Advice on way forward

Imported from Yahoo
1

I have written an Electronic Race Sheet in VBA in an MS Excel spreadsheet, and I now want to improve it by integrating it with Sailwave in some way.

The issues I have are:

  1. The current Electronic Race sheet needs to run on a laptop, which is not very portable - hence it is not really used much.

  2. The results still need to be transferred to Sailwave manually.

Question 1. Is it possible to import a single race to Sailwave if the Class/sail number and helm match an entry in the series? If so what format file do I need? If CSV is okay, what are the requirements? column headers, required fields etc…

I am proposing to convert my current MS Excel VBA utility to an Android App to run on a Tablet to solve issue 1

Question 2… Is there a version of Sailwave for Android? This is just so we can do everything on the tablet.

Question 3. If I wanted to combine the two into one App, for Android. What are your thoughts on this proposal? Obviously I would not want to re-invent the wheel and re-implement Sailwave, hence this message.

The additional requirements are reasonable simple:

Count-down timer running from an configured start time (5 minutes).

(Possibly have a 10s warning at configured points during countdown)

Switch to count-up timer running when the above count-down timer hits 0:00

Filter Competitors from Series to those participating in current race.

Button for competitor that records current time from the timer for the competitor and increments laps for competitor when clicked. (maybe this could be the Helm field)

Start, Stop and Reset buttons:

Start button Starts Countdown Timer

Reset button resets the race (Used in case of general recall) and clears times for the race.

Stop button Stops timer and indicates times as final (stores elapsed times) for the race.

Series can now be scored.

For my utility I have extra requirements relating to ensuring the file is saved to a unique name etc.etc, but I am sure you can see the idea. If this was a separate App, I would have all the export requirements (if usable by sailwave) and I would still need to pull in the competitor/boat/PY number details etc

Your thoughts.

Regards, Mark Warren, MKSC.

2

Hi Mark

*Question 1. Is it possible to import a single race to Sailwave if the Class/sail number and helm match an entry in the series? If so what format file do I need? If CSV is okay, what are the requirements? column headers, required fields etc… *

Yes this is quite simple you can from the Menu go File - Import results from csv file

and you get the following

This is documented on the Sailwave website https://www.sailwave.com/how-do-i-import-a-list-of-race-results

you may also like to look at this program https://sites.google.com/site/eskdalesite/home/sailwave-multi-lap-finishing-grand-prix which in addition to the grand-prix finish has a simple csv import of results to Sailwave. There is some documentation on the web page if you scroll down.

Question 2… Is there a version of Sailwave for Android? This is just so we can do everything on the tablet.

There is not currently a version of Sailwave specific please see the Sailwave site again

https://www.sailwave.com/devices-operating-systems-can-run-sailwave

However Sailwave also supports a low level windows messaging protocol so it is possible to write something so that results from the tablet can be entered directly into Sailwave even live if you so wished. You can also read data from Sailwave. One user has done this in the past

*Question 3. If I wanted to combine the two into one App, for Android. What are your thoughts on this proposal? Obviously I would not want to re-invent the wheel and re-implement Sailwave, hence this message. *

Sailwave does have live entry of times if you want to use it

Just click the tick box in the bottom left of the SailNo Wizard - Real-time finish times

I personally think it might be easier to use a small Windows tablet - you can pick these up for £60 and these can run Sailwave.

Your app could control Sailwave and you could then also use a Desktop by sharing the files to make it easier when you are ashore.

It is much easier developing for Windows than it is for Android currently

Give me a call if you would like to discuss

Jon

‌

···

On 5 February 2018 at 22:45, junkemail@talktalk.net [sailwave] sailwave@yahoogroups.com wrote:

I have written an Electronic Race Sheet in VBA in an MS Excel spreadsheet, and I now want to improve it by integrating it with Sailwave in some way.

The issues I have are:

  1. The current Electronic Race sheet needs to run on a laptop, which is not very portable - hence it is not really used much.
  1. The results still need to be transferred to Sailwave manually.

