EZwin 4.0

[steel1212]

I just got my new CD and it has some pretty cool things on it. One of them is score sheets with NPM boxes on it. I've got it setup the way I want it but I'm having a couple issues with it. I'm talking about the score sheets that come on the disk not the ones that EZwin prints.

1st, The boxes and lines are so wide and in bold that it will eat through ink in no time if I print a 6 stage match worth.

2nd, I can't figure out how to get them to print in half sheets.

[Flexmoney]

Bump.

I got mine and installed it, but only had a chance to give it a glance.

[wgnoyes]

In case you don't have yours yet, here is the cover letter that comes with EzWinScore 4.0.

USPSA Releases EzWinScore version 4.00

Enclosed is your new CD for EzWinScore version 4.00. As with version 3.00, you will need to use this CD to upgrade installations of previous versions of EzWinScore. Also note that this will be the last version that will be capable of opening databases created by version 1.00 through 2.29. If you have an archive of match databases created with those versions and you would like to have future access to them, you should plan some time to convert those databases to version 4 format.

After the CDs had been created, a bug was discovered that affects 3-gun/multigun results that are uploaded to the USPSA results web page. A maintenance release for this bug is available on the EzWinScore support page http://www.uspsa.org/ezwinscore. In general, it’s a good idea to check the USPSA EzWinScore support page for program maintenance releases now and then. One way to know whether a maintenance release is available, at least for those clubs that upload classifier scores, is to check the email that is returned to you after the USPSA office processes your classifier file. The program checks the version you have used and compares it with the current version to let you know whether your EzWinScore software is out of date.

We have also spent a great deal of time updating the help file and adding new topics. Whenever you have a question or encounter a problem that needs solving, your first step should be to consult the help file. Remember help is only a press of the F1 key away while you are running EzWinScore.

In addition to the EzWinScore program installation, this disk includes the following folders:

NCCB_4ed - This folder contains all of the USPSA classifier courses in PDF format. With version 4, USPSA has added 14 new classifier stages while deleting three. The three deleted stages are 99-39 Off Balance Blast, 99-55 Peek-A-Boo No-Shoots, and 99-58 Body Guard 1. These courses are no longer authorized for use. You can print new pages for your National Classification Course loose leaf binder from these pdfs, or download and print them from the Classifier course page on the USPSA web site. http://www.uspsa.org/classifiers/index.html

Clipart - This folder contains the USPSA diamond logo in a variety of formats for your club’s official use in promoting its matches. Please note these logos cannot be used for commercial gain unless you have received written permission from USPSA to use its trademarked logo. Other clip art items are small target icons that can be used in the graphic layout program of your choice for designing courses of fire. These are the same target icons that are used in the stage drawings in the National Classification Course Book.

Empty_Databases - This folder contains the system databases that are used by the EzWinScore program. One empty database that you should make note of is the uspsaclasses.db. Over time, as you import the monthly classification data from the downloaded ez_class_update.txt file, this database continues to get larger. It is a good idea to periodically copy the empty uspsaclasses.db over the existing overly large file that you will find in the EzWinScore folder. You will have to download the latest ez_class_update.txt file and reimport the data after you replace an overly large uspsaclasses.db, but you will not lose any of your masternames data or match data.

IPSC_Classifiers - This folder contains a PDF of all the IPSC classifier stages in the event your club wants to hold an IPSC classification match. All of these courses are preprogrammed into the infofile database, and they are made available when you select an IPSC type of match during match setup. This version deletes all of the IPSC classifiers that had been designed with the Metric target. Current IPSC classifier stages use the Classic target.

Rule _Books - This folder contains all of the current rule books and rule interpretations in PDF format. These are the same PDFs that can be downloaded from the USPSA web site. However, please note that you should check the web site periodically to see whether new rule books have been issued or whether a new rule interpretation document has been posted.

Scoresheets - This folder contains a Microsoft™ Excel spread sheet that can be used to create score sheets with boxes for non-penalty misses. The complexity of adding this feature to EzWinScore was found to be quite difficult, and, given the amount of other more important modifications, was left to a future release.

