The Ridge OHV Park Blog

HS v1.0 – Hare Scramble Scoring Program

About:

Program Author: Josh White, The Ridge, www.ridgeriding.com

Code Language: Visual Basic 6

Date Written: 2005-2006

Version: 1.0

This is the first released version of the program. It’s free to use as long as you don’t resale it. Since it is free, support will be very limited almost non-existent (what did you expect for the price). I’m trying to put everything that you’ll need to know to successfully use it in this document. I wrote this program back in 2005-2006 timeframe to help score some races, since I couldn’t find anything on the web (except a dos program that wasn’t very user friendly). As I said before this is the first version, thus it doesn’t have a lot of bells and whistles. I have been using it over the past couple of years and it seems pretty stable and gets the job done.

Features:

- Allows you to score a lap race with up to 20 laps, 20 different classes, and virtually unlimited number of racers

- Track lap number, class, lap time, previous lap time, time the racer is behind the rider in front of him

- Enter the racer number and it calculates everything else.

- Automatically creates a backup file while you are entering racers in case computer crashes.

- Allows you to export to Microsoft Excel and formats the data into a results table.

- Ability to output data to the display of a Beta Bright LED sign.

- Did I mention that it’s free?

Software Requirements: (Must have these to use this program)

- A good reliable PC that won’t crash. I still recommend a person hand scoring as a back-up.

- Microsoft Excel

- Windows 98 – XP, (haven’t tested it on Vista, but I’m pretty sure it won’t work)

To my knowledge that’s it, but I could be wrong. The best way to find out is install it and see what happens.

Installation:

There are actually two programs you need to install. I hope to combine this to one in the next release.

1. HS_v1-timing: This is the main scoring program that you run during the race.

2. HS_v1-results: This is a program to format the data into a results table. This is ran after you copy the timing data into an excel file. It basically takes the data and formats it into something meaningful.

· Download the two zip files HS_Timing.zip and HS_Results.zip. Extract the files into two separate folders.

click here to download HS_Timing.zip

click here to download HS_Results.zip

· Run the setup.exe file in the HS_Timing folder.

· Run the setup.exe file in the HS_Results folder.

That’s it, now you should have two programs under your “start” menu.

Race Registration and Setup:

· There is a 20 lap, 20 class limitation.

· First you need to assign numbers to your different classes in the race. You need to guess how many riders might register for each class. For instance you may expect that at least 20 people will ride in the “Iron Man” class. I would then at least double it or more so that you are for sure you don’t run out of room. So you reserve the numbers 1 – 49 for the iron man class.

· When people are registering for the race be sure to record their name and number you assign them in the appropriate class.

o Be certain not to give the same number to two different people. Unless you are having a team race then the team would get the number. So you would have everyone on the team as the number 1 for example.

· You need to write the number you assign them on a label that they can stick on their bike or helmet. We usually do both.

o Make sure they put it on the correct side of the helmet so you can see it when they come through the timing station.

Operation:

· Start the HS_v1-timing program. Start > Programs > HS_v1-timing

You will notice three windows, “Enter”, “Setup”, and “Time Data”.

-”Enter”: This window is where you will enter the racer number.

- “Setup”: This window allows you to set the classes, race start time, race name, and so forth.

- “Time Data”: This is where all the data will be displayed and kept till you save a copy to excel.

· On the Setup window, enter the classes. The “Class IDs” represent the lowest and highest racer number in the class.

o For example, we have our Iron Man class set from 1 to 49. When people are registering to race in this class we assign each racer a number starting at 1 going to 49. Each person gets their own number.

o Make sure you have plenty of available numbers and don’t fill up the class. If you do fill up a class don’t panic, add another class at the end (ex: 250 – 299) and then time the race and then combine the classes in your results file after the race.

· Set the “Race Start Time”

· Optional: Input the “Race Name”

· Hide the Setup window.

o Now that you have the race variables setup you can hide this form by clicking “Hide”.

o Do not change anything on the setup after the race has started.

· Now you are ready to start timing using the “Enter” window.

o About the Enter window.

§ Setup: This will open the Setup window you just closed in case you need to change something before the race starts. Do not change anything on the setup after the race has started.

§ Quit: This exits the whole program. Do not click this after the race has started or before you have saved the data in an excel file.

§ Enter: This is the same as hitting the enter key on your keyboard and will record the racers time in the “Time Data” table.

§ Delete: This deletes the last racer entered in case you made a mistake.

· For example let’s say that rider “7″ comes through the timing gate first.

o So enter the number 7 in the enter window and then hit the enter key on your keyboard.

§ You will notice that the data gets populated in the “Time Data” window.

§ You will also notice that the 7 in the Enter window gets highlighted, this is so that you can easily enter the next racer and the 7 gets overwritten.

· Now let’s practice entering some riders.

o Some info about the different columns:

§ ID: This is the racers number that you assigned them when they registered

§ Lap: Tells you the lap number they are on.

