Video request from Wiclax

Feb 24 2023

Since February 2023, we are proud to offer you a new feature in Wiclax. This feature is available today in beta version for everyone. It will then be invoiced as an option at 100 € excl. tax per year.

This is a feature that we have dreamed of as timekeepers and we hope that it will bring you additional comfort on the finish lines.

In concrete terms, it consists of interrogating a video recorder directly from Wiclax.

Imagine, for example, that a competitor comes to make a complaint because he is not in the ranking. And he tells you that he crossed the finish line just behind number 1665.

All you have to do is find competitor number 1665 in the results grid and right-click to access the Video sub-menu in the contextual menu (note the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Shift+V).

Immediately, Wiclax will interrogate your video recorder to load the video corresponding to the passage of the runner.

The loaded video shows thirty seconds of recording before and after the passage of the rider concerned. The opening position is approximately 3 seconds before the selected rider passes.

It is possible to stop the video by clicking on the button .

It is possible to scroll the video frame by frame with the right arrow of the keyboard. It is also possible to go backwards with the left arrow, but this is more cumbersome due to the constraints of the video formats. The easiest way to do this is to use the middle cursor to bring the video back to the desired moment.

The button allows you to add a discovered rider to the video directly in Wiclax.

 

This new feature is based on the use of a video device at the finish line. This video device must consist of a Dahua (one of the leading brands in the sector) digital video recorder and an IP camera.

The validated recorder model for this functionality is the following:
Dahua 4 camera IP recorder

Please note that the firmware of the recorder must be in version 4.

The recorder must be connected to the same local network as the computer hosting the Wiclax software and have an IP address in the same class. Everything can be configured via the interface of the recorder.

On the software side, you will need to install a small add-on module that you can download here: https://wiclax.com/assets/WiclaxVideoLine.exe

Then, you will simply have to set up this information in the video window when you first open it.

It is simply the IP address of your recorder, the channel (it is possible to have up to 4 cameras on these recorders) and the user name and password of your Dahua recorder (you can create a dedicated user).

We look forward to hearing about your use of this feature and will be happy to help you implement it.

New Release 9.3

Feb 08 2023

Here we go again with this new seasonal delivery, see what's new coming out:

Performances

Was time to make some renewed testing and ground works concerning Wiclax behavior under heavy constraints. Continuous development and integration of new features means also continuous care to provide on these aspects. This time we've focused on mass races configurations, lots of participants and lots of timing locations.

Sparing you complex details about how things are working in the black box, we've eliminated a certain number of bottlenecks and made a better use of parallel task processing. No compromise with Wiclax excellence anyway, with any ranking still computed in real time and ready to be printed/exported/broadcasted. Hoping you'll appreciate the improvements!

Calculated fields

You've already seen them in the custom data section of an event, where you have the ability to enter a calculation formula to feed such a field.

What's new is that we've introduced a few Wiclax specific functions that can be used within formulas:

  • TimeToMs(), MsToTime(), AddTimes(), SubTimes(), which can be used to make operations with Wiclax time values.
  • WxVar(), which takes as argument any variable identifier as per listed in the custom export format reference that you've maybe already discovered for other purposes. For example among many other possibilities you can obtain the number of finishers in the participant category.

Points calculation

Similarly, we've introduced the ability to edit a custom formula to use for the points calculation. For cases where simple lists of points to award based on place in rankings is not flexible enough.

Bundle reports

Bundle reports are still called Stage summary in Wiclax, cause it's a must have in the context of a cycling stage race. But we aim at giving it a wider purpose like for example when you're requested 2 complementary reports as a single document.

So we continue to refactor a lot of things to bring more flexibility at all levels. Here's a summary of the latest improvements:

  • quick selection of reports to embed, each item can be just temporarily disabled
  • multiple predefined templates: standard, compact and 2 columns (configurations can be imported/exported and soon to come will be the ability to save a custom list with the event file)
  • for each report you can choose a max number of rows, and specify its layout is multi columned
  • on the print preview you can click on a sub report and access its own layout options. This includes for example selecting which data fields to print - specifically for this bundle report configuration, choosing a vignette layout, etc...
  • at general level you can say the report will start with some cover pages. Combined with the new race communiqués feature, it becomes possible to fill them with some custom graphical content.