This version of EzWinScore continues to include the ability to create an uploadable text file for reporting your clubs activity. This has proven to be a popular feature as nearly 75 percent of USPSA clubs are now reporting their classifier scores and match activity by upload. The improved help file includes a topic that explains in detail how to use this feature.

It may be beneficial to point out the two most common questions. First, there is confusion as to which file is uploaded for posting your local match results and which file is for reporting match activity to USPSA. For uploading your local match results to the USPSA web site, the file is ALWAYS named webfile.txt. This file is created by clicking the Web File button on the Calculate Results window. This file is uploaded to the USPSA web site by clicking the button labeled Upload Local Match results on USPSA’s Classifier & Match Uploading web page.

For reporting and paying your activity fees, including submitting classifier scores to USPSA, the file name is a combination of your club code and the match date. This file is created by clicking the Web File button on the Activity Report window, and you submit it to USPSA by clicking the Upload Classifier Scores button on the Classifier & Match Uploading web page.

One important benefit of submitting your classifiers by upload is that you will receive an email after the file has been processed at the USPSA office. This email will show you whether you have entered an incorrect USPSA number or misspelled a member’s name. Correctly spelling names is vitally important. The program stops when it encounters a name that it cannot match to the particular member number. A staff member then must manually search the database for the correctly spelled name and instruct the program to use that person. USPSA has been having to correct the same misspelled names and wrong numbers for years, and the time consumed is increasing. You can do your part by reviewing these emails and correcting the information in your EzWinScore master database. On those occasions that USPSA has misspelled a person’s name, we must hear from that member that we’ve misspelled his or her name in order to correct it.

To upload these files, you will need a password that you can have issued to your club by sending an email to roger@uspsa.org.

Additionally, Roger talked about this in the Mar-Apr 2010 issue of Front Sight, but here is information on installing and running on Vista (at the time) and Windows 7 (now). Although written for EZWS3, it also applies to 4.0. This is quoted from http://uspsa.org/ezwinscore

Installing on Windows Vista

Windows Vista presents a new set of problems with its restrictive user privileges for installing and running EzWinScore. We have successfully installed and tested the program with the Home Premium edition of Vista, which is the first version level above Home Basic. We weren't sure it would run on the bare-bones Vista Home Basic operating system, but recently one user, after following the tips below, said EzWinScore 3.x also installs and runs successfully on the Home Basic version of Vista, as well.

USPSA does not recommend installing any version of EzWinScore in the "Program Files" folder of computers running any version of Windows Vista. Vista includes mulitple layers of security software that prevents the program from functioning in a normal fashion IF it is installed in c:\Program Files. As a result, the default installation folder for EzWinScore 3.x is now c:\USPSA\EzWinScore.

You must install EzWinScore (and most anything else, for that matter) on Vista using an administrator level userid. Even then, when you insert the EzWinScore cd-rom in your computer, you will get additional questions asked before setup runs because Vista does not recognize the software publisher, which is USPSA. As illustrated above, just click on "Run setup.exe" and then click on "Allow" on the User Account Control window that appears next. Setup will then proceed normally.

After installing EzWinScore and the subsequent and necessary cumulative upgrade on your Windows Vista computer, you are still not quite ready to run the program. EzWinScore must run in "administrator mode" so that it can create and open match files other than the default match.db file. (Scoring a match in the default match.db file is definitely not recommended - see Frequently Asked Questions.) To set this mode, right-click on your EzWinScore "DVC" icon on the desktop, and select "Properties". On the resulting pop-up window as illustrated here, click on the "Compatibility" tab and then select the "Run this program as an administrator" checkbox in the "Privilege Level" control group and press the "OK" cmdbutton. You should now be ready to run EzWinScore 3.x on your Windows Vista computer.

[spanky]

I'm glad I happened upon this thread, we are supposed to shoot Body Guard 1 at the next match. I'll have to pick another.

Does anyone know if the EZW CDs automatically get shipped to the clubs that have purchased it or does it go to whoever ordered?

[racegun9]

I'm glad I happened upon this thread, we are supposed to shoot Body Guard 1 at the next match. I'll have to pick another.

Does anyone know if the EZW CDs automatically get shipped to the clubs that have purchased it or does it go to whoever ordered?

