanks for finally looking out for us Mac users, this is awesome!