Preferences

Preferences Tab

Not only does the League Analyzer provide you with custom instructions it also allows you to customize how the software fits your personal tastes. The preferences provides the ability to update the following items:

AutoSave: When you are entering data for teams, players, etc. and you move to the next or previous records, the system will not save changes. Activating this option and data is saved before moving to another record.

Display Screen Tips: The system provides screen tips in colored boxes on many of the screens. After become familiar with the software, you may not wish to have your screen littered with these messages. You can remove them by deactivating this option.

Save System Size on Exit: When you first load the League Analyzer, the system has a default size setting that it will always use on start up. If you change settings, they will not be remembered unless this feature is active.

Visual Style: The top menu bar and tool bar along with the side bar can have 1 of 3 different styles, MS Office 2003, MS.NET and MS Internet Explorer.  You can use whichever you find more visually pleasing.

User Key: This is a custom field for users with paid for enhancements.  The users key is entered and it will trigger the enhanced functionality.

Suppress Report Header and Footer: Many users will export reports for display in their web pages. By suppressing report headers and footers, the system will print a full page report that when saved in HTML, can be imported directly to a web page.

Show Games with Home/Away Format: The software will still create a home and away teams for all schedules, but when displaying and printing, it this option is selected, then the games appear in the format ‘Team1 at Team2’, indicating that Team2 is the home team. If this option is turned off, then the games appear in the format ‘Team1 vs Team2’, indicating a neutral site or that neither team is the home team.

Suppress Column  Header Coloring: The software prints most reports with the heading in reverse color from those selected for the current season.  This is the same color scheme use for all headings on all grids in the software.  One reports you can elect to not use the reverse color scheme by checking this option.

Optimization: The software is full featured and the cost is that a large amount of resources are required. Fortunately, you can customize the software to best utilize the type of machine you use. If you are short on memory, or are using an older Windows operating system (Windows 95, 98 or ME), optimize for memory and the system will load screens into memory only when you use them and unload others when you are not using them.  When you switch to another function, the system will require additional time to load a new screen each time.  You must be careful to save your work prior to switching screens or you may lose your data.  The following screens are never unloaded; Playing Locations, Officials, Teams, Players, Game Scheduling, Officials Scheduling and Schedule Management.  All other screens are unloaded when you leave them and unsaved data is lost.

If you have plenty of memory or a more advanced Windows operating system (Windows NT, 2000, XP or higher) you should optimize for performance. The system will on unload any screen once loaded. When you switch screens, the previously used screens are hidden from view and when you return, they are in the exact same state as when you left. Depending on the other software you run with this application, a machine with 32mb can safely run in performance mode, and a 128mb machine can have problems. It is a trial and error scenario.  We do recommend either a Windows 2000 or Windows XP operating system to run our software.

Currency Format: This text box shows the current currency format based on your computers regional settings. The text below the box in blue, will show you a sample of your formatting that the software will use.

Phone Format: You can choose to display phone numbers in your countries format. In the US and Canada, the format (###) ###-#### would be used. The text below the box in blue, will show you a sample of your formatting that the software will use.

Local State Reference: The US uses States as sub regions of Country. In Canada, Provinces are used. You can choose to customize the name given to sub divisions of the Country you prefer to see in the software.

24 Hr Time: Clicking this option displays time using the 24 hours format. For example 4:30pm would be displayed as 16:30hr.

Minute Interval: When the system allows you to enter times into the system, it does so via pulldown menus. You will not be able to manually enter a time. Therefore, to help optimize how times are picked, you can indicate the spacing between available times. For example, if you set this variable to 1, then the pulldown menu will contain a value for every hour and minute for an entire day (1:22pm, 1:23pm,..etc) If you schedule game only every half hour, then setting the minute interval to 30 will show only time like 1:30pm, 2:00pm, 2:30pm, etc. The system stores the actual value in the database, so this value (and 24 hr time) can be changed anytime without affecting the data in the system. It will affect how it is displayed. If you had the minute interval set to 15 and saved a calendar entry starting at 15:45hr, after changing the minute interval to 30, the value in the database will be 15:45hr, but the value displayed in the time pulldown will be rounded to 16:00hr.

Default Start Time:  The software used dates and times throughout.  When a time is displayed for you to update, if it has no previous value, this default start time will be used.  Typically the end time will be defaulted to 1 hour later.

Sport Parameters: You may want to customize the look of your software to better match the terminology you use for your sport. For example, in North America a tie game is called a Tie, where as in Great Britain the term Draw is commonly used.

Update Checking:  The software has a new updating  process.  You can check for upgrades every time the software starts, or check manually through the help menu on the menu bar.

