Welcome to the Online Live Draft Room!

1. Requirements:

   1. Machine Specs
      • PC running a Windows operating system using Internet Explorer 5 or higher, or Netscape 4.7 or higher.
        -OR-
        
      • Macintosh running Mac OS X with Internet Explorer 5 or Netscape 7
      • Other setups may work and users are welcome to try, but we offer no guarantees and do not officially support them.
      
      
   2. Java installation
      • PC - Sun's Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 1.3.1_04 or higher.
        Note: At the current time, there is a bug in version 1.4.1 which causes the computer to occasionally freeze for a few seconds while dragging and dropping players (to re-rank or add/remove from the queue).
      • Mac - Default installation for Mac OS X
      
      
   3. Internet Connection
      • The Java Live Draft Applet connects to an external server to coordinate the draft. In order to connect to this server, users must an internet connection which allows them to do this. The server connects on Port 80 through the standard TCP networking protocol. Users behind firewalls or proxy servers may not be able to connect without changing settings to allow outgoing TCP traffic on port 80. (Home users are generally not behind firewalls unless they intentionally set one up. Users in corporate offices may be behind a firewall that their IT department controls.)
   
   

2. Getting Started:

   1. PC users who do not yet have an appropriate version of Java installed will need to do so before they can enter the room. They can download and install this manually from Sun Microsystem's website, J2SE JRE for Windows (U.S. English only). Alternatively, Internet Explorer users can simply enter the applet and Internet Explorer will prompt them to download and install Java automatically. The latter is usually the simplest approach.
      
      
   2. Make sure to allow enough time for the downloads. The Java download is between 5 and 6 MB, which may take up to twenty minutes or longer on a 56k modem. The Draft Room applet itself may take several minutes to download.
      
      
   3. Upon first loading the applet, users may be presented with a Java Plug-in Security Warning, to which they must respond with "Grant this session" or "Grant always". The warning is simply to let the user know that AllStar Stats assures that the applet is safe and will not violate the user's security or privacy in any way, and that Verisign is doubly insuring that the applet is in fact the one AllStar Stats claims it is and has not been tampered with. Granting access allows the applet to send its messages to the server.
   
   

3. Troubleshooting:

   1. Clicking on the button to Enter the room or Test Driver the Demo has no effect. (The Applet Window, the small window which says "DO NOT CLOSE THIS WINDOW" at the top, never shows up.)
      
      This could be due to a pop-up blocker installed on the user's computer. The Applet window opens in its own window which may be blocked by some pop-up blocker software. The solution depends on the pop-up blocker software itself, but is usually either holding down a key (such as [Ctrl]) while clicking the button, or temporarily disabling the blocking software.
      
      
   2. The Applet window appears, but the applet doesn't show up. All that's there is an empty box in a window that says do not close.
      
      This is a sign that Java is not loading properly. It most often occurs in Windows XP. Make sure that Java has been downloaded and installed. To solve this problem, try the following: In the Control Panel (Start Menu -> Settings -> Control Panel) there should be at least one icon for Java Plug-in. Double clicking that icon for the Java version to use should bring up a window with a "Browser" tab. On that Browser page, make sure that Java is selected as the default Java Runtime plug-in for the web browser(s) being used.
      
      Then, for Internet Explorer users: Go to Tools->Internet Options, click the Security tab, then click the "Custom Level" button. Make sure that all the settings regarding ActiveX controls are set to "Enable" or "Prompt".
      
      For Netscape Users, go to Edit->Preferences, click "Advanced", and make sure the button to "Enable Java" is checked.
      
      If Java still isn't loading, WindowsXP users may want to try installing the newer 1.4.1 version of Java from Sun Microsystems, which might be more compatible with WindowsXP.
      
      
   3. The Applet loads, but then a "Cannot connect to server" message immediately appears when I try to connect.
      
      This means that a connection could not be made between the computer and the draft room server. This will usually be the case when either the user is behind a firewall or proxy server which is not letting TCP traffic on port 80 pass, or when the server is down for short periods of maintenance. If it's a firewall problem, there is currently nothing we can do about it, although we are looking into future solutions. The only options left for the user are to disable the firewall or open TCP traffic on port 80 (if the user has the ability to do this), to let the draft run on autopilot, controlled only by the user's rankings and autopilot preferences, to find a computer to use which is not blocked by a firewall, or to stay in contact with the League Manager and have him enter the desired moves. If the server is down, it will be back up as soon as we feel it is ready, and trying again later may yield positive results.
      
