This user guide describes integrating the Roster Athletics platform with the ALGE-TIMING system and its OPTIc3.NET software.


This guide is divided into a few sections below:



What do you need to do to set up the integration?

 

The RosterAgent program is a small program that allows communications between the Roster platform and OPTIc3.NET software so that they can stay in sync with each other during the competition for start lists upload from Roster to OPTIc3.NET and results download and sync from OPTIc3.NET to the Roster platform (and immediately in the app).

 

Now you should have everything ready to start the integration. Make sure you have the following three programs open: 

  1. Roster Athletics in a browser
  2. RosterAgent running
  3. OPTIc3.Net running

 


Integration


The RosterAgent shares data between OPTIc3.NET and Roster using shared LIF files. It works if you use the same computer or a shared file folder between computers (e.g. one computer running Roster/Roster Agent and another running OPTIc3.NET).



Prepare for integration


First, choose the participants you want to export from Roster Athletics to OPTIc3.NET. This setting is in the Timing system integration section of the competition Details.

You can export all participants or exclude participants with DNS and SCR statuses (e.g. when you know before the competition that the athlete will not show up but do not want to remove him/her).



In the Exported events field, you can choose an option for the category of events you want to send to OPTIc3.NET for timing. You can export all events or exclude finished events so they will not appear in OPTIc3.NET.


In the same section below, choose the display format that will be visible and used within OPTIc3.NET when viewing events/heats.



There are 3 Event description format types to choose from. Events will be displayed in OPTIc3.NET as follows:


  • Detailed format: event time, event name, gender (if more than one gender), age group (if more than one age group), event title (if a title is assigned), group/heat number (if they have been assigned).
  • Simple format: event name, gender (if more than one gender), age group (if more than one age group). group/heat number (if they have been assigned).
  • Custom format: allows you to choose your event format to be displayed within OPTIc3.NET.



The Custom format field allows you to pick the event descriptors and order to be displayed. Click on the descriptors of your choice to add them to the field. Erase by simply deleting them. Please note that the field format requires colons around each descriptor, and a single space must separate the descriptors. Thus :EventName: :Gender: would display only the event names and gender for each event in OPTIc3.NET. The options are as follows:

  • Age group: always display the event age group
  • Age group opt.: display the event age group if only there is more than one age group in the competition (Note: recommend to choose either Age group or Age group opt., but not both)
  • Combined prefix opt.: display the combined parent event if a combined event is used
  • Date: always display the event date in YYYYMMDD format
  • Event label opt.: display the event title if one exists for the event
  • Event name: always display the event name
  • Gender: always display the event's gender
  • Gender opt.: display the event gender only if there is more than one gender in the competition (Note: recommend choosing either Gender or Gender opt., but not both).
  • Group opt.: display the group/heat number only if they are used for the event
  • Stage: always display the event stage
  • Time: always display the event time


If you need to reset the Custom setting, press the Default symbol to return to the initial set of recommended default parameters.



Download the authentication file

 

Stay in the competition Details. On the left-hand side, click the Agent config button and select ALGE.



This will download an authentication .roster file for your specific competition, which tells the Agent to use this competition to connect with OPTIc3.NET. Please save the file where you can easily find it again. 


Please note: You must use the LAST downloaded authentication file to load into the RosterAgent. Otherwise, the permissions will not match, and you cannot connect to your competition (“Can’t connect - permission denied”).

 


Load the authentication file in the Roster Agent


Once the Roster Athletics Agent is open, select the Input directory (start list updates) for EVT files and the Output directory (result files) for LIF files. These directories NEED TO BE THE SAME as the input and output directories you will use in OPTIc3.NET for importing and exporting data (see below on the OPTIc3.NET setup). 


TIP: the input and an output directory should be folders or sub-folders on a drive (e.g., C:) and you should avoid adding the folder directly to your desktop.



Click on Load configuration and select the latest .roster authentication file (e.g., meeting-xxx-auth.roster) you downloaded for this competition, per the above. This will store the directory information so you don't need to enter directory settings every time.


Click Start. If the Result monitor status is Active and the Connection status is Connected, the live session for OPTIc3.NET and Roster Athletics is now connected.


Note that Stop will stop the connection, and Quit will exit the program completely. To change a configuration file or input/output directories, the connection must be stopped (i.e. no active connection).


 

If you have Show notifications enabled by default, you will see status messages such as:


 

You can disable notifications by pressing the Show notifications button, which will appear as a lighter shade button.