 

Maintenance Tables Tab

The League Analyzer allows you to add entries to any one of the over 14 maintenance tables. First click on the table you wish to edit entries from. Next just type into the grid to update any entry. If you wish to delete an entry, highlight the entry and hit the delete key on the keyboard. If you wish to add a new entry, type in the data at the asterisk ‘*’. Any entry made into the tables will automatically be available on any screen using that data. There is a ‘Type’ column for which data entry is not allowed. If the Type is ‘System’ you will not be able to delete the entry as the software requires that entry. Any items you enter or that you are allowed to delete are labeled ‘User’.

Once data is added, updated or deleted, you will be required to click the Save button to save changes.

Important: The software may experience delays in updating the database. If you do not see an entry you have added or changed in another part of the system, simply click the Refresh button on the Toolbar and try again.

 

Seasons Tab

The seasons tab is a critical part of your league set up. At any one time, the software will display teams, players, schedules, games, location availability, official availability for only a single season. On this tab you can add a new Season and/or make any Season in the software the Active Season with its data viewable within the screens of the software.

When adding a new season, there are very few fields: Season Name, Short Name (used for web publishing), Sport Name, Year, Use Program Concept, Concept Name and Color scheme. The only tricky entry is the color scheme. Click on the color or ellipses (…) to open the color selection dialogue. The back color is used as the software’s primary color. It is recommended that this is a relatively dark color: Blue, Red, Orange and Black are good choices. The fore color should be a lighter color or Black (of course black on black is not a good choice). Try different color combinations until you find the one you like. The Theme Color will use on of the Windows XP theme colors (blue, silver or olive) on controls supporting XP Themes like the menu and status bars.

Sport Name can be used to customize the software name or to distinguish season if running multiple sports. The software’s base functionality for a given sport does not change, so if you are using our hockey software, changing the sport name to Football, will not change the base functionality. The primary purpose of this field was to allow a sport such as soccer to run indoor leagues in the winter and outdoor leagues in the summer and have the name on the software change to reflect use. Also some users of our hockey software run Inline roller hockey leagues and not ice hockey leagues.

The concept function provides an additional layer of team grouping.  For example, Rugby teams usually belong to a Union.  If you wished to have teams assigned to a Union then define scheduling preferences and constraints at the Union level for all teams, then you would check the "Use Program Concept" checkbox and enter "Union" as the Concept Name.  The concept could be a hockey program, high school or arena.  The grouping of teams you have will depend on your sport and league set up.  Once a season is changed or added using the program concept, it must be restarted for the full program concept to be in effect.

When a new season is added, there will be a New Season Data checkbox grid that will appear.  Check the data elements (Leagues, Divisions, Teams and Statistics) that will be copied from the CURRENTLY ACTIVE SEASON bringing it forward to the newly added season. All data records selected are copied from the active season and added to the new season. This enables you to change league parameters between seasons, keeping the data for those seasons in tack. For example, you may decided to award points for overtime losses this year when you did not do so last year. There may be new contacts or different tie breakers. Data from one season is not mixed with other seasons.

When you click the ‘Set Season as Active’ button (only available if the displayed season is not active), the software will reinitialize with data from the new season. All edits currently not saved will be lost. Once the new season is active, the new seasons name will appear in the title bar. Also, the software’s color scheme will be adjusted to the new colors of the active season.

 

Database Admin

Until the software is registered, this function is disabled. With this function, you can change the database you wish to point to on the fly. The database name must always be lafspdb.mdb, but may reside in any directory. Click Browse to select a database in a different directory. When selected, the new database path will appear on the screen. If it is correct, then click the ‘Change Database Path’ button. Since a new database is being initialized, all data not saved in the current database will be lost. You will be warned of this.

The database you last used is always the default on start up. After the application is open you can always use this function to change databases. However, you have the option to select a database every time you start the application. From the Help select on the Menu Bar, if you select ‘Show DB File Dialogue on Startup’, then every time the application is started, you will be asked which database file you wish to use. This dialogue will also appear if the application is opened and the database file that was last used, no longer exists (i.e. a LAN database was moved). This feature ensures that the application will never stop functioning due to database problems.

 

Database Restore

You can restore any backup database that you have made using the same Browse button to select the restore database file. From this screen, only Replica Databases can be restored. Restores of the Master Database can only be done via the Administration Screen. Click the Browse button to locate the database you wish to restore. The file name should appear on the screen. Click the Restore Database File to have the database selected replace the currently used database. Since the current database is overwritten, it is strongly recommended that you back it up first before restoring. After you have restored the database, all data in your system will reflect the data in the restored database.

 

Backups

At any time, you can direct the software to create a backup of the currently used database. From this screen, only backups of a Replica Database can be made. Backups of the Master Database can only be done via the Administration Screen. Enter any database name (without the .mdb suffix) and click the ‘Backup Database’ button. The system needs exclusive use of the database, so all database connections on your machine will be temporarily deleted. After the backup, you will be reconnected. Any data that is not saved before the backup will be lost. Note: All database backups are placed into the same directory as the current database.

