Appearance
The registration desk
Audience: Organisers setting up the entry table, and the volunteers who staff it.
The registration desk is a cut-down Manager for the entry table. It does the things that table does all day (find somebody, fix their class or card, enter somebody new, hand out hire cards and see what's still out) and leaves out everything a volunteer could break: settings, devices, the start draw, card downloads, and starting or finishing the event.
It runs in a browser on a laptop or a tablet, on the same server as the operator's console, so every change it makes is on every other screen within a second or so. Several desks can run at once.
This page is the tour of the desk itself. For the work of entering people on the day (what each field needs, start times, someone who isn't running after all), see Late entries. For lending cards and other equipment, see Hire items.
Opening the desk
The desk lives at /rego on the server, for example http://192.168.1.20:5154/rego. Take its link from Settings → Server → Access links on the operator's computer: the Registration link. Show QR code opens it on a tablet without typing.
Which of the two links to give it:
- A laptop with a card reader: the IP link. It will be running Chrome or Edge (or Firefox 151+) to read the reader, and Chrome often can't find the server by name. See Reaching the server: name or IP.
- A tablet or phone: either link works. A tablet can't use a card reader, so the desk on it is typed into.
To read cards on a laptop that isn't the server computer, the desk also needs the secure (HTTPS) link, the same as a download laptop. See Downloading cards for the browsers and the connection a reader needs.
The PIN
If Manager has a PIN (Settings → Access protection), the desk asks for it before showing anything: type it into PIN and press Unlock. It's the same PIN as the manager screens, because the desk changes competitors just as they do.
When the desk is unlocked, Lock in the ⋮ menu signs it out again. Use it whenever you leave the table unattended. Without a PIN, Lock isn't offered and the desk opens straight away. See Settings.
Name this computer
The first time the desk opens in a browser, it asks you to Name this computer, as the manager does. Call it something you'll recognise later, such as "Entry desk 1". The name is how the audit trail tells two desks apart, and how the operator chooses where this desk's prints go. Not now skips it. The desk has no Settings of its own, so to rename it later, use Settings → Printing on the operator's computer.
Choosing the event
The desk opens on Registration, a list of the events it could be taking entries for: the running event first, then any event dated today or later that hasn't been finished. Tap one to open it. The desk never opens an event by itself, even when there's only one.
An event that has been finished or abandoned isn't listed, and an event dated before today isn't either, unless it's the one running. If the list is empty, the desk says so: create or start the event in Manager first.
The flag at the top right of this screen picks the desk's language. Until a volunteer picks one, the desk follows the language set for the whole installation, and changes with it.
Around the desk
The bar across the top shows the event's name and, while the event is live, the event clock. The clock is the server's event time, the same as the one behind the start, not the tablet's own clock. Before the event is started there is no clock.
Beside the clock:
- The reader icon: connects a SportIdent reader (see Reading cards at the desk). It isn't shown on a browser that can't use one, such as a tablet or phone.
- ⋮: Switch event, back to the list of events, and Lock when there's a PIN.
Two screens sit in the bar along the bottom: Competitors and Hire items.
If the desk loses the server, a Server unavailable — reconnecting… banner appears across the top. It reconnects by itself and catches up with whatever changed in the meantime. If the desk couldn't read the event at all, its screens say Could not read this event instead of claiming that somebody isn't entered. Check the network before entering anyone, or you may enter someone who's already there.
When the operator finishes the event, the desk goes back to the list of events by itself, so it can't go on taking entries for a race that's over.
The desk's light or dark theme is set for every desk at once, under Theme in Settings → Appearance → This computer on the operator's computer (the Registration one).
Competitors
This is where the desk spends its day. It has one search box (Find) and the orange add button beside it. The list stays empty until you type.
Finding someone
Type anything into Find: a name or part of one, a card number, a bib, a class or a club. Several words narrow it down: smith m21 finds the Smiths in M21. The closest matches come first: an exact card number, then an exact bib, then names starting with what you typed.
With a reader connected, putting a card on the reader types its number into the search box. If exactly one competitor holds that card, their Edit competitor dialog opens straight away.
When nobody matches, the desk offers Enter as a new competitor, with what you typed as their name. When you searched for a card number (five digits or more) that nobody in the event holds, it says Card number is not entered in this event. and offers Add, with the card number filled in.
Quick changes on the card
Each match is a card showing the competitor's name, club and status, and three boxes you can change on the spot:
- Class, including No class.
- Card number, digits only. With the caret in this box, a card put on the reader fills it in for this runner instead of searching. That's the quickest way to hand over a hire card: find the runner, click in their Card number, put the hire card on the reader.
- Notes, for anything someone needs to know later. See Notes.
Changing any of them shows Revert and Save. Nothing is sent until you press Save, and all three changes go together. If the server refuses a change, the desk says why and leaves what you typed in the box, so you can correct it or Revert.
If you change the search while a card still has unsaved changes, the desk stops and asks first (Unsaved changes): Save, Revert, or Keep editing. Otherwise the card would drop out of the list and take your change with it.
