MKGC Veterans' Section

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Maintaining the Veteran's Register.
The vets register is at the heart of the whole system. It holds the information for each member of the veterans section i.e. his surname,initials, forename,handicap,handicap status and membership status. This information is held only once on the database and all pages and printouts that use or display these details will derive them from the one single source thus maintaining consistency. An up to date registry enables any non-veteran who plays in a league or friendly match to be identified and likewise any non-veteran entrant in the monthly medals competitions. There are seven transactions that facilitate the maintenance of the veterans register some of which are only accessible to administrators (most are only visible to Administrators). They are:- The details of lapsed or non-members are retained to avoid having to re-enter all the details when his membership is renewed. However, to reduce the size of the scrolling list of members when e.g. selecting a team, entering medal details etc it is advisable to carry out an occasional "cull".
It is occasionally useful to have the register in a .csv (comma separated values) file for use with e.g. Spreadsheet Programs. There are two transactions provided for this:-
  1. Refresh the vets_csv.txt file on the server.Create Comma Separated Values File.
  2. Download the refreshed vets_csv.txt file to the PC.
The first row of the file contains the column headers which are:

The Monthly Medal Competitions.
The starting point for recording the monthly medal scores is to make sure that each monthly medal has been scheduled. The home page of the website has a small section devoted to monthly medals with a link to Schedule a Medal Competition and another to "Manage Monthly Medals". This latter links to a page providing the following transactions for each scheduled Medal Competition.:- This start sheet is placed in the gentlemen's changing room on the morning of the medal. The results are entered into the HowDidIDo site via the club PC. They then have to be manually entered into the vets system using the "enter/amend scores" link in order to generate the Costin league table . This particular transaction does allow for the entering of the count back scores in the event of two players being equal but this is only really necessary to determine the winner and second place. It can also be used to make amendments, additions and deletions. The one remaining link against the competition is to view the results. Once the results have been entered into the system the Costin Putter league table is automatically updated and can be printed for publication on the notice board.
There is a transaction that allows an administrator to confirm that all those who entered into the monthly medal competition are paid up veterans and those who are not can be reminded to pay their subs.Lapsed Medal Entrants.


The League and Friendly Matches.
Access to the functions enabling the team captain to publish a tick sheet, select the players, pair them off, publish the team sheet etc can be accessed by clicking on the Display 2011 Fixture List. link on the home page and then selecting "Actions" for a selected match. The actions available are: Any changes required can be made by revisiting the select players or select partnership transactions. If all the details of the matches are entered an analysis report can be printed detailing the players for each match by selecting the "Friendly Matches Analysis" or "League Matches Analysis" link on the home page.

The Cobb Cup.
User instructions being drafted.
There are three transactions concerned with running the Cobb cup. They are:-
  • Print the entry form.
  • Add Cobb entrant.
  • View the participants.
  • Amend the Cobb random numbers.
  • View the draw.
  • Delete Cobb entrant.
The first action to be selected will be to print the entry form for posting on the notice board. When the veterans have entered their names for the Cobb Cup they are entered into the system using the transaction "Add Cobb entrant". The names are then put in a hat together with enough blank (bye) cards to make it up to 64. The draw is the made to see who will be playing who. It is best to deliberately draw names to match the "byes" first and then having paired each off continue pulling out the names to pair off those not lucky enough to have had a bye. As each pair is determined use the "Amend Cobb Random Numbers" transaction and allocate the same number to both players in pair. The start sheet can then be printed.

The Lewis Trophy.
User instructions being drafted.


Administrator Privileges.
Access to the database is controlled by allowing only certain persons the ability to write edit and delete. This privilege is restricted mainly to the members on the vets committee i.e. the treasurer, the secretary, the vets captain, the vets vice captain, and the league,friendly and super seniors captains. The system administrator can grant this privilege by his direct access to the MySQL database. Another method is for the person requiring administrator privileges to follow the link on the home page "Apply for administrator privileges". The applicant is prompted for his forename, surname, his e-mail address choose a password. An e-mail is then sent to the system administrator informing him of the request and if the request is to be approved to set the indicator in the users table to 1. An e-mail is also sent to applicant's e-mail address as stated in the application; that e-mail will contain a link which when selected will activate the account. However, until the administrator has carried out this necessary action the applicant will still be unable to see the functions that make changes database.
It is quite common to receive requests for administrator functions from all sorts of people, probably just being curious. To see a full list of authorised administrators and a list of those who have applied for administrator access use the function:View Administrators. Against each entry on the user list there are three options available to the administrator. They are:
  1. To delete the applicant/administrator altogether.
  2. To grant administrator access.
  3. To revoke an access that has already been given.

