Veckholms-Åkerby 2
SE-745 99  Enköping
Sweden

Stockholm, 4 Jan 2012

Hi X,

Good luck on your master point development. I have worked with several federation and this is a larger topic than may be expected.

First of all I think you should combine master point reporting with actually publishing results on your website. This is an important part of every federation's service to their clubs and members.

Having said that I recommend not doing the .mcd file approach but actually look into the PBN files that Magic Contest produces.

PBN is a general notation for bridge contests and Magic Contest follows the existing specification. The PBN file contains everything you need for processing the file and publishing rankings, score tables, double dummy analysis, and also the possibility to calculate master points.

To publish results you of course have to develop an online database to store rankings and results, and then of course also develop webpages that publish the data in a way you want to. I have some connections that I can offer in case you want to purchase such solutions, but this is nothing I take any part of.

When I say "calculate master points", this is a process that should take place in the main office of the federation (or online if such a solution is built). This means that no master points will ever be printed on the paper printouts, but I really don't think this is a major issue. Very few federations think this is important anymore.

PBN files can be created from Contest menu-Report contest. This page gives links to the specification as well as provides a number of samples:

http://www.brenning.se/mcrcpbn.asp

As the specification is remarkably boring to read I recommend that you just have a look at the samples, preferably under "More samples...". It is rather easy to compare the Html output with the contents of the PBN file.

What should be kept in mind is that all data in the PBN file is dynamic. Given certain conditions, columns may or may not show. There is never any guarantee that a column is in the same position from one event to the next. However, the processing of the file is rather simple as the first line of TotalScoreTable and ScoreTable indicates the width of all columns.

Any kind of reporting to the national bridge federation requires a member file that is distributed to the clubs on a regular basis. There are several ways to do this (manually, automatically through files, automatically through the internet).

Once the member numbers are available at the clubs they will be used when creating entry lists, and after the event the member numbers will be part of the PBN file. This is the only way to keep the identity of a player from start to goal.

As mentioned I have worked with several federation on these types of solutions. There is always a goal of a fully automated system where new member files can be downloaded automatically from the internet, and where contest reports are uploaded and processed right after the event has been scored.

This last part, the automated one, is nothing I offer for free.

It is not a lot of work, but every federation offers new challenges and special solutions have to be developed in every case. If needed I can develop solutions on a contracted basis, but that is something for the future.

Anyway, the above should give you some ideas on how to approach this topic. Let me know what else I can do for you and I'll see if I can be of assistance.