2008-10-24, 18:27
yea rwparris2 that's what i want. But if someone wants to they could improve it to make it much more user friendly but the basics would do just fine.these are just ideas.
Terin Wrote:Furthermore, would it make more sense to call this Program<section; i.e. Database.cpp> or Game<section> ?
Terin Wrote:There seems to be a lot of interest in this -- and I'm really interested in it too. I've taken a look at some of the source via SVN at work (blarg on the beginning of the year being so slow). I'm busy working on two major C# projects in my personal time, but I do have a heavy background in C++ as well. Maybe I can do some of it -- but my time is incredibly limited.Maybe you could work together with Awen on this, see => http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=40715
Terin Wrote:Do we have any architects or major players that know this well enough, that they could tell me what all would be necessary to update? I imagine we'd need a ProgramDatabase, ProgramInfo, etc similar to the VideoLibrary, etc. How about linking it in to the rest of the app and playing around with the skinning, etc? I mean, it's not terribly difficult to build a database or anything else from that.spiff is our resident database guru, he has offered to act 'mentor' in this area in needed, we also have jmarshall and kraqh3d who also really know their way about the database code, and Jezz_X is our skinning god and jmarshall is the skinning-engine jedi, best is to try to catch them on IRC (#xbmc channel on the freenode network) for real-time chats, the other alternative is the development section here in this forum forum (however that is not always practical for quick/smaller things):
Terin Wrote:And, help me if I'm a little off here -- but is the persistence of the database (as seen in the constructor) limited to the XBMC's execution; i.e. it will recreate the database each time the app reboots/starts, but persists it in a data format outside of the app, which is then reloaded into the tables? (any reason why?)XBMC uses standard SQL databases, and currently use SQLite as the embedded backend engine, (XBMC currently has one db for videos and one db for audio today, so you would want to add one new additional for 'applications' which would hold programs/games/emulator meta data). Some basic information here:
asphinx Wrote:Oh hell yeah! I thought I was the only one wanting/thinking about how to improve the game section of xbmc.
Here are my demands! No just kidding, but seeing as I didn't know people were already working at improving it, I already starting some work myself. On the other end of things though.
I have looked through a lot of already out there gamedb's, but in my opinion most of them are of inferior quality, this in comparison to thetvdb (for tv shows) and for instance the various sources for movie scraping. So here's my suggestion.
A dedicated online db specifically tailored for the needs of the many. Think thetvdb, but for games. Much like thetvdb doesn't offer you the option of downloading a tv show, merely information about it, so would thegamedb (working name) offer a one source solution to everything you might need to know about the games you have. I'm thinking...
- Ratings (PEGI, ESRB, BBFC, OFLC, CERO, USK if it has a rating, it should be possible to scrape it, with transparent .png's to match I thought)
- Posterstyle coverart (already making/have made those anyway)
- Listings of developers, publishers, genre, release dates for different platforms and/or regions
- plot outline, of course.
- for emulated games one could have a flagging system for prefered emulators, which xbmc could use as a reference to locate emulators on HDD (don't know if it's possible)
- etc...
Also much like thetvdb, users could contribute to expand the assets available from thegamedb.
Is this a good idea? I've already started working out a prototype database.. this includes a standardized xml layout, which in turn can easily be translated into an .nfo file. Maybe making that an option for users as well.
The biggest problem I'm seeing so far is that games don't seem to have a unified id tagging system (none that I've found at least.) And I feel that this is something that should be adressed. Sure most of us probably go for naming the game as it should be anyway, and it that case searching based on title would work. But it would be possible to make it a hell of a lot smoother if there was a unified tagging system, maybe even with added parameters for different platforms. (ex. 1234-1 for halo combat evolved on xbox and 1234-2 for halo combat evolved on PC)
Is anyone already making a db?, of so I will gladly contribute anyway I can. In not, well I'll just continue with the work I've done so far.
Terin Wrote:Rather than have a hash, as you suggest, make it work like the video database, where it can suggest other titles. i.e. you type in Dune, and it gives you Dune (1984); Children of Dune ( 2004); Dune (2003) or however it works/worked.
natethomas Wrote:I personally am a fan of requiring a rename. XBMC (and probably the "myTV" applications of other Meda Center softwares) along with theTVDB appear to have singlehandedly created a unified TV episode naming structure. (Anyone remember seeing episode files not broken up by season? Seinfeld is an old, obvious example. Seinfeld Ep37?)
Anyway, a requirement of following the basic naming scheme seems like a no-brainer in my head. Any thoughts?