DECK COMMANDER Card Cataloger and Deck Building System for MAGIC: The Gathering(tm) Written by Richard Brown -------------------------------------------------------------------------- BRIEF HISTORY I wrote this program to help my friends and I to keep track of our cards and provide us with some useful information about our decks. We had seen a few programs here and there that did this, but they left out pieces of this and that, so, after being prodded several times, I set out on this program. We've tried to put in as much as possible while still making the interface as user friendly as I could keep it. The files do store a great amount of detail and I hope that you can use it with the zeal my friend has. :) FILES REQUIRED The only file needed to run the program is DECKCOM.EXE. All data files will be created if they do not already exist. FILES SUPPLIED With this program, I am distributing the MASTER.CRD file as we have entered if for our decks and collections, I believe you will find most of the Revised and Dark already entered. There are also some Antiquities, Legends and Arabian Knights entered. An index file (MASTER.IDX) is provided to forego the creation of the index file upon running the program. Also provided is a file utility program (UTILITY.EXE) for cleaning the master file and realigning deck files. Also supplied is this file, DECKCOM.DOC, and the program's release history file, HISTORY.TXT. The history file also contains back burner projects for the program and rough estimates for when bells and whistles will be completed. :) FILES CREATED If needed, the program will create a master card file (MASTER.CRD) and all deck files that you enter, ending with a DCK extension. This program only operates on files on the CURRENT directory, NOT the programs directory. The MASTER.IDX will also be recreated when the program closes, if it does not already exist. COMPATIBILITY To this date, past versions of the program's data files are compatible with each other. As the program loads, it checks the master file to ensure compatibility with the current program. All deck files are also checked when they are loaded. IMPORTANT ! ! ! All decks that you create are based on YOUR master card file. That means, if you delete your master file, or you copy somebody else's master file over yours, your decks are 99% sure to be completely messed up! Also, deck files cannot be traded back and forth because of this limitation. Why? Because the way the program is set up saves ALOT of disk space! (47K / 1000 master cards, decks keeping below 300 bytes!) Within the next few releases, I will be creating a utility program that will be included with the release. This will do file conversions if needed and also solve the problem of the not being able to swap and trade files. IMPORTANT ! ! ! If you use the supplied UTILITY.EXE to clean your master card file, you must also run the realign option in that program to adjust your deck files to the new master file. This is a best guess match and should align your decks correctly 98% of the time. :) STARTING THE PROGRAM From the dos command line, type DECKCOM. You must be in the directory where the program is located as the master file is also located there. As the program loads, it will inform you of any compatibility issues with the current master file and will create the master file index if it does not reside on the disk. If the index must be created, this may take a couple of minutes depending on the number of entries in the master file. Once this index is created and written to disk (when deckcom is exited), the index will not have to be recreated (unless UTILITY.EXE is run). When asked, press the enter key to continue on with the program. EXITING THE PROGAM From the main display screen, you may exit the progam by pressing Q. If a deck is open, it will be closed and packed, then the master file will be closed and the program will terminate. MAIN DISPLAY WINDOW This window is your central control point for the program. The top area of the screen displays the progam version number, what file you are editing and headers for the list area. The middle section of the screen in the list area in which all cards will be displayed. A hilight bar moves up and down the list by using the UP or DOWN arrows, PGUP or PGDN to jump screens, and HOME or END to move to the beginning or end of the list. The lower section of the screen is the status bar and command line, upon pressing a command key, this area may be used for additional input or to indicate the status of a command. LIST AREA CARD DISPLAY Cards are displayed in the list area of the main screen, either in alpha order if displaying the master file, or according to the deck sort keys that may be in effect. The display is seen in the following order - Cnt Number of cards in inventory (master) or in the deck. Name Name of the card, up to 30 characters may be entered, may be truncated on the display screen. Color The card color is indicated by colored squares in this area. No squares means no color, a lightgray color is colorless. The program supports multi colored cards, including all colors! Type Type