Java Cargo Computer for Freelancer Version 1.1 - 06/09/2003
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This is a cargo computer for Freelancer.
It can calculate possible trade route between bases, systems, territories or within the whole universe
and display them on a map of the universe.



Disclaimer:
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I cannot be held responsible for any harm this program might cause to your system or the system of anybody else.
You will use the Java Cargo Computer at your own risk!!

The Java Cargo Computer does not need an established connection to the Internet.
If you have a firewall running and it asks you to allow this program to access the Internet say NO!
I would appreciate it if you could inform me when this happens.



Installation:
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Just unpack the ZIP to a directory of your choice.

You will need the Java2 SDK or JRE to run this program.
You can find it at http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.1/download.html

To start the program execute the JCC.bat (when using Windows)
(Alternatively you can execute the command line "javaw.exe -jar JCC.jar")



Changes since last version (version 1.0 - 04/30/2003):
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- Fixed a bug in the filter dialog. Sometime the "Remove" button did not become enabled.

- Corrected some commodity data.

- Corrected the jump holes available for Single-Player / Multi-Player.

- Saving / loading now includes the selected start and destination.

- Added column for the length (number of systems) for each trade route.

- Added column for profit per system for each trade route.

- Added a progress bar that shows how much of the calculation has been completed.

- Adjusted the column sizes to increase clearness of the table (This was necessary after the two new columns were added).

- Extended the filter to exclude trade route that contain a certain number of systems or more.

- When changing the start or destination the trade routes will be recalculated.

- The calcualtion runs in a thread with a lower priority (between "normal" and "lowest"). This will preserve more cpu time for other applications
  as well as the operating system and result in less impairment of theses processes.

- A new mode for calculating trade routes is available.
  The "normal" is the "One-Stop" mode. The trade routes will begin at the selected start and will end at the selected destination.
  One commodity is traded.

  The new one is the "Multi-Stop" mode. It will create trade routes that may contain more than one stop and include more than one
  commodity. These trade routes consist of a series of "normal" trade routes where the end of a trade route is the start for the
  next one. The route will not deviate from the shortest way from the selected start to the selected destination. There will be a
  maximum of one stop per system.
  All stops are chosen in order to maximize the profit of the multi-stop-trade-route.
  All filter settings will be applied when creating these trade routes.
  To see the details (every single trade route) of a multi-stop-trade-route use the context menu ("Show Details").

  Creating such trade routes is very expensive. For each multi-stop-trade-route a bunch of normal trade routes have to be created
  and checked in different combinations. So do not expect this calculation to terminate as fast as the "One-Stop". (The calculation
  may take up to 20 times longer - that's why I included the progress bar...).

  The available cargo space and money affect the process since the best trade route for a certain part of the route has to be
  selected. If the conditions change another selection might be better. So if you change these values recalculate the trade routes
  to be sure that you have a correct result.



Changes since last version (version 0.9 - 04/25/2003):
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- Fixed a bug in the filter dialog. Sometimes the "Add" button did not become enabled.

- Fixed a bug with the map. After closing the map the selection of another trade route from the table failed.

- Fixed a bug with the "Select Best Trade Route" button when changing the available money or cargo space. After changing one of these values
  using "Select Best Trade Route" did not affect the values of the best trade route if it was still the same.

- Fixed a bug in the data. Sheffield Station does not sell Jump Gate/Trade Lane Parts.

- Added buttons to exchange start and destination, to set the destination to the same as the start, and to set the start to the same as the destination.
  (Thanks for the hint, sfug)

- Now the map displays the name of the start and destination system of the selected trade route.

- I was told that the connections between the systems in single-player are not the same as in multi-player (Thank you Scorpion!).
  The map now has a multi-player and a single-player mode which uses different connections. The only effected connection at the time is the one from
  New Berlin to Sigma-13 which is only available in single-player mode. If someone knows of other connections that are not available in both
  modes please drop me a line - I will correct this.

- Added menus to the trade route table. When clicking right on the column with the start base or the destination base a popup menu will appear.
  You can use it to set the selected base, its system or its territory as the start or the destination.

- Adjusted the "Available Money" spinner. It now uses the Dollar format ("$x,xxx") and increases or decreases by $100 per step.
  Changing its value now affects the computed values of the currently selected trade route.

- The "Available Cargo" spinner now uses the format "x,xxx" (though there is no ship holding that much cargo - but it should be consistent).
  Changing its value now affects the computed values of the currently selected trade route.

- I changed the data format used by the Java Cargo Computer. (This should not affect the way the program works)



Changes since last version (version 0.8 - 04/24/2003):
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- I hope the data is correct now - I reworked every commodity on every base.
  If everything went fine I did not forget something and did not create new faulty data.

- Now there is a map of the universe including all systems. (Available via the menu "Map")
  It can show you the selected route and - hopefully - the shortest route between the selected
  start and destination system. (I know that sometimes there is more than one shortest route between
  two systems. The map will only show you one. I don't know if I will add support for multiple routes
  but I doubt it)

- Finally the Java Cargo Computer got an icon which replaces the default Java icon.

- Your stored settings should still work. I did not change anything there.

- The performance still seems alright to me. So I did not try to improve it.
  If you think there are things which could work faster (and maybe have an idea how to achieve this)
  I'll be pleased to hear you suggestions and do what I can ...



Plans for future versions:
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I'm not sure if there will be another version of the JCC. The last version took quite some time (much longer than I expected).
Nevertheless, if I get some interesting ideas... (I already received some very inspiring e-mails from some of you - thank you very much!!)



Notes:
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Please drop me a line if you encounter any bugs, have ideas for improvement, or want to know
something about the JCC.
This will help me to get this program running the way you and I want it to.
Thank you!