controls.dat application: status update?

[papaschtroumpf]

I guess this is for HC or SirP:

What's the status of the application to display a "how to play" screen based on controls.dat?

Now that I got the full CD set for mame I really understand the need for that app, it's a pain to have to figure out the controls every time you start an unfamiliar game.

The main reason I'm asking for a status/ETA is that if it's still months away I may work on my own temporary solution (I already have a proof of concept but it's a hodge-podge of Perl and ImageMagick to pre-generate the pics, so not very "general purpose").

In the meantime I'll try and do my part and enter some games in the database...

[SirPoonga]

Howard was going to release something soon.  Will have to see what he replies.
He might be waiting on me.  I was going to add two flags to the dat files.  One if it has a cocktail dip (from listxml), 2 tilt would come from listxml.

Unfortunately I probably won't have time until after thanksgiving to finish that.

[Howard_Casto]

yup waiting on sirp  The beta viewer works and works quite well I might add.  All that remains is the finalization of the format which will happen shortly and then i can tweak a few things to better suit these new options.  You'll see it before the end of the year guaranteed.  

[papaschtroumpf]

Looking forward to it!
In the meantime I'll just lookup the controls manually in the ini file when I can't figure it out by playing to the game