Ring device access

During a show each ring is operated from one or more tablets. This chapter explains how to create the accounts those tablets use, how to let them sign in, and how to switch the whole thing off when the show is over.

It is written for whoever runs the show from the office computer. Nothing here has to be done by the people holding the tablets, except reading a code out loud.

The three ring roles

Every ring can be operated in three different ways, and each one is a separate account:

An account covers one role on one ring, and the three roles cannot be mixed on the same account. Six rings operated in all three ways therefore need eighteen accounts.

Ring accounts have no email address, and no password that anyone knows: the password is generated by the system and never shown. A tablet signs in with a temporary code, in one of the two ways described below. Both are available at all times — use whichever is more convenient at that moment.

Switching ring access on

Ring access is governed by a single switch. While it is off, no ring account can sign in by any route, and the pages the tablets use show nothing at all.

After the system is updated the switch is off. Remember to turn it on before your first show, or the tablets will not be able to sign in.

1. Open System, then Users, then the Ring tab.
2. Open the Actions menu at the top right of the table.
3. Choose Enable ring.

Turning the switch off stops any further sign-in and cancels the codes already issued. Tablets that are already signed in are not disconnected: they keep working until the end of the day, or until you disconnect them yourself.

Because of this, switching ring access off during a show does not stop the rings that are already running — it only prevents a tablet that has not signed in yet from doing so. The system asks you to confirm anyway, so the switch is not flipped by a stray tap.

Leave it on for the whole event. Turn it off between shows if you prefer that no tablet can connect at all.

When you are signed in as an administrator, a small aerial symbol appears next to the application name in the top bar. It is coloured while ring access is on and grey while it is off; hover over it to read the state in words. Nobody else sees it: the switch is global, but it means nothing to exhibitors.

Creating the ring accounts

Ring accounts live under System → Users, on the Ring tab. That tab shows only ring accounts, so it is the place to work from.

1. Open System → Users → Ring.
2. Open the Actions menu at the top right of the table.
3. Choose Add ring user, Add ring status or Add ring results, depending on the role.
4. Fill in the form and save.

Username — lowercase letters and digits only, starting with a letter, up to twenty characters. This is the part of the address the tablet opens, so keep it short and easy to read out loud: ring1user works, and so does r1u if you prefer.

Ring name — the ring this account works on. It must be written exactly as the ring is named in the event: if the event calls it 1, write 1. An account whose ring name matches no ring will sign in correctly and then show nothing.

Chat enabled — tick this if the person using the tablet should take part in the internal chat.

Name — appears only when chat is enabled, and is required in that case. It is how the other participants see this account in the chat, so something like Ring 1 judge is clearer than the account name.

The word ring cannot be used as a username: it is reserved for the shortcut described below.

Pairing a tablet with a code

1. On the tablet, open the ring page and wait.
2. The tablet shows a six-character code.
3. The person brings the tablet to your desk, or reads the code out to you.
4. Open the ring account you want that tablet to work as.
5. Type the code into Device code and press Approve device.
6. The tablet signs in on its own, within a couple of seconds.

The code lasts one minute; if it expires, the tablet has a button to ask for a new one. It is made of letters and digits, so it does not look like a PIN, and characters that are easy to confuse are never used — there is no 0 and no 1.

The tablet does not choose which ring it works on: you do, by choosing which account to approve it from. Take a moment to check you have opened the right account before approving. Approving from the wrong account signs the tablet in on the wrong ring — the tablet shows the ring name in large letters as soon as it connects, so the mistake is easy to spot.

If the application has been installed on the tablet as an app, its icon always opens the home page and never the ring page. There is a shortcut: on the login page type ring in the username field, leave the password empty, and confirm. This works only while ring access is switched on. It is a convenience, not a protection: anyone who types the address by hand reaches the same page. What actually protects the system is that nothing happens there until you approve the device.

Pairing a tablet with a PIN

The second route works the other way round: you generate the code and the tablet types it.

1. Open the ring account.
2. Press Generate PIN.
3. Read the PIN out to the person holding the tablet.
4. They enter it on the tablet, which signs in.

A PIN is refused once it has expired, once it has already been used, or after five wrong attempts. In any of those cases, generate a new one.

Session length and disconnecting

A tablet that has signed in stays connected until midnight of the same day. The following morning it has to sign in again, with either method. This is deliberate: a tablet forgotten in a bag does not stay connected for weeks.

To disconnect a single tablet, open its account and press Revoke sessions. Every device signed in as that account is disconnected. Use it if a tablet is lost, or has been left somewhere during the show.

There is no single command that disconnects everything. Switching ring access off closes the door to new sign-ins but leaves the tablets already inside connected, so to clear them all you use Revoke sessions on each account. This too is deliberate: a command that stopped every ring at once would be too dangerous to have one tap away from the accounts you work on during a show.

If something does not work

The tablet says there is no event planned. The sign-in worked; what is missing is an event. Either no event is running at this moment, or its entries have not been closed yet. Check the event dates and times, and that entries are closed.

The ring page is blank. Ring access is switched off — see above. Note that tablets already signed in keep working: the blank page affects only devices trying to sign in now.

The PIN is refused. It has expired, it has already been used, or it has been typed wrong five times. Generate a new one.

The pairing code is refused. It has expired, or that code has already been approved. Ask the tablet for a new code.

The address is not found. The username in the address is misspelled, or the account does not exist.

A ring shows nothing although everything looks correct. Check that the ring name on the account matches the name of the ring in the event, character for character. And check that two events are not running at the same moment: if they are, the ring screens cannot work, because the system cannot tell which of the two a ring belongs to. Schedule events so their times do not overlap.