Archived forum.HELGA-O.com

I recently discovered the new feature of Helga, namely the Results Portal (a.k.a. Helga WebRes).

As I'm currently developing the new VVO-website, I'm really interested how this feature works.
My current implementation is to upload Helga CSV-files on the website which will be parsed.
This way I can store the results in the database to perform some calculations with it (like automatically generated rankings for example).

Unfortunately, retrieving the Helga CSV-file from Helga is not really straightforward (results page -> export as excel -> save as csv).
Thus I was wondering if there's a way to retrieve the results from the Results Portal with the use of some sort of service.

If there's no such thing like this, I'm interested in supporting the Helga-team with such an implementation.
What I'm definitely not interested in is linking my users to the Results Portal, because this is confusing and most importantly I cannot do calculations with the results as they are physically somewhere else...

What I also noticed is that most people link to the Results Portal Overview page instead of linking to the specific results page of a competition directly.
I guess this is due to the fact that this website uses frames...
Most people just copy the link from the addressbox of the browser hoping to link other people to the results they are watching.
However, this isn't the case because the link is always the same (http://www.helga-o.com/webres).

Some time ago, I suggested an XML-export feature for the results (latest Helga lessons @ VVO Officenter by Robert M.).
Retreiving XML or JSON from a service could be a good implementation.

Hoping for a good cooperation.

Jochen Verdeyen
Drupal Web Developer
http://www.jover.be

Surely Michael and/or his brother Patrick who develop WebRes will give you the best answer about the structure : I am only one of the most interested users.

The first reason to develop the portal was to help our Brazilian users who have no "standardized web page" for their results. Besides the results Michael and Patrick developped consolidations and several filters of the results. See "ALL RESULTS" (Nov-Dec 2010) to note their interest and "in one clic" from HELGA. BEL came later !

We don't know exactly what you intend to do with tthe results pages of the VVO website, but until now they are links to the URL of the websites of the VVO clubs, without any consolidation. - If you prefer a link directly to the results page of any competition, you may copy the shortcut and insert it as URL

...

retrieving the Helga CSV-file from Helga is not really straightforward (results page -> export as excel -> save as csv).

is not correct : you have the possiblity to Export directly as a CSV using the "CSV Export File" option (2nd one in the list). This CSV file is the most standardized inside ABSO-BVOS and used for the FRSO website, for the ABSO-BVOS regularity , the BEL Elite ranking, and also the consolidations for the VVO challenges (winter, nacht, etc ...

Ooh, I didn't knew that...
Is this type of CSV-file different than the one you get from "results page -> export as excel -> save as csv"?

Of course this is not really the point to where I strive, but good to know though...

Is this type of CSV-file different than the one you get from "results page -> export as excel -> save as csv"?

Surely the same basic informations, but not necessary in the same order. I will send you both files through a direct mail

... also note that I've edited and updated my first reply

... some direct mails and tests later ...

Some time ago, I suggested an XML-export feature for the results (latest Helga lessons @ VVO Officenter by Robert M.).
Retreiving XML or JSON from a service could be a good implementation.

The next version of Helga will contains an XML-Export with the same data's as the "CSV for Websites and consolidations file.

Excellent, I'm already implementing it

The "next version" of Helga will contain an XML-Export ...

March 2011, 19 : This next version is now released. Therefore ... contains this XML Export