New Database Model ZXDB

This is the place for general discussion and updates about the ZXDB Database. This forum is not specific to Spectrum Computing.

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Einar Saukas
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Re: New Database Model ZXDB

Post by Einar Saukas »

Juan F. Ramirez wrote: Fri Jul 26, 2019 6:42 pm Hi @Einar Saukas , it seems there's a problem in the Microhobby folder.

Whenever I click on [PDF] works ok (the PDF file is shown) but if I click on [VIEW] a new archive.org screen appears with the next error message:

'The item you have requested has a problem with one or more of the metadata files that describe it, which prevents us from displaying this page'
That's a problem at Archive.org. I will try to find a different source. Thanks for reporting it!

Juan F. Ramirez wrote: Fri Jul 26, 2019 6:42 pm Besides, in the list of Microhobby issues, before #1 issue some random issues appear (with no corresponding picture):

1985/10
1987/3
1987/7
1991/4
1991/5
1991/12
These are "lost issues".

For instance, according to Martijn's WoS there was a reference to game "Combinatoria" in MicroHobby year 1985 month 10 page 9. The problem is, MicroHobby was a weekly magazine, therefore several issues of this magazine were published in October 1985. Which one of them contained this reference?

I have fixed literally thousands of these reference problems in ZXDB, but I didn't notice MicroHobby still had a few problems left. I will fix them all, thanks for reporting it!
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Einar Saukas
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Re: New Database Model ZXDB

Post by Einar Saukas »

A new ZXDB version is available!

This update includes new titles (thanks [mention]R-Tape[/mention]!), new hi-res inlays (thanks [mention]pavero[/mention]!), new magazines, updated integration with RZX Archive (thanks Daren!) and ZXSR (thanks Chris!).
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Einar Saukas
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Re: New Database Model ZXDB

Post by Einar Saukas »

I'm planning to remove column "is_electronic" from table "magazines" in the next ZXDB update.

This column is supposed to distinguish between paper and electronic magazines. However it's more informative to simply obtain this information directly from the magazine format: PDF for paper magazines, TAP or TZX for tape magazines, MGT or DISK for disk magazines, etc. In particular, I know SpectrumComputing is already doing it.

Moreover, I had identified a few cases where column "is_electronic" conflicted with the magazine format. In all such cases, "is_electronic" was wrong. I could have fixed these values, but there's no reason to keep a column that's redundant anyway.

I'm announcing this change in advance, to give site owners the chance to let me know if this change would affect them.
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Einar Saukas
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Re: New Database Model ZXDB

Post by Einar Saukas »

I'm also planning to remove columns "link" and "link2" from table "magrefs" in the next ZXDB update.

This information will be moved to a new table, because it's technically a one-to-many relationship.
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Einar Saukas
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Re: New Database Model ZXDB

Post by Einar Saukas »

A new ZXDB version is already available!

This update contains lots of updated information about magazines. I will talk about them in further detail after SC is updated with this new version, because it will be easier to describe these changes when users are able to see them in practice. :)
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Einar Saukas
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Re: New Database Model ZXDB

Post by Einar Saukas »

Another ZXDB update is available!

This update includes lots of minor changes, such as the notion of "derived" titles. It refers to a new title that is basically an improved version of another title from the same author (for instance see this thread). I will start a new thread later to discuss about it in more detail...
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Einar Saukas
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Re: New Database Model ZXDB

Post by Einar Saukas »

Einar Saukas wrote: Tue Aug 13, 2019 9:54 pm This update includes lots of minor changes, such as the notion of "derived" titles. It refers to a new title that is basically an improved version of another title from the same author (for instance see this thread). I will start a new thread later to discuss about it in more detail...
I have just started this new thread about it.
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Einar Saukas
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Re: New Database Model ZXDB

Post by Einar Saukas »

A note for site owners running ZXDB:

In the ZXDB update, I'm planning to remove column "hardware_feature" from table "entries". The reason is, this column currently contains website links, so it's more appropriate to store this information in table "webrefs" instead.
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Einar Saukas
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Re: New Database Model ZXDB

Post by Einar Saukas »

A new ZXDB update is available!

This version contains more bugfixes and cover artists credits (thanks [mention]druellan[/mention]!), more hi-res inlays and typed instructions (thanks [mention]pavero[/mention]!), and many other improvements.
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Einar Saukas
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Re: New Database Model ZXDB

Post by Einar Saukas »

I have been so focused on improving ZXDB, that I forgot to take some time off to document and explain the ZXDB roadmap. My apologies!

Our current and future plans for ZXDB are now documented here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1o_f ... sp=sharing

I wrote is as a separate online document because I intend to update it over time. In particular, I probably forgot to mention a few important items that I will need to add later. :)

Feedback is welcome!
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Juan F. Ramirez
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Re: New Database Model ZXDB

Post by Juan F. Ramirez »

Integrate ZXDB with other databases. Perhaps SPA2?
Absolutely agree! Great idea!
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Re: New Database Model ZXDB

Post by jpablo »

Juan F. Ramirez wrote: Thu Aug 22, 2019 10:33 pm
Integrate ZXDB with other databases. Perhaps SPA2?
Absolutely agree! Great idea!
That's in my roadmap as well indeed ;-)

[mention]Einar Saukas[/mention], I'll be back in touch with you in due time - I'm simply still working on it!
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Re: New Database Model ZXDB

Post by Ralf »

Absolutely agree! Great idea!
I agree it would be great too. And maybe later with Computeremuzone.com as well ;)
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Einar Saukas
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Re: New Database Model ZXDB

Post by Einar Saukas »

Awesome!
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Einar Saukas
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Re: New Database Model ZXDB

Post by Einar Saukas »

A new ZXDB update is available!

