As I said on 27th Feb I'd mention in here should I add a bulk of reviews. Sinclair User issues 77 to 101 now available (so only a couple of dozen or so left :-) ). The Export page will download all the references.
Thank you! I will add references to your latest reviews in the next ZXDB update!
* http://home.lisias.net/ -> ZX-Spectrum search engine by Lisias Toledo, built on Raspberry Pi.
* http://zxart.ee/ -> ZX-Spectrum art archive by Dmitri Ponomarjov, it doesn't really host ZXDB but includes information and screenshots about recent game releases imported from ZXDB
Since ZXDB is an open project, any sites interested in hosting ZXDB are very much welcome. If anybody else is aware of more sites, please let me know and I will mention them in ZXDB documentation!
As I said on 27th Feb I'd mention in here should I add a bulk of reviews. Sinclair User issues 77 to 101 now available (so only a couple of dozen or so left :-) ). The Export page will download all the references.
I just tried integrating latest ZXSR changes into ZXDB but I encountered again the same problems with invalid and missing InfoseekIDs previously reported here:
Can you please take a look and let me know when it's fixed? I will wait for these fixes before integrating ZXSR into ZXDB so I won't have to do this work twice. Thank you!
As I said on 27th Feb I'd mention in here should I add a bulk of reviews. Sinclair User issues 77 to 101 now available (so only a couple of dozen or so left :-) ). The Export page will download all the references.
I just tried integrating latest ZXSR changes into ZXDB but I encountered again the same problems with invalid and missing InfoseekIDs previously reported here:
Can you please take a look and let me know when it's fixed? I will wait for these fixes before integrating ZXSR into ZXDB so I won't have to do this work twice. Thank you!
As I said on 27th Feb I'd mention in here should I add a bulk of reviews. Sinclair User issues 77 to 101 now available (so only a couple of dozen or so left :-) ). The Export page will download all the references.
I just tried integrating latest ZXSR changes into ZXDB but I encountered again the same problems with invalid and missing InfoseekIDs previously reported here:
Can you please take a look and let me know when it's fixed? I will wait for these fixes before integrating ZXSR into ZXDB so I won't have to do this work twice. Thank you!
As I said on 27th Feb I'd mention in here should I add a bulk of reviews. Sinclair User issues 77 to 101 now available (so only a couple of dozen or so left :-) ). The Export page will download all the references.
I just tried integrating latest ZXSR changes into ZXDB but I encountered again the same problems with invalid and missing InfoseekIDs previously reported here:
Can you please take a look and let me know when it's fixed? I will wait for these fixes before integrating ZXSR into ZXDB so I won't have to do this work twice. Thank you!
The ZXDB development is almost finished now. There are only 2 tables left (about 8,000 rows total) with content from SPOT/SPEX that still needs to be "merged" into ZXDB, and only 1 table left (about 1,000 rows total) with magazine-related files that were previously "lost" (unindexed) inside WoS archive and needs to be organized and "merged" into everything else.
In the first couple weeks of development, we had already finished Importing all content from original WoS archive and fixing information inconsistencies. Recently we have also integrated magazine review references with ZXSR, this information was updated again a few days ago. Latest game releases have been stored in ZXDB too.
Of course there will be always more information to add (such as future game releases, or expanding current data to include scene demos, ZX81 releases, etc), but the main work of reorganizing the database internally to "merge" information from WoS archive, SPOT/SPEX, ZXSR and other sources will be done soon. Afterwards it will be just a matter of adding more data, not modifying the database itself anymore. I hope it makes sense :)
Many thanks to everybody that have contributed to ZXDB during all this time!!!
The main change this time was replacing auxiliary tables "aux_" with new tables "search_by_" to help websites build smarter database searches. For instance, if you want to list all games created by Joffa:
SELECT entry_id FROM search_by_authors a
INNER JOIN search_by_names n ON a.label_id = n.label_id
WHERE label_name LIKE '%joffa%'
This ZXDB query will list 15 games. Current websites won't give you anything since they don't recognize nicknames, but ZXDB does :)
Another example is searching for games named "Sokoban":
SELECT entry_id FROM search_by_titles
WHERE entry_title LIKE '%sokoban%'
This ZXDB query will also list 15 games, including "Ladatologato Jatek" (that has "Sokoban" in an alternate title) and others like "Soko-ban".
