ExcelMate your new friend?

[Marcus Seyffarth]

=========================================================================
Note!
Find latest versions on the ISSA resource page.

Support for ExcelMate is not done by Marcus anymore.
And the www.ettsexett.com website does not exist anymore.

But, please continue posting here if you need.
And help will come from the ISSA community.
=========================================================================

Finally its here, the small helper program that connects the new version of Trackmates to Dan Gesmers legendary Excel spread sheets.

Please download it, try it and give me feedback so that 2008 can be the year where no typos were made!

The program will run on pretty much any PC. If people like it I'll do my best to port it to Mac, however I think it will be pretty hard compared to borrowing someones PC.

Download an installer file from here (always gives the latest version):
http://www.ettsexett.com/200/ExcelMateSetup.msi

Download a quick guide here (it is part of the package above)
http://www.ettsexett.com/200/ExcelMate.PDF


2014 update: copies of useful links to the original top post of this thread...

Update: Display applications
In order to be able to run 2 display applications on one computer I have compiled 2 different versions that uses different internal .Net threads and delegate names. Computer mumbo jumbo, but trust me its got to be that way if you intend to show both lanes on one computer.

Download them at:
http://www.ettsexett.com/200/SlalomDisp ... pLane1.msi
http://www.ettsexett.com/200/SlalomDisp ... pLane2.msi

Older version:
http://www.ettsexett.com/200/SlalomDisplaySetup.msi

How do you set Windows 7 to treat a program as 32 bit?

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/wind ... of-Windows

Let me know what you think!

/Marcus

[Wesley Tucker]

Marcus,

Before EVERYBODY gets excited, I am assuming your system required Trak Mate 5.1 and above with the DIN ports?

[Marcus Seyffarth]

Yes. I thought it was 6.0 but perhaps its 5.1. Anyways, the newer ones with the "TO PC" on the short side. There's a picture of it in the ExcelMate PDF.

/Marcus

[Daniel Gesmer]

Marcus, many of the addresses on your email list are out-of-date. Would you like me to forward your announcement to everyone on my active racer list?

[Marcus Seyffarth]

Please do. At least to the ones that might host a race. Thank you!

[William Tway]

Brilliant.

Feliz Navidad.

Guillermo.

[Pat Chewning]

For those of us with older Trackmate systems, is there an upgrade path to get the computer connection and the FW upgrade to enable connecting to a computer?

Or do we have to buy a new Trackmate?

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

GOOD JOB MARCUS! This will be a real boon for racing...

[William Tway]

Good question Pat.

I'll give Daniel at TM a call and see what he thinks.

Cheers,

Tway

[Donald Campbell]

thanks go to marcus in sweden for creating the program
marcus is somebody who cares and i highly appreciate his kind efforts!!!!!!!!!

thank you marcus!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Marcus Seyffarth]

Thank you, whats a man to do when there is nothing at work?

I can answer the question about the firmware upgrade. No there is no firmware upgrade.

I bought a new trackmate in december 2005 and it was said that it should come an upgrade. However when Jani finally got Daniel to create the new version a completely new port was added to the trackmate. So if you have the old ones (with "Start", "Stop" and "Speaker" ports) you need to get one that have the additional "To PC" port on the short side of the device.

On the other hand this is probably only needed at competitions so a few new ones on either side of the atlantic is probably enough. Given that you like the application of course.

As mentioned above there is a pic of how the new ones look in the PDF
http://www.ettsexett.com/200/ExcelMate.PDF

[Michael Stride]

Excel - ent!

Of course the UKSSA Trackmate is the older one...... which makes it a difficult descision whether to upgrade or buy a newer one, or use the laptop only as a timer like in the excettset sytem?


personnally I like the idea of using a standalone timer, the Trackmate, with the PC like this.

What Id really like now is being able to diplay just the times as they run onto screens, either dedicated sports screens or flatscreens that are getting cheaper these days.

Well done!!!!

[Marcus Seyffarth]

I would say get a new Trackmate.

I haven't used or upgraded the 161 timer in a long while, standalone timers are the way to go I believe.

