From Windows VISTA, 7, 8 or

Transcription

1 Version 4

2 1 Contents INSTALLING From Windows VISTA, 7, 8 or UNINSTALLING GETTING STARTED USING THE SYSTEM THE HELP SYSTEM LEAGUES PLAYERS ENTRIES MATCHES RESULTS HOME AND AWAY FIXTURES POINTS CONTACTS ADDRESS LABELS TOOLS The reminder Permanent diary Rink Bookings

3 Blank Score Cards Calendar Date Formats BACKUP RESTORE REINDEX DATA SELECT LOGO CLUB ADDRESS CLUB RINKS OPTIONS EXIT KNOWN PROBLEMS

4 1 Thank you for buying The Bowls League Organiser System from East Coast Software. Installing From Windows VISTA, 7, 8 or 10 to install from the CD-ROM, put the CD in your drive and wait several seconds. It should start up and install itself. If it fails to do this, click on Start then Run and type D: SETUP in the box provided (assuming your CD drive letter is D, if not, substitute the drive letter). Click OK. As the installation starts up, you will be shown a form where you can agree the terms and conditions. Once you agree the installation will proceed. Uninstalling This software can be removed from your computer by using the standard windows Add/Remove Software feature. To do this select open the Control Panel and select Add/Remove Programs and find the League Organiser in the list. Click on this to highlight it and then select the Uninstall pushbutton.

5 2 Getting started These are a few tips that may prove useful when first entering league details. It is recommended that you're screen display properties are set at least 600x800 when using this software. If set at less than this some forms may not be displayed correctly. It is essential that before you start entering league details that you have entered the club address details, as these will be printed on the top of each report. You need to select the File Club Address option and enter these details. In order to start entering leagues you must first define the type of league that you are running. To do this select League, from the main menu and then League Details. For further help on this see Leagues. A list of regular players can be entered into the Players option this list is then used to enter players and teams into leagues and competitions. Having entered the league definition you can then enter details of league entries. To do this select League from the main menu and then Entries. Here you add the names of

6 3 players and teams for the required league. For further help on this see Entries. Once the league definition and entries have been entered you can calculate the matches required for the league. Do this by selecting League, from the main menu and then Matches. This selection calculates the matches for each round from your definition and also the round dates based on the start date and match period entered in the definition. For further help on this see Matches. Only when the matches have been calculated can any results be entered. This is done by selecting League from the main menu and then Results. This form allows you to edit the results for each match in each round. You cannot Add new records for results the match records must exist before results can be entered. For further help on this see Results. Dates on which matches are not played and that are required to be avoided when calculating matches can be entered in either the Temporary Reminders or in the Diary. These dates such as Christmas, Easter and bank holidays will then be excluded from any calculated matches.

7 4 Selecting League from the main menu and then Points sets the points awarded for Win/Draw/Lose of each round. This form is a way of allocating points for win/lose/draw for round-robin leagues. Points assigned here are used when the league table is displayed. If you select File Options from the main menu you can set three system options. The first is whether to display the team I.D. reference as a character or a number the second is whether you want one score card per match or two. Selecting 2 will print alternate teams on the left of the scorecard. The third is the season start month. This sets the month for which your competition year begins. The default is January. Using the system Across the top of the main window is the menu bar which reads, File League Contacts Tools Help. As with all windows programs, you can access these items by either clicking with the mouse or by holding down ALT and typing the underlined letter. Doing this will reveal the drop-down menu items.

8 5 The help system Before trying to use the system, have a look at the help contents. If you click on Help and then Contents or hold down ALT and type H then C, you will get a window of green headings in two columns. If you don t have two columns, grab the right side of the help window and drag it out until there are two columns. Click on any and you will see the help available for that topic. Have a browse amongst them. When you are using the system, help can be obtained by pressing F1. Leagues

