meshO Manager

Appearance

Walkthrough: your first event ​

Audience: New users — an organiser or timing operator trying Manager for the first time.

An end-to-end tour: create a small event, add some data, download an SI card, and view results. Everything a real event needs, but small enough to do in an afternoon at home. Each step links to a deeper page if you want the full details.

Before you start ​

You'll need:

  • Manager installed and running on one computer (the "server"). See Installing meshO Manager if you haven't done this yet.
  • A web browser on the same computer, or on any other device on the same network. Chrome or Edge recommended.
  • Optionally, a SportIdent USB reader (BSF7-USB or BSF8-USB) and one or two SI cards, if you want to test card download. You can skip the download steps if you don't have the hardware — everything else works without it.

Tip: You don't need meshO Prime, radio controls, or a course in the forest to complete this walkthrough. Those are covered in Connecting meshO Prime and radios.

The three modes of an event ​

Every event in Manager moves through three modes, in order:

  1. Setup — the event is being built. You configure classes, courses, controls, competitors, and start times.
  2. Live — the event is running. SI card downloads work, radio punches flow in, and results are calculated in real time. The event date becomes locked; everything else — competitors, classes, start times, course assignments — remains editable, so late entries and on-the-day corrections still work.
  3. Archive — the event is complete. You can still view and export everything, but the event is wrapped up.

You transition between modes with a single button in the app bar at the top of the screen (Start event to go Live, Finish event to Archive). The current mode is shown as a coloured chip next to the event name.

1. Open Manager ​

Open your browser and navigate to the Manager URL. If you're on the server PC itself, this is usually http://localhost:5154/manager (the default — the port can be changed in Settings → Server).

You'll land on the Events page. If this is a fresh install, you'll see a welcome message: "Welcome to meshO Manager" with two buttons: New Event and New from Eventor.

2. Create an event ​

Click New Event. Manager creates the event immediately with sensible defaults (e.g. individual start) and takes you straight to its Dashboard.

By default the event is named after today's day of the week (e.g. "Thursday event") and dated today. To rename it to something more recognisable like "Test Event":

  1. On the dashboard, click the edit icon on the Event header card.
  2. Change Event name (and date, if you want a future date).
  3. Save.

Shortcut — import from Eventor: If your organisation uses Eventor and you've already configured the connection in Settings → Eventor, you can click New from Eventor instead. Manager will fetch a list of upcoming events, let you pick one, and import classes, competitors, clubs, and start times in one step. If you go this route, you can skip ahead to step 6 (the dashboard). See Creating an event from Eventor for the full details.

3. Create a course ​

Before you start the event, you need at least one course. For this test, you'll make a short one.

  1. Open the Courses page from the left navigation menu.
  2. Click Add.
  3. In the dialog, give the course a name — for example "Short".
  4. In the Controls field, type each control code and press Enter after each one. For example, type 31, Enter, 32, Enter, 33, Enter. The controls appear as chips that you can drag to reorder.
  5. Click Save.

You now have a 3-control course. The controls are created automatically as you add them.

Tip: In a real event, you'd typically import courses from a PurplePen file or IOF XML rather than typing them by hand. See Classes and courses.

4. Create a class and assign the course ​

A class is a category of competitors (e.g. M21E, W18A). A class typically runs a single course — although more than one can be assigned if you need it.

  1. Open the Classes page from the navigation menu.
  2. Click Add.
  3. Enter a class name — for example "Open".
  4. In the Courses dropdown, select the "Short" course you just created.
  5. Click Save.

5. Add a few competitors ​

  1. Open the Competitors page from the navigation menu.
  2. Click Add (or use the Actions menu → Add).
  3. Fill in a competitor name and assign them to the "Open" class.
  4. If you have an SI card, enter its number in the Card field. Otherwise leave it blank for now.
  5. Save, and repeat for one or two more competitors.

You should now see your competitors listed with their class, and a status of "None" (they haven't started yet).

Tip: In a real event, competitors and their SI card numbers come from the entry system (Eventor, IOF XML import, or on-the-day registration). Typing them by hand is only needed for small events or late entries. See Competitors, clubs and teams.

