CRCD 3

Frequently Asked Questions

• I no longer get a dialog box for setting properties when I click on the button to create an obstacle label / dog path / other shape. How do I get that dialog box back?
• The grid lines are being labeled in yards. How do I make them be labeled in feet?
• Why doesn't Course Designer 3 open on my computer? When I double-click the Course Designer 3 icon on my desktop, it displays a splash screen momentarily, and then nothing.
• How do I get obstacle positions to be measured from a vertical baseline that goes up through the center of the course?
• When I open Course Designer, or create a new course, the course starts out with obstacles already on it. How do I go back to starting out with an empty course?
• How do I use Course Designer 3 for free?
• How do I use Course Designer 3 with an older version of Course Designer?

The following is written assuming the problem you are having is with the obstacle label shape. Replace "obstacle label" below with "dog path" or "tunnel" or whatever if you are having a problem with a different type of shape.

The solution is to:

1. Create an obstacle label on the course.
2. While the obstacle label is still selected, use the "Edit / Obstacle Label Properties" menu item to open the "Obstacle Label Properties" dialog box.
3. Check the "Edit Obstacle Label properties upon creation" checkbox, and click "OK".

For more information, see the "Changing Shape Properties" help topic.

Actually, grid lines are never labeled in yards. If they look like they're labeled in yards, then they're actually labeled in meters. To change back to feet, uncheck the "View / Metric" menu item.

The problem is that Course Designer was incompletely installed on your computer. This happens if you turn off or restart your computer while the final installation window is waiting for you to click the "Finish" button.

The solution is to uninstall Course Designer, and then reinstall it. You uninstall Course Designer by doing the following:

1. From Windows' "start" menu, select "Control Panel" to open the "Control Panel" window.
2. Double-click the "Add or Remove Programs" icon to open the "Add or Remove Programs" window.
3. In the "Currently installed programs:" list, select the "Clean Run Course Designer 3" entry, and click the "Remove" button.
4. Click the "Yes" button to verify that you want to remove Course Designer.

Use the "View / Background Lines..." and "View / Obstacle Coordinates..." menu items to display the dialog boxes pertaining to obstacle positions, and make adjustments as needed. For more information, see the help topic "Using the Baseline Method".

The problem is that you've accidentally saved a course as the template course. To go back to starting out with an empty course, uncheck the "File / Use Template" menu item. For more information, see the help topic "Creating New Courses; Template Courses".

To use Course Designer 3 for free, first download and install Course Designer 3 onto your computer. Then, whenever you open Course Designer 3, just click the OK button on the "Course Designer 3 Activation" dialog box, without entering anything into the "Activation code:" field.

Free Viewer

You can use Course Designer 3 for free to view courses that you receive from people. If a course file is sent to you as an e-mail attachment, you can view the course by simply opening the attached file. Just click the OK button on the "Course Designer 3 Activation" dialog box that will be displayed.

To view a course encoded within the body of an e-mail or message board message:

1. While viewing the message in your e-mail application or web browser, use the "Edit / Select All" menu item to select the whole message that contains the course, and then use the "Edit / Copy" menu item to copy the message to the clipboard.
2. Open Course Designer 3, and click the OK button on the "Course Designer 3 Activation" dialog box.
3. In Course Designer 3, use the "Edit / Paste" menu item to paste the course from the clipboard. The non-course parts of the message on the clipboard will be ignored. You will see the course image on the screen.

Free Trial Period

During the first 30 days after you install Course Designer 3, you will also be able to create, modify and print courses for free. If you decide you would like to create, modify or print courses after the 30-day free trial period has expired, you will need to purchase an activation license. However, there is no time limit on how long you can use Course Designer 3 as a free viewer.

Course Designer 3 Coexisting with Older Versions of Course Designer

Course Designer 3 can read all course files created by either Course Designer 1.0 or Course Designer 2000. However, there is no feature in Course Designer 3 for saving courses such that they can be read by an older version of Course Designer. Therefore, if you are a licensee of either Course Designer 1.0 or Course Designer 2000, there are a couple cases in which you may need to continue to use the older version of Course Designer, even after you have upgraded to Course Designer 3.

First, while you are evaluating Course Designer 3 during the 30-day free trial period, you should continue to use the older version of Course Designer to create any courses that you will need to modify or print after the 30-day free trial period, in case you decide not to purchase a Course Designer 3 activation license.

You will also need to use an older version of Course Designer to create any course that you need to send to another Course Designer user, if all of the following conditions are true:

• The other user is a Course Designer 1.0 or Course Designer 2000 licensee.
• The other user is not a Course Designer 3 licensee.
• The other user needs to be able to modify or print the course that you send them.

If the other user does not need to modify or print a course that you send them, you can always send them a course created by Course Designer 3, and the other user can use Course Designer 3 in free viewer mode to view the course that you send them.

There is no need to choose between keeping your older version of Course Designer and upgrading to Course Designer 3. You can have Course Designer 3 and an older version of Course Designer both installed on your computer at the same time. You can choose whether you want to create a course using Course Designer 3 or an older version of Course Designer by simply opening the appropriate version when you want to create the course.

Opening Course Files in an Older Version of Course Designer

Each time you open Course Designer 3 on your computer, it will establish itself as the application to use on your computer when .agl files (course files) are opened by double-clicking on them in Windows Explorer, or by opening an attached .agl file in your e-mail application. If you want .agl files to instead be opened with your older version of Course Designer, check the "File / Open .agl files with CRCD 2000" menu item. After you check that menu item, all .agl files will be opened using the older version of Course Designer, until the next time you open Course Designer 3, or until you uncheck that menu item.

If you have a license for an older version of Course Designer, but occasionally use Course Designer 3 in free viewer mode, it may be a good idea to check the "File / Open .agl files with CRCD 2000" menu item every time you use Course Designer 3. That way, your use of Course Designer 3 will not affect your use of Course Designer 2000 in the least.

Despite the name, the "File / Open .agl files with CRCD 2000" menu item will also work with Course Designer 1.0, if that is the older version of Course Designer on your computer. The menu item will not appear if there is no older version of Course Designer on your computer. The menu item may not work if you are running on a restricted user account that is not authorized to modify the Windows registry.

The "File / Open .agl files with CRCD 2000" menu item was added in version 3.3 of Course Designer 3. If you are running a version of Course Designer 3 older than version 3.3, you are encouraged to install the latest version.