[ALPHA] Pre Brief

Hi,

This software is freeware.

You can donwload for free from here. V0.0.3 (05.04.2014)

Use:

--Installation:

Unzip the folder to any location you want. Run the Pre Brief.exe.

ATTENTION:

Microsoft Net 4.5 Framework required. You can get it from here:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=30653

VisualBasicPowerPack 10.0.0.0 required: You can get it from here:

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=145727&clcid=0x804

--Map Controls:

You can move the map by pressing the mousewheel_button and moving the mouse.

You can zoom the map with the mousewheel.

You can place a unit with the left mouse button.

You can edit a unit with the right mouse button.

You can change the displayed map with the map selector (7).

--Placing Units:

To place a unit first select the type of unit you want to place with the unit selector (1).

Click onto the dsired postion on the map (9).

--Editing Units:

In the current version, there are a few parameters you can change.

To do that, right click any placed unit.

A menu will open. It will show the following.

-> Edit Object

-->Tooltip

--->Add - Allows you to add a tooltip. The tooltip will be shown when you place your mouse over the unit.

--->Remove - Removes the tooltip.

-->Turn

--->90° CW - Will turn the unit 90° clockwise

--->90° CCW - Will turn the unit 90° counterclockwise

-->Flip - Flips the unit (usefull for ground units)

->Delete Object - Removes the object

--Drawing Lines/Arrows:

Click on the line/arrow icon on the lefthand side below the mousepointer.

Left-click the point on the map where you want to start the line from.

Left-click on the point of the map where you want to end the line.

Now you should see a line between the two points you clicked.

Now you can either:

a) Right-click anywhere on the map, which will stop drawing the line.

b) Left-click on another point, which will continue the line.

--Editing Lines/Arrows:

You can right-click any given line/arrow, which will open a menu.

It will show the following

-> Edit Line/Arrow

-->Edit Color - Allows you to change the color

-->Edit Size - Allows you to adjust the width of the line

->Delete Line/Arrow- Removes the Line/Arrow

--Measuring distances (Ruler):

Click on the ruler icon on the lefthand side at the very bottom of the "General" tab.

Use the rulers the same way as lines.

The totall distance of all lines on the map is shown next to the ruler icon.

By clicking onto the unit ("nm" by default) you can switch to km.

By clicking "Clear" you can remove all rulers from the map.

NOTE: Rulers are not synchronised between Host/Client. Every client can use their own rulers. If the host wants to point something out, use lines/arrows.

--Hosting:

At any time you can share your map with as many other people as you want.

To do this, enter a Session Password (3) (optional) and then simply click on Host (5).

In the Session IP (2) field your public IP Address is displayed.

Share the Session IP Addressand the Session Password with the people who you want to see the map.

To stop hosting press on Disconnect (6).

NOTE: The host might have to enter port-forwarding for port 80 into his routers firewall.

--Reciving:

At any time you can recive a shared map.

To do this, simply enter the Session IP (2) and the Session Password (3) provided by the Host then click on Connect(4).

To stop reciveing press on Disconnect (6).

--Saving/Loading Briefings:

You can save a planned briefing to disc and then load it up later, share with squadmates, and so on.

Saving Briefings:

To do this, click on Brief -> Save in the top menu bar.

A dialog will apear to ask you for a desired filename and the location to which the file shall be saved.

Navigate to the desired location, enter a filename and click onto "Save".

The .briefing file is now successfully saved to that location.

Loading Briefings:

To do this, click on Brief -> Load in the top menu bar.

A dialog will apear to ask you for the file which you want to load.

Navigate to the folder with the desired file and click on it.

The hit "Open".

The saved units/lines/markers should then be displayed on the map.

Hope you like it! Feedback would be appricated!

Best regards,

Jonathan

EDIT:

V0.0.2 - Line controlls

V0.0.3 - Hosting, Clienting, Distance Meassurement

nice work. can I suggest you use TC-1 map instead of earth. It is free download and you can also use TAD map collection.

nice work. can I suggest you use TC-1 map instead of earth. It is free download and you can also use TAD map collection.

Hi,

Yes that is definatelly on my To-Do-List, however it will take some time.

Looking great so far.

Question regarding connectivity: do clients need to put in an IP address as well as the session name in order to find the host online? If not, then how does a client find a host?

Question regarding connectivity: do clients need to put in an IP address as well as the session name in order to find the host online? If not, then how does a client find a host?

Black magic. :music_whistling:

But seriously, I am doing that over a server. Your session is stored on there and if the clients enter the session name, the session will be loaded from the server.

Hey... looks cool!! It crashed on me also at first but after installing that VisualBasicPowerPack 10.0.0.0 worked.

Looks very good but it misses couple of very important things : pointer and free draw lines. Without these not sure how it is different from distributing pilots the map itself.

