Bringing the power of a desktop application and the flexibily of the cloud in the same tool : that is what we strive to do with Wiclax.

Today, after great feedback from our beta testers, we are pleased to offer you a new feature : the ability to enter new competitors from a web browser, wherever you are, as long as you have internet access.
This feature is also extended to the entry of DNF.

Note that the purpose of this feature is to allow entries to be made from several sites before the start of the race. The ambition is not to make it an online registration system.

How to set up the entry of competitors through the cloud ?

• The feature is associated to the "Live" option of the Wiclax licence.
• In the "Registrations" tab, click the Network icon and activate the entry data edition via Internet.

In the network menu, you can find the URL to access the entry/modification of the participants of your event along with a unique access code by event.

The windows looks exactly like the existing one for the local access.
It enables the entering of all the competitors data. The age group is worked out and displayed automatically.
According to the setting, the next available bib number is affected or it is possible to edit it.

A lookup function allows to select a participant that is already registered and to modify him.

The entered competitors will appears directly within Wiclax with a mark indicating that the data comes from an external source.

And to finish on the subject, a menu on the side of the window allows to visualize a history of the entries and to open a new window to enter runners in abandon.

All about keeping the pace, despite all. So here we continue with an additional release upon our successful v9. Wishing it to add up on the software strong basis - with a number of fixes included - and to continue bringing valuable new features for all of you.

As usual, a list of things to extend the range of race configuration possibilities and to maximize the ergonomics of the solution - not to say the pleasure to use it.

Some new implementation for acquisitions

The BeChronized acquisition is updated to comply with the new system Ceres G3.

Still through the same Online passings acquisition, you can connect to DotVision API and take advantage of their geo-fencing timing capacities. The passings get down to your event file just like any regular acquisition.

Tag Heuer devices equipped with a modem can be set up to synchronize their data with your Génialp cloud service. Backup and import service, but best of all instant forward to your Wiclax event. More to see in your service administration page if you're still to discover it.

New design extensions for G-Live

No new release without bonus gifts to the most visible part of the solution! We've worked this time on these topics, as you've probably noticed already through our Facebook posts:

Athletes pictures

Making some progress on this feature, aiming to enrich your results online with some pictures of participants.

Currently possible in one way, which reuses the fact that the athlete summary is looking for a <bib-number>.jpg file in the event folder. In case the picture found is less than 150px, it's assumed it's something like a user profile picture and is positioned and styled this way:

Of course limited as you won't often have such a set of pictures, named after bib numbers. So we're working on more flexible options like looking up in a centralized folder, having something else than the bib as an identifier, or calling a custom URL that will return an image (from a DB or whatever). More on that soon, waiting for that don't hesitate to share your own use cases.

Custom color palette

Want to present your race results in a more colorful way, or to get them closer to your brand colors? This is now possible! More information about it in this post.

New settings menu

The new menu - intended to remain discrete on the main page - gives a definitely simpler access to those features mainly useful on the local area: switching the dark/light color themes, running the TV mode - auto scrolling or not.

Points on rankings

2 different concepts are getting developed in parallel:

• Some points based events, where point values are the primary ranking criteria and they actually replace time performances. Available from the Points ranking entry of the event creation assistant. So far intended for some collateral use cases when you need to publish such a ranking. Latest changes allow the points entry through the result input form or through data file import.
• A points allocation as a secondary data, when the primary ranking is still based on timing.

This second concept is now coming live, opening some new possibilities to manage sports where points are participating to the rankings.

Some details about the implementation:

• A new Points tab in the event options form allow for specifying which point values are allocated. Based on final ranks, and point series can be specified either globally or based on rank by category/by level group.
• As of now the allocation is applied after a manual action and not automatically (exception made of an allocation on the general ranking).
• A new Points column can be displayed in the result grid. If necessary, some point values can be entered manually in grid cells.
• Different point series can be specified by stage/heat in a stage race, and the general ranking can be set to be calculated on points (i.e. the sum of points for each stage is used to order the ranking).
• A team ranking can be set to be calculated from individual point values (note that the previous point allocation grid that was there is now moved)
• An option of the Championship module allows it to work on point values extracted from the events, instead of being (re)calculated locally.

Passings to ignore on acquisitions

Useful feature when an acquisition is running as an automated file import, or is plugged on a cloud data service: when a passing has to be eliminated for some reason, the risk exists that it keeps coming down again and again if it's still in the original data and in the time period scope.

To avoid that, you can now put an 'ignore' flag on some passings from the history.

New menu is available at the bottom of the result entry form, below the time lists. Click All first to display the whole history and then you can locate some records by filtering a bib number for example.

Miscellaneous

On printout: ability to print only selected rows from the current grid. Simply by launching a print preview after selection is made. A confirmation will be prompted.

Team ranking: for the case of a points based ranking, you can now specify a number of best results to keep.

Emails: new context menu item Send an email for a competitor or a selection of competitors in the grid. Opens the system's default mail client and initializes the message.

Races without ranking: the option to publish an event without ranking (i.e. only performances are displayed for athletes, which are simply sorted by their registration order) is now available at the race level. Allowing to manage such a race among regular ones in the same event file.

