Thank you for buying The
Football League Organiser System from East Coast Software.
The minimum hardware
required is a Pentium with Windows95, 32MB RAM, 8MB disc space and a compatible
printer.
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.
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.
These are a few tips which 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 whether to
display the team I.D. reference as a character or a number. You can also set
the season start month. This sets the month for which your competition year
begins. The default is January.
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.
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 Football League
Organiser System, please contact us by mail, telephone or e-mail via the
Internet. (See ‘Help’ | ‘About’ in the Football League Organiser System)
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. 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 pitch bookings so that pitches 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.
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.
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. Teams made up using this option can be all
male, all female or mixed.
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.
Once you enter results for
the selected league you cannot change or add players/teams.
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.
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 ‘Pitch 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 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.
Once you enter results for a
league you cannot re-calculate matches. You can however still change the round
dates if required or change the team names or player’s name.
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.
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 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.
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.
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-up it should be
treated as any other league changing entries, calculating matches, adding
results as required.
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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 as shown below. You can select any
combination of the two groups of options for records to print and print
content.
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 select any
or all of your contacts using the arrow pushbuttons in the centre of the form.
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.
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 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.
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 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.
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.
After selecting the required date the system checks the bookings and
displays those for the selected date.
You can, using the ‘Add’ button reserve pitches for any period of time
for the selected date or change calculated or reserved pitches by selecting the
entry in the list and clicking the ‘Edit’ button. This gives you the facility
to re-schedule 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 pitches that remain available for booking.
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.
A number of date formats can
be selected from the ‘Tools’, ’Date Format’ menu option. These are as follows:
American MM/DD/YYYY
Ansi YYYY.MM.DD
British DD/MM/YYYY
French DD/MM/YYYY
German DD.MM.YYYY
Italian DD-MM-YYYY
Japan YYYY/MM/DD
USA 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.
When previewing reports you
can elect to save the report as a preview file by clicking on the floppy disc
icon on the top left of the preview screen. These files have no other use than
as an instant snapshot of any previewed report/result. Use this option if you
wish to view one of these saved files. If you do not save any files there is
nothing to view.
This facility will allow you
to backup to any disk except a CD-ROM. It will even allow you to backup to the
disk where the Football League Organiser System lives but this would be the
height of folly. If you lose the hard disk where Football 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 good practise to backup to another partition on the same
physical disk, as your Football 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 Jaz and Zip drives as well as normal floppies or the
newer very high density floppies. 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 a 25p floppy disk and the few minutes it takes to do a backup is
a very low cost insurance against having to enter all that data again.
Anyone who does not backup the data at intervals is taking a very
foolish risk.
Backup your data every week
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 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.
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.
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: -
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.
Use this option to enter the
club address, telephone number, fax and e-mail 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.
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.
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.
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.
