[JasonB]

With the proliferation of tables and spreadsheets involved in Graham's excellent Rally Proxy series it set me off thinking about the possibilities of using Google Sheets, and how we might use it practically in the sort of real world situations that we might encounter. With the number of entries in the rally proxy and the complexity of the different events and classes, it struck me that this might be a good time to evaluate Google's spreadsheet capabilities with a set of real data, from a real event.

Before we get to that though, let's just look at the basics, and the pros and cons of using Google Sheets...

Disadvantages...

• Familiarity - If you are used to using Excel, or any other spreadsheet application like Open Office, Libre Office, or such like, it does take a little while to get used to Google Sheets. It's similar, it does most of the same things, but I found myself stumbling around for a while, trying to find out how to achieve certain things. I guess that's inevitable when you use new software.
  
• Capability - Google Sheets isn't as sophisticated as Excel or other desktop apps, or at least it doesn't seem it after a couple of days of use. But unless you're a spreadsheet wizard dealing with massive data sets, I suspect you'd find most of what you want.
  
• Quirks - Things don't always work as you'd expect, and the fact that it's a web based app means that if you have a dodgy internet connection as I do, there can be slight, unexpected delays, which can interrupt your workflow, which is annoying. There are also a few things which can can completely spoil your work if you're not aware of them.
  

Advantages...

• Free - It is completely free, though there are also desktop apps that are also free.
  
• Collaborative - I haven't tested this out, but I believe you can allow other people to access and edit the spreadsheet, so you could perhaps allow each host in a proxy event to enter their own results, or maybe just share the work around between a few trusted people.
  
• Sharing - This is the big one for me, especially since sharing our hobby is  what this forum is all about. Rather than posting images of the tables and spreadsheets, it's possible, not easy but possible to post live spreadsheets.
  

Please allow me to explain and demonstrate that last point. Here is an example of a spreadsheet using the first four stages of the Rally Cars Slotting Proxy 2023...



This is not an official thing, Graham's posts over on the thread are the only official results, and I'm sure I've made loads of mistakes entering the info, and I have no idea how the points system works.

But it's a live spreadsheet, which will update here on the forum whenever the data on Google sheets is updated, and I've organised it to have various tabs at the bottom to show different info.

As I said before it's not easy, the organiser would have to set up the spreadsheet, share the embed code with me, and then I could set up the forum code to allow them to post it wherever they wanted. We wouldn't be able to do it for every table  and spreadsheet, it would have to be something like the sheet above that could cater for the whole series, but it's possible, and maybe worth thinking about.

[Kevan]

I used Google sheets to share accounts when I had a Plumbing business, my business partner had access to full editing rights and meant our accounts were 'live'.

It took quite a while to input the times into my own spreadsheet but I agree, a live up to date timing schedule is not only easily edited as the rounds go by but also highlights possible anomalies.

...I'd prefer the class colours right through each line

[JasonB]

I used Google sheets to share accounts when I had a Plumbing business, my business partner had access to full editing rights and meant our accounts were 'live'.

It took quite a while to input the times into my own spreadsheet but I agree, a live up to date timing schedule is not only easily edited as the rounds go by but also highlights possible anomalies.

...I'd prefer the class colours right through each line

How easy is it to give someone editing rights?

As for coloured backgrounds, obviously it's each to their own, but my tired old eyes find that it doesn't aid legibility. But of course that would be a decision for whoever makes the spreadsheet.

[Kevan]

Background colour makes it easier to find your car if you know which colour is which class so you don't have to scan down the colours then glance left to find the drivers name.

For rights it's dead easy, top right click 'share' and you'll get options:

• Add the persons email address of the person you want to allow access
  
• Click the 'general access' options (there's two), if you select 'anyone with the link...
  
• ...you can then choose how much access you want to trust them with
  

[JasonB]

Thanks Kevan, sounds dead easy.

I can see the reasons to colour code, but I can also see reasons not to. It definitely affects legibility if you use strong colours, and different colours of text. 

Maybe you could also have a colour in the team or driver's cell, but if you wanted it right across the row I think you'd have to use much lighter colours. Even then it would remove the alternating colours on the rows, making it slightly more difficult to track across on wider sheets.

Anyway, none of that will be up to me. If anybody wants to go ahead with it at any point, they'll be doing the spreadsheet and can do whatever they want.

[Qman]

I've migrated most of my stuff from Excel to Google sheets, in it's simplest form it allows me to take bookings (for our cattery) on all 3 computers we run, I can also add stuff on my phone if I happen to be out, I've managed to get all the bells & whistles that I used on Excel working and (touch wood) everything is working fine.

In a slot racing form I now have all of our club championships and race formats running on Sheets on the club's laptop which I can update at home on my one, I could even run race control from home if I wasn't at the club, so far it all works fine and we're on the 2nd year of my efforts.

[Kevan]

@JasonB

No other Slot car forum does this so it's a first in our hobby.

Is it possible to have the google sheets embedding as an option to choose, it sure would make reports and results easier in some instances, specifically when the list of cars is longer than a screen grab.

[JasonB]

I'm afraid the forum doesn't allow members to post html, for security reasons I believe.

Obviously I've managed to find a way around that, but it does require setting up coding in the admin CP for each embed, and it's a bit of a palaver.

I can't do that for every race result, but I am happy to do it if it's a series, such as the rally proxy, or if for instance a club could set up a year's results in one document.

[Kevan]

That totally understandable