NARS Barcode System Help

Introduction

Overview

NARS barcoding system (NBS) automatically captures data from your timing gates and combines this with athlete barcode numbers.

When athletes finish a race they have their barcodes scanned, in lane order, then this data is combined with the time information received from the timing gates, and saved to a local database.

The database data is later exported to your Centre's main data management software, eg NARS.

NBS is designed to run on a laptop computer, close to your timing gates. The laptop may be connected to the timing unit either by an RS232 cable, or by a Bluetooth Data Link.

 

Figure 1 - Main Screen

The main screen of NBS (Figure 1.) consists of function buttons (top left); Information pages that show Races, Athlete details, Centre Records, Events, Personal Best times, and Communications information; a Search Filter (top right) - which is used to search for information on the currently selected page; and a status line at the bottom of the screen which shows the communications status with the timing gates.

Setting Up Your System

When starting NBS for the first time you need to configure the communications settings. This is done by selecting the Coms tab, and clicking the Coms Setup button. The communications settings must match the settings as provided by your timing unit. The Comm Port parameter must correspond the the COM port being used by your laptop (eg COM 11) for connecting to the timing unit.

Once set up, and working, the communications settings should not need to be changed.

A red/green indicator at the bottom right of the screen shows the current communications status. This indicator will change to a red "Not Connected" state if communications fails for any reason, and will return to the green "Connected" state when communications is restored.

With a Bluetooth connection it is possible for the communications link to become disconnected (eg due to signal interferernce), so it is important to take note of the status indicator, as no race data can be received if communications is "Not Connected".

Make sure you tick the Bluetooth Connection checkbox if you are using a Bluetooth connection. This enables checking of the carrier signal used by the Bluetooth transmitter, whereas this signal is not used for a direct cable connection.

 

Starting a Race Day

NBS is designed to work in conjuction with your main Athletics recording system, eg NARS. NARS provides an Export "Track Data" function that produces a file suitable for importing into NBS. The format for the import file can be found in Appendix 2 . Prior to your race day you should generate a Track Data file so that it is up to date with all athlete information, including names, PBs, records, etc. At the beginning of a race day you can then Import the Track Data into NBS, so that it is then ready to begin receiving race information.

After importing track data you should be able to see ahtletes on the Athletes page, records on the Records page and events on the Events page. All old races will be deleted so that the Races page is empty.

Prior to starting the first race you should ensure that the timing unit is communicating with NBS. This can easily be done by triggering a race on the timing unit and ensuring the data is successfully received by NBS. This test race can then be deleted. For each race the timing unit should be set up to send the correct race details to NBS (this saves the NBS user from having to manually enter, eg 100M, U6).

 

During a Race Day

When NBS is started it automatically starts communicating with the timing unit, and waits for race data. Communications occurs automatically, in the background, so you do not need to be in any specific screen to receive race information. When a race is completed the timing unit transmits the race lanes and times to NBS. NBS captures this data and saves the race as an entry in the Races page.

To view the race details you display the Races page, and double click on the race entry. This then displays a Race Details screen, as shown below.

This race details screen should correspond with the timing unit printout. You should check to make sure the Race number and times correspond with those on the printout.

Athletes are lined up in lane order, and their barcode numbers scanned one at a time. As each athlete is scanned NBS automatically moves down to the next valid row (lanes with no time value are automatically skipped).

Note: If the same athlete number is accidentally scanned twice in a row then NBS will not move down to the next row, but will stay on the current row, allowing for the correct athlete number to be scanned. A warning message is also momentarily displayed.

It is very important to ensure that, when scanning a barcode, NBS is in the Number column cell adjacent to the appropriate Lane number.

As numbers are scanned athlete details are automatically displayed. Also, the colour of a row changes to green for normal, yellow for a Personal Best, and red for a record. Records are based on the race event, and the individual athletes age (it does not matter if this is different to the Race age).

The following figure shows an U10, 70M, race that had lanes one through eight used, and all athletes have been scanned, with four getting personal best times.

