FVDB Sorted Board is a mirror of FVDB in 'Reverse Chronologically Sorted Order'. This sorting will make the latest post appear at the top, and noone will (hopefully) miss any posts. Besides that, the FVDB Sorted will show only the latest 30 posts. This will make page 'FVDB Sorted' load much faster. Also the FVDB Sorted will allow one to make a new post on that page towards the bottom (once again, it will be a speedy operation ...).

One may create bookmark(s) for faster surfing. If one is surfing say to FVDB or FVDB Sorted then it will save some keystrokes if a Bookmark is created rather than typing the whole URL. (How do you create a Bookmark ? For Netscape, first surf to the page for which you'll like to create the bookmark, then click on button, 'Bookmark' and then click on 'Add Bookmark'.)

It was always a sticking point (at least for me) to upload the chart file (a .GIF file) first and then to make a post which will display it and the comments about it.

So I did a little improvement (nay, actually this is a very significant improvement !) to allow for the 'uploading' the chart file and the post together (if one so wishes).

I of course will not go into details of the programming involved.

Two reasons -

• I'm a programmer and hate to talk about it.
• I've done testing of my code (unit test, intergration test) alas no live test. (It is time now to put this to test now ...)

Background (the boring details ... *sigh* always)

The browser (Netscape and IE) displays the images that are files in .gif, .jpeg ... formats. The other formats such as .bmp cannot be displayed directly by the browser. So it is necessary to have the 'picture' in either .gif or .jpeg format. The format .gif is ideally suited for charts where the background is fixed color and covers a very large area. (.jpeg is suitable for photographs.) In short, one should have a .gif file on the net so that the browser will be able to display it.

The higer versions of two most commonly used browsers (Netscape and IE) also enable the user to 'upload' any file from the client (i.e. the local machine such as the PC) to the server (i.e. the machine on which FundVision resides). (And a big disclaimer - I have no 'interest' in either Netscape or IE.) What interests us for the charts is the .gif file a visionary may be able to create on his/her local machine. Such a file can be uploaded and of course can be displayed in the post. (BTW , GIF stands for - Graphic Interchange Format.)

How does one generate .GIF file ?

(If you can get the chart on your screen, you can make a .gif out of it !)

Anything one sees on the screen can be 'captured' (meaning put in the 'clipboard') and saved to the local drive in the form of file in the various image formats including .gif. Default functionality of the operating system allows one to capture the screen-shot (for Windows machines the key Print Screen does it). And there are several applications that allows one to 'save' the captured screen. (I use MGI Photosuite.)

Here is how I create a .gif file of the chart. First I get the chart on the screen, then I hit 'PrintScreen' key. This captures the screen shot into 'clipboard'. Next I bring up MGI Photosuite (image editing program) and I 'paste' the image into MGI Photosuite. And then 'Save as' the captured image into a .GIF file. If one is having several windows on the screen and wishes to capture only the window that's active, then for a PC, one may use key stroker Alt-PrintScreen. (Alt-PrintScreen means hold the 'Alt' key down and hit 'PrintScreen' key.) That way one can get the window to be captured small enough so as to fit many monitors. (Especially the laptops. Typically laptops have smaller viewing area and it's a pain to see whole screen shots made on huge deskotop 21 inch monitor, on a small 14 inch monitor of laptop. So, personally I make smaller screen shots.)

There is a freeware program PrintKey, by Alfred Bollinger which allows one to capture and save the screen-shot. The freeware program can be downloaded from the softseek site. (Click here for surfing to the download page.)

How does one 'upload' the .GIF file ?

You'll see an entry '.GIF file to be uploaded' at the bottom of the posting area. This entry should be filled up with the filename of the .gif file one has created. And then click the 'Submit' button.

The 'Browse' button will explore the local disk(s) and it will be easy for one to choose the file ...

Again - This feature is has never been 'live-tested' by me. (I've done lots of test and those were completed successfully,) but I don't know how well it will stand up to the live test.

I'll turn this feature on tonight at around 8pm PST. All the new posts made after this time will have the new feature activated. Please report any problem you encounter to me at moderator@fundvision.com and salil_gangal@hotmail.com. I am ready to solve the problem(s) and to backout the feature (if it comes to it).

Any adverse effects ?

Yup. *sigh* The speed of posting will slow down when you're uploading the .GIF file. Also storing the chart files will eat into the space of FV.

(They say ... You can never have enough speed, enough disk-space and enough money. Sadly everything holds true here.)

It is a pain to include the HTML tags for the various 'expression' icons within the posts. So I though I'll do something about it.

I modified the program (what I've already modified earlier) so that it will translate the codes you put for the 'expression' (which I hope are easy to remember) into the proper HTML tags. This 'translation' will be invisible to the user and all s/he will have to remember is a few codes. So if I want the 'expression icon' of smile, I'll have to write text 'fvsmile' in the 'Text of the post'. In effect 'fvsmile' is the code, which will be translated to the HTML tag of the corresponding icon and the result is that the post will contain the smily face wherever you write fvsmile. (Please note that this will work only within the 'Text of the Post' entry.)

Here is the list of the codes, expression and the corresponding icons

Code	Expression	Icon
fvsmile	Smile
fvsad	Sad
fvangry	Angry
fvmad	Mad
fvwink	Wink (*tic*)
fvidea	Idea
fvnote1	Note
fvwarning	Warning
fvthup1	Thumbs Up 1
fvthdn1	Thumbs Down 1
fvthup2	Thumbs Up 2
fvthdn2	Thumbs Down 2
fvhandshake	Handshake
fv101	101
fvcheck	Check
fvemail	Email
fvquestion	Question
fvexclaim	Exclaimation
fvstar	Star
fvexplode	Explode
fvborg1	Borg 1
fvborg2	Borg 2
fvborgcube	Borg Cube
fvdata	Data
fvklingon	Klingon
fvferengi	Ferengi
fvcardassian	Cardassian
fvtelecomm	Telecomm
fventerprise	Enterprise
fvwow	WOW
fvnew1	New 1
fvnew2	New 2
fvnews	News
fvheart	Heart
fvalarm	Alarm
fvrocket	Rocket
fvdominos	Dominos
fvjunk1	Junk 1
fvjunk2	Junk 2
fvhot1	Hot 1
fvhot2	Hot 2
fvhot3	Hot 3
fvcaution	Caution
fvnote	Note
fvskull	Skull
fvterminator	Terminator
fvaragorn	Aragorn
fveowyn	Eowyn
fvgandalf	Gandalf
fvsmeagol	Smeagol
fvorc	Orc

Also, henceforth, you may submit a post with 'No Text In Post' without really typing anything in the post. Noteven a space or a carriage return.

- Salil V Gangal (February 28, 1999)