9 6 This form contains a drop-down list of league years. The purpose of which is to limit the leagues listed at any one time. When you first start the system the only entry here will be the current year. League details previously entered are displayed in the box displayed. To add a new league, click the Add pushbutton displayed on the screen. This will reveal a number of data entry fields into which the league definition is entered. The first field is the league name, this MUST be entered. Next to this is a drop-down selection box which is activated by selecting the arrow to the right of the box. You can select the arrow by positioning the mouse cursor on the arrow and clicking the left mouse button. Once the drop-down list is displayed you can select either RR, round-robin or KO, knockout for the type of league. If you select KO then a further drop-down selection box appears to the right of this for Type of Seeding. There are two options here A, advantage seeding and E, equitable seeding. This selection determines how the round matches are calculated. The next entry required is the number of players in each team, for an individual league as opposed to a team league the entry here would be 1. This can be entered once it is selected by either typing in the number or by incrementing/decrementing the number required

10 7 using the up/down arrows to the right of the box. If you have selected a league type of RR you now have the option of defining a split league. For a split league you enter all the teams/players and the appropriate seeding and the system splits the entries into divisions according to the seeding entered, if no seeding is entered then entries are split according to order of entry. If you select split league then a further entry box appears for you to enter the number of divisions required. This can be up to nine. The next entry field is for repeat matches i.e. if your league entries do not cover the season with each team playing each other once you can repeat all of the matches for the number of times set here. You now need to set the number of rinks per match. If you run large teams of say twelve or eighteen players you can split the play up into a number of rinks with typically three team members playing on each rink. The system will allocate rink points and aggregate points when building the league table. The match period is the number of days between consecutive rounds, again it can be either typed in or incremented/decremented using the arrows to the right of the box. The next entry field is for the league start date which is taken to mean the date of the first round. This field has a calendar attached to it, which can be activated

11 8 by positioning the mouse cursor above the date box and clicking the right mouse button. Once the calendar is displayed selecting the month and year required and then positioning the mouse cursor above the required date and double-clicking the left mouse can select a date. The selected date will then appear in the date box. You can also either type in the date or use the arrows to the right of the box to increment/decrement the date. The next two fields are for the league start time. If you have entered a number of divisions then you will be given the opportunity to enter a different start date and time for each division. The last entry field is the match duration or playing time. This is used to keep track of rink bookings so that rinks are not double booked. Once you have entered all the required details click the Save pushbutton displayed. If you click the Cancel pushbutton the entries made will be discarded To edit a previously entered league you select the league by positioning the mouse cursor on the name in the displayed list and click the Edit pushbutton displayed. The above entry fields will then be displayed with the previously entered details which can then be changed. Once the required changes have been made click the Save

12 9 pushbutton o save the changes. If you change your mind any changes can be abandoned by clicking Cancel. The details entered here determine how the league entries, rounds and results are entered. If you wish to delete a league simply select the league in the displayed list and click the Delete pushbutton. Be warned this delete option removes ALL records for this league definition, entries, rounds and results. Once deleted they can not be recovered unless you have a backup on floppy disc. Leagues can also be selected from the list displayed using the Next, Previous, First and Last pushbuttons displayed on the screen. Clicking the Print pushbutton can print the details displayed. The definition of a league can be changed until you enter results for that league.

13 10 Players A list of club players can be entered from this form using the Add / Edit pushbuttons on the form. These players can then be selected when entering teams or individuals from the Player Selection form provided.

14 11 Entries This form contains two drop down lists of league years and league titles. When you first start the system if you have not entered any league definitions you will not be allowed to enter any details of players or teams. League definitions must be entered first. Both the Year and League selection boxes are drop down lists. The list is displayed by clicking the arrow to the right of the box. The required entry can then be selected with the mouse, positioning the cursor on the selection required and clicking the left mouse button or by using

15 12 the arrow keys on the keyboard when the box has been selected. Having selected a league any entries made previously are displayed. If you have not entered any players/teams into a league a pushbutton is displayed to the bottom right of the form with the title Copy Entries. This allows you to copy the entries from a similar competition which saves typing in the same names over and over. This disappears once entries have been made. To use this feature click the Copy Entries pushbutton and a selection form will be displayed. On here you select the year and the league to copy entries from and the click the Select League pushbutton. All entries from one league are then copied into the current league and the Copy Entries pushbutton will disappear.

16 13 Initially you will have to enter the players/teams into the system manually. To do this click the Add button when a number of entry fields will be displayed. The team/player I.D. is automatically entered and can not be changed. If you are entering a team competition you will then have the option of entering a team name and seeding for the team. If you do not wish to enter a team name then leave this blank and the team will be referred to by the I.D. i.e.

