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Each fixture is represented using three values: a mandatory values and four optional values. A round-number, a "home" team/opponent number, and an "away" team/opponent number make up a fixture's mandatory values; a time, a day, a green/rink allocation ID, and a section-number make up a fixture's optional values.

Byes are represented using a reserved team/opponent number of negative 1 (-1), and to-be-determined (TBD) designations are represented using a reserved team/opponent number of zero (0).

+|=================================+|
|    Round    |   Home  |   Away  |
+|=============+=========+=========+|
|      1      |    1    |    2    |
-|-------------+---------+---------+|
|      1      |    3    |   -1    |
-|-------------+---------+---------+|
|      2      |    1    |    3    |
|--------------+---------+---------+|
|      2      |   -1    |    2    |
-
|-------------+---------+---------+|
|      3      |    1    |   -1    |
|--------------+---------+---------+|
|      3      |    2    |    3    |
-+-------------+---------+---------+

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The template above is a typical representation of a round-robin competition with only 3 teams, where teams play each other only once. The template above includes only the mandatory values for each fixture: a round-number, and two opponent numbers.

As a CSV file, the template above will look something like:

Round,Home,Away
1,1,2
1,3,-1
2,1,3
2,-1,2
3,1,-1
3,2,3

In contrast, the template below is more complex, and includes optional values for each fixture, including a day, time, green/rink allocation ID, and section.

|========================================================================================|
|    Round    |   Home  |   Away  |     Day    |   Time   |   Green/Rink   |   Section   |  
|=============+=========+=========+============+==========+================+=============|
|      1      |    1    |    2    | 2021-04-01 |   09:15  |      4642      |             |
|-------------+---------+---------+------------+----------+----------------+-------------|
|      1      |    3    |   -1    |            |   17:30  |       76       |             |
|-------------+---------+---------+------------+----------+----------------+-------------|
|      2      |    1    |    3    | 2021-05-21 |   13:20  |                |             |
|-------------+---------+---------+------------+----------+----------------+-------------|
|      2      |   -1    |    2    | 2021-05-22 |          |      5367      |             |
|-------------+---------+---------+------------+----------+----------------+-------------|
|      3      |    1    |   -1    |            |          |                |             |
|-------------+---------+---------+------------+----------+----------------+-------------|
|      3      |    2    |    3    | 2021-11-03 |          |       345      |             |
|-------------+---------+---------+------------+----------+----------------+-------------|
|      1      |    4    |    5    | 2021-04-01 |   09:15  |      4642      |      2      |
|-------------+---------+---------+------------+----------+----------------+-------------|
|      1      |    6    |   -1    |            |   17:30  |       76       |      2      |
|-------------+---------+---------+------------+----------+----------------+-------------|
|      2      |    4    |    6    | 2021-05-21 |   13:20  |                |      2      |
|-------------+---------+---------+------------+----------+----------------+-------------|
|      2      |   -1    |    5    | 2021-05-22 |          |      5367      |      2      |
|-------------+---------+---------+------------+----------+----------------+-------------|
|      3      |    4    |   -1    |            |          |                |      2      |
|-------------+---------+---------+------------+----------+----------------+-------------|
|      3      |    5    |    6    | 2021-11-03 |          |       345      |      2      |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Note that in the template above, optional values are just that: optional. A fixture may have a day, but no time; or a time, but no day.

As a CSV file, the template above will look something like:

Round,Home,Away,Day,Time,Green/Rink,Section
1,1,2,2021-04-01,09:15,4642,
1,3,-1,,17:30,76,
2,1,3,2021-05-21,13:20,,
2,-1,2,2021-05-22,,5367,
3,1,-1,,,,
3,2,3,2021-11-03,,345,
1,1,2,2021-04-01,09:15,4642,2
1,3,-1,,17:30,76,2
2,1,3,2021-05-21,13:20,,2
2,-1,2,2021-05-22,,5367,2
3,1,-1,,,,2
3,2,3,2021-11-03,,345,2

It's common for some spreadsheet applications to save CSV files so that all values are delimited by quotation marks - e.g. "1","3","-1". If your CSV file exhibits this trait, don't worry, the BowlsLink importer handles these types of CSV files just fine.

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1. Ensure your CSV file has a .csv extension; the BowlsLink application may be unable to recognise the file as a fixtures template otherwise.
2. Ensure your CSV file's first row represents "column headers" (like 'Round', 'Home', etc), and not a fixture; the BowlsLink template importer is configured to ignore the first row. As such, feel free to use whatever "column headers" make sense to you.
3. Ensure every row of your CSV file has values for all three mandatory columns: round-number, "home" team/opponent number, and "away" team/opponent number.
4. Round numbers don't have to be contiguous, nor do they have to start at 1; a fixtures template with rounds 5, 21, and 40 is perfectly valid.
5. Round number numbers do, however, need to be greater than zero (0).
6. Like round numbers, team/opponent numbers don't have to be contiguous, nor do they have to start at 1. We recommend, however, that you use team/opponent numbers that are greater than zero (0), as the BowlsLink application reserves numbers less than one (1) for specialised cases (like byes, which are represented using -1).
7. Team/opponent numbers must be no greater than 9000.
8. Days must conform to the format YYYY-MM-DD.
9. Times must use 24-hour time and conform to the format HH:MM.
10. Green/rink allocation IDs must identify greens/rinks allocated to the competition to which the fixture(s) belong. The Greens & Rinks Report can be used to generate a list of green/rink allocation IDs per competition.
11. Section numbers don't have to be contiguous, nor do they have to start at 1; a fixtures template with sections 7, 2, and 11 is perfectly valid.
12. Section numbers do, however, need to be greater than zero (0).
13. For any fixture that doesn't define a section number, section '1' will be used as default.
14. For templates that define more than single section, the same team/opponent number must not appear in more than one section. Example: if one section uses team/opponent numbers 1-3, no other section may use these numbers. The exception to this rule is team/opponent numbers below 1, such as -1 (byes).
15. A fixtures template that defines more than a single section cannot have its fixtures extrapolated using the Apply the template to how many sections? feature.