I believe they would send it to your club contact address.

Same place your quarterly activity reports or any mailings would go.

One copy per 2010 affiliated club

[dcarter]

I have mine but haven't had time to upload it yet.

[wgnoyes]

Additionally, Roger Maier had an article in the Mar-Apr issue of Front Sight about the upcoming EZWS4 and how to install it on Windows 7. This information also applies to Windows Vista and applies for either of those operating systems even if you're installing Version 3. It is repeated here:

EzWinScore and Windows 7

By Roger Maier, USPSA Staff

With the release of Microsoft Windows 7, we are getting more questions about whether EzWinScore will run on this system. Yes, it will. Just as with Windows Vista, however, the end user must make a small change to the desktop icon and start menu link to tell the User Account Control (anyone remember the Master Control Program in Disney’s movie Tron?) to get out of the way. EzWinScore can create a new database file when you click File->New Match, but it can’t access that file. What is happening is that Master C--, oops, User Account Control, won’t let EzWinScore create the necessary ODBC registry settings that the program uses to access the database files. The program has to be run with administrator privileges. It is easy for the end user to make a small change to program properties. Unfortunately, USPSA cannot do this during the installation routine, apparently for security reasons.

Step 1: Modify the desktop icon properties

Put the mouse pointer over the EzWinScore icon and click the right mouse button. Select Properties from the popup menu. The properties settings are found on several different tabs. Click the Compatibility tab and look toward the bottom for “Run as administrator.” Click the check box to put a check mark in the box, and then click the OK button.

Step 2: Modify the start menu link

Because the desktop icon and the start menu link are not the same, it is also necessary to turn on the administrator privileges in the start menu as well. Click the Start button, and navigate your way to the EzWinScore start menu item. Again, right click the start menu item and find the Run as administrator setting on the Compatibility tab. Click the check box and then the OK button.

With those changes, you will be able to create new match files. At the moment, EzWinScore 3.06 is the latest release. If you’re not running that version, you should download the 3.06 update from the EzWinScore support page of the USPSA web site. We hope that by the time you get this issue, the CDs for EzWinScore version 4.00 will be in the mail. We’re still working out some bugs, but are getting closer to a final release.

Version 4 will contain an improved method for scoring Multi-Gun matches with all of the current Multi-Gun divisions. It will also have a dozen or so new classifiers.

[Alan Adamson]

Found what I consider a major bug in 4.0 yesterday, and relayed it to Roger. If you use the above keyboard number keys, the number 8 will also be interpreted as the *enter* key. The number pad 8 works fine, but in any field that you enter an 8 from above the keyboard, expect the software to also think that the enter button was pressed.

Roger said that he'd release an upgrade next week to fix this and a few other items.

Alan

[wgnoyes]

Not precisely "enter". Actually, the system is looking at the shift value of the '8' key only. '*' (asterick) is a hot key when you're entering a competitor's score that presses the "save" cmdbutton for you. That is, when you're really driving the system for speed, you key in numbers of A's, C's, etc, then press '+' to jump directly to the time text box. Then you enter the time and press '*' to save the entered score. (Unless you're seeing that behavior on all the windows in 4.x.) But yes, he'll deal with it. No excuse, really, but it's easy to overlook when none of us uses the row of number keys to score any size of match, using instead an attached 10-key pad or (more commonly) a plugged-in external keyboard with it's integral 10-key pad. And that of course is the available workaround. Thanks.

[wgnoyes]

Fixed in maintenance release 4.02, available at http://uspsa.org/ezwinscore

[Rob Boudrie]

Effective August 1, 2010 the USPSA Match Results and Classification Upload system will not accept data from any version of EzWinScore prior to 4.0.

This is necessary to lay the framework for support of some new website functionality that USPSA has planned.

[High Lord Gomer]

Is it possible to download 4.0 then apply the 4.03 update? I can't find the download for 4.0 and the CD was sent to our MD. I can get it from him but it would be easier for me to just download it.

[Chris Keen]

Negative Ghost Rider. You will have to either get it from your MD, or purchase a copy from the webstore at www.uspsa.com