Race communiqués

Race communiqués become fully managed with the event: recording of items for each stage, free edition with Word-style formatting and availability for inclusion in a stage summary report. Ideal for cycling races but also to enrich any type of document printed from Wiclax.

Live screens

Continuing with making Live screens design as fun as powerful, 2 great new features:

  • some predefined style templates can be applied in one click to result/participant list widgets, sparing you some research on how to tweak CSS style by yourself. Please share your displays if you don't find anything close in this selection, we'll be happy to enrich it.
  • access added to the whole list of Google fonts for your screen styling, just pick any from the list.

Prize money

A must have for Criterium like bike races, but not only, a new module delivers this feature.

You can easily setup a new awarding lap during the race, simply entering its prize grid.

 

For other purposes than prize money, you can also now automatically grant points or time bonuses based on the passing order at a given lap (for races managed as lap races).

Result exchange and/or transfer

Though different scenarios have to be considered and it's not always easy to just have a clear thinking about which operations have to be performed, we've introduced a new dialog aiming at clarifying options when some result data have to be transferred to another participant. Most usual use case is dealing with a bib/chip physical allocation mistake.

Hoping you'll feel more confident with it.

Going along, a new contextual menu Initialize with data from another participant brings the ability to quickly copy registration data under a given bib number. Ideal in case you decide to keep an 'unknown participant' as it comes, with the chip he's wearing, but knowing he was initially registered under a different bib number.

Exporters

We continue to extend possibilities for exports in JSON format - either as local files or as TCP data stream. A data preview now facilitates testing and further processing by external programs.

Arrival graphs

New display mode available to visualize segment times in a stacked view. Makes things easier to spot any eventual anomaly, like a segment obviously too short/long or a missing intermediate time.

Miscellaneous

Result publication: a new publication option allows to activate the display of a 'Provisional ranking' warning banner on the web side.

Lap races: the number of laps to perform for a race can now be modified through a shortcut available from the race statistics & control panel.

Note that we're also introducing here a concept of Active race. This will be important for a context where you have several races or heats defined in the file but only one at a time is going to be competed.

Team data import: to ease some scenarios of participant data processing, a new option provides the ability to merge some independent individual data rows into a single registration in Wiclax. I.e. a single bib, where teammate names will be concatenated.

Real bib numbers: new option for automatic calculation of real bib numbers (those finally appearing on printouts and exports), with addition/subtraction applied to the technical bib. Option available from the race bib numbers setting.

Podiums: in some rare occasions you can be asked to calculate some podiums based on a category set (age groups) which is not exactly the one applied to participants in the file. Now possible with this menu selection:

Conditional formatting: From the contextual menu of a column header (main grids) it's now possible to define formatting rules for the cells, Excel style. For example red+bold if value>xxx.

   

New release 9.2

Jul 04 2022

The actual times seems better for sport timing and we all hope that things will keep going this way.

The first six month of 2022 have been a great period for Wiclax improvements and addition of new features. Most of them have been released along the way in the current public version but they have not been publicized so far.

We will now go back to a public version and a beta version for new developments.

 

Performances improvement

A great job has been done to improve the performance for massive events with many check points, races and competitors. Some bottlenecks have been identified and solved.

This work will continue in the coming month.

 

Hardware implementation

Feibot active and passive system are now integrated in Wiclax, both with local connection and through our cloud.

 

Decoders and trackboxes can now send their data directly to our cloud, giving a peaceful and instant way of retrieving remote split points data.

 


Dag system was already present in Wiclax for long but now the direct connection to the chronobox finds its place back with the historic connection to Dag center. There is no longer need to use the generic acquisition.

 

 

Partnership with Betrail 

Betrail team is encoding trail results from France, Belgium, Nederland and Luxembourg. Following a collaborative work between our teams, you can now access information for most of your runners, and display it on your website, like below.

