HyperMedia Tool (Replaces HyperSpin File Checker MS Excel)

[gixxerrider73]

Hi All!

I had created an MS Excel to to check the existance of files against the HyperSpin databases. I received some really good feedback on the tool. One popular request was to build a stand alone tool. I've published a stand alone version.

Benefits of this tool.

-see what files you're missing.

-match media files to menu items

-Edit your menu items disable games that don't work

-preview media items as you select menu items

-Easy to install and update

-update to the latest version of the tool automatically, no more downloading re-dowloading. The tool installs as any other Windows program and can be removed via the control panel.

-I'm working on a feature to rename files in a directory and it will be posted soon.

You can view a the instruction manual by downloading it from here before installing the software

http://www.hyperspintools.us/HyperMediaManual 1.0.pdf

If you want to try out the program you can download it here.

HyperMedia Install

If you need help or run into an issues, please post them in this thread.

If you have ideas for a new feature, please post it here or semd me a PM. I want this to be an all in one tool for all of us.

Thanks for your time,

GixxerRider73

[cosmicr]

Wow this looks good. Looks like I can cancel my project. I was working on a similar application that does exactly the same, but yours looks much nicer

The only thing I had that you appear to be missing is CRC matching for ROMs and Fuzzy String matching for filenames. If you want I can give you my CRC matching code (it's in C#, or Python - I wrote it twice). (Edit: I see you're using VB? Oh well. If you want the code you can still have it).

Also, any chance of a standalone installer? Clickonce is great, but some people just like to get their hands on the executable.

EDIT: I just ran this for the first time, only to find the paths don't work if they are relative. There's no way to fix this since you made those textboxes inactive.

[gixxerrider73]

cosmicr,

Thanks for the feedback. Regarding the standalone installer, yes I have created one but for me it is easier to update via the click once process. The "check for updates" feature only works if it is "click once" install. I'll think about that one for a minute.

I'm not familliar with the CRC matching, I look into that and yes I'm using VB.net, I don't know C#.

regarding the text boxes, they are not enabled because the info in them comes out of your .ini file for the selected game system. The code uses the paths from your .ini file.

Can you post or send me a screenshot of your file structure and the screenshot of the "Media Checker" for so I can see what it shows from your .ini file?

i'll work on it this weekend to update.

[gixxerrider73]

cosmicr,

Update your program to the new version 1.0.0.11 (Tools-> Check for Updates) This version adds the functionality of using the relative paths or absolute paths. Please try it out and let me know if it works for you.

Regarding the executable, you can see where it is installed by going to Help->HyperMedia Directory

HyperMedia Install

Cheers,

Jay

[Drkdweller]

link broken in #4 link in #1 works

Looks good, im using the media checker.

Edit:

Looks like you didnt support the .sfc extention or im missing something?

[gixxerrider73]

Drkdweller,

All file ext are supported. Check the "rom ext" in the boxes at the top right of the media checker screen. It uses this to get the extension when checking for roms. You should see zip, sfc in that box, if you don't then you need to add that to your Hyperspin set up. I'll give this a test when I get home later .

On the link ill fix it I have a typo in it, thanks for letting me know.

[PiperCalls]

Doesn't work...every system I select gets an "unhandled exception" error something about an arithmetic overflow error...

EDIT: looks like it will work for smaller xml's like TG16 or Atari7800 but larger ones like Sega Genesis get the overflow error...also needs some way to export the info to an excel file or something like that.

[Drkdweller]

Doesn't work...every system I select gets an "unhandled exception" error something about an arithmetic overflow error...

EDIT: looks like it will work for smaller xml's like TG16 or Atari7800 but larger ones like Sega Genesis get the overflow error...also needs some way to export the info to an excel file or something like that.

Teasted with Sega gen no problems, checked with XML created with rom2xml, unhandled exception.

I used to use rom2xml but the xml created would always give me erros when running it through hypersnyc(old one), and other thrid party apps, something to do with the tabs, anyways back to the point. are you running an xml from hyperlist or a custom one?

Gixx ty i found where to change the extention how ever it only works if thers only 1 extention in there, example zip, sfc wont work, but jsut sfc will. can it only handle 1 extention while searching?

[cosmicr]

relative paths working now, thanks.

I may still continue on my application, and we can compare notes

[gixxerrider73]

Teasted with Sega gen no problems, checked with XML created with rom2xml, unhandled exception.

I used to use rom2xml but the xml created would always give me erros when running it through hypersnyc(old one), and other thrid party apps, something to do with the tabs, anyways back to the point. are you running an xml from hyperlist or a custom one?

Gixx ty i found where to change the extention how ever it only works if thers only 1 extention in there, example zip, sfc wont work, but jsut sfc will. can it only handle 1 extention while searching?

I will test this again using 2 file extensions, thanks. I only use the xml from Hyperlist. I've read some issues with other 3rd party apps with the xml from other systems. I have not used those programs. Are you using it to create a xml that only list roms that you have? If that is the case, I can have this tool take a Hyperlist xml and disable all of the items where the rom is missing? Can you send me one of your xml files from rom2xml? or i can try to use it to create on from my roms.

Thanks for taking the time to give me details

[gixxerrider73]

Doesn't work...every system I select gets an "unhandled exception" error something about an arithmetic overflow error...

EDIT: looks like it will work for smaller xml's like TG16 or Atari7800 but larger ones like Sega Genesis get the overflow error...also needs some way to export the info to an excel file or something like that.

PiperCalls, Thanks for providing more details. Were you using the "Check Media" form? I've used it against my MAME xml with 10k items with no issues. I will try to do more testing on another machine.

I can add a feature to export to excel or a text file. What would you like to see exported? The entire data grid view with the status of each media item? That is possible.