I guess you could output some running time on another COM port to a screen. Perhaps that is version 2.0. I wanted it to keep it as simple as possible for now.

The problem is that the trackmate does not give out any running time, only timestamps when a racer crosses the strip. So the running time would be a dummy time just to display something. I should probably work as long as you start the races from the application.

You should probably have one screen for each lane then as well... Hmm. I'll check out the displays that you have used perhaps this is an easy task.

[Vincent Berruchon]

You rock Marcus

Will try to test it during the next Pirate Race in January (22th)

[Marcus Seyffarth]

Possibly the first live tests... Looking forward to hear the outcome!

[Jani Soderhall]

You should probably have one screen for each lane then as well... Hmm. I'll check out the displays that you have used perhaps this is an easy task.

Good thinking Marcus, I've been looking at those displays and I'll immediately buy a couple if you can sort out the running times!

/Jani

[Marcus Seyffarth]

I just got an email back from Howard (gunfighter.com) and he does not sell the display alone. I guess it must be someone that manufactures these where we can buy them, or some other display that we could use.

I don't think its a problem getting the running time to work ok in dual lane mode. However in single lane mode, people can start whenever they want after the beeps (sometime we don't even use the beeps in single lane) and the trackmate does not output any reaction time at all so we can't adjust the time to that either. Perhaps Daniel at Trackmate could do a firmware upgrade so that it outputs a "0.00" reaction time whenever the racer crosses the starting line. Then it would be possible.

I'll build something just to show the running time, but we do need to find a display.

Ideas?

[Sj Kalliokoski]

Cant you use additional PC screen as time display?

[Wesley Tucker]

I must have got one " in between" the old phone-jack TrakMates and what is available now. Mine has a 15-pin DIN in the back, not a 9-pin on the side.

I guess a 15-pin DIN-to-USB converter might do the same job.

[Marcus Seyffarth]

15 pin DIN? I checked and I have version 6.3, its got two 9 pins and one 25 pins on the back and one 9 pin on the side. Like this



Sure you could use another PC as a display, although the reflecting displays could be seen further away. I'll build a PC display app first, its the same procedure to show the data so if we find a display its all in place already.

[Michael Stride]

Cheapest ive found the display is here:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... :IT&ih=020

They do answer queries, as I was after the display with a clock function integrated and this they couldnt do....I have also looked all over my dispaly to see if it has a manufacturers mark on it but I cant find one.

Anyway, there probably is a place in China making these.

The advantage of the LCD is battery power. It runs on 9v. However at night youd want LEDs.....

I think one way to do displays is to build one out of 8" 7 segment LED dispaly which are available quite cheaply....

Mind you Id love a retro 'nixie' clock at a race one day.....cool as....
http://madlabs.info/assets/images/nixie ... _big_1.jpg

[Jani Soderhall]

I must have got one " in between" the old phone-jack TrakMates and what is available now. Mine has a 15-pin DIN in the back, not a 9-pin on the side.

I guess a 15-pin DIN-to-USB converter might do the same job.

I'm sorry WT, I think you're out of luck on this one. You probably need to get a new Trackmate.

If anyone in Europe wants one the new ones, I can sell one. I bought extras just to persuade Trackmate to make the PC output. Now that it's done I'm hoping for Marcus to continue his excellent job, so that we can actually use it. I haven't had the time to worry about that part yet, but it would be cool if we could have this working for the 2008 race circuit!

/Jani

[Marcus Seyffarth]

Version 2 with pc display is ready. Will upload app and pics soon. Now we need a display or lots of pc's

[Jani Soderhall]

Version 2 with pc display is ready. Will upload app and pics soon. Now we need a display or lots of pc's

Yes!! A lot of PC's is not really a big problem. Do you think we can use PC displays instead of LCD displays like Michael's?

How did you get the clock moving in accordance with the TrackMate?

/Jani

[Marcus Seyffarth]

Well, that was christmas.

We are running a small series of competitions in a garage here in Stockholm so we took the opportunity to test the system today and it worked GREAT!

