Local data vs. data in the server

This article explains the difference between local data and server data in Copernico.

It will help you know which data you are viewing, exporting or printing at any time, and understand how the changes generated while timing a race affect you.

1. What does data in the server mean?

Copernico is a service in which almost all processes run on an external server (in the cloud), which provides more processing power when it is needed.

This means that the information is on the server and almost all calculations are performed in the cloud. The only calculations that can be performed locally are custom columns, which allow certain calculations to run on the device used to time the race.

As the information is on the server, your computer, tablet or any other device is synchronized as changes are generated in the race: incoming readings, positions calculated on the server or any other change. The information that is synchronized and displayed on each device is what we call local data. Copernico stores it in the browser itself.

For example: you change the surname of a participant, that data is sent to the server and, if another timer has the same race open, it is updated on their screen.

Being a cloud service, the quality of the connection may delay the update of local data.

2. Synchronization of Participants data

The Participants screen displays participant or team data.

The changes that are generated, either manually (a data change) or by the server processing the readings sent by the timing devices, modify what is shown in the table.

There are two types of data synchronization:

• Generated by the user. In this case, you, while timing a race. You can modify data that is sent to the server for processing; for example, updating a participant's time.

The more complex the modification, the more time the server needs to process the changes and update the information on your screen. For example, if you change the event of 2000 participants, a modification process is generated for all the selected participants. The more participants and the more complex the change, the more likely it is that the local information is not completely updated for a few seconds. In this case, wait for the process to finish.

• Generated by the server. While timing any race, the server is almost constantly receiving data, processing it and sending it to the local devices. On the one hand, it receives the readings from the timing devices and sends them as raw times to the readings screen of Copernico; on the other hand, once the raw times have been processed, it sends the timing point times and positions to Participants. These constant changes are sometimes visible and sometimes not: for example, if the preset applied in Participants does not show the passing times at the timing points, you will not see this data, although Copernico is receiving it.

What happens when working with server data and local data?

The data you see on the screen may not be the data on the server.

Imagine you are timing a race with several start waves: when the first participants finish, positions 1, 2, 3, etc. are generated.

However, a participant from the second wave may enter in position 4 overall, and your screen may show two participants in position 4, as shown in the image.

This is because your local information is not completely updated and you are only seeing some of the changes made on the server.

Why is all the data not updated at the same time?

To avoid overloading the system. Imagine the same situation in a race with 20,000 participants and 10 timing points. If all the information of every participant and every timing point were sent with each change of positions, you would probably need the best computer on the market to process it.

3. How to update local data

You can start updating local data in several ways:

• Synchronize button. It is at the bottom of the left side menu and appears on every screen of a race. Click Synchronize to download the race data again. While syncing, the icon spins and the button is disabled.

• Refresh specific participants. In Participants, select the participants to update, right-click and choose Force refresh. Only the selected participants are downloaded again.

• Reload the page in the browser with Ctrl + F5.

While syncing, Copernico shows notifications at the bottom left of the screen: a blue one when the process starts and a green one, with a check mark, when it finishes.

Also, when you open a race that has never been synchronized in this browser, or whose last synchronization is more than 10 hours old, Copernico shows a dialog with the Last update date. Click Synchronize to download the data or Cancel to keep working with the local data. If you select Do not ask me again for this competition, the dialog will not appear again for that race.

4. Export local data

If for any reason you lose your internet connection, but the server data had already been synchronized with your local data, you can use this local data to publish results on paper or simply export a list from Participants.

In Participants, apply the preset you need and click the CSV button at the top right; its drop-down lets you choose CSV or XML. The columns of the applied preset are exported.

The Export CSV file window (or the XML one) opens, where you can choose:

• Delimiter: comma, semicolon or tab.
• Data Source:
  • Remote (Current server data): the data on the server. This is the default option.
  • Local (Current browser data): the data currently in your browser. Use this option if you have no connection.
• File name: by default, the race name.

Click Download CSV to generate the file.

5. Synchronization of presets and documents

In this case it is less visible that the server data and the local data are not synchronized, but it can happen.

For example, if two people are timing the same event and one of them marks a preset (or a document) as a favorite, the change may not be visible to the other timer until they synchronize the server data with the local data.

It can also happen that you design a new document so that it is available to the members of your company, and they do not see it because their data is not updated.

In these cases, perform any of the actions above:

• Click Synchronize in the left side menu.
• Reload the browser with Ctrl + F5.

Once the data is updated, the screen shows the same data as the server.