- FAQ for the Desktop program - information on the main program options etc.
- Technical FAQ - Information on Installation, Permissions, Scripts and Errors.
- Installing the Web Edition
- Split Rounds or Rounds that start on Thursday.
- I'd like to deduct League Ladder points from a team.
- I'd like to alter the team names.
- I'd like to alter the venues.
- Registering the program.
- I'd like to pay by Direct Deposit.
- Weekly Prize is incorrectly showing as $20 on Tip Entry screen and reports.
- Names of web joiners disappear!
- Tips entered in the desktop do not appear on the tipper ladder (No green tick)
- Error 4 when uploading
- My Hosting service won't run install.pl to setup our Web edition
- My Rules aren't displayed on the websitepage or they don't reflect changes in my settings.
- I want to remove a report from the Reports page
- Why, after people join, can't they see themselves in the Tippers page?
- The Game History and Team History information is not visible on the web pages.
- I cannot see a password field when I click on a tipper in the Tipper Ladder?
- How do I change the round cut-off times?
- Running a Finals competition.
- Manually downloading and uploading your files.
- If your question isn't answered here
Q: Suggested procedure for installing the web edition.
A: It is recommended that you download and install the Web edition at the PC of the person who is going to be the competition Organiser. This is so that the install program can create appropriate program groups and shortcuts on their machine. You do NOT need to install this part of the program onto the web server.
Since the Organiser is the only person that will be using this component of the software you can install either to the local c: drive or to a network drive. We tend to recommend installing to a shared network drive only because the program folder would then usually be included in a network backup routine.
This initial installation program will install the Desktop (or client) software onto the PC or network. It also copies files and instructions for the web server component into appropriate folders. It will display a 'readme' file which gives detailed instructions on what and how to install onto your web server. We recommend that you print this information for reference.
The next step is to install the scripts onto your web server. Following the instructions in the readme should suffice, but if you do run into problems then there is extensive information on this page regarding possible problems and their suggested solutions.
Q: How do I handle
a 'Split' Round?
A: Sometimes a round is split over two weekends or a mid-week game and a weekend (eg when the Round starts on a Thursday or Anzac Day in some years). You can allow your tippers to change their tips for the second part of the split round by following these instructions.
Q: Some Premiership (League Ladder) points have been deducted from a team. How do I adjust the League Ladder?
A1: Log into the main program as Organiser and go to the 'Options' screen. On the left-hand side, select 'Database'. On the Database screen select the 'League Ladder' button. Enter the number of points to be deducted against the appropiate team and then click OK. The points will be deducted the next time results are entered or re-calculated on the 'Results' screen.
A2: If you wish to remove all past and future League Ladder points from Melbourne Storm owing to the ruling issued by the NRL on 22nd April, please download and install our update to v20.1 - The points will be deducted the next time results are entered or re-calculated on the 'Results' screen.
Q: How do I alter the Team names to display the ones I want?
A: In the main Organiser program please go to the Options screen, then select the 'Database' section on the left hand side. Click on the 'Team Names...' button and make the required changes.
For any changes you make to be visible on your web pages you will need to do an upload from the web interface program.
Q: How do I alter the Venues to display the ones I want?
A: In the main Organiser program please go to the Options screen, then select the 'Database' section on the left hand side. Click on the 'Venues...' button and make the required changes.
For any changes you make to be visible on your web pages you will need to do an upload from the web interface program.
Q: How do I register my copy of Footy Tipping Software?
A: You can't register via this website. To register your copy of the software you will need to fill in the registration form within the program - Click on the menu item Organiser then Register then the Order/Pay button. This will display a screen where you can input your name & address details and payment details (if required). Once completed you can either email the information to us, or you can print it out and post or fax it to us - our address and fax number is on the printed form.
We try to process registrations within 1 working day of receipt. We will send you your registration number via email, or if you haven't supplied an email address, via post.
Q: Can I pay via Direct Deposit?
A: Yes, but with the possibility of more than one deposit being credited to our bank account on a day we ask you to do the following so that we can successfully track your payment and issue your Registration code as soon as possible.
Please print out the Registration information from within the program - Click on the menu item Organiser then Register then the Order/Pay button. This will display a screen where you can input your name & address details. Please also select the payment option of 'Already Paid' and then print the form. After printing you should write on it "I wish to pay by Direct deposit" and then fax it to us - our fax number is on the printed form. We will email you with our bank account details and a reference number that you must use when making the deposit so we can track your payment. After your payment is received we will process the registration form that you have faxed and email you your registration code.
Q: The Weekly Prize is printed/displayed as $20 despite the fact that I have entered a different value for the Cash Weekly Prize on the Options screen.
A: This is a bug in the new feature that imports your Options from last year.
To correct it please go into your Options in the main Organiser program and make the cash prize (eg) $20. Then click OK. Then go back into Options and make it your correct value and click OK. This will fix the incorrect value.
If you have already scored round 1 than you will need to re-score it by going to the Results screen and clicking on the re-calculate button.
If you have already scored more than one round you should go to
the Results screen and hold down the SHIFT key whilst clickong on
Recalculate. This will force a re-score of all the rounds so far.
Q: I had a whole bunch of people join on the web, their names were in the competitor list, but now they have disappeared!
or
I had some tippers change their password on the web, but now their new passwords aren't working.