We had two minor problems that was easialy fixed. First it was people that showed up late and needed to be put into the excel sheets after the race started. We just added them into the spreadsheet and switched back and forth between the worksheets (with the application) and they appered in the dropdowns and could be part of the race.

Second, the race was best of three runs, and the spreadsheet only had 2 runs so we saved the first two and then we overwrote the slowest if the third was faster.

I'm gonna adjust the size a bit, and fix some messages (only cosmetic changes that is) and then it will be available for download.

The new version have 2 tabs. One with settings such as filenames, ports used on the computer, if external displays should be used and what discipline we currently run. It looks like this:


The next tab just shows the riders, the times and the save + reset buttons. The program with the excel sheets behind (like they are when the race is running) looks like this:


As I said before I wrote up a display that could be used. The display starts showing running time 4 seconds after you press reset (at the fourth beep) and will show running time until the racer finishes when it will show the final raw time. This is only useful when people start AT the fourth beep since the time will start running and if you use "start whenever you feel like" the time will seem to be a certain amount once the racer crosses the line and then "jump" to the correct time. Not a problem at head 2 head but in single lane it might be confusing.

Anyways, the display looks like this:


The window can be resized to any size and you can select your favourite font at any size.

First impression is that it was a very easy to use, made the timekeeping a breeze and no times were lost.

[Marcus Seyffarth]

latest version (1.2) is ready for download now.

http://www.ettsexett.com/200/ExcelMateSetup.msi

and the display here
http://www.ettsexett.com/200/SlalomDisplaySetup.msi

Todo: test more, update manual and supply a "digital look" font for the display.

Please try it and give me some feedback. Thanks!

[Michael Stride]

Excellent work Marcus!

Can the number/time dispaly be put on sperate screens, or do you have to relay on the multiple screen mode on Windows to put them on a seperate display?

From my point of veiw legibility is a factor for displaying times. There are some great 'LCD' type fonts here: Link to Dafont.com

But that is mimicing an LCD display, if your using monitors you dont need to mimic anything except perhaps for aesthetics. For legibility using a 'monospace' font , where each numeral is put in an evenly spaced box makes for good legiblity when displaying two times next to each other or on top of each other. A font such as Courior Bold mimics an old typewriter, so the decimal point will always be in the same position for legibility.

Using yellow on black makes for a very good contrast too. Thats what most sports screens use.


When one competitor gets a time in a differnt second the decimal point remains in the same place with 'monospace' fonts:

[Marcus Seyffarth]

The display only shows the time for one lane/racer so in order to show both lanes you need two computers with one screen each. I guess you could run two instances of the display program on one computer and have the displays set next to eachother or under each other. However I guess for clarity it would be best to have one display/computer for each lane and put then on different sides of the road or so. At the moment it's serial communication from the time keeping computer to the display monitors (same communication as to one of the Alge Timing displays). If this application is a smashing sucess and we don't find any real displays but stick to computers, perhaps some kind of network solution would be better, so that we can have multiple screens using wireless LAN or something like that.

Thanks for the thoughts on font's, I'll supply some useful fonts with installation of the display. You can still choose any font that is available on the computer that the display is run at.

[Marcus Seyffarth]

Perhaps I should clarify that in order to test this program you don't need one of the new version trackmates. In fact you don't need anything else than a PC.

If you wish to try the display together with the progam you can either set up 2 computers with a seriall cable between OR install this http://www.eltima.com/download/vspdxp/.

It is a program that acts as one or many virtual serial ports on the computer so you can connect two of these virtual ports on your computer, making it possible to run the program and the display on the same computer (its very easy program just install and click yes basically)

Once all is started (the ExcelMate and the slalomDisplay and the ports are connected). Start the running time on the display by clicking "Start/Reset" on the ExcelMate and after 4 seconds the time should start running. Stop the time by entering anything in the "raw time" field (just like the Trackmate would if it was connected).

Now get started with the testing and the feedback...!