Question 1. Is it possible to import a single race to Sailwave if the Class/sail number and helm match an entry in the series? If so what format file do I need? If CSV is okay, what are the requirements? column headers, required fields etc…

I am proposing to convert my current MS Excel VBA utility to an Android App to run on a Tablet to solve issue 1

Question 2… Is there a version of Sailwave for Android? This is just so we can do everything on the tablet.

Question 3. If I wanted to combine the two into one App, for Android. What are your thoughts on this proposal? Obviously I would not want to re-invent the wheel and re-implement Sailwave, hence this message.

The additional requirements are reasonable simple:

Count-down timer running from an configured start time (5 minutes).

(Possibly have a 10s warning at configured points during countdown)

Switch to count-up timer running when the above count-down timer hits 0:00

Filter Competitors from Series to those participating in current race.

Button for competitor that records current time from the timer for the competitor and increments laps for competitor when clicked. (maybe this could be the Helm field)

Start, Stop and Reset buttons:

Start button Starts Countdown Timer

Reset button resets the race (Used in case of general recall) and clears times for the race.

Stop button Stops timer and indicates times as final (stores elapsed times) for the race.

Series can now be scored.

For my utility I have extra requirements relating to ensuring the file is saved to a unique name etc.etc, but I am sure you can see the idea. If this was a separate App, I would have all the export requirements (if usable by sailwave) and I would still need to pull in the competitor/boat/PY number details etc

Your thoughts.

Regards, Mark Warren, MKSC.


Sent with Mailtrack

Jon Eskdale

03333 443377

07530 112233

3

Hi Mark,

I have been doing some experimentation with Macros in Excel.

I see Jon has replied regarding importing CSV files into Sailwave.

Chuwi make some tables that run both Android and Windows. I have an 8”and a 10.8”. I have loaded Office 13 on to the 10.8”and see no reason why it would not run 8” though I am reluctant to spend the money on office 13 to test the theory.

On the 10.8” tablet I can access the macro function in Excel but have not tried to run the macro to date.

At this point I cannot load data stored in Android with windows and vice versa.

My macro records the boat ID (if entered) and finish time in TOD format when enter is pressed regardless of whether a boat ID has been entered or not. I thought it worked reasonably well at club events.

My macro will not replace hand recording of finishes as I found that I could not enter the boat ID quick enough to get an accurate finish time when there was multiple boats finishing close together.

I even tried a Blue tooth numbers pad that seemed to work well but during that trial I was having IT issues with a now retired windows computer.

I looked at google sheet as a replacement for Excel on the 8” tablet, but to do so the macro required me to learn Jarva script, so I left that for the time being.

I have done a countdown timer but it does not meet your specifications.

I am happy to share my macro’s with you.

We are a small club and out committee boat is a 14’open dinghy that can be quite wet so I am reluctant to let others have my Tablets to do race recording, when it is their turn for to do the official duties. Also I suspect that there is an element that are IT challenged.

For major regatta’s we use the Top Yacht Entry System (TES) and export the competitors to a CSV file and then import into Sailwave. TY have a whole regatta management package with what I think is a good finish capture module. I have used up my free time so anything I tell you is from memory and more than a year old.

Regatta Toolbox are another whole regatta management package, and the last time I looked at their system it only kept finish places without times.

A new player on the scene is Club ops. They have what appears to be a very good app (called Sailor) that brings all the activities of a regatta in 1 place. I see they have other functions that I have not explore yet.

I hope you find the information useful.

Regards JohnL.

···

From: sailwave@yahoogroups.com [mailto:sailwave@yahoogroups…com]
Sent: Tuesday, 6 February 2018 8:46 AM
To: sailwave@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [sailwave] Advice on way forward

I have written an Electronic Race Sheet in VBA in an MS Excel spreadsheet, and I now want to improve it by integrating it with Sailwave in some way.

The issues I have are:

  1. The current Electronic Race sheet needs to run on a laptop, which is not very portable - hence it is not really used much.

  2. The results still need to be transferred to Sailwave manually.

Question 1. Is it possible to import a single race to Sailwave if the Class/sail number and helm match an entry in the series? If so what format file do I need? If CSV is okay, what are the requirements? column headers, required fields etc…

I am proposing to convert my current MS Excel VBA utility to an Android App to run on a Tablet to solve issue 1

Question 2… Is there a version of Sailwave for Android? This ! is just so we can do everything on the tablet.

