USPSA Activity Reports (IOs)

[jcwren]

My experience is that you can tell them not to do that all you want, but someone invariably will. And when I see shooter info changing, other than a DQ or squad change, I instantly want to know WHY they decided they should mess around with it.

We had this problem at Area 6. In spite of being told not to do things, *3* times we had ROs create a new user, "because we couldn't find them in the squad list".

[Greg Bell]

I know must of you don't deal with steel challenge but it's a big deal for me. This past weekend I was able to use my iPad as master and then generate and email to myself the activity/score report for steel challenge. Unlike USPSA steel challenge uses a single report for activity fee and match results. I'm happy to report the upload worked like a champ. I'm hoping that now that Russell can do it for steel challenge he'll be able to knock it out for you USPSA match directors.

Zack

Is this version 1.642 or a beta version that you are referring to?

[ZackJones]

Zack

Is this version 1.642 or a beta version that you are referring to?

1.650 beta build but if you have a steel match and want me to generate the report for you I will. PM me and we'll work out the details.

[Jim Norman]

This ties into Activity reports which I realize are currently Apple Only. In 1.2.18 Android version under the sync menu is an item called 'Update Classifications'. Clicking it opens a message box that states. "Please wait, this may take a few minutes" and under that in the same box is a counter. I have let it run for about 10 minutes and nadda, zippo happens. Oh, and there is no getting out of it short of powering down.

What am I missing?

[jdphotoguy]

This ties into Activity reports which I realize are currently Apple Only. In 1.2.18 Android version under the sync menu is an item called 'Update Classifications'. Clicking it opens a message box that states. "Please wait, this may take a few minutes" and under that in the same box is a counter. I have let it run for about 10 minutes and nadda, zippo happens. Oh, and there is no getting out of it short of powering down.

What am I missing?

My counter runs up to about 36,000, updates the shooters in my history, then it asks if I want to update the shooters in the current match.

Never had it not work like you have mentioned.

Has it ever worked, with any match? Can you sync that match to another device and try the update?

[Jim Norman]

Maybe I'm doing it wrong? Does this go out to USPSA and grab the file? or does one download the file and save it somewhere? if so where? SD Card? device memory?

[jdphotoguy]

Maybe I'm doing it wrong? Does this go out to USPSA and grab the file? or does one download the file and save it somewhere? if so where? SD Card? device memory?

It hits the USPSA web site

[jcwren]

This ties into Activity reports which I realize are currently Apple Only. In 1.2.18 Android version under the sync menu is an item called 'Update Classifications'. Clicking it opens a message box that states. "Please wait, this may take a few minutes" and under that in the same box is a counter. I have let it run for about 10 minutes and nadda, zippo happens. Oh, and there is no getting out of it short of powering down.

What am I missing?

What exactly is the box doing? Is it counting at all? Counts to what number and then stops? Please to explain exact behavior in more detail.

[Jim Norman]

The box counts and keeps on counting. You cannot close out of it.

I have since downloaded the classification file and saved it to the SD card thinking that maybe that was supposed to be an understood step. I don't have it with me so i can't check just now, but even after that all that happened was the counter running on.

How about can you start this one from the beginning? How is this supposed to work?

[jcwren]

The box counts and keeps on counting. You cannot close out of it.

I have since downloaded the classification file and saved it to the SD card thinking that maybe that was supposed to be an understood step. I don't have it with me so i can't check just now, but even after that all that happened was the counter running on.

How about can you start this one from the beginning? How is this supposed to work?

So it'll hit 4 billion, then wrap around to 0?

[Jim Norman]

I don't know. I'll take a look when I get home tonight.

The only thing that PS doesn't do as well as it could is communicate how features work.

[jdphotoguy]

The box counts and keeps on counting. You cannot close out of it.

I have since downloaded the classification file and saved it to the SD card thinking that maybe that was supposed to be an understood step. I don't have it with me so i can't check just now, but even after that all that happened was the counter running on.

How about can you start this one from the beginning? How is this supposed to work?