The Costin Putter.
The program that produces the Costin putter report accepts as a parameter the year for which the report is required. For this to work certain actions need to be taken at the end of the Costin year i.e. after the November medal has been played which marks the start of the New Costin Year. The two database tables involved are "medal" and "medal_vets". Before emptying these two tables they need to be copied for example (at the end of 2010) to "medal_2010"and "medal_vets_2010" (the exact names are important). At the time of writing this can only be carried out by someone with write access to the actual MySQL database probably using the HeidiSQL program. If the retention of the previous years' tables are not required then all that is required will be the emptying of the "medal" and "medal_vets" tables for which a program will be provided in the near future.


The Veteran's Open.
  1. Schedule the Vets Open Using the link "Schedule Open Competition.

  2. Refresh the mail merge data file.The addresses of all mailshot addressees are held on the veteran's database. These are extracted from the database and written to the contacts_merge_data.txt file for use in a mail merge. In order to reflect any changes that have taken place over the year it is necessary to refresh this text file using Refresh Merge File for Mailshot.

  3. Produce the mailshot invitations.
    We now need to download the addressee file and the two master documents (one for secretaries and one for invited individuals) to the administrator's PC in order for them to be used for a mailshot. The following description assumes that a new folder c:\MKGC\VetsOpen\ has been created into which the files will be stored. The Mail Merge addressee file is a .txt file with a header row and fields separated by the "#" sign. The two master documents are .pub files (Microsoft Publisher) and must be opened using Microsoft Publisher.
    1. Right click and select "Save link as .... to download the Mail Merge Addressee file
    2. Right click and select "Save link as .... to download the Individuals Mailshot Master
    3. Right click and select "Save link as .... to download the Secretaries Mailshot Master
    4. Right click and select "Save link as .... to download the Mailshot Covering Letter
    5. Save all four files in c:\MKGC\VetsOpen\
    6. Using Microsoft Publisher open c:\MKGC\VetsOpen\MasterMailshotCovering Letter.pub
      The programme will display the name of the file it intends to use for the mail merge. If this is a different name and folder to the downloaded version then the easiest solution is to copy the downloaded file into the correct place and rename it if necessary.
    7. Select as the merge file C:\MKGC\VetsOpen\contacts_merge_data.txt .
    8. Navigate to Tools|Mailings and Catalogs|Mail Merge| (Shortcut is "Alt+TGM").
    9. Navigate to Next: Create or connect to a recipient list.
    10. Select "#" as the text separator.
    11. Select "Edit the recipient list".
    12. Then for Secretaries use the "Filter" facility to select "sname" that are equal to "Secretary" and for individuals then use the same facility with "sname" not equal to "Secretary"
    13. Because the publication is already prepared go to the next stage i.e. "Next: Create merged publications".
    14. On the next menu select "Merge to a new publication".
    This will generate a file with many addressees which can then be reviewed and edited as necessary.

    Below are some possibly useful master documents all of which can be downloaded by a RIGHT click and "Save link as .... "

    1. Right click and select "Save link as .... to download the A4 Poster
    2. Right click and select "Save link as .... to download the Acceptance Covering Letter(.docx)
    3. Right click and select "Save link as .... to download the Administrators Checklist
    4. Right click and select "Save link as .... to download the Entry Form
    5. Right click and select "Save link as .... to download the Visitors Information Card
    6. Right click and select "Save link as .... to download the Lunch Tickets
    7. Right click and select "Save link as .... to download the Acceptance Covering Letter(.pub)
    8. Right click and select "Save link as .... to download the DL Envelope (Mail Merge)
    9. Right click and select "Save link as .... to download the Rejection Letter
    10. Right click and select "Save link as .... to download the Request for Raffle Prizes
    11. Right click and select "Save link as .... to download the Scorecard
    12. Right click and select "Save link as .... to download the Stableford Calculator Spreadsheet
    13. Right click and select "Save link as .... to download the Stableford Calculator Spreadsheet (incl Hole in One)

    The masters of each of documents a,c,d,e,f,j and k , which are in Microsoft publisher format, are held on this website. They have all been consolidated as separate pages into one document - Composite.pub in the Vets Open folder
    This file needs to be downloaded to the organisers PC and saved. Accept the default of "Composite(x).pub" (x will depend on how many files of the same name exist in the folder) so that it can be modified using Microsoft Publisher with respect to date, cost etc. without affecting the Master Copy.

    To download Right Click the following link and select "Save link as .... Composite(x).pub" Download Composite Document.

