Writing Data files for Photo-Finish for a Lynx system. Ian Anholm

Transcription

1 Writing Data files for Photo-Finish for a Lynx system Presentation prepared by: Ryan Murphy Presentation to: Claire Furlong Date: XX/XX/XX Ian Anholm

2 Aim of the workshop The aim of the workshop is to show officials how to take raw data and manipulate it into a form that will allow it to be used and understood by a Finish-Lynx system. This will be done by showing some examples of how data is received from event providers in different formats and how to manipulate and convert it into notepad. There will be a practical element to this as you will have the opportunity to start with raw data and create useable files and use them to set up Finish-Lynx.

3 Finish-Lynx Picture

4 Data produced for a programme

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7 As you have seen, there are duplicate numbers used in different age group events. This means that ALL the information will have to appear in each heat. There are also two commas next to each other because there is not a lane draw. In the case of the U15 Girls 75m Hurdles there would be three heats. It also means that ALL the information would have to appear in the final as well. Lynx Files There are three types of files that are used in Finish-Lynx Lynx.evt Lynx.ppl Lynx.sch

8 Types of files (1) The Event File Lynx.evt This is the primary file. It can come either as a file containing all the event and athlete information or just the event information.

9 Types of files (2) The People File Lynx.ppl This contains all of the athlete information in the form of ID Number, Surname, First Name, Club

10 Types of files (3) The schedule file Lynx.sch This file is only needed in special circumstances. It controls the order in which the evt file is read

11 The basic principles of event files for the Lynx system are that each part is separated by a comma and that it is read in Notepad. It can be created in Notepad, but it is easy to make a mistake and miss out a comma or use a full stop, both of which will cause Lynx to stop working properly. Wrong Right

12 However, it is easier to set up files in Excel and save as a csv file. (i.e. Comma delimited). This means that each piece of information is separated by a comma. Two commas together mean that there is a blank space between them, usually associated with not having a lane draw. If you wish to input any information that you want the programme to ultimately ignore then if you start the line with a semi-colon, this will fulfil the task. This should then be opened in notepad (all files) and saved with the appropriate name (again having clicked on All Files ).

13 Excel file (xls or xlsx) opened in notepad A word of warning. If you try to open an Excel file in notepad, by mistake or without first converting it to a comma delimited file (csv file), you will probably find that it appears as a corrupt file containing a series of squiggles, strange words and rectangles.

14 Excel file (xls or xlsx) opened in notepad!! It also serves to show that simple mistakes can cause major problems.

15 Working from a timetable Two examples of timetables to produce event files

16 Event Files You are now going to create an event file in Excel. Open Event file from a timetable. Event Title LSAC Open Meeting Date Saturday 5 th December 2009 Your column heading should be as follows Event number, Round number, Heat number, Event Name. Remember to prefix the rows with a semi-colon.

17 Event Entries Two series of events max 6 per Race Senior Women Hurdles 14 Junior Men Hurdles 5 Senior Men Hurdles 17 Senior Women 60m 23 Senior Men 60m

18 Event File The event file is produced in Excel. Event information is preceded by a semi colon so that it is ignored by Lynx. This is saved as a comma delimited file (csv file).

19 Saving as a Comma delimited file (CSV) File Save As From the drop down box Save as type, go to CSV (Comma delimited) - Save

20 Saving as a CSV file An information box will appear. Click OK This will bring up another box. Click Yes After it has been saved, it can be opened in Notepad.

21 Open Notepad This will be found in All Programmes - Accessories. The programme defaults to Text Documents (*.txt). Which may not show the file you want.

22 Showing All Files All Files needs to be brought up to display files correctly

23 Event file (Lynx.evt) When the event file is opened in Notepad it needs to be saved as Lynx.evt and the Files of Type MUST show All Files. If it does not, it will be saved as a text file and Finish-Lynx cannot read it.

24 Save showing All Files as Lynx.evt

25 Creating a people file (Lynx.ppl) Here are two possible problems we may encounter in creating a people file There are occasions when data is sent to you that contain multiple entries. Whilst it is possible to use the data in this format, it is preferable to delete the multiple entries for ease of viewing. However, the most common problem is when the whole name is placed in a single cell. This needs to be split into two cells, First name and Last name. Lets deal with these one at a time

26 Creating a unique number file Let us consider the data on the right. As we can see there are multiple entries for athletes 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9. There are obviously others that cannot be seen, but there are a total of 851 entries on the sheet. How do we deal with this?