17 14 Team A. Having entered the team name and the seeding click the Save button to record the entry. A second form will then appear to allow you to enter the names of the team members. Again click the Add button and an entry field and a tick box will appear. Enter the name of the team member and click the tick box if this is the team captain. Once entered click the Save pushbutton to record the entry. Repeat this process for each team member. Previous entries can be changed or deleted using the appropriate pushbuttons. Once the members of this team have been entered click the Close pushbutton. And you will be back to the initial entry form. Repeat this procedure for all the teams required. If you are entering individuals into a league you will enter the players name instead of the team name and you will not be presented with the second form for team members. This selection procedure is determined by the number of players entered in the league definition. Once you have entered team members into a league a pushbutton is displayed to the bottom right of the form which is used to display or change the initial team member entries. Select the team required on the list displayed and click the Team Member pushbutton. The initial team member entry form is then displayed with the

18 15 team members for the team selected. These can be added to altered or deleted by selecting and clicking the appropriate pushbutton. You could alternately enter your regular players into the player list and the select from this list using the Select Players pushbutton on the right of the form. This allows you to select players for one team at a time or allows you to randomly make up teams by selecting all of the players who want to compete in this league. If you enter teams manually before selecting this option the team members will be automatically transferred into this list when selecting it. Players who have already been entered in a league will not thereafter appear in the selection list for that league. Teams made up using this option can be all male, all female or mixed.

19 16 The set of three radio buttons displayed on the entries form set the display order for the listing of players/teams. Select the radio button, which gives you the order you require. The 'Randomise Seedings' pushbutton will either enter or replace the player/team seedings with randomly generated numbers. This can be useful if you wish to change the order that teams/players compete against each other from season to season.

20 17 The Save to HTM button allows the displayed list of league entries to be saved to an HTM file for display on a web site or for distribution by . The name and location of the HTM file are definable by the user and an option is given to attach the generated file to an . The users default system is invoked and a destination has to be specified by the user. Once you enter results for the selected league you cannot change or add players/teams.

21 18 Matches This form contains a drop down list of league years, a drop down list of league titles and a spin box for rounds. It is used to calculate the matches for each round in a league. If the league selected is a round-robin league this will calculate all of the rounds at the same time. If the selected league is a knockout the only one round at a time can be calculated until the results for each round have been entered.

22 19 The box in the centre of the form displays the match information for each round of the selected league. When you have entered the league teams/players and the display box is blank the pushbutton to the bottom left of the form will be entitled Calculate Matches, the round dates pushbutton will be unavailable, the Rink Numbers pushbutton will be unavailable and the print buttons will also be unavailable. You must first calculate the matches by clicking the Calculate Matches pushbutton. This calculates matches and round dates and displays the matches for the selected round in the display box. Once the matches have been calculated the title of this pushbutton changes to Re-calculate Matches. To display the matches for a different round increment/decrement the round number. This round number display is limited to the number of rounds for the selected league. If you have not calculated the matches then it will not change from 1. Once the matches have been calculated you can access and change if required the calculated round dates by clicking the Round Dates pushbutton. On doing this a second form will be displayed displaying the round dates for that league these can be changed using the appropriate pushbuttons. As previously you can always change your mind when editing and click Cancel. If you

23 20 delete any round dates and neglect to re-enter them then league printouts will display a Not known message instead of the round date. Each time you re-calculate the matches you have the option of re-calculating the round dates. When you have finished editing round dates click the Close pushbutton to return to the match display. A facility also exists via the Print Score Cards pushbutton to print a set of score cards for each match which will display the league details, round, date and team/player details. This is a fixed format and cannot be changed. Selecting to print these will produce four score cards per A4 sheet. If your printer can handle thin card then this can be used. You have option of printing match cards for one round at a time or all at once. You also have the facility of printing labels for existing score cards via the S.C. Labels pushbutton. This feature only uses one label type, the Avery L7160, which is twenty-one labels per page measuring 63.5mm by 38.1mm per label. Once you enter results for a league you cannot recalculate matches. You can however still change the round dates if required or change the team names or player s name.