Hi,

Hey... looks cool!! It crashed on me also at first but after installing that VisualBasicPowerPack 10.0.0.0 worked.

Thanks for your feedback!

Looks very good but it misses couple of very important things : pointer and free draw lines. Without these not sure how it is different from distributing pilots the map itself.

Yes, I agree with you. I definatelly want to include that, as I wrote earlier:

However, if you guys want me to I will continue work and add more options (Texts, custom shapes, etc.).

As said, this version is an alpha and only contains the basic stuff. I am working on additional stuff, but it is time consuming. :thumbup:

I do what I can to include more features as soon as possible, but the day has only 24 hours. ;)

Best regards,

Jonathan

We appreciate your efforts. Good luck!

Tried it! Good work! A few points:

- It seems one can only Turn or Flip the last added unit.

- The Tooltip - dialog starts at the mouse pointers location. This can make it so that the the Tooltip-dialog is outside of the screen. Suggest you center it on the screen instead.

- Lines, arrows and circles would be the cats pajamas, but the squares is a good substitute. Also, consider text and pictures if you want something more to add.

Overall very impressive, especially considering the short development time!

Thank you Sir, i will try it!

Darn cool!

Hi,

Tried it! Good work!

Thanks!

- It seems one can only Turn or Flip the last added unit.

I noticed that also, and it is annoying. I will try to sort that problem out.

- The Tooltip - dialog starts at the mouse pointers location. This can make it so that the the Tooltip-dialog is outside of the screen. Suggest you center it on the screen instead.

Good point! Will be fixed in the next update.

- Lines, arrows and circles would be the cats pajamas, but the squares is a good substitute. Also, consider text and pictures if you want something more to add.

That's what I am currently working on. I hope to release a update with those features in the next few days!

Best regards,

Jonathan

Some more work and version 0.0.2 will be ready!

Best regards,

Jonathan

Nice!

Today I have version 0.0.2 for you.

You can download it here.

Changelog:

New:

-Map Items:

>Lines

>Arrows

Changed:

-Tooltip window now opens in the middle of the application window and not on the mouse pointer.

Fixes:

-Preventing crash for clients if host placed a unit directly on meridian.

This is just a quick update and mostly result of todays work.

There is much more I want to implement, but that's what I could come up with for now.

I hope you like it. Feedback is appriciated!

Best regards,

Jonathan

PS: You can find some more explanation about the new controls in the first post in a few minutes.

nice, will try it!

Hi,

Very nice tool :)

Here are some features that would be cool to add :

- hit delete button to remove a symbol

- ctrl+z = remove last action

- select multiple symbols (maintain clic + drag)

- Drag (adjust) placed symbols

- add a text object

- possibility to add custom symbols (or add NATO)

- save/load (premake the unit map and load it before briefing)

- Save current view to an image

- add a laser pointer (show where the mouse is for the client doing the brief)

- add a dot line symbol.

PS : I add to install the VBS on my W7 too.

Thanks for your work :)

Excelent work here!!

I think a great improve would be to add a possibility to import a Mission file .miz into it

To show weather, flight plans.

This will make multiplayer briefing much more easier

Nice!

Just want to pop in and say we used this tool on our weekly squad night this week. 11 people participated and your tool worked without issues. There where however some GUI-suggestions that cropped up, like if I remember correctly you couldn't zoom the map while holding the mouse-pointer over an icon. Nevertheless this is a great gift to the community! Keep it coming! :)

Hi,

Thanks for the feedback guys!

Here are some features that would be cool to add :

- hit delete button to remove a symbol

- ctrl+z = remove last action

- select multiple symbols (maintain clic + drag)

- Drag (adjust) placed symbols

- add a text object

- possibility to add custom symbols (or add NATO)

- save/load (premake the unit map and load it before briefing)

- Save current view to an image

- add a laser pointer (show where the mouse is for the client doing the brief)

- add a dot line symbol.

I will try to include those suggestions as far as possible.

I think a great improve would be to add a possibility to import a Mission file .miz into it

That is a good idea, but probably difficult to implement. However, I will have a look at it and will consider if it is possible in a reasonable timeframe. ;)

There where however some GUI-suggestions that cropped up, like if I remember correctly you couldn't zoom the map while holding the mouse-pointer over an icon.

I will try to fix that. Thanks for letting me know!

Best regards and thank you all for your feedback,

Jonathan

Version 0.0.3 is out

Today I have version 0.0.3 for you.

It contains new tools (ruler, save/load), higher update rates between host and client, new connection methods and many new more things. Check the changelog included into the download for more details!

Check the first post for the download link and updated information!

Feedback would be appricated! :thumbup:

Best regards,

Jonathan

Is it possible for a client to edit the briefing?