http://iscoresports.com/

Info:
- Local League uses Sports Illustrated (SI) as their website hosting
- Cannot control "Roster" in SI, league has it locked for even Managers

Here is the issue/feature request:
Since we are using SI, I have the ability to import our games, game info, and roster into Game Manager. The problem is, I have customized player info under Player Manager (Added last name, changed last name form initial to full last name, etc), so every time I import a game and it imports the Roster from SI, it creates new players for me as they do not match identically what's being imported from SI. Merge, you say? Well you can't merge two players when one of the players is rostered in a pending game (so iScore tells me within the app), plus, that's just another extra step I have to do every time I want to import a game.

I've gotten around this for now by simply not importing games from SI, and it's not a big deal to create a game, but it would be nice to have some customization options when you're importing, such as a checkbox to NOT import rosters. Then all of the game data could be imported, and (hopefully) by default it would take the roster/lineup that is set in iScore instead of SI. This would have an added layer of benefit for leagues such as mine, as our league doesn't use the "Roster" in SI as an actual starting lineup - it's simply an alphabetical (A-Z) roster of the kids on the team (and this is locked so even the team manager has no control of the Roster). So even though I've set a starting lineup in iScore with starting fielding positions, that gets wiped out every time I import a game back to the alphabetical listing from SI.

I'm also unclear about the link between SI and iScore to the game as far as the Score Casts are concerned. If I don't import a game from SI into iScore, will the Score Cast shortcut from the SI mobile app still link correctly to the game I have manually created? I'll find out tonight I guess as that's what I've done today (create the game manually without importing). I'll post back here on that for anyone else who is also using SI.

Sorry for the length. and that i do not have demonstrable answer for you... I am a long time user and moderator on the forum, but i am not with the company and I have not used SI Play for a game (sorry). That said, I have used DISCOVER TEAMS, DISCOVER GAMES and DATA SHARING from other sources, and i suspect SI PLAY will be somewhat similar, I am curious to hear how the SI play integration works. I hope you will post back your findings for the community benefit

randy21m wrote:Since we are using SI, I have the ability to import our games, game info, and roster into Game Manager. The problem is, I have customized player info under Player Manager (Added last name, changed last name form initial to full last name, etc), so every time I import a game and it imports the Roster from SI, it creates new players for me as they do not match identically what's being imported from SI. Merge, you say? Well you can't merge two players when one of the players is rostered in a pending game (so iScore tells me within the app), plus, that's just another extra step I have to do every time I want to import a game.

I am not 100% sure, but if you correctly manage the internal player ID, (as described below) I would think this would not be an issue. See below for more info

randy21m wrote:... our league doesn't use the "Roster" in SI as an actual starting lineup - it's simply an alphabetical (A-Z) roster of the kids on the team

this is most common for DISCOVER TEAMS > USSSA, NATIONS, Max Preps, Sport Engine , MiLB, NCAA, and Retrosheet - all work this way, Rosters retrieved - not lines ups (MLB is special and has daily line ups but most do not). I would be surprised if SI Play was able to provide game day line ups given all the coordination that would require.

randy21m wrote:I've gotten around this for now by simply not importing games from SI, and it's not a big deal to create a game, but it would be nice to have some customization options when you're importing, such as a checkbox to NOT import rosters. Then all of the game data could be imported, and (hopefully) by default it would take the roster/lineup that is set in iScore instead of SI. This would have an added layer of benefit for leagues such as mine, as our league doesn't use the "Roster" in SI as an actual starting lineup - it's simply an alphabetical (A-Z) roster of the kids on the team (and this is locked so even the team manager has no control of the Roster). So even though I've set a starting lineup in iScore with starting fielding positions, that gets wiped out every time I import a game back to the alphabetical listing from SI.

I am curious what specific information discover game has for SI PLAY besides Rosters. and If you solve the underlying ID issue mentioned above, , I would expect it would match not wipe out, in the future and make discover game more helpful than not... but I do not have a team and game to experiment with - be curious your findings.

randy21m wrote:.I'm also unclear about the link between SI and iScore to the game as far as the Score Casts are concerned. If I don't import a game from SI into iScore, will the Score Cast shortcut from the SI mobile app still link correctly to the game I have manually created? I'll find out tonight I guess as that's what I've done today (create the game manually without importing). I'll post back here on that for anyone else who is also using SI.

if you do not score directly from the DISCOVERED GAME game, and instead score from a manually created game, I would not think SI Play has any way to associate your isocrcast link back to SI PLAY. even if you did score from the discovered game, as many people can score from same discovered game, i am not sure how SI PLAY handles that for others to view. Except you can always use the iSCORE CENTRAL GAME VIEWER App (blue icon)



EXTENDED CONTEXT ....

it may help to get some extra context to understand a bit how iscore works under the covers to help anticipate how SI PLAY works. .and to solvate WIPE OUT problem

In General.

