MASTERPOINT FILE FORMAT

 Format of ABF Masterpoint Files

It is important to remember that these files must be in plain Text (ASCII) format. That mean that if you are using MSWORD or EXCEL or any other such proprietary type program, you must select the Save As function and save it as a DOS Text file, rather that the Save function which will save the file in its native format. We cannot accept files with a .DOC or .XLS; extension or files with any other fancy extension names. (see naming convention below). If you must use a standard Windows program, use NOTEPAD instead. At least, that saves the files in standard text format. Here is a better solution: Our free NAT4WIN program offers you a convenient method for entering the points, whilst it automatically creates a proper masterpoint file, ready to attach to your email. If you don't have a copy, please enter our web site and download the NATIONAL files from there.
A full description of the functions and their uses are available in the NATIONAL help file.

Structure of files

If you were to look at a masterpoint file (type .mp2 or .mp3) using NOTEPAD, it would look something like this:

0123456000042
0002288000007
0088249000145
etc
etc

In other words, 13-digits per line precisely. No characters, no spaces and no signs. Just the 13-digits made up of two individual sets of digits representing the ABF number (7-digits) and the awards (6–digits). We work with whole number only; therefore, the last 2-digits of the awards are assumed to be the decimal part. If the number of digits are less than those quoted herein, you must left-pack each field with zeros (0). For example, ABF number 123 becomes 0000123 and 0.53 points should read 000053 etc. Thus, in the example above, ABF number 123456 receives 0.42 points, 2288 gets 0.07 and 88249 gets 1.45 points. Very simple stuff!

Now, to confuse you , there is also a file type which, in addition to the ABF number, contains a combination of red and green points, in that order (type .mp5). It would look like this in your NOTEPAD:

0100060000042000005
0099993000007000000
0555667000000000145
etc
etc

As you can see, each line is now 19-digits long, made up of three individual fields representing the ABF number (7), plus red points (6) plus green points (6). It is important that the points are in the correct order, i.e. red comes before green. Note that line two contains no green points and line 3 no red points. 19-digits all the same!

Naming the Files

Red and green points files are identical! The distinction is in the naming of your file, or more precisely, the last digit of the 3-character extension of the file name. The correct name of you file is:

D<clubno><qyy>.MP<n> where <clubno> is replaced by your 4-digit club number, <qyy> is the current quarter and year and <n> is a single digit representing  the type (colour) of points in the file: 2=red and 3=green. Thus, if your club number is, say, 3341, the current quarter is the 2nd quarter, the year is 2002 and the colour of the points are red, the name would be: D3341202.MP2. The naming of a type 5 file is the same as for types 2 & 3, except that the last digit in the extension part of the name will be 5.

Unfortunately, Microsoft has also decided to use these extensions for their music files. This may cause problems for some people when the want to check their files and/or when they want to attach the files to an email message. To overcome this, we now allow users to give their files the extension ".red", ".grn" and ".rag" (red and green). Our software package NAT4WIN  automatically creates those extensions and will also convert existing ".mp?" files to the new "coloured" extensions. Furthermore, a small stand-alone utility program, "MPVIEWER.EXE" is available from the Downloads page on our website. You should have no problems when you use the new extensions. Note that we will still be working with ".mp?" files at the Centre, so the use of the new extensions is entirely optional.

Congress, State and National Files

Finally, those of you who need to create congress, state and national type files, will be glad to know that these are identical to the club files. Only the naming varies slightly, e.g. Y<m><code><qyy>.mp<n>

where <m> is a single digit 1 to 3 representing the month within the quarter, <code> is a 3-character code name for the event (refer MP-Centre for the code), and the other variables follow the same conventions as described above.