When I've used it, the function just hits USPSA and updates the shooter history, then asks to update the current match. No need to download anything to a SD card or the like. Edited August 5, 2014 by jdphotoguy

[Jim Norman]

I am going to run off a dummy match with real people but wrong classifications and see how it works;

[Jim Norman]

OK, it is apparently an issue with our Nooks. I just for the heck of it ran 1.2.18 on my S4 phone and the update took only seconds. I know how I wil handle this in the immediate future. I'll sync to my phone, update the classifiers and sync back to the Nooks. That gets my match all in order. When I get home I can post the scores immediately to our website. We don't post out on Practiscore or USPSA. our scores are only posted at our home site. Why? Because! and maybe that will change someday.

[jester121]

Yeah, running that on a Nook is probably not going to end well (if at all). They have such crummy, weak processors it could be an hour. Once everyone is registered on your master device (sounds like your S4 in your case?) just run the update then sync the match onto the Nooks. Or, if your squads don't care, do it after you've pulled in the match scores, before you generate the results file.

[jcwren]

Yeah, running that on a Nook is probably not going to end well (if at all). They have such crummy, weak processors it could be an hour. Once everyone is registered on your master device (sounds like your S4 in your case?) just run the update then sync the match onto the Nooks. Or, if your squads don't care, do it after you've pulled in the match scores, before you generate the results file.

"Crummy, weak processors". O...M...G... It's an 800MHz TI OMAP processor with 256MB of RAM! Compared to the 1.6GHz quad core and 16 *gigs* of memory in my phone, yeah, maybe it's not as hot.

But it's still no slouch. I started out working on 2MHz 8080's with 16 *kilobytes* of RAM, and <1MHz 6502's with 4K of RAM. I've used smaller and larger machines since then, but still, an 800MHz CPU is hardly "crummy" or "weak".

Kids these days! Sheesh...

[RadarTech]

Yeah, running that on a Nook is probably not going to end well (if at all). They have such crummy, weak processors it could be an hour. Once everyone is registered on your master device (sounds like your S4 in your case?) just run the update then sync the match onto the Nooks. Or, if your squads don't care, do it after you've pulled in the match scores, before you generate the results file.

"Crummy, weak processors". O...M...G... It's an 800MHz TI OMAP processor with 256MB of RAM! Compared to the 1.6GHz quad core and 16 *gigs* of memory in my phone, yeah, maybe it's not as hot.

But it's still no slouch. I started out working on 2MHz 8080's with 16 *kilobytes* of RAM, and <1MHz 6502's with 4K of RAM. I've used smaller and larger machines since then, but still, an 800MHz CPU is hardly "crummy" or "weak".

Kids these days! Sheesh...

68b09e double clocked!! I think it only ran at like 1.79 and that was double clocked!! I remember the Tandy CoCo 1!!

[jester121]

Chris, I'm probably the same age as you, my 8086 had a "turbo" button the front to jump from 4.77 all the way to 8 MHz (or maybe it was 6) for the heavy number crunching.

I'm no kid, but I'm no Luddite either.

[Jim Norman]

Hey, our first real computer was a Compaq 386 with a 10MEG hard drive and a 286 work station. Monochromatic monitors. The 386 got it's own room! They would bring people in to see our 'State of the Art' business computer system!

but back to the present...

I know how I'll be handling this in the immediate future. Sync to my phone, update the classes and resync back to the nooks. I might even see if I can post to our web from my phone or get really wild and invest in the charges to male my phone a hotspot. Now that is decadent!

[2MoreChains]

Commodore 64 anybody? Or how about the Apple IIE, the one with the membrane keyboard?

Speaking of master devices, last spring when my club switched to PS I put a call out to our members for anybody with a Gen 1 iPad they were not using anymore. I ended up getting a couple donated, and those are the master devices we use in conjunction with the Nooks. So far its been working well for this luddite.

When I get home I generate the html files for the combined overalls, each stage overalls, and the activity report; and save them all in Dropbox. The match and stage htmls get emailed out to the competitors, and the activity file gets uploaded to USPSA on their website. Seems like a fairly pain free process. I'm trying to figure out the iUploader app so I can do everything from my iPad and not have to fire up the laptop to upload the activity file to USPSA.

I used to upload the match to PS's website, but got too many complaints from our shooters that the website was difficult to view the scores on an iPhone-type device and they like the htmls better...

[Jim Norman]

Interesting, maybe there needs to be a separate thread about how match results are handled?

I see people post them to Practiscore and USPSA. We post them only on our own site and always include the combined results. I notice too that others email the .html files to their shooters.