24 21 When printing the match listings you have two print options. A 'concise' listing which uses the team/player ID letter or a 'detail' listing which uses a team name if entered or player name for individual leagues. As shown below. The Save to HTM button allows the displayed list of league matches to be saved to an HTM file for display on a web site or for distribution by . The name and location of the HTM file are definable by the user and an

25 22 option is given to attach the generated file to an . The users default system is invoked and a destination has to be specified by the user. Results This form contains a drop down list of league years, a drop down list of league titles and a spin box of rounds. You can only enter results for a league once the matches have been calculated. A list of matches and scores is displayed for the selected league round. If this display is empty you need to return to Matches to calculate the matches first. With the matches for the league round selected being

26 23 displayed select the one you wish to enter the score for and click the Edit pushbutton. This will display the score entry fields for both teams/players for this match. The score can either be typed into the field or the spin arrows to the right of the field can be used to increment/decrement the score. These will increment the score by 0.25 each time. When both scores have been entered click the Save pushbutton to record the changes. If you wish to abandon the entry then click Cancel. If you select to print league results for a round-robin league you have a number of options as shown below.

27 24 For round-robin leagues a button is displayed at the bottom right of the form which when clicked will display the league table for this league. Each time this is displayed the table is regenerated. An hourglass is displayed whilst this regeneration is taking place. If you do not have a fast computer please wait until this hourglass disappears. Any change to the league points allocation will be reflected in the display.

28 25 The Save to HTM button allows the displayed list of league results to be saved to an HTM file for display on a web site or for distribution by . The name and location of the HTM file are definable by the user and an option is given to attach the generated file to an . The users default system is invoked and a destination has to be specified by the user. On the league table display if you have a split league is a pushbutton to Set-up Playoffs this automatically creates another league entry for the selected number of entries from the top of each division for playoffs. Once this is set-

29 26 up it should be treated as any other league changing entries, calculating matches, adding results as required. Home and Away Fixtures This form displays the fixtures for teams entered in Home and Away leagues. It will not display any fixtures for teams entered as played at the same venue. You can alter the match playing times for individual matches if you wish. The Save to HTM button allows the displayed list of team fixtures to be saved to an HTM file for display on a web site or for distribution by . The name and location of

30 27 the HTM file are definable by the user and an option is given to attach the generated file to an . The users default system is invoked and a destination has to be specified by the user. Points This form is a way of allocating points for win/lose/draw and penalty points for round-robin leagues. Points assigned here are used when the league table is

31 28 displayed. Penalty points are only allocated if a match is not marked as having been played and either an nominal/average score is given to the team turning up or negative penalty points are given to the team failing to turn up. Both can be applied if required. Contacts

32 29 As you move the mouse pointer over the various objects on this form, watch the blue message at the bottom of the form. It will tell you what the various objects are. When you first start the system, it has no data in it. A default set will be created called Contacts and you will have to click the Add button near the bottom of the form to start entering a name and address. When you are in Add or Edit mode you cannot move the record pointer until you have Saved or Abandoned the entry you are on. When you have several entries, you can move to the different ones with the First, Previous, Next and Last buttons. There is an entry field just above the surname field which, when selected, is yellow. This is a seeker. As you type a surname into the seeker, it will home in on the name you require. Suppose you are looking for Smith, start by typing S and you will be on, say, Samuels. Then type M and you will be on, say, Smailes. Then type I and you will be on Smith. If you have more than one Smith and the first one is not the one you want, further entries in the seeker will not move the record pointer. You must then click on the Next button near the bottom of the form. The

33 30 seeker will place you on the correct record within 2 or 3 key-presses. You can alter the order the records are displayed in by clicking the appropriate radio button in the Set order to rectangle. This can be handy if you want to find someone who lives near the person you are viewing. Click on Post Code and when you then click on Next or Previous, you will find those people with adjacent post codes. Don t forget, if you have changed the order of the display, the seeker will be working on, say, Post Codes and not Surname until you change the order back to Name. To change the data in any record you must click the Edit button. You can then alter any of the data. If you have made alterations and then decide that you didn t really want to, just click on Abandon and the changes will be restored to what they were before you started editing. You can mark any record by clicking the Mark/Unmark button. If the record you are viewing is already marked, you will be asked if you want ALL records in the set to be unmarked. If you answer No, only the record in view will be unmarked. If you answer Yes, then ALL records in the set will be unmarked.

