Colour
User
Guide
Version 3.60
Michael Napier
Tel 0115 928 9663
Mobile 07771 660892
E-mail mnapier@cix.co.uk
The software is designed for keyboard use. Rarely do you need to use a mouse: getting at menus is the most common exception and the occasional button (e.g. Delete).
Almost all buttons have a "hot key": the underlined character. Such buttons can always be "clicked" by pressing the Alt key and the hot key together. However, when focus is already on a button, then only the hot key is required.
The Tab key and Shift+Tab key combination should be used for moving forwards/backwards between objects (e.g. buttons and data entry fields). In most cases you may press Enter to move to the next data entry field but this is not always the case (some data entry fields will accept Enter as part of the entered text).
In the text below, I indicate which buttons to click to reach a particular function. I expect you to work out and learn which key strokes to use to minimise the use of the mouse.
If you have any queries, suggestions for improvement or problems please telephone (preferably during working hours) or e-mail. See above for contact details.
See Section 7 for information on installation and updates.
Download PCs must have a serial port or USB to serial adaptor for serial SI Master station or EMIT reader; or USB port for USB SI Master station If serial and download doesn't work, in addition to checking connections, make sure there is no software running that has taken over the serial port (e.g. software that links your portable to an organiser). If you are using USB devices it is a good idea to always use the same USB port and label it with the appropriate serial port number otherwise you will lose track of which serial port to set the software.
Proper keyboards with numeric keypads make data entry a lot easier, especially for touch typists.
Splits are best printed on a till receipt printer such as Citizen CBM 1000. Basic results and start check reports can be printed on the splits printer (this applies to Colour only: not MERCS).
Results are best printed on an A4 printer: I use an Epson inkjet printer with waterproof ink.
Splits can also be printed on A4 printer.
COLOUR works best on a network: I use Windows peer-to-peer networking. It is probably best to make the download PC the 'server' and attach the printer to this PC. You will need to set networking for sharing printer and files and make the hard disk (or just one folder) shared. The other PCs must map the shared drive/folder to a drive letter.
On the server, I created a folder called Shared and made this folder shared. I then installed Colour into folder c:\shared\ecolour and MERCS into folder c:\shared\mercs. On the workstations I map drive S to \\server\shared.
If you only use 2 PCs then all you need is a cross-over network cable between the 2 PCs. If you want additional PCs you will need a hub and a network cable to each PC.
If a single shared A4 laser printer is being used then select Shared printer and A4 printer.
If using a single shared Citizen CBM1000 then select Shared printer and Citizen CBM1000. If using a Citizen CBM1000 at each download point then select Local printer and Citizen CBM1000. Or Generic till if appropriate.
Make sure that the appropriate printer has been set as default on each PC (click Start, click Settings, click Printers, right click on appropriate printer and select Set as default.)
Note, for an event with 300+ entries, if you process entries flat out on 2 PCs until the first download and then flat out on 1 PC you will only just about get all the registration forms entered without someone finishing before their entry has been processed.
If pick list of several entries pick the correct one by moving highlight up/down using cursor keys and press enter.
If entry not recognised refer to Problems. Usually a mistyped e-card number, or no entry.
If lots of wrong punches check that course entered is same as course ran and if not refer to Problems.
It does not matter if a competitor downloads multiple times: you just get their details on the download screen more than once. DO NOT attempt to delete the extra downloads.
Results can be printed on A4 printer or Citizen or Generic till printer.
You can also print the Fastest Splits. For serious events (YBT, CSC, etc) it is suggested that this should not be done until after the last start time.
For all download problems:
Causes:
Solutions:
You may read a base station multiple times.
Every download
· Is recorded in tables siRaw on workstation and siRaws on server, even if there is no competitor match.
· Once download matched to competitor
- Card details (inc check, start and finish time) recorded in siCards
- Punch details recorded in siPunch
- Finish time, elapsed time and download flag recorded in entries table (Cards).
· Even if download not matched to competitor
- Card details (inc check, start and finish time) recorded in siCards (as "no match")
- Punch details recorded in siPunch
You can always match a competitor to a download that has been marked "no match": see "Matching e-card to competitor".
