Loading an Email

You can load the email-file into gp_vcon via the "Load Email" button on the main window.

The email should be saved as a plain-text file, and given an appropriate name to discern it from the others. We name ours as follows : nflab_200401.txt , where "01" is the week number, "2004" the season, and the league is "nflab". This keeps it unique from other league files we might have. However, you can name them anyway you choose.

The file should have loaded correctly if you see, next to the Load Email button, the League, Week, and Season of the report.

Error Apparent

While attempting to load the email, gp_vcon will check it for any common formatting errors. These errors can occur because the client email software takes it upon itself to reformat the original mail sent from your GM.
There are currently three common formatting errors gp_vcon will attempt to trap on loading :

1. Word-wrapped emails.
   Because the report arrives in the email as part of the main-text, some clients will happily wrap the report so that it fits into the viewing window. Generally, this shouldn't be a problem, but sometimes, when saved, the wrapping is also applied, destroying the report format essential for gp_vcon to function correctly. At this time, gp_vcon will not attempt to fix this, and will report the error and ask you to load another mail.
   
   
2. AOL Formatted emails.
   AOL has the ability to strip certain formatting tags from the mail, thinking that those tags are HTML formatting tags, when in fact they aren't. This doesn't always happen, but when it does, it is necessary to reapply some of the most important tags. The two tags it strips out are the B and P tags. The B tag creates large-Bold text, while the P tag denotes page-breaks. gp_vcon can re-insert the missing P tags, but cannot however, fix the B tags. At least in this way, although some of the report will look strange through the PDF export, the core of the formatting remains intact.
   
   
3. Leading space-stripped emails.
   Other clients will remove all leading spaces from the mail, which, although useful for your standard email is not good for a gameplan report. Unfortunately this problem breaks the play-by-play formatting that gp_vcon uses to interpret the game for replay. However, gp_vcon can fix this without too much trouble.
   When a particular problem is discovered, gp_vcon will notify you of the error and, if available, will attempt to fix it. If you choose to fix the error, the file will be saved under a slighty different name (so that you have the original still intact), and reloaded automatically.
   
   
4. Hotmail Formatted emails.
   It is possible to import a report from a Hotmail webpage.
   Using you browser, view the report as you would any other email, via the inbox. The whole mail will be opened in the webpage. Depending on which browser and Operating System (Windows / Mac) you are using, the following process may be slightly different, but the end result will be the same.
   If you are able, shift/right click on the web page and choose "Save As" from the popup menu, and save the page as type "HTML Source" or "Web Page Only".
   Or, from the File menu, choose "Save As" and select the page type "HTML Source" or "Web Page Only".
   On Internet Explorer in Windows, you'll have to give the filename an extension of ".html", otherwise it will convert the page to text. Netscape in Windows, and Mac browsers, you can give it a file extension of ".txt".
   Once saved, you can open the report as normal in gp_vcon. Note though, that when gp_vcon converts the file, it SAVES the fixed file with another filename (to prevent you accidentally losing the original). The filename will invariably be something like "fix_MYFILE.txt" - that's the filename you gave it, with "fix_" on the front.
   
   Note : If you must use Hotmail, and don't want to mess around with saving webpages, you can gain access to it via Outlook Express :
   >From the Tools menu, create a New Account, and choose Hotmail as your email provider. Express will then ask you for your Hotmail account details, and will then attempt to login and retrieve your mail. Note: This may initially take a while to perform, so you may need some patience.
   Express allows you to save the email as a plain text file, keeping the original formatting.
   
   
   
5. BTInternet / BTOpenworld Formatted emails.
   It is possible to import a report from a BTInternet/BTOpenworld webpage.
   Using you browser, view the report as you would any other email, via the inbox. The whole mail will be opened in the webpage. Depending on which browser and Operating System (Windows / Mac) you are using, the following process may be slightly different, but the end result will be the same.
   If you are able, shift/right click on the web page and choose "Save As" from the popup menu, and save the page as type "HTML Source" or "Web Page Only".
   Or, from the File menu, choose "Save As" and select the page type "HTML Source" or "Web Page Only".
   On Internet Explorer in Windows, you'll have to give the filename an extension of ".html", otherwise it will convert the page to text. Netscape in Windows, and Mac browsers, you can give it a file extension of ".txt".
   Once saved, you can open the report as normal in gp_vcon.
   

Other Web-based mail

There are some web-based email facilities that allow you to save the mail as a plain text file. These include www.eudoramail.com and www.lycos.com.

One thing you cannot do is copy and paste the email-text from a webpage. It destroys the formatting of the file, and so both the Official (SSI) Gameplan printing program and gp_vcon will not function correctly.

Yahoo! web-mail is NOT supported.
Currently, there is no way to save a Yahoo! mail as plain-text, and so it is not advised that you use this method to receive your Gameplan reports.