Settings: backup, files, links
The last six tabs of the Settings window: the database copy and what is written to the database, the files produced (.LIF, Excel, .EVT), the FinishLynx photo finish, the start position colors and the database.
Saving
Database backup copy
Where: Settings › Saving (also )
A complete copy of this computer's database (races, laps, athletes, saved settings), to keep in a safe place: it is what lets you recover everything
after a failure, a theft or on a new computer. Each backup is a single file ChronoFEED-YYYY-MM-DD_HHmmss.cfsauvegarde, always complete.
These copies remain your responsibility; they are not sent anywhere. Refresh rereads the list.
Backup folder
Where: Settings › Saving
Documents\ChronoFEED\Sauvegardes by default. Preferably choose an external drive or a synchronized folder (OneDrive,
Dropbox…): a copy left on the same disk does not protect against a failure of that disk. Open opens it in File Explorer.
One backup a day
Where: Settings › Saving (checked by default)
On its own, in the background, never while a race is in progress (a race that starts stops it; it will resume afterwards).
A backup when FINISH closes
Where: Settings › Saving
After the last writes; quitting then takes a few more seconds (3 minutes at most; the status bar says so).
Number of backups kept
Where: Settings › Saving
Beyond this number (10), the oldest are deleted from the folder; other files in it are never touched.
Back up now
Where: Settings › Saving
Refused during a race; only one backup or restore at a time.
Restore a backup…
Where: Settings › Saving
Replaces the whole database of this computer with a backup. Refused if races are on screen. A backup from a more recent version of the program is refused without touching anything. Two confirmations (a question that says it all: the whole database replaced, EVENT and the other computers on the same database affected; then typing “RESTORE”). A safety backup of the current state is made first; the restore happens in one block (an error leaves the database intact), then FINISH closes: start it again.
Race backup
Where: Settings › Saving › Database
Races, their grids and their state are written to the database (without waiting: timing never waits for the database). Unchecked, neither races nor laps are written: EVENT does not receive them. Turning it off asks for confirmation.
Standings backup
Where: Settings › Saving › Database
Kept (confirmation to turn it off); the standings are written with the race.
Lap backup
Where: Settings › Saving › Database
Each timed lap is written to the database (Laps tab, overall standings). The “Laps → DB” gauge of timing shows what is waiting.
Passing backup
Where: Settings › Saving › Database
“Passings are saved to the database”. FINISH in fact always writes every passing received (that is what makes replaying possible): the box changes nothing.
Keep races saved to the database in the session
Where: Settings › Saving › Saved races
Unchecked, it shows “Remove saved races after”. Kept; FINISH does not use it yet.
Load races even if they are already in the DB
Where: Settings › Saving › Saved races
The same setting as Load finished races (File menu): the raced races of a previous session remain visible in the list, grayed out.
Add the session's athletes to the database
Where: Settings › Saving (checked by default)
When a session is loaded (file or database), the athletes missing from the database are added to it, without duplicates: same reference, same SpeedSkatingResults ID, same last name + first name + date of birth, or same transponder and same name → the same record, completed only where it is empty; otherwise a provisional record. Rows that designate a chip or a color set (“BLANC, Blanc”, “BLANC_1”, “INVITÉ”…) are ignored. The log reads “Session athletes: N added, M matched, K ignored”. Loading does not wait for the database.
Temporary race
Where: Settings › Saving
“Keep a cache of races in progress”. Kept; FINISH does not use it yet (after a shutdown without closing, races are restored from the database).
Files and tracks
Results folder
Where: Settings › Files and tracks
A .LIF file is written there at the end of each race: the event manager (EVENT) reads them to compile
the results. By default ChronoFEED\Résultats on the desktop; Create if it does not exist. A copy of each .LIF is always written to the
FINISH folder: an inaccessible folder (USB key removed, share cut off) loses nothing, and the log says so.
Generate an Excel file for each finished race
Where: Settings › Files and tracks › Excel files
When a race becomes raced with a result (normal end, Finished, All finished, auto-close), “COMPETITION_Race.xlsx” is written to the results folder: “Results” sheet (position, bib, name, team, category, laps, final time, best lap, annotation, each lap) and “Laps” sheet. The log says “Excel file written: …” or gives the error (file open in Excel…).
External file (.LIF)
Where: Settings › Files and tracks
The result file of each finished race, in the format of photo finish systems: written as soon as the race ends, rewritten when it closes (and after an annotation). ANSI or UNICODE; Partial or Full (the one EVENT reads, with the competition, the discipline, the distance, the track and each athlete's category).
Session files folder
Where: Settings › Files and tracks
“Open a session…” and “Export to .EVT…” open in this folder (green if it exists, red otherwise). While FINISH is open, the last folder used is reused; at the next launch, it is this one again. Empty: the folder of the last file opened.
Other folders
Where: Settings › Files and tracks
Coming soon.
