Copyright: ®1984-1995 Ronald G. Precup


Contents
OPOOL for Windows Help

Table of Contents

  What's New in Version 3.0

  Overview

  How Do I...

Main Button Functions

For help on a Main Button function, click on its pushbutton below. (OPOOL's Main Window status bar will display a short description of the button's function when the cursor is over the button).

File Menu

  New Players File

  OpenPlayers File

  Save Players File

  Save PlayersFile As

  Printer Setup

  Exit

Options Menu

  Use Point-Spread Feature

  Enter Point Spreads

  Configure Point-Spread Method

Utilities Menu

  NFL Standings Display

  Common Opponents

  Monday Night Possibilities

  Reset Players' Picks

  Final Season Standings

  Change Program Colors

Other Help Headings

  Printing

  General Topics

  Glossary

  Team Names Abbreviations

  Error Messages

  AutoRead Picks Feature

  OPOOL/Win Shareware License


What's New
What's New in Version 3.0

--Extensive optional, user configurable point-spread features

--New menu design with "Options" choice, "Help" menu moved to far right, and "How to Use Help" feature eliminated.

--Fixed bug that prevented CONSENSUS picks from printing on Tally Sheet unless "Show All Picks" had first been chosen on the Enter Players' Picks screen.

--Added drag-and-drop feature for moving players on the "Show All Picks" screen.

What's New in Version 2.5

Support for 15-game weeks

Added Carolina Panthers (CAR) and Jacksonville Jaguars (JAX)

Moved the L.A. Rams (LRM) to St. Louis (STL)

Moved L.A. Raiders (LRD) back to Oakland (OAK)

In Enter Players' Picks window, navigate forward or backward through players with Alt-Plus (+) and Alt-Minus (-) keystrokes

New internal format for PLAYERS.DTW file. OPOOL will detect your earlier version and automatically convert it to the new format, preserving players names and identifying information.

--The PLAYERS.DTW file, which keeps track of POOL Players and their picks, can now be saved to and loaded from another filename/directory, permitting the operation of more than one pool (subject to the terms of the OPOOL/Win Shareware License).


Overview

OPOOL for Windows™ is an Office Football Pool management program for NFL games. If your computer has sufficient memory, OPOOL can handle up to 150 active Players. Point-spreads are supported (versions 3.0 or better).

Its purpose is to ease the task of recording players' picks and keeping track of the players' records, both weekly and (progressively, week by week) for the season. OPOOL:

 lets the user print a Pick Sheet of the week's NFL games for the Pool Players to use to enter their picks for the week

 keeps track of the Players, their weekly picks, and their weekly and season scores, including advance projections of who will win the week depending on the outcome and score of the Monday Night Game.

 lets you enter NFL results and scores, call up the NFL standings, and review the records of any two teams against their common opponents.

 prints out a Tally Sheet for distribution to all pool participants to let them see everyone else's picks and keep track of their relative standings as the weekend's games progress.

NOTE: Many OPOOL functions need a Week Number from you. This is obtained by a dialog box prompting you for a week number. Type the desired number in the box, OR click [image] (to increase the week number) or [image] to the right of the box (to decrease the number). Week numbers wrap (recycle from one to the number of weeks in the season and back), and clicking and holding either arrow will cycle through all weeks.


How Do I . . .

Add Players to the Roster

Change/Customize OPOOL's Colors

Change Due Date/Time for Pick Sheet

Clear All Picks from the PLAYERS.DTW file

Delete Players from the OPOOL Roster

Display potential winners before Monday Night game

Display/Print NFL standings

Display two teams' common opponents

Edit information about players

Enter NFL Results

Enter Picks

Enter Point-Spreads

Print a Pick Sheet

Print the Tally Sheet

Purge Deleted Players from the DiskFile

Read in Players' Picks Automatically

Restore Deleted Players to Active Status

Set the Point-Spread Method

Use the Keyboard

Use the Point-Spread Feature


File Operations

The File menu on the main OPOOL menu bar contains entries for standard Windows files operations (New, Open, Save, and Save As) that operate only on the players file (default name players.dtw).  Since the teams, schedule, and scores for NFL games are the same for all players, there is no need for renaming or relocating the schedule file, nflsched.dtw.

New Players File - permits you to create a new players file from scratch. It will contain only the consensus record. You may give it any legal filename and locate it in any directory, but when the program starts OPOOL first looks only for the file named players.dtw located in your OPOOL directory. To use another players file, you need to load it with the Open Players File command on the File menu. Befire the new file is created, the active players file is saved if it has changed.

Open Players File - opens an existing players file of your selection, wherever located on your computer or shared network. The active players file is saved first if it has changed.

Save Players File - automatically saves the active players file to the same name and location.

Save Players File As - Let's you save the active players file to a new name, a new location, or both.


Entering Players' Picks

Note: See also AutoRead

After obtaining a week number from you, this Main Menu pushbutton selection displays a window containing, among other things, the week for which you are entering picks, and  the number of active players.  When you select a player in the list box, the player's picks and tiebreaker, if any, are shown.

Each game for the week has two pushbuttons below it, one for the visiting team and one for the and home team. To select teams for the displayed Player, click one of the buttons below each game (or press <Enter> on the keyboard when the correct button is highlighted) and the team name will appear in the selection box for that game. Enter a number in the tiebreaker box using the keyboard.

Other options:

Changing the displayed player:

Click this button to the right of the current players' name to display the next Player. Click and hold the button down to cycle through the players first to last. Or press Alt-Plus (+) on the keyboard to advance to the next player.

Click this button to the left of the current player's name to display the previous Player. Click and hold the button down to cycle through the players last  to first. Or press Alt-Minus (-) on the keyboard to display the previous player.

Going beyond the last Player wraps to the first, and going before the first wraps to the last.

You can also open the drop-down combo box containing a list of all active Players by clicking on the down arrow ( [image])to its right, then selecting the player you want, using the scroll bar to navigate quickly. If you have a large number of Players, this is faster than clicking through the Players one at a time.

Changes made to a Player's picks are automatically recorded when you change the displayed Player and are saved to disk when you return to the Main Menu.

Changing the displayed week:

Click this button above the box displaying the current week to display the next week. Clicking and holding the button down cycles forward through the weeks.

Click this button below the box displaying the current week to display the preceding week. Clicking and holding this button down cycles backwards through the weeks.

Decreasing the week number below "1" wraps to the last week of the season, and increasing beyond the last week of the season wraps to week 1.

Changes in any displayed week are automatically recorded as the displayed week changes. The recorded changes are saved to disk (in the PLAYERS.DTW file) when you return to the Main Menu.

Entering default picks:

Click this button to give a defaulting player default picks for the week. If a tiebreaker was previously entered, it is cleared.

Clearing entries:

Click this button to clear all entries for the displayed player, including the tiebreaker. Individual entries, as well as the tiebreaker can also be cleared manually by selecting the text and pressing the keyboard <Delete> key. Entries for Players not displayed on the screen are not affected.

Showing all picks:

Clicking this button will call up a window displaying all entered picks for the displayed week, including the Consensus. Click the button to the left of this paragraph for addition features in the show-all-picks window.

Saving entries:

Click OK to save the displayed Player's entries. Moving to the next or previous Player or Week will also save the entries.

Cancel:

Click Cancel [image] to end the pick-entry without saving any changes you have made to the displayed data.

Teams' Record v. Common Opponents:

Click this button  to access the Common Opponents feature (also selectable from the Main Menu's utility menu).

Show NFL Standings:

Click this button to access the NFL Standings feature (also selectable from the utility menu).


Showing All Picks

There are two utilities available in this window:

Finding Identical Picks

Reposition Record


Finding Identical Picks

While displaying all picks for the week,  you can determine whether any other Players have the same picks as a Player you select. (Mouse required.)

Select a Player by placing the cursor on the line containing the picks of the Player you want to check, then click the right mouse button. A message box will appear announcing how many other Players have picks identical to that of the selected Player.

Click [image] in the message box. The picks of the Players with identical picks will appear together at the top of the displayed list of picks. On a color monitor, the identical records will be displayed in blue.

Note:  You cannot designate Consensus as the selected Player, nor will Consensus' picks be repositioned from the top of the list. For help comparing a Player's picks to those of the Consensus, see Reposition Record.


Reposition Record

While in the window displaying all Players' picks, you can easily reposition individual records one at a time (this feature requires a mouse). Repositioning is useful for a quick visual comparison of the picks of any pair of Players or of a Player's picks to the Consensus picks.

To reposition a record, click the left mouse button while the arrow cursor is on the line containing the record you want to move. The record will be highlighted. Then drag the record up or down to the position you want it and release the mouse button.

