After starting Parity Builder, select New project from the File menu. This creates a set of tabs for the new project, and focuses on the Project tab. The File menu also contains a New from template option. If you have saved a previous project as a template, you can use this choice to create a new project containing all the saved settings. Using New from template rather than just reopening a saved project and making changes eliminates any risk of accidentally overwriting the saved project.
The first entry on the Project tab is a space where you can enter a description. This is entirely optional, and serves only as a reminder of the project's identity and/or any project details you might choose to preserve. Feel free to leave it blank if you wish.
Below the description are two lines that will eventually contain the name of the project file (assuming you choose to save the project) and the attribute that will be used to identify individuals (in the our case, their first name). Parity Builder will fill these in automatically once it knows the correct values.
Next come settings related to the number of teams. Since you have 148 children to be divided into teams of approximately 11 each, and 148 is not divisible by 11, you will need to be a little flexible about team size and/or number of teams. Set the desired number of teams to 14, with a minimum of 13 and a maximum of 15. The input controls are known as "spinners". You can change the value of one either by clicking the small up and down arrows on the right side of the spinner, or by clicking on the value and editing it directly. Since the maximum number of teams must be at least as great as the minimum number, with the desired number in between, if you edit one of them you may see one or both limits adjust themselves automatically to keep things consistent. After setting the minimum, maximum and desired number of teams, set a priority for getting the desired number of teams, either by sliding the handle of the priority control or by typing a number (between 0 and 100) into the box. Select a relatively low priority (say, something around 30) for this.
After setting the goal for number of teams, you need to do the same thing for team size. You want a team size of 11 (the desired value). Restrict the team size to between 10 and 12, and give this a high priority (say, something around 80).
The last entry on the Project tab tells Parity Builder whether all individuals need to be assigned. You can select among unnecessary (it is perfectly fine to leave some or even all individuals unassigned), preferred (full assignment is desired but not mandatory) or required (full assignment is essential). The priority slider is used only if full assignment is preferred. In this case, every child must play, so select Required.
At this point, it would be a good idea to save the project file. Note that the Project tab has an asterisk (*). An asterisk on any tab indicates unsaved changes to that tab. Use either Save project or Save as ... from the File menu to save your project now. The default extension for a project file is ".xml", but you can use any extension you wish.
Once you have started a project, you have a choice on the order you do things. You can enter information about attributes first (by clicking on the Attributes menu), then either enter individuals manually (by clicking on the Individuals tab) or import them from a comma-separated-value (CSV) file (by clicking Import individuals on the File menu). Alternatively, you can import a CSV file and then, if necessary, edit the attributes. You will use the second approach here.
| previous: Tutorial overview | next: Input individuals |
