The distinction between metadata searches and Playlists seems... arbitrary? Is there something I'm missing?

[Mummelpuffin]

Say I want to display a series of games. The obvious method to accomplish this sort of thing is to create a new Playlist that auto-populates games based on their Series field, so long as you've actually entered that metadata. When you add a Playlist you're immediately give the opportunity to add images, OK, that's nice n' all.  

But... why though? Isn't adding an arbitrary "playlist" sort of redundant when the needed information is already there? If you just sort by Series, or anything else for that matter, Launchbox proves that it's capable of tracking and linking information together in a more elegant, data-driven way. Look, it's mashing together and sorting / adding play time and "last played" information from each individual title. Surely there's a way to hack this to do much more? Does LaunchBox really see Playlists as something different than a game's metadata? How much of this stuff is hard-coded rather than just pulled from local database entries? It's all in an SQLite file or XML, right?

 
 

With an "actual playlist" comes the ability to include a logo, banner, screenshots, and a Notes field. But those images are going in their own special Playlists folder, and if you want to include screenshots, you're likely copying images over from other folders, duplicating data that takes up significant space. Why not pull images from the images that already exist for the individual games, then just have one or two Series-specific images? Plus, if LaunchBox is capable of displaying metadata as above, why not also pull some other info from the game fields like Publisher and Developer? Of course there would be multiple entries, but typically few enough for a list to look fine (AgeTech, ASCII, Bandai Namco for instance). Would displaying other information be a function of the current Theme? Surely there's a way to do that, right?

 Then your new arbitrary Playlist isn't seen as a series, just a Playlist. Want to have a category of Playlists for different series of games? That new category, which again shouldn't need to be added given that the Series metadata field exists and is usable, goes in the... Platforms section. Can you really not have a category for things that isn't displayed as though it's a category of game platforms?  Or is some of this stuff just hard-coded?  

This little rant extends to any metadata field, hence the title. Developer, Publisher... whatever. 

This is all sort of petty and nerdy, but then what are LaunchBox users if not petty and nerdy? 

Edited Friday at 07:09 PM by Mummelpuffin

[fromlostdays]

1 hour ago, Mummelpuffin said:

But... why though? Isn't adding an arbitrary "playlist" sort of redundant when the needed information is already there? If you just sort by Series, or anything else for that matter,

Not all playlists are going to be auto generated(able) based on metadata. Think "Favorites" or "Games I played with my Father". But if you can do it that way, go for it. Its a feature, not a bug. 

 

1 hour ago, Mummelpuffin said:

Surely there's a way to hack this to do much more? Does LaunchBox really see Playlists as something different than a game's metadata?

Wut

1 hour ago, Mummelpuffin said:

 How much of this stuff is hard-coded rather than just pulled from local database entries? It's all in an SQLite file or XML, right?

 All of the metadata is stored in xmls in the data folder. 

 

1 hour ago, Mummelpuffin said:

With an "actual playlist" comes the ability to include a logo, banner, screenshots, and a Notes field. But those images are going in their own special Playlists folder, and if you want to include screenshots, you're likely copying images over from other folders, duplicating data that takes up significant space.

It takes up exactly as much space as you want it to. I created unique logos for my playlists. This is how they are used. And the notes space is a place to add information about that series that isn't in the individual games metadata. I can't see the problem here.

 

1 hour ago, Mummelpuffin said:

why not also pull some other info from the game fields like Publisher and Developer?

You can still see all the games metadata per game but you're still under the impression that all entries in a playlist have to be by the same publisher or developer.

 

1 hour ago, Mummelpuffin said:

.. Platforms section. Can you really not have a category for things that isn't displayed as though it's a category of game platforms

I have to be honest I don't fully understand what you're saying, but you're in complete control over where a playlist displays, or any games list in launchbox. Right click a playlist, for instance, go to Edit and then Parents and take it out or addit to the platforms view at your preference. Isn't hard.

[Mummelpuffin]

Quote

All of the metadata is stored in xmls in the data folder.

Well, this pointed me in the right direction at least. I'm seeing now that metadata is indeed sitting in a SQLite .db file while playlists are described via XML files, which makes sense.  
 

Quote

It takes up exactly as much space as you want it to. I created unique logos for my playlists. This is how they are used. And the notes space is a place to add information about that series that isn't in the individual games metadata. I can't see the problem here.