Track management
Where: Settings › Files and tracks
Coming soon. Loops are set in Track and loops.
Favourite races…
Where: Settings › Files and tracks
The race templates: see Favorite races.
Elimination rules…
Where: Settings › Files and tracks
The federation's rules and yours: see Elimination rules and the scenario Create my own elimination rule.
EVT export
What Export to .EVT… writes. The preview at the bottom follows the boxes.
Add the venue name after the competition name
Where: Settings › EVT export › First line
On the first line of the file.
Last name in UPPERCASE
Where: Settings › EVT export › Athlete lines
Write the category (7th field); otherwise the field stays empty
Where: Settings › EVT export › Athlete lines
Write the gender (F, M, MIXTE) in the 5th field
Where: Settings › EVT export › Race lines
Write the number of laps in the 13th field (fields 6 to 12 empty)
Where: Settings › EVT export › Race lines
With “Grouped” loading: one race per group (“PAIRE(1+2)”)
Where: Settings › EVT export › Race lines
Consecutive races with the same group make only one race in the file, for a photo finish that films the two pairs of a quartet together.
Grouped race: write the athletes' names (unchecked: bib and position only)
Where: Settings › EVT export › Race lines
Checked by default: each athlete has their complete line and FINISH reads the file back. Unchecked: “bib, position” only (not read back by FINISH).
Character encoding
Where: Settings › EVT export › File
Windows-1252 (ANSI) — accents read by photo-finish software, UTF-8, UTF-8 with BOM, UTF-16 (Unicode). Unreadable accents in FinishLynx: choose Windows-1252.
End the last line with a line break
Where: Settings › EVT export › File
FinishLynx format (default)
Where: Settings › EVT export
Resets all the boxes to the format expected by FinishLynx.
Original format (2.0.6)
Where: Settings › EVT export
The format of the first versions, for software that expects it.
Preview (fictitious athletes)
Where: Settings › EVT export, at the bottom
The file as it will be written, with fictitious athletes. A race line: 1A,1,1,500 Qualification Groupe A F,F; an athlete line:
,bib,lane,LASTNAME,Firstname,Team,Category,Licence.
FinishLynx (photo finish)
FinishLynx is the photo finish software. At the end of a race, it sends its final times to FINISH over the network: FINISH listens, FinishLynx connects. The photo finish time becomes the athlete's final time; the transponder time stays displayed next to it.
FinishLynx server active (FINISH listens)
Where: Settings › FinishLynx (also Tools › Finish-Lynx › Connection)
Checked: FINISH opens the port. The status can be read below: “listening: address, port N”, “1 FinishLynx connected”, the last result received, or the error (port already in use…).
Port
Where: Settings › FinishLynx
The TCP port FinishLynx connects to (21 by default; 1 to 65535). The same number in FinishLynx.
Listening IP address
Where: Settings › FinishLynx
Empty (recommended): all the addresses of this computer. Otherwise one of this computer's addresses (Wi-Fi or wired).
Addresses of this computer (to give to FinishLynx)
Where: Settings › FinishLynx
To set in FinishLynx's network output.
Race field position
Where: Settings › FinishLynx
In the first line sent (“results,…”), the position of the field that carries the race name as FINISH knows it (4 by default). Then one line per athlete: rank, lane, number, name, team, time, licence. The licence is the athlete's reference in FINISH (failing that, the number is compared with the bib). The simplest way to make the names match: give FinishLynx the exported .EVT file.
The race must be in progress or finished in FINISH; a race that has already been raced receives the photo finish time next to its final time, without changing the standings; a race that is only loaded or cannot be found receives nothing (the log says so). In a race, Remove photo removes the times received.
Debug: write each received line to the log
Where: Settings › FinishLynx
To see at which position the race name is, and whether the licence is indeed the 7th field.
Start position colours
Each athlete wears the color of their start position (a cap, an armband, a bib…): in the standings, the race list, the Lanes panel, the animated track and the displays.
Colour athletes by start position
Where: Settings › Start position colours
Imposed in competition, removed in training. On the left, the color schemes (green dot: the active
scheme): Add (the ten default colors), Duplicate, Delete (there is always one scheme left). On the
right: the scheme name, Make active, and its colors (position, cap color, number color computed to stay readable and editable;
New position, Default values). Everything applies immediately; a duplicate position or an empty name is not
written. An EVENT .cfevent file brings its own scheme, named after the competition, and makes it active.
Database
Where: Settings › Database (also the database button in the status bar)
The local database: a PostgreSQL installed with FINISH or EVENT and reserved for ChronoFEED; nothing to configure, password created at installation and kept encrypted. Uninstalling the program does not delete the data.
A network server: when several computers time the same event (shared overall standings, several systems on the same race, EVENT on another computer), they all connect to the same server: address, port, database, account, password; Test the connection, Use this server, Return to the local database. The procedure for installing the server is in the window (Copy the text). All computers must have the same version of ChronoFEED.