The Blue Alliance Event Wizard User Guide

Introduction

The TBA Event Wizard evolved from efforts to provide live match data during the 2015 FIRST Championship while the official data sources were down (context). We then realized we could extend this idea to cover the whole write API and allow users to directly input data for every part of the competition. We created a page that mimics the FMS Event Wizard and has one section for each part of the event you can publish data for. The TBA Event Wizard was designed to be operated by the Scorekeeper at an offseason event - the information flows are simple and fast enough to be a trivial addition to the role’s duties.

Requirements

• Auth keys to allow write access for the event. Please contact us to request a key if you’re running event.
• A computer with internet access at the event - all information is entered through the page: http://www.thebluealliance.com/eventwizard 
• A volunteer (optimally the Scorekeeper) with access to generated FMS reports who can input data in real-time

Known Issues

• Only “other” is available in the event dropdown.  This is intentional, and the plan is to automatically populate it with currently live events. This requires #1107 to be merged first.
• Uploading a FMS report doesn’t work. This is known, and only seems to happen with excel reports generated by FMS. If you encounter this problem, open the report in excel and “Save As” again to overwrite the file (can be either .xlsx or .xls). It should then work.
• Eighth finals are not supported. If your event is running eighth finals, contact TBA, and we can enter that data for you manually.

Setup

• On the Event Wizard page, you store the auth details for an event in a local cookie. Enter an event key and your auth keys, then hit “Store Auth”.
• You can load the auth keys again later on after a page refresh - simply enter the event key and hit “Load Auth”

At the Event

1. After you select competing teams in the FMS Event Wizard, you can export a Team List report (excel format). Upload it on the “FMS Teams” tab and you can post them.
2. After you generate a qual schedule, upload a Qual Report (excel format) to the “FMS Schedule Import” tab. Make sure to select the appropriate level of matches you want to import from the file (for Quals only, it’s okay to leave it on “all”). Click the post button when done.
3. While qual matches are being played, you’ll stay on the “Match Play” tab. After a score has been committed to FMS, enter the score on the page and hit the “SUBMIT” button. Make sure the match id lines up with the one you’re submitting. While the score is being posted, the background behind the button will turn orange. It will turn green on a successful posting. If the background turns red, there was an error. Often, if the internet connection is unstable, requests will time out. That’s okay, just keep trying to post them. Each match is submitted individually, and they do not have to be posted in order. If your event is posting videos to YouTube, you can also enter the URL at this step. The video will automatically be linked with the match on TBA when you submit the score.
4. After you’ve played all Qual matches (or at any other time you want to update results), you can export a Match Results FMS report and upload it to the “FMS Match Results” tab. This will overwrite all existing scores you’ve entered. This is a good way to make sure the data you’ve entered matches up exactly with what’s stored in FMS. Click the post button to upload the results.
5. After you’ve played all qual matches and ensured that all scores are correct, export a Rankings report and upload it on the “FMS Rankings” tab. Click the post button to submit them.
6. During alliance selections, enter the team pairings on the “Alliance Selection” tab. Unfortunately, FMS does not export a report with this information, so you have to enter it manually. Click the post button to upload the alliances.
7. At the beginning of each elimination level (quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals), export a schedule report (excel) and upload it on the “FMS Schedule Import” tab. Here, make sure to select what level you’re uploading - otherwise, all previous playoff scores may get overwritten! While matches are being played, use the “Match Play” tab (click the “Fetch Matches” button to update the match list) to enter scores as they’re committed to FMS.

Troubleshooting

If you encounter any issues uploading data during the event, it may be caused by an unstable internet connection. Try the upload a few more times. If it doesn’t work, contact the TBA admins, and we can help you through your issues.