Important milestone for those of you enjoying the way G-Live empowers your website with fast, efficient, appealing and controlled result publication. Almost all of you indeed, as this is one of the key parts of Wiclax solution.

We all know how much branding is important, and how much it's necessary to differentiate our own business from the competition. So we've refactored the styling of G-Live app to let you customize its color palette. Possible outcome in picture:

How to get it?

As of now, the custom palette can be inserted as a new variable of the usual file g-live.settings.js. CSS color values, those not provided keeping their value from the default theme.

You can see it marked as Beta in new version 9: providing the address of a 'Master' PC, you can open a copy of the event file currently edited remotely.

The file will be locally considered as read-only, meaning it won't ask you to save changes though you're free to do some.

Data update on demand for now, so you remain in control of what you're doing. A simple click on the new data notification.

Quick showcase of the new UI elements:

access from the startup screen

status bar in action

and fast retrieval in the recent file list

A first use case: making printouts from a secondary station

In most cases, you're simply enjoying the software robustness and you're not afraid to manage all printouts from the same Wiclax instance, which is handling acquisitions and Live streaming at the same time. Print previews and printout are highly optimized so everything can be operated smoothly.

Different conditions can occur on some more official events, like championships. Short races are starting quickly one after the other, and there are tight rules to follow for the output formats.

In this case you're also more likely to operate as a team, hence it will be good that someone is dedicated to the printout while someone else can stay strictly focused on the race management itself. This is what the new feature is already making possible.

With one appreciable bonus: any print option that you'll change from the slave PC will be synced back to the master Wiclax, so no worry that they get lost with the next file refresh.

Coming next

The feature as it is will also be suitable for some data export scenarios that don't require a live emission.

For Live streaming or smartphone notification sending purposes however, the architecture is not ready yet. But we'll work on it soon, hoping we can extend all this with the same simplicity.

Not much to say about this Covid period that you'd not have already heard... So just hoping you took (you're taking) time to read some good books and change your mind.

On our side, here's what we managed to achieve: a new release 9 with some hopefully interesting changes, and a big framework update.

Biggest items in detail:

New event notifications

Following one of our users suggestion, we've implemented a new kind of visual notification/alarm.

It's intended for useful but not vital/blocking race events, thus it's designed in a non intrusive way. Not popping over the main display.

3 cases plugged on the feature for now, more can easily be added so waiting for your ideas:

• a participant flagged as withdrawal crosses the finish line: may trigger a further verification
• a participant with its category data missing crosses the finish line: may be interesting to jump out and ask for his/her birth date
• you've manually flagged some participants for whom you want to be notified when they're seen somewhere. Notification + sound will be played.

The idea behind the feature is that you don't have to stick to the screen in fear of missing something. Instead these notifications will remain available for later browsing. A quick search field will help if necessary.

Split points on the map

The GPS location picker for split points was no longer usable because of changes on the Google Maps policy.

On this release a new component is introduced in replacement, so hopefully the feature is working again and with a smooth interface. Furthermore, you can quickly load here some GPX tracks to help with the process, typically ensuring that the split points will correctly stick to the race track for a more serious rendering.

Next on the road map, we'll likely extend this track selection so that tracks association to races and stages can be done in Wiclax, then opening the way to an automatic upload of the files in the event folder (for those of you using the G-Live Map option).

Some UI enhancements

The lookup field is now located on top of the main window, and it gives a better access and visibility to the other useful command lookup feature. Remember the Control+P shortcut allows a very convenient way to execute something after typing a few letters.

The column selection menu for the grids is now accessed from a more obvious button on their top right corner. Still you can drop it down by a single click on the grid upper panel (shorter mouse travelling). The display for the menu itself is also modernized.

Shortcuts for races: the access for setting the start time of a race or its terminated status are no longer in a drop down menu but more smoothly integrated in the information panel.

New grid filters

New UX for Championships

The Championships module comes with a brand new interface, or a big re-lifting as you wish.

Enhancements on Live Screens design

Always looking for making the screen design as easy as possible, most noticeable improvements in this release:

• column sizes can be adjusted with the mouse on the screen preview (result list widget)
• the color picking control now allows to specify a transparency level (alpha channel)

Easier certificate designs handling

A nice enhancement for those of you dealing with race certificates online. Templates designed with the new version will now directly embed their images.

So you'll no longer have to care about the original image files, as they won't have anymore to be uploaded alongside the template file.

Additional improvements for the certificates: new variables can be selected to get the event name and dates, and all variables can now be inserted in the text of a standard label item.

Filter for podiums

Sometimes an event requires all official podiums to be based on a selection of athletes only. Like the race is opened to unaffiliated people, but they can't pretend to prizes.

Hence there's a new level of filtering directly bound to the podiums, where you can set any kind of filter condition. This makes everything easier, as you no longer have to juggle with a bunch of additional rankings to declare.

PDF reports online

When launching the publication of PDF reports online - i.e. generation and upload through FTP, a selection dialog is now presented.

This allows a better control of which reports you actually want to be published for the event.