A: This usually occurs because you have uploaded the competition
settings before you have downloaded your new tippers or tipper password
changes from the web site. It should be hard to do this if you are
using the web interface, since there is protection built in and
it will prompt you to download first. To fix the problem,
simply download your new joined tippers and/or password changes
by clicking on the update button, choosing the current round’s new
tippers and/or choosing the password changes and clicking the download
button. If your tippers and password changes import successfully
(with no errors at all), then you should choose the upload tab and
click the upload button to upload your tippers back to the web pages.
If an error occurs when you are downloading your new tippers, look through this FAQ for that error, fix it, then try to upload again after that.
Q: I get "Error 4 - The scripts
on the website are out of date" when I try to upload things
to the web competition.
A: This is because you have installed the latest edition of
the program on your PC, but have not installed the latest version
of the required scripts on your web server. You can not use last
season's scripts for this season's competition and will need to
install the latest version of the scripts. For instructions on installing
the latest scripts please see the 'readme' file that you will find
in the footy installation folder.
If your competition is being hosted by FTS then you will need to request we update your hosted site.
Q - My Hosting service won't run
install.pl to setup our Web edition
A: There are detailed instructions on what is done by install.pl
here. These should allow you to
get your competition running without the need to run install.pl
on a server console.
Q - My Rules
aren't displayed on the websitepage or they don't reflect changes
in my settings.
A: The Rules page does not automatically upload or update
when you change settings. You must generate (or regenerate) and/or
edit the rules from the Rules Page section in the Web Interface Options screen.
The reasons the Rules are not automatically uploaded are:
1. If you have editied them and added some wording of your own then
automatically regenerating them would overwrite your changes.
2. When the first upload is done to the website it is unlikely that
you will have finished setting up your option, so any rules generated
may be inaccurate.
Q - I want
to remove a report from the Reports page.
A: To remove a Report you need to use the Administration
page of the web site.
An easy way to get to the Administration page is to go to the Tippers
page on the web site. The web address in your browser will end tippers.cgi
or tippers.pl (depending on the type of web server). If you change
the end of the line to admin.cgi or admin.pl
eg
http://www.yourname.com.au/cgi-bin/tipping/tippers.cgi becomes
http://www.yourname.com.au/cgi-bin/tipping/admin.cgi
or
http://www.yourname.com.au/scripts/tipping/tippers.pl becomes
http://www.yourname.com.au/scripts/tipping/admin.pl
and then press enter you should then be asked for your Administrator password - this is your Footy Organiser password. Entering it and clicking 'OK' will take you to the Administration page where your should click on the 'Delete a report from the Reports page' link.
On the 'Delete Reports' page simple select the report(s) you wish to remove and click onthe 'Delete Selected' button.
Q - Why, after people join, can't they see themselves in the Tippers page?
A: This is usually because the organiser has opted to 'suspend newly joined tippers' as they join the competition. An organiser might do this so that he/she can vet potential tippers before allowing them to have access to the competition.
To grant access to 'suspended' tippers use the 'Competitor Maintenance'
screen to remove their 'suspended' status. Select the tipper in
question and press the 'Revive' button. Once an upload has occurred
the tipper will be present in the Tipper page. I want to remove
a report from the
Reports page
Q: I manually inputted some tips to the desktop and saw a green tick beside the tipper's name. After uploading to the website, there was no green tick on the website making it look like that they didn't tip.
A: Tips are only ever downloaded from the web site, never uploaded. If you want to see a tick next to the tippers name then you would need to put the tips in via the web pages (you can use your Organiser password when asked for the Tipper's password). These tips will eventually end up in the Organiser program when you do a download. It is slower to enter tips this way, but is the only way you will see the green tick.
Q - I cannot
see Game History or Team History information on the web pages. Only
this season's games are displayed.
A: The past results are only uploaded with the very
first upload. If for some reason this failed then you will need
to 'force' them to be re-uploaded.
To do this go to the Options screen in the Web Interface and then hold down the 'Shift' key and click the 'OK' button. Then click 'Yes' when asked if you want to upload.
Q - I cannot
see a password field when I click on a tipper in the Tipper Ladder?
A: This means you have not correctly updated the PERL
scripts on your web server. Make sure you carefully read either
Readme_Windows.txt or Readme_Unix.txt (depending on your web server
type) that can be found in the folder the software was installed
into, and fully carry out the steps detailed in it.
Q: How do I change
the round cut-off times?
A: You may adjust the round cut-off times for any round by
opening the Options screen in the web interface and selecting Cut-off times in the list on the left. Then simply alter the date/times
as required.
A round will close when the server hosting your competition reaches the time shown in 'Server date/time' column.
The 'Display date/time' and 'Display Time Zone' is the information actually shown to your tippers - this allows the server to be in a different time zone than your tippers. Please click on the Help button on the Options screen for further details.
Q: How do I run a competition on the Finals?
A: You can either run a seperate competition on the finals, or continue your regular competition through the finals. For more detail see our Finals competition instructions.
Q - Manually downloading
and uploading your files
A: You may choose to download or upload from the web pages
themselves:
if the Web Interface cannot connect to your competition on your
web site;
if you have chosen to disable the automatic upload/download option
in your Interface;
if you are not on the machine where the copy of the Interface resides;
or if you want to upload a filename with more than eight characters.
Instructions for manually downloading and uploading are given here.
Q - I didn't find the answer that I
was looking for. How do I contact you?
A: First, you may wish to have a look at our Desktop
edition FAQ and/or our Web Edition Technical
FAQ. For more info on PERL for UNIX visit
www.perl.com. If you have a Windows server, the most useful
source of information we have found is the FAQ page at
www.activestate.com, or otherwise you can find our contact details
here.
