fsTimer documentation

Section 1 Installing fsTimer
Section 2 Overview
Section 3 Checklist for timing with fsTimer
Section 4 Detailed descriptions of fsTimer components
4.1 Setting up for a new race
4.2 Importing preregistration - details
4.3 Registration - details
4.4 Compiling registrations - details
4.5 Race timing - details
Section 5 Additional details for developers

Section 4.3 - Registration - details


When opening the Registration window, we first specify the registration number. This will determine the filename where the registration database is saved. Specifically, if the project name is project_name and the registration number is 4, then when you press "Save" the registration database will be saved to the file project_name_registration_4.json, in the project_name directory. If this file already exists, it will be overwritten. When you press "Save" the filename will be displayed in blue at the bottom of the registration window:



When opening the registration window you may also load a pre-registration database. You can actually load any fsTimer registration database, including one that was previously saved from the registration window. For instance, suppose you were working in the registration window adding and editing entries, and then saved the results as project_name_registration_4.json. If you later want to make further edits/additions to the registration database, you can simply select "project_name_registration_4.json" as the pre-registration to load, and it will be loaded into the registration window.

The "New" button allows you to add a new entry by filling in data for all of the fields. Any of the fields can be left blank and this will not cause problems (for instance, if someone does not want to provide a certain piece of information, or does not have a certain piece of information, like an email address).

The "Edit", "Remove", and "Add family" buttons require an entry to be selected. If no entry is selected, then these buttons will simply not do anything. When an entry is selected, then the "Edit" button allows you to change the values in any of the fields for the selected entry; it is pretty self explanatory. The "Remove" button deletes the selected entry from the registration database. This cannot be undone (other than closing without saving, and loading a previously saved file from before the entry was removed) and so you should exercise extreme caution.

The "Add family" button would be better called the "Add family member" button, as its purpose is to add a family member for the selected entry. This button has exactly the same effect as the "New" button, except some of the fields (the ones specified when creating the project) will be pre-filled in with data from the selected entry (typically data like address, phone number, etc.).

Important note for Mac users: There's a strange behavior in the Mac version of fsTimer where sometimes clicking on the buttons in the registration window won't work. This behavior will generally exhibit itself on the day of registration when you are trying to edit an entry or add a new entry, and clicking on the button will not bring up the "Edit" or "New" window. When this happens, if you look closely, you will notice that there is a light blue box around the button - instead of clicking on the button, somehow the area around the button becomes selected. This never happens in Linux or in Windows, so I think it might be an issue with PyGTK for Mac? Not sure, but either way, this behavior is annoying but is not critical. Simply click on a different part of the window (like back on the entry in the center of the registration window), and you will see the light blue box around the button disappear. Try again to click on the button, and it will work (or maybe after a few iterations of this). This is annoying, but not critical once you understand that you just need to click in a different part of the window to de-select the area around the button.

Typing into the text field at the top of the window will filter the registration entries by last name:



Pressing the "Clear" button will clear the filter and show all entries again (or, just erase all of the text in the filter window). Notice that after you use "Edit" or "New" to edit/create an entry, fsTimer will automatically filter by the last name of the edited/new entry. This is just so you can easily see the edited/new entry and verify that the information is correct in the database.

Clicking on any of the field names above the registration entries (like "Last name" in the below image) will sort all of the registration entries using that field:



Press "Save" frequently, and press "Done" when you are finished with registration.

Continue on to Compiling registrations - details.