A Q U I L O
Software for Student Riding Competitions
Installation and Documentation

Installation

  1. Aquilo is a Java program and can run on many different types of computers. To make a Java program run on a Window PC the  Java Rumtine Environment (JRE) must be installed.
    Some computers come with the JRE preinstalled and you can use that installation. Check under "Control Panel" (Systemsteuerung) / "Add or Remove Programs" (Software) if a version 1.4.0 or later is available.
    The JRE can be installed like any other Windows program simply by starting jre-1_5_0_06-windows-i586-p.exe. Use the provided default settings during the installation.
  2. Start Aquilo09XInstall.exe to put the content of this self-extracting zip- file into a folder on your harddisk. We recommend putting it into a subfolder of "My Documents" ("Eigene Dateien").
    Except for the extracted files Aquilo will not "pollute" your system or the Windows Registry in any way.
  3. Open the folder where you unpacked the zip-file. StartAquilo.lnk should start the program.
    If this does not work, right-click on StartAquilo.lnk to edit its "Properties" ("Eigenschaften"). Under "Destination" ("Ziel") you will find somthing that looks like:
    English: C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_06\bin\javaw.exe -jar aquilo.jar
    German: C:\Programme\Java\jre1.5.0_06\bin\javaw.exe -jar aquilo.jar
    Check if the path in front of javaw.exe corresponds to somthing on your computer. This might especially be wrong if you are using a different version of the JRE. Also, StartAquilo.lnk must be in the same directory as aquilo.jar.
  4. Optional shortcut:
    After saving your competition in a file you can make Aquilo open that file automatically upon startup by using the filename as a command line parameter. As described under 3. go to the "Destination" property of StartAquilo.lnk and add the filename at the end. Example:
    C:\Programme\Java\jre1.5.0_05\bin\javaw.exe -jar aquilo.jar examples/SrncBern2001-final.chu
    Do not forget to make copies of that file regularly!

Preparing the Competition

Before You Start the Competition

The program has a couple of minimum requirements on how numbers for horses and riders are distributed.

Creating a New Competition

Start Aquilo. Select New Competition or Open from the File menue.

If you create a New Competition a window asking for general initial information about your competition will come up. Enter the name of the competition, its type and the number of teams. For any standard competition don't worry about the last setting "Start 2 riders per horse at".

You can open an Example Competition to see what it looks like when a competition is under way or all finished. The example directory is where you installed Aquilo.

The Empty Competition

What's under the mouse pointer? Move the mouse over a text field or table column to see a hint ('tooltip') on its meaning. Try this by moving the mouse to some editable area on the left or top and keep it in place for a short while without clicking. White table cells can be changed, gray ones not.

Fill in teams and riders on the left. Use the tooltips to find out where to put what. Please do not use nick names of riders, enter their complete first- and lastname. Save your work! Try the Print Team/Rider Table button at the bottom. Your webbrowser should display a table which you can use to make notes on teams and riders.

Creating Rounds: In the Define Rounds table at the top look at the parameters for the first round. Click Create on the very right to open a round window.

Viewing/Printing Output in Webbrowser

All output is generated as HTML. HTML is the native document format of the WWW. You can view it with a webbrowser, edit it in a text processor (MS Word) or publish it directly on the Internet. To print the document please use the Print function of your browser.

All generated HTML files are saved in a directory named "htmlout" next to your data file and opened automatically in your standard webbrowser.

Tips for printing with Internet Explorer: Under File/Page Setup delete the header and footer lines. To print colored backgrounds enable: Internet Options / Advanced / Print background color+pictures. Try different settings for View/FontSize (Ctrl+Mousewheel). For the big generated result tables use landscape mode and smaller margins (6mm).

For advanced users only: If you wish to customize the title or style of all created HTML documents, edit the file DocTitleTemplate.html in the "htmlout" directory. Aquilo inserts this file at the beginning of every HTML-page it generates.

Running Rounds

A New Empty Round

After creating a new round with the Create button in Define Rounds table you should
check the numbers and starting order of all horses !!!
Are the horse numbers as expected?
No: Click Reset Round and adjust the FirstHoNo column in the Define Rounds table before re-creating the round.
Is the result-type correct for this round?
No: Click Reset Round and adjust the Result column in the Define Rounds table before re-creating the round.
Are the groups of horses (Abteilungen) ordered correctly?
Example: 15 horses = 6+9 = 9+6 = 6+6+3 = ...
No: Click Reset Round and adjust the HoPerGrp column in the Define Rounds table before re-creating the round.

Once you are sure the round is configured correctly enter the Names of Horses in the Horse column. Click Print Lots. You'll need scissors next...

Assigning Riders to Horses

Enter the riders boot no into the Rider column of the round window. You can also drag a boot no (gray area) from the team list on the left to the desired row in the round window.

To change a rider: Riders can also be dragged between rows inside the round window. To enter a new boot number double-click on the very left of the rider column in front of the old boot number and enter the new one. You do not need to delete the entire line, but for the new boot number to be recognized there must be a space between it and the rest of the line. To remove a rider delete the complete line.

To print a part of the round, drag over a gray column and then click Print Selected. The judges are very happy if they have a starting order before the first team starts riding!

Enter Results and Finish Round

Enter the result value or a character for special results:
'e' eliminated; eg. 3 refusals in showjumping
'r' retired during course or disqualified
'n' no ranking for rider and his team (rider drunk? ;-)
To avoid the ranking of a team without influencing the individual rankings of its members use 'n' as dressage team mark.

The rows in the round window can be sorted by clicking on the column headers. This allows you to see the starting order, group by horse or team, or bring all results with diff=0.0 to the top. The order is maintained if you print the round.

Hint for next round: You can open two round windows side by side and drag riders from one round to the next.

Ranking

Preliminary Ranking

You may select any of the items in the Ranking menu at any time during the competition. Aquilo will assign ranking-points to eliminated riders once a round is complete. A round is complete when all results in this round are available. For all riders which are still competing Aquilo displays the minimum and maximum of possible ranking-points.

After the first two rounds of dressage and showjumping Team Result Details should give you a good preliminary impression of the final standings. Teams with riders still competing are shown with the minimal and maximal possible ranking-points. A rank is show once there is no theoretical chance that one team will overtake (will be overtaken by) another one, i.e. the maximum points of one team are smaller than the minimun of the team that will be ranked next.

You should print one of the "Individual Rankings" or "Team Result Details" sheets regularly. With those sheets in hand you are save even if all computers break down. Be careful not to show such a sheet to anyone, as this may spoil the tension of the competition and the price- giving ceremony. "Team Result Details" for a 12 team competition is tailored to fit on a single A4 landscape page if you reduce font size and margins (5mm). All result sheets are saved as HTML-files in the separate 'htmlout' directory.

Final Ranking

If you have entered all results in all rounds the word "Preliminary" and the list of the completed rounds should disappear from the ranking pages. All Final Rankings, Overview and Team Result Details by Team Combined Ranking are meant to be handed out to all participants and to be published on the Internet.

Congratulations! You have done it! If you have a headache I hope it's not because you had to use this program but because you've had the hell of a time last night and a couple to many...

If you came across any bugs in this program please report them to andreas_at_hippobase.de Thank you!

January 3rd 2006