With a great bonus feature: a print preview shortcut is available while hovering any of the reports of the list. Means you can quickly check if their layout is as you expect it, with the right template, ...

Team details

Enhancement for the Teams grid view: passing the mouse over the teammates number cells displays a list of participant names. Themselves giving fast access to their data summary or their entry/results management forms.

Split point as a counter

A split point on the track can now be set as a simple "counter", meaning that instead of registering a single passing of each participant it will instead increment a number of passings. When the race itself is not managed as a lap race.

This can be used for example in the context of a penalty loop, where you need to monitor how many loops have been made by an athlete.

As a result, the grid column for the split will display the number of passings. And the result entry form gives access to the passing detail, allowing to make a manual correction if necessary.

New Starts management module

Big change if you've been sometimes using the Starts module! Quick remind for those who don't know it: its purpose is to provide a start line management screen, for time trial races. Basically showing who's next to start - teams or individuals - and raise a countdown when every actual start time is due.

What's new then: the old module made as an executable is replaced by a brand new web accessible App. Not only more interesting for design/UX aspects, but mainly because it can be launched on any connected device, like a tablet or a smart TV.

Used on the local network, it doesn't need a Wiclax instance to run on the device. Clock synchronization will happen automatically, based on the master PC system time.

Looking forward your feedback on that. Next on the road map could be the ability to report some changes in the start session (typically somebody non-starter), and eventually a cloud based architecture so that it would work without a local network installation.

New Web publication assistant

Big step forward to make Web result publishing more comfortable than ever: a newly designed assistant groups everything related to it in a single screen. Gives you an instant picture of what will appear under G-Live for the event, and moreover it will make using an external FTP client useless for most of the usual operations.

Note: it fully replaces the Web publication tab from the event options form.

Some cool features highlighted:

• shortcut to the FTP settings and definition of the remote folder
• status shown for the main file (.clax), if present online and if up-to-date
• easy upload of GPX track files (when your license includes the Map option for G-Live): you no longer have to know about file naming rules as this will happen automatically, and the files get compressed on the fly - removing unnecessary data like timestamps.
• same thing for certificate templates, whether you have a single one for the event or a race by race scheme. Direct edition from the screen, and upload back after a modification.
• quick preview for the race videos, which are now entered as a platform + ID combination. Compliant with Youtube and Vimeo so far.
• GPX tracks can be enriched with any additional points of interest - a food station, a summit, ... that will show up on the G-Live maps.

Alge Timy 3 integration

Always extending the range of external stopwatches you can connect to Wiclax as an acquisition, this time we've added support for the Timy 3 devices plugged in USB mode.

Miscellaneous

• Average calculation option: a new option to specify explicitly whether the average speed has to be calculated from the chip time or the gun time.
• Printout templates in the cloud: that was already possible for G-Live custom screens, now you can also save some printout templates on your user account online. Making them backed up there and easily accessible from any of your workstations.
• Start line acquisition option: new option for use with an external stopwatch acquisition, which is sending bib-less passing information. In a time trial race mode, for instance a ski competition, it will allow the start time received to be automatically assigned to the next competitor on the start list.
• Network participant entry: the page can now let a user reallocate bib numbers for existing participants. Secured by an option - not enabled by default. The form also includes the real bib number data field, when used for the event.
• Network participant entry: new option on the page to deactivate automatic uppercasing of the last name.
• Athlete photos online: released in our previous delivery, this feature receives some useful enhancements. Responsiveness is now optimized by indexing of big photo folders, and you can customize on the event options the time delay values used to locate the photos on a split point (i.e. how many seconds before and after the line crossing time).
• Grids state: the state of main grids - i.e. column grouping and sorting - is now saved with the event file. And hence is restored when the file is reopened.
• Race videos: now possible to bind a video for the start line, useful in the case of a time trial race.

Athlete pictures on the Web

The athlete summary form on G-Live was already able to show some participant pictures, if it can find files named with their bib number. To go further and make it more convenient, it's now delivered with a server-side solution to find pictures based on the passing times of the athlete.

An option Photos of athletes available online has to be activated on the event, in Options/Web publication. Then the documentation details how photo files are expected to be organized on the web side (basically to reflect the different timing locations - start, finish, intermediates - or the stages in the case of a stage race).

Note: in its current form this feature will require PHP to be implemented on your web server.

New filters for passing acquisitions

The ultimate way to control your chip reads in some complex scenarios is now in place. Some new levels of filtering have been introduced.

The first one is the level of a single acquisition, impacting all its possible destinations. The second one is the level of a particular destination of an acquisition.

In both cases, the filter can be specified in different manners:

• listing chip id ranges, bib number ranges, or simply races
• specifying them in inclusion or exclusion mode (only some readings allowed vs only some readings discarded)

When a reading discard occurs, a log entry will be registered below the acquisition, reminding which filter rule was involved.

These filters will be useful for scenarios where for example a start or finish line must be isolated from unconcerned races, and when this discarding cannot be achieved more simply by entering exclusive race start times.

Lap races

A new option is introduced for lap races, in order to get the main individual ranking based on the best lap.

G-Live