WinTD can import tournament entries from a spreadsheet or text files. You can maintain your tournament data on a spreadsheet and import it all in a single step, including assignment of players to the correct sections and assignment of pre-requested byes.


Import Tags: Assigning Players to Sections

To use this, you first need to give each section a unique single character "import tag" using the box on the right of the second line in the Add/Edit a Section dialog box. In your spreadsheet, you need a field (column) which uses these tags to show the players' sections. 


For instance, if you have a five-section main event, you could put import tags of A, B, C, D and E in a column called "Section" in your spreadsheet. As long as these tags match those specified in the Add/Edit a Section dialog boxes for the 5 sections, the players will automatically be assigned to the correct sections.


If you have several events, you can use separate fields in the spreadsheet to show entries in each. Suppose you have a side Blitz tournament in addition to the five-section main event described above. In addition to the "Section" field, you could add another field called "Blitz", and use an import tag of "Y" to denote the Blitz players. You do a separate import for each; one will key off the "Section" field, the other off the "Blitz." 


Note, by the way, that your section tags only have to be distinct within a single section key field. If you have several side events, you need a separate key field for each event, but you can use "Y" to show an entry for each of them.


Information Fields

Text files can be comma- or tab-delimited. Spreadsheets can be in Excel XLS or XLSX or Lotus WKS formats. DBF (dBase) files are also permitted. You can have multiple worksheets in a single spreadsheet and can choose which to use for input. The first row of the file must consist of labels identifying the type of information provided by each column. Under that, you have one row per player. Other than the names, section keys and the bye field (described below), all the other fields that WinTD processes need to have fairly strict field names, and data formats. You can have any number of these fields in any order.


Field Name Description/Required Format


Name

should be Last, First. You can also have separate fields for first and last names

ID

(can also use USCF ID)

Exp.

(or Exp) four digit (mmyy) as character or number, or a spreadsheet date value

Rate

(or Rating, USCF or Rtng) Main rating field

Local

Secondary rating field

Ttl

(or Title) Up to three-character title

St

State or country code (up to three characters)

Gr

Prize group (up to two characters)

Ty

Player type (M=male, F=female)

Team

Team code (up to six characters)

Club

Club code (up to five characters)

Sp

Special tag (single character)


Bye Field

If you want WinTD to process bye requests from the spreadsheet, include a field with bye information coded into it. For a single bye, just provide the round number (as a text or number field). For multiple byes, separate the requested rounds by spaces or commas. You can also use start-end notation for a range of rounds. Examples are 6 (round six only); 2,4,6 (rounds 2, 4 and 6), 7-9 (rounds seven through nine). Note that WinTD will make all requested byes ½ pointers. You may need to go through the player records to correct these if some of these might be required to be changed to zero or full points.


Importing Data

Whatever you do, make sure that you do a trial run with the file before tournament day dawns.


1. Create your spreadsheet as described above.


2. Create a tournament file with the sections needed. If you're going to be using several computers, you can create separate files, or files on different machines, and selectively import player information into them. However, our recommendation is that you initially bring the entire tournament into a single WinTD file, and make copies of the full file. See How To: Use More Than One Computer for more.


3. Use the Section-Import Players operation. Choose the file format and file name. WinTD will then pop up the Select Import Fields dialog. Follow that link for the remaining instructions.