/Marcus

[Michael Stride]

Marcus, I'm sure your aware that Windows XP can work in multiple screen mode, either cloning the desktop to other screens, or more usefully extending the desktop to other directions. I think you can use 12 or 16 screens even with the right video card.

For desktops the cards are readily available, for a laptop its more of a problem.

You would then only need to open the timer windows on the main monitor, then drag them to a second, and third screen. You could for example have all the admin on one screen. The Spreadsheet open on a second, and the stopwatches on more monitors.

I dont see why you need more than one computer, or a network.

[Pat Chewning]

The single-lane template does not seem to work. I cannot select any of the racer names (after entering them into the spreadsheet).

The program works great for the dual-lane though......

[Marcus Seyffarth]

Hey, You tried it! Thank you!

The program looks for "qual" in the workbook name in order to know if it is head to head finals or qualification. Since the single lane template is the same as the qualification for head to head, I really haven't used it. But if you rename the workbook to something with "qual" as part of the name it will start working.

I can add a checkbox for single lane in order to get around this naming problem, but I just didn't think it would be necessary. That is if I remembered to tell you all about it...

Michael, it's wise to use the virtual desktop for additional screens close to the timingbooth, but what about if you wish to keep the timebooth at the start and have a display at the bottom of the race, then you'd need 200m of screen cable. If you get WLAN in there you could hook up 15 laptops all over the area showing the times. It's just an idea, perhaps there are some other much better ideas.

[Mr Surly]

Well done, Marcus. I'll set up a PC to PC test at home. I'd like to see this sort
of thing work with Open Office as well, but I'll see what I can get going. It won't
happen over night, as work is taking my time right now. In the end, I'll write/test
a couple of scripts that can dump the race info as html and upload the file[s] to a
web server; possibly a blog.

Questions for you:

1. Where can I get the code?
2. Has this been tested on 64bit systems?
3. Which version[s] of Excel/Office was this written for? Meaning, is it going
to be back-compatible for those folks using older Office versions?

Thanks for making your code available.

-Carl

[Marcus Seyffarth]

Thank you Carl!

1. Where can I get the code?

- I can upload the whole project to the same place as where the program is now and post a link here, experience tells me no one downloads and looks at it so I haven't bothered this time. Its written in .Net C# using framework 2.0/visual studio 2005

2. Has this been tested on 64bit systems?

- No I don't have a 64 bit computer, but its just a matter of choosing destination platform in the configuration manager. This current version should probably work using both x86 and x64.

3. Which version[s] of Excel/Office was this written for? Meaning, is it going to be back-compatible for those folks using older Office versions?

- As far as I know its not a big problem with the versions. You should probably ask Dan Gesmer what the excel spreadsheet needs. Perhaps it works with open office as well?

It is interesting questions that you ask me and I'm glad that you are enthusiastic about it. But lets be honest here, if we get 5 persons in the world to use this program it means that pretty much every timed race the coming season will use it. I'm sure we could add lots of cool stuff with databases, webservers, live feeds and everything. But we are still at the level where its a bonus if a printer exist at a race. Lets see if we can get this accepted and used and perhaps we get less errors, less time when nothing happens at races at the cost of a serial cable and a new trackmate.

Then in 2009 we will introduce the digital implants on all racers and track them 24/7 with GPS

[Wesley Tucker]

Then in 2009 we will introduce the digital implants on all racers and track them 24/7 with GPS

That will only work for the skaters on this planet.

[Marcus Seyffarth]

point taken, but we have one more year to figure out a solution for all the others.

[Michael Stride]

Dans spreadsheet doesnt work with openoffice , or it 'nearly' did but I got a ton of erroneous columns and stuff.

I ended up downloading a trial 30day of excel..... and borrow a laptop with excel on it for Cadwell.

As for live feeds, it isnt that hard to set up a webcam if a wifi connection is available. But too many of our races in the UK arnt near a base, even using a 'cantenna' .....but with 3g phones it may be one way to do it. Whilst of course the competitors wont use the facility, I do feel its important for racers around the world to be able to dip in to a live feed, and I also think speedy uploading of results (even unverified) is important. Being able to determine WHO is racing on a webcam feed would be the next step.....But if your using a spreadsheet then the two racers will be on the screen in some form, so it cant be beyond the skills of you lot to be able to put those names under a feed....