The Start Check process now analyses control base stations and clear and check base stations in addition to start and finish base stations.
Where control base stations are used, the report only includes the latest control punch and only then if not in the start box.
Where clear/check base stations are used, the report only includes the latest of the clear/check and only then if not in a start or control box.
If an e-card is found to have started (i.e. in a start, control, clear or check box) and cannot be matched against the entry file (usually because the e-card number has been entered wrong) but can be found in table siRaws, then the report says 'This is an incomplete download ….'. This card has a problem and one of two situations is possible.
· The problem has been recorded and is being/is about to be/has not been processed.
· The competitor has gone away without reporting the problem. I can process the siRaws record, but you will need to identify the competitor. This might not be so easy.
When an e-card is downloaded there are four competitor matching options:
· A unique e-card number match is made with an entry that has not been downloaded (normal situation).
· A unique e-card content match is made against a previous download (this happens when an e-card is downloaded a second or subsequent time: it creates another record on the download display but otherwise no further action is taken).
· The e-card number is matched against several entries that have not downloaded. The operator is given a pick list of the matching entries and is required to pick one.
· The e-card number does not match any entries that have not been downloaded. This will happen if
- The competitor details have not yet been entered (in which case enter details and download again or use the Match function and select appropriate unmatched e-card).
- The e-card number has been incorrectly typed (modify e-card number and download again; or just use the Match function).
There are two situations that might result in the wrong matching of e-card to competitor.
· Two members of a family run with each other's e-cards.
· The operator picks the wrong entry when matching the first download where an e-card is used twice.
To correct a mismatch:
· For each competitor with wrong match
- Locate competitor
- Click Match and click Detach
· For each competitor (now unmatched)
- Locate competitor
- Click Match and click Match
When you use the Match function, you get a pick list of all the unmatched downloads recorded in siCards that are flagged "no match". You can select a download even if the downloaded e-card number doesn't match the competitors entry e-card number. The e-card number is modified appropriately.
For the convenience of pre-allocating start times (e.g. Yvette Baker Trophy, Compass Sport Cup, etc) you may indicate pre-entries.
When the event is created
· Click Pre-entry (This allows allocation and listing of preferred start times. A punching start MUST still be used.)
· Enter source of hire e-cards (see Maintenance, Ecard hire: you can define a source and the available e-cards). (If Pre-entry and e-card left blank for a new entry; then the next available e-card from the specified source(s) is automatically allocated.)
Pre-entries start lists (complete or by club) and registration sheets (by course) are available from the Entries Reports menu: from Main menu, click Entries, click menu Reports.
COLOUR is designed for punching starts. However, if there is no punching start and there is a pre-entry start time, the pre-entry start time will be used.
To facilitate entering pre-entries into COLOUR for events such as Yvette Baker Trophy final or Compass Sport Cup rounds it is possible to import entries from CSV files. The organiser can send out pre-formatted Excel spreadsheets to club Captains. On return a CSV copy of each spreadsheet can be created and imported.
If you wish to make use of this facility please contact Michael Napier.
COLOUR has special reports to handle the scoring for Yvette Baker Trophy.
When the event is created
· Click Yvette Baker Trophy
· Enter comma separated list of participating clubs.
· If pre-entry, click Pre-entry (This allows allocation and listing of preferred start times. A punching start MUST still be used.)
· Enter source of hire e-cards (see Maintenance, Ecard hire: you can define a source and the available e-cards). (If Pre-entry and e-card left blank for a new entry; then the next available e-card from the specified source(s) is automatically allocated.)
If not pre-entry, print enough entry forms for event. From the Main menu, click Event, click menu Admin reports, click Yvette Baker Reg Form. This registration form has a check box which must be ticked by juniors eligible to count for the Yvette Baker Trophy. A PDF version of the YBT registration form is available for download: http://www.cix.co.uk/~neper/colour/ybtreg.pdf
When adding a new entry (pre-entry, or EOD) make sure the Yvette Baker Trophy check box is un-ticked for ineligible juniors. Note, the Yvette Baker Trophy will be automatically ticked for juniors in participating clubs. The onus is on the entrant to indicate ineligibility and the operator taking appropriate action.