 

 

 

Computed custom data

You've always wanted to calculate your own data in Wiclax, the way you would do in Excel? That's now possible! 

 

Customized live screen online

Customized live screen allows you to build the perfect screen to display the result of a particular race. We have simplified the way they can be displayed on your website. You can simply push them from the Web publication windows. You can upload many of them and even overwrite the usual live windows.

 

Reworked saving, backup and FTP transfer

Again, we have done a hard job to improve saving and FTP syncing.
They are no longer dependent.
Syncing well be done in an automatic way every 3 minutes. If you need to update earlier, for the first finishers for example, you can still force the FTP export with the button.

Backup is improved a lot. It keeps easy to make regular backup but the best thing is that you can now reload a backup while the timing is on. You will keep everything running (decoders connection and g-live).

 

UCI stages race - stage summary improvement

We've worked hard to make the outprint of the stage summary even more practical and customizable.
Among other things it is now possible to break page after a classification.

For UCI stages race, we also have improved the way you can deal with falls in the last kilometers and added a new way to enter the secondary ranking has been introduced.
Many of you might have already seen this throught the dev version.

Interesting developments are on their way to edit communiqué for UCI races. It will be available in the next release.

 

For more information about this new release, you can also refer to this page on our website : Wiclax - Versions

 

The Wiclax team.

 

 

 

 

 

Entering competitors and DNF through the cloud

Sep 28 2021

Bringing the power of a desktop application and the flexibily of the cloud in the same tool : that is what we strive to do with Wiclax.

Today, after great feedback from our beta testers, we are pleased to offer you a new feature : the ability to enter new competitors from a web browser, wherever you are, as long as you have internet access.
This feature is also extended to the entry of DNF.

Note that the purpose of this feature is to allow entries to be made from several sites before the start of the race. The ambition is not to make it an online registration system.

How to set up the entry of competitors through the cloud ?

  • The feature is associated to the "Live" option of the Wiclax licence.
  • In the "Registrations" tab, click the Network icon and activate the entry data edition via Internet.

In the network menu, you can find the URL to access the entry/modification of the participants of your event along with a unique access code by event.

The windows looks exactly like the existing one for the local access.
It enables the entering of all the competitors data. The age group is worked out and displayed automatically.
According to the setting, the next available bib number is affected or it is possible to edit it.

A lookup function allows to select a participant that is already registered and to modify him.

The entered competitors will appears directly within Wiclax with a mark indicating that the data comes from an external source.

And to finish on the subject, a menu on the side of the window allows to visualize a history of the entries and to open a new window to enter runners in abandon.

 

 

New release 9.1

Dec 17 2020

All about keeping the pace, despite all. So here we continue with an additional release upon our successful v9. Wishing it to add up on the software strong basis - with a number of fixes included - and to continue bringing valuable new features for all of you.

As usual, a list of things to extend the range of race configuration possibilities and to maximize the ergonomics of the solution - not to say the pleasure to use it.

 

Some new implementation for acquisitions

2019v1 Introduction Ceres G3 Transponder SystemThe BeChronized acquisition is updated to comply with the new system Ceres G3.

 

Tracking Live par DotVision - The Trail YonneStill through the same Online passings acquisition, you can connect to DotVision API and take advantage of their geo-fencing timing capacities. The passings get down to your event file just like any regular acquisition.

 

TAG-Heuer-logo - LeadersTag Heuer devices equipped with a modem can be set up to synchronize their data with your Génialp cloud service. Backup and import service, but best of all instant forward to your Wiclax event. More to see in your service administration page if you're still to discover it.

 

 

New design extensions for G-Live

No new release without bonus gifts to the most visible part of the solution! We've worked this time on these topics, as you've probably noticed already through our Facebook posts:

Athletes pictures

Making some progress on this feature, aiming to enrich your results online with some pictures of participants.