If your list of players exceeds a full screen, you may have to drag the record to the top or bottom of the screen, use the scroll bar to display the target list of records, and drag the record again to its final place.

Note: You cannot reposition the Consensus record (displayed at the top and in red on a color monitor). But you can easily drag and drop any record to the position immediately below the Consensus record.


Entering NFL Results

After you enter in a dialog box the week for which you want to enter the NFL winners and (optionally) scores,  a window displays the games for the week you selected. Each game is followed by a box containing the names of the visiting and home teams and the selection "TIE". Select the winner or a tie by beginning to type a team name or by clicking on the name in the drop-down box.

The results you enter are NOT automatically saved. They can be saved by clicking the SaveResults button (see below).

To the right are two boxes, one in a column labeled "WP" (for Winning Points) and the other in a column headed "LP" (for Losing Points).  Entry of scores is optional, but OPOOL features like NFL Standings Display will not work properly without them. If no score is entered for the Monday Night Game, the Tiebreaker feature does not work.

OPOOL will not let you enter a losing points total equal to or larger than the winning points total. See below for entering ties.

See also Change Week.

Options selectable by pushbutton in the Enter NFL Results window are (click the desired button for help on its topic):


Clear Entry (Results)
Clear Entry (NFL Results Window)

This pushbutton will clear the Winner' s name from the highlighted box and clear the points from the boxes to its right. If no box is highlighted, Clear Entry will clear the name from the last box to have been highlighted.


Enter Tie (NFL Results)
Enter Tie (NFL Results Window)

This pushbutton allows you to enter a tie as the outcome of an NFL game.

Clicking the pushbutton will pop up dialog box asking for the points at which the two teams tied. Enter the number and click [image] to record the tie or click [image] to close the dialog box without entering a score.

Alternatively, enter a tie by selecting 'TIE' instead of a team name in the winner drop-down box, then entering identical points in the winning- and losing-points boxes.


Change Week (NFL Results)
Change Week (NFL Results Window)

Click on one of these buttons next to the displayed week number in the Enter NFL Results window to access a different week from the one displayed.

If you have made entries on the screen, you will be asked whether to save the displayed data.

Click Yes to save the changes and continue,

or

Click No to discard the changes and continue

or

click Cancel to return to the displayed window without changing weeks.

Clicking and holding either arrow button (except when you have made a change to the displayed data) will cycle through all weeks.


Save Results (NFL Results Window)

Click this button to save the NFL results you have entered. Results entries are not automatically saved. Unless you choose to save them, they will be lost when you exit the Enter NFL Results window -- other than by pressing [image] -- or change weeks.  You will be prompted to save changed data when moving to another week.

Saved results are placed in the OPOOL data file NFLSCHED.DTW (see OPOOL Files).


Printing NFL Scores
Print (NFL Results Window)

Click this button to print the scores of the displayed games on your printer.


Help (NFL Results Window)

Click this button to display the main Help topic for Entering NFL Results.


Cancel (Enter NFL Results window)
Cancel (NFL Results Window)

Click this button in the Enter NFL Results window to return to the OPOOL Main Menu without saving any changes in the displayed data.


OK (Enter NFL Results window)
OK (NFL Results window)

Click [image] in the Enter NFL Results window to return to the OPOOL Main Menu, saving the displayed data.

Results entered for weeks other than the displayed week are not saved with [image]. Any entries previously saved with [image] or in response to a save-data prompt are preserved.


Displaying Weekly Standings

Access from the Main Menu pushbutton. Enter the desired week number in the dialog box that appears.

A  window displays the Players' standings for that week in order of correct picks for the week, together with the number of correct picks for the week and for the season through the displayed week.

If necessary, use the vertical scroll bar to display Players not fitting in the window.

The Weekly Standings window has a drop-down menu with two choices:

File:  Allows you to select

"Print" to print the displayed standings independent of a Pick or Tally Sheet; and

"Close" to close the standings window and return to the OPOOL/Win Main Menu. (You can also exit the window by pressing the <Esc> key.)

Info:  The Info drop-down menu lets you select:

"Consensus" to view the Consensus totals for the week and season;

"Winner," to display the winner or winners for the week (assuming all results are in);

and

"Tiebreaker"  to display the total number of points scored in that week's Monday Night Game and the teams that scored them, provided the information has been entered through the Enter NFL Results window.


Displaying Season Standings

After obtaining from you the desired week number, this Main Menu pushbutton choice opens a window that displays the Players' standings for the season through the specified week in order of correct picks for the season, together with the number of correct picks for the week and for the season through the displayed week.

If necessary, use the vertical scroll bar to display Players not fitting in the window.

The Season Standings window has a drop-down menu with two choices:

File:  Allows you to select

"Print" to print the displayed standings independent of a Pick or Tally Sheet;

and

"Close" to close the standings window and return to the OPOOL/Win Main Menu. (You can also exit the window by pressing the <Esc> key.)

Info:  The Info drop-down menu lets you select "Consensus" to view the Consensus totals for the week and season.


Printing (General)
Printing - General

OPOOL does all printing through the Windows Print Manager and related printing services, principally the Print Dialog. Printing is available for virtually all printers supported by Windows.

Before printing anything, OPOOL displays the usual Windows Print Dialog box, from which you may directly select:

 to print,

 to cancel and return to the previous menu, or

"Setup" with options to change print quality. To change printers, the connected printer port, or to print to file, you must choose File | Printer Setup from the main menu bar.

Consult your Windows User Manual on these topics.

OPOOL provides printing for the following sheets/data:

Pick Sheet

Tally Sheet

Week's Standings

Season's Standings

OPOOL Player Roster

NFL Results (single-week)

NFL Standings

Monday Possibilities

Team Records against Common Opponents

For more information see also:

Printing the Pick Sheet

Printing the Tally Sheet

Printing the Roster

Print Standings

Printing Hints


Printing the Pick Sheet

The Pick Sheet lists the games for the coming week and is used by the Players to make their picks and enter their tiebreakers.

If you have chosen to use the Point-Spread Feature, the Pick Sheet will also list the point-spread of each game (provided the spreads have been entered -- see Enter Point-Spreads) and list the favorites in CAPITAL LETTERS and the underdogs in lower-case letters.

After the first week of the season, the Pick Sheet also lists by default the week's standings for the preceding week. Note that the order of standings on the Pick Sheet is the order of finish for the week, not the standings for the season. (Season standings may be figured out from the total season correct picks also listed. The Tally Sheet lists standings in season order.) The previous week's winner is also listed.

If there are more than 45 active Players, there is a two-page Pick Sheet printout. The Week's games will appear on page 1 and the prior Week's standings will appear on page 2 (except for the first Week of the season).

You can prevent printing of the prior week's standings on the Pick Sheet by checking the "Do not print standings" check box.

After you have entered the week number called for when you click on the "Print Pick Sheet" pushbutton on the Main Menu, a dialog box displays the default date and time (noon deadline) when the Players' picks are due, and an edit line for entering an optional message (40 characters max) to be printed at the bottom of the Pick Sheet.

Change the the displayed due date by typing a different date in the edit line. The change will affect only the date shown on the Pick Sheet about to be printed.

The default date can be changed "permanently" by editing the OPOOLW.INI file in your main Windows directory. See OPOOL Files.

Type in a new time in the designated edit line to change the time the sheet will state that picks are due. The change will affect only the time shown on the Pick Sheet about to be printed.

The default noon deadline can be changed "permanently" by editing the OPOOLW.INI file in your main Windows directory. See OPOOL Files.

You can also type in an optional message that will be printed at the bottom of the sheet (see Print Optional Message).

Clicking this button calls up the Windows Print Dialog. See Printing - General. The printing process proceeds from there. When printing is concluded or canceled, you are returned to the OPOOL Main Menu.

Clicking this button closes the Print Pick Sheet dialog and returns you to the OPOOL Main Menu.

Clicking the Help button displays this help topic.


Printing the Tally Sheet

The Tally Sheet is a printout that lists all the picks of all the Players for the week. The list is in a grid form that facilitates keeping track of results as the NFL games are played.

After the first week, The Tally Sheet also lists the season Pool standings.

If you have chosen to use the Point-Spread Feature, the TallySheet will also list the point-spread of each game (provided the spreads have been entered -- see Enter Point-Spreads) and list the favorites in CAPITAL LETTERS and the underdogs in lower-case letters at the top of the sheet.

If there are more than 75 active Players, Players' picks will print on pages one and two of the Tally Sheet and the prior Week's season standings will print on page 3. If there are 34 to 75 players, the Tally Sheet will print on two pages.

