Difference between revisions of "Tips & Tricks"

Revision as of 18:48, 10 February 2019

How to keep the screen awake during an event

Even if the readout of SICards into the app will work even if the screen is off and the device is locked, you probably want to see the result for the runner directly. The app itself doesn't have any 'keep screen awake' option but there are other apps that can come to help.

KinScreen is one of several such apps. KinScreen can be configured to keep the screen on based on several different criterias. If you only want the 'stay on' feature for SI-Droid Event, you can configure it to recognize when SI-Droid is running and keep the screen on then. It is also possible to configure it to keep the screen on while the device is tilted over a certain angle which also can be useful.

By using KinScreen (or any similar app) while reading out runners into SI-Droid, you can tilt the device just a little by e.g resting it on a pencil, a spare SICard or the cable to the master. In that way the screen will keep awake as long as you want and you will also have the device in a comfortable reading angle.

How to access Internet (for card owner lookup and result transfer) even on tablets that only have Wifi

If you are using a tablet that don't have a SIM card for an event but still would like to use the automatic card owner lookup you can set your phone up to share Internet over Wifi instead. Most phones (even the IPhones ;) ) can easily be made to share Internet access over a Wifi link. Look for 'Wifi Hotspot' or something similar in the settings of your phone. You probably also have to set a password that later needs to be entered on the tablet when connecting to the hotspot.

Online results using Dropbox that can easily and directly be viewed by everyone with a phone

NOTE1: During 2016 Dropbox has made changes to their service so that HTML files are no longer directly rendered when linked to. It is still possible to share results in this way but it won't be as user-friendly as before since the files must first be downloaded.
NOTE2: By using Dropbox + Updog (http://updog.co) it is still possible to get the same functionality as before. Updog is free but requires some extra initial setup. After that it will work as simple as before. See e.g this result file published via Updog from my Dropbox, https://joja.updog.co/resultat.html

If you have Internet access and Dropbox installed on the device that you are using at the event you can very quick and easy publish the results on the Internet. This will make it possible for all runners to easily follow the standings by using their own phones.

The trick is, in the Share results dialog, to choose the wanted report (e.g results or split times as HTML) and then share it with Dropbox and place it in the Dropbox 'Public' folder. This will make it possible for anyone knowing the correct Dropbox URL to browse to and view the report. This is an example of such an URL https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12120532/resultat.html

By preparing before the event and finding out what that URL to the file will be it is possible to publish the URL at the event site. A nice touch is also to code the URL as a QR code and/or with a URL shorterner so that it is easier for people to enter the URL into their phones.

As more runners finishes, it is quick and easy to share the same report again to the same place. In the background, Dropbox will automatically upload it to the Internet.

Auto-generate the card lookup file from Swedish Eventor

In case your event is using the Swedish Eventor for taking pre-entries, there is a simple webservice that can be used to automatically generate a complete lookup file for the runners name and club.

The file will be generated by visiting the URL:

http://www.joja.se/sidroid/cardsFile/<number of Eventor competition>

For example: http://www.joja.se/sidroid/cardsFile/20561

Read more here: Generating_a_lookup_file_for_runners#Auto_generate_file_from_Swedish_Eventor

Charge the phone at the same time as the SI-Master is connected

One minor problem with using an Android device instead of a computer for card readouts is that the device only have a single micro-USB port. You have to choose if you should have the master connected or your charger connected.

In reality this is very seldom an actual problem though as long as you have charged your device before the event. The extra current that the master draws from the Android device is almost negligible, at least compared to having the screen turned on.

But now there actually seems to be possible to charge the device at the same time as the master is connected, at least if you have the right device and the right cable. Read more here: https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/34741/can-an-android-tablet-serve-as-usb-host-and-be-charged-simultaneously-through-a

I will try to order some of these cables and see if it is possible to get this to work. I will update this page when I know more.

If anyone already have tried and succeeded with this, I'm very interested to know more.