Thanks Einar! The 'Quick' search on Spectrum Computing has been updated to use the new 'search_by_titles' table. and will now produce the extended search results for "Sokoban".
Advanced search will be changed in the next few weeks.
It would be fine to add an alternate title into the page with detail informations about each game also.
BTW I tried to search for 'First Blood' but any game wasn't found. I expected it should be found Rambo game, because its alternate title should contain this string.
It would be fine to add an alternate title into the page with detail informations about each game also.
BTW I tried to search for 'First Blood' but any game wasn't found. I expected it should be found Rambo game, because its alternate title should contain this string.
Hi Master if the Maps!
Einar pointed out I need to remove spaces from the search string. I will sort tonight. Thanks.
It would be fine to add an alternate title into the page with detail informations about each game also.
BTW I tried to search for 'First Blood' but any game wasn't found. I expected it should be found Rambo game, because its alternate title should contain this string.
Hi again Pavero,
Its all fixed now, and yes Rambo does appear in the results as you hoped. For those interested I used the following PHP to strip the spaces:
All "lost" (unindexed) files from the WoS archive are finally organized! There isn't much left to be done. Now there are only about 6,000 rows of content from SPOT/SPEX that needs to be "merged" into ZXDB.
Also ZXDB currently contains almost all recent game releases. You can even find entries like this:)
It contains a little more progress on "merging" information from SPOT/SPEX into ZXDB. Also I have reorganize the directory structure for new files added to the archive, so now there's a sub-directory for each game containing all files related to it. This should help the process of uploading new files not previously existing in the WoS archive.
Has anyone had any luck importing ZXDB into a SQLite database? Just thought I'd check as I'm thinking of using it for the ZXSR website if that's okay Einar? Save myself a bit of work if someone already has the scripts or database file :-)
Has anyone had any luck importing ZXDB into a SQLite database? Just thought I'd check as I'm thinking of using it for the ZXSR website if that's okay Einar? Save myself a bit of work if someone already has the scripts or database file :-)
I think AndyC already did that and his script are available as part of ZXDB
Just thought I'd check as I'm thinking of using it for the ZXSR website if that's okay Einar?
Of course that's OK! I'm honored! :)
ZXDB is an open source database thus everybody is welcome to use it.
You will notice that ZXSR links are currently stored in table "magrefs", that contain all magazine references to each program (including game reviews). This way, anyone interested on any specific review of a game will have a link to the exact corresponding page in ZXSR. Next ZXDB update will also include the automatic rule on how to find the ZXSR page corresponding to each InfoseekID. If you have more suggestions on how to best integrate ZXDB and ZXSR, please let me know!
Comments
Thank you! I will add references to your latest reviews in the next ZXDB update!
You are welcome!
Let me take this opportunity to mention the sites currently hosting ZXDB (including yours):
* http://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/ -> ZX-Spectrum archive by Peter Jones, Ricardo Nunes, Pavel Pliva, and Hikoki.
* http://sinclair.kolbeck.dk/ -> ZX-Spectrum archive by Thomas Kolbeck Heckmann, built with Elasticsearch.
* http://home.lisias.net/ -> ZX-Spectrum search engine by Lisias Toledo, built on Raspberry Pi.
* http://zxart.ee/ -> ZX-Spectrum art archive by Dmitri Ponomarjov, it doesn't really host ZXDB but includes information and screenshots about recent game releases imported from ZXDB
Since ZXDB is an open project, any sites interested in hosting ZXDB are very much welcome. If anybody else is aware of more sites, please let me know and I will mention them in ZXDB documentation!
I just tried integrating latest ZXSR changes into ZXDB but I encountered again the same problems with invalid and missing InfoseekIDs previously reported here:
https://www.worldofspectrum.org/forums/discussion/comment/892628/#Comment_892628
Can you please take a look and let me know when it's fixed? I will wait for these fixes before integrating ZXSR into ZXDB so I won't have to do this work twice. Thank you!