You can prevent printing of the prior week's standings on the Tally Sheet by checking the "Do not print standings" check box.

After you have entered a week number in response to the prompt, a window opens announcing the imminent printing of the Tally Sheet for the week. The window has an edit line for entering an optional message (see below) and three pushbuttons:

Click this button to access the usual Windows Print Dialog and proceed with printing the Tally Sheet (see Printing - General).

Click this button to quit the print routine without printing the Tally Sheet and to return to the OPOOL Main Menu.

Click the Help button to display this help topic.

The dialog box also has a place for you to type in an optional message that will be printed at the bottom of the Tally Sheet (see Print Optional Message).


Printing the Roster

You can print out an alpha-sorted, numbered list of active OPOOL Players by clicking this button in the Roster Maintenance window. This calls up the usual Windows Print Dialog (see Printing - General), through which printing proceeds.

At the conclusion or cancellation of printing, you are returned to the Roster Maintenance menu window.

Note: OPOOL allows the entry of up to 79 characters in each of the Full Name and Location fields of the Enter/Edit Player window. If the entries are long, only some characters of each of these fields are printed, so that no player information takes more than one line to print.

For like reason, only the phone number, not the fax number, is printed.


Printing the Standings

OPOOL lets you print out the standings (season or weekly) independent of the Pick and Tally Sheets.

The printout shows name, number of correct picks for the week and season, and the serial standing number for the week or season, as the case may be.

Both Weekly and Season Standings printouts also display the Consensus data, and the Weekly version also shows the week's winner.

To print the standings, select File | Print from the menu bar of the window in which the standings (Weekly or Season) are displayed. The printout will be for or through the same week and of the same type as the window displays.

After "Print" is selected, the usual Windows Print Dialog will be displayed (see Printing - General), and the printing process proceeds from there.

At the conclusion or cancellation of printing, you are returned to the standings display window.


Print Optional Message

The printing procedures for both the Pick Sheet and the Tally Sheet afford the option of printing a brief message (up to 40 characters) in large, bold print at the bottom of the sheet.

The OPOOL Print Pick Sheet and Print Tally Sheet dialog boxes have an edit line in which you may type the message.

Typical uses for this option are to extend holiday greetings at appropriate times during the season, welcome new players, or congratulate winners.

See Printing Hints.


Printing Hints

Printing problems can sometimes be lessened by changing (usually lowering) print resolution in the Printer Setup dialog.

For example, your default print resolution may appear as "240x144."  You might try "120x72" instead. Or lower "300 dots per inch" to "150 dots per inch."

Some printer drivers' setup dialogs also have an "Options" button which, when pressed, will offer a choice between "Letter Quality" and "Draft" print quality. If your printer defaults to "Letter Quality," try choosing "Draft" instead.

If the above hints don't help, try updating your printer's windows driver. A more recent printer driver for your printer may be available for downloading from the Microsoft Windows Driver Library on Compuserve or from your printer manufacturer. Also be sure you have the latest version of UNIDRV.DLL in your WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory.

Alternatively, if you must print to file (because the right printer's down the hall), you can try connecting the printer you intend to use (in the Print Manager setup window) to FILE instead of or in addition to LPT1. At the proper time, you will be prompted to enter a file name.

The file produced by either technique cannot be "dragged and dropped" onto a printer icon on the desk top. If you try it, all the printer codes will print. Instead, "Copy" the file in DOS to PRN or the port to which the printer is attached. You can do this after you have exited from Windows to DOS or in a Windows DOS box. Type

copy filename.ext prn <ENTER>

You may have to use the /b switch, which permits sending binary data, not only text, to the printer with the copy command:

copy /b filename.ext prn <ENTER>

Another hint: when printing to a file that will be used to print on a laser jet, watch the size of the file.  Since the size of Tally Sheet print files may easily exceed 1,000,000 bytes, attempting the copy technique will cause a printer out-of-memory error if you have less than one megabyte of memory installed in your laser jet.  This is because laser jets are page printers, requiring all a page's data before starting to print. A dot-matrix printer, on the other hand, print line by line. The computer will not spool a file copied to PRN with the DOS copy command.

If you encounter an out-of-memory error on your laser jet, try reducing the dot-per-inch resolution (you can use File | Printer Setup from the main window menu bar to do this) from 300dpi to 150 or less.  At 75 dots per inch, printing of OPOOL output usually becomes unacceptable.


Roster Maintenance
OPOOL Roster Maintenance

The pushbuttons below are displayed on the Roster Menu window. Click on one for help on the button's topic.


NFL Schedule Maintenance

You may never need to enter an NFL schedule, since the file containing the schedule (NFLSCHED.DTW - see OPOOL Files) is distributed with OPOOL and is widely distributed throughout the football season.

If, however, you find yourself and your laptop in Timbuktu without a modem, or if the World Series or a natural disaster like 1992's Hurricane Andrew forces a change in the official schedule, here's how to enter or change it.

When you select this item from the Main OPOOL Utilities Menu, you will first be prompted to enter a week number. Enter a number, or choose [image] to return to the Main Menu.

The Schedule Maintenance window displays:

 -- the current (selected) NFL week number in the upper left; two rows (visitor and home) of 10 to 15 boxes each (depending on how many games are scheduled for that week);

 -- several pushbuttons;

 -- a set of radio buttons with the numbers 10 to 15; and

 -- a large box in the middle of the window containing pushbuttons with the abbreviated names of all 30 NFL teams.

(For a list of the abbreviations OPOOL uses, see Team Name Abbreviations.)

To enter or change teams: Use the mouse to put the cursor in the appropriate box in the visitor or home row for the team you want to enter.

The easier way to enter the team is to click on the team's pushbutton in the "Teams" box. After clicking, the button face is disabled (grayed), as a help against entering the same team more than once.

Alternatively, type in the name, taking care that the team name is in all capital letters, spelled exactly as on the pushbuttons, and without leading, trailing, or other spaces.

To change number of games:  Click the radio button in the box at the bottom of the window corresponding to the number of games in the displayed week. The number of games boxes in the Visitor and Home rows will change accordingly.

You can increase or decrease the number of games at any time.

To restore team names on disabled (grayed) pushbuttons:

All Team pushbuttons can be enabled by clicking this button below the Teams box.

Other pushbuttons:

Change Week:

Click either button to change the  NFL Week from the one displayed. If you have made unsaved changes in the displayed week, you will be prompted to save your changes before proceeding.

Save Week:

Click this button to save the edits you have made to the displayed screen before changing weeks or to stay in the Schedule Maintenance window.

Clicking OK will also save your changes, but will exit the Schedule Maintenance window and return you to the OPOOL Main Menu.

Help:

Clickthe Help button to display this Help topic.

Cancel:

Click Cancel to discard the changes you have made and return to the OPOOL Main Menu.

OK:

Click OK to save any changes made to the displayed data and return to the OPOOL Main Menu.


Exiting OPOOL

This Main Menu choice exits OPOOL.


Utilities Menu
Utilities

The following topics are accessible from the drop-down Utilities menu from the OPOOL Main Menu:

NFL Standings Display

Common Opponents

Monday Night Possibilities

Final Season Standings

 	Change Program Colors


NFL Standings Display

The NFL Standings Display is a feature available from the Utilities drop-down menu at the OPOOL main screen.

The identical feature can be called up by clicking on the "Show NFL Standings" pushbutton in the Enter Picks window.

If you have entered NFL results, a window will display the standings of each of the three divisions in each of the two conferences of the NFL. The display includes overall record, percentage, and record within the division.

If scores have been entered, each team's points scored for and against will also be displayed.

Choose "File | Close" from the window's menu bar or press the <Esc> key to close the display window and return to the OPOOL/Win Main Menu.

Choose File | Print from the window's menu bar to print the displayed standings.

See also: Entering NFL Results


Common Opponents

Common Opponents is a feature of the drop-down Utilities Menu of the OPOOL/Win Main Menu. It is designed to help the OPOOL Operator make picks for the week by examining how any two teams about to play each other have fared against teams both have played. Choose Utilities | Common opponents from the main menu bar, or from a button on the Enter Picks screen.

When this item is selected, it prompts for the name of the first team. Enter it (two- or three-letter abbreviation only) in the dialog box.

A second dialog box will open showing the name of the first team selected and prompting for the name of the second team. Again, enter the abbreviated team name.

A window will open displaying all teams which the two chosen teams have BOTH played or are scheduled to play in the current season.  The disply includes the week number, team name, home/away information, and -- if previously entered -- the scores for each team against their common opponents.

