HELP INDEX

Introduction

Main Features

Installation

Using ECTool

Credits

How to register


Introduction

Thank you for trying ECTool !

This utility was born to help email chess players to manage the games in play, to avoid  losing their game record, or forget to send their moves. (As I do frequently :))

To begin using ECTool you might read the ECTOOL.DOC enclosed in your ZIP archive. It is a good explanation of what can you do with the program It has written by Remi Pach, a net friend that speack a bit more English than the author of ECTool :)

You can get the last stable version at :

ftp ://ftp.pitt.edu/group/student-activities/chess/UTIL/ect ? ? ?.zip

and in the following sites you can get also the beta versions and not so important updates.

http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/4591

ftp ://narc.tnc.com/pub/ECTOOL

Fill free to send your comments to :

Andres Valverde <andres@spainmail.com>


Main features

•	Keep track of your games, simply dragging and drop the pieces in the graphic board

•	Create the messages with your new moves, in PGN or text format with optional    ASCII board, time registers, signature etc.  Then you can send them with the built -in SMTP client. Also you can save the message to a text file with optional 'to :' header. This is useful in some BBS systems

•	Finally the program works like a very simple mailer, with a POP3 client that allows users retrieve their mail.  The program recognize automatically if a game file is attached to some incoming message, and ask the user if he wants to replace the existing file. This is wonderful, but it needs another ECTOOL user at the other side :)

At the moment the program does not make an exhaustive legal computation of your moves, but it is enough to record them. Remember : THIS IS NOT A CHESS GAME, NOR A CHESS TEACHER PROGRAM, it is only a single database that allows you to send and retrieve by email your game records.

I'm open to all suggestions of the email chess community. I promise I will try to implement most of them (If it is possible that I can do it).


Installation

ECTool  is a 16 bit program that runs fine both under  WIN 3.X and Windows 95 and NT. You don't need any extra runtime or database engine. You'll need a Winsock stack installed, like Trumpet Winsock or RAS for Win 95

Simply unzip the file ECTXXX.ZIP in the directory you choose. Then you must execute ECTOOL.EXE. The program creates the directories it needs to work, the inifile, etc. If you use versions of ECTOOL prior to 2.0 then you can overwrite existing files, and the program will move the *.ECT files to the new directory ..\GAMES. Also, the program will try to fill the new fields 'White' and 'Black', parsing your old 'Opponent' field and your 'Username' in the ECTOOL.INI file.

The address book file 'ECTOOL.LST will be imported to the new format to the file 'address.lst', but not destroyed.

ECTOOL will not copy any file to your windows or system directory and neither modify your system settings, so you can unistall it safety and completely, in the strange case you want :)

If  you haven't any previous version of ECTool, then this dialog will appear . See the explanations below to fill the different fields on it.

User  name	Email Address	SMTP server

POP3 Server	POP3 password	Signature File

IECG Key	Send Domain name	Display Coordinates

Dark Squares	Light Squares	Cancel Button

Ok Button


User name

Your First Name  Last Name, without comma or another separator that can cause trouble in your SMTP server, p.e. 'Andres Valverde'


Email address

Your electronic mail address.


SMTP server

Your host  for sending mail, p.e. : smtp.host.com. If you don't know its name, ask your Internet Service Provider. If you are having any problem sending mail try to put in numeric notation : p.e. 124.234.34.2,


POP3 server

Your host  for receiving mail., p.e. pop3.host.com. If you don't know its name, ask your Internet Service Provider. If you are having any problem retrieving mail try to put in numeric notation : p.e. 124.234.34.2


POP3 password

The password for loggins in your POP3 server. It is frequently the same that you have to connect with your Internet Service Provider.


Signature File

This is a text file that the program will add at the end of your messages, you can edit it with any ASCII text editor


IECG KEY

(Optional) This is the key IECG gives you as a member. Now (February 97) it has no use, but can have it in the future


SEND DOMAIN NAME

Toggle on/off this option if you have problems with connections with your SMTP server


DISPLAY COORDINATES

Check if you want see the board coordinates


Dark/Light Squares

Allows to change the color of the chessboard squares.


OK Button

When you finish introducing data click this button to save the changes. f you want to discard all the changes made then click the Cancel button


Cancel Button

Close the dialog without saving the changes you  made. If you want to save them click the OK button


Unzip

You must get a program that can decompress ZIP files, like PKUNZIP.EXE, UNZIP.EXE or similar, that are in the most of FTP sites around the world.


Using ECTOOL

First Steps

An Actual Game


First Steps

When you are finished with the config, you jump to the main screen, with some icons on top, plus the chessboard and some more boxes in which to fill in the details of the game you want to start playing. Note that you can insert your name in the boxes labelled 'White' and 'Black' just by double-clicking. It's nice and easy. The rest is obvious, and the flyover help will guide you through that. (See also the Address book  item )

We'll discuss the 'time/date' dialogue when we come to entering the moves of an actual e-mail chess game. So let's jump to the 'Options' dialogue box.

