EzWinScore Step by Step

[Ray_Z]

Some years back I picked up the MD title for our practical pistol section. It's been fun and I've enjoyed the shooters and guys that have really made our matches work. A couple of years back the man that did the stats became ill and couldn't do EzWin Score for us. Dreaming up stages and putting together the match has been easy, with the team I've been lucky enough to belong to. This EzWinScore has been a real b&^$h. My hat is off to Roger at headquarters for putting up with my mistakes and senior moments.

I'm trying to put something together along this line for the person that will succeed me. I've been trying to put in writing a step by step way to use the program. I attached an early draft of the way I do it. Will you guys look it over and make changes for me please? Keep in mind that most of us understand only basic terms and uses of the computer.

Instructions_For_Using_EzWinScore2.doc

Edited August 14, 2009 by ima45dv8
removed passwords from attachment

[ima45dv8]

You probably want to explain Registration between 'Printing Scoresheets' and 'Entering Scores'.

============

After 'Entering Scores' and before 'Uploading to USPSA', there's a very useful and valuable step that should be inserted:

Verification

- In EWS, click the menu item 'Reports' and select 'Verification for Stats'. This allows you to check for errors prior to posting without actually printing verification sheets (as many do at major matches). Saves lots of paper.

The report presented ("Stage Verification Report for Stats") will have a tab for each stage. The information presented on each tab shows the competitor name and number, their hits by target zone (A, B, C, D, Mikes, No-Penalty Mikes) ), any penalties by category, their time and the resulting hit factor.

- Take a scoresheet and verify the data entered matches what is on the scoresheet.

- If you discover an error, simply double-click on that competitor's data line and the 'Enter Scores' screen for that shooter will open automatically.

- Make any necessary changes and re-save. Click on Close and you will return directly to the Verification screen.

- Once you are sure that entry is correct, right-click your mouse anywhere on that shooter's data for that stage. This will place a check in the box at the far left of that line.

You can do this stage-by-stage and then click the next tab/stage to continue. Or, if using generic or combined scoresheets (all stages on one sheet), just click the next tab and finish verifying all scores for that shooter. If someone is scoring a match before all scoresheets have been turned in, you can perform verification on the scores that have been entered and return later to do the rest. Each time you enter this screen only the scores needing verification will be displayed, so the list gets shorter each time (it also lets you know you're close to the finish line). If you do want to see all scores, those already verified and those that aren't, go to "Select Data Type" at the top of the report and select "All" (default is "New Only").

This Verification is a crucial step, and is the Stats Officer's friend. I'm hell on wheels with a 10-key, but still catch occasional errors during verification. In fact, this allows me to turn up the speed while entering scores because I know I'll have a chance to catch any errors before posting the results. By doing this you can look anyone straight in the eye without flinching and say the results are correct and Final, instead of, "Let me know if you see any errors".

[ima45dv8]

Ray, I also edited your Word.doc to remove your club's passwords.

(Thanks to Bill Noyes for catching that )

[Chris Keen]

Ray, I've mentioned this before, but I already do stats for 2 other Dayton / Columbus Ohio clubs. Been doing it for about 2 years or more. I would be happy to take on the job of stats, if only you would let me. I post results SAME DAY when possible, so ... no fuss, no muss, and no waiting!

..... or I can give 1 on 1 training to the "new sucker" if you have somebody else in mind.

Just say the word.

[Ray_Z]

Ray, I've mentioned this before, but I already do stats for 2 other Dayton / Columbus Ohio clubs. Been doing it for about 2 years or more. I would be happy to take on the job of stats, if only you would let me. I post results SAME DAY when possible, so ... no fuss, no muss, and no waiting!

..... or I can give 1 on 1 training to the "new sucker" if you have somebody else in mind.

Just say the word.

Thanks for stepping up Chris. But I'd rather keep it in house.

[Ray_Z]

You probably want to explain Registration between 'Printing Scoresheets' and 'Entering Scores'.

============

After 'Entering Scores' and before 'Uploading to USPSA', there's a very useful and valuable step that should be inserted:

Verification

- In EWS, click the menu item 'Reports' and select 'Verification for Stats'. This allows you to check for errors prior to posting without actually printing verification sheets (as many do at major matches). Saves lots of paper.

The report presented ("Stage Verification Report for Stats") will have a tab for each stage. The information presented on each tab shows the competitor name and number, their hits by target zone (A, B, C, D, Mikes, No-Penalty Mikes) ), any penalties by category, their time and the resulting hit factor.

- Take a scoresheet and verify the data entered matches what is on the scoresheet.

- If you discover an error, simply double-click on that competitor's data line and the 'Enter Scores' screen for that shooter will open automatically.

- Make any necessary changes and re-save. Click on Close and you will return directly to the Verification screen.