Print the results of the query by choosing File | Print from the display window's menu bar.

This feature is also accessible by clicking this pushbutton in the Enter Picks window.


Monday Night Possibilities

This feature can be selected from the Utilities drop-down menu at the OPOOL Main Menu screen.

For the week you specify, OPOOL will display:

 -- the names of the Players still in the running;

 -- the winner(s) if the visiting team should win;

 -- the winner(s) if the home team should win; and

 -- the tiebreaker points that will produce the winners in each case.

This display will appear only after entry of Sunday's results and before the Monday Night Game is played.

If the Monday Night Game results for the week specified have already been entered, or if the results of fewer than all games except the Monday Night Game have been entered, an error message will be displayed. Click [image] to continue.

Print the list of possible winners by choosing File | Print from the display window's menu bar.

Choose "File | Close" from the display window's menu bar to return to the Main Menu.

Note: Use of the Point-Spread Feature may affect the operation of Monday Night Possibilities.


Final Season Standings

This feature is not accessible until the results are entered for the final game of the final week of the season. It will then be available to display the season standings and provide a chance to print them out by choosing File|Print from the display window's menu bar. Before that, the Utilities | Final Season Standings selection is grayed on the main menu bar.


Reset Players' Picks

This feature is designed to permit you to use the prior season's players' data file, PLAYERS.DTW, for the current season, without having to delete the old picks manually. Choose Utilities | Reset Players' Picks from the main menu bar.

After asking and obtaining your confirmation, the feature erases all picks for all players for all weeks, making them 'None.' It in effect destroys all pick information while leaving name, id, and Pool Name information alone for current use.


Add/Edit Player

Selecting either the Add a Player or Edit Existing Player item from the Roster Maintenance menu will present a window containing edit boxes for basic player information, a box listing the existing players (if editing), and a number of pushbuttons for various functions.

To add a player: Type identifying information in the five boxes:

 -- Full name (79 characters maximum) is optional;

 -- location information( 79 characters max), where you can enter an address, office, room number, or the like, is also optional;

 -- the phone and fax boxes, also optional, let you enter numbers that let you contact a player easily (14 characters max).

 -- Pool Name is NOT optional. You must enter a Pool Name (5 characters max) in order for OPOOL to save a player. The Pool Name may not be the same name as that of another active or deleted player.

To save the information, click [image].

If you attempt to add a Player when there are 150 active Players, a message box will advise you you have reached the limit and can add no more Players. The Player information you have just entered will not be saved.

If the Pool Name you have entered is the same as that of another active or deleted (but unpurged) player, you will receive an error message and be given the opportunity to change the Pool Name of the Player whose info is displayed on the screen.

To edit a Player: Using the list box on the right of the Edit window, highlight the name of the player whose information you want to edit by clicking on the name in the list box. The name will appear in the list's edit window and the existing player information will be displayed on the screen.

When done editing, click [image] to save the information.

Clicking Clear will clear any displayed Player info from the screen, but will not affect information stored in the PLAYERS.DTW file (see OPOOL Files).

Clicking Cancel will return you to the Roster Maintenance screen. It will NOT save any displayed data (use [image] to save the data).


Delete a Player

Selecting this item from the Roster Maintenance menu will present a window containing empty edit boxes for basic player information, a box listing the existing players, and two pushbuttons (besides [image]).

To delete a player: Select the player (by Pool Name) from the list box at the right of the Delete Player window.

Click this button and a dialog box will appear asking for confirmation of the deletion of the player whose information the screen displays.

Click the Yes button to delete the Player from the Active Roster (the i.d. info and any scores computed prior to the deletion remain in the disk file PLAYERS.DTW but are not displayed).

Click the No button if you do NOT wish to delete the Player from the Active Roster.

Deleted Player information that has not been purged can later be restored to active status.

Click Cancel to leave the Delete Player window and return to the Roster Maintenance menu.

See also:  Restore Deleted Players, Purge Deleted Players, OPOOL Files.


Restore Deleted Players

This Roster Maintenance menu choice opens a window that displays the number of deleted Players and a list box with their Pool Names. Highlight the name of the Player to restore, then click [image].

The record of the deleted Player will be restored to active status and displayed as normal.

If you have 150 active Players (or fewer if you have too little computer memory), you have reached the limit, and OPOOL/Win will not restore a Player to take you over the limit. A message box will report this condition. To correct it and permit the restoration of a deleted Player, first delete one or more active Players.

If there are no deleted Players available to be restored, a message box will appear and so state. Click [image] to close the message box  and continue.

Click Cancel to close the Restore Player window and return to the Roster Maintenance menu.

See also Delete a Player, Purge Deleted Players, OPOOL Files.


Exit to Main Menu

Click this button to return (mirabile dictu!) to the OPOOL Main Menu.


Purge Deleted Players

Use this Roster Maintenance menu choice to purge the PLAYERS.DTW file of records of Players you had earlier deleted from active status.

OPOOL ordinarily retains the records of a deleted player on disk, so that you can restore the player is the deletion was a mistake or a Player who drops out for a few weeks returns.

OPOOL will display a list box with the Pool Names of deleted Players and will show the number of deleted players that can be purged.

Pick the name to purge by highlighting the name in the list box in the small window displayed, then click Purge. You will be asked to confirm the purge.

Click Yes to complete the purge

or

 Click No to leave the deleted record unpurged.

Click Cancel to quit the Purge window and return to the Roster Maintenance menu.

CAUTION:  Purging a Player completely erases the Player's record and prevents the record ever from being restored.

See also: OPOOL Files


General Topics

OPOOL Help has information on the following additional topics:

Team Name Abbreviations

Keeping Score

Limitations

OPOOL History

Uninstalling OPOOL/Win


Team Name Abbreviations

OPOOL uses the following NFL team-name abbreviations:

ATL	Atlanta Falcons

AZ	Arizona (formerly PHOENIX) Cardinals

BUF	Buffalo Bills

CAR	Carolina Panthers

CHI	Chicago Bears

CIN	Cincinnati Bengals

CLE	Cleveland Browns

DAL	Dallas Cowboys

DEN	Denver Broncos

DET	Detroit Lions

GB	Green Bay Packers

HOU	Houston Oilers

IND	Indianapolis Colts

JAX	Jacksonville Jaguars

KC	Kansas City Chiefs

MIA	Miami Dolphins

MIN	Minnesota Vikings

NE	New England Patriots

NO	New Orleans Saints

NYG	New York Giants

NYJ	New York Jets

OAK	Oakland (formerly LA) Raiders

PHI	Philadelphia Eagles

PIT	Pittsburgh Steelers

SD	San Diego Chargers

SEA	Seattle Seahawks

SF	San Francisco Forty-Niners

STL	St. Louis (formerly LA) Rams

TAB	Tampa Bay Buccaneers

WAS	Washington Redskins

Note: As of 1994, the abbreviation PHX for the Phoenix Cardinals is no longer in use; as of 1995, the abbreviations LRD and LRM are no longer in use.


Keeping Score

OPOOL/Win keeps track of the number of correct picks each Player makes each week and also cumulatively for the season.

Except for breaking ties between those with the same number of picks for the week, only the number right counts, so long as the Point-Spread Feature is not activated. If the Point-Spread Feature is used, the Pool Operator has several options regarding how the point-spreads will affect credit for a winning pick. Using point-spreads, though, is entirely optional.

Non-point-spread play is designed to make participation enjoyable even for those with limited knowledge of the NFL brand of football.

The winner is decided between or among Players with the same number of correct picks for the week by the tiebreaker, a number chosen by each Player as the total number of points scored by the two teams in the Monday Night Game.

The Player closest (over or under) to the actual total points is the winner. If tied Players have the same tiebreaker, the week is split between or among them, as the case may be.

Players who do not join by the first week of the season can join later, receiving default picks for the weeks they missed. Visiting teams (and no tiebreaker points) are used for the default picks, which usually gives enough to keep the Player in the running for the season without undue penalty, but will seldom produce enough correct picks to win the week.

The defaulting Player should not win the week over a Player who makes picks, even if the default picks produce more correct picks. Players not getting their picks in on time also get the default picks.

Season totals are also kept, and each week's Pick and Tally Sheets contain a list of the Players' season totals. Typically, the top three finishers for the season get First-Place, Second-Place, and Third-Place awards,. respectively.

There is no season tiebreaker. If two Players finish the season with the same number of correct picks, they share First Place.


OPOOL Files

The following files are necessary for running OPOOL for Windows:

OPOOLW.EXE - the main executable file.