Pre-entries start lists (complete or by club) and registration sheets (by course) are available from the Entries Reports menu: from Main menu, click Entries, click menu Reports.
A special results report is available that lists club scores and course results (for participating clubs and entries only). From Main menu, click Results, click menu Reports, select Yvette Baker. Note, there are two versions of the report: the Working report includes any juniors from participating clubs that have been marked as ineligible for the Yvette Baker Trophy (i.e. on the entries form Yvette Baker Trophy is not ticked); whereas the Final report excludes ineligible juniors. During the event, use the Working report: team managers will soon report any juniors that have inadvertently been marked ineligible.
COLOUR has special reports to handle the scoring for Compass Sport Cup and Trophy.
To set an event up for Compass Sport Cup/Trophy, in the Event details, click Team competition and click the Competition 1 and 2 check boxes (as required) and enter a comma-separated list of participating clubs.
Competitors must have the appropriate "Team Competition" box checked for the entry to count towards club points. If entries are imported from CSV files all entries will need to be marked as "Team Competition". This can be done in the Event details: click Team competition and then click Mark entries for both Competition 1 and Competition 2. If there are any imported entries that should NOT be marked as "Team Competition", you will need to go into Entries and for each competitor uncheck the "Team Competition" box.
The display results pages include cup and trophy points. Prior to 2005 a hyphen indicates a non-scoring competitor. For 2005, bold score indicates counted in total club points. An additional report Team results lists the participating clubs and their total points.
COLOUR can handle Score courses along side normal courses. To include score courses, in Events tick the Score courses check box. This will result in additional fields to appear on the Course details form.
For each score course, in Course details tick the Score check box then enter time limit, penalty and mass start time as required. Note
· If no Time limit is specified, then the course is treated as a Spanish Score in which the competitor is required to get all the controls with no time limit. In effect, the value of each control is one. Competitors missing controls are listed at the bottom of the course results.
· Penalty only applies if there is a time limit.
· Mass start is used in the absence of a punching start and in the absence of a pre-entry start.
Controls are given 10 points initially. To change the points:
· Make sure all the appropriate control codes have been specified for each course.
· Click Alias codes and change the Score event Points column to the required value.
An event can mix colour coded courses, Spanish and normal score courses.
Any reports must be printed to an A4 printer. For all post event results and processing, from the Main menu click Final Reports.
You will need to decide whether the Colour Standard is to be calculated based on all competitors or separately for M and W (tick the Separate M/W colour standards check box). If M/W is selected, you may also tick the and Include old check box: this is provided so that you can easily compare the different standards when, say, previewing the Camera Ready document. It is not intended that the and Include old should be used for publication.
It is important to check that the results, especially colour standards, look OK. In Final Reports select Camera Ready and click Preview or Print. Note, "Camera Ready" is the same report as "Display Results" plus colour standards. Check for any obvious errors.
Also check for names that are just an e-card number and try and identify who they should really be. Often this has resulted from the competitor running with a different dibber from that typed in from the registration form.
To create Winsplits file, select Winsplits and click Disk. Make a note of the path to the winsplits file: you will need this path and file name later in step 6.3 and/or 6.4
You may wish to skip this step if publishing provisional web results direct from the field. You can come back to this stage later and add the appropriate links to the index page as required.
· Goto http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/en/default.asp. You should get a list of recent events.
· Click Upload split times.
· In Step 1 of 5 you want to select file format "SportIdent CSV …" and click Next.
· In Step 2 of 5 you must enter 00.00 for zero time, enter your e-mail and select the file created in step 6.2 above and click Next. Wait .. the upload can take some time.
· In Step 3 of 5 fill in the details as required and click Next.
· In Step 4 of 5 check the details: you can go back to change anything if it is wrong, otherwise click Next.
· In Step 5 of 5 it is essential to record the Event number and Password. You will need both if you have to upload the splits again. The Event number is required in 6.4 below.
You may wish to skip this step if publishing provisional web results direct from the field. You can come back to this stage later and add the appropriate links to the index page as required.
