Create a member database

Version 4.12 (December 2017)

The final step of the automatic start-up guide is to create an empty member database. The next step is to manually fill the database with players. Magic Contest contains features for importing member data from Excel.

This page contains the following sections:

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Introduction

Bridge federations whose clubs use Magic Contest have special methods for downloading and installing national member lists. Stand-alone clubs can maintain a member list in Excel and import the players into Magic Contest.

In short, you first prepare a number of columns with member data in Excel. Then you select all names and copy the data. Finally you paste the data into Magic Contest and let Magic Contest import it.

You can provide “official” member numbers in column C, or you can let Magic Contest automatically assign member numbers.

You can also export all existing members if you want to use Excel for things that Magic Contest cannot do.

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Excel format using separate columns

You use columns A-E in Excel according to the following:

Last name First name Member ID Title (Mr, Mrs, …) Club
Column A B C D E
Hamman Bob
Brenning Tomas
Mahmood Zia

Columns A and B (name) are mandatory.

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Only one column with first name and last name

Some people have Excel files that look like this:

Full name
Column A
Bob Hamman
Tomas Brenning
Zia Mahmood

This type of file can also be imported into Magic Contest. When you copy the only column, Magic Contest will figure out that you only use one column, and ask if if this is what you want to import.

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Automatic member numbers

If you use column C (=Member ID), those numbers will be imported by Magic Contest. However, you can also let Magic Contest automatically assign member numbers. There are two ways of doing this:

  • Assign member numbers starting with 1, 2, 3, and so on. This can later be used by the players to enter member numbers in Bridgemate.
  • Assign member numbers starting with +1, +2, +3 and so on. This is useful in case you have “official” members in your member list, but you want to import a list of guest players, so called plus members.

Note! If you import names and want to import them again, you need to provide member numbers in column C for Magic Contest to understand that a player should be updated.

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Import names several times and update existing members

First of all, importing names several times does not specifically require member numbers. Member numbers are only required if you want to update data for specific members the second time you import them. If you do not use any member numbers, you can add more members to the member list without using column C (Member ID).

Last name First name Member ID Title (Mr, Mrs, …) Club
Column A B C D E
Hamman Bob 1
Brenning Tomas 2
Mahmood Zia 3

If you want to import names several times, you have to use column C (Member ID) and provide your own member numbers. By doing so, Magic Contest will use the member number and search the existing members.

  • If an existing member is found, then the member data will be updated (if changed), not added.
  • Member numbers that are not found will be added to the member list.

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How to import players into Magic Contest’s member list

Excel

  1. Prepare the member list according to one of the samples above
  2. Use the mouse to select the region you want to copy
  3. Press Ctrl-C to copy the data, or right-click and select Copy

Magic Contest

  1. Start Magic Contest and close Contest Explorer
  2. Click Member list (to the right)
  3. Click Excel
  4. Press Ctrl-V to paste the copied Excel data, or right-click and select Paste
  5. Click OK to import the data

When the import starts, and during the import, you may receive a number of control questions:

  1. If you do not provide any member numbers, Magic Contest will ask you if you want to assign member numbers (1, 2, 3, …) or plus member numbers (+1, +2, +3, …).
  2. If you import just one column with the full name, you will be asked if the name is in the format FirstName LastName or LastName FirstName.
  3. If you import names without member numbers, and member with the same name already exists in the database, you will be asked whether this is a duplicate that should be ignored, or if you want to add a new member with the same name as the existing.

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Export the member list

If you have an existing list of members in Magic Contest, they can be exported and used in for instance Excel. Do like this to export the members:

  1. Start Magic Contest and close Contest Explorer
  2. Click Member list (to the right)
  3. Click Export

This exports the entire member list to a file in Magic Contest Outbox. The exported format is the same as the import format described above.

If you double-click the file, all names will be shown in a long list. Press Ctrl-A to select all names and Ctrl-C to copy them. Then change windows to Excel and press Ctrl-V to paste all data into separate columns.

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Export (and import) status

Version 4.13 (August 2018)

When you export the member file you may notice an extra column compared to the five columns described earlier on this page. This column shows the status of the player which may or may not be used by your club.

The status column allows you to set players as active or not active, or even deleted or deceased. When name searching for players in Contest menu > Enter names, this status will show when you select between multiple names.

If you edit a player from within Magic Contest you can see a dropdown box called Status. It has one of the following values, with the exported value to Excel in parenthesis:

  • Active … (empty)
  • Not active … (1)
  • Deleted … (2)
  • Deceased … (3)

The exported players are first ordered by status and then by name. This means that a non-active players with a last name that starts with A will still be found below an active player with a last name that starts with Z.

The Status column allows you to modify the status of the imported players. If a player has passed away, you can add an Excel column to that player with value = 3, and then import the list into Magic. This player will no longer show in lists when searching for names.

Another way of using Status is to keep track of paying members. If you mark players as Not active, either manually in Magic Contest through Find player, or automatically by importing value = 1 through Excel, then you will get a warning every time you enter that player in a contest.