of card - Land, Enchant, Sorcery, Summon, Instant, Artifact or Interrupt Casting Casting cost of the card. The first number indicates the number of colored mana, the second is colorless mana. X may be selected for the number of colorless mana. Multi colored casting costs are not supported at this time. Abilities Short forms of the abilities for the card - Otr Other Pro Protection Fly Flying tAp Taps a Card Rgn Regeneration Utp Untaps Card Bnd Banding Ntp Doesnt Tap 1st First Strike Mna Provides Mana (non-Land) Trm Trample Dmg Damage Lwk Landwalk Hel Healing or Prevent Damage Ratio N/A is the master file. The draw ratio for a particular card in a deck. MAIN DISPLAY COMMANDS The following commands may be used on the main display, to receive a listing of these commands in the program, press ? for the help screen. Most commands may be aborted by pressing the escape key. Available for both master and deck file editing: F5 Switches to the master file display F6 Switches to the deck file display Q Exits the program P Prints master or deck file S Sorts the master or deck file on primary and secondary keys + Increments count by 1 - Decrements count by 1 INS Inserts a card into the deck from the master file, or inserts a new entry into the master file DEL Sets the count to zero. When a deck is closed and packed, the zero count cards and invalid cards are removed. CtlDEL Sets all counts to zero, you will be asked to confirm. Available only for deck file editing: F2 Recalculates highlighted card's checksum CtlF2 Recalculates all cards' checksums F9 Displays the deck breakdown windows L Loads a deck C Closes a deck Available only for master file editing: F4 Switches between Alphabetical sorted list and user sorted list ENTER Edits the currently highlighted entry INSERTING AND EDITING MASTER CARD ENTRIES When you press INS or ENTER over a highlighted card, your begin the editing process for the master card entries. If you had pressed INS, all values default to blank, none or zero. During the editing process, all entry is down on the last line of the screen. The line just above this displays the effects of your editing. You may press enter alone on any of the prompts to accept the default or what has already been entered. A blank name (on new cards) or pressing escape at one of the other prompts will abort the process. First you are asked for a new card name, this may be up to 30 characters in length. A blank name will abort the editing process. Next you must select the type of card by pressing the capitalized letter corresponding to the type you wish to assign. If the card is not an artifact, you are asked to select the card's color. The color squares will be toggled on and off as you press the appropriate capitalized letter. Press N for none to clear all the colors off immediately. Press enter when you are down selecting colors. Artifacts are automatically assigned Colorless. If the card is not a land, you will be asked for casting cost. First in colored mana, select 0-9 or enter to keep the default. Then in colorless mana, select 0-9 or X or enter to keep the default. Finally, if the card is not a sorcery, you will be asked to select special abilities. For lands, Provide Mana (Mna) will not be available as they are assumed to provide mana if they have a color assigned to them. Select from the abilities by pressing the capitalized letter. Selected abilities will be highlighted. Press enter when you are finished. Currently, about 3 or 4 abilities will display on the screen without difficulty, however, after that, the screen display may become cluttered. When you are done editing the card, the program will check to ensure that it is not duplicating another card in the master file. If so, the editing will be thrown out. If not, the card will take it's new place in the file. DELETING MASTER CARD ENTRIES There is no way provided to delete master card entries in the program. This is done to prevent widespread error in the deck files. However, you may rename a card to "delete.xxxx" where xxxx is some unique identifier (1, 2, 3, etc) and then run the UTILITY.EXE program. The file utility program will delete all duplicate cards (should they occur) and all cards that begin with DELETE. from the deck. Please note that the period MUST follow word delete for the card to be deleted. Also, after running the cleaning function in the utility program, you should run the realign decks function. The master index will be deleted when the master file is cleaned, when Deck Commander is started again, the index will be recreated. The old master file will be named MASTER.BAK. SORTING THE FILES Press S on the file display to sort the master or deck files. You are allowed to specify a primary and secondary key for the sort. The available keys are Count, Name, Color, Type and Casting Cost. However, Name will not be available on the master file as a primary key since the alpha sort is always available by pressing the F4 key. Select the keys by pressing the number in front of them, escape will abort the sort and leave the current sort intact if one exists. When finished, the screen will update