My personal choice is that our scores are on our site and you can go back at this point 9 years and see your scores! No need to search the archives or sort through dozens or hundreds of other clubs. At one point we even posted the stage diagrams. I think we need to revisit that and start doing it again.

But this is gross digression from the topic at hand which was I believe the creation and uploading of the Activity Report for USPSA. I would really like to see that report get generated in the Android version of PS so we can just do it all here and forget EzWin for once and for ever!

[wgnoyes]

...

I used to upload the match to PS's website, but got too many complaints from our shooters that the website was difficult to view the scores on an iPhone-type device and they like the htmls better...

Interesting, because the upload to practiscore operation generates and uploads the exact same html code to practiscore.com as it creates for emailing or saving elsewhere.

...

But this is gross digression from the topic at hand which was I believe the creation and uploading of the Activity Report for USPSA. I would really like to see that report get generated in the Android version of PS so we can just do it all here and forget EzWin for once and for ever!

Although you can do this in the iOS version now.

And I still can't see using ps only for registration for a major match, which is a months-long project in and of itself. ezws still has ps beat all to hell for reporting and for drag-and-drop squadding. (Sorry, it just does!) And I seem to recall reading something recently attributed to Ken Nelson, either around here or maybe on FB, that they never intended PS for anything but club matches, and therefore we users of course immediately started trying to run big shows on it, mostly with success but requiring a lot of forethought on procedures. Chris is one of the greatest proponents of PS that I know (combination of enthusiasm and also rock solid knowledge of what it takes to make it work) and even he says the advantages of PS over EZWS in a major match are not that distinct.

Edited August 6, 2014 by wgnoyes

[2MoreChains]

...

I used to upload the match to PS's website, but got too many complaints from our shooters that the website was difficult to view the scores on an iPhone-type device and they like the htmls better...

Interesting, because the upload to practiscore operation generates and uploads the exact same html code to practiscore.com as it creates for emailing or saving elsewhere.

I think it had to do with the really wide columns on the Practiscore website and the need to scroll horizontally to see your time/pts/HF.

[wgnoyes]

Oh, that! I thought they fixed that? No?

[Jim Norman]

...

I used to upload the match to PS's website, but got too many complaints from our shooters that the website was difficult to view the scores on an iPhone-type device and they like the htmls better...

Interesting, because the upload to practiscore operation generates and uploads the exact same html code to practiscore.com as it creates for emailing or saving elsewhere.

...

But this is gross digression from the topic at hand which was I believe the creation and uploading of the Activity Report for USPSA. I would really like to see that report get generated in the Android version of PS so we can just do it all here and forget EzWin for once and for ever!

Although you can do this in the iOS version now.

And I still can't see using ps only for registration for a major match, which is a months-long project in and of itself. ezws still has ps beat all to hell for reporting and for drag-and-drop squadding. (Sorry, it just does!) And I seem to recall reading something recently attributed to Ken Nelson, either around here or maybe on FB, that they never intended PS for anything but club matches, and therefore we users of course immediately started trying to run big shows on it, mostly with success but requiring a lot of forethought on procedures. Chris is one of the greatest proponents of PS that I know (combination of enthusiasm and also rock solid knowledge of what it takes to make it work) and even he says the advantages of PS over EZWS in a major match are not that distinct.

To a point I agree that the backroom portion of a Major Match may run better using EzWinScore, mostly the pre-match portion where squadding takes place. But the data collection using electronics is so much better. Yeah, I know that there is still the chance of an error, but not one of an omission. all targets must be scored, there must be a time. If we could force the shooter to accept and acknowledge that the score shown is his and correct we'd have it. Tap in your pin number an dthe score is saved. no pin but an over-ride if you contest so that the mach can continue. Two collection devices per stage so that the match is not slowed duing hte copy process or the printing should that ever occur. What is missing is the ability to print an immediate receipt of the shooters score at the stage level.

As for running a major vs a club match, I know of several clubs that regularly run 'local' matches that are nearly as large as some sections matches maybe larger. With good weather we get 80 plus and have hit near to100 shooters. We actually cap pre-registration at 90 in the summer and 70 in the winter but allow walk-ons. With that many people shooting 7 stages the data entry was becoming onerous. 630 separate scores to be entered!