Euro 2012 Predictor

Description

This plugin is designed to collect users predictions for each of the matches in the Euro 2012 championship.

Users predict the score for each match in the group and knockout stages and are awarded points based on the
accuracy of their prediction.

Match results, user rankings and users’ predictions may also be displayed using this plugin.

Beta version – Plugin usable and just requires a little testing. In addition the translations below
are not complete as they have been lifted from the World Cup Predictor

Please report bugs etc. in the support forums

Features

• easy adding of matches, venues, results
• entry form for users to make predictions on each Euro 2012 game
• sidebar widget to display prediction standings
• sidebar widget to display currently logged in users’ predictions
• countdown timer to next prediction deadline
• display of match results and group tables
• configurable scoring system to award points to users’ predictions
• toggle match times to local users browser time

Translations

Thank you to the following for language translations available in:-

• German. – Fred Kuhl.
• French – Robert Maculewicz.
• Spanish – Domingo Robaina
• Brazilian Portuguese – Ed Torres
• Dutch – Deborah Kerkhof
• Swedish – Axel
• Arabic – Modar Soos
• Italian – Giulio Giorgetti
• Russian – Oles Lukas
• Polish – Charls from Posen
• The .pot file is shipped for other translations – send them in

Other translations may be available at Translations

If you would like to help with translations please visit the page above.

More

If you do download this plugin please come back and rate it. For any rating less than 5 stars
I would love to hear your feedback to help improve the plugin. Usability issues, bugs, enhancements
and any other comments welcome to make this plugin better. Support

For a more comprehensive plugin to predict Football League matches using multiple leagues over many seasons
visit the Fantasy Football plugin

See my other plugins and work

Usage

After installation and activation verify that the teams and match schedules have been loaded.

If no teams or matches are shown then consult the Support Forums

In order to manage the teams, matches etc. the logged in user must have the WordPress capability euro2012_manager. By default
the plugin adds this capability to the Administrator and Editor roles. If the Euro 2012 menu option is not available verify that
the currrent user has the euro2012_manager role. You may need to install a capability manager plugin to manage roles and capabilities.

Users of the blog do not need any special role or capability to make predictions.

You may wish to update the URL setting via the Admin->Euro 2012 menu for each team or venue to add links to pages on your site.

Predictions

Create a post or page with the shortcode [euro-2012-predictor] to display an entry form. Other shortcodes are available to display prediction results
and match results. See below for more details.

Users can only predict on matches that have not yet started. Once a match has started it is removed from the entry form preventing further
predictions.

Match Results

As each match is complete, use the Matches admin menu option to enter the goals scored and check the ‘Match Finished’ checkbox.
The group tables and match results displayed by the shortcodes will be updated.

Once a team is confirmed as coming first or second in the group stage, edit the Matches to change the placeholder team to the
team that has qualified to the next stage. For example, if Greece win Group A, edit Match Number 25 and change the
team from ‘Winner Group A’ to ‘Greece’.

This change is then reflected in the knockout results table.

Options

None as yet.

Points Calculations

Once a match has finished Modify the match and enter the final score in the Matches tab and check the ‘Match Finished’ box. The displayed group tables
will then update with the latest team standings.

To update the users’ prediction scores, select the match in the ‘Predictions’ menu and click ‘Score Selected’. This updates the
users’ scores in the widget and results tables.

Points are assigned according to the settings in the ‘Configure Scoring’ tab.

NOTE – The bonus points are cumulative (added to the scores for exact, win and draw).

Therefore be aware that both the bonus goal and bonus goal difference points amounts will always be added
to the points for a win because the goals and goal difference are the same.
The bonus goal difference points are always added to a draw because the goal difference will match.
Adjust the win and draw points appropriately if either of the bonus points are non-zero.

Shortcodes

Use the following shortcodes to display a prediction form, match results, users’ rankings.

Prediction Form

You can display an entry form for predictions and the results of matches and predictions with the following shortcodes in a post or page.

[euro-2012-predictor]

Display an entry form for all the configured matches where the kickoff time is before the current date and time.
The form will display a countdown to the next match deadline. Once the match kickoff time has passed the match will
no longer be displayed and users cannot make predictions.