When all athletes in a race have been scanned click the Completed button to close the dialog. You will notice that the race, shown on the Races page, will change to green when Completed is True. If you change the Completed status back to False then the colour will also change back to white.

 

Finishing a Race Day

After all races have been completed you will want to transfer data from NBS to you main recording system. This is simply done by clicking the Export Track Data button, and specifying a file name to save to. This file can then be imported into you main recording system, eg NARS - Import . See Appendix 3 for Export file format.

Note: At any time throughout the race day you can exit NBS, and restart NBS without losing any data. Data is always automatically saved to the hard disk as it is entered, and received from the timing unit.

 

Search Filter

On some Information Pages, top right, is a Search Filter field that is used for searching and filtering of the current pages information. Both simple and complex search parameters can be used. In the simple case you just need to enter a value you wish to search for, eg entering "sa" on the athletes page would find all athletes with a surname beginning with "sa" - the field is not case sensitive. You can use a simple search to search for numbers, events, surnames, and other parameters (see the individual sections for more details on what you can search for).

Complex searches can also be performed where you can create an SQL like search formula. For example you could use "surname >= 'sa' and gender = 'm'" to find all boys with a surname beginning with 'sa'. You can use OR, AND, =, >, <, and * in complex search patterns.

Search/Filter values are specified for a given page, and will remain in place even when swapping between different pages. The 'Clear' button removes any current search/filter value for the currently displayed page.

 

Races Page

The Races page shows all races that have been run for the current day. As each race is run and printed the timing gate transfers the race details into NBS, and a new race record is displayed at the bottom of the race list. By double clicking on the race you can view the Race Details, and begin barcoding athlete numbers against the recorded lane times.

Race Details

The Race Details screen shows the times and athlete details for each race. Scanning athlete barcodes is always done on this page. Before an athlete barcode is scanned you must ensure that the cursor is in the Number column, beside the appropriate Lane/time. In most cases NBS will automatically position the cursor, ready for the next barcode to be scanned. It will even skip over Lanes that do not have a recorded time (ie no athlete was running in that lane). When athlete barcode numbers are scanned (or entered via the keyboard) the athlete name, age, and PB are displayed, and the colour of the line will change according to:

Green - normal result;
Yellow - Personal Best result;
Red - Centre record.

Centre record values are displayed at the end of each row, and these will change according to the event and age of the individual athlete. This means you can have different age/gender athletes running in the same race.

Note that all times stored in NBS are in the format MM.SSHH where:
MM = minutes;
SS = seconds;
HH = hundredths of seconds.

So, for example 1 min 23.56 seconds would be stored as 1.2356.

Double Clicking any line in the Race Details page will open up an athlete Selection window. This shows athletes listed in alphabetical order. You can search for an athlete by entering part or all of a surname in the search field and then clicking the 'Surname' button. If you double click on an athlete then that athlete is selected and put into the Race Details line in which you originally clicked on.

Adding a Race manually

On the Races page, bottom right, you can use the 'Add New Race' button to add a new race manually. This can be used where, for example, a race was not transferred correctly from the timing gates. When this function is used a new race and race details are created. You then need to adjust the race event and age fields, then in the race details screen you can edit Performance and Athlete Number fields as required. Fields that are left without an athlete number (ie left as zero) will not be included in the Export data.

Deleting a Race

On the Races page, bottom left, you can use the 'Delete Race' button to delete the currently selected race. Make sure you click on the appropriate race line before clicking this delete button. A confirmation prompt will be displayed. You can use this function to remove any, for example, test races that may be sent from the timing gate, or an aborted race.

 

Athletes Page

The Athletes page shows athlete numbers, names, age, team and gender details. You can also add in a new athlete by using the 'Add New Athlete' button. When adding a new athlete you should complete all the fields, and choose an athlete number that has not already been used. Once the new athlete has been entered you can use that athlete in the race details form for recording times against. Any new athletes would also need to be put into NARS before trying to import the race day file into NARS. Any athlete not in NARS will be found at the import stage and can be sorted out at that time.

The Search field allows for searching by:

Complex searches can also be performed, eg number >= 2000 and gender = 'm' and age > 12 .