Currently possible in one way, which reuses the fact that the athlete summary is looking for a <bib-number>.jpg file in the event folder. In case the picture found is less than 150px, it's assumed it's something like a user profile picture and is positioned and styled this way:

Of course limited as you won't often have such a set of pictures, named after bib numbers. So we're working on more flexible options like looking up in a centralized folder, having something else than the bib as an identifier, or calling a custom URL that will return an image (from a DB or whatever). More on that soon, waiting for that don't hesitate to share your own use cases.

Custom color palette

Want to present your race results in a more colorful way, or to get them closer to your brand colors? This is now possible! More information about it in this post.

New settings menu

The new menu - intended to remain discrete on the main page - gives a definitely simpler access to those features mainly useful on the local area: switching the dark/light color themes, running the TV mode - auto scrolling or not.

 

Points on rankings

2 different concepts are getting developed in parallel:

  • Some points based events, where point values are the primary ranking criteria and they actually replace time performances. Available from the Points ranking entry of the event creation assistant. So far intended for some collateral use cases when you need to publish such a ranking. Latest changes allow the points entry through the result input form or through data file import.
  • A points allocation as a secondary data, when the primary ranking is still based on timing.

This second concept is now coming live, opening some new possibilities to manage sports where points are participating to the rankings.

Some details about the implementation:

  • A new Points tab in the event options form allow for specifying which point values are allocated. Based on final ranks, and point series can be specified either globally or based on rank by category/by level group.
  • As of now the allocation is applied after a manual action and not automatically (exception made of an allocation on the general ranking).
  • A new Points column can be displayed in the result grid. If necessary, some point values can be entered manually in grid cells.
  • Different point series can be specified by stage/heat in a stage race, and the general ranking can be set to be calculated on points (i.e. the sum of points for each stage is used to order the ranking).
  • A team ranking can be set to be calculated from individual point values (note that the previous point allocation grid that was there is now moved)
  • An option of the Championship module allows it to work on point values extracted from the events, instead of being (re)calculated locally.

 

Passings to ignore on acquisitions

Useful feature when an acquisition is running as an automated file import, or is plugged on a cloud data service: when a passing has to be eliminated for some reason, the risk exists that it keeps coming down again and again if it's still in the original data and in the time period scope.

To avoid that, you can now put an 'ignore' flag on some passings from the history.

New menu is available at the bottom of the result entry form, below the time lists. Click All first to display the whole history and then you can locate some records by filtering a bib number for example.

 

Miscellaneous

On printout: ability to print only selected rows from the current grid. Simply by launching a print preview after selection is made. A confirmation will be prompted.

Team ranking: for the case of a points based ranking, you can now specify a number of best results to keep.

Emails: new context menu item Send an email for a competitor or a selection of competitors in the grid. Opens the system's default mail client and initializes the message.

Races without ranking: the option to publish an event without ranking (i.e. only performances are displayed for athletes, which are simply sorted by their registration order) is now available at the race level. Allowing to manage such a race among regular ones in the same event file.

 

 

Results on your website - new design customizations!

Dec 13 2020

Important milestone for those of you enjoying the way G-Live empowers your website with fast, efficient, appealing and controlled result publication. Almost all of you indeed, as this is one of the key parts of Wiclax solution.

We all know how much branding is important, and how much it's necessary to differentiate our own business from the competition. So we've refactored the styling of G-Live app to let you customize its color palette. Possible outcome in picture:

How to get it?

As of now, the custom palette can be inserted as a new variable of the usual file g-live.settings.js. CSS color values, those not provided keeping their value from the default theme.

var Palette = `
--main-bg: orangered; 
--main-fg: white; 
--light-fg: #ffdbce; 
--even-row: rgba(55,55,55,.06); 
--secondary-bg: #ffd067; 
--grid-sep: #ff8152; 
--split-col: #782303; 
--time-col: #632e12; 
--bold-phone: #302d34; 
--filter-icon: brightness(10)
`;
 
But easier than that, in the next coming Wordpress plugin we're working on all these settings will be accessible from a user-friendly UI.