      
   4. The "Loading Draft Data" message appears on the progress bar, but the bar keeps moving back and forth without ever finishing.
      
      This usually implies that a connection can be made, but the data isn't able to pass over it. This may be due to over-congestion preventing data from reaching its destination in a reasonable time. If this happens consistently, please contact us and we will try to investigate the problem.
      
      
   5. A "Version Conflict" appears when I try to connect, saying that a newer version exists, and then the applet disconnects.
      
      This can be due to one of two things.
      1. A newer version of the server was put up while a previous applet was already loaded. The newer version must be downloaded, which may simply require closing down all browser windows and then coming back in. If this still doesn't work, read the process below.
      2. The browser has cached an older version of the applet. In theory, this should be fixable simply by restarting the browser. However, some browsers are difficult and need to be forced to refresh. If restarting the browser alone doesn't solve this problem, try the following:
      
      Internet Explorer users - Go to Tools->Internet Options, then under "Temporary Internet Files" click the "Delete Files" button, then click "OK", then click "Settings" and click the option to tell it to Check for newer versions of stored pages "Every visit to the page". Then restart the browser again and it should download the newest version of the applet when you go back in.
      
      Netscape users - Go to Edit->Preferences, double-click on "Advanced" and go to "Cache". On this page, click "Clear Memory Cache" and then "Clear Disk Cache" and then tell it to Compare the page in the cache to the page on the network "Every time I view the page". Then restart the browser again and it should download the newest version of the applet when you go back in.
   
   

4. Questions in the Draft Room:

   1. The queue disappeared after leaving the draft room. Why doesn't it save?
      
      This is not a bug, but is simply how the draft room is designed. The queue is for temporary storage only, and will only be in effect while the user is connected. More lasting queuing should be implemented through the Rankings instead, and clicking "Save" on the rankings will commit them to the database where they will be used for the rest of the draft.
      
      
   2. A message showing a user has left the room is displayed multiple times when the user leaves. Is this a problem?
      
      This is a minor side effect of the implementation which should just be ignored for now.
      
      
   3. Autopilot is only drafting pitchers for a team. What's going on?
      
      This is due to a combination of rankings and roster setups. In the default rankings, pitchers tend to be ranked higher than hitters. As such, if no personal rankings or autopilot preferences are made and the roster settings don't prohibit it, a team may end up drafting all pitchers on autopilot. The best solution is for a League Manager to set up the roster restrictions so that a team must have a minimum number of players in each position, and of course for users to set up personal rankings and autopilot preferences that will suit them.
      
      Note to Full-Count users: As of 2/22 the roster restrictions were changed to ensure that every team gets at least 8 starting hitters instead of filling up with pitchers. However, a team may still draft all its reserves as pitchers before it drafts the rest of its hitters.
      
      
   4. How does autopilot work?
      
      If time runs out before a team makes a pick, they are automatically set to autopilot. Once a user is on autopilot, players will automatically be drafted for them after just a few seconds. There are 2 different scenarios:
      
      
      1. The user is in the draft room. Autopilot first looks at the queue and drafts the top player in the queue that doesn't violate Roster Restrictions. If there are no valid players in the queue or the queue is empty, then it picks a player based on the user's CURRENT autopilot preferences and personal rankings (If these have changed from the ones the user has saved, it uses the CURRENT ones, NOT the SAVED ones!) It will draft the highest ranked player according to the user's personal rankings which fits into their autopilot preference and doesn't violate restrictions. If no player is drafted this way, then it simply drafts the highest ranked player according to personal rankings that doesn't violate restrictions.
         
         
      2. The user is NOT in the draft room. Autopilot loads the SAVED autopilot preference for the round and the user's SAVED personal rankings, then drafts the top ranked player fitting into the autopilot preference without violating the roster restrictions. If no player meets these criteria, it drafts the top ranked player according to SAVED personal rankings that doesn't violate restrictions.
      
      The team remains on autopilot until the user manually turns it off from within the draft room.
   
   

5. Contact Us:

   If you have any additional problems or concerns, or if you would like to give us some feedback, you can email us at support@allstarstats.com.