Elimination rules and grid editor

Opening the window

• SessionElimination rules… (see Menus);
• Settings › Files and tracks, button Elimination rules… (see Backup, files, links);
• the … button to the right of the Elimination rule list, in the favourite races and in the race sheet. Opened this way, the window first shows the rules for that race's number of laps. When it closes, the favourite's or sheet's list is read again: a rule you created is offered immediately.

The window shows the rules of the session's discipline (SessionSession configuration…). Without a discipline, the list is empty, New rule is disabled and the window explains: "The session has no discipline: choose it (Session › Session configuration…) to see its rules and create your own."

The "Elimination rules" window

1. The session's discipline and a reminder of what can be done here.
2. The Number of laps filter and the rule count.
3. The list of rules, with the Federation or My rules chip.
4. The selected rule: summary, warnings, formula by number of starters, table.
5. The message line: what was just done, or what failed.
6. The buttons.

① The discipline

"Specialty:" followed by the name of the session's discipline ("(no discipline)" if there is none). A rule applies to one discipline: a "Short track" rule does not appear in a "Long track" session. A new rule, or a copy, takes the session's discipline.

② The "Number of laps" filter and the count

The drop-down list offers All, then every number of laps that has at least one rule in the discipline, plus that of the race you came from (… button), even without a rule. Opened from the menu, the window shows All; from a favourite or a sheet of 13.5 laps, it shows 14 (the number of laps is rounded up).

On the right, the count for the whole discipline, whatever the filter: "1 federation rule(s), 1 of my rules".

③ The list of rules

Order: the federation's rules first, then yours; within each group, by name then by number of laps. A double-click does the same as View grid…. Rules that are inactive in the shared data are not shown.

④ The selected rule

• The name in bold, the origin chip and "16 laps".
• The summary: "Elimination on laps 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 · starters: 12-14, 15-16". Two special cases: "Empty grid: the rule eliminates nobody." (no column) and "Unreadable grid: FINISH ignores this rule." (a damaged grid: the rule is offered nowhere).
• In amber, for one of your rules that bears the name of a federation rule: see Same-name rules.
• In red, the grid's errors, one per line (same list as in the editor: see The messages).
• Formula FINISH will apply at the start, depending on the number of starters: one line per number of starters covered (see the formula).
• The rule's table, the image saved with it (see the table).

⑤ The message line

Below the list, in grey: "Rule "CLAP Élimination 16 tours" added to your rules (16 laps).", "Rule "…" saved.", "Rule "…" deleted.", or the text of a database error (see Messages when saving). The message stays until the next action.

⑥ The buttons

A federation rule can be neither edited nor deleted on a computer: the next shared-data update would put it back. To change it, Duplicate.

The grid editor

The same editor is used by the federation to publish its rules and by you for yours. It opens with New rule, Duplicate, Edit or View grid…. Its title: "Elimination rule — name — N laps" ("(no name)" while the name is empty; "— read-only" for a federation rule). The title follows the name and the number of laps as soon as you leave their field.

1. The context: "Discipline: Short track · My rules".
2. Rule name.
3. Number of laps.
4. The instructions in three steps.
5. Add a column and Tick every other lap (2, 4, 6…).
6. The grid: one row per lap, one column per number of starters.
7. The formula FINISH will apply, by number of starters.
8. The rule's table, as FINISH will display it.
9. Confirm and Cancel.

Below the grid, in red, the errors are shown; the area disappears when the grid is correct.

② Rule name

100 characters at most. Tooltip: "This is the name that races and favourites keep. It must be unique for this number of laps in the discipline." The name is checked on Confirm: empty, already used by one of your rules or by a federation rule with the same number of laps (ignoring upper and lower case), it is refused with a message (see Messages about the name). The same name remains allowed for another number of laps: "CLAP Élimination" can exist for 12 and for 16 laps. Spaces at the beginning and the end are removed.

③ Number of laps

A whole number from 2 to 500, digits only. It is taken into account when you leave the field or press Enter. Anything else ("1", "16.5", "sixteen", empty): the field goes back to the previous value, without a message.

• More laps: rows are added at the bottom; the "Finish" row moves down.
• Fewer laps: the elimination laps that would be the new final lap or beyond are unticked (from 16 to 12 laps: laps 12 and 14 are no longer elimination laps).

Tooltip: "The number of laps of the races the rule applies to (rounded up for a 13.5-lap race: 14)." A 13.5-lap race therefore takes the 14-lap rules.

④ The instructions

"1. Add one column per number of starters ("8" or "12-14"). 2. Tick the elimination laps. 3. In each cell, write how many athletes REMAIN after that lap; leave it empty if nobody goes out. The other rows show the athletes still in the race (the bell lap: those before the elimination). No elimination on the final lap. On the right, the table FINISH will display."

⑤ The columns: numbers of starters

Add a column adds an empty column on the right. Write its header, the number of starters it covers. Tooltip: "Number of starters: "8" or "12-14". Empty the cell to remove the column."

Two columns cannot cover the same number of starters ("10-12" and "12-14" overlap on 12). A number of starters that no column covers is not a grid error: it is a race that will run without elimination (see the scenario, Example C).

Column order. In the editor, columns stay in the order you added them; the formula, the drawn table and the list already sort them by increasing number of starters. After Confirm, the rule is saved in increasing order: the next time it opens, the "10-11" column added on the right will be the first. There is no button to move a column: the order has no effect on the race.

Removing a column. Empty its header and leave the cell: the column disappears if the cells of its ticked laps are all empty. If it still has numbers, it stays, and the error "Header "": write "8" or "12-14"." is shown: empty its cells first, then the header.

