File Menu - Backup & Restore

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File Menu - Backup & Restore (Correcting Errors)
Backup: This is the sixth selection on the File menu. You can select it anytime to create a backup copy of your data files.

Why make a backup? There are several reasons to do this. The first reason is to insure that the work you have done entering information into the program will not be lost. Problems can occur with your system that could damage the data files that have been created. With a backup of the data files you can easily restore the data files and continue right where you left off. If you have the backup data files on a diskette or flash drive you can take them to another system and continue entering data while your system is being repaired. The second reason to make a backup is to correct errors made in entering data in past weeks. After you finish entering the data each week, the program will process the data when you are ready and update all the statistics for the teams and the players. If you made a mistake entering data, it will probably result in errors in the league statistics. You can correct these mistakes using the statistics and data editor provided with the program but it is often easier to just restore a backup of a week prior to the week that the mistake was made in and just re-enter the data without the mistake.

This version of The League Assistant uses licensed compression routines from Polar Zip Incorporated. There are no extra charges or costs due to the use of this code.

The backup data will be written to the same directory that the data files are in and the last two characters of the extension will be the week number that the backup has been created for. For example a compressed ZIP backup file for the demonstration data for the first week of competition would be labeled, &emonstration Files.Z01; the "E" in Example has been replaced with "&" and the Z01 in the extension signifies that this is the Zip compressed backup for week 1.

For added safety you may want to copy the backup files to a CD-ROM, a flash (jump) drive, or diskettes. With a copy of the backup files on these other media you can always restore your data files even if something happens to your hard drive. Unless you have a really large league you will most likely be able to keep several backups for your league for a season on your media. This is cheap insurance for your data.

Restore Backup: This is the seventh item on the File menu. When you select it, you will be asked if you want to make a backup of the data files you are currently working with before doing the restore. You may want to do this for the reasons stated above. You can abort this menu selection by selecting Cancel in the dialog box. If you choose not to create a backup or after the backup is created, you will select the backup to restore from a standard file open dialog box. The dialog box will list backup files in the data directory by default but you can change the directory in the dialog box and restore the files from any system drive or directory. The League Assistant will use licensed decompression routines from Polar Zip Incorporated to restore the backup files. For example the backup files for week 5 will be restored if the backup file extension is .Z05. The data files will be restored to the data directory and you can continue from where you left off when the backup was created.

Correcting Errors: You may find yourself in a situation such as the following. You have just entered the results for week 10. A team member points out an error that was made at week 5. What can you do? One option is to use the Raw Score and Statistics editors to make the correction. This is quick and it allows you to make minor corrections, but neither of these editors will result in any recalculation of statistics or assignment of awards. If you want all the calculations, statistics, award assignments, etc. done properly by the program your best option is to restore the backup and have each of the weeks after the correction recalculated. Using the example from the beginning of this paragraph, you would restore the backup for week five and make the needed correction. That gets the job done for week five but what about weeks 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10? Do you have to re-enter all the data for those weeks? The answer is no if you created a backup at week 10. When you created a backup at week 10, the program automatically updates the backups for all prior weeks with the results you entered for all weeks up to week 10. To process the scores for week 6 you would simply select "Weekly Results" from the "Edit" menu. You will see that all the results you previously entered for week 6 are in the spreadsheet. Click on "OK" and the program will process the scores for week 6. Do the same for weeks 7 through 10 and you have quickly made your correction for week 5 and brought all results up to date. Depending on the size of your league and the speed of your computer, this whole process will only take a few minutes at most to complete. CAUTION: This procedure for restoring, correcting and reprocessing data works great but it does assume that the composition of the teams is not changing each week. If you have dropped teams or players, added new players, added subs, etc., you will still need to make these changes in the week that they occurred and then process the previously entered weekly results.