Version 3

Software License and Warranty

The software, which accompanies this license, is the property of East Coast Software and is protected by copyright law.

You may:

(1) use one copy of the software on a single computer;

(2) make one copy of the software for archival purposes or copy the software onto the hard disk of your computer and retain the original for archival purposes;

(3) transfer the software on a permanent basis to another person, provided that you retain no copies of the software and the transferee agrees to the terms of this license.

You may not:

(1) copy the documentation which accompanies the software;

(2) sublicense, rent or lease any portion of the software;

(3) reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble , modify, or make any attempt to discover the source code of the software.

Limited Warranty:

East Coast Software warrants that the media on which the software is distributed will be free from defects for a period of thirty days from the date of delivery of the software to you. Your sole remedy in the event of a breech of this warranty will be that East Coast Software will, at its option, replace any defective media returned to East Coast Software within the warranty period or refund the money you paid for the software. East Coast Software does not warrant that the software will meet your requirements or that operation of the software will be uninterrupted or that the software will be error-free.

Disclaimer of damages:

East Coast Software will not be liable for any consequential losses, including lost profits or lost data arising out of the use or inability to use the software. In no case will East Coast Software’s liability exceed the purchase price of the software.

Contents

System requirements- 1

Installing- 1

From Windows 95 / 98 / ME / 2000 / NT / XP / VISTA-- 1

‘Home and Away’ Fixtures- 8

Blank Score Cards- 11

Calendar 11

Date Formats- 12

View Preview Files- 12

Thank you for buying The Bowls League Organiser System from East Coast Software.

System requirements

The minimum hardware required is a Pentium with Windows95, 128MB RAM, 10MB disc space and a compatible printer.

Installing

From Windows 95 / 98 / ME / 2000 / NT / XP / VISTA

If you are installing from a 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.

If you are installing from floppies, put Disk 1 in the floppy drive, click Start then Run. Type A: SETUP in the box provided and click OK. Follow the on-screen prompts to put in the other disks when asked.

As the installation starts up, you will be shown a form where you can choose where to install the system. If you have only one hard disk (C:) then just accept the defaults. If you have partitioned your hard disk or have more than one hard disk, you may want to install it on a disk other than ‘C:\’. This is the place to choose. It is recommended that you leave the directory or folder (the bit after C:\) at the default (PROGRAM FILES \ EAST COAST SOFTWARE \ LO3). If you decide to install anywhere other than the ‘C:’ drive you may want to remove the ‘PROGRAM FILES \ ’ reference.

Uninstalling

This software can be removed from your computer either by using the icon provided or the standard windows ‘Add/Remove Software’ feature. To do this select ‘Start’, ‘Settings’ and ‘Control Panel’ from the system ‘Start’ button in the bottom left of your screen. Double-click on the icon for ‘Add/Remove Programs’ and find the ‘League Organiser’ in the list. Click on this to highlight it and then select the ‘Add/Remove’ pushbutton.

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 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.

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.

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.

If you have ideas that could improve the system or require further assistance in using The Bowls League Organiser System, please contact us by mail, telephone or e-mail via the Internet. (See ‘Help’ | ‘About’ in the Bowls League Organiser System)

Leagues

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 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 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 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.

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.

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 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.

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. 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 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. Team