It's now half time for our NFL Drive Chart tutorial and so I thought I'd share another Popcorn Chart with you.
This one is a Chess Game Viewer and it's a lot easier to construct:
The image above is a screen shot of the Excel 2007 Chess Game Viewer. The workbook is another implementation of the Popcorn Chart as series pop off the screen as chess pieces are captured.
If you've been reading my blog you know that I try to avoid IF() functions whenever possible. See I Heart IF for details. Previously I shared about using boolean expressions as one method to eliminate many IF() functions. The way this is usually done works well with numeric formula results. The Chess Game Viewer demonstrates a technique to do the same with formulas that result in text output. The key is the REPT function, which does not error out with zero repetitions.
The project demonstrates conditional chart formatting without VBA and using images as marker fill.
It showcases the advantage of using a state machine as input to the dynamic chart. This gives us the ability to view a game forward and backwards.
The Chess Game Viewer uses one compound chart comprised of a Stacked Column chart type for the chessboard and an XY (Scatter) chart type for the chess pieces.
The chart sheet is protected but there is no password. So to dig into the working details, just Unprotect the sheet.
You can find the controls to advance the game and to change the chessboard style at the bottom right corner of the chessboard.
I'd love to hear your feedback.
Here's the Excel 2007 workbook.
--- UPDATE ---
Okay, I've been getting a lot of requests to provide a copy of the chess viewer that will work in previous versions of Excel. Today, I made one, but it looks terrible. Excel 2007's graphics capability are far superior. At any rate, at least it works. Here it is...
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I haven't had a chance to look at it yet, but you impressed John Walkenbach enough for him to post a link from his site, so be prepared for a big jump in traffic today :)
Just a general comment; the Blog is really hard to navigate (unless it's just me). For instance the Home tab doesn't take you to the most recent post, and doesn't even have a Blog tab. Some non pseudo-latin words on the About page would be nice too :)
Best wishes anyway
Doug
Thanks again, as usual. Good stuff here.
It's not in my nature to regularly reply to posts but I've made an exception in this case. WoW
Amazing what's possible in Excel!
Would be even cooler if it could be used to play actual games -- is that doable?
@T-
Yes it is possible and I'm working on it!
You will be able to play a partner over the internet.
Regards,
Daniel Ferry
excelhero.com/blog
Your detailed examples are very nice and detailed on http://www.databison.com/index.php/multithreaded-vba-an-approach-to-processing-using-vbscript/
Daniel , can you do freelancing projects.If yes , please conform by email,then i will send u details by email .
Regards
Anil Verma
@Anil-
Actually I make 100% of my living from freelance work.
I'm always interested in new work.
Thanks for the compliments on my work.
I just sent you a PM.
Regards,
Daniel Ferry
excelhero.com/blog
daniel [dot] ferry at gmail [dot] com
You have some really good posts on here, however it took me a while to find this blog, why dont you promote this blog more often?
Nice to see some decent content amongst the dross that is now the internet.
Love the site - I'll check in again soon to pick up some more tips.
Where did you get this theme. Is this Wordpress?
Smart information&fantastic site.
This is a kewl wonder how to create such a thing. Cool place to find.
Super !!! Merci beaucoup :)
Love the blog, found it in bing, how do I subscribe?
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Hi, I just thought I would drop you a line and let you know your web site layout is really messed up on the Firefox browser. Seems to work fine in IE though. Anyhow keep up the great work.
Interesting post.
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Hi,
This blog is an amazing demonstration of Excel as a platform. One of Excel’s best qualities is the independent development environment it provides. Thanks to your blog, we can see how powerful and flexible it can be.
Your chess viewer is, again, quite impressive especially not using any VBA to implement it. My only concern is that somebody might get too excited and decide to present their own games. The good news is that the task isn’t impossible since your viewer is based on “ICCF numeric notation”. Such flexibility is probably good enough for the purpose of this exercise. The bad news is that what is shown is, in fact, a mere sequence of pictures and the viewer has no chess knowledge whatsoever. The problem is that chess community is more used to sharing games in PGN format. If somebody is interested in doing that he/she can visit How to publish a chess game on your blog
@nick -
You are right about the format that the viewer understands. I hope to get a chance (whenever I can find the time) to improve the viewer so that it does understand PGN. I would also like to make it so that it can be used to actually play a game over the net with a partner. Haven't found the time yet :(
Thanks for visiting and the link.
Regards,
Daniel Ferry
excelhero.com
Nice to see you make postings on this issue, I should bookmark this web site. Just keep up the good work.
Nice job! What an amazing website. Sincerely.
Hi
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I would also like to make it so that it can be used to actually play a game over the net with a partner. Haven't found the time yet :( Thanks for visiting and the link to my 32 lcd tv site!
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