Send game attached	Send PGN	Send Diagram 	Send Signature

Select Language


Select Language : The most important thing is to select the language you wish to use in your chess notation. For instance, if yo
Select Language

You can select the language you wish to use in your chess notation. For instance, if you are a Frenchman and play with another Frenchman, you'll prefer to use the abbreviations RDTFC, instead of their English equivalent KQRBN. In that case, check 'French'. (Note that ECTool doesn't offer yet the international numeric notation, but its conceptor is working on that.). Don't forget than the OFFICIAL PGN Notation is in English Language


Send game attached:  This is a clever feature, and it can make your life easier provided your opponent also uses ECTool. Remembe
Send game attached

This is a clever feature, and it can make your life easier provided your opponent also uses ECTool. Remember that each game you play is stored in a game file with the extension *.ect, which is placed in the 'Games' subdirectory. This *.ect file is updated every time you change it. When the 'Send game attached' option is checked, a copy of the game file is attached to the message. When EC Tool retrieves the message, it will automatically put that file in the games directory (and keep a backup copy of the old file). It saves you a lot of trouble, since you won't have to enter manually your opponent's move and his time details. Try it!


Send PGN (i.e. Portable game Notation): PGN is a standard way of recording games and game headers (names, tournament, date, etc.
Send PGN (i.e. Portable game Notation)

 PGN is a standard way of recording games and game headers (names, tournament, date, etc.) in ASCII format. It is neat and intelligible. Most popular chess programs (ChessBase, Fritz, etc.) can read PGN, which makes it easy to exchange data between different programs. Besides, play-by-mail organisations usually ask you to use the PGN format when you send in your completed games. I recommend that you leave this box checked at all times.


Send diagram: You can choose to send you opponent a sketchy diagram made up with ASCII characters. Not absolutely necessary, but
Send diagram

You can choose to send you opponent a sketchy diagram made up with ASCII characters. Not absolutely necessary, but it can come in handy sometimes.


Send signature: Here you chose whether you want a signature (cf. above) to accompany your message.
Send signature

Here you choose whether you want a signature  to accompany your message.


An actual game

Now that all the preliminaries operations have been successfully completed, we may start a game.

(1) Make sure you've filled in all the relevant fields in the Main dialogue, including your opponent's name and e-mail address. You can also use the address book

(2) Put your mouse cursor on the 'e' pawn and drag it to e4.

(3) If you play with a time limit, go to 'Date/Time', check 'Send date register', click on the '?' next to 'Sent'. This will display the calendar. If you agree with the date, click 'OK'. Since you have spent no time over that move, you can leave the other settings unchanged. But in future, you'll have to enter your reflection time as well as his.

(4) Go to the Options dialogue, and check that everything there is the way you want it to be.

(5) Click on the icon labelled 'Message Editor'. You'll see what your opponent will receive. If you wish to, you can add a message, as you would with any e-mail client. For instance you can introduce yourself briefly (which is good etiquette), offer him some conditional moves, etc. You can also use the message editor to send normal e-mails, of course. See below for more details.

(6) Next you put the message in the queue by clicking 'Queue'. You can queue several messages and send them all at once when you're connected to your server. Clicking on 'Mail' and 'Mailboxes' in the main screen will show you which messages are in the queue, with the option to modify them in case you change your mind before sending them

(7) Once you are connected to your service provider, you can click 'Send/Retrieve' to send and/or retrieve your mail.

(8) Now, your opponent has received your move and sent you his reply. You go to 'Load game' and select the game by double clicking on it, or by highlighting it and pressing OK. You enter his move and, if necessary, his time details. You then play your move, enter your time details if necessary, and send the move back as usual. Please note that if your opponent uses ECTool as well, and selects the 'Send file attached' option, you won't have to enter his move and time details.


Address Book

You can maintain an address book with all the particulars concerning your regular opponents. To do this, go to 'Utilities' > 'Address book'. If you've got a *.bmp picture of your opponent, ECTool will display it provided you enter its path in the 'Photo' field. The rest is obvious: you can add, delete, edit, sort and insert addresses, as you would with your usual e-mail client.


Credits

I wish to say thanks to all people that help me in developing ECTOOL. My apologies if I forget somebody.

Manfred Rosemboon (Beta testing)

Remi Pach (Help file and testing)

Paul Barrow (testing)

 Mike Leahy (Chess diagram component)

 Artchil Gogava (Internet Mail Suite Component)

 Santiago Portela (Indent List Box)

 Roberto Alvarez (IECG, tester)

 Wayne Pierce (testing)

Marcus Seger (testing)

Richard Bradley

Susan C. Thibodeau

Frank E. Hambaro

[………..]

I wish also to say thanks to all registered users.


Registering ECTOOL

Ectool is shareware, then if you wish continue using it after a trial period you must register.(The unregistered version has a 20 moves per game limitation ). The registration will be valid for ALL the future versions of ECTOOL.

To register ECTOOL please send a  $15 U.S. dollars (or 2.000 pts for spanish users  or the equivalent in any other changeable funds) CHECK  payable to :

ANDRES VALVERDE TORESANO

To the following mailing address :

ANDRES VALVERDE TORESANO

PLAZA IBIZA 1, 8º A

04005. ALMERIA. SPAIN

I will send you the register keyfile by email (Don't forget to note your email address)