It includes new titles (thanks [mention]R-Tape[/mention]!), the first half of newly indexed magazine interviews with software authors (thanks [mention]Stefan[/mention] and [mention]blueowl0708[/mention]!), and a few other improvements.
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Einar Saukas
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Re: New Database Model ZXDB

Post by Einar Saukas »

Another ZXDB update is available!

This time it contains new magazines and updated magazine references.
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Einar Saukas
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Re: New Database Model ZXDB

Post by Einar Saukas »

One more ZXDB update is available!

It includes a few more playable games for Spectrum +3 using ZXZVM (thanks [mention]Alessandro[/mention]!), additional indexed magazine interviews (thanks @Stefan and @blueowl0708!), lots of corrections and updates.
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PeterJ
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Re: New Database Model ZXDB

Post by PeterJ »

Thanks all,

Spectrum Computing has been updated to the latest release.
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Einar Saukas
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Re: New Database Model ZXDB

Post by Einar Saukas »

Sorry, I forgot to also credit [mention]pavero[/mention] for new hires inlays!
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Re: New Database Model ZXDB

Post by R-Tape »

I just wanted to mention that I'm a bit behind with my part of the update. I won't be able to sort it out until the very start of October. Apologies—I'll get cracking on it then. At least there isn't a large amount of new content to add right now.
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Einar Saukas
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Re: New Database Model ZXDB

Post by Einar Saukas »

A new ZXDB update is available!

It includes lots more bugfixes, updated magazine issues information, and even more hi-res inlays from [mention]pavero[/mention].
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Einar Saukas
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Re: New Database Model ZXDB

Post by Einar Saukas »

One of ZXDB's main goals is to work as a "hub", integrating several Spectrum-related sites. It's a great advantage for these sites, because it increases their popularity. Many SC users end up watching RZX videos on YouTube linked from SC pages, for instance. Users interested in a certain artist or musician frequently visit their ZX-Art link to see what else they have created, and so on. It's also a great advantage for ZXDB itself, because this integration saves the effort to put the entire universe into our database. For instance, we don't need to keep track of all playing tips about games, a direct link to The Tipshop works much better. And most of all, it's a great advantage for all users, because they can simply visit the SC page about a certain title, entity or magazine, to easily find links to almost every related site from there.

However it's not easy to keep integration very up-to-date in case of sites that change frequently. Whenever new content is added to one of these sites, this information can only be added to ZXDB in a future update. Depending on the change, if we are too busy working on other aspects of the archive, it may take a couple months until we have time to make the corresponding changes in ZXDB.

To solve this problem, we are now adopting a new strategy especifically for Daren's RZX Archive and Pavel's Speccy Screenshot Maps. Instead of distributing outdated content from these 2 sites in the standard ZXDB distribution, we are now providing a separate script to import content from each site into ZXDB. The scripts are called "ZXDB_import_rzx.sql" and "ZXDB_import_mapy.sql", they are available here. This way, site owners (and other systems based on ZXDB) can easily update content from these sites into ZXDB themselves, any time they want, without having to wait for a new ZXDB update.

In practice, nothing will change to end-users. We are just increasing flexibility in the process of updating ZXDB, that's all. Also it won't affect the way we work closely with both Daren and Pavel in this integration. In particular, we are continuing our efforts to ensure any missing titles mentioned by either site will get added to ZXDB. As a matter of fact, we have just finished automating the process to identify missing titles, it can be seen at the bottom of this page.
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Einar Saukas
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Re: New Database Model ZXDB

Post by Einar Saukas »

Einar Saukas wrote: Tue Sep 24, 2019 10:56 pm To solve this problem, we are now adopting a new strategy especifically for Daren's RZX Archive and Pavel's Speccy Screenshot Maps. Instead of distributing outdated content from these 2 sites in the standard ZXDB distribution, we are now providing a separate script to import content from each site into ZXDB. The scripts are called "ZXDB_import_rzx.sql" and "ZXDB_import_mapy.sql", they are available here. This way, site owners (and other systems based on ZXDB) can easily update content from these sites into ZXDB themselves, any time they want, without having to wait for a new ZXDB update.
On second thought, I decided to provide both options.

From now on, every ZXDB release will already contain the latest distribution of RZX Archive and Speccy Screenshot Maps. But the import scripts will also remain available, so if their contents change, they can be updated again without waiting for another ZXDB release.
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Einar Saukas
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Re: New Database Model ZXDB

Post by Einar Saukas »

A new ZXDB update is now available!

I'm glad to announce that ZXDB is now integrated with World of SAM. Many thanks to Andrew Collier for approving this integration, and [mention]Stefan[/mention] for adding all information about Sam Coupé titles into ZXDB!

On a more technical side, columns "labels.spot_name" and "labels.spot_comment" were merged into a single column "labels.comments". In practice, this column will indicate when SPOT/SPEX contains a different spelling for certain person or company names (that will need to be validated later).
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Einar Saukas
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Re: New Database Model ZXDB

Post by Einar Saukas »

Another ZXDB update is now available!

This update adds FRED magazine (for the SAM Coupé) to the archive.
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