Hello…

The development of a military simulation, which is often called a war game, is still probably the most difficult of all games to develop. This is not so much the fault of the genre itself today but the fact that such games do not have the popularity among developers that 3D games do. As a result there are less tools and information available for developers who are interested in such an endeavor.

As a software engineer and military historian-analyst for so many years, I have always had a deep interest in combining my professional expertise and interests with my passion for the study of military history and analysis, which would hopefully result in the development of my own military simulation.

To date, this has not happened due to a variety if responsibilities I have had for my career over the many years I have spent in it. Now that I have retired from professional development, I can concentrate on this interest alone.

The first result then is my application called the AGKWorkbench, with which the first upcoming release will support a complete database system that military simulation developers can use to store the necessary data that such development requires.

Currently, I am working on completing a basic set of documentation for anyone who may be interested in reviewing this work or using it.

The first release, which I expect to publish in the next 2 weeks or so, will be fairly raw, with several issues that I am already aware of and plan on correcting.

Nonetheless, there will be enough in this first release that anyone should be able to use it for their own development efforts or instead, provide me with suggestions for updates.

Like all such releases, this one will be completely free and Open Source. It will be released under the generous MIT license with the single restriction that my software cannot be sold “as is” for profit. Barring this, anyone may use the code for their own purposes whether it is commercial or not.

If there are any questions or comments, please leave them here in this thread.

Thank you…

Steve Naidamast Sr. Software Engineer

The coding for the first phase of the AGKWorkbench has been completed. In the interim, clean-up and corrections have been also completed.

It should be noted that this first release is a rather raw one. As a result, I expect those developers who are interested in using the project for their own work will have many suggestions and criticisms. A number of expected criticisms have already been addressed in the Release Notes for the project's documentation.

The first-phase documentation has also been completed with only a few touch-ups to the Firebird SQL Helper data access layer documentation remaining.

Work has now commenced for the creation of the distribution package, which should be ready for release some time in the coming week.

Please also note that developers who need assistance in understanding database, or in particular, the Firebird Database Engine, as well as coding SQL for their own needs may contact the Black Falcon Software website (http://www.blackfalconsoftware.com) through the site's Contact Page for support or simply leave your questions in this thread.

Thank you all of you who have been waiting for this release for your patience...

Steve Naidamast
Sr. Software Engineer

The AGKWorkbench has finally been released.

The project has been a tremendous effort over the last 5 or 6 months. And the more I designed and implemented the features, the more I found that needed to be considered and eventually implemented as well.

For those who have been waiting for this release, I thank you and appreciate your patience. I hope you find my work worth this wait.

You may download the package in zip-file format from the following link... https://blackfalconsoftware.com/agkworkbench/

Please review the included ReadMe File so that you know where to find both of the included HELP files, the project source, and the solution (.sln) file.

This package is completely free and Open Source.

If anyone requires any assistance with any part of the system or the database aspects of the current release, please don't hesitate to contact me through the Contact form of my website or directly at the following email address... blackfalconsoftware@outlook.com

Steve Naidamast
Sr. Software Engineer

Just a small update here...

I have begun work on the necessary cascaded delete processes.

This will allow developers to delete all of the associated data for the delete level that is selected. For example, if a developer decides to delete a simulation record, all data associated with the selected simulation record will be deleted. This means that all scenarios, opponent groups, opponents, unit officers, and unit data.

Please leave any comments, suggestions, or questions on this thread...

Steve Naidamast
Sr. Software Engineer

Another update on developments for the AGKWorkbench...

I have nearly completed the work for the cascaded deletes of the hierarchies inherent in the AGKWorkbench.

This work required a number of updates to the database engine, which will now have to be implemented into the application with an easy-to-use interface for developers reviewing this software. This additional interface work will make it very easy for developers to simply update the database based upon an interface option.

However, in doing this work, I came across a major issue with the Equipment Editor, which if selected in the interface,will not insert or update properly. This is because of an additional field to the EQUIPMENT table that was not accounted for in the processing.

This work has just been completed and is in testing for the integrity of the processes.

I am hoping to get these updates out to the field in the next several weeks.

Until then, if anyone has any issues with running the processes in this application, please contact me at my email address... blackfalconsoftware@outlook.com

Thank you...

Steve Naidamast
Sr. Software Engineer

Work continues on refining the AGKWorkbench, which will hopefully see a new, updated release in several weeks.

Numerous interface modifications have been made to those aspects of the interface that were either found to be not functioning properly or providing idiosyncratic behavior. However, the largest amount of work has gone into implementing cascaded deletes, which allows for clearing out of all data associated within any specific level of the overall hierarchy of data. For example, if one deletes a simulation record, than all scenarios, opponent groups, opponents, unit officers, and unit data related to this simulation would all be deleted.

This implementation also includes quite a number of the modifications to the database so that numerous new stored procedures and table updates have been developed to support it.

The last piece of work that needs to be completed is an easy to use interface option that will allow a developer to easily update the database without having to do any work with all of the SQL code involved.

Please leave any comments, suggestions, or questions regarding the AGKWorkbench in this thread or use my site’s Contact Form at http://www.blackfalconsoftware.com…

Steve Naidamast
Sr. Software Engineer