One day, one day.

[Marcus Seyffarth]

Since the display system relies on serial communication and I guess it would be nice to have a display at the bottom of the course I started googling for what distance you could expect it to work. Then I found this device a rs232 -> bluetooth that works over more than 100m. If you use this device there would be no need for cables at all, and you could move the displays pretty much where ever you want then... SWEEEET!

http://www.elfa.se/elfa-bin/setpage.pl? ... k=9450.htm

[Marcus Seyffarth]

Ok, the ExcelMate 2.0 is ready to download and use. Find your free version at:
http://www.ettsexett.com/200/ExcelMateSetup.msi

The new version brings you live results to the web. No more waiting for results, no more looking for results, and for the organizer - no more posting results after a long day at the race. Its all live its all free and its all good.

All you need is a computer with internet access (wireless LAN, wireless internet connection or mobile phone - the application only sends 200 bytes per saved race so the cost is nothing), a TrackMate with PC out and finally the Excelmate program.

I've created a webpage where the results are posted by the application. The page consist of 2 parts, live results where you can follow the race with automatic updates every 10 seconds, and previous results where you can find results from all rounds of past races.

The page is very basic and very "light" in order to work on mobile devices. If the organizer chooses to use the Excelmate and uses the live reporting function you can put up banners at the race so that spectators and racers can follow the race while its happening. You can also put up computers where this page is shown as a service to spectators and racers. No need to look over the sholder of the timekeeper. Once the data is saved - it is live on the internet!

All this is live and working at the moment. However I will continue to add statistics, racer profiles and add more races to the database so it will continue to grow.

Check it out and let me know what you think! Also please try it out at a small race in order to get familiar with the system. Its very easy to use, but practice makes perfect.

If you would like to use this at a race, contact me and I'll schedule a race for you and set you up with your live reporter ID that is needed in order to use it.

http://live.ettsexett.com (2014 update: no longer exists)
http://www.ettsexett.com/live (2014 update: no longer exists)

/Marcus

[Claude Regnier]

Now we're talking! Way to go Marcus.

[Donald Campbell]

hey marcus
let me try it out at our race in april
we have a change of date
april 12/13
i really want to have a go with that system!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Marcus Seyffarth]

Nice!

I'll schedule the events. For each event just let me know
-race type (single lane/head 2 head)
-date for the event
-course type (special/hybrid/GS/straight/cyber)
-cones (just approx)
-penalty
-classes (am,pro,wo,jr,open)
-start type (individual, DQ on early, 2X on early or 3X on early)

And then some additional info about the race and the ISSA status

Once this is done I'll hook you up with a supersecret reportingId, and you can start testing the stuff if you like, and I'll just reset all test data the day before the event.

/Marcus

[Dan Parrish]

Markus, If the Mac port isn't too difficult, I'd love to get a try at it.
After a lot of headaches with homemade timers I'm about to get a TrackMate- and you've made the system complete!
Supposedly Mac OSX is a lot easer to port to now. I don't know. If so, I'd appreciate it. Please don't sweat it if it is a big job, really.

Thanks

[Marcus Seyffarth]

Ok, so a new version is out this is version 2.1. It contains a few less bugs, and a single lane template that can hold up to 4 runs. Of course the program needs to take care of this too, so I've thrown out a few annoying 'are you sure' and instead just fill the bracket with data until its full and then you get the question which run you would like to replace.

Its a small step in the rigth direction. You really should try it, you don't even need a skateboard or a trackmate to try the program.

download program from:
http://www.ettsexett.com/200/ExcelMateSetup.msi

At the website I've added stats and soon you will be possible to have race registration at the site as well. At the same time we will move it to http://www.worldcupranking.com

http://www.ettsexett.com/live

[Marcus Seyffarth]

Ok a new version is out. This is 2.2 and the difference is that in dual lane qualification you do not need to have reaction times. In most head 2 head qualifications the time is recorder from when you leave and not when the beep is, so in order to avoid the annoying "There is no reaction time supplied" message, this check is left out from now on.

