COMPMNGR support for remote program viewing and other operations over a wireless local area network

COMPMNGR provides an interface supporting two kinds of device for displaying your competition program; the devices receive the program text and other information from COMPMNGR over a local area network. One kind of device is a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) that runs the standalone ProgramViewCE program which is designed for use by the deck captain. The second type is a computer running the standalone Windows based ProgramView program which provides features for the MC (master of ceremonies), scrutineer, deck captain, and other users. Tablet-PCs (which have touch screens) running ProgramView can serve as judges' marking devices. The programs use the same COMPMNGR interface, so both are described here. Both programs require that the wireless network be up and running before they can establish communications via the COMPMNGR interface. ProgramView for Windows based computers also require that the COMPMNGR computer be configure to allow file sharing, so that ProgramView can access files on the COMPMNGR computer.

Both the ProgramViewCE and the ProgramView programs are included in the COMPMNGR optional programs setup downloadable from this site. The ProgramViewCE.exe file is designed to operate on PDAs running Microsoft's Windows Mobile® operating system, such as the HP iPAQ Pocket PC. It must be installed on each device using the connecting cable and software that came with the device. The ProgramView program runs on computers with the Windows (XP, Vista) operating system. It is packed into a setup program called SetupProgramView.exe, which must be copied and run on each computer to install the ProgramView program and create a desktop shortcut icon. The ProgramView program has its own help system which, along with the COMPMNGR help system, provides instructions for establishing communications among the programs.

The two programs are similar in how they appear to the user. Both display a portion of the competition program in a scrolling view. An example for a three entrant heat is shown below.

Heat 9 [1@08:51PM]  Bronze Waltz (6 entries)

___ L-A2  109   Betty Harris   Jim Jones    Jim's Studio

___ L-A2  115   Jane Albury    Joe Brock    Joe's Studio

___ L-A2  123   Dot Feldman    Harry Hart   Harry's Studio

Other than displaying the competition program the ProgramViewCE for the deck captain provides only one feature, which is related to the desk captain's main task of checking in dance entrants for upcoming heats. The deck captain can tap the PDA touch screen on an entry line (a text line showing the entrant's number and names of the dance partners in a heat) to indicate that the entrant has checked in for the heat and the check-in information is sent to the COMPMNGR computer. On the COMPMNGR program display and on the ProgramViewCE display an @ symbol will appear to the left of the entry line to indicate that the entrant has checked in. If there are computers running ProgramView the @ symbol will appear at the left of the entry line on their screens. The deck captain can also scratch entrants by tapping on the screen. In this case an 'X' appears at the left of the entrant line on the COMPMNGR and ProgramView computers.

ProgramView  for Windows based computers has features that may be useful to MCs, scrutineers, videographers, deck captains, registrars, and others who need up-to-date information on the competition program and who may do remote data entry. It also has a mode that allows judges to use tablet-PCs as judge's handheld marking devices.  The user types, or user modes, are listed below.

View only mode – no data entry operations allowed.

Videographer – camera assignments by letter or number allowed.

Deck captain – allowed to designate entrants who have checked into the on-deck area or who have scratched. Information is displayed on all other user's computers. The deck captain mode has been designed for use on a tablet-PC in a manner similar to that used by COMPMNGR's system for the deck captain's handheld devices.

Judge – allowed to mark entrants. Marks are sent to COMPMNGR computer in lieu of paper marking. The judge mode has been designed for use on a tablet-PC in a manner similar to that used by COMPMNGR's system for using PDAs as judges' handheld markers.

MC – allowed to make annotations in program and mark entrants whose placements have been announced. This information is not sent to the COMPMNGR computer.

Scrutineer – allowed to enter judge's marks into a data entry box and send marks to COMPMNGR computer. Also allowed to write in entries and send them to COMPMNGR.

Registrar – allowed to write in entries and send them to COMPMNGR  and print heat lists, awards, and invoices requested from COMPMNGR.