[FRC Blog] 2014 FMS Lite Now Available

[AustinShalit]

Blog Date: Thursday, August 14, 2014 - 11:13

We are happy to announce that “FMS Lite”, the stripped-down version of the Field Management System that many off-season events use, is now available for download via the Off-Season Events Page. Some highlights of the 2014 version:

• Includes the Event Wizard, which makes it possible to step through the entire tournament.
• Can generate practice/qualification/elimination schedules using the MatchMaker algorithm, just like official FRC events
•Includes 'Reports' functionality to print schedules, team lists, announcer reports and more
•Generates separate Audience Screen program with game sounds and timer. Could be projected to an audience or displayed on a TV near the field.
• Note: Because the events don’t have ref panels, the scores will just show 0-0
• If Score information is manually entered, rankings will be automatically calculated and available on the pit display/FMS reports just like official FMS
• Provides FMS Web Portal on the FMS Lite computer’s network for accessing the Pit Display and FTA Field Monitor data
• Includes FTA Field Monitor with access to FMS/driver station logs for completed matches
• Note: Because the wireless hardware used is left up to the event, the “Bandwidth Use” column will always show 0

If you find bugs, or would like to request new features, you can submit them using the FRC CollabNet site. We do not anticipate releasing any updates to this software in 2014, but welcome feedback for consideration in the 2015 version.

Please Note: The download includes an executable (exe) file, which may cause virus warnings for some browsers or users. If you have any problems with the download, please either comment on this post, message us on Facebook or Twitter, or email frcteams@usfirst.org.

[AustinShalit]

I hope this means we will get a new version every year!

[AdamHeard]

I know 254 is also developing a streamlined and optimized FMS for offseason events, I'm excited to see that released for the public!

[Jared]

Has anybody been able to install or use this? I've been at it for over a few hours, and I haven't had success.

It doesn't seem to work on windows 7 (64 bit) with no service packs, and when I start the installer the error "a newer version of windows is required". The guide appears to install the software in windows 7, so I was wondering if anybody knew what service pack/version of windows is considered a "newer version".

Also, the installer fails to show .NET installation errors if they occur, fails to clean up after itself when canceled (you have to kill a few processes and delete a temporary directory), and sometimes fails to even cancel itself.

When running the application, I get a variety of unhandled exceptions, like this one, even when running as administrator:
http://i.imgur.com/pKx9oOw.png

Any suggestions?

I'd really like to play around with the software, but unfortunately it seems to be an unfinished project to me (the installer logo doesn't fit in the window, the license file says "put license here"...). I remember the old version of FMS lite being a bit better, but I can't find the download link anymore. Does anybody still have it?

[Jared]

Part II:
FMS lite has now successfully installed (much faster), after I moved to another, more updated computer.

I am attempting to create a list of teams, which appears to be an impossible task. I tried using the team download with the new "what's going on" page, but no teams were added, and the old system appears to be down.

When adding a second team, I get this message:

http://i.imgur.com/XFQJZfi.png

When trying again, no matter which team number I choose, I get this message:

http://i.imgur.com/NYX55Av.png

After trying a few more times, I get yet another unhandled exception:
http://i.imgur.com/QaeBAHu.png

[MrTechCenter]

Originally Posted by Jared

Part II:
FMS lite has now successfully installed (much faster), after I moved to another, more updated computer.

I am attempting to create a list of teams, which appears to be an impossible task. I tried using the team download with the new "what's going on" page, but no teams were added, and the old system appears to be down.

When adding a second team, I get this message:

http://i.imgur.com/XFQJZfi.png

When trying again, no matter which team number I choose, I get this message:

http://i.imgur.com/NYX55Av.png

After trying a few more times, I get yet another unhandled exception:
http://i.imgur.com/QaeBAHu.png

Are you running the application as an administrator? I got the same errors in the first and last image but when I ran the application as an administrator there were no problems. I'm also running this on Windows 7 with zero problems.

[Aaron.Graeve]

I am going to make a guess that releasing FMS Lite for part of the Off-season gives HQ additional time to see any bugs pop up. I know some events were having issues handling four robot alliances.

On to the errors:

Unhandled exceptions like the first and last pictures occur somewhat regularly even with experienced scorekeepers manning the normal FMS. There are still bugs and they do come up from time to time. The important part is to make sure all scores are being committed and the event data is saving nicely. Sometimes you just need to let the application crash and restart before it behaves nicely again.

Handled exceptions, as shown in the second and third images, are more indicative of something that the user is doing wrong. Most save and read failures are either bad timing (reattempting the operation will succeed) or a bad user configuration (pointing to a directory or drive that no longer exists). I am not sure what is going on in the picture of the warning about duplicate teams, but I will look at it.

I am going to play with this more tomorrow and try to keep this thread updated.

[Mark McLeod]

FMS Lite seems to need at least Service Pack 1 on Windows 7.
It works on a Win7 Pro, Service Pack 1, 32-bit machine.
It does not work on a Win7 Home Premium, no service pack.

It does need a screen resolution greater than 1024x768 to fit all the sub screens into view.
E.g., Score tab and Status tab. The only one's I noticed as potential problems are the Score tab and Edit Match Result(can't leave).

I don't have any trouble entering new teams, so I think Harsh is right and you lack disk write privileges.

I also haven't been able to download the full team list, but the default web address does have the full last year's team list.
There won't be a Registered Team List for our events, because each of our homemade events won't exist in the FIRST database.

I've run everything through match play and it seems to work as I expect, although I haven't yet hooked up 6 real robots with it.

There will be tricks to someone who hasn't taken or viewed the scorekeeper training.
I'd suggest reviewing that before using FMS Lite.
http://forums.usfirst.org/forumdispl...wer-Controller

[Jared]

I figured out how to add some teams. When manually entering teams, it can sometimes get into a weird state.

I do have disk writing privileges, and I'm running the application as administrator.

If you try to create a team without a "Short Name" or a "Nick Name", it will show you its read/write error message, and enter a weird state. After adding one of these teams, you cannot add any more teams and it will tell you the team already exists, even if the team number has not been used before. Then, it randomly had an unhandled exception after I tried a few more times.

It also seemed to enter this state after adding more than ten teams, even though they all had all their information filled out. It's worth noting that some of the downloaded teams, which work properly, do not have all the information filled out.

If you use this address for both of the team download URL's, you'll get a bunch of teams to play with, but you have to wait a few minutes for them to download.
https://my.usfirst.org/frc/scoring/i...?page=teamlist

This is kind of unrelated, but how do teams update their robot name on this list? Some teams seem to have their most recent robot names on the list, but we have our original 1999 robot name there.

[orangemoore]

Originally Posted by Jared

This is kind of unrelated, but how do teams update their robot name on this list? Some teams seem to have their most recent robot names on the list, but we have our original 1999 robot name there.

TIMS?

[Mark McLeod]

Yea, the robot name is entered in TIMS.
Entering it now won't change it in the team list we're talking about, since it's a list from last season and isn't being updated.
Our changes now will be incorporated into this coming season's team list, so we'll see the new one sometime after 2015 registration closes.

[Mark McLeod]

P.S.
A screen resolution of 1280x1024 fit everything