darts for windows toplogo

getting started - adding players to the database

From version 2.7.4.0, adding players and different types of pairs and teams to the database has been totally changed. All operations regarding teams and players are now done in the same screen. Playing a game of darts and record the scores in Darts for Windows, the database requires two or more players registered in the database. No players, no match.

Database
If you don't knwo what a database is, here is a very short and simplified explanation. A database is just like any other file like Word or Excel files. It can be moved from computer to computer and you can send them to other users of DfW. The name of the default database is "dartsforwin.dfw", but you can of course set the file name to anything you like. The default path to the database is C:\DartsforWindows\database, but you can put your databases anywhere you like, also on a network drive. You can create as many databases you want, but only one can be used at a time.
If you create a new database, you have to fill it again with players and team names or import them from a previous database, just like if you create a new sheet in Excel or a new document in Word.

Starting from scratch
When you start DfW for the first time, the database is empty, except for a few team names and the counties playing in the
British Inter-Counties Championship (BICC). There are no players in the database so you will have to add them by hand or import from various sources, like CSV files, external DfW databases or from the online BDO or WDF rankings. If you use DfW for BICC matches, you normally don't have to register the players in the database. Darts for Windows offers a free service where you can download "ready to go" databases containing all BDO registered players for the currect season, selected division and match. This saves you a lot of time and work registering players, spelling mistakes and so on and it also has the advantage of beeing 100% compatible with the software the British Darts Organisation uses to run the BICC. The files are normally available 10 days prior to a county weekend and can be downloaded straight into DfW from the "Downloads" screen (computer must be connected to the internet) or you can download the file(s) manually on the right side of the BICC page.

Adding players
To start adding players, click the Tools menu and the menu item "Add players and teams" (see picture below), or open the screen by using the keyboard shortcut CTRL-P.

players menu

This is how the "Add players and teams" screen look like when you open DfW for the first time or after you have created a new database.

players blank

When you open the screen, the default mode is "Singles". This is where you normally add all players for singles, pairs, triples and all kind of teams.
If you are setting up a team for a BICC match for example using a "ready to go" database and one or more players are missing from the database, you can
add missing players by clicking on the "Add players" button (from version 2.7.4.2 beta). This option is also available when in pairs, triples, Super League mode and so on.

add players

Team types
The default setting for team types are "Teams and countries". If you want to add BICC players, you must switch the team type to "Counties-BICC" or "All". The reason for organizing DfW this way is that the list of counties are very long (70). The "Teams and countries" are used for normal teams and nations + Super League. From version 2.7.4.1 you can create teams tagged as Super League, but they are still shown when selecting "Teams and countries".

team type

The reason for adding a separate Super League team type is that only teams tagged as Super League will be available in the new "Super League" screen who will be available in a later version. The "Super League" screen will be a separate screen where you can run your own league.

Team names
When opening DfW for the first time or the first time after you have created a new database, the team names in the database is only Canada, England, Netherlands, No Team, Norway, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
You can of course add or remove any team name you like. The only thing you should be aware of is that if you want to delete a team name from the database the team name must not be in use (linked to a player, team or match). Everything associated to the team name must be deleted before you can delete the team name itself.
The "No Team" team is used when a player does not belong to a specific team or you choose to not use team names. When a player is assigned to the No Team team, the team name is now shown in f.ex. a draw created in DfW. "No Team" makes the team name invisible, that is the whole idea behind the name.

Adding team names to the team list
Before we start adding players to the database, you will probably add some more team names to the database. From version 2.7.4.1, multiple teams can be added without having to close the team name editor every time you create a new team name. To start adding team names to the "Teams" list, click the menu button as shown in the picture to the right. btn menu When you click the button (1), a menu with a lot of options will be visible.

add team name

Click the item "Team names" (2) and then "Add multiple teams" (3) or "Add new team/country" to add a sinlge team name. You can of course use the "Add multiple teams" if you only want to add one single team to the list. In this tutorial I use the "Add multiple teams" option.
In this sample I will create a couple of Super League teams, add two countries and one normal team.

team type

We start with the Super League teams. Set the "Team type" to Super League" as shown in the picture above.

Fill in the name of the team (1), the short name (2) and then click the "Save" (3) button to save the team. You don't have to click the "New" button at all, only if you want to clear the fields. Every time a new team is added, all fields are cleared. Repeat the steps for adding more teams. Set the team type to "Teams and countries" when adding a country or a normal team not used for Super League. It is up to the user how you organize yourself. These instructions are only for guiding you and to give you a understanding on how Darts for Windows work.

super league super league 2  teams done

When you are done adding the teams, click the "Done" button to close the form.

Adding the players
To start adding players to the database, click the "New" button as shown in the picture below.

new

If you are adding more than one player from the same team to the database, check the box to the left of the "Teams" dropdown box, or else the team must be selected for every single player. If you check or uncheck the box, the setting is saved to the registry and restored the next time you open the screen.

no change

Select the team (1), enter the first name (2), the last name (3) and then click the "Save" (4) button.
To progress to next field, just press the ENTER key on the keyboard. Repeat the step until done.
There are optional fields like "Paid" who is used for tournaments. Check or uncheck if the player has paid the entry fee or not. The entry number is set automatically by DfW. A list of players with the "Paid" status and entry number can be printed from the menu button.

The BDO id field is used for BICC matches. This field is used by the BDO to identify the player playing a BICC match. The value in this field is set automatically when using a "ready to go" database in a BICC match. The ready to go databases is created using the BDO BICC software, also created by
the author of DfW. This is done by the author of DfW. All enquries regarding players in the "ready to go" databases must be done by contacting the BDO.
The author of DfW is not responsible for registering players in the BDO database or correcting spelling errors.

new player

Edit a player
It is of course possible to edit a player after the player has been saved if you have done a spelling error or you may want to change the team the player is assigned to. When you change the team of a player, score sheets from matches for the player (if any) played before the team was changed are not changed in the database. The only time the score sheets and other things are updated/changed is when you change the name of a team for some reason.
To edit a player, click the name to select, do the changes and then click the "Save" icon (the diskette) in the tool bar.

edit player

change player

save player

after save player

Importing players from WDF or BDO rankings
To use this option, your computer must be connected to the internet.
It is possible to import players from the latest BDO and WDF rankings (men and women) straight from DfW. Open the "Add teams and players" screen,
select the tab "Download-Import" (1), click the leftmost button in the toolbar (2) and then select the table (3) you want to import players from.
In this sample I will import all the players from the latest WDF rankings.

imp wdf1

After you have clicked the table, all players from the table are downloaded from the WDF site and parsed into the grid. By default, no players are selected.
If you only want to import a few selected players, click the check box to the left of the players name. If you want to import all players, click the button in the toolbar marked "V" (see picture below).

imp wdf2

After you have checked the players (1) you want to import, click the "Save" (2) icon. In my sample, I import 929 players.
This will of course take a minute or two.

imp wdf3

Import in progress...

imp wdf4

Import done.

imp wdf5

Player listing after import.

imp wdf6

  ©2006-2011 Roger Boyesen