can anyone tell me how to set my data table as the prize list in order to show the money prizes distribution in WinTD? I have a spreadsheet set properly I think and saved where I can get to it. Craig Hines
I don’t have it in front of me, so this is off the top of my head: There is an option similar to “Load data file” - perhaps under the “data” menu. Then another command to “Set as Prize List”. Once loaded and set, select the desired section and choose “Show prize distributions” under “Reports”.
I may have the names slightly off, but that is the general idea.
Data—Open Data Table opens up the spreadsheet with the prize distribution.
With that window open, do Data—Set as Prize List
Reports—Show Prize Distribution
The most common error is setting the lower and upper limits on rating categories. The upper is the (non-inclusive) upper bound, so U2200 is empty for lower and 2200 for upper, while Expert is 2000 for lower and 2200 for upper.
Thanks guys, and I assume I have to move the spreadsheet from the location where I created it into WinTD documents? Craig
No. It can be wherever you want. It just tends to be easier to open if it’s in the same directory as the other files.
Unless something has changed WinTD does not automatically handle limited prizes (when players are in the top score groups) but you can finesse that by adjusting the prizes so that one matches the limit and then giving every non-limited player a group code that is only attached to the non-limited prizes. Doing that worked just fine at the National Open.
example
original sectional prize fund: 4000 - 2000 - 1500 - 1000 with some players limited to 1600 and a two-way tie for first in one section with one limited player plus clear first in another section by a limited player
revised sectional prize fund used only for sections with high-scoring limited players: 4000 (group *) - 1900 (group *) - 1600 (no group) - 1000 (no group)
non-limited players are in group *
For the section with a two-way tie it will give the non-limited player 4000, the limited player 1600 and the 1900 and 1000 go into the split among the players tied for third (or 1900 to a clear third with 1000 to the players tied for fourth).
For the section with a clear (but limited) winner it will give 1600 to the limited player and then use the 4000 - 1900 - 1000 prizes for the rest of the awards.
I tried for 3 hrs last night to get this to work. I could not get WinTD to open the data table. Does the file with the spreadsheet need to be called “Data Table”? I have it in Open Office a free word processor, could that be a problem? I started in WinTD and hit "open Data Table " in Data tab. It goes to “Documents” where the spreadsheet file is, I click the spreadsheet file name and nothing happens. Craig
This will sound silly but----when I run across this problem of WinTD not opening a file created by a 3rd party software application, I find that if I create a new file then copy->paste the info from the old file into the new file that it gets the job done; i.e., the new spreadsheet file with the copy-paste info opens just fine. Now, that might not be the solution here, but it might be?
The spreadsheet can be called whatever you want. However, it has to be one of the supported formats (typically XLSX or XLS, though CSV is permitted as well). Open Office by default saves spreadsheets as type “ODS” which is specific to Open Office. If you have a problem, you should send the problem file as an attachment to support@estima.com.
WinTD does not automatically notice the file extension and “see” which file type you’re importing. This used to confound me during player import. It may be the case when opening prize tables, too.
Try this: in the data/open data table dialog make sure you choose “xlsx” in the dropdown if you’re importing an xlsx file. On my computers WinTD defaults to csv on import. IOW, make the dropdown selection match the file type you’re importing.
(Many TDs think the prize list calculation function in WinTD or SwissSys is unnecessary. “I can do that in my head,” they say. I disagree. I like to run the calculations, then double-check them with my own brain and any other brains available in the backroom.)
Two commons mistake with doing a prize fund manually are overlooking a player that should be included (such as a player with a final round half-point or zero-point bye showing up on the bottom of the board by board pairing list and still in the running for some of the prizes) or missing that a class prize should be included in a large tie for a high overall prize.
I have a lot of confidence in my ability to manually calculate prizes but for slightly complex prize funds it is still safer to also do the programmatic check to catch that 10%, 1%, 0.1% or 0.01% of the time when something was overlooked.
Note that the prize fund calculator is based on the prizes that are entered and if you made erroneous calculations when modifying a based-on prize fund then even a computerized calculation of that prize fund would still be erroneous.
Also note that a prize fund calculator may require that all the results be entered before it can be used.
I don’t use SwissSys but WinTD can, with some mild fiddling in the prize-group field and/or the prize split, handle limited prizes, prizes only available for the bottom half of the field, special group prizes (best result for a player from the host city that didn’t win more otherwise), etc. as long as it doesn’t get too convoluted with too many variations all applicable at the same time for a player.