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Downloading cards ​

Audience: Timing operators at the finish / download station.

Downloading cards is the core during-event action: a competitor finishes, inserts their card in the reader, and Manager turns the punches into a result. This page covers connecting the reader, the download, what each result means, and the one-click fixes available right after a download.

Note: This page is about reading competitors' cards at the finish. To recover punches from a control unit's backup memory, see Station Memory; for radio punches arriving from the field, see Radio punches.

Before you start: browser and connection ​

Reading a card reader in the browser uses the Web Serial API, which has two requirements:

  • Chrome or Edge (version 89+). Firefox and Safari don't support Web Serial and won't show the reader controls.
  • A secure connection. On the computer running the server this is free — open Manager at http://localhost:5154/manager and you're done. On a separate download laptop you must turn on HTTPS and trust meshO's certificate once. See HTTPS and certificates for the full setup; the Download Card page will tell you (Secure Connection Required) if it's needed and not yet in place.

You'll also need a SportIdent USB reader — a BSF7-USB or BSF8-USB — plugged into the computer.

Note — EMIT events: If your event's timing system is set to EMIT rather than SportIdent, the same Download Card page handles it: you'll be asked which reader you connected (MTR4 or 250), and the panel shows EMIT-specific reader diagnostics. The card-reading flow below is otherwise the same.

Connecting the reader ​

Open Download Card from the navigation menu, then:

  1. You'll see Connect SportIdent Reader with a Select Device button. (If you instead see Event Not Started or Event Completed, the event isn't live — downloads are only accepted while the event is in progress.)
  2. Plug the reader into a USB port and click Select Device. The browser shows a system dialog listing serial devices — pick the reader and confirm.
  3. The status chip turns green and reads Listening. The panel now prompts Insert SportIdent Card.

You only pick the device once per session. The green Listening chip is your "ready to read" signal — if it's amber (Connected) the reader is attached but not yet listening. Once connected, the reader keeps working as you move around Manager — but don't refresh the browser window, or you'll have to reconnect (see Downloads appear anywhere).

Reading a card — the normal flow ​

With the reader listening, ask the user to insert their card:

  1. A progress bar appears, showing the card number and type while it reads.
  2. A result banner replaces it with the outcome — for a clean run, a green OK banner with the competitor's name, class, course, race time, and current place in their class.

That's the whole loop, several seconds per card.

Where the download shows up ​

What you see depends on which screen you're on when a card downloads:

  • On the Download Card page — the reading progress and the result appear in the panel on the left, and every read is added to the history table on the right.
  • On the dashboard — the Download Card tile changes state as the card reads and shows the result in place, so you can leave the dashboard up and still watch downloads land.
  • On any other screen — the result pops up in a small panel at the bottom-right of the window once the card has finished downloading. Routine results fade after a few seconds; one that needs attention (an Unassigned card) stays until you handle or close it.

It's the same result banner each way, with the same one-click fixes (below) when a download needs them.

What the result banner tells you ​

The banner colour and label depend on what Manager made of the punches:

BannerWhat it meansWhat to do
Green OKA valid result — name, class, course, race time, and place are shownNothing
MP (Missing Punch)One or more required controls weren't punched; the missing control codes are listedIf it's a class/course mix-up, use the fast fixes
DNFDid not finishCorrect if they retired; otherwise investigate later
Orange UnassignedThe card number isn't registered to any competitorAssign it to a competitor, or add one — see fast fixes
DuplicateThis card has already been downloaded for this competitorNormal if you re-read the same card — the existing result stands
Not competingThe card matches a competitor who has no class assignedAssign a class and re-check
ErrorSomething went wrong processing the downloadRe-read the card; if it persists, see Troubleshooting

For the rules behind OK / MP / DNF and how race time is worked out, see Status and race time rules.

Fast fixes right after a download ​

When a download needs attention, Manager offers one-click fixes on the panel, for the most recent card — the quickest moment to sort it out, while the runner is still at the desk. (Read the next card and the panel moves on; you can still fix any past download from the history table or its detail dialog.)

