Multi scheduler

What does it do?

This program, running in a web browser, generates a schedule for playing a game, tennis, for example.

Example

6 people want to play tennis weekly. On any play day, 4 players are needed, so there is a need for a schedule to determine who plays when. And, to avoid embarrassing non-discussions, it is also nice if the schedule determines who pays for the coffee.

Features of the program

Input

The language (English, Dutch, ...)
Start and end dates of the schedule and the weekdays you want to play.
The dates that a player is not available (vacation, for example).
The dates are not playable at all (Xmas, for example).
Should the program generate teams or not.
Which players should not go in the same team (e.g: some couples do not want to play in the same team).
Emails, telephone numbers, ratings and gender of the players.
A list of reserve players: not in the schedule itself but available if there not enough players on a particular date.
Extra information: Location, time, etc.
Override the decisions made by the program (e.g: you really want somebody to play at some date).

Output

The output is a scheme in the form of a PDF file, which you can sent to your mates.
In this scheme teams are defined for every playing day.
A suggestion is made who pays for the drinks.

The program tries to achieve the following goals

Every player plays the same number of games.
Teams are different on each playing day.
The number of not-playing days in a row is minimized for each player.
Competing teams are equal in strength.
Teams are composed of a male and a female.

Saving of input data

The data used to compute the schedule can be saved and retrieved later on.
The data is saved on the computer where the web browser is running, typically in the folder Downloads.
No information is stored on the server.
Cookies are not used.

Printable version of the computed scheme

In general, the program is to be used by one person who generates a schedule, prints the schedule on paper or to a PDF file and shares this with her playing mates.

Languages

The program speaks Dutch, English, French, German, Spanish and Ukrainian (thanks to google translate).
If there is interest for other languages, let me know and I'll see what is possible.

Limitations

The program handles schemes with up to about 50 dates well.
Above 50 dates, the program has difficulties to find an optimal solution.
If you have 50 or more dates, it is best to split the scheme into 2 or more shorter ones.
Computing time is limited to 20 seconds. This limit can be hit when dealing with more than 50 dates, depending of the speed of your computer.