· Goto http://www.splitsbrowser.org.uk/index.php.
· Click Submitting results.
· Complete the details as appropriate.
· For File name enter the winsplits file created in 6.2
· For File format select Sportident CSV.
· Make a note of the link and add it to the web page index.
In Final reports select Web pages and click Disk. Complete details as required:
· The URL and text for Home page provides a link back to the club's home page.
· To include a link to Winsplits on-line you need to have completed steps 6.2 and 6.3 above and enter the Event number you recorded.
· Enter any contact details you wish to include at the bottom of each web page
· Now upload web pages from the event subfolder clrwww to the web site (into a folder specific for the event). Note, file names must be in lower case on the web server: check that your ftp protocol ensures this.
· Run Internet Explorer and check that the links work.
· Goto http://www.britishorienteering.org.uk and click Results and automatic submission form. Fill in details as required (inshriach).
As any files in clrwww are overwritten if new web pages are created, I usually copy clrwww\index.htm into folder clrindex, i.e. clrindex\index.htm. I then modify this file to include the history of updates and links to splitsbrowser, comments and string results.
In Final reports select Word ready file and click Disk. Note path and names of text file and empty Word document, then:
· Run Word.
· Open empty word document (results.doc).
· Insert file colour.txt.
· Scroll to top and read instructions (to run a Macro that formats the results).
· Add comments, string course results, forthcoming events as required. (I insert continuous breaks to separate between single and double column sections).
To get a list of hired e-cards used, in Results select the Reports menu and the Summary e-card hire item.
Run (or download, save and run) vfp7runs.exe:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/michael.napier/download/vfp7runs.exe
Run (or download, save and run) the Colour installation file (e.g. clr359s.exe) from http://www.cix.co.uk/~neper/colour.
You are recommended to install the application into folder \ecolour on a local drive (e.g. c:\ecolour), or if the PC is to act as server on a network, into folder \shared\ecolour on a local drive (e.g. c:\shared\ecolour). Now carry out the Update instructions. See also the section on Connecting to a network.
Download the latest update file (e.g. clr360.exe) from http://www.cix.co.uk/~neper/colour and save in the application folder, e.g. c:\ecolour. Now run, e.g., c:\ecolour\clr360.exe. Answer Yes to overwrite existing clr.exe.
You can now run colour by clicking on Start, Programs, Orienteering and Colour.
To create a desktop shortcut:
· Right click on the desktop
· Click New
· Click Shortcut
· Enter, e.g., c:\ecolour\clr.exe –t for the command line (Click Browse to locate clr.exe if the application has been installed in a folder other than c:\ecolour and add " –t" after the full path. The "-t" is not essential: all it does is remove the Visual Foxpro splash screen).
· Click Next
· Enter Colour for the name of the shortcut
· Click Finish
To setup colour for a network:
· Connect all PCs to the network
· Install colour onto the local drive of each PC
· Decide which PC will act as "server". Make the local drive, or folder c:\shared, of this PC shared.
· On all the other PCs, map the shared drive of the server to a local drive letter (e.g. s:\).
· On each of these PCs, run colour, click Maintenance, click Network, click New path, enter select the events.dbf file in folder, e.g., s:\shared\ecolour\colour\.
To return any non-server PCs back to using local data, in Network
select the appropriate Recently used path and click OK.
This is a brief summary of changes to this document. In editions after v3.42 this should make it easy for you to identify which bits of a new document to read. Furthermore, have a look at History in Maintenance to see summary of changes to application.
V3.60: modified Removed references to "Multiple PC" mode. Added "EMIT reader" where appropriate. 7 Installation added VFP runtime installation.
V3.52a: modified 7 Installation to match network installation for MERCS.
V3.49b: modified 2.1 (default courses), 2.2 (import course details from OCAD export file), 2.7 (add reference to Generic till printer), 3.3 (added tip to not enter registration forms for those with own dibber), 3.4 (removed If competitor has failed to punch last control or finish), 5.4 (for 2005 rules); inserted 6.4 (To publish splits on Splitsbrowser).
V3.43: modified 2.7, 2.8, 5.1; added 5.5, 8