NFLSCHED.DTW - a data file that contains the season's NFL schedule and, when entered, point-spreads, and the winners and scores of the NFL games. Note that NFLSCHED.DTW files for OPOOL/Win versions prior to ver. 2.5 are not compatible with ver. 3.0.

If OPOOLW.EXE cannot find a compatible NFLSCHED.DTW in the directory in which OPOOLW.EXE is located, an error message is displayed. You are then given a chance to quit the program, or to continue and have the program create a new but empty NFLSCHED.DTW file, in which you will have to enter all scheduling information (see NFL Schedule Maintenance).

The Windows version is kept up to date during the season and is widely available on bulletin boards, the Internet, and other on-line services.

PLAYERS.DTW - a data file containing all information (identifying and pick- and scoring-related) about each Player in the Pool.

If OPOOLW.EXE cannot find PLAYERS.DTW in the directory in which OPOOLW.EXE is located, an error message is displayed. You are then given a chance to quit the program, to browse other locations on your computer for the desired file, or to continue and have the program create a new but empty PLAYERS.DTW file, in which you will have to enter all player information.

Note: The internal format of PLAYERS.DTW changed for OPOOL/Win version 2.5 due in part to changes in the number of NFL teams and consequent changes in schedules. If OPOOL detects thatyou are using an obsolete version of PLAYERS.DTW, it will so notify you and offer you the opportunity of having the file converted automatically to the new format. There is no longer a separate conversion program. Conversion preserves player names (POOL names) and identifying information, but not picks. Since OPOOL/Win ver. 2.5+ will not work with older formats, there is no chance of losing 1995-season picks in the conversion process.

CTL3DV2.DLL - A Windows Dynamic Load Library (DLL), ©Microsoft Corporation, needed for operation of INSTALL.EXE, OPOOLW.EXE, and OPICKS.EXE.

Optional files. The following optional files are distributed with OPOOL and greatly enhance its usefulness, though the program will operate without them:

OPOOL30.HLP - This file should be located in the same directory as OPOOLW.EXE. It provides overall and context-sensitive help for most aspects of the program through the Windows help system.

OPOOLW.INI - this file is located in your computer's main Windows directory. It contains the year, the default due time (noon deadline), the default due dates for each of the weeks (18 in 1993, 17 in 1994 and 1995) in the NFL season, and default screen colors, as well as other information.

If you installed OPOOL/Win using the INSTALL.EXE file supplied with the disk version, OPOOLW.INI also contains your registration information.

OPOOL/Win reads the .INI file to display the default due dates and times for the Pick Sheet.

You can edit this file with any ASCII or ANSI text editor, such as the Windows NOTEPAD or Norton's DeskTop Editor, to change the default data. In fact, you can write your own OPOOLW.INI file for the scheduled dates for future years.

OPICKS.EXE - New with OPOOL/Win version 2.0, this companion program and its Help (OPICKS.HLP) file are for free distribution to Pool Players who participate it a pool managed with your registered copy of OPOOL/Win. It allows Players to enter their picks on-screen and produce a short data file OPOOL/Win can read automatically, saving the operator the trouble of keying in the picks. See AutoRead.

Other files.  Various short "readme" test  files are typically contained in the release version of OPOOL/Win.


Limitations

Known limitations include:

Printing - Printing functions remain at the mercy of Windows printer drivers. Print problems can often be reduced or eliminated by using the latest version of the Windows printer driver for your printer.

Player capacity - OPOOL/Win is designed to handle 150 Players maximum, provided you have sufficient computer memory. The program will not let you enter more than 150 (including the Consensus).

Video Resolution - OPOOL/Win screens were developed using an SVGA (800x600) monitor. Screens were tested with VGA (640x480) resolution to ensure that all information is visible in a single screen or accessible by scrolling. VGA screens may appear crowded, and at 1024x768 or higher resolution the displays are too small to be used with comfort.

Drag and Drop - On the "Show All Picks" screen, you can't drag a record to a position not visible on the screen, since the window does not scroll while you drag. You have to drag part way, reposition the window, and drag the record again (maybe more than once, depending on the number of Players in your pool and the distance you want to drag the record) to get the record to its final resting place.

Backups - OPOOL/Win does not make backup copies of the PLAYERS.DTW or NFLSCHED.DTW files. You should make your own backups, especially of PLAYERS.DTW (NFLSCHED.DTW with up-to-date NFL results is usually obtainable from bulletin boards during the season) to protect against the need to rekey large amounts of data.

Windows 95® - OPOOL/Win version 3.0 has been tested on a late-beta version of Windows 95 and should work normally with it. Version 3.0 is not, however, a 32-bit application.


OPOOL History

OPOOL began as a Basic-language program in 1984. The year 1994 marked the program's tenth anniversary.

By 1987 an assembly-language shareware program appeared that became a stable, mature program over the years. The last DOS version was 5.3 for the 1994 NFL season. With the 1995 season, the DOS version is no longer supported.

For a short while the program BPOOL, written in Pascal,  offered a way around the 29-player limit of OPOOL. In 1990, a full-fledged OPOOL-PRO (at the time of OPOOL ver. 4.x) made its appearance, with a capacity of 96 players and many extra features.

OPOOL/Win went through beta testing during the latter part of the 1992 NFL season (special thanks here to beta tester David Sauerbry). Version 1.0 was released in June 1993 for the 1993 season.

August/September 1993: versions 1.1 and 1.1a, maintenance releases containing an improved user interface and smaller code, improving the reporting of Monday Possibilities, and fixing some printing bugs.

October 1993: version 1.2, containing many printing improvements and fixes (thanks here especially to Lyle Pendy); adding user-changeable colors; an improved user interface for the Enter Picks screen; improvements to the accuracy and dependability of the Monday Possibilities and Find Identical Picks; added capabilities to print NFL standings, list of team results against common opponents, and NL scores.

June 1994: version 2.0, incorporating a status bar on the Main Window, slightly revised menus, 3-D controls, improved player selection interface on the Enter Players' Picks screen, and the new AutoRead feature for entering Players' picks. The main Roster screens were simplified and their accuracy and speed enhanced. Other changes as necessitated by changing Phoenix Cardinals team name and reduction of the length of the NFL season to 17 weeks.

August 1994: Maintenance release called version 2.0a. Added separate editing feature in Roster for existing players, allowing more reliable editing. Improved installation program.

August 1995: version 2.5, adding further improvements to the user interface, a new format for OPOOL data (.DTW) files, support for multiple player files, and many changes necessitated by the addition of two new NFL teams (JAX and CAR), the move of two others (LRD to OAK and LRM to STL).

August-September 1995: version 3.0, adding optional, user-configurable point-spread capability.


OPOOL LICENSE

OPOOL/Win is a shareware program copyrighted by its author. You may use the program for evaluation purposes (not exceeding four weeks during the NFL season), but after that you have an obligation to register the program and pay the registration fee.

OPOOL/Win and its companion programs and files described herein are distributed without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including withou limitation any WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY or WARRANTY OF FITNESS OR SUITABILITY FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Any use of the program is at the sole risk of the user. The author is not responsible for any damages sustained through the use of OPOOL/Win, whether direct, indirect, general, or consequential.

Registration entitles you to use the program on any number of computers (including networks) at the same time, PROVIDED THAT ALL COPIES ARE USED TO OPERATE ONE AND ONLY ONE FOOTBALL POOL. For example, you may maintain the same pool at the office that you also work on at home or from a laptop computer while on the road. A separate LICENSE is needed for each separate pool you run.

Registration further entitles you to free support during the current NFL Season ONLY (that is, the season during or immediately preceding which you register). No printed manuals are provided (help save the trees), and the author assumes no undertaking to maintain or upgrade the program in the future.

OPOOL/Win is designed and distributed for recreational purposes only. Any use of OPOOL/Win to encourage or facilitate gambling in violation of law voids the license and works a forfeiture of your usage rights in the program.


Uninstalling OPOOL/Win

To uninstall, OPOOL/Win, simply delete all files in your computer's OPOOL/Win directory AND ONE OTHER FILE:

OPOOLW.INI, located in your main Windows directory.

You should not delete the copy of CTL3DV2.DLL located in your Windows\System directory, since it is likely that other programs installed on your computer need it. OPOOL/Win installs a copy only if it is not already on your computer.

OPOOL/Win makes no additions or changes to WIN.INI, SYSTEM.INI, or any other file not its own.


Using the Keyboard

Like many windows programs, OPOOL/Win is designed for use with a mouse or similar pointing device. Keyboard support is limited.