34 31 You can create a new set at any time. Perhaps you want to keep separate address lists for, say, computer companies. Create a new set, call it Computer Companies and opt to include Company data. If you delete a set, ALL records in that set will be deleted. On selecting the print option you have a number of options. You can select any combination of the two groups of options for records to print and print content. Two further options on this form are to print labels for any one listed or any group and an option to anyone entered that has a recorded address. This option will work with Outlook, Microsoft mail and a number of other client software packages such as firebird. It will not work with Web mail. In this system you can enter a message and add attachments.

35 32

36 33 Address Labels Address labels can be printed for groups of members or individual members. The address details are taken from those entered when the Contacts are entered. The label format is taken from the standard Avery label type numbers. This is selectable from the drop-down list on the labels form. Selecting the Address Labels pushbutton from the contacts entry form accesses this. Once the labels selection form is displayed you can select the group of people required using the buttons at the top of the form. If you select the Select names button then you can

37 34 select any or all of your contacts using the arrow pushbuttons in the centre of the form. Tools Tools in the main menu. There are a few tools provided to make life a bit easier. These are accessed under There is a temporary reminder, a permanent diary, a calendar and a selection of date formats for you to use. The reminder

38 35 This is a temporary reminder into which you enter notes of things you want an automatic reminder for. On the form there is a spin box at the top which you set for the number of days ahead you want reminding. For example, you may want to put a notice out on the result forms for two weeks before club subs are due. If you click on the Add button, some entry areas will appear. The first is a date spin box which, like those you have already met, can be spun to the date you require or you can right click on it for a calendar to appear and when you double click on any date, it will be placed into the date field. Next, tab to the short note field where you put in words that will remind you what you want to remember. If you want longer notes, enter them in the box at the bottom left of the form. When you click the Save button, the reminder will be entered into the central table. You cannot change things in this central table. Click on Edit to do that. Any entries you have made which fall inside the number of days you set on the top spin box from the date for the reminder will be displayed as you start up the system. For example, if you set the days ahead to 14, when the current date gets to 14 days before the remind date, each time you start system, that reminder will be displayed. As

39 36 the remind date is passed, these entries are automatically deleted. You can re-set the days ahead at any time. A facility is incorporated to enter dates when match dates are not played. These are shown in the status column on the right of the form. Any dates entered as non-match days are not included in calculated match dates. Permanent diary The permanent diary is very similar to the reminder except that entries are not automatically deleted. You decide when and if you want individual entries deleted. It

40 37 is permanent and you can view its contents whenever you want. A facility is incorporated to enter dates when match dates are not played. These are shown in the status column on the right of the form. Any dates entered as non-match days are not included in calculated match dates. Rink Bookings The first form you are presented with here allows you to select the date that you want to view the bookings for. This is a simple calendar form you select the month, position the cursor on the date and click the left mouse button to select the required date.

41 38 After selecting the required date the system checks the bookings and displays those for the selected date.

42 39 You can, using the Add button reserve rinks for any period of time for the selected date or change calculated or reserved rinks by selecting the entry in the list and clicking the Edit button. This gives you the facility to reschedule individual matches. A print out of the days bookings can be obtained by pressing the Report pushbutton. Selecting the Day Sheet pushbutton can also print a Day Sheet depicting the bookings for the selected day. This also shows rinks that remain available for booking.

43 40 Blank Score Cards This facility exists to print a set of blank score cards, that is cards with no league details. This is a fixed format and cannot be changed. Selecting to print these will produce four score cards per A4 sheet. You do have the option of specifying the number of ends incorporated on the card. If your printer can handle thin card then this can be used. Calendar This is a perpetual calendar. Just click the arrow buttons to the side of the month and year to get to the month you want to view. Date Formats A number of date formats can be selected from the Tools, Date Format menu option. These are as follows: American Ansi British French German MM/DD/YYYY YYYY.MM.DD DD/MM/YYYY DD/MM/YYYY DD.MM.YYYY

44 41 Italian Japan USA DD-MM-YYYY YYYY/MM/DD MM-DD-YYYY The date format selected is used in entry, display and printing of dates. Whichever one is selected is used throughout the system and remains selected until it is changed from the menu. The initial default setting is British.