The status chip reads the same as on the operator's screens: whether they've started, are on course, or are back with a result. A runner who already has a result can still change class; Manager then scores their run again against the new class's course.
The Edit competitor dialog
Tap a competitor's name (the top part of their card) to open the same Edit competitor dialog the operator uses, with all its tabs and rules. It saves each change as you make it, as it does in the manager. See Editing an existing competitor. The parts the desk is asked about most:
- Details: name, club, card number, class, and Course when the class has a choice of courses. While the dialog is open, a card put on the reader goes into this competitor's Card number.
- Start: their allocated start time. See Giving them a start time.
- Result: their status, for example DNS for someone who isn't running after all. See When someone isn't running after all.
- Hire items: compasses, map boards and anything else you lend, when the organiser has set any up. See Hand anything else over.
- Prints: their splits slip or result label as it would print, with a Print button. It prints where this desk's prints are routed (see Printing).
The desk also shows what has already happened to the runner, such as their radio punches, their download and any corrections, so you can answer "did she get round?" without walking to the operator. It can't take a download: the Download tab shows the card read at the download desk, without the buttons for typing one in by hand.
Adding someone
The add button, Enter as a new competitor and Add all open the Add competitor dialog, the same one the operator uses. A card on the reader fills in its number; if the Competitor Registry knows whose card it is, it fills in the whole person, leaving you only the class. Keep adding clears the form for the next person in a queue. All of this is described in Adding a competitor.
The club box offers this event's clubs and every club in the Club Registry, so a runner from a club nobody else in the event belongs to can still be entered with their club.
Hire items
The second screen shows what you can hand over and who has the rest: the hire cards in the pool, each Available or Out with the name of whoever holds it, and a summary of each of your other items. Tap anyone holding something to open them. This screen is described in The same box, at the registration desk.
To hand a hire card over, record its number as the runner's card, on the Competitors screen or in their dialog. There's no separate "hire out" step: a runner holding a pool number is on a hire card. See Hand a card over.
Reading cards at the desk
A SportIdent reader plugged into the desk's laptop saves a runner reading seven digits out loud. Click the reader icon in the top bar the first time and pick the reader in the browser's list. The icon shows a green tick when it's ready to read. Click it again to disconnect.
At the desk, the reader only reads a card's number. It never downloads the card or records a result, whatever is on the card, so presenting a card that still holds last week's punches can't put a result on anybody. Results come from the download desk.
Where a presented card goes depends on what's in front of you:
| What's on screen | The card's number goes |
|---|---|
| The Competitors screen | Into Find, opening the competitor if exactly one holds it. |
| A competitor's card, with the caret in its Card number box | Into that box, for that runner. |
| The Edit competitor dialog | Into that competitor's Card number. |
| The Add competitor dialog | Into Card number, filling in the person from the registry when it can. |
| The Hire items screen | Into its search box, showing that card. |
A desk without a reader works the same way with the number typed in by hand.
Printing
The desk is one of the server's computers, like a download laptop, so it can print. The operator chooses where its prints go in Settings → Printing, under this desk's name, and a USB printer plugged into the desk's laptop can print there. If a print doesn't come out, the desk is told. See Where each computer's splits and labels print and Printing by hand, and reprinting.
What the desk can't do
The desk leaves out anything the entry table doesn't need. From the desk you can't:
- download cards, or type a download in by hand;
- change classes, courses, controls, clubs or the start draw;
- import or export entries, or see results;
- start or finish the event;
- reach Settings, radios, printers or any other device.
For those, use the manager. The desk keeps a volunteer away from them; it isn't a lock. The desk uses the same PIN as the manager, so anyone who knows it can open /manager on the same laptop. If you need to keep the manager away from the desk's volunteers, don't give them the PIN: unlock the desk for them.
The Edit competitor dialog is the full one, so the desk can do anything to a competitor that the operator can, including setting a status and deleting an entry. Agree with the desk what it handles and what it sends to the operator. See Two people, one competitor.
Who changed what
Every change made at the desk is recorded in the event's audit trail with the source Entry desk and the name of the computer it was made on. To see what the desks changed, filter the Audit trail screen by Source: Entry desk.
Common problems
| Problem | What to do |
|---|---|
| The event isn't in the desk's list | It has been finished, or it's dated before today and isn't the running event. Check the event's date and status in Manager. |
| There's no reader icon | The browser can't use a reader: a tablet or phone, Safari, or a separate laptop on the plain http link. Use Chrome, Edge or Firefox 151+ on a laptop, on the HTTPS link. See Downloading cards. |
| The desk won't load on a laptop | Use the IP link rather than the name. See Reaching the server: name or IP. |
| A card on the reader searched instead of going into a runner's card box | The caret wasn't in the box. Click in Card number on their card, then present the card again. |
| The search won't change | A card above has unsaved changes. Answer Unsaved changes: Save or Revert. |
| Could not read this event | The desk has lost the server, or the server refused it. Check the network, and don't enter anyone until the message clears. |