6. Explore the dashboard ​

Navigate back to the event Dashboard (click the dashboard icon in the side menu).

The dashboard is your central view during an event. You'll see several cards:

  • Event header — the event name and date. Click the edit icon to change event details.
  • Event summary — shows competitor counts by status (not started, in forest, finished, etc.). Right now everyone should show as "not started".
  • Quick Competitor Actions — a quick-search panel where you can look up any competitor, view their details, change their SI card number, or reassign them to a different class on the fly. You can also add a new competitor from here.

Other cards (field units status, radio punch forwarding) appear depending on your event configuration. Don't worry about those for this test.

For the full tour of every dashboard card, see The event dashboard.

7. Start the event ​

Downloads, radio punches, and live results only happen once the event is in Live mode. Right now your event is still in Setup mode.

In the app bar at the top of the screen, click Start event. Manager will check your event for problems (missing courses, classes with no competitors, etc.), and if everything looks good, transitions the event to Live mode. The status chip next to the event name changes, and the Start event button is replaced with a Finish event button (for later).

Tip: If Manager detects a problem you'll get an alert to tell you what's missing. Fix the issue, then click Start event again.

8. Download an SI card ​

Skip this step if you don't have a SportIdent USB reader and an SI card.

This is the core during-event action: a competitor finishes, hands in their SI card, and you read it.

  1. Open the Download Card page from the navigation menu.
  2. You'll see a prompt: "Connect SportIdent Reader" with a Select Device button.
  3. Plug your SI reader into a USB port, then click Select Device. Your browser will show a system dialog listing available serial devices — pick the SportIdent reader and confirm.
  4. The status changes to Listening (green chip). The page now says "Insert SportIdent Card".

Now insert the SI card in the reader:

  • A progress bar appears while the card is read.
  • If the card number matches a competitor you entered in step 5, you'll see a green OK banner with the competitor's name, class, and result.
  • If the card number doesn't match anyone, you'll see an orange Unassigned banner. Manager gives you the option to assign it to an existing competitor or create a new one right there.
  • If the card is missing a required punch, you'll see a Missing Punch (MP) result. You can change the competitor's class to one where the punches are valid, or override the status later.

The right side of the page shows a download history table with every card you've read — searchable and filterable by status.

For the full details on every download scenario, see Downloading SI cards.

9. See radio punches (optional) ​

If you have meshO Prime connected with radio controls in the field, the Radio Punches page shows punches arriving in real time — a table of SI number, competitor name, control code, and punch time, with the most recent at the top.

For this at-home test you probably don't have a radio network, so feel free to skip this. See Radio punches and Connecting meshO Prime and radios when you're ready for the real thing.

10. Watch the leaderboard ​

During an event, the Leaderboard is how everyone follow things as they unfold. It updates live: every radio punch, every SI card download, every status change appears the moment it happens. No refreshing, no re-running a report.

From the Screens page in the navigation menu, open the default All classes screen. The leaderboard opens in a new tab, showing every class with the current finishers, who's still out, and how the order has changed as new results come in. This is the view you'd put on a TV at the arena, or keep open on a second screen while you work.

For more on screens and their configuration, see Creating screens and TV screens.

11. View the results ​

The Results page is the operator's view of the same data — detailed, filterable, built for checking and exporting rather than live display.

Open the Results page from the navigation menu. You'll see results grouped by class.

For each class, competitors are listed in finishing order with their time. Competitors who haven't finished yet (or who have a problem status like MP or DNF) appear below the finishers.

Use the filter panel on the right to:

  • Group by class or course.
  • Filter to specific classes or clubs.
  • Show behind time to see the gap to the leader.
  • Include / exclude specific statuses (DNS, In Forest, etc.).

When you're ready to share results:

  • Click Publish → Export IOF XML to download a results file you can upload to Eventor or other systems.
  • Click Publish → Print view to get a printable version.

For the full details, see Results.

12. What's next ​

You've just walked through the core loop of meshO Manager — create an event, define its structure, register competitors, download cards, and view results. A real event adds more layers:

Before your first real competition, work through the Pre-event checklist to make sure nothing is forgotten.