Unknown card (Unassigned). When the card number matches nobody in the current event:

  • If the number is recognised in your competitor list (for instance from an Eventor entry not yet added to the event), a one-click Assign to name button appears — it adds that person and assigns the download in one step.
  • Otherwise, Assign to existing lets you search for the competitor and assign the card to them. The search includes people from the entry list who haven't been added yet.
  • Or Add Competitor opens the add dialog, pre-filled with the card number (and the class Manager inferred from the punches), to create someone new on the spot.

This is also how you fix a wrong card — e.g. someone ran on the wrong hire card. Assign the download to the competitor who actually ran it.

No class (Not competing). If the card matches a competitor with no class, pick a class under Assign class and re-check and Manager re-evaluates against that class's course.

Missing punch (MP). If the punches don't fit the assigned course:

  • When the same punches do satisfy another class's course, Manager suggests it — OK for W21A [Hard 2] — with a Change class button to accept the reassignment in one click. This is the common "started in the wrong class" fix.
  • Otherwise, use Change class and re-check to choose a class yourself and re-evaluate.

The card download detail dialog ​

Click any card number (on the panel or in the history table) to open the Card Download detail dialog. It shows the punch-by-punch breakdown — every control, code, and split — alongside the class, course, and status. From here you can, for any download (not just the latest):

  • Assign the card to a competitor (or add a new one), or Reassign it to a different competitor
  • Change class / course & re-check — re-evaluate against a different class or course
  • Unassign the download from its competitor
  • Delete the download entirely

Use this dialog when the quick panel actions have already scrolled past, or when you need to see exactly which controls were punched and in what order.

The download history table ​

The right side of the page lists every card read, newest first. It's searchable (by card number or name) and filterable by status (e.g. show only Unassigned or MP). For each row you can:

  • Click the card number to open the detail dialog
  • Click the competitor name to open their Edit competitor dialog — or, for an unassigned card with a provisional (italic) name, click it to add that person and assign in one step
  • Change the class inline with the dropdown in the Class column
  • Print splits with the printer icon (see below)

The status column shows the competitor's current status chip, the course, or an orange Unassigned chip.

Downloads appear anywhere ​

You don't have to stay on the Download Card page — once the reader is connected, it keeps reading as you move around Manager, and each result shows up in whichever form fits the screen you're on (as above).

Warning — don't refresh the browser window. Navigating between Manager's screens keeps the reader connected, but reloading the page (or closing the tab) drops the connection — you'll be back at Connect SportIdent Reader and have to click Select Device to carry on. Cards you've already read are safe: they're stored on the server the moment they download. It's only the live reader link that has to be re-established.

Printing splits ​

If you have a splits printer set up, the printer icon on each history row prints that competitor's split times. To print automatically on every download, turn on Automatic print splits on download — globally in Settings, or per event under Edit event details → Splits Print.

Hire cards ​

If a downloaded card is one of your hire cards, Manager prompts you to collect it so it doesn't walk off. That prompt, and how to manage the hire-card pool, are covered in Hire cards.

Import from Backup ​

Downloads are stored in the event database by the server as they're read. If downloads were taken on another machine, or you're rebuilding an event, Import from Backup (top right of the history table) scans the disk for card-download files Manager hasn't loaded yet (or were deleted) and lets you pick which to bring in. If everything on disk is already loaded, it tells you so.

When a card won't read ​

If a card fails to read, the panel shows a read error rather than a result.

  • Ask the user to remove the card and try again.
  • Check the reader is still Listening (green chip) — reconnect with Select Device if the chip has dropped.
  • Try a different USB port or cable if reads keep failing.

A card that won't read in one reader will usually read in another; if a specific card fails everywhere, it may be faulty.

For problems noticed later ​

The fast fixes above are for the moment of download. For anything you spot after the runner has gone — a result that needs an overridden status, punches to edit, a competitor to re-evaluate — work from the competitor's record instead. See Resolving issues on the day.