Use the athlete Search/Filter prior to going into the Barcode printing window. This allows you to select a group of athletes that you want barcodes printed for.

Athletes can be sorted either by Number or Surname by clicking in the corresponding column header. Note the asterix in some column headings - this indicates that those columns can be used for sorting.

 

Records Page

The Records page shows Centre records that have been imported into NBS. You can search/filter for particular records by using the search field.

The Search field allows for searching by:

Complex searches can also be performed, eg event = '100M' and gender = 'm' and age > 12 .

 

Events Page

The Events page shows all event codes imported into NBS. The column 'Timer Unit Event' shows events used by the Timing Gate, which may be different to the event codes in the Event column (as used by NARS). This allows you to map Timing Gate event codes to your normal system event codes. Some examples are:

Event TimerUnitEvent
100H 100M H
200H 200M H

You can search for events using the Event code.

Complex searches can also be performed, eg event = '1*' or event = '200H'.

Events are not deleted when you import new Track data - this is so you do not lose the mappings you have set up.

If you wish to delete any event you need to select it first and use the 'Delete Event' button.

 

P.Best Page

The Personal Best page shows Personal Best times that have been imported into NBS.

The Search field allows for searching by:

Complex searches can also be performed, eg number >= 2000 and event = '100M'.

 

Coms Page

The Communications page shows data that has been sent from the timing gates. This can be used for diagnostic purposes.

At the bottom od the Coms page is the 'Coms Setup' button that is used to open the Communications Settings window. See Setting Up Your System for more information.

 

Barcode Printing

Click the 'Barcode' button (top left) to open the Barcode printing window.

Note: prior to clicking the 'Barcode' button you can search/filter athletes on the Athletes page. This allows you to print barcodes for those athletes you have selected. You will notice the selected athlete numbers are listed in the Multiple Barcodes list, along with a Count of the number of numbers in the list. You then just click the Print Barcodes button to print those barcode numbers.

The Multiple Barcodes section also allows you to paste any list of numbers into the list for multiple barcode printing. All the parameters to the bottom left of the Barcode Window define how barcodes are arranged on a printed page. The parameters are based on a 600dpi printer, which gives a parameter value of 80 per inch, ie if you set Barcode Width to 80 it will be 1 inch wide on a 600dpi printer. The parameters are:

At the top left of the Barcodes window is a section for producing single barcodes. Enter a number into the Barcode Number field, click the Display Barcode button, and you will see the barcode displayed. The Copy To Clipboard button allows you to copy the displayed barcode to the windows clipboard, which can then be pasted into any windows program that supports graphic object pasting, eg Word or Excel.

For outdoor use it is recommended that Laser printing of barcodes is used (not inkjet printing). Laser printing on water resistant polymer labels provides a durable barcode for outdoor use.

Importing Track Data

Prior to beginning a Race Day you need to import a track data file - see Appendix 2 for details. This file contains all athletes, events, PBs, records, that are used by NBS.

Use the 'Import Track Data' button at the top of the screen for importing this file.

When a track file is imported any existing race data is deleted.

 

Exporting Race Details

Use the 'Export Race Details' button (top left) to export all the race details to a CSV file that is suitable for importing directly into NARS.

Only times with a recorded athlete number are put into the export file. The athlete numbers must correspond to athletes in the NARS system, otherwise an error message will be displayed by NARS indicating the line number within the file that caused the import to stop.

NARS will only import data once the entire file is processed error free.

 

Appendix 1 - Specifications

 

Appendix 2 - Import File Format

The import file format is designed to work with the Track export files produced by NARS (Network Athletics Recording System). The files are a CSV format and contain records of the following types:

Events: E, [event_name]
Records: R, [gender], [event_name], [age], [value], [record_type]
Athletes: A, [number], [first_name], [surname], [age], [team], [gender]
PersonalBests: P, [number], [event], [value]

 

Appendix 3 - Export File Format

The export file format is designed to work with the Import function in NARS. The format is the same as the Results format for NARS:

Results
yyyy-mm-dd, [number], [event], [value]