And I can't see how you're not understanding what I was asking. At least this response confirms that I'm gonna need to start looking into developing a plugin that better utilizes the advantages of SQLite as a relational database (normalization!).  
 

Quote

You can still see all the games metadata per game but you're still under the impression that all entries in a playlist have to be by the same publisher or developer.

I have no idea what gave you that impression. 
 

Quote

I have to be honest I don't fully understand what you're saying, but you're in complete control over where a playlist displays

I'm talking about Categories. For whatever reason there are only "platform categories" which show up in the "platform categories lists" and I just find that sort of odd. You can make categories that aren't related to platforms at all, of course, but they're still sort of lumped in with platforms.  


 ...Well, in any case I can sus out that no, I'm not missing anything. Honestly kind of exciting because now I'm curious to see how much I'll be able to do by building a plugin. 

[JoeViking245]

tldr, so hopefully I don't add anything covered already.

The heart of your collection are the Platforms you imported your games into. 

When importing, the games metadata is parsed from the database file and saved in the platforms xml file. If you make changes to a game, the metadata is updated in the xml file, accordingly.  Why isn't LaunchBox continuing to leverage SQLite and save the users Platforms data to a db file?  Because change takes time, money and personnel.  And some patience on everyone's part.  I'm not saying they're planning to or if even it's in the works. That's way beyond my paygrade.  But the current system does work relatively efficiently.

 

From within the Platforms (aka, the games), you can create Playlists. 

The Playlists can consist of games based on set filters.  You could create a simple Playlist that its only filter is "Platform is equal to Arcade".  That of course would be a redundant list of the actual Platform.  You can't [directly] create a playlist based on a specific Platform Category nor another Playlist.  That could be considered as counterproductive.

Auto-Populated (ones based on filters) Playlist collections are not saved. Per se.  They are initially populated [in memory] when you first open LaunchBox.  If you have a bunch of these, initial load time will increase. (Factors considered, you'll generally not even notice the increase.)   When you select a Playlist, it gets refreshed (assess the filters and scans all games for matches) to account for any changes in you collection you may have made.  Process time is negligible.

Playlists can also be static.  There are no filters to process.  The games associated to it are fixed and these 'collections' are physically saved to the playlists xml file.  Note that only key assets for each game are saved. 

• Game Id (the LaunchBox created GUID specific to that game)
• LaunchBox Database Id #
• Game Title
• Game FileName
• Game Platform

These assets are leveraged to parse any and all data necessary for that game(s). Meta or Media.  Reducing any duplicative data being physically stored.

 

16 hours ago, Mummelpuffin said:

I'm talking about Categories. For whatever reason there are only "platform categories" which show up in the "platform categories lists"

Platform Categories can contain Platforms and/or Playlists. They're the "3-ring binders" to your Platform/Playlist "dividers".  They cannot [directly] contain games.   

A "3-ring binder" consisting of games-only is a Platform or Playlist.  The nice thing with these "binders" is they can be placed in the "bookcase", on [most] any "shelf".  "Most" meaning, you can't place a Playlist under another Playlist, and you can't place a Platform under another Platform. That's what the Categories are for. But you can place a Category under another Category OR Platform. 

These 'sub-associations' are all managed when you edit the respective Category, Platform or Playlist and go into the Parents tab.

 

21 hours ago, Mummelpuffin said:

Isn't adding an arbitrary "playlist" sort of redundant when the needed information is already there? If you just sort by Series, or anything else for that matter

Yes, it's redundant in practice.  But to see your Armored Core series' games, you need to leave that "room" and go into a different one and look on the "bookshelf" in there.  Alternately (staying in the Platform Category view/section), scroll to your impractical Playlist and click it. 

Playlist(s) can be expanded to filter e.g. "Title contains Armored Core" AND "Platform is equal to Sony Playstation 2". Then one can shelve that playlist under their PS2 Platform which is under their Consoles category.

Granted, in "the other room", they can select Armored Core and then Search platform:Sony Playstation 2 and get the same result.

 

Think of it as allowing options.  Folks who have a type-A personality can be pretty particular about how their collection is cataloged, accessed and [most importantly] viewed.  If [more] options weren't available, LaunchBox would just be a plain ol' box.  Well, maybe like a Nike shoe box so it has some flare.  

 

Note that, with options available, there is never a redundancy in stored data.  Well, not really, beyond the above-mentioned Playlist assets and Platform xml files.