A Q U I L O
Software for Student Riding Competitions
Installation and Documentation
Summer 2023

Installation

  1. Aquilo is based on Java and can therfore run on many different types of computers. To allow a Java program to run on a computer the Java Rumtine Environment (JRE) must be installed. Please go to www.java.com and install the version for your computer. Use the default settings during the installation.
    The JRE might already be installed on your computer for other Java programs and you can use that installation. Under Windows go to 'Settings' / 'Apps & features', search for "Java" and see if a version 8 (jre1.8.0) or later is available.
    Java is developed by a company called Oracle. So if a download comes from their server this should be fine. You can ignore any warnings that your browser does not support Java plugins.
  2. Extract the downloaded Aquilo09XInstall.zip to a new folder on your harddisk.
    The zip file contains the main progam file aquilo.jar, a folder with a sample competition, and this help file.
  3. Double-clicking on aquilo.jar should run the program.
  4. Optional on Windows: Create a shortcut that opens a data file together with the program.
    For Windows there is a sample for a shortcut (Verknüpfung) 'StartAquiloWin.lnk' to customize the startup. It's unlikely this works without a little configuration:
    Right-click on StartAquiloWin.lnk to edit its Properties (Eigenschaften). Under Target (Ziel) you will find somthing that looks like:
    "C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre1.8.0_161\bin\javaw.exe" -jar aquilo.jar
    Check if the path (underlined) in front of javaw.exe corresponds to somthing on your computer. The part Program Files xyz might be slightly different on your computer depending on your language and computer architecture (32/64bit). The part jre1.8.0_161 will be different if you install a different/newer version of the JRE. When you have this correct the shortcut should start the Aquilo just like the double-click on the aquilo.jar.
    Now comes the advantage: To open a data file when starting the program you can put the path and name of it behind the aquilo.jar in the Target field. For the the competition in the example folder it looks like this.
    "C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre1.8.0_161\bin\javaw.exe" -jar aquilo.jar examples/SrncBern2001-final.chu
    If you want to move StartAquiloWin.lnk outside the folder where aquilo.jar is (e.g. on the desktop) you must put the complete path to aquilo.jar into "Start In" (field below Target).

Preparing the Competition

Before You Start the Competition

The program has a couple of minimum requirements on how numbers for horses and riders are distributed.

Creating a New Competition

Start Aquilo. Select New Competition or Open from the File menue.

If you create a New Competition a window asking for general initial information about your competition will come up. Enter the name of the competition, its type and the number of teams. For any standard competition don't worry about the last setting "Start 2 riders per horse at".

You can open an Example Competition to see what it looks like when a competition is under way or all finished. The example directory is where you installed Aquilo.

The Empty Competition

What's under the mouse pointer? Move the mouse over a text field or table column to see a hint ('tooltip') on its meaning. Try this by moving the mouse to some editable area on the left or top and keep it in place for a short while without clicking. White table cells can be changed, gray ones not.

Fill in teams and riders on the left. Use the tooltips to find out where to put what. Please do not use nick names of riders, enter their complete first- and lastname. Save your work! Try the Print Team/Rider Table button at the bottom. Your webbrowser should display a table which you can use to make notes on teams and riders.

Creating Rounds: In the Define Rounds table at the top look at the parameters for the first round. Click Create on the very right to open a round window.

Viewing/Printing Output in Webbrowser

All output is generated as HTML. HTML is the native document format of the Web. You can view it with a webbrowser, edit it in a text processor (MS Word) or publish it directly on the Internet. To print the document please use the Print function of your browser.

All generated HTML files are saved in a directory named "htmlout" next to your data file and opened automatically in your standard webbrowser.

Tips for printing Aquilo output with your Browser:

Advanced: If you know HTML you may want to customize the title or style of all created HTML documents: Edit the file DocTitleTemplate.html in the "htmlout" directory. Aquilo inserts this file at the beginning of every HTML-page it generates.

Running Rounds

A New Empty Round

After creating a new round with the Create button in Define Rounds table you should check the grouping, numbers and starting order of all horses !!!

Once you are sure the round is configured correctly enter the names of horses in the Horse column. If you are not sure a horse will go at a certain position it's better to not enter a name and go with the head number only. Before the horses are presented, make sure with your "horse manager" that the groups and head numbers are correct.
For the dressage team competition, Aquilo will always list the horses in the same order you enter them - for ALL teams. If each team may choose it's own order for presenting the horses this might not correspond to the order on the starting list.

Draw Slips

To get the draw slips click Print Lots. Cut the pages with scissors to make the draw slips.
If you do not know all horses when you print the draw slips - the program will not mind.
During the draw don't forget to note which team/rider got which draw! You might want to print an empty starting list or a second copy of the draw slips for your notes.

Assigning Riders to Horses

Enter the riders boot no into the Rider column of the round window. You can also drag a boot no (gray area) from the team list on the left to the desired row in the round window.

To change a rider: Riders can also be dragged between rows inside the round window. To enter a new boot number double-click on the very left of the rider column in front of the old boot number and enter the new one. You do not need to delete the entire line, but for the new boot number to be recognized there must be a space between it and the rest of the line. To remove a rider delete the complete line.

To print a part of the round, drag over a gray column and then click Print Selected. The judges are very happy if they have a starting order before the first team/rider starts riding!

Enter Results and Finish Round

Enter the result value or a character for special results:
'e' eliminated; eg. 3 refusals in showjumping
'r' retired during course or disqualified
'n' no ranking for rider and his team (rider drunk? ;-)

For the dressage team competition, the team mark must be entered where you entered the team names, in the small field on the right.
To avoid the ranking of a team without influencing the individual rankings of its members use 'n' as dressage team mark.

The rows in the round window can be sorted by clicking on the column headers. This allows you to see the starting order, group by horse or team, or bring all results with diff=0.0 to the top. The order is maintained if you print the round.

Hint for next round: You can open two round windows side by side and drag riders from one round to the next.

Ranking

Preliminary Ranking

You may select any of the items in the Ranking menu at any time during the competition. Aquilo will assign ranking-points to eliminated riders once a round is complete. A round is complete when all results in this round are available. For all riders which are still competing Aquilo displays the minimum and maximum of possible ranking-points.

After the first two rounds of dressage and showjumping Team Result Details should give you a good preliminary impression of the final standings. Teams with riders still competing are shown with the minimal and maximal possible ranking-points. A rank is show once there is no theoretical chance that one team will overtake (will be overtaken by) another one, i.e. the maximum points of one team are smaller than the minimun of the team that will be ranked next.

You should print one of the "Individual Rankings" or "Team Result Details" sheets regularly. With those sheets in hand you are save even if all computers break down. Be careful not to show such a sheet to anyone, as this may spoil the excitement of the competition and the price- giving ceremony.

"Team Result Details" for a 12 team competition is tailored to fit on a single A4 landscape page if you reduce font size and margins (5mm). The ranking reports are also saved as HTML-files in the 'htmlout' folder.

Final Ranking

If you have entered all results in all rounds the word "Preliminary" and the list of the completed rounds should disappear from the title of the ranking pages. All Final Rankings, Overview and Team Result Details by Team Combined Ranking are meant to be handed out to all participants and to be published on the Internet.


Congratulations! You have done it! If you have a headache I hope it's not because you had to use this program but because you've had the hell of a time last night and a couple to many...