27 The first step is to highlight the data in columns A to D. Copy the data to the next sheet so that if any mistakes are made, nothing is lost. Then click on the Data tab at the top of the spread sheet. You will see in the Data section Sort & Filter. The bottom one is advanced.

28 Click on Advanced filter and this box appears. Click on Unique records only and then OK

29 The very left hand column which was a tan colour is now grey with blue numbers and you can see from the numbers that row have been deleted. If you now copy columns A to D and paste them in to the next sheet you will have created a set of unique numbers and names.

30 Creating a unique number data file Open spread sheet Unique number data file. From the data provided. Create a file with no duplicate numbers.

31 Creating a people file (Lynx.ppl) Splitting Cells When the whole name is placed in a single cell. This needs to be split into two cells, First name and Last name. The first thing to do is to scroll down the list of names and check that there are no double barrelled names, (Either first or last names) that do not have a hyphen. Taking the example on the next slide, we will see that there are some double barrelled names.

32 If we look at the names there is a mixture of hyphens present and needing to be added. We need to split the first name and surname as well as additional information. Line 4 The athlete in question has two gaps. To ensure that his name is not split into three cells, we need to insert a hyphen to link together the two parts of his Surname. There are others, what are they?

33 If I have several to do, I tend to highlight the cells so that I know where to go back to after I have split the cells to remove the hyphens. The example below shows the highlighting and has all the hyphens added.

34 Insert a column between names and clubs, highlight Column B and then click on text to columns

35 Follow the instructions on the Wizard.

36 Put a tick in the Space box. It pays to scroll down to check that you have not missed any hyphens.

37 Click Finish.

38 It will ask if you want to replace the contents of the destination cell. Click OK.

39 If it is correct it will appear like this, But.

40 If you have made a mistake, there will be a name in column D and all the clubs will have been overwritten.

41 Swapping Columns Now that you have split the cells, remove the hyphens and clear the highlighting you put in at the start of this process. You then need to swap column B and C so that Lynx will read the information correctly.

42 Highlight Column C. Hold Shift, place the cursor at the left edge of column C and drag left, when you see a vertical grey line, release the mouse button. The columns will have changed. Rename Column B & C as Surname and First Name.

43 This will be saved as a CSV file, opened in Notepad and saved as Lynx.ppl using the procedure already described. But will it work? No. The Semi colon is missing in the first line

44 Creating a people file (lynx.ppl) Splitting cells Open spread sheet Splitting Cells. Form the data provided. Create a useable people file that will run a Lynx system.

45 Setting Up Finish-Lynx A job that is often expected of the Chief is to set up the front end of the FinishLynx. Before opening FinishLynx, the first thing to do is to create a folder for all the information to go into. It is generally felt that files should be stored on the Capture machine because if there is a loss of connection between computers then it is still possible to save and read on the one machine without losing information. Windows Explorer is usually found in Accessories if there has not already been a shortcut placed on the desk top.

46 Setting up Finish-Lynx The example on the next slide is the set up at Loughborough but it is similar on most systems. If you look in Local Disk (C:) there should be a folder called events or Lynx Events. In our case we have a folder for Indoors which will contain the dates of our events. To create a new folder I would click on Indoor 09, then in the large box, right click and go to New then click on folder. When that appears, rename to the event. In this case 21 st Feb Then the event file (Lynx.evt) and athletes file (Lynx.ppl), if using one, would be put in to this folder and when the rest of the set up has been done, Lynx would find the information for each event.

47 Setting up Finish-Lynx

48 General The Competition Name and the Competition Sponsor (if there is one) should be filled in. All the other boxes should be left as they are because they should already be set. (NB: Do not use this screen print as an example of what should be seen as it was taken when not connected to the system).

49 Event Click on the browse button of Event Directory. Click on the + symbol to expand each folder. The pathway is C: Lynx Events, Indoor 09, 21 st Feb (See picture on My Documents). This can be repeated for Backup Directory. The same has to be done in the Database

50 Database

51 Loading the event file 1. Click on the middle file (circled Red), the Goto Event box appears. Click on load schedule. 2. Use the drop down arrow (circled Blue), go down to the last event, highlight it, click OK. 3. If it loads the last event there are no numerical mistakes in the file.

52 Thank you for your time, I hope that you have found this presentation useful. Ian Anholm

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