Also from now on the times sent to the web is sent to www.worldcupranking.com/live

So please check out the latest racing at that site.

In order to make life even easier for organizers you can now let people sign up to your race at www.worldcupranking.com/live

If you choose to use this registration you have free registration that automatically closes one week ahead of the race and we will supply you with the spreadsheets with all riders and their names spelled correctly and everything 2 days after the registration closes.

Get your latest copy (version 2.2) of the excelmate at www.ettsexett.com/200/ExcelMateSetup.msi

/Marcus

[Jani Soderhall]

I don't think its a problem getting the running time to work ok in dual lane mode. However in single lane mode, people can start whenever they want after the beeps (sometime we don't even use the beeps in single lane) and the trackmate does not output any reaction time at all so we can't adjust the time to that either. Perhaps Daniel at Trackmate could do a firmware upgrade so that it outputs a "0.00" reaction time whenever the racer crosses the starting line. Then it would be possible.

Daniel just did. I paid him to implement this new feature. We hope we can use it for Paris in a couple of weeks!

Logically you should get this feature if you get a brand new timer from now on (I assume they will be called 6.4). Probably some of the older timers (6.3 and maybe 6.2) could be patched to receive this functionality too, but I don't know yet.

I just got an email back from Howard (gunfighter.com) and he does not sell the display alone. I guess it must be someone that manufactures these where we can buy them, or some other display that we could use.

I have asked many times. GunFighter responded that anyway the display can't connect to a PC. In the mean time I already had a contact with a shop in Paris and they haven't been able to tell me yet. I also asked the head quarters in HK, but no reply from them. I'll try to call them to see if that is any better.

/Jani

[Sj Kalliokoski]

The new version brings you live results to the web. No more waiting for results, no more looking for results, and for the organizer - no more posting results after a long day at the race. Its all live its all free and its all good.

Any chance to get target web page to be configurable?
Would be nice feature for local races

[Marcus Seyffarth]

Well lets just say that it hasn't been a rush to use the system... So any plausible users could get their features added.

As it is now the official excelmate version targets worldcupranking.com but the one we use for local stockholm races uses ettsexett.com as target. I could of course either put in a dropdown with available targets, or compile a special version just for you, its just that someone needs to build that target webpage and handle the requests but once that is done I'd be more than happy. I someone is interested I could even supply the SQL tables that I use.

/Marcus

[Sj Kalliokoski]

Marcus, i really would be interested to get either target to be editable.
And to get insructions to set up web site
Just need to find way to pay you back, hmmm, i might have something on my mind.

[Jani Soderhall]

For the first time I sat down with ExcelMate and tried it out. It's really cool, and should come in handy for next weeks race in Paris - Trocadero Grand Prix.

With the new feature added by Daniel (Trackmate designer) Marcus' display output should be OK too. I didn't test that part of the system but Marcus will certainly report back on it as soon as he's updated the software in his timer too.

Well done, Marcus!

(We probably won't be using the live reporting part, at least we haven't thought of that aspect just yet).

/Jani

[Marcus Seyffarth]

I'm glad you tried it, and happy that you liked it!

In order to be able to run 2 display applications on one computer I have compiled 2 different versions that uses different internal .Net threads and delegate names. Computer mumbo jumbo, but trust me its got to be that way if you intend to show both lanes on one computer.

Download them at:
http://www.ettsexett.com/200/SlalomDisp ... pLane1.msi
http://www.ettsexett.com/200/SlalomDisp ... pLane2.msi

The latest version of the Excelmate v2.3 is also available at:
http://www.ettsexett.com/200/ExcelMateSetup.msi

New features in this version are:
- Compatible with excel 2000 and later (thank you Jani for pointing this out and helping to fix it!).
- Selectable trackmate version (6.5 and up or below)

I have tried it some and it seems to run well. Please try it and get back with feedback.