• To help with data exchange from different sources, iScore creates and maintains a unique identifier for every player, team and game. The unique ID is hidden from view, you can not see it, nor edit it, but the program maintains it to map and match players teams and games when using various data sharing and discovery options in iscore. (this is also how you can have players and teams with the exact same name on the screen but represent two different things, i.e. two John Smiths or two Cubs Teams, because each has its own unique ID inside the program )
  note: when you MERGE a team or player, only one ID survives, the ID for the name on the left hand side, you must use caution in merging to ensure any connected IDs survive)

There are three main ways to retrieve player/team/game info from an outside source...

• TEAM MANAGER > DISCOVER TEAM > ... , retrieves, Team Name and Player Roster (as well as their underlying IDs). Once retrieved you should be able to edit the player names in the Team Roster, and any associated data sources would "still"know who they are" by their underlying ID. The continuity of this ID is what should allow data exchange to to/from outside source - as allowed (e.g. for roster updates or player stat transfer).
  
  • For SI Play, I would expect you would be able to modify the Player Name, once retrieved, and I would not expect it to wipe it out upon future updates, as the program would be matching by ID not name you typed.
• GAME MANAGER > DISCOVER GAMES > ... retrieves both teams and rosters, as well as a Game ID (and in some cases game specific line ups, e.g. MLB ). again, you should be able to edit the retrieved player, team and game names but the underlying IDs should be maintained under the covers for any associated sources who uses the information later for stats or game scores or roster updates. (though iscorcast or admin server updates) .
  • I am not sure what SI play does here with games, but to find out, if you DISCOVER GAME > SI PlAY > I would score from that same game, so SI Play "will know", and have the same game ID.. because if you create the game fresh on your device, (and then add teams, even if teams were discovered) you will have "lost" the game ID SI Play knows, and it will "not know" and if there was an iscorecast to be shared. given any number of people can discover a game and score, I am not sure how SI Play would say, this one scorecast is the Official Scorer anyway. but I will be interested to hear what you find out here.
• OPTION MANAGER > DATA SHARING > GET FROM WEB ... this is used to transfer games, and team rosters between any two iscore devices, It is independent of SI PLAY. it retrieves an exact copy of the iscore game from the source device that uploaded it (teams, players, line ups, and play by play all transfer). in addition the program maintains a mapping of TEAMS and PLAYERS for future transfers ( note: only data sharing games NOT already on your device show up, if game is updated later by the source, and on your device already, you must delete from your device to see and retrieve a second time).

I know i am not answering your question, specifically. but hoping the context will help you explore what can be done and report back your findings.

OhioTex, thanks for the info!

So you are correct, I found out last night that our scorecast quick link in SI never changed from "waiting for game to start", since I didn't Discover the game.

Some additional background info. All of my teams/players were brought "into" iScore using the Discover method. I've since then gone back and edited the players info (that was discovered) to not match how SI has it posted (I'm OCD obviously). We started the post season tournament, and the players that have continued on have been moved onto the post season team (a different team from their in season team). So I imported the post season team, and instead of linking the existing players to the team, it created all new entries (players) for the new team. So by your explanation, I guess the ID's in the background didn't match up.

So by your information above, I should be able to merge the two players, and any new games I import shouldn't create new entries (players). So then I have a question, as I want to ensure I'm not going to lose a season worth of stats. I know it says "Merge", but if I have Player A that has a full season worth of stats, and Player B who is brand new from the discover- who is the same player as Player A....I should merge Player B (on the left) with Player A on the right so that the ID will be the one that matches the future imports from SI, is that correct? And if so, do I lose all of the stats from Player A when I merge him into Player B?

OhioTex wrote:
I am curious what specific information discover game has for SI PLAY besides Rosters. and If you solve the underlying ID issue mentioned above, , I would expect it would match not wipe out, in the future and make discover game more helpful than not... but I do not have a team and game to experiment with - be curious your findings.

It imports all of the game info, and more importantly (as I just found out last night and you indicated), it creates the link "behind the scenes" for the scorecast to be available directly in the SI Play App.

If you can assure me about the import, then I'll delete our upcoming game (because iScore won't let you merge a player if they are in a pending game), and I'll merge the "new" imported player with the existing.

Thanks again!

I am VERY confident the player Merge will COMBINE and not loose any stats.

• the trick is making sure the surviving player, has the right hidden ID, and i think you processed my long note very well, as you want the survivor to be the one on the left, (btw I am surprised SI Play did not maintain the underlying ID for post season player, hmmm. oh well )

here is your Safety Net. before merging, do an OPTION > EXPORT

• this backs up your entire database on the admin server, and if stuff goes south, you have a backup that an OPTION > IMPORT can retrieve back to that pre merge point in time. .

Have i answered all your questions? (or did i miss some) Feel free to post back or start another thread if appropriate.


Moderator note: I moved this thread from enhancement request to Issue reporting, as it became more an issue resolution that a feature request item

OhioTex, sorry for going between posts with similar information, but yes, the Merge worked as you described. So in the future, Step 1 - Discover Team, Step 2 - Merge players (if necessary), Step 3 - Discover Games.

Thanks again!