You may optionally supply the attribute stage=n where n is the stage id to limit the matches to a particular group.

To display just the matches in the group stages, not the knockout stages, use the attribute group=1,
e.g. [euro-2012-predictor group=1].

To display matches sorted by kickoff time, rather than by each stage, use the attribute kickoff=1 and optionally a
limit, e.g. [euro-2012-predictor kickoff=1 limit=5] to display the next 5 matches.

To remove the ability to predict penalties during the knockout stages use the attribute predict_penalties=0.

Group Tables

[euro-2012-predictor tables=1 stage=n show_results=n]

Display the group tables with the match results once the match has finished and the results have been entered.
You may optionally supply the attribute stage=n where n is the stage id to limit the matches to a particular group.
You may optionally supply the attribute show_results=n where n = 0 or 1 to hide or show the match results below the group table.

Knockout Table

[euro-2012-predictor knockout=1]

Display the results of the knockout stages of the tournament. See Screenshot

Match Results

[euro-2012-predictor results=1 stage=n]

Display a table of match results. You may optionally supply the attribute stage=n where n is the stage id to limit the matches to a particular group.

Users Predictions

[euro-2012-predictor scores=n]

For each match ID, specified by n, display a table of every users’ predictions and the points awarded. Note – users predictions will not be shown
if the match kickoff time has not yet passed.
This is to prevent users viewing each others predictions before the match has started.

Use the option [euro-2012-predictor scores=-1] to display all predictions for all matches in one table.

Optionally add the attribute highlight="css-styles" to add a CSS
style to the table row of the currently logged in user. For example [euro-2012-predictor scores=1 highlight="background:red;font-weight:bold"].

Logged in Users Predictions

[euro-2012-predictor user=1 show_total=n show_results=m]

For the currently logged in user display the list of predictions for that user. If n is non-zero then show the total points for this user
at he foot of the table. If m is zero do not show match results against each prediction. Also available via the Widgets.

You may also display just the users total via [euro-2012-predictor show_total=1] without the table.

Rankings

[euro-2012-predictor ranking=1 limit=999 avatar=1]

Display a summary of all the users’ points as a ranking table. Optionally add the attribute highlight="css-styles" to add a CSS
style to the table row of the currently logged in user. For example [euro-2012-predictor ranking=1 highlight="background:red;font-weight:bold"].

To hide the display of a users’ avatar set avatar=0

Also available via the Widgets.

User Rankings Widget

The widget displays similar output to the shortcode [euro-2012-predictor ranking=1 limit=9999]

Drag and drop the widget to a sidebar and configure. Multiple instances of the widget, each configured separately, may be
placed on a sidebar.

If not blank, the URL option adds a link to the full results page using the title below as the link text.

User Predictions Widget

The widget displays the list of the currently logged in users’ predictions similar in output to the shortcode [euro-2012-predictor user=1]

Drag and drop the widget to a sidebar and configure.

Match dates and times

All match kickoff times and dates are displayed, by default, in match local time using the locale and date/time formating
settings from Admin->Settings->General Note during June, Poland is UTC+2 and Ukraine UTC+3
If you have changed the match times in the admin screens from UTC, this will NOT work correctly.

Convert kickoff times to local timezone

If you prefer to display kickoff times according to the user’s timezone then check the ‘Convert kickoff times to local timezone’
option setting in the plugin Overview page.

Note – The time is converted and displayed according to the settings in the user’s browser/operating system.

Toggle timezones

To allow a user to toggle between match local time and browser local time you need to add the following code in your
blog post, or sidebar, that contains one of the plugin shortcodes: For example,

<div class="tzcContainer">

  <p id="tzLocal">Match times are currently set to match local time, please click here to convert to your time zone.</p>

  <p id="tzClient" style="display:none">Match times are currently set to <strong>your timezone</strong>, please click here to revert to local time.</p>

</div>

The text can be changed to anything appropriate and include images etc. The key items are: id="tzLocal" and id="tzClient" with the
second item having style="display:none". Users clicking on either of these sentences will toggle all match kickoff times between
and browser local time. It does rely on the users’ browser being configured correctly for their timezone and locale.