Question 3. If I wanted to combine the two into one App, for Android. What are your thoughts on this proposal? Obviously I would not want to re-invent the wheel and re-implement Sailwave, hence this message.

The additional requirements are reasonable simple:

Count-down timer running from an configured start time (5 minutes).

(Possibly have a 10s warning at configured points during countdown)

Switch to count-up timer running when the above count-down timer hits 0:00

Filter Competitors from Series to those participating in current race.

Button for competitor that records current time from the timer for the competitor and increments laps for competitor when clicked. (maybe this could be the Hel! m field)

Start, Stop and Reset buttons:

Start button Starts Countdown Timer

Reset button resets the race (Used in case of general recall) and clears times for the race.

Stop button Stops timer and indicates times as final (stores elapsed times) for the race.

Series can now be scored.

For my utility I have extra requirements relating to ensuring the file is saved to a unique name etc.etc, but I am sure you can see the idea. If this was a separate App, I would have all the export requirements (if usable by sailwave) and I would still need to pull in the competitor/boat/PY number details etc

Your thoughts.

Regards, Mark Warren, MKSC.

4

Hi Mark,

I have an, as yet unpublished, Android app that does pretty well exactly what you are currently doing in Excel. It has a countdown to the start, and lap and finish recording against individual competitors, support for multiple fleets, general recall etc. It is not a substitute for Sailwave but rather a results capturing app that can feed Sailwave.

As Jon suggests, Sailwave can import race results. To that end, my app outputs the results as a csv file that Sailwave can read. Jon did provide me with the details of the windows messaging protocol a couple of years ago, though I decided not to go that route in the first release of the app.

If you want to find out more about my app, then drop me an email at john@rischmiller.com.

Jon, I trust I’m not breaching any Sailwave policies by mentioning this in the forum.

Regards,

John Rischmiller

5

Jon,

Thanks for the advice – perhaps the Windows Tablet is the way forward, although I thought Microsoft were dropping their Windows mobile OS.

I will investigate your suggestions.

Mark.

···

From: sailwave@yahoogroups.com [mailto:sailwave@yahoogroups.com]
Sent: 06 February 2018 00:46
To: sailwave@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [sailwave] Advice on way forward

Hi Mark

Question 1. Is it possible to import a single race to Sailwave if the Class/sail number and helm match an entry in the series? If so what format file do I need? If CSV is okay, what are the requirements? column headers, required fields etc…**

Yes this is quite simple you can from the Menu go File - Import results from csv file

and you get the following

This is documented on the Sailwave website https://www.sailwave.com/how-do-i-import-a-list-of-race-results

you may also like to look at this program https://sites.google.com/site/eskdalesite/home/sailwave-multi-lap-finishing-grand-prix which in addition to the grand-prix finish has a simple csv import of results to Sailwave. There is some documentation on the web page if you scroll down.

Question 2… Is there a version of Sailwave for Android? This is just so we can do everything on the tablet.

There is not currently a version of Sailwave specific please see the Sailwave site again

https://www.sailwave.com/devices-operating-systems-can-run-sailwave

However Sailwave also supports a low level windows messaging protocol so it is possible to write something so that results from the tablet can be entered directly into Sailwave even live if you so wished. You can also read data from Sailwave. One user has done this in the past

Question 3. If I wanted to combine the two into one App, for Android. What are your thoughts on this proposal? Obviously I would not want to re-invent the wheel and re-implement Sailwave, hence this message.**

Sailwave does have live entry of times if you want to use it

Just click the tick box in the bottom left of the SailNo Wizard - Real-time finish times

I personally think it might be easier to use a small Windows tablet - you can pick these up for £60 and these can run Sailwave.

Your app could control Sailwave and you could then also use a Desktop by sharing the files to make it easier when you are ashore.

