Secondary Database: Use and Examples

This topic outlines how to set up and use a secondary database for registering players. It assumes you are already familiar with setting up a main database.

If you have already set up your main database in SwissSys, you can declare a second one and toggle between the two as needed.

Setting up a secondary database

First, tell SwissSys where your secondary database is and what information it holds. As with your primary database, this is handled most easily using the Database Wizard.

Click Database | Database Wizard, and in the dialog that pops up, check the box marked “Apply this to the secondary database”, then click on the box corresponding to the type of database you want to use: USCF, FIDE, or CFC. (If this database is a customized one in some other format, you will need to use the Database | Database setup command rather than the Database Wizard with its shortcuts.) Then simply navigate to the folder that holds your secondary database.

The Wizard will fill in the proper fields automatically and prepare your database for use.

Using primary and secondary databases

Once you have established both a primary and a secondary database, you can switch back and forth between them from the Register Players dialog. Here are some sample ways in which you might want to use this feature:

Example 1: Two-section USCF event

Say you are running a two-section USCF event, one section using regular ratings, the other using blitz ratings. If you set up your primary database to hold the regular and quick ratings, and your secondary database to hold the regular and blitz ratings, as the USCF convention specifies.

Now when you register players for one section or the other, all you need to do is click on the desired database in the “Active database” box in the upper right when you load the player information.

Note: In this case you might also consider merging the two USCF databases into one using the Database | Make joint USCF database command. Then the toggling becomes unnecessary.

Example 2: USCF tournament with FIDE players

Or say you are running a USCF tournament, but you have some FIDE players too and you want to load their FIDE rating and FIDE ID numbers as their rating 2 and alternate ID, respectively.

From the Register Players dialog you would first search your primary (USCF) database for a player and load their player information into the registration boxes (double-click their name in the database window.) Now, to load their FIDE rating and ID without overwriting the USCF rating and ID you want to use for the tournament, make sure the checkbox labeled “Use secondary D.B. only to load player rating and ID as alternates” is checked.

Then select your secondary database as your “Active database”. Hunt for this player in the database, then double click them when you have located them. Information held on them in the secondary database will be loaded, but the original rating and ID will be left alone.

Swapping databases

You can also switch primary and secondary databases using the Database | Swap primary and secondary database command. You might do this if you expect to use mainly your secondary database for a while.

Important note about saving database settings

Note that if you use the Database setup dialog to save your database setup, you will only save the settings for whichever database is currently selected.

If you want to save both a primary and a secondary database description, you must save them separately.

Fortunately, SwissSys remembers both databases and reloads them automatically, so unless you are a power user switching between multiple primary and secondary databases, you should not have to worry about this detail.