Build the best - destroy the rest!

Saturday 2 October 2010

Robocode 1.7.2.2 Beta

This is the beta version of Robocode version 1.7.2.2 that now includes a Robocode Control API with the .NET plug-in, which makes it possible to run battles from a .NET application and retrieve the results etc. Help files are included with Robocode, and the documentation of the new API is available here.

Robocode has also been upgraded to use jni4net v0.8.0 that includes CLR 4.0 support for .NET. This means that robots can be written in e.g. the F# language. Actually, the .NET plugin includes sample robot written in F#.

A ReadMe has also been added for Robocode in both HTML and text (using Markdown syntax). The ReadMe should give the reader a good overview of Robocode.

We encourage everybody to test this new Beta version as much as possible and report any bugs found at our Bugs Tracker at SourceForge. Then we will do everything we can to fix issues before the final release of version 1.7.2.2.

In the following we list the bugfixes, new features, and other changes made with the 1.7.2.2 Beta version.

Bugfixes


  • Bug [3043944] - Robot PrintStream doesn't handle write in a portable fashion.

  • Bug [3077562] - Wrong headings with the JuniorRobot. Thanks goes to Mr. Kschan for finding and providing a fix for this bug. :-)

  • Bug [3043884] - Development Options remove wrong item.

  • Bug [3043932] - JavaDoc missing _Robot and similar.


New Sample robots


  • Tuan Anh Nguyen provided a modified version of the Interactive sample robot named Interactive_v2, which use absolute movement (up, left, down, right) on the screen, which can be easier to control than the original Interactive sample robot. Both Interactive robots now use both the arrow keys and the W, A, S, D key for moving the robot.

  • SampleFs (written for .NET with the #F langugage) has been added along with the Visual Studio 2010 project file for it. This is available with the .NET plug-in.


New features


  • Robocode has been upgraded to use jni4net v0.8 with CLR 4.0 support.

  • Implemented Robocode .NET Control API plug-in (robocode.control.dll) with documentation.

  • Req [2932291] - Added ReadMe.txt (using Markdown syntax) and ReadMe.html. The ReadMe is also available from the Help menu.

  • Req [2973605] - Enable/disable development paths.

  • Req [2974806] - Provide JuniorRobot template for inexperienced users.


Changes


  • It is not necessary to specify -Dsun.io.useCanonCaches=false anymore with the startup scripts for Robocode and RoboRumble as Robocode sets this internally when running under Windows. Hence, this property has been removed from all .bat, .sh, and .command files for Robocode.

  • Robocode will not notify about Beta versions anymore per default. However, a new option in the Common Options (under Preferences) makes it possible to enable/disable notifications about new Beta versions.

  • The tabs for the Common and Development Options in the Preferences window are now the first tabs.


Download Robocode 1.7.2.2 Beta from here
Download Robocode .NET plugin 1.7.2.2 Beta from here