It is much easier developing for Windows than it is for Android currently

Give me a call if you would like to discuss

Jon

‌

Jon Eskdale

03333 443377

07530 112233

On 5 February 2018 at 22:45, junkemail@talktalk.net [sailwave] sailwave@yahoogroups.com wrote:

I have written an Electronic Race Sheet in VBA in an MS Excel spreadsheet, and I now want to improve it by integrating it with Sailwave in some way.

The issues I have are:

  1. The current Electronic Race sheet needs to run on a laptop, which is not very portable - hence it is not really used much.

  2. The results still need to be transferred to Sailwave manually.

Question 1. Is it possible to import a single race to Sailwave if the Class/sail number and helm match an entry in the series? If so what format file do I need? If CSV is okay, what are the requirements? column headers, required fields etc…

I am proposing to convert my current MS Excel VBA utility to an Android App to run on a Tablet to solve issue 1

Question 2… Is there a version of Sailwave for Android? This is just so we can do everything on the tablet…

Question 3. If I wanted to combine the two into one App, for Android. What are your thoughts on this proposal? Obviously I would not want to re-invent the wheel and re-implement Sailwave, hence this message.

The additional requirements are reasonable simple:

Count-down timer running from an configured start time (5 minutes).

(Possibly have a 10s warning at configured points during countdown)

Switch to count-up timer running when the above count-down timer hits 0:00

Filter Competitors from Series to those participating in current race.

Button for competitor that records current time from the timer for the competitor and increments laps for competitor when clicked. (maybe this could be the Helm field)

Start, Stop and Reset buttons:

Start button Starts Countdown Timer

Reset button resets the race (Used in case of general recall) and clears times for the race.

Stop button Stops timer and indicates times as final (stores elapsed times) for the race.

Series can now be scored.

For my utility I have extra requirements relating to ensuring the file is saved to a unique name etc.etc, but I am sure you can see the idea. If this was a separate App, I would have all the export requirements (if usable by sailwave) and I would still need to pull in the competitor/boat/PY number details etc

Your thoughts.

Regards, Mark Warren, MKSC.

Sent with Mailtrack

6

Thanks for the information. I will start by investigating Jon’s ideas. I will keep your email and contact you if I think I want to go the Android route.

Thanks again,

Mark.

···

From: sailwave@yahoogroups.com [mailto:sailwave@yahoogroups.com]
Sent: 06 February 2018 15:15
To: sailwave@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [sailwave] Re: Advice on way forward

Hi Mark,

I have an, as yet unpublished, Android app that does pretty well exactly what you are currently doing in Excel. It has a countdown to the start, and lap and finish recording against individual competitors, support for multiple fleets, general recall etc. It is not a substitute for Sailwave but rather a results capturing app that can feed Sailwave.

As Jon suggests, Sailwave can import race results. To that end, my app outputs the results as a csv file that Sailwave can read. Jon did provide me with the details of the windows messaging protocol a couple of years ago, though I decided not to go that route in the first release of the app.

If you want to find out more about my app, then drop me an email at john@rischmiller.com.

Jon, I trust I’m not breaching any Sailwave policies by mentioning this in the forum.

Regards,

John Rischmiller

7

Hi Mark - These tablets actually run the full Windows 10 not the windows mobile - They usually have a 4 core Atom processor. At the bottom of the price range you only get 1GB of RAM and for a bit more you get 2GB. For the price they work pretty well. Updating the Windows version for a major version is a bit challenging as they typically don’t have enough storage to have two copies of Windows. But at least they are upgradable - a lot of the Android tablets are just left with no updates. Jon

···

On 6 February 2018 at 18:10, ‘Mark Warren’ junkemail@talktalk.net [sailwave] sailwave@yahoogroups.com wrote:

Jon,

Thanks for the advice – perhaps the Windows Tablet is the way forward, although I thought Microsoft were dropping their Windows mobile OS.

I will investigate your suggestions.

Mark.

