Create your competition
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Previous: Initial configuration
No two competitions on the same server share the same competition ID. It is a unique identifier, which is used every time the competition is referenced: from first creation, through metadata and result uploads, to viewing in the browser. You do not choose the competition ID yourself. Instead, the server assigns you an available one upon request.
Double-check that you have the correct division result server address. Then, head to the Competition menu in the top left corner and select Create new competition. A small dialog should open:
It presents a single field for you to fill out: the password. You will need this password whenever you wish to modify the competition on the server, such as changing metadata or uploading results. Choose carefully, as it cannot be changed later.
Once a password has been entered, you can request a competition ID from the server. If successful, the server will create a new competition in its database with an available ID and set its password to the one you provided. Then, it returns the new competition's ID to you through a second dialog:
If you lose the ID or password, you will no longer have access to the competition, so if you don't intend to use the competition right away, you should store the ID and password manually so that you can find them again later. However, you probably created the competition for a reason, so go ahead and press the Use Now button. The client will then load your new credentials into the main window, erasing any existing competition and division data in the process.
Alright, so your competition exists now - and that's about it, really. Not particularly interesting, is it? Let's change that by adding some metadata.
The client is able to fetch the competition's name, organiser and date directly from MeOS, provided the information server is running. To do so, simply select Import metadata from MeOS under the Competition menu. Only values from fields that are not empty in MeOS will overwrite values in the client.
Otherwise, start by providing the competition with a name and specifying the organiser in the Competition pane. These will both be shown to users, so a little attention to detail is in order. Then, choose the date of the competition. Again sticking to ISO 8601 guidelines, the date is formatted as yyyy-MM-dd.
Competitions on the front page of the server will be sorted according the their dates, and when one or more competitions have a date matching the current date of the server, these will populate an additional Live Today list at the top of the front page. Be sure to select a time zone corresponding to the location of the competition, as this tells the server when exactly the competition day begins and ends. Additionally, unnamed competitions do not appear on the front page.
Head down to the Divisions pane. Right now, it's just empty space, so let's add a new division with the New button. A basic division editor should open:
The editor presents three fields. The first is the division ID, and this time, you get to decide. For competitions that contain multiple divisions, the ID determines the order of the radio buttons used to select which results to view on the server, with the lowest ID coming first and being selected by default. Division IDs must be unique within a competition.
The second field is another name field, but you should of course provide the name of the division rather than the competition this time around.
Finally, the path to the division configuration file should be specified. This is a file with the .divi extension, which is created by Divisionsmatchberegning: Simply configure the division match with past match results and classes, and save the configuration to disk. Then, use the ... button in the division editor and navigate to the division configuration file.
Blå overskrifter layout must be used. It is recommended that you reserve your division configuration files exclusively for the division-result-bridge client, creating separate copies for any other uses such as printing or file exports. The layout settings may be located under a Print menu, but they don't just apply to printing!
Save the division. It should now show up in the table. If you event is host to multiple divisions, keep adding more until they are all represented.
It is not strictly necessary to define the divisions fully right away (the division editor will let you save a division with nothing but the ID), and you can always edit or delete a division later: Simply click on a row in the division table and use the Edit and Delete buttons. However, any incomplete division will prevent the client from creating and uploading results.
You may wish to publish class results live as well, and for that, liveresultat.orientering.se is still the way to go. To reduce the number of links you need to hand out, you can pass the competition ID from your event on liveresultat.orientering.se to a field in the Online pane. A non-zero value here prompts the server to create a prominent, orange button on the competition page, which links to the class results. As a side note, the link in the field label can be used to open class results as well; it changes when you change the ID.
All that is required to transfer your newly-entered metadata to the server is a single press of the Update Metadata button. This will send a request to the server containing all the metadata currently held by the main window. This includes the data specified in the Competition and Divisions panes, as well as the liveresultat.orientering.se competition ID. Try it! The server should respond back with the new competition metadata wrapped up in JSON syntax. You can then use the View In Browser button to have a look at the competition page on the server.