You may find, though, that some tasks, like Entering NFL Results are actually easier with the keyboard. When the cursor is in a winner box, typing the first letter a team name in the box. If both teams' names start with the same letter, press the same first letter again. For example, if the Chargers play at the Seahawks, pressing "S" selects San Diego (the Chargers), and pressing "S" a second time selects Seattle. Touch the TAB key or <Enter> to move to the winning points box, enter the points, then TAB (or press <Enter>) to move to the losing points box. You can move through the whole window that way.

In general, any menu item (drop-down or pushbutton) with an underscored letter may be chosen by holding down the ALT key and pressing that letter. In drop-down menus, once the menu has been chosen with an ALT-key combination, pressing the underlined letter of the menu choice (without the ALT key) will select it. Though not visually cued, Alt-Plus amd Alt-Minus will navigate forward and backward, respectively, through the players on the Enter Players' Picks screen.

Menu items followed with a "!" will take place immediately (whether chosen by key combination or mouse click), without a drop-down box or secondary menu.

Starting with version 2.5, you can navigate among displayed players in the Enter Picks screen by using the key combination Alt-Plus (+) to advance and Alt-Minus (-) to go back.


Set Program Colors
Setting Program Colors

OPOOL/Win's Main Window colors are burgundy and gold, which are, of course, the Washington Redskins team colors. If you prefer your own team's colors, or if you would like to change the appearance of the program's dialog boxes or edit controls, there are two ways to do it.

First, you can select Utilities | Set Program Colors from the Main Menu Bar. OPOOL will display a dialog box displaying three samples, titled "Main Window," "Dialog Boxes," and "Edit Controls." To the right of each window are two pushbuttons, the upper for changing the background color, the lower for changing the text color.

Click on the appropriate button for the color you want to change. A standard Windows change-color dialog appears, letting to change the color graphically or numerically.  Select the desired color and click OK. The new color will appear in the sample window.

To make the change take effect, click OK. To discard the changes you have made, click Cancel. Either button returns you to the main window.

Changed colors take effect immediately and become the program defaults, reappearing the next time you start OPOOL.

You can also change colors by editing the OPOOLW.INI file in your Windows directory. Use a plain text editor, like NOTEPAD.EXE.  Each of the features you can change has RGB entries for the colors. You can change them if you are familiar with RGB values. To return to the original program defaults (see below for RGB color values), delete the Red, Green, and Blue lines (there are six sets of them) from the OPOOLW.INI file (or comment them out by inserting a semicolon (;) at the start of the line.

Hard-coded default colors, which the program uses in the absence of different colors specified by you are as follows (bracketed text is the INI file section name):

Main Window Background [MainBkColor] - Burgundy

Red=64

Green=0

Blue=0

Main Window Text Color [MainTxtColor] - Gold

Red=191

Green=191

Blue=0

Dialog Boxes Background [DialogBkColor] - Blue-Green

Red=0

Green=191

Blue=191

Dialog Boxes Text [DialogTxtColor] - Black

Red=0

Green=0

Blue=0

Edit Controls Background [EditBkColor] - White

Red=255

Green=255

Blue=255

Edit Controls Text [EditTxtColor] - Black

Red=0

Green=0

Blue=0


AutoRead Feature
OPOOL/Win's AutoRead Feature

If you distribute the companion file OPICKS.EXE to your Pool Players (your license of OPOOL/Win lets you distribute an unlimited number of copies of OPICKS.EXE and OPICKS.HLP), your Players can produce a short data file readable by OPOOL.

The data file thus created lets OPOOL import a Player's picks for the week simply by clicking on the AutoRead pushbutton ( [image]) on the Enter Picks screen. An error message is displayed if the Player's picks file for the current Week Number is not found.

OPICKS.EXE contains the NFL schedule for the current season, so Players do not need NFLSCHED.DTW.  But a new OPICKS.EXE file will be needed each season.

The schedule in OPICKS.EXE has the games listed in the same order as does the official release version of NFLSCHED.DTW. If you enter your own schedule, or if you change the order of the games, the AutoRead feature will try to locate the game for which each Player pick that week is intended, and if it thinks it has succeeded, will enter that pick. You will be given a cautionary message, however, and you should check the picks to make sure AutoRead read them correctly.

The operation of OPICKS itself is explained in the OPICKS.HLP file and is not repeated here. It is very simple, though, and can save you hours of keying in picks over the course of a season, as well as the errors that inevitably occur in transcribing the picks from Pick Sheet to computer by hand.

For the AutoRead feature to work, the Player's data file must be in the same directory as your NFLSCHED.DTW and PLAYERS.DTW files, that is, your OPOOL/Win directory. OPICKS.EXE automatically creates the file name from the Player's Pool Name (padded to five characters if necessary using the underscore character), the letter 'W,' and the two-digit week number, plus an 'OPD' file extension. For example, Joe's picks for week three would be included in the file JOE__W03.OPD. OPOOL/Win uses internal checks to try to assess the validity of the file.

The availability of the AutoRead feature also has one major drawback: SECURITY. You have to ensure that (1) no one is able to enter picks for someone else and obliterate the real picks; and (2) that no changes are made to the picks after the deadline for turning in the picks.

You must arrange appropriate security measures with your Players. Here are some suggestions:

If you are not on a network, have each Player supply you with a floppy disk containing his picks for the week.

If you are on a network, create a password-protected shared directory on your computer to which Players can copy the files. A separate e-mail message to you confirming the time and date of the file can help ensure against foul play. For added security, the copied file should have its read-only attribute set, thereby preventing others from overwriting it with a file of the same name. Note, however, that once a Player has copied his picks to the designated directory, he will be unable to change them, even if the deadline for making picks has not yet arrived.

Alternatively, again on a network, have each user give you read-only privileges to a shared directory on his/her computer from which you can download the data file. While this is quite secure, it burdens the OPOOL operator with collecting the pick files.

Finally, if your e-mail allows the attachment of binary files, you should have your Players e-mail the data to you as a binary attachment to an e-mail message.  This is by far the most secure. Just save the e-mail attachment to your OPOOL/Win directory. All the security available to your e-mail system, such as password protection and public/private key encoding and authentication become instantly available.


Opool Help System Browse sequence

  Contents - help_index:000

  Overview - main:005

  HowDoI - main:010

  Main Procedures

    Entering Players' Picks - main_procs:010

      Show All Picks - enter_picks:005

      Find Identical - enter_picks:010

      Reposition Record - enter_picks:015

      AutoRead Feature - enter_picks:020

    Entering NFL Results - main_procs:015

      Clear Entry - results:005

      Enter Tie - results:010

      Change Week - results:015

      Save Results - results:020

      Help - results:025

      Cancel - results:030

      OK - results:035

    Displaying Weekly Standings - main_procs:020

    Displaying Season Standings - main_procs:025

    Roster Maintenance - main_procs:030

       Add/Edit Player - roster:005

       Delete a Player - roster:010

       Restore Deleted Players - roster:020

       Purge Deleted Players - roster:025

       Exit to Main Window - roster:030

    Schedule Maintenance - main_procs:035

    Exiting OPOOL/Win - main_procs:040

  Printing - main:015

    Printing the  Pick Sheet - printing:005

    Printing the Roster - printing:010

    Printing the Tally Sheet - printing:015

    Printing the Standings - printing:020

    Print Optional Message - printing:025

    Printing Hints - printing:030

  General Topics - main:020

    Team Name Abbreviations - gt:005

    Keeping Score - gt:010

    OPOOL Files - gt:015

    Limitations - gt:020

    OPOOL License - gt:023

    OPOOL History - gt:025

    Uninstalling OPOOL/Win - gt:030

    Error Messages - gt:035

    Using the Keyboard - gt:040

  Utilities Menu - Main:025

    NFL Standings - utils:005

    Common Opponents - utils:010

    Monday Possibilities - utils:015

    Final Season Standings - utils:020

    Reset Players' Picks - utils:025

    Set Program Colors - utils:030

 Files Menu - Main:027

    File Operations - file:010

  Options Menu - Main:029

    Use Point-Spread Feature - options:010

    Point-Spread Tips - options:020

    Enter Point Spreads - options:030

    Configure Point-Spread Method - options:050

  Error Messages - Main:030

    Another_copy - err:003

    Cannot save - err:005

    Consensus not - err:010

    First select - err:015

    Losing Points - err:030

    Win Lose - err:035

    Help not - err:040

    Invalid entry - err:045

    Invalid number - err:050

    Name another - err:055

    Name team - err:060

    Name inactive - err:065

    NFL not - err:070

    No deleted - err:075

    No players - err:077

    Number out - err:080

    Only one - err:085

    Out disk - err:086

    Out mem - err:087

    Player Lim1 - err:088

    Player Lim2 - err:089

    Players not - err:090

    Print error - err:095

    Print abo - err:096

    Print can - err:097

    Results in - err:100

    Results Monday - err:105

    Schedule not - err:110

    TB not - err:115

    Winning Pts - err:120

Glossary - main:035


Error Messages
Error Messages (in alphabetical order)

NOTE:  OPOOL/Win requires Windows 3.1 or higher.