When the Roster Agent is running, pay attention to the Result monitor and Connection statuses:


Result monitor:

  • Active - normal operational mode
  • Idle
  • Initialising
  • Stopping


Connection:

  • Connecting
  • Connected - normal operational mode
  • Disconnecting
  • Disconnected
  • Reconnecting - the agent will automatically attempt to reconnect
  • Invalid - using the outdated configuration file: try to re-download and then reload the config file



Configure the OPTIc3.NET software


Now let’s go to the OPTIc3.NET and open the ATL Exchange Settings by clicking the tools icon in the program's top bar, and enable the following settings:



FinishLynxExport

  • AutomaticExportDirectory - the same as the Agent's output directory (result files)
  • Enabled - True
  • RosterAthleticsMapping - True
  • UnicodeExport - True


FinishLynxImport

  • MapRoundIdsToEvents - True
  • RosterAthleticsMapping - True


Close the ATL Exchange Settings window to save the changes. 


Now go to Setup → Heat list → Edit rest of heat list, and in a new window select Alias names 1, Use alias names 5 for the ATL export, and in the second column add DNS next to the DNS status, DNF next to the DNF status and DQ next to the DISQ status. 



You will only need to change these settings the first time you set up the integration; after that, they will be available by default.



Import start lists


Once you have prepared your start lists in Roster Athletics, you can import them to OPTIc3.NET. To do so, click the right mouse button on the competition name in the Meet browser window, select Import a meet and find the EVT file (it should be saved in the Input directory you set up in the Roster Agent).



Now the synchronization setup is complete, and a particular event's start lists are loaded into OPTIc3.NET. OPTIc3.NET is now ready to go, and the event can commence in the standard OPTIc3.NET procedure. 



Export results


Once the event has finished and OPTIc3.NET has the marked results, click on the arrow icon in the Heat list: event name window and select Finish Lynx Export. It will save the LIF file in the folder you specified in the AutomaticExportDirectory setting. After saving, wait approximately 10 seconds or less while syncing the data to Roster Athletics.



Now you can go back to Roster Athletics and see the times and rankings for the athletes updated from OPTIc3.NET. The results are also immediately available in the Roster Athletics App and website.


Important note: every time you update the start list in Roster Athletics, it is automatically pushed to the Roster Athletics Agent, but you will still need to Update a meet in OPTIc3.NET to load these changes. 


If you have a wind reading in OPTIc3.NET, this information will be automatically transferred to Roster Athletics. 


If you have not added BIB numbers, the Bib field in OPTIc3.NET will have an automatically generated athlete ID. Please note: OPTIc3.NET supports only numerical BIBs.


Reaction times: If enabled in OPTIc3.NET, reaction times will be transferred to Roster Athletics.


Competitor status: in OPTIc3.NET, the non-OK status for each athlete can be set under the Disq. column. These status options translate to Roster in the following manner:

  • Empty field → OK
  • DNS → DNS
  • DNF → DNF
  • DISQ → DQ (+ selection of DQ rule)


DQ rules can be added in Roster, but not directly from OPTIc3.NET.


Precision: we recommend using Thousandths as results precision in OPTIc3.NET. By setting to thousandths, all results will be sent to the Roster system with 1/1000 precision, allowing Roster to assign the correct places automatically. When setting to thousandths, the Roster app and .pdf results printouts will still show hundredths except for when there is a tie in the hundredths place, in which case the thousands place will be used to calculate place and shown accordingly, for example, when two athletes from two different heats have the same result. To set the default precision, click on Timing → Precision → 1/1000.



Troubleshooting Tips & Tricks

  • Ensure you are running the latest version of the RosterAgent (please see the Download and install RosterAgent for the latest version number).
  • If a "Can't connect - permission denied" message pops up while trying to connect the RosterAgent, make sure you have loaded the latest version of the competition agent configuration file. This file is downloaded from the competition Details → Agent config.
  • If you are using shared folders and your connection status is good, but either a.) your start lists in Roster are not updating, or b.) your saved results are not being updated to Roster, make sure you carefully check your paths on both the RosterAgent and OPTIc3.NET to see that both sets of input and output directories are pointing to the exact same location and that the settings described above for set-up are all followed precisely.
  • The Roster Agent has the ability to queue up saved OPTIc3.NET results if you lose connectivity (e.g. bad or very slow internet). If you lose the connection, the saved LIF files will be queued up and uploaded automatically once the reconnection has been detected and re-established by the Agent. The upload queue is visible in the RosterAgent and will normally be empty when there are no connection issues or cleared once any queued results are automatically uploaded.