[Drkdweller]

I will test this again using 2 file extensions, thanks. I only use the xml from Hyperlist. I've read some issues with other 3rd party apps with the xml from other systems. I have not used those programs. Are you using it to create a xml that only list roms that you have? If that is the case, I can have this tool take a Hyperlist xml and disable all of the items where the rom is missing? Can you send me one of your xml files from rom2xml? or i can try to use it to create on from my roms.

Thanks for taking the time to give me details

I was trying to help troubleshoot pipers unhandled error.

[gixxerrider73]

Drkdweller, I fixed the issue with the two file extensions

I just ran this to check my MAME xml with 10635 games and it completed with no errors. Here is a screen shot.

I added some code to handle exceptions, it should at least show a message box with the description of the error.

Also, since I only have WinXp32 if anyone is running on Windows 7 etc, please let me know how it works.

Just a couple of notes:

This is not setup to search subfolders, I think I may need to add that function.

would a feature to move "orphaned" roms to a special folder be helpful?

how about a tool to search selected folder to find a matching rom, media file then copy to correct folder for selected system?

[Drkdweller]

im testing on windows 7 64bit

Edit: Tested the 2 file extentions. working properly.

[gixxerrider73]

Doesn't work...every system I select gets an "unhandled exception" error something about an arithmetic overflow error...

EDIT: looks like it will work for smaller xml's like TG16 or Atari7800 but larger ones like Sega Genesis get the overflow error...also needs some way to export the info to an excel file or something like that.

Piper, are you using a xml file generated by another 3rd party app like rom2xml? I found an issue with another user's file created in this program. see last post with images.

[gixxerrider73]

So tonight I did some testing with a user's file created in rom2xml. This file would not run in my program and here is why. I analyze the file using TextPad. you can see the image on the left from rom2xml uses "tab" to space over the lines. this formatting creates an issue in the xml file. xml files should not have any formatting and should be plain text. My program uses the built in module in vb.net for xml so the files have to be fully xml compliant. If i were to read the xml as a text file then this probably would not be an issue however the System.XML function is faster.

the image on the right is the same file where i removed the "tabs" and replaced then with "spaces" via the space bar. This file works fine. If you open a xml in notepad the formatting should look organized, the rom2xml file shows the text in one large paragraph so to speak with small squares indicating the "tabs".

This issue also drove the arithmetic error Piper got. with the System.xml function I get the count of the nodes without looping through them, do to the formatting it could not get the count of the nodes so it was trying to divide by zero.

[ghutch92]

I don't know if this helps, but I fix the rom2xml formatting with notepad++ by replacing all \n\t with \r\n (in extended mode).

[djvj]

Tabs are not compliant in xml files? I'm not so sure about that as just about every xml file I have uses tabs, even ones that are created/compliant from xmlspy. I actually prefer the look of tabs instead of spaces.

[dustind900]

Tabs are not compliant in xml files? I'm not so sure about that as just about every xml file I have uses tabs, even ones that are created/compliant from xmlspy. I actually prefer the look of tabs instead of spaces.

You are correct, tabs are compliant with xml. I also use xmlspy. Just to be sure I downloaded a couple freeware xml editors and parsers to test and had no issues with tabbed xmls.

Rom2xml double tabs some of the lines that's why it throws errors. In notepad++ -- Edit > Select All - then - Edit > Indent > Decrease Line Indent. Same thing as ghutch said just a different method.

[Drkdweller]

Rom2xml double tabs some of the lines that's why it throws errors. In notepad++ -- Edit > Select All - then - Edit > Indent > Decrease Line Indent. Same thing as ghutch said just a different method.

Tried method. did not resolve the problem

[ghutch92]

rom2xml doesn't do correct line carriages. A line carriage in notepad++ looks like \r\n. I only see \n when looking at a file from rom2xml. I think the problem is here and not the tabs.

[DigitalPhear]

Just wanted to chime in with a thank you. Im fairly new to setting up Hyperspin, and I knew trying to match all the different art work etc was going to cause me to drink an extra 12 beer a day just to keep my headache at bay.

This tool has made the experience MUCH more streamlined, especially for someone like me who is basically starting from scratch. Great job!

[gixxerrider73]

Thaks for the feedback, I appreciate it. I'm working on a new version to change the screens to a "tabbed" system so you only have to select the system you want to work with once then you can use the different tools without have to select the system in each form.

I'll post a notifition here when its ready.

[RodentVienna]

hi,

since # of columns can be unlimited, i'd suggest to have three tickbox entries available for videos: "Video MP4" | "Video FLV" | "Video PNG"

Does this app provide sorting capability - or filtering capabilities?

Is exporting to XLS possible within this app?

thanks

alex

[gixxerrider73]

Alex,

I can add columns for mp4, the video column now is FLV. The png files are in the ame vidoe folder so the snapshot column takes care of that i believe. are you using Hyperspin 2? with MP4? I have not used it so I don't know the file structure is it the same as version 1?

What kind of filtering are you looking for? To be able to filter the columns for yes/no"

There currently is no function for export to excel. I do plan to create a printable report but I will add an export feature. Most likely to a delimited text file taht can be imported into many programs and an excel export.

I'm currently working on Version 2 that uses a "tab" form system so you only have to select the system your working with once. I'll work on some of the feature you recommend as they would be very helpful. I'm also working on CRC matching as well but it is slow going. hope you like the program.

Jay

hi,

since # of columns can be unlimited, i'd suggest to have three tickbox entries available for videos: "Video MP4" | "Video FLV" | "Video PNG"

Does this app provide sorting capability - or filtering capabilities?

Is exporting to XLS possible within this app?

thanks

alex