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Zone4 Version 7.8 - Main release for 2009/2010
Release Date: Oct 19, 2009

Upgrade Notes - 7.8 - Oct 19, 2009

7.1 proved to be a very stable release for 2008/2009 and only intermediate releases was produced during the year to address specific issues for certain clubs.  7.4 was the next main version but it was not a public release due to it's mid-season date and so this 7.8 release is the first main public update since 7.1 and will serve as the main base version for 2009/2010.  7.8 does not introduce any really new big upgrades or features so it should also be a very stable base version.  7.8 includes all of the following changes since 7.1 and some clubs will already be familiar with these as they were running 7.4 or later last year.  The notes below contain version number indicating when certain features were added.  


Electronic Interface
     Several changes have been made to make the Electronic Interface Setup to make it more stable and easy to use.

  • 7.4 - The Summit Wireless Modem configuration routine has now been separated out from the regular configuration routine and rewritten to take more fine tune control of the modem configuration.  It now employs a Hyperterminal type function which communicates with the base unit to set the wireless network ID.  When you click the "Configure Wireless Modem" button, it displays the configuration progress in the small window to the right, and like hyperterminal, it echoes both the commands sent and responses received from the modem. It not only writes out the commands, but also follows up with a round of requests to see if the settings got saved.  If the saved Network ID response from the modem matches the entered Network ID, then (and only then) does it display a message that the configuration was a success.  Now that this functionality is removed from the standard Summit initialization routine, the timing screen and summit activation process is much faster and so far has resolved the dreaded "Could not communicate wireless unit" error message, even after exhaustive re-initialization repeats.
  • The COM port and Timing Accuracy settings have been moved from the Options section of Zone4 to the main Timer Setup screen. This puts all the typical setup and debugging functions on one screen so you don't have to go hunting for the more commonly used settings.
  • You now have the ability to control if you want Zone4 to automatically jump to the last assigned bib number when a Bib+Time assignment match is made.  This behaviour is not a problem in most timing situations, but if you have attached a Summit bib function to a Primary Time, then these bib assignment will happen automatically when the data enters Zone4.  This will cause the timing grid to jump down which may be annoying if you are sorting out an issue on an earlier section of the grid or searching for a bib/time.  So if you need to go up work around in the timing grid and want to turn off the auto-jump behaviour, just uncheck the Options->Auto Jump on Bib Assignment option.  You can turn it back on by just checking the option again.
  • The "Assign Group StartTime" menu item is now also displayed in the Timing Screens Tools-> menu for easier access.
  • Zone4 now allows Posted Bibs to be received from the Alge Timy.  Although not nearly as useful or robust as the Summits, the Alge Timy does have a keyboard which does lead to the potential to take advantage of Zone4's many Bib handling functions such as Posted Bibs or Bib Sequence entry.  The trouble with the Timy's is that they have no program mode to allow such simple functions such as Posted Bibs and the only mode that even gets us close to this is the StopWatch mode with the Auto-Bib Increment setting set to Manual.  This is not ideal as StopWatch mode does not display the running time on the screen, but at least it gets the data into Zone4.
  • 7.8 - You can now open the Summit Systems Control Panel from the main program Tools menu even if you don't have a race file open.  This has been added to allow you to configure, sync, and test out the Summits even if you don't have the race file from the race office yet, or if you haven't committed setup.  Note that the data is still stored in the Summits and so if you open a Race File after plunging test data, that data will come into your race file as soon as you connect.
  • 7.6 - You can now sync the Summit devices to a negative time which is useful for clubs that run races based on Zero based times instead of time-of-day.  If you're first racers are going off at 30sec on the clock, you previously only had a few short seconds to set the times on your Summits and test them and you already have enough stress at the start without that hassle.  You could have always synced the Summits manually to a negative time, but the problem was Zone4 converted all times to positive and this negative-turned-positive test data would produce problems in your main race data.  Zone4 now allows both negative syncing and keeps negative times so they are displayed in the proper order in your data sequence.
  • 7.5 - Zone4 has completed integrations of the Tag Heuer chip system in conjunction with the Summit System timers.  See video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Bcj7O6R1S8   Although most of the heavy lifting such as communication with the Tag Heuer decoder box and translation of the chip codes into Bib numbers is done via the Summit's and the DLL, there were some minor changes made to Zone4 to handle the extra data.  

Paranordic - Adaptive Category races

  • 7.6 - For the World Cup in Mt Washington, some Paranordic specific upgrades have been made.  Firstly, the Delta time (or TimeBehind) calculation algorithm needed to be adjusted as Paranordic races do not simply display the time behind the leader as they also factor in the TimeFactor value and apply that to the Delta time.
  • The TimeFactor value for each athlete can now be displayed on the results.

Masters Factored Results

  • 7.5 - In the spring of 2009 Zone4 was requested to add the ability to calculate results based on an age/gender/technique logarithmic scale developed by Rock Ouimet which has been used by several masters races and is published in the AMSF newsletter here:  http://www.amsfski.com/data/journal/parutions/2008_08no21.pdf  This idea of applying a percentage factor to different racers is very similar to what Paranordic races use and so it was a relatively simple feature to add to take advantage of the plumbing already in place for Paranordic.   

Results Window

  • There was a bug were the Results Window would roll itself up and could not be resized back down.  This has been fixed in this version.

Startlist and Results Posting to Zone4.ca

  • 7.2 - Some users have encountered a problem where specific models of routers do not allow race files to be posted to Zone4.ca.  As I encountered this problem myself when I moved to a new house in June, and it became apparent that there were no settings inside the router that could resolve the issue, the only solution was to use an alternate method of posting files in Zone4.  Starting in version 7.2 this new method uses a new system to get around the router issue, and properly post files to Zone4.  Users will see no difference between the old and new method.  