- Once you are sure that entry is correct, right-click your mouse anywhere on that shooter's data for that stage. This will place a check in the box at the far left of that line.

You can do this stage-by-stage and then click the next tab/stage to continue. Or, if using generic or combined scoresheets (all stages on one sheet), just click the next tab and finish verifying all scores for that shooter. If someone is scoring a match before all scoresheets have been turned in, you can perform verification on the scores that have been entered and return later to do the rest. Each time you enter this screen only the scores needing verification will be displayed, so the list gets shorter each time (it also lets you know you're close to the finish line). If you do want to see all scores, those already verified and those that aren't, go to "Select Data Type" at the top of the report and select "All" (default is "New Only").

This Verification is a crucial step, and is the Stats Officer's friend. I'm hell on wheels with a 10-key, but still catch occasional errors during verification. In fact, this allows me to turn up the speed while entering scores because I know I'll have a chance to catch any errors before posting the results. By doing this you can look anyone straight in the eye without flinching and say the results are correct and Final, instead of, "Let me know if you see any errors".

My dad was right, "The only dumb question is the one you didn't ask". I didn't know about the Verification for Stats. I'll put that in the instructions.

[dcarter]

Ray, I've mentioned this before, but I already do stats for 2 other Dayton / Columbus Ohio clubs. Been doing it for about 2 years or more. I would be happy to take on the job of stats, if only you would let me. I post results SAME DAY when possible, so ... no fuss, no muss, and no waiting!

..... or I can give 1 on 1 training to the "new sucker" if you have somebody else in mind.

Just say the word.

I'm ready for the training Master!

[Flexmoney]

I just gave it a quick look-over...

I don't think I saw anything in there about updating the classifications (getting the new classification file from USPSA every month, importing that to EZ, updating the match file, and updating the shooter database)?

[Ray_Z]

I just gave it a quick look-over...

I don't think I saw anything in there about updating the classifications (getting the new classification file from USPSA every month, importing that to EZ, updating the match file, and updating the shooter database)?

That's something else I don't understand everything I know about. Or, to put it in a little more intellectual manor, Huh??

[Flexmoney]

Every month, USPSA updates the classification files for all the members.

The file for this is on the USPSA website. It is designed to go right into EZ and ensures that everybody gets whatever is their current classification.

It's about as easy to do as up-loading scores to USPSA.

[Flexmoney]

Updating Classifications:

- Got to <Match>

- Then <Update classifications> , which opens the "update classifications" page

- Click on the <get file> button (you need to be on a computer that is connected to the web)

This pops open your web browser and goes to the EzWinScore Support page.

- Once there, click on the link for <classification files>

- Click on <ez_class_update.txt (text file) > to down load the file to your computer

It will take a bit for the file to download. Once it does, save it on your computer, and note where you save it.

- Go back to EZ and on the "update classifications" page, click on the <import> button.

- Select that file you just downloaded and saved. It will take a bit of time for the file to load into EZ

- Now you can hit the <update master> and <update match> buttons

[wgnoyes]

The zipfile containing classification updates is (this month) all of 184k, and takes no real time at all to download, even on dial-up.

A lot of this information is already built into ezws help, though it's nice to have a quick summary guide, as well.

From EzWinScore's built-in help:

The classifications of many competitors can be verified and updated with this option. Before updating classifications it is necessary to obtain the latest classification text file from the USPSA website. To simplify obtaining this file, the user can click on the ‘Get File’ button. When clicked, the default web browser on the computer will be started and it will attempt to connect to the EzWinScore support page on USPSA’s web site ( http://www.uspsa.org/ezwinscore). Please note that EzWinScore does not in and of itself cause your computer to dial your ISP and create an Internet connection. Rather it simply starts the default browser and instructs the browser to go to the desired address. However, it is possible that your computer is configured to automatically dial your ISP when a program requests an internet connection. If your computer does not automatically dial your ISP, you should connect to the internet before clicking the ‘Get File’ button.

The file can be downloaded from the USPSA web site in two formats; as a text file or as a compressed zip file. If you have a zip program like PKZip, WinZip, etc., installed on your machine, or are running the Windows XP operating system, you can download the zip file. If not, download the text file. It does not matter where you put this file as long as you know which directory you put it.

After the compressed file has been downloaded from the web page, you need to extract the text file before you can import it into EzWinScore. To extract the contents, open Windows Explorer and find the file in the directory where you stored it, then double-click the file name to begin the extraction process. You will be asked where to store the extracted text file. Again, it does not matter where it is stored, but we recommend storing it in the EzWinScore directory. Please note that simply downloading the file and extracting the text file does not make the data available to EzWinScore, you still have to import the data into EzWinScore by clicking on the ‘Import’ button on this page.

