Deleting error-filled data

[Thomas E. Reed]

I've installed ConMaster on a Windows XP machine to practice entering data (and developing instructions). I've run into a problem when entering erronious data.

First of all, when entering data, you must have all your events and sections before registering anyone for them. If you don't, you'll get a blank section under that player. You will also get a blank section if you enter a section before entering an event/section number. It is impossible to delete these sections from the player records.

I attempted to delete the person from the entry and re-enter his data, but unfortunately the old erronious entry was still there.

I then went to phpMyAdmin to delete the person (there was only one in the database for testing) and it still didn't work right.

Also, once a person who has valid sections has been deleted, those player spaces are not reset. You can't go to each section to reset the number of players; you must do it from the event number and select the player.

Final problem: ideally, if you assume six players per table, when a person is checked as Judge that person should not be counted as a player. However, when I entered a section and checked the person as a Judge for that section, he was still subtracted from the player totals.

I would guess, as a rough idea, that alterations in data in one section of the DB are not rippled through to the other sections. (When I check the person as Judge, when he is already been counted as a player, his player space is not added back.)

If you have to prioritize the problems, I think the worst one is the inability to delete "blank sections."

One final thing:  are we still assuming the printer to be the label printer that prints business cards? The only reason I ask is this; in the previous incarnation, we printed the "postcards" listing everyone's events and time slots. This was easier than them juggling tickets which, for our cons, we don't collect anyway. Since I've not gotten that far yet, I'm just wondering about this point.

[Tim White]

>I would guess, as a rough idea, that alterations in data in one section of the DB are not rippled through to the other sections. (When I check the person as Judge, when he is already been counted as a player, his player space is not added back.)

Thanks for the report.  There is code in there to clean that stuff out, but it apparently isn't working.

Why don't you do this -  in phpMyAdmin, go to the 'Export' link (click on the database name on the left first).  Choose all the tables, and dump them and their data to a file and email it to me at tim@cyface.com .  I'll take a look at it and see what is going on...

Thanks,

Tim White
ConMaster Lead

[Tim White]

>Are we still assuming the printer to be the label printer that prints business cards? The only reason I ask is this; in the previous incarnation, we printed the "postcards" listing everyone's events and time slots. This was easier than them juggling tickets which, for our cons, we don't collect anyway. Since I've not gotten that far yet, I'm just wondering about this point.

There are two functions.  You can use the "Export Confirmation Card File" Report on the Reports screen to download a .csv file that you can use with a MS Word (or other word processor) template and mail merge to print out the postcards.  Using the word processor to do the templates gives you the ability to make the cards completely custom very easily.  (And print better).  It is an extra step over dumping the cards right out of the database, but the benefits far outweigh that, IMO.

If you have a badge/business card printer, you can print badges and tickets on the fly.