From: sailwave@yahoogroups.com [mailto:sailwave@yahoogroups.com]
Sent: 06 February 2018 00:46
To: sailwave@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [sailwave] Advice on way forward

Hi Mark

Question 1. Is it possible to import a single race to Sailwave if the Class/sail number and helm match an entry in the series? If so what format file do I need? If CSV is okay, what are the requirements? column headers, required fields etc…**

Yes this is quite simple you can from the Menu go File - Import results from csv file

and you get the following

This is documented on the Sailwave website https://www.sailwave.com/how-do-i-import-a-list-of-race-results

you may also like to look at this program https://sites.google.com/site/eskdalesite/home/sailwave-multi-lap-finishing-grand-prix which in addition to the grand-prix finish has a simple csv import of results to Sailwave. There is some documentation on the web page if you scroll down.

Question 2… Is there a version of Sailwave for Android? This is just so we can do everything on the tablet.

There is not currently a version of Sailwave specific please see the Sailwave site again

https://www.sailwave.com/devices-operating-systems-can-run-sailwave

However Sailwave also supports a low level windows messaging protocol so it is possible to write something so that results from the tablet can be entered directly into Sailwave even live if you so wished. You can also read data from Sailwave. One user has done this in the past

Question 3. If I wanted to combine the two into one App, for Android. What are your thoughts on this proposal? Obviously I would not want to re-invent the wheel and re-implement Sailwave, hence this message.**

Sailwave does have live entry of times if you want to use it

Just click the tick box in the bottom left of the SailNo Wizard - Real-time finish times

I personally think it might be easier to use a small Windows tablet - you can pick these up for £60 and these can run Sailwave.

Your app could control Sailwave and you could then also use a Desktop by sharing the files to make it easier when you are ashore.

It is much easier developing for Windows than it is for Android currently

Give me a call if you would like to discuss

Jon

‌

Jon Eskdale

03333 443377

07530 112233

On 5 February 2018 at 22:45, junkemail@talktalk.net [sailwave] sailwave@yahoogroups.com wrote:

I have written an Electronic Race Sheet in VBA in an MS Excel spreadsheet, and I now want to improve it by integrating it with Sailwave in some way.

The issues I have are:

  1. The current Electronic Race sheet needs to run on a laptop, which is not very portable - hence it is not really used much.
  1. The results still need to be transferred to Sailwave manually.

Question 1. Is it possible to import a single race to Sailwave if the Class/sail number and helm match an entry in the series? If so what format file do I need? If CSV is okay, what are the requirements? column headers, required fields etc…

I am proposing to convert my current MS Excel VBA utility to an Android App to run on a Tablet to solve issue 1

Question 2… Is there a version of Sailwave for Android? This is just so we can do everything on the tablet…

Question 3. If I wanted to combine the two into one App, for Android. What are your thoughts on this proposal? Obviously I would not want to re-invent the wheel and re-implement Sailwave, hence this message.

The additional requirements are reasonable simple:

Count-down timer running from an configured start time (5 minutes).

(Possibly have a 10s warning at configured points during countdown)

Switch to count-up timer running when the above count-down timer hits 0:00

Filter Competitors from Series to those participating in current race.

Button for competitor that records current time from the timer for the competitor and increments laps for competitor when clicked. (maybe this could be the Helm field)

Start, Stop and Reset buttons:

Start button Starts Countdown Timer

Reset button resets the race (Used in case of general recall) and clears times for the race.

Stop button Stops timer and indicates times as final (stores elapsed times) for the race.

Series can now be scored.

For my utility I have extra requirements relating to ensuring the file is saved to a unique name etc.etc, but I am sure you can see the idea. If this was a separate App, I would have all the export requirements (if usable by sailwave) and I would still need to pull in the competitor/boat/PY number details etc

Your thoughts.

Regards, Mark Warren, MKSC.

Sent with Mailtrack

Jon Eskdale
07530 112233

Skype “eskdale”

8

I can recommend the Linx tablets running Windows and mine runs the same Windows 8.1 as my desktop and laptop. I have normal Excel, Word and OneNote on mine plus other standard Windows apps though I haven’t added Sailwave (as yet!). Disk space on the C drive is the scarce resource so look for one with the most storage. Data isn’t such a problem as USB removable drives or thumbnail sized memory cards can be plugged in. I frequently use a wireless mouse and find turning it to portrait orientation also helps if the keyboard pops up and covers too much of the screen.