After clicking the ‘Import’ button, be patient as it can take several minutes, depending on the speed of the your computer, to import the contents of the text file. After the file has been imported, the classification data will be available to EzWinScore until the next time you download and import a new file. USPSA releases a new classification file each month after the monthly classification cycle has been completed. The date the file was created and the number of listings in the file will be displayed.

The next step is to click on ‘Update match’ to update the classifications of competitors who have been registered in the current match. It is vitally important to understand that EzWinScore can update classification only if it finds an exact match of USPSA numbers. This includes the alphabetic prefix. For example, A99999 is not the same as TY99999. If you have a competitor with the number of A99999 in C class Open division and the correct number is TY99999, EzWinScore will change the classification to ‘U’ because it cannot find a listing for A99999. When this occurs, check the competitor’s current USPSA number and make the correction. You can then rerun the classification update to correct the person’s classification. Any changes that are made are displayed on screen. It is also possible to print the report,

By clicking on ‘Update master,’ it is also possible to update the classification information and the USPSA membership expiration date in the master database. In addition to updating a person’s existing classifications, any new divisions found for that person will be added to the master database. If a classification for a specific division should exist in the master database that doesn’t exist in the update file, then the classification for that division will be set to U. No report will be displayed on screen, other than a message that the update is complete and the number of changes made to the master database. However, a text file (masterupdate.txt) with the details of the updates is created in the default saved file location. At the completion of the update process, the user will be given an opportunity to view the file (using Notepad). The file is overwritten each time the master database is updated.

[Ray_Z]

Updating Classifications:

- Got to <Match>

- Then <Update classifications> , which opens the "update classifications" page

- Click on the <get file> button (you need to be on a computer that is connected to the web)

This pops open your web browser and goes to the EzWinScore Support page.

- Once there, click on the link for <classification files>

- Click on <ez_class_update.txt (text file) > to down load the file to your computer

It will take a bit for the file to download. Once it does, save it on your computer, and note where you save it.

- Go back to EZ and on the "update classifications" page, click on the <import> button.

- Select that file you just downloaded and saved. It will take a bit of time for the file to load into EZ

- Now you can hit the <update master> and <update match> buttons

Uhhh, I'm in it up to my knees now. Everybody in my date base is now unclassified.

Clicked on Match which opened a window that said "Connect to adaptive server anywhere"

Clicked OK

On the update classifications window

Clicked on get file

This opened my internet but did not go to USPSA. I manually opened the USPSA site

Clicked on additional content

Then EZ support

Classification files

ez_classupdate.txt(text file)

files

save page as

generalleftmenu

Back to EZ and clicked on update master.

and now everybody on my master is unclassified.

[wgnoyes]

No, that's not what you do.

Goto http://www.uspsa.org/ezwinscore/clasupdt.shtml externally of ezwinscore (I don't anyone that actually uses the "get file" cmdbutton.)

If you want to just get the .txt file, that's fine, but it's a lot of extra downloading (1.6mg v. 184kb). I always go after the .zip file.

Anyway, right-click on the link for the .txt file and select "Save target as..." from the menu.

Then navigate in the resulting window to wherever you want to put the copy of your file and press the "save" cmdbutton. Remember where that file is.

Now go into ezwinscore, pulldown "match" and select "Update classifications".

Click on the "Import" cmdbutton

Navigate to where your .txt file is that you downloaded (or the .txt file that you extracted from the .zip file) and press the "Open" cmdbutton.

He'll churn, squeak, grind, and crunch for awhile, and then he'll show how many classifications were imported and also your stats at the top of the window will change to reflect the update you just downloaded and installed.

...

Now after all that, just press the "update master" cmdbutton and he'll begin the update process, with a progress bar.

Then he'll tell you how many updates he applied, and give you a chance to look at them. Go ahead and click "yes"

He'll open up a separate notepad window and show you.

I typically do this before I start registering for a new match, so that my people in masternames.db will have the latest classifications when I register them from there (as opposed to typing them in manually). For those I do register by typing them in new, I finish registration for the match, and then press the "update match" cmdbutton to ensure those new folks have the correct classifications (they might have told you wrong).

[Ray_Z]

No, that's not what you do.

Goto http://www.uspsa.org/ezwinscore/clasupdt.shtml externally of ezwinscore (I don't anyone that actually uses the "get file" cmdbutton.)

If you want to just get the .txt file, that's fine, but it's a lot of extra downloading (1.6mg v. 184kb). I always go after the .zip file.

Anyway, right-click on the link for the .txt file and select "Save target as..." from the menu.

Then navigate in the resulting window to wherever you want to put the copy of your file and press the "save" cmdbutton. Remember where that file is.

Now go into ezwinscore, pulldown "match" and select "Update classifications".

Click on the "Import" cmdbutton

Navigate to where your .txt file is that you downloaded (or the .txt file that you extracted from the .zip file) and press the "Open" cmdbutton.