Sprints and Assigning Bibs

  • There was a but where it would not allow you to keep your bib numbers from a sprint qualifier and run with the same bibs in the heats.  This has been resolved in 7.4  

Time Limit Format

  • 7.6 Added the ability for teams to contain more than 9 people for Time-Limit format races.
  • 7.7 Added a dedicated Online Registration system for Time-Limit format races.  Due to the fact that you want to capture both the "Team" structure, as well as Individual level information on each participant, it required a registration flow similar to the Cart + Individual level concept found in the Club Registration system.  Please read over the Time-Limit format page for more details.
  • 7.7  Added a "Closest Lap to Average" result report as a special request for the Peddle by the Puddle race.

What's NOT in this release

  • This release does not include the Live Internet Results feature that was demonstrated during the summer of 2009.  This feature will be released shortly as an optional release as it was important to get out a very stable base version that people can fall back to and those that want to experiment with the Live Results in 2009/2010 can do so on a select basis.
  • This does not include the Kings Court sprint format that was discussed last year.
  • This does not include the ability to have just a single heat final sprint race for very small categories.

These are features Zone4 would like to incorporate in the near future, but most of the upgrade work over the past year and through this winter is going into the Club Registration System and membership management features so the race program has not seen a lot of changes since last year.



New CCC Competition Model

Zone4 has been recieving several requests about support for the new Compeition Model introduced by CCC.  The new model and category structure does not require any new changes in Zone4 and is completely supported with existing concepts.  The new competition model can be easily implemented using the existing Combined Category feature in Zone4.  In the past, for Open Categories, you would quite often have a Parent and Sub category structure such as:

Open Men

    Junior Men
    Senior Men
Open Women
    Junior Women
    Senior Women

With the new model, you just apply the same type of parent/sub category logic to your younger categories as well so you may have a structure such as:

Atom Girls
    Age 5 (2004) A1G
    Age 6 (2003) A2G
    Age 7 (2002) A3G
    Age 8 (2001) A4G
Pee-wee Girls
    Age 8 (2001) P1G
    Age 9 (2000) P2G
    Age 10 (1999) P3G
    Age 11 (1998) P4G
Midget Girls
    Age 11 (1998) M1G
    Age 12 (1997) M2G
    Age 13 (1996) M3G
Juvenile Girls
    Age 13 (1996) JV1G
    Age 14 (1995) JV2G
    Age 15 (1994) JV3G
etc, etc

All you have to do is to create Parent and Sub categories that match the new competition model and athletes can register for their appropriate categories like they always have.  Keep in mind that the Category names are simply text descriptors, they don't necessarily have to correlate to any real age or data point, they can be whatever you need them to be in order to get the athletes grouped properly for their startlist and results.  Using the above Combined Category structure will provide combined results which include both the overall rank among each Parent category as well as racers sub-rank within their own Age sub category so it works perfectly for this scenario.
 

Product History
VersionTitleReleased
1.5.0Sprint Module AddedFeb 1, 2003
2.0.0Zone4 Version 2 for 2003-2004 BETASep 1, 2003
2.1.0Zone4 Ver 2.1 BETA UpdateOct 6, 2003
2.2.0Zone4 2.2 Final Release 2003-2004Nov 1, 2003
2.3.0Zone4 Version 2.3 - Update fixes for 2.2Nov 24, 2003
2.4.0Zone4 Version 2.4 - bug fixes for 2.3 and some new features.Dec 30, 2003
3.0.0Zone4 Version 3.0 for 2004/2005Nov 21, 2004
3.2.0Zone4 Version 3.2 - Bug fixes for 3.0Nov 29, 2004
3.3.0Zone4 Version 3.3 - Minor bug fixes for 3.2Feb 14, 2005
4.0.0Zone4 Version 4.0 for 2005/2006Nov 11, 2005
4.1.0Zone4 Version 4.1 - Bug fixes for 4.0Nov 23, 2005
4.2.0Zone4 Version 4.2 - Bug fixes for 4.1Dec 1, 2005
4.3.0Zone4 Version 4.3 - Bug fixes for 4.0Dec 9, 2005
5.0.0Zone4 Version 5.0 BETA for 2006/2007Oct 21, 2006
5.2.0Zone4 Version 5.2 - Minor Upgrades for 5.0Nov 23, 2006
5.3.0Zone4 Version 5.3 - Minor Fixes for 5.2Dec 8, 2006
5.4.0Zone4 Version 5.4 - Bug fixes and Feature RequestsJan 25, 2007
5.5.0Zone4 Version 5.5 - Repost of 5.4 with EI fixJan 27, 2007
5.6.0Zone4 Version 5.6 - Some EI/Networking fixsFeb 7, 2007
5.7.0Zone4 Version 5.7 - Pursuit UpgradesMar 12, 2007
6.0.0Zone4 Version 6.0 BETASep 26, 2007
6.1.0Zone4 Version 6.1 - Bug fixes for 6.0Nov 3, 2007
6.3.0Zone4 Version 6.3 - Race Ready for 2008Dec 19, 2007
7.1.0Zone4 Version 7.1 - Main release for 2008/2009Dec 11, 2008
7.8.0Zone4 Version 7.8 - Main release for 2009/2010Oct 19, 2009
8.1.1Zone4 Version 8.1 - Main release for 2010/2011Oct 9, 2010
8.8.6Zone4 Version 8.8.6 - Fix for 8.8.5Jan 19, 2015

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