Author Archives: Mark

MSTW League Manager 2.9 Released

MSTW League Manager and MSTW League Manager Add-ons plugins have been released. The biggest new features are new League Manger administrator roles, which allow distribution of the admin workload, and enhanced management of overtime games.

New Admin Roles

The three new admin roles – team, school, and league admins – allow WordPress site administrators to distribute site maintenance duties, specifically the maintenance of games and schedules, across a controlled user base. Check out this video to learn more about this new capability.

Enhanced Support for Overtime Games

In previous versions of the MSTW League Manager plugin, overtime games and their impact on league standings could be managed adequately using team records, that is, NOT using the standing auto-fill capability in MSTW League Manager Add-ons. Enhancements to LM Add-ons allow overtime games to be included in the points calculations for league standings. Check out these videos to learn more about managing overtime games. Without the Add-ons. With the Add-ons (and auto-fill standings.)

How to access the new versions

The versions of MSTW League Manager and MSTW League Manager Add-ons on your site should always match. MSTW League Manager may be updated from your admin dashboard. If you have purchased the MSTW LM Add-ons plugin, you may download version 2.9 from the shoalsummitsolutions.com website. Go the the Store on the top menu, and select “My Downloads” to download new version.

League Manager Admin Roles (2.9+)

League Manager Add-ons introduced Team, School (or organization), and League Administrator roles in version 2.9. Users are assigned these roles by the site administrator. These roles allow members of a website community to manage specific sets of games, thereby distributing the site administrator’s management burden. See the screenshots below from the Add New User (or Edit User) screen.

[screenshot]

  • Team administrators (think coaches) can manage the games involving the one team assigned by the site administrator.
  • School administrators (think athletic directors) can manage the games involving any team in the school (or organization) assigned by the site administrator. So the site’s structure must have teams assigned to specific schools.
  • League administrators (think league commissioners) can manage games in the league assigned to them by the site administrator.

A tutorial on this functionality is available to Gold Support members and MSTW League Manager Add-ons members.

These administrator roles have access to a restricted WP admin dashboard as shown in the screenshots below for a coach.

Team Administrator (Coach) WordPress Admin Dashboard
Team Administrator (Coach) Limited Menu

By default, all LM admin roles have access to all venues and all meets. This may be controlled by the settings screen shown below. This screen is found on the admin dashboard under the sites Settings -> MSTW Settings. This the main WordPress Settings, NOT the MSTW League Manager Settings.

LM: Overtime Games w/ LM Addons

The MSTW League Manager Addons plugin offers the option to “Auto-fill Standings”. With this setting, standings are automatically calculated, but…

This content is for MSTW Gold Support and League Manager Add-ons members only.
Register
Already a member? Log in here

LM: OT Games w/o LM Addons

Without the MSTW League Manager Addons plugin, that is, without “Auto-fill Standings” set, properly displaying overtime games’ impact on league’s…

This content is for MSTW Gold Support and League Manager Add-ons members only.
Register
Already a member? Log in here

LM: Setting up Team & School Admins

Team and School administrators were added in version 2.9 to allow members of a website community to manage specific sets…

This content is for MSTW Gold Support and League Manager Add-ons members only.
Register
Already a member? Log in here

LM: Customizing Multi-Team Schedules

This tutorial shows how to customize the multi-team schedule shortcode using CSS. In the process it explains why the custom…

This content is for MSTW Gold Support and League Manager Add-ons members only.
Register
Already a member? Log in here

Multi-Team Schedules with Custom Styling

This video demonstrates one use of the Multi-Team Schedule shortcode which was introduced in MSTW League Manager version 2.7, and improved in version 2.8. It can be very useful in league websites.

Maybe more importantly, the video cantors through the very important concept of WordPress child themes to explain why the custom stylesheets for most MSTW plugins are placed where they are (not in the plugin). Then it shows how to create some pretty cool styling for one instance of the plugin.

See the plug-in instance shown in the video at https://dev.shoalsummitsolutions.com/lm-multi-team-schedules/ .

Learn more about WordPress Child Themes at https://developer.wordpress.org/themes/advanced-topics/child-themes/.

MSTW League Manager & LM Add-ons 2.8

The MSTW League Manager and LM Add-ons version 2.8 will be released on 10/20. PLEASE READ THE ENTIRETY OF THIS E-MAIL BEFORE UPGRADING.

Much of the work in 2.8 was clean-up/minor bug correction of PHP code, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. This work primarily cleaned up meets functionality and display.

The multi-team schedule shortcode

Either a teams, team, or league argument must be passed to the mstw_multi_team_schedule shortcode.

in particular underwent significant modification. If you are using this shortcode, you should definitely read the man page.

A team scoreboard shortcode

A team must be specified in the mstw_lm_team_scoreboard shortcode.

was added (to the MSTW League Manager Add-ons plugin).

So when you see a “new version available” message on your Plugins screen, you have some options:

  • If version 2.7 is working great for you with no issues, there is no need to update, (unless you really want to try one of the new items).
  • If you are using ONLY MSTW League Manager and using the MSTW League Manager Add-ons, go for it
  • If you are using the MSTW League Manager Add-ons, YOU MUST UPDATE IT TO 2.8 AT THE SAME TIME. Read on …

MSTW LEAGUE MANAGER ADD-ONS USERS

Your purchase came with 1 year of updates and support. So you also have some options:

  • If you are within that year, you should be able to download 2.8 using the link you received to download the plugin initially. If you don’t have that link, send me an e-mail with your shoalsummitsolutions.com user name and date of purchase.
  • If you are outside your support period, you can stick stick with version 2.7. Don’t upgrade either plugin.
  • Or, purchase another year of support at https://shoalsummitsolutions.com/downloads/mstw-league-manager-add-ons/

Introducing MSTW Schedule Builder

The MSTW Schedule Builder builds ‘balanced’ round robin schedules for leagues and tournaments for up to six teams. NOTE: This plugin REQUIRES the MSTW LEAGUE MANAGER PLUGIN (version 2.5 for higher) to handle the creation of leagues, seasons, and teams.

Depending on the size of the league or tournament, the number of permutations and combinations of teams, time slots, dates, and locations can be huge. The simple (old) method of always having a single team always playing in the same time slot or position is not always the way to go. It can, and does, create problems with players, coaches, and fans because it can be inherently unfair. The issue is the quality of the first position time slot. If the time, location, and/or quality of the facility is desirable, then the team that’s always scheduled there will be advantaged, and the other teams will not share equal playing time at the desirable facility. If another time and location is less desirable (i.e., inconvenient time, long distance, poor quality of facility, etc.), then a team that is always scheduled to play there will be disadvantaged.

These issues and the inherent inequity are minimized by balanced schedules. Round robin scheduling includes a date, time, location, home and visitor teams, and game ID for each game. A quality schedule should distribute and balance the dates/days, times, locations, home and visiting teams of its games as equitably as possible.

Future releases will handle larger leagues and tournaments, eventually up to 32 teams, double round robin (home-and-home) schedules, and field assignments for tournaments played on multiple fields at one facility.