Free useful thing for those hosting a tasting

[Eric Menchen]

I like the concise version, as long as there is a comment line above telling me all the options. Disclaimer: I write code for a living.

[Julian D. A. Wiseman]

Roy Hersh has given the software a plug, on page 5 of issue 73 (December 2012) of his newsletter.

[Roy Hersh]

Well deserved Julian!

[Andy Velebil]

Yes, and even I was able to figure it out and make my own. That's saying a lot given my poor computer skills LOL
Thanks Julian

[Julian D. A. Wiseman]

Yes, and even I was able to figure it out and make my own. That's saying a lot given my poor computer skills

Most people will find that making their first set of placemats requires a little time — maybe an hour or two. So don’t save the task until the day before the tasting, when there will be no shortage of things to do. Instead, make your first with a week or two spare. Start on the manual page, at the large green box entitled “Making Your First Placemat: Advice for Beginners”.

[Eric Menchen]

O.k., I'll throw this out there for Julian or an expert on this. I once made a sheet where there was one row across. I went to make a new sheet based on that, but I see the baseline has changed significantly, so I should probably use the new baseline ... How so I make an 11x17, landscape, with one row of six glasses across the top. I want there to be blank space below. Any pointers? (FYI, the 6 are 1955, 1970, 1977, 1985, 1992, and 2000 Taylor )

[Andy Velebil]

I've alerted Julian to this. He's a bit busy so give him a bit to reply.

[Eric Menchen]

I managed to get things to the top of the page by changing the lower margin (/MarginB). This also put the names and glass count stuff near the top too, but that's o.k.

[Julian D. A. Wiseman]

How fiddly do you want to be? What you’ve done works, so that’s fine.

Alternatively, add an extra item of Titles etc, which is blank. Then set PermittedPackingStyles to contain only one item, so
/PermittedPackingStyles [ [ [0 1] [1 1] [2 1] [3 1] [4 1] [5 1] [0 0] ] ] def

That spacestem over the page, so y=1 is the top, y=0 is the bottom. Make sure that GlassesOnSheets is set correctly.

(Code not tested, so forgive any typos.)

Request to admins: Admin control panel > Posting > BBCodes > Add a new BBCode > “{TEXT}” = “<tt>{TEXT}</tt>”, please.

[Julian D. A. Wiseman]

Perhaps there is a better reply. If wanted I could add /TopRow to the list of possible items in PermittedPackingStyles. Would that help? (And have you tried /GaiaElegant, an elegant arrangement of six glasses on 8½″×11″?)

[Eric Menchen]

Perhaps there is a better reply. If wanted I could add /TopRow to the list of possible items in PermittedPackingStyles. Would that help? (And have you tried /GaiaElegant, an elegant arrangement of six glasses on 8½″×11″?)

/TopRow would be nice for me, but I admit that I do smaller tastings for my friends that don't measure up to the typical user of this software. I think I hosted a tasting with 8, 4, 5, and now 6, for which I have made placemats.

For this one I used the margin trick and printed those out, and then I tried /Gaia or /GaiaElegant (I think actually the former as I started with an old placement instead of the current version) and printed those out as well. I took both to the venue and decided I liked the Gaia(Elegant) design better. 6 across the top was a bit cramped.

[Julian D. A. Wiseman]

New version has extra possible values for use in PermittedPackingStyles: /TopRow /MiddleRow /BottomRow.

But I also prefer /Gaia(Elegant).

Please always start from the latest version. Things improve.

[Eric Menchen]

Please always start from the latest version. Things improve.

Understood. But I was hacking, and my attempts to hack the new one weren't working so well, so I started with something I had already modified before. But the new version is really cool with the error report at the end when you render it.

[Julian D. A. Wiseman]

But the new version is really cool with the error report at the end when you render it.

That became the default in April 2011. You were using an ancient version.

[Julian D. A. Wiseman]

I admit that I do smaller tastings for my friends that don't measure up to the typical user of this software. I think I hosted a tasting with 8, 4, 5, and now 6, for which I have made placemats.

The software is used for tastings small, great, and sizes in between. For example, SideBySideGlassesTastingNotes is a parameter that should be true only in tastings of ≤3 glasses.
 

[Julian D. A. Wiseman]

my attempts to hack the new one weren't working so well

Please don’t hack. Instead tell me what is missing, or too complicated, or unclear, and then I can fix the problem. As I did today.

[Eric Menchen]

my attempts to hack the new one weren't working so well

Please don’t hack. Instead tell me what is missing, or too complicated, or unclear, and then I can fix the problem. As I did today.

You assume I make the placements well ahead of time I thank you for your past work and continual efforts. For this tasting I printed out the placements about 2 hours beforehand. I'll use the new-and-improved version next time.

placemat.jpg (37.29 KiB) Viewed 15518 times

[Julian D. A. Wiseman]

Thank you for posting the picture.

Did you change MaxRadius to be materially less than the default of 150? Me no like.

[Eric Menchen]

Thank you for posting the picture.
Did you change MaxRadius to be materially less than the default of 150? Me no like.

No. I printed on 11x17" paper, USL2. Those circles were quite large.

[Julian D. A. Wiseman]

I printed on 11x17" paper, USL2. Those circles were quite large.

Oh good, that would work. FYI one can fit six glasses, in Gaia arrangement, on 8½″×11″ (e.g.).