How to import a fixtures template

Importing a fixtures template is a quick and easy way to create fixtures within the BowlsLink application that conform to some custom structure which the application may be unable to "auto" generate.

The BowsLink application expects a fixtures template to be a file of comma-separated values (CSV), where each line of the file represents a single fixture. CSV files are a common way to represent tabular data using only plain text, and many popular spreadsheet applications like Microsoft Excel support saving worksheets as CSV files.

Each fixture is represented using three values: a round-number, a "home" team/opponent number, and an "away" team/opponent number.

Byes are represented using a reserved team/opponent number of negative 1 (-1).

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

The template above is a typical representation of a round-robin competition with only 3 teams, where teams play each other only once.

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

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.

Before attempting to import your own fixtures template CSV file, take note of the following:

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 columns.
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 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).