Oh no! Your competition page displays nothing but a disappointing message? To be honest, I knew that would happen, but I led you astray in order to illustrate the visibility setting. There are three visibility levels:
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
PUBLIC |
Visible on the front page and on the competition page |
HIDDEN |
Only visible on the competition page (requires direct link) |
PRIVATE |
Not visible (default) |
The default setting, PRIVATE, means the server will not show your competition page to anyone, even if they're on the right address. On the other hand, the page does show up when the visibility is set to HIDDEN, but it can only be found with the direct link. Setting it to PUBLIC adds to this, making your competition show up on the front page lists as well.
During testing, I like to keep my competition HIDDEN. This means I can verify that the competition looks right in the browser, but people won't randomly stumble over a half-finished effort. Once I'm satisfied with the configuration, I change it to PUBLIC - preferably at least a few days before the competition date, such as when a bulletin containing a link to the competition is published.
The PRIVATE setting is included as a conservative starting point. In the absence of a proper delete function, setting your competition to PRIVATE fulfills this purpose somewhat, with the added bonus that you can always "undelete" your competition again.
For now, change the visibility setting to HIDDEN and press the Update Metadata button once more. You should now be able to view your competition page in the browser.
There are a few different ways to save and load configurations, and you've actually already met the first one: Loading a fresh competition upon creation. Neat, but not much use once you've gotten started. Fortunately, the other methods are more broadly applicable.
Whenever you close the client, all settings are saved automatically. Competition metadata, paths, addresses, logging options... Even the size and position of the window! On Windows, these are stored in the Windows registry, and they are always loaded at startup. If settings aren't found in the registry at startup, such as when you first open the client, default values are loaded instead. Thus, a "factory reset" can be accomplished by deleting the registry keys in Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Thomilist\division-result-bridge. Just make sure you don't delete something important, such as the last copies of your competition ID and password!
The automatic saves are convenient, but they are bound to one device. What if you wish to transfer a configuration to another computer? Sure, you could manually redo the whole setup using the original as a reference, but that's slow and error-prone. Instead, head to the Competition menu in the top left. You should see the items Import configuration and Export configuration under this menu, and they do exactly what their names would suggest.
Let's select Export configuration. You'll be asked to choose a destination on your filesystem and a name for your configuration file. Any location that the client has write permissions for will suffice. I suggest placing it with your other event files. Once you hit Save, a JSON file with your configuration will be written. Not all settings are saved in this way, however. Things like window geometry and logging options are omitted, as these are bound to users and computers more so than competitions. If you want to see exactly what the configuration file contains, feel free to open it with a plain text editor or even a browser. Just be careful not to edit the file, as it's only intended to be written and loaded by the client - even small changes may cause errors when loaded.
Speaking of loading, how about we try the other item: Import configuration. First, change a few values in the main window, such as the competition name or organiser. That way, we can tell if the import did anything. Then, select Import configuration and navigate to the JSON file we created just a moment ago. You should see the competition data revert back to the way it was when we exported the configuration.
Exporting and importing configuration files is the intended way to transfer settings between different computers, and configuration files can also serve as a sort of backup of your competition settings - including the competition ID and the password.
Since configuration files also include paths, such as the working directory and paths to division configuration files, your configuration may not be valid when importing on a different computer. Drive letters, directory structures and filenames must all match, which is rather unlikely. Therefore, the client attempts to validate the paths for you, both on startup and configuration import. One or more warnings will be printed to the log if it thinks the paths will cause issues.
Additionally, configuration files contain a bit of source and version information. If you import a configuration file from an older client version, a warning will be logged, reminding you to ensure that the import had the desired outcome. If, however, the source information is missing entirely from the configuration file, the import will be cancelled. This is to ensure that the file is actually relevant, since the JSON format is used for a wide variety of purposes.
Next: Upload results