    The remaining documents cannot be treated in the same way because they include mail merges.

  4. Add/Update the players and the contact on the database tables.The first action to be taken is to ensure that all three of the players named on the application form are on our database and that the contact is on the contacts table. To do this use the following transaction: View visiting players.
    A new visitor can be added and the handicaps of those already on the database can be brought up to date. The data held on this database table will be used to produce start cards and scorecards.
    Having ascertained that the details of all three visiting players are held and up to date the details of the contact must be added/updated. The contact need not be a member of the team. The transaction to view all the contacts held on a database is: View contacts.
    If the contact given on the entry form needs to be added then use the following transaction:Add Contact.

  5. Enter team details.One of the links on view contacts page is to register a team against a selected contact. To avoid duplication of team names a list of teams already registered is shown in a separate box.In its initial state there will be no players allocated to the team A team name will normally comprise the club name with the suffix, the submit button will create a skeleton team entry and present the edit team page where the dummy names can replaced with the correct names, a host a tee and a tee off time be allocated.
  6. Record details for history.The program that produces the list of teams and players for the vets open accepts as a parameter the year in which the vets open was played. To retain a history of previous years there are four tables that have to be copied before they our emptied in readiness to the new competition. They are vets_open, vets_open_player, vets_open_team and team_player_link. These four tables need to be copied for example (at the end of 2010) to vets_open_2010, vets_open_player_2010, vets_open_team_2010 and team_player_link_2010.
    . Retaining this information can be of use when sending out a mailshot for the following year.

    Invitations to Neighbouring Club's Open Competitions.
    Every year we receive invitations to compete in neighbouring clubs' open competitions. A small sub-system has been introduced whereby these invitations are scanned in , converted to PDF format, uploaded to the vets website where they are available for viewing and printing out. There are three transactions involved.


    The procedure is firstly to scan the open invitation in, convert it to a PDF file and give it a meaningful name (It is safer, but not absolutely necessary, to comply with Unix format so no punctuation or spaces. An example would be "WestKent.pdf"). The file is then uploaded using e.g. cuteFTP. The transaction "Add Open Invitation" will then invite the administrator to enter the details including the closing date, the competition date, the cost and importantly the name of the .pdf file that has been uploaded. The details are then automatically added as an entry to the list of open invitations received and included against each entry is a link to the .PDF file. Clicking on this link will retrieve the pdf file enabling users to print off their own application forms. The original is hard copy invitation is filed in the hardcopy folder in the clubhouse and a complete list of invitations can be printed out to serve as an index.

    The Turkey Trot and Dance.
    The Turkey Trot and December Monthly Medal are two parts of the same competition. The normal transactions for printing the start sheet recognise the fact that it is for the December medal and generates a special start sheet allowing the veteran to enter for one or both of the competitions. The December Medal is the first competition for the following year's Costin Putter. The following description assumes that a new folder c:\MKGC\Turkey Trot\ has been created into which the files will be stored.
    The preparation for the Turkey Trot Dinner and Dance requires the production of the following documents:-
    • The poster informing the veterans of the date, time and menu.
    • A request for raffle prizes.
    • Identifying labels for the raffle prizes.
    • About 60 tickets.
    • Table layout form (Nine tables of ten seats or ten tables of eight seats) onto which the veterans enter their names against a chosen table and indicate their choice of menu.
    • The administrators check sheet.
    • Vouches for the turkeys.
    • Captain's Speaking Notes.
    • Reminders of course selections.
    • Table cards reminding the diners of the choices.
    • A sheet on which to record the bar sales of tickets.
    The masters of each of these documents, which are in Microsoft publisher format, are held on this website. They have all been consolidated as separate pages into one document - Composite.pub in the Turkey Trot folder.
    This file needs to be downloaded to the organisers PC and saved. Accept the default of "Composite(x).pub" (x will depend on how many files of the same name exist in the folder) so that it can be modified using Microsoft Publisher with respect to date, cost etc. without affecting the Master Copy.

    To download Right Click the following link and select "Save link as .... Composite(x).pub" Download Composite Document.

    The Document Store.
    The document store is a web page that contains links to the following documents:
    • Many copies of the Shrimper.
    • Minutes of the Vets Fora
    • The annual insert to the club diary.
    • Microsoft publisher files for the Turkey trot.
    • Microsoft publisher files for the vets open.
    • Documents emanating from the society of Kent golf veterans.

    Due to space restrictions on the home page this page also contains a link to the program that generates the registry CSV file and to a program that prints the whole of the register i.e. both members and nonmembers. To retrieve the .csv file right click on Registry as csv file

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