A few more issues I found in ZXSR:
* This link says a product was reviewed in pages "1181,119" but I suppose the correct is "118,119":
http://www.zxspectrumreviews.co.uk/Review.aspx?rid=15543&gid=25579
* In this link the word "Supplement" is mispelled as "Suppplement" (just a minor detail but it always makes my automatic converter burp):
http://www.zxspectrumreviews.co.uk/Review.aspx?rid=14782&gid=5395
A few more:
* In this link, title "HeathPlanner" is mispelled as "HealthPlanner":
http://www.zxspectrumreviews.co.uk/Review.aspx?rid=14321&gid=12847
* In this link, title "The Legend of the Lost Kingdom" is mispelled as "The Legacy of the Lost Kingdom":
http://www.zxspectrumreviews.co.uk/Review.aspx?rid=16090&gid=3103
Also:
* In this link, "Gower Publishing Co Ltd" is mispelled as "Gower Publiushing Co Ltd":
http://www.zxspectrumreviews.co.uk/Review.aspx?rid=13602&gid=25349
Thanks to Hikoki (as usual) for providing the detailed information about these games!
The ZXDB development is almost finished now. There are only 2 tables left (about 8,000 rows total) with content from SPOT/SPEX that still needs to be "merged" into ZXDB, and only 1 table left (about 1,000 rows total) with magazine-related files that were previously "lost" (unindexed) inside WoS archive and needs to be organized and "merged" into everything else.
In the first couple weeks of development, we had already finished Importing all content from original WoS archive and fixing information inconsistencies. Recently we have also integrated magazine review references with ZXSR, this information was updated again a few days ago. Latest game releases have been stored in ZXDB too.
Of course there will be always more information to add (such as future game releases, or expanding current data to include scene demos, ZX81 releases, etc), but the main work of reorganizing the database internally to "merge" information from WoS archive, SPOT/SPEX, ZXSR and other sources will be done soon. Afterwards it will be just a matter of adding more data, not modifying the database itself anymore. I hope it makes sense :)
Many thanks to everybody that have contributed to ZXDB during all this time!!!
The main change this time was replacing auxiliary tables "aux_" with new tables "search_by_" to help websites build smarter database searches. For instance, if you want to list all games created by Joffa:
This ZXDB query will list 15 games. Current websites won't give you anything since they don't recognize nicknames, but ZXDB does :)
Another example is searching for games named "Sokoban":
This ZXDB query will also list 15 games, including "Ladatologato Jatek" (that has "Sokoban" in an alternate title) and others like "Soko-ban".
Advanced search will be changed in the next few weeks.
BTW I tried to search for 'First Blood' but any game wasn't found. I expected it should be found Rambo game, because its alternate title should contain this string.
http://www.zx-spectrum.cz
Hi Master if the Maps!
Einar pointed out I need to remove spaces from the search string. I will sort tonight. Thanks.
PS. We will look at the other suggestion.
Hi again Pavero,
Its all fixed now, and yes Rambo does appear in the results as you hoped. For those interested I used the following PHP to strip the spaces:
$title = str_replace(' ', '', $title);I have also updated the file mapy.txt on the site. ;-)
http://www.zx-spectrum.cz
Your site is very nice, a different organization than SpectrumComputing, and that variety is good.
Good to see different solutions !
..Ah, another cool site. Bookmarked..!
Agreed, Kolbeck's site is very nice, and fast.
I'm just upgrading ZXDB on our site too.
All "lost" (unindexed) files from the WoS archive are finally organized! There isn't much left to be done. Now there are only about 6,000 rows of content from SPOT/SPEX that needs to be "merged" into ZXDB.
Also ZXDB currently contains almost all recent game releases. You can even find entries like this :)
It contains a little more progress on "merging" information from SPOT/SPEX into ZXDB. Also I have reorganize the directory structure for new files added to the archive, so now there's a sub-directory for each game containing all files related to it. This should help the process of uploading new files not previously existing in the WoS archive.
I think AndyC already did that and his script are available as part of ZXDB
AndyC has posted a script that converts ZXDB files to SQLite:
https://worldofspectrum.org/forums/discussion/comment/897862/#Comment_897862
Of course that's OK! I'm honored! :)
ZXDB is an open source database thus everybody is welcome to use it.
You will notice that ZXSR links are currently stored in table "magrefs", that contain all magazine references to each program (including game reviews). This way, anyone interested on any specific review of a game will have a link to the exact corresponding page in ZXSR. Next ZXDB update will also include the automatic rule on how to find the ZXSR page corresponding to each InfoseekID. If you have more suggestions on how to best integrate ZXDB and ZXSR, please let me know!
Gonna take a while to convert the site but it makes so much more sense using a live, maintained database. Some great work there Einar.
In the meantime I'm still working on ZXDB. There will be a large database update when I'm back online! :)