By default the plugin will also attempt to display match kickoff times in the users local language.

To disable this feature uncheck the setting ‘Convert kickoff times to blog timezone’ on the overview screen.

Screenshots

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Installation

To install the plugin complete the following steps

1. Unzip the zip-file and upload the content to your WordPress Plugin directory. Usually /wp-content/plugins
2. Activate the plugin via the Admin plugin page.
3. Import Teams and Matches via the Admin page.
4. Create or edit a post/page and add the shortcode [euro-2012-predictor]

For more details on configuration see Other Notes.

FAQ

• Why are there 30 teams ?

There are extra dummy ‘placeholder’ teams to fill-in the knockout results tables. Once a team has progressed through the group stage to the knockout stage edit the match schedule to change the placeholder team to the actual team.

• How do update match scores ?

In the Teams and Matches menu, select the Matches tab then click the Modify button in the table below, update score and check ‘Match Finished’

• The countdown clock just shows ‘Clock’ and not a countdown

The Javascript file (js/user.js) for the clock has not been included correctly. Check that there are not any Javascript optimizations plugins that may have removed the code. Also, verify in the page source that the JS file has been included.

• Can I change match times to my local time ?

All dates and times are stored internally in UTC and only converted on display to match local time using the WordPress
locale settings.

To allow users to toggle between match local time and users local time see details in the setup section.

• How do I limit the prediction form to just the Group stages ?

Use the shortcode [euro-2012-predictor group=1]. For more options see the usage section.

• How does the scoring system work for the knockout stages ?

At the knockout stage if a user predicts a win e.g. 3-2 they get either the exact points if the result is 3-2 or the win points if the result is 1-0

Penalties are included in either of the above, so if a user predicts 1(5)-1(4), and result is 1(5)-1(4) then exact points, if the result is 2(5)-2(4) it’s a correctly predicted win, however if the result is 1(4)-(1)5 they get points for the goal draw. It’s a reward for getting it ‘half-right’. If you don’t like that behaviour then once all the group match results have been entered and all the predictions scored, then modify the scoring configuration to change draw point to 0 (zero).

The bonus points for correct goals and goal difference ignore penalties.

There is nothing for extra time or golden goals as such.

• Teams in the Group tables are not ordered the same as on the UEFA site

In the Admin->Teams menu modify the Group Order field to sort the teams manually for those with equal points, matches, goal difference etc.

If at the end of the Group stage UEFA draw lots to decide the winner of a group in the event of a tie, use this option to manually arrange the group table order by using a lower group order number to promote a tied team up the table.

See https://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro/

Reviews

Contributors & Developers

Changelog

• 0.9.1 – 17th December 2012
  Updates for WordPress 3.5

• 0.8 – 21st Jun 2012
  Fix Group Table order as UEFA tie break is different to FIFA

• 0.7 – 21st Jun 2012
  Add shortcode option to show/hide avatar in ranking table.
  Add Polish translation – Thanks Charls from Posen
  Add Hindi translation – Thank you Chandel
  Fix Group Table order as UEFA tie break is different to FIFA

• 0.6 – 16th May 2012
  Make the interface clearer for updating a match to enter the final result.
  Bug fix for admin screen showing users predictions
  Bug fix for WordPress multi-site

• 0.5 – 15th May 2012
  Display ranking table for all matches, not just those that have finished

• 0.4 – 15th May 2012
  Removed blank lines around <script> tags to prevent over zealous themes adding <p> tags
  Prevent deletion of venues, teams and matches if it would leave orphaned data
  Minor layout change to knockout table to reduce width
  Marking a match as finished automatically updates the users prediction scores.
  Users predictions are now shown once the kickoff time has passed without requiring the match to be marked as finished.
  Minor improvements to reduce memory usage

• 0.3 – 2nd Apr 2012
  Added euro2012_ prefix to come CSS classes
  Corrected some errors in the help

• 0.2 – 24th Feb 2012
  Bug fix saving predictions

• 0.1 – 23rd Feb 2012
  Initial Alpha Version

ChangeLog