The end user would be any supporter of any team who would like any information on the league or on any team that they are supporting. The results are going to be automatically updated by the organisers and the system will always be available on the World Wide Internet through a link on Sparkhill Forums personal site below:
http://uk.geocities.yahoo.com/
System Requirements
To be able to access the system you would need any Pentium PC with a minimum of 256 MB RAM of memory. Microsoft Office needs to be installed on your computer, as the Spreadsheet package is important, as it is the package in which I produced my system.
The system uses less then 900 KB of disc space so the size of the hard drive is not important as there will be enough storage space.
You need to have access to the World Wide Web to access the site in which the system has a link to make it available for yourself. Also, to print information you will need any printer which is in working order
How to install the system
There are two ways that you can install the system.
Firstly, the system is available every week at the Sparkhill Forum centre on 1.44Mb floppy disk, which will be sold at the price of a blank floppy at shops.
The file can be inserted to your hard drive.
- First, switch on your PC and wait for your Desktop to load
- You can create a new folder for the system
- Then insert the floppy disk into your hard drive
- You then click on the desktop item 3 ½ Floppy (A:) drive. (Note: you may have a short cut floppy disc icon to click on)
- Once the items have appeared on the screen, you can then copy and paste the system into any folder, or the one you might have created earlier. You can then just load the file
The second way you can install the system is that if you have the System Requirements (described earlier) then you can access it through the Internet.
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Firstly, load the Internet and type the URL http://uk.geocities.yahoo.com/sparksleague
- Once the site appears, you can click on the link `ACCESS SPARKS 5-A-SIDE` system that will take you directly there.
Getting Started
To start the football system you will first have to load your file from the Floppy disc that you saved earlier or click on the link through the URL.
The Spreadsheet package will then load up on the screen and a message will appear stating whether you want to enable or disable the macros (below):
You will have to click on the option `Enable Macros` and ignore the other two options or the system will not operate properly.
When you have done this, the introduction page will appear, as shown below and you will have to click on the heading to enter the system.
When you have entered the system, the `Main Table Options` page (below) will appear which will have the options that you can choose.
There is the latest table with the latest standings on the page so you can see where what position your team is.
The sheet options:
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The `PRINT TABLE` allows you to print just the table on A4 paper once you have clicked on it
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The `EXIT` option takes you to the page with the option to exit the system.
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The `SAVE UPDATED RESULTS & TABLE` will save the changes that you might have made, like inputting the latest results. (Note: this option is only for Users using the system via the Floppy disks.)
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The `RESULTS` button takes you to the page where all the results from every gameweek are inputted and which also has the upcoming fixtures for every week.
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The `TEAMS` button takes you to the page, which has the links for all the individual team sheets.
How to input the latest results
To input the results for each gameweek, you will first have to go to the results sheet and click on the cells for the gameweek necessary and just type them in. The cells will only allow you to type in a whole number between 0 and 50 as shown below:
Once you have inserted all the results you will then need to go back to the `Main table options` page and click on the option `SAVE UPDATED RESULTS AND TABLE`.
When you have finished inputting the results all the team pages information automatically change and update itself along with the main table so you won’t have to change other data so you can just save the updated results.
Problems
When you are using the system you might face some problems even though the system is user friendly and reliable. Here are the problems you are likely to face and the solutions on how to fix them.
Macros
At times the macros might not operate efficiently. Sometimes a message box (below) appears with the options `Debug` and `End`.
The reason to as why this occurs is that you might have renamed the sheet with the macro. To fix this problem you will have to exit the system without saving and then reload it. The sheet names should change back to their original names so the macros should be working.
Validation
On the `Results` sheet the result grids are validated so it will only allows certain values to go into the cells. In this case the values have to be between 0 and 50 as it is impossible to score more then fifty. If however, a result has fifty goals in it the validation will not allow it. You will then have to change the values allowed by clicking on `Data` and then on `Validation`. The box below will appear with the value options.
In the `Maximum` box you can type the appropriate value and then the results grid would allow the value.
Protection
Most of the sheets in the system are protected with passwords as the data needs not changing a part from the results grid, which will then change the information on the other sheets automatically. However, if you need to change any information you will need to unprotect the sheets by going onto `Tools`, `Protection`, and then on `Unprotect Sheet`. You will then have to type the password `delete` and the sheet should unprotect itself. Once you have completed the amendments you can protect the sheet by the same steps as unprotect and then you can insert any password of your own for the security of your personalised system.
Power Failure
While you are using the system the power might switch off your computer so it is important to save your work every five minutes. If there is a failure in the power you will need to restart your computer and then load the system to see if it is still available. It is possible to lose the system so it will be very useful for you to keep a back up file of the system on a separate disk which also brings its own benefits as you can access the system on computers at different venues.
For details or any comments please contact:
Mr Ul-Haq,
Sparhill Forum group,
Tel. (0121) 4498765 Fax (0121) 777687