§ Class: The class ID number. Since our “Iron Man” class is first it’s class ID is 1.

§ Pos: What position they are currently in.

§ Time: Is the time they came through the gate.

§ Lap Time: Time since they last came through the gate. If it’s the first lap it will be the time since the race started.

§ Behind: This is the time they are behind the position in front of them. For instance if you are in 3rd place it will tell you how far ahead 2nd place is.

§ Prev Lap Time: How fast your last lap was.

· Mistakes:

There are a few safety precautions written into the software.

· There is an automatic back-up created every time you enter a rider. (more about this later)

· Let’s say you accidently hit the enter key twice and the same rider gets entered twice. You’ll get the following message box.

This is just a warning box, so when you hit OK the rider gets entered anyway.

You must select the row in the timing table and Right-click > Delete > Row. It’s important that you keep the table correct. See the following figure…

· If you enter a number that does not fall within the class you’ll get the following message…

Whenever you have a mistake it’s important not to panic. If you have a rush of riders then keep scoring and go back and delete the row when you get a break. Also, make sure you have a person hand scoring so that you can reference what they have.

Race is over now what?

· IMPORTANT: DO NOT CLOSE THE TIMING PROGRAM UNTIL YOU HAVE THE RESULTS IN AN EXCEL FILE.

o If you don’t copy the timing data into an excel sheet you will lose everything and have to restore from the back-up file which is not fun.

· Click the “Export to Microsoft Excel” button at the top of the Time Data window.

o Microsoft Excel will open with all the timing data on the first sheet.

· Now save the excel file, click File > Save As…

· You will need to change the “Save as type” to Microsoft Excel Workbook (*.xls). Give the file a name and save it.

· Close the Start the HS_v1-timing program. You no longer need it.

· Start the HS_v1-results program. Start > Programs > HS_v1-results

o The results program is used to format the data you have in excel so you can tell who won and who lost.

· OK the “Set the correct Race Time!” dialog box.

o This is just a reminder.

· Make sure the Race Time is correct.

· Click the “Lap Results” button.

o This will parse through all the timing data and copy and paste it on to sheet two. It puts the Rider # in the first column and then there lap time in each column after. Then totals the laps and time on the far right.

o The data won’t look like actual times until you format the cells.

· Click the “Format” button.

o This will change the format of the cells into a time format.

· Your almost there. Now you just need to sort the data to see who won what class.

o I like to start off by inserting some rows between each class. Click and drag over three rows then right-click > Insert.

o Highlight all the rows in the first class then select Data > Sort…

o You will need to sort by Total Laps Descending and then by Total Time Ascending. This will give you the person that completed the most laps first in the fastest time.

· Now you’re pretty much done. I like to finish it off by inserting a column before the Rider # for the places.

o You can do this by right-clicking on the A above the “Rider #” and then click Insert.

I hope that this guide answered all of your questions about the scoring program. If not then you are welcome to send me an email using the form on this webpage: http://www.ridgeriding.com/contact_info.htm

Here’s a couple of final thoughts:

- Make sure you thoroughly test the program on the computer you’ll be using.

- If you’re using a laptop it helps to plug in a number pad so you can quickly type rider numbers.

- Always have a person scoring by hand to back you up.

- If the program freezes or crashes during the race. Start it back up, enter any racers you missed while it was down, and then continue timing. You can then get the times from the back-up and add them to your current times.

Appendix:

How to Use the Back-up File

As your timing racers the program is writing the racer number and time to a text file located in the install directory of the program. This file can be imported into your results excel file before you run the results program.

Example:

Let’s say that your computer crashes mid way through the race. You quickly restart the pc and then run the timing program. Now your missing the entire first half of the race.

· First, you need to continue timing the race. We will import the first half after it’s over.

· After the race and after you’ve saved the time data into excel.

· If you look in the install directory usually (C:\Program Files\), you will see a text file called backup.txt.

o If you open this up in notepad or wordpad you will see the rider number followed by the time they came through the gate.

· Scroll down to where the crash occurred and to where you started timing again and delete all data after this point. You already have the data after this in excel.

· Now click File > Save As…, and save it with a new name somewhere.

· Now we need to import this into our timing data excel file.

· We are going to import the data onto Sheet3. Click the Sheet3 tab at the bottom, then go to Data > Import External Data > Import Data…

· This will open a window where you can select the backup text file.

· Click “Open” and it will bring up the Text Import Wizard.

· Select “Delimited” and then click “Next”.

· On the next window select the “Comma” check box and then click “Finish”.

· On the Import Data window select OK to import the data to Sheet3.

· Now you will need to move the data in the B column into the E column so that when you copy it to Sheet1 it will line up with the other time data. So highlight the B, C, and D columns and drag the data over to the E column.

· Now highlight the data in columns A > G and go to Edit > Copy.

· Go back to Sheet1 and select cell A2, then right-click > Insert Copied Cells…

· You need to shift the cells down.

· That’s it! This should have put all the back-up times in before the times you already had. Now you can run the results program as normal.