according to the new sort keys. LOADING A DECK OR CREATING A NEW DECK When the deck file display is active, you may press L to load a deck file. A picklist of files on the disk will be displayed. In order from left to right on each line is displayed the filename, version number, name of deck, and number of cards in the deck. You may highlight a deck using the up and down arrows, then press enter to load that deck. You may also press the insert (INS) key to create a new deck. If so, the picklist will disappear and you will be asked for a filename and then a description of your deck (15 characters). DO NOT include the DCK extension in your filename. During loading of a deck or creation of a new deck, version numbers are checked and updated if necessary or a compatibility error may be issued. If you entered an invalid filename, an error will also be issued. CLOSING A DECK While the deck file display is active, you may press C to close the deck. If there are any invalid cards or zero cards, you will be asked if you wish to pack the deck file. Answering Y will remove these cards, N will leave them in the file, and pressing the escape key will leave the deck open. ADDING A CARD TO A DECK On the deck file display, pressing the insert key pops up a picklist and info window. You may move through the picklist using either the up and down arrow keys or you may type letters to progressively find a match to what you are typing. As you move through the list, the info window on the left shows the card color, type and casting costs. Press enter to added the card to your deck, escape to abort adding a card. If the card is already in your deck, its count will be incremented by one, otherwise, the card is added with a count of one. DISPLAYING DECK INFORMATION Pressing F9 while in the deck file display shows the deck breakdown windows. To the left is a picklist indicating the breakdowns to choose from and the right window displays the breakdown pane. As you move up and down in the picklist, the right pane changes according to the highlighted breakdown. Pressing escape will exit the breakdown windows and return you to the deck file display. RECALCULATING DECK CARD CHECKSUMS This function is used should a deck become misaligned or you change the spelling of the name of a card. If the program detects that the name of a card has changed or a card has become misaligned, an asterisk (*) will appear after the count on the deck display. If the card is correct, you may hilight it and press F2 to force the checksum to be correct. Pressing Control+F2 will do the same for all cards in the deck. If the card IS NOT correct, you should not recalculate the checksum, but use the UTILITY.EXE program to realign the decks. The utility program will attempt to find the correct card by matching up the stored checksum. Decks normally become misaligned from deleting master card entries or restoring a backup master card file or other file. PRINTING THE MASTER OR DECK FILES Pressing P on either the master or deck file display will print the files. Make sure your printer is on before you do this. The master file will be printed in alphabetical order and the deck file will be printed in the current sort order. THE FILE UTILITY PROGRAM Currently, the file utility program (UTILITY.EXE) allows you to clean the master card file, display the master card file, and realign decks. Pressing X will exit the utility program. In cleaning the master card file, the original master file is copied to MASTER.BAK. Then, all duplicate cards are removed and all cards beginning with "DELETE." are removed. The new master file is written and the master index file is erased. You should run the realign decks option next to make sure that all your decks correctly reflect the cards in the master file. Display master file will list the cards in the master file in the order that they were entered into the file. Realign decks will verify the checksums on all the deck cards in every deck file. If a checksum is incorrect, it will attempt to compensate by finding the correct card. If it cant do this, then it will leave the card alone. As it proceeds, it will tell you what cards it's replacing and what cards it's leaving alone. DISCLAIMER AND TRADEMARKS The program is provided AS IS and the author makes no claims or guarantees other than what is stated in the above text. Furthermore, the author takes no responsibility for loss or damage done directly or indirectly by this program. Magic: The Gathering(tm) and Deckmaster(tm) are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. and Garfield Games. All rights reserved. CONTACTING THE AUTHOR I am releasing this program into the public domain so that everyone may benefit from it. However, if you find it useful, then a $10 contribution to my work would be appreciated. For this, I will send you the next major upgrade to the program. Also, any comments, suggestions or even errors (heaven forbid, even though I know they exist!) would be greatly appreciated. Richard Brown 171 Nebraksa Street Lake Elsinore, Ca 92530 Or you may reach me via Ken Jensen at internet address KJCTD@ix.netcom.com ENJOY !