 

Compact Database

As you add, update and remove data from your application, the Microsoft Access will grow in size. When the database gets too big, it takes more time to move, backup and in general the application may run into slight performance problems. If your database is over 50mb it might be time to compact the database. Simply click the button and after answering yes to the warning message, the database will be compacted. It should reduce the size to approximately 50% but could be more or less depending on when the last compact occurred.

 

Replication and Synchronization

The other database administration available from the preferences screen is the ability to replicate and synchronize databases. A group of computers sharing data will have a Master Database and Replica databases. All Replica Databases will usually be kept on each computer’s local drive, while the Master Database is kept on a LAN. Users, if connected to the LAN Master Database can create a replica database on their own computer. After the replica is created, the user will change the software to point to the new replica database, all changes are then saved locally and not on the Master Database. To update the Master Database with changes, click the synchronize button and all changes made to the Replica on a users computer will be replicated to the Master Database and all changes made to the Master will be Replicated back to the users machine.

If there are any conflicts, a conflict dialogue will be presented. See Database Conflict Resolution for more information.

For more detailed documentation around the full database administration feature of this software, go to the Administration section.

 

Sport Statistics

Since you can customize this product to use any sports terminology for any season, this tab provides an area for you to customize the following fields.  

Player sports are single person sports like tennis singles where a player is his own team.  Therefore, only player statistics are available and several ease of use features are provide to make team generation (required for scheduling) less of a chore.

Sum Game Division Points or Game Division Wins are used for the box score feature of the Games Detail screen.  Sum game division points is similar to football or soccer where the scores from the quarters or halves are added together for the final score.  Tennis does not score that way, it adds the number of sets won together as the final score or 'Sums Game Division Wins'.  

 

With our software you can enter and track your own statistics and create any calculated fields using those statistics.  You can enter player or team statistics.  A maximum of 50 statistics for each of players and teams in allowed in a season.

In order to enter a statistic, type in the following fields:

Once your statistics are entered and correct, save your statistics and they will now be available for you to enter data into.  If you have already opened the Games Detail or Statistics screens, any changes to your formulas will not be visible until you click the Refresh button.

 

Cautionary Note:  Be careful entering statistics.  The software ties statistics to database fields and once you begin entering statistics through the games detail screen, you can no longer delete statistics (for the current season).  Also updating statistics can have adverse effects.  For example, if you switch places in the grid by typing 'Service Attempts' over 'Games Played' and then entered 'Games Played' over top of 'Service Attempts' so that 'Service Attempts' are on top of 'Games Played', the data stored for those fields will not change (by the way, if you want to change the order of statistics, use the List Order field).  All the Games Played data will now appear as 'Service Attempts' data and visa versa.

 

Formulas

Formula entry can be complicated, but offer you a lot of flexibility.  When entering formulas, you can refer to other statistics by using the 'Col Header' name and putting that name in square brackets.  For example:

Games Played:  Col Header: GP  To use in a formula use...[GP]

All formula text entry is CASE INSENSITIVE.  The formula using [gp] and [GP] and the same.  You can also refer to another calculated statistic, but be aware that statistics are calculated in the order they appear in the grid, so if you refer to a calculated statistic further down in the grid, the calculation will be incorrect.  This avoids any circular calculations.

Besides referring to fields, you can use any number of standard operator against those fields.  Here is a sample list:

+ (addition)

- (subtraction)

* (multiplication)

/ (division)

^ (exponent  i.e.  2^4 = 16)

()  (brackets...any number can be used)

 

You can also use many of the acceptable Ansi standard function calls supported by Microsoft Access such as:

Round, ABS, Power, Rand,

 

You cannot use Aggregate functions such as AVG or Count. They may not create an error, but they will not work as expected.   If you are not sure if a function is going to work, enter some sample data and click 'Verify Formulas' to see if it is going to work.  Here are some examples of bad formulas and their error messages.

 

 

The first formula is missing a bracket.  The second formula did not check for Games Played being zero and received a division by zero error.  The third formula used the Stat Name 'Kills' and not the Col Header 'K' and the standard message for field not know is provided.  Finally the last formula is syntactically correct and is 'OK'.  

IF Statement

You may have noticed in the above formulas an If-Then-Else construct.  This is a very powerful statement and we have provided a special implementation to ease its use.  You must use the following format:

{if} condition statement {then} calculation if condition is true {else} calculation if condition is false {end}.  

You cannot leave any parts out or you will receive an error.  You can nest one IF statement inside another.  The curly brace brackets are used because, unlike other function where we pass exactly what you enter to the SQL parser, the IF statement has a different format depending on the database you are using.  Therefore, we will build the appropriate statement for either Access or SQL Server and therefore need to identify each component to do so.  This allows you to move to our SQL Server solution without rewriting your formulas.