He'll churn, squeak, grind, and crunch for awhile, and then he'll show how many classifications were imported and also your stats at the top of the window will change to reflect the update you just downloaded and installed.

...

Now after all that, just press the "update master" cmdbutton and he'll begin the update process, with a progress bar.

Then he'll tell you how many updates he applied, and give you a chance to look at them. Go ahead and click "yes"

He'll open up a separate notepad window and show you.

I typically do this before I start registering for a new match, so that my people in masternames.db will have the latest classifications when I register them from there (as opposed to typing them in manually). For those I do register by typing them in new, I finish registration for the match, and then press the "update match" cmdbutton to ensure those new folks have the correct classifications (they might have told you wrong).

That didn't work either. I took your advice and used the zip file. But when I right click I don't have the option of save target. I can save link as...ect. but not target. Anyway using that there is nothing to find to import.

[Flexmoney]

The only reason to use the zip file for the download is if you are on a slow connection (dial-up).

The end result ought to be the same whichever you download (txt or zip).

[Flexmoney]

Did you get the file downloaded ?

Saved in a location on your computer that you noted?

[LChico]

We may be missing the obvious. What version of EzWinScore are you using & did you select the correct file for that version?

Just assuming if he didn't know about updating classifications, he may have missed updating the program.

Linda Chico (L-2035)

Columbia SC

[Ray_Z]

I have 3.06

Let me do the step by step with you.

From the UDPSA web site

Additional Content

Ezwinscore support

Classification files

(Right Click) ez class update.txt (text file)

Save link as (Noted location)

Closed USPSA web site

Opened EZ

Match

Update classifications

On window connect to adaptive server anywhere window I clicked OK (Question, the password was already there was it the one I really needed?)

On classifications update window I click import

Find location of file and click open

Then a window pops up saying "There was an error writing data to the database. Reverting to the old classifier scores." Update match or update master are no longer available.

[Flexmoney]

(Right Click) ez class update.txt (text file)

Save link as (Noted location)

Negative. (You are close though, Ray.)

It's not a (right click). Left click on it. Get the DATA (not the link) and then save the data

[Ray_Z]

OK, after left clicking on ezclassupdate.txt I either right click on the page or go to file then to "Save page as.."

Name it and close the site

back to ez classifications updates and click on import

then on the place I left the page I saved and open that

It opens to 2 choices generalleftmenu_data and entrypage

If I open general.... another blank window opens

If I open entrypage I end up with the window "There was an error writing data to the database.......

[wgnoyes]

Ah. You have a menu that says "save link as...". My screen shots were using Internet Explorer. I'm guessing you're using firefox. Therefore, right-click (yes, RIGHT-CLICK) on the link of your choice, and select "Save link as..." It may say "save link", but you're actually saving the file. (Ask the Firefox people why they call it "save link"; I wouldn't have used that term.)

But the procedure steps as I layed out are the same and trust me they DO work (else I wouldn't have been able to produce the screen shots ), regardless of the release of ezwinscore or type of browser being used to get the classification download. (You must be running 3.x, else you wouldn't have access to all the latest classifiers.)

Edited August 18, 2009 by wgnoyes

[wgnoyes]

Don't do "save page as" and don't pulldown the browser's "File" menu. When you pulldown "file" and select "save page as...", you actually saving a copy of the actual classification update webpage to your system, and you don't want to do that.

That's not what you're after; rather, you're after the specific downloadable .txt or .zip file. Right click on either one of those and (in your case), select "save link as..." and THAT is what you want to feed into ezwinscore.

[Ray_Z]

I tried it. The end product is the same. When I go to ez and import then open the file I end up with the "There was an error writing data to the database...."

[wgnoyes]

On window connect to adaptive server anywhere window I clicked OK (Question, the password was already there was it the one I really needed?)

Okay, now THAT'S a problem. You shouldn't get the database user and password prompt unless the program isn't able to connect to one of your databases. You're getting this, right?

I just duplicated this on my own computer by renaming the uspsaclasses.db file (which is where the classifications updates live) to something else. Somehow, you've whacked your copy of the uspsaclasses.db file. So what I'm going to here is upload a new copy of the file here:

uspsaclasses.zip

Download this to your system and unzip it; the resulting file will be uspsaclasses.db. Next, copy it to the exact same folder where you have ezwinscore itself installed. It should be c:\USPSA\Ezwinscore if you accepted all the default choices when you installed, but it could also be c:\Program Files\USPSA\Ezwinscore. Either way, copy uspsaclasses.db to wherever ezwinscore is installed.

If he asks if you're sure you want to move the read-only file, tell him yes.

If he asks if you're sure you want to replace the existing uspsaclasses.db file with this one, tell him yes.

Then, get a fresh good copy of ez_class_update.txt from the website, and try it again.