Ticking the elimination laps

The second column of the grid, Starters →, has a check box on every row except the last. Tooltip: "Ticked: athletes go out at the end of this lap." A lap is a passage across the finish line, counted from the start: the first passage is lap 1, even if the start is given elsewhere on the track.

Tick every other lap (2, 4, 6…) replaces the ticked laps with 2, 4, 6… up to the second-to-last lap: on 12 laps, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10; on 16 laps, 2 to 14. Numbers already entered for those laps come back; those of odd laps are hidden.

⑥ The grid and its cells

On a ticked row, each column has a yellow cell (tooltip: "Athletes remaining after lap 4."). Write in it how many athletes remain in the race after this lap, not how many go out.

There is no cell for an "expected value" or for those going out: FINISH deduces those going out from the difference between two cells (and, on the first lap, between the number of starters and the cell). A cell larger than the actual number of starters is not an error: for that number, nobody goes out on that lap (see How FINISH calculates the formula).

The rows in italics

Unticked rows have no cell: they show, in grey italics, how many athletes are still in the race on that lap, that is, the last cell filled higher up in the column, otherwise the column header ("10-11" before the first elimination). On the Bell row, it is therefore the number before the following elimination. These rows are recalculated when you leave a cell.

With the keyboard

• Enter or Tab in a header or a cell: moves to the next field, downwards in the column, then to the top of the next column. Check boxes are skipped.
• Enter does not confirm the window (so as not to confirm a half-entered grid): click Confirm.
• Esc: Cancel (or Close when read-only).
• The grid, the formula and the table are updated when you leave a field, not at every keystroke.

⑦ The formula by number of starters

"Formula FINISH will apply at the start, depending on the number of starters:" then one line per number of starters covered, in increasing order (200 lines at most per column): the number of starters, the formula, and how many athletes will be at the finish. "(no elimination)": for this number, the cells eliminate nobody. "(no column)": the grid has no readable column yet.

This is the place to read over before confirming: each number of starters you expect must have its line, with the right number of athletes at the finish. A number missing from the list will run without elimination.

⑧ The rule's table

On the right, the table drawn from the grid, like the federations' tables: a title "name — N laps — athletes in the race after each lap", the Lap and Starters columns, then one column per number of starters, in increasing order. Rows: Elimination, "🔔 Bell" in italics, Finish in green.

On Confirm, this table is saved with the rule as an image: it is what the rules window, the favourite races and the race sheet show. Its words are in the interface language at the time of confirmation: a rule confirmed in French keeps "Élimination" and "Arrivée" in its image, even if FINISH is later switched to English.

⑨ Confirm and Cancel

1. The current cell is taken

   The field where the cursor is is taken into account first, as if you had left it, then the number of laps.

2. The name is checked

   A problem (empty name, too long, already used…) is shown in a message box; the window stays open, with the cursor in Rule name.

3. The grid is checked

   A cell or header that cannot be read ("ten", "10 11") blocks confirmation: "These cells cannot be read: … Correct or empty them before confirming."; nothing is saved, nothing is lost. For the other errors (overlapping columns, remaining numbers that go up…), FINISH lists them (12 at most) and asks "Keep it anyway? (FINISH might apply it incorrectly.)", No by default. No: you go back to the grid.

4. The rule is saved

   The grid, the number of laps, the name and the drawn table are written to this computer's database, the list is read again and the rule is selected in it; favourites and race sheets offer it immediately.

Cancel (or Esc, or the cross) closes without saving anything, without confirmation.

The editor in read-only mode (federation rule)

For a federation rule, the editor opens read-only: the context says "Federation rule" (①), a blue banner explains why (②): "Federation rule: it can be viewed here but not changed on this station (updating the shared data would replace it). To adjust it, duplicate it: the copy becomes one of your rules." No name or number of laps to enter, no instructions or column buttons; headers and cells are locked, check boxes greyed out. The formula (⑦) and the table (⑧) are there to check what the rule will do. A single button: Close (⑨).

How FINISH calculates the formula

At the start of the race, FINISH counts the starters (the active athletes; an athlete deactivated before the start does not count), takes the column that covers that number, then goes down the ticked laps, keeping count of the athletes in the race:

• empty cell, or a number at least equal to the count, or 0: nobody goes out, the count does not change;
• otherwise, count − cell go out; the count becomes the cell. "4:2" if two go out on lap 4, "4" if only one.

With 11 starters and the "10-11" column (9, 8, 7, 6, 5, empty): 11 → 9 (4:2), 9 → 8 (6), 8 → 7 (8), 7 → 6 (10), 6 → 5 (12), lap 14 empty: formula 4:2; 6; 8; 10; 12, 5 athletes at the finish. No column for this number: empty formula, race without elimination. The details, with FINISH's code and lap-by-lap examples: the scenario.

The messages, one by one

Grid errors are shown in red below the grid as soon as you leave a field, and in the selected rule's panel of the window. They do not prevent confirming (FINISH asks for confirmation), but a wrong grid gives a wrong formula.

Grid errors

Messages about the name (on Confirm)

Messages when saving (message line)

Same-name rules: yours and the federation's

A race keeps only the rule's name. Two rules with the same name, the same discipline and the same number of laps would make the race ambiguous: Confirm therefore forbids it for your rules (see messages about the name).

Only one case escapes this: the federation later publishes a rule with the name of one of yours. The update accepts it, and your rule wins: your favourites and races do not change rules without you knowing; the lists of favourites and sheets offer the name only once. Below your rule, the window says so in amber: "A federation rule also has this name for this number of laps: yours is the one applied to races. Rename yours to be able to choose the federation's."

See also

• The scenario Create my own elimination rule: three worked examples, from the table to the race.
• Favourite races and race sheet: choosing a race's rule.
• The ranking banner (the elimination summary, in orange) and the Bell tab.
• The bell on this computer and the bell broadcast to VOICE.