Another copy of OPOOL is running

Cannot print Pick Sheet

Cannot save a Player without a Pool Name

Consensus not found

First select a name from the list

Game n error: Losing points cannot exceed winning points

Game n error: Winning and losing points cannot be the same

Help not found

Invalid entry

Invalid number of games specified

[Name] is already in use by another Pool Player

[Name] is not a valid team

[Name] is the Pool Name of an existing inactive Player

NFLSCHED.DTW file not found

No deleted players found

No Players in File

Number out of range

Only one player

Out of disk space

Out of memory

Player limit reached. Cannot restore...

Player limit reached. No more...

PLAYERS.DTW file not found

Print error

Printing aborted in Print Manager

Printing cancelled

Results are in for only n of m games

Results for Monday Night Game for Week n already entered

Schedule not complete for Week n

Tiebreaker unavailable

Winning and losing points for tie in game n must be equal!


Another copy of OPOOL is running -- You have OPOOL running in another window, either iconized or covered by other windows. Use ALT+TAB to cycle through your active windows until you find it. Second and subsequent invocations of OPOOL/Win produce this message and refuse to run.


Cannot save a Player without a Pool Name -- In trying to add a Player to the OPOOL Roster, you did not make an entry in the Pool Name field.

OPOOL keeps track of Players by Pool Name, so cannot save Player data unless a Pool Name is entered.


Consensus not found -- You attempted to view the Consensus record from the Weekly or Season Standings window "Info" menu, and the program could not find Consensus. Click on "OK" to continue.


First select a name from the list -- You clicked on  [image], [image], [image], or [image] in one of the Roster Maintenance subwindows without having selected a Pool Name from the list.

Click on a name in the list so it appears in the box to the right of the pushbutton. Typing a name in the box will not work.


Game n error: Losing points cannot exceed winning points -- The "n" stands for a game number displayed in the Enter/Edit NFL Results window. You have accidentally given the winning team more points than the loser.

Click on the "OK" button in the error message box to clear the error message and place the cursor in the winning points box of game n. Then correct the erroneous points.


Game n error: Winning and losing points cannot be the same except on a tie -- The "n" stands for a game number displayed in the Enter/Edit NFL Results window. You cannot enter a tie by giving both teams the same number of points.

Instead, click on the "OK" button in the error message box to clear the error message and place the cursor in the winning points box of game n. Then click the "Enter Tie" pushbutton to enter the tie and points.


Help not found -- OPOOL could not find the file OPOOLHLP.HLP and therefore could not display on-line help when requested. Click on "OK" to clear the error message, then make sure the file OPOOLHLP.HLP is in the same directory as OPOOLW.EXE.


Invalid entry -- You were prompted for a Game Number and entered something other than a number. Click on "OK" and enter a number at the prompt.


Invalid number of games specified. Unable to record schedule. -- While doing NFL Schedule Maintenance, you attempted to set a week length exceeding the maximum number of games for the week in question.

Click on "OK" to clear the error message, then correct the error and try again.


[Name] is already in use by another Pool Player. Change the displayed player's name or cancel -- You have entered a Pool Name in the appropriate field in the Add/Edit Players window that is already in use by another Player.

OPOOL/Win will not accept duplicate Pool Names. Change the Pool Name you just entered, or cancel the attempted add or edit procedure.


[Name] is not a valid team -- When prompted for the name of an NFL team, you entered an invalid name. OPOOL keeps track of NFL teams by two- or three letter abbreviations. See Team Name Abbreviations.

To enter a team name, the spelling must be identical to that used by OPOOL.


[Name] is the Pool Name of an existing inactive Player. Purge or retrieve the inactive Player or use a different name -- The Pool Name you have entered for the Player displayed in the Add//Edit Player window is the same as the Pool Name of an inactive Player.

(Inactive Players are those who have been deleted from the Roster but whose records have not been purged from the PLAYERS.DTW file. See Delete a Player, OPOOL Files.)

You can correct the error by:

-- purging the inactive Player with the identical Pool Name (see Purging Deleted Players), in which case the purged Player's records will be permanently deleted;

 -- restoring the deleted Player (see Restore Deleted Players) and changing his or her Pool Name and, if desired, deleting the Player again; or

 -- changing the Pool Name of the currently displayed Player.


NFLSCHED.DTW file not found -- When OPOOL starts up, one of the first things it does is look for the data file NFLSCHED.DTW in the directory in which OPOOLW.EXE is located. The absence of NFLSCHED.DTW from that directory generates an error.

The message box reporting the error gives you the choice of either quitting OPOOL/Win or letting the program create a new NFLSCHED.DTW file for you.

Quit if you have placed your NFLSCHED.DTW file in a different directory and need only move it to the OPOOLW subdirectory.

If you choose to let OPOOL/Win create the file for you, it will create an initialized but otherwise empty NFLSCHED.DTW file. You can fill in the schedule yourself, choosing "NFL Schedule Maintenance" from the OPOOL/Win. It is far easier, though, to use the file that came with the program, or to download the file from the Mortar Board or other bulletin board.


No deleted players found -- You tried to Restore a deleted Player, but there were no inactive players in the PLAYERS.DTW file. Only once active Players whose records were deleted and not purged can be restored.


No Players in file. Add them in Roster -- You have tried to view possible winners from the Utility menu, but there are no Players in the PLAYERS.DTW file (see OPOOL Files).

You must have Players before you can have a winner.


Number out of range -- This error message is generated whenever, in response to a prompt to enter a week number, you enter a number less than one or greater than the number of weeks (17 in 1995) in the NFL schedule.

Press OK to clear the error message, then either enter a number in the acceptable range and click "OK," or click "Cancel" to return to the preceding menu.


Only one player -- You attempted to display weekly or season Pool standings when there is only one player on the OPOOL Roster.


Out of Disk Space -- Windows' Print Manager may spool files to disk before sending them to the printer. If you are very short of disk space or have a long queue of documents waiting to print, you will get this message. The condition is normally self-correcting.


Out of Memory -- Printing error caused by too little memory for print spooling.


Player limit reached. Cannot restore unless one or more are first deleted -- OPOOL will not accept more than 150 active Players. If you have 150 active, including the Consensus, OPOOL will not let you restore a deleted Player.

The only way to restore a deleted Player when you receive this message is to deleted one or more other Players, then restore the one you want.


Player limit reached. No more can be added -- You have reached OPOOL's limit of active Players (150). No more can be added.

Delete one or more active Players to reduce the active number below 150, then add the new ones.


PLAYERS.DTW file not found -- When OPOOL starts up, one of the first things it does is look for the data file PLAYERS.DTW in the directory in which OPOOLW.EXE is located. The absence of PLAYERS.DTW from that directory generates an error.

This error will always display the first time you run a newly installed OPOOL, since there is no PLAYERS.DTW file.

The message box reporting the error gives you three choices: (1) to quit OPOOL/Win; (2) to browse your computer's disks for the right file; or (3) to let the program create a new PLAYERS.DTW file for you. Quit if you have placed your PLAYERS.DTW file in a different directory and need only browse for it there, select it, and load it.

If you choose to let OPOOL create the file for you, it will create a PLAYERS.DTW file with only Consensus in it. Choose "Roster Maintenance" from the Main Menu pushbuttons to add Players.


Print error -- Unspecified error trying to send output to the printer. Make sure the printer is hooked up, plugged in, and has paper in it, then try again to print.


Printing aborted in Print Manager -- You cancelled the print job from the Print Manager window (as opposed to cancelling it from OPOOL).


Printing cancelled -- You cancelled the print job.


Results are in for only n of m games for Week w (not counting Monday), too few for meaningful projections -- OPOOL will not project winners based on the Monday Night Game results until all results except the Monday Night Game have been entered.

The error message reports the number of games you have entered results for, the number of games scheduled for the week (less the Monday Night Game), and the week number.

Click "OK" to return to the main menu.


Results for Monday Night Game for Week n already entered. Standings known -- OPOOL will not list possible winners for a week whose Monday Night Game results have been entered, since by then the actual standings are known.

Click "OK" to return to the main menu.


Schedule not complete for Week n. Cannot print Pick Sheet -- You cannot print a pick sheet unless all the games for the week are entered in the Schedule. (See Entering NFL Schedule.)