45 42 Backup This facility will allow you to backup to any disk except a CD-ROM. If you lose the hard disk where Bowls League Organiser System is, you also lose all your data as well! The system cannot tell if a D: drive is a separate physical drive from C: or if it is just a logical partition. It is NOT

46 43 good practise to backup to another partition on the same physical disk as your Bowls League Organiser but it is good and speedy to do so to a separate hard disk. This backup system will allow you to backup to USB drives, Jaz and Zip drives. If you are backing up to one of the large capacity removable media drives, it makes sense to create a separate directory on the disk before you do your first backup. The best time to take a backup is after an inputting session. Please do take a backup after changing. Computer hard disks are robust but do occasionally fail. If you have spent several hours entering data the few minutes it takes to do a backup is a very low cost insurance against having to enter all that data again. This version of software incorporates an Autobackup routine. Which runs every time the software is stopped. The backup can be restored from but it should not be relied on as It is on the same disk as the software Anyone who does not backup the data at intervals is taking a very foolish risk. Backup your data every week

47 44 Restore This is the reverse of the previous paragraph. The hard disk was lost, the data could not be recovered but you had a backup. After the hard disk is repaired or replaced and system software re-installed on it, it is very easy to put

48 45 the data back on the system - provided a backup has been done before the disk crash. If you haven t done a backup, after the disk repair you can easily re-install system software but without the backup, you face a long period of typing before you are back to where you were before the disk crash. Reindex Data Choose this only when things seem to go wrong - data is in the wrong order, data you know to be there does not appear or error messages about indexes appear. Use it also after deleting any data. It should not really be necessary then but it will make sure that the indexes are in good order after deleting partial data.

49 46 Select Logo This option allows you to select the logo printed out on the top of all the printed reports. The logo appears on the top of each report at the centre of the page. The dimensions of the logo can be adjusted until it looks in the correct proportions. The proportions set with this option set the proportions when the logo is printed. Images selected for this logo must conform to one of the following formats: -

50 47 JPG, BMP, JIF, GIF, DIB, RLE, TGA, PCX If you have a printed image of your logo but not versions on disk then please contact East Coast Software, we will be happy to produce one for you. A small fee will be charged for this service.

51 48 Club Address Use this option to enter the club address, telephone number, fax and address. These details are printed on the top of system reports directly underneath the club name. To record these details simply enter them in the appropriate fields and select Save, if you select Abandon then any information entered or modified is discarded.

52 49

53 50 Club Rinks The number of club rinks is specified here. If you have an indoor club you will probably have only one green. In which case the entry for designation and specification of number of rinks per green will be removed.

54 51 Options There are four system options included here. The first is the Team/Player Reference this is assigned by the system and can either be displayed as a character or a number. Character displays would be team A, B, C etc. Numeric display would be team 1, 2, 3 etc. A choice of either one or two score cards per match can be printed. Once set here the system will always print the selected quantity per match. If two cards per match are selected one will be printed with one team listed on the left and the other with the same team printed on the right.

55 52 The selection of leagues displayed for entering results, calculating matches, entering teams is limited to a twelve month period. The start of that twelve month period can be set here. If for example the season start is set to April the lists will display all leagues between one April and the next. The last option is to change the title given to the team Captain. Some clubs appoint a club captain and have team Leaders. This title can be set here, but is limited to eight characters. Exit It is important that you ALWAYS exit from the system using the File, Exit menu option. If you exit the system by any other means, say switching the computer off you may lose data or corrupt your database. Known problems When installing, one or two users have received the error message, "Invalid driver name or insufficient system resources" followed by a file name. This is caused when you have a fax allocated as your printer driver or when your printer driver has a fault.

56 53 Workaround: install a printer driver for a printer that uses paper - use the generic drivers supplied with Windows if you do not have one for your printer. If when opening up the membership system you see the error message Database Engine Initialization Error, Cannot Initialize with Different Configuration File. You are currently running another application, which uses a Borland Database Engine (BDE), and you must close this application before opening the membership software.