If you have entered all the games, it is possible that OPOOL thinks there are more games in Week n than there really are.

To fix the problem, go to the Schedule Maintenance window (access it from the Main Menu pushbuttons). Make sure the "Number of games this week" radio button is set for the correct number of games. If the wrong button is on (for example, 15 instead of 14), click on the correct button.


Tiebreaker unavailable. Monday Night Score not found for Week n -- You have requested the tiebreaker from the Weekly Standings window. OPOOL cannot find the score of the Monday Night Game, usually because it has not been entered. Without that score, there is no tiebreaker to display.

Click "OK" to return to the main menu.


Winning and losing points for tie in game n must be equal! -- you have entered a tie by selecting 'TIE' in the winner's box of the Enter NFL Results screen, but have failed to enter the same points in both the winning- and losing-points boxes. This error does not occur if you use the Enter Tie pushbutton to enter the tie.


Glossary

Consensus

Default Picks

Monday Night Game

Noon Deadline

Picks

Pick Sheet

Point Spread

Pool Name

Purge

Restore

Status Bar

Tally Sheet

Tiebreaker

Week

Week Number

Winner


Consensus

The picks of the majority of Players each week, or "Tie" if equal numbers of Players pick each team. The Consensus tiebreaker is the arithmetic average of the tiebreakers of all Players who picked tiebreakers. Note consensus results can change retroactively when Players are added or dropped from the OPOOL Roster during the season.


Default Picks

The picks to be given a Player who doesn't make picks for the week or who misses the Noon Deadline.


Noon Deadline

The deadline by which time all players must have turned in their picks, so called because the default time is 12:00 noon of the specified day.


Pick Sheet

The computer printout (one page) listing the NFL games for the upcoming week, for making picks and containing a place for the players to enter their tiebreakers.


Tally Sheet

The OPOOL printout that shows all Players' selections for the week and prior week's standings, for distribution to all Players so they can keep track of their progress.


Monday Night Game

The last NFL Game of the weekend, usually played on Monday night. The combined point total in this game (the tiebreaker), is used to determine the week's winner(s) if more than one make the same number of correct picks.


Tiebreaker.

The number of points (winning points plus losing points) in the Monday Night Game. In case two or more players make the same number of correct picks and that number is the most for the week, the player with the tiebreaker closest (over or under) to the tiebreaker is the winner. Winning players with the same tiebreaker (or the same distance above and below the tiebreaker) tie for the week.


Picks

A pick is the selection by a Player of the winner in a scheduled NFL game. A Player's complete set of selections for a given week constitutes the Player's picks for the week.


Pool Name

The unique name (up to five characters) by which a Pool Player's record is kept and tracked by OPOOL. Standings and picks on the Pick and Tally Sheets are listed by Pool Name.


Point Spread

The number of points by which the experts expect one NFL team (the FAVORITE) to beat its opponent (the UNDERDOG). During the season, newspaper sports pages usually carry the point spreads daily for the week's upcoming games, under names such as "Latest Line," or "Odds."


Purge

To wipe permanently from the PLAYERS.DTW file in which OPOOL keeps player information all record of a deleted player. Use to reduce size of the PLAYERS.DTW file by approximately 500 bytes for each deleted Player that is purged.


Restore

To retrieve the record of a deleted Player to active status. Purged player records cannot be restored.


Status Bar

OPOOL's status bar on the bottom of its Main Screen has two panels. The left panel displays the current NFL Week for which the program is set. The right displays a brief help line when a menu item is highlighted or when the mouse cursor is over one of the main pushbuttons.


Week or Week Number

OPOOL keeps track of the NFL season by Week Number, the first week of the season being Week No. 1, the second Week No. 2, etc. There are 17 weeks in the 1995 NFL Season.


Winner

A week's winner is the Player who picked  the most correct winning NFL teams for the week. In case two or more Players have the same number of correct picks, the tiebreaker is used to determine the winner.


Using the Point-Spread Feature
Using the Optional Point-Spread Feature

OPOOL includes an optional, user-configurable point-spread feature. This feature lets the determination of an NFL game's winner depend on the difference between the favorite's winning points and the underdog's losing points determine the winner.

In general, the favorite must "cover" (that is match or beat) the published point-spread in order to "win." (See Configuring Point-Spread Method for available variations.) Unless the favorite covers the spread, a Pool Player picking the favorite does not get credit for a correct pick.

Toggling Point-Spread On and Off: Activate the feature by clicking "Use Point-Spread Feature" on the Options menu. If the feature is active, "Use Point-Spread Feature" will have a check-mark in front of it. Deactivate the feature by clicking the menu item again to uncheck it.

When it takes effect: The on-off toggle takes effect immediately and is persistent from session to session.

What it changes: The Pick and Tally Sheet print-outs contain the entered spreads, with the favorite in CAPS and the underdog in lower-case letters. The "Enter Point Spreads" and "Configure Point-Spread Method" items on the Options menu are inactive unless the Point-Spread Feature is active. Winning picks are determined not by who won the game, but by whether the point-spread was covered. OPOOL reverts to its usual mode of operation once the feature is deactivated.

See also Point-Spread Tips


Point-Spread Tips

First and foremost, inform your Pool Players of two essential bits of information:

(1) which team wins when the spread is matched but not beaten (the possibilities: the favorite wins (because it beat the underdog by the expected number of points), it is a tie (no contest), or the underdog wins (because the spread was not beaten) -- make your choice here by Configuring the Point-Spread Method).

(2) what point-spread list your pool will use every week. Point-spreads change during the week, but the pool must pick a spread and stay with it, because only one set of spreads will be printed on the sheet. If you pass your Pick Sheets out on Tuesday (or Wednesday) morning, try to use the line printed in Tuesday (or Wednesday) morning's paper. But use the same one every week so Players have no cause to complain of unfairness.

Use the same newspaper (or other published source) every week, for the same reason. Not all papers report the same spreads.

Also, any change to the method used takes effect immediately for both the current week and all prior weeks (if any). Prior weeks' records will be recomputed and are unlikely to be the same, either for weekly winners or the season standings, as under a different method. Therefore use extreme care in making such changes. Make your choice at the beginning of the season, then stick with it.


Entering Point Spreads

This Options | Enter Point Spreads menu item is grayed and inoperative unless the optional Point-Spread Feature is activated (see Using the Point-Spread Feature). Once it is activated, choosing this menu item requires your selection of a week number for which to enter the spreads, then displays a screen for entering them.

The screen lists four columns: visiting teams, home teams, "Pick 'em," and an edit control for entering the numbers. When the screen is first displayed, all games are designated as "Pick 'em" (no favorite) and the point-spread displayed is zero.

Across a line for a game, the first three columns have radio buttons. Click the radio button to the left of the favorite or, if the teams are even or there is no line (point-spread), to the left of "Pick 'em." The other buttons are cleared automatically. Then enter the point-spread in the edit box.

Half-points must be entered as decimals (i.e., 0.5). They will be printed out as fractions, though, on the Pick and Tally Sheets (provided, of course, that the Point-Spread Feature is active when you do the printing).

Acceptable point-spread entries must be in the range 0.0 to 99.5.

None of the point-spreads is recorded until you click the "OK" button at the bottom of screen. When you do, the favorites and point-spreads are recorded as you entered them, with the following exceptions:

If the point-spread is zero, a favorite picked by radio button is disregarded and the game is recorded as even ("Pick 'em").

If the radio-button choice for a game is "Pick 'em," any points in the edit box are ignored and the spread is recorded as zero.

For how to select the way OPOOL uses the point spread, see Configuring the Point-Spread Method.

The "OK" and "Cancel" buttons work normally. The "Help" button calls this help screen.


Configuring the Point-Spread Method

This Options | Enter Point Spreads menu item is grayed and inoperative unless the optional Point-Spread Feature is activated (see Using the Point-Spread Feature). Once it is activated, choose this menu item to display a screen containing an example of a point spread and a game result between a FAVORITE and an underdog.

Below the example are the possible ways OPOOL can use the point-spreads in determining whether a Player has made a correct pick. The screen entries are self-explanatory. Note that the Point-Spread Feature must be active in order for point-spreads to be displayed on the Pick and Tally Sheets, even for informational purposes only (with no effect on how OPOOL determines winners).

CAUTION: Any change to the method used takes effect immediately for both the current week and all prior weeks (if any). Prior weeks' records will be recomputed and are unlikely to be the same, either for weekly winners or the season standings, as under a different method. Therefore use extreme care in making such changes. You can return to the original way of using the point spread at any time.