[APP] PinballX Database Manager 24.10.11.0 (supports Touch Play as well)

[Mike_da_Spike]

Thank you very much for your kind words.  And awesome we have a person who use our program.

And yes. Scutters and I discussed the feature to upload  file to ftp.

Normally I upload manually missing table wheels, flyers or instruction cards that are not on FTP. But I have a backlog of all tables since 20th of november.

Anyways, about my discussion about uploading missing media. I was against it, because people could easily add media and even overwrite media.

But if people really wants this, we can add a function that will always add a file and never overwrite or delete it.

Need to ask @Tom Speirs if it is a good idea, as Tom is the owner of the ftp.

Btw. It is 'Mike da Spike' (not Mike the Spike )

Cheers Michael

[Mike_da_Spike]

A new release with new features in it.
Thanks to my good friend @scutters who did most of the code of this release (again).

Now easy to show and manage your underlays/overlays.
drag and drop, get from Gamex FTp, or add a Megalink in settings to manage it
For cabinet users I upload some underlays from @PcTeknicto the FTP, so you can already use them


Another nice option is the management of VBS files for Visual Pinball tables.
If you don't see them, enable it in the settings:

and that will give you an extra option icon on the table screen :

If you don't have the vbs yet, you can select "Create new"
this will extract the VBS code from Visual pinball as a text file and with "open" you can edit it and save it, without changing the table file.
If you screw it up, select "Delete" and click "Create new" again for extracting the original code from the Visual Pinball table.
If you find any megalink link with VBS code, you can add it in the settings menu as well (no VBS files on FTP available yet)

Another option that is added, is to launch files/programs before database manager is started, or when database manager is exiting.
this could be handy if you have a script to rotate your screen (or in my case: rotate screen, open the correct directories on my screen to add tables)
When closing databasemanager you can also launch a program.
For example PinballX to see how al looks like, or in my case to run a program that will generate DMD videos based on wheel image, year and company logo's

You can find it in the Settings menu under "Program Launch"

There is also a "start/exit program Video creation/table launch"
These are separate programs that can be launched when databasemanager launches PinballX (for video creations or launch tables) . Maybe you want to run a program as well
All is optional !

These are the major visual updates we added.
Check the download page and release notes for the full list.

@scutters, thanks again for making this release. This one is yours !

EDIT : Completely forgot to mention it.
We will add in the next release an FTP upload as requested by @MetallicaVPin
Tom gave approval, and I have some ideas to not screw up the complete FTP  

[Mike_da_Spike]

8 days ago, @scutters and I released version 2021.04.08 and today we released 2021.04.16 !
This also because @Tom Speirs released PinballX 5.01 which support an OR in the filters.
We also implemented an  FTP upload feature (approved by Tom) and requested by @MetallicaVPin
To be honest, the FTP upload was on our deny list for a long time. Scutters and I discussed this last year already and we didn't wanted to screw up the FTP file structure. But we found a solution for it .
 

Here's a short guide :
To help the PinballX community for missing media (or improved media), you can upload easily with an 1 click.
By default this option is disabled.
This need to be enabled through the Settings dialog -> GameEx Online tab -> Check "Enable FTP upload"


Make sure your User ID is not set to an email address, but to your GameEx login name.
To check your GameEx login name, go to the GameEx forum (https://www.gameex.info/forums/forum/30-pinballx/) and check the right top corner 

To change your User ID,  type the correct name in the "User ID" field, click on "Check FTP".
If the User ID and password match , it will give you an message "FTP access granted" (click OK to close)

You only have to do this once.

When User ID is correct and the checkbox "Enable FTP upload" is checked, you will get an extra button when you right click on an Media box (if you a media file for it)
It doesn't matter, if it is a system entry or a table entry. 
All media should have the upload feature now.



The filename will have have your GameEx user name in it between square bracket (for me [Mike_DA_Spike]. This is prevent that we overwrite any other media that is currently on FTP
Only 1 upload per media/per table is allowed. When you upload for example a wheel for 24, it will be saved. if you have another wheel (alternative) and you want to upload, it will overwrite your file.

When downloading from FTP, you will see the user who uploaded the file :

Another feature that we build in (and that's because Tom Speir implemneted this in PinballX version 5.01. See [NEWS] PinballX 5.01 - PinballX - News and Updates - Spesoft Forums (gameex.com)), is that our advanced search completely can be used with an " OR " (in uppercase) and/or with an "|" (pipe) command.
When creating/modifying an filter , it will be used in PinballX as well.
Purpose ? Maybe you want to have multiple companies in an filter.
See example

Select the "Advanched Search" checkbox (1)
Type the Keywords. Splitted with " OR " (uppercase and with spaces) or with "|" (pipe without quotes)
Click search

Notice the 164 records that returned

Create A filter for your search :

Click on the "+" sign (1) for creating a new filter (or select an existing filter) 
Type the name of your filter (2). this will be the name within PBX
Click "OK" to save your filter (3)

Th filter will be used and the fields that cannot be used in the filter will be greyed out :

Open PinballX and look for your filter
Select a table, open menu-> and select lists. This will show you all your filters (and some defaults)

select your filter
And notice that the same amount of tables are showed as we had in database manager

Enjoy this release

[Mike_da_Spike]

Found a small bug when file was uploaded.
Please use 21.04.16.01 to fix it

[MetallicaVPin]

Awesome!   I look forward to giving back to the GameEx FTP community by uploading missing media :-)  You guys are awesome!

[Mike_da_Spike]

New release : 21.04.26.0
Only bugfixes (yes we make mistakes too, but we fix them !)
update to latest version, to avoid any issues
 

[minivp61]

Hello, 

When I use the program I do not get any of the items to the right of the table as shown in you screen caps.  For example the Wheel art is not there.  What am I doing wrong?  

[scutters]

1 hour ago, minivp61 said:

Hello, 

When I use the program I do not get any of the items to the right of the table as shown in you screen caps.  For example the Wheel art is not there.  What am I doing wrong?  

My guess is either you have 2 pinballx installations (and the app is looking at the wrong install) or you have file matching enabled in PinballX (and your media file names don't match the exact game name or description fields - most likely to have happened if you copied media manually). 

But hard to say.. can you attach your pinballx.ini and log.txt files, along with the database manager log file (in the the log folder of the install location).  A zip of your databases folder and some sample unfound file names may also be useful. Does any media show in PinballX database manager?

[minivp61]

12 minutes ago, scutters said:

My guess is either you have 2 pinballx installations (and the app is looking at the wrong install) or you have file matching enabled in PinballX (and your media file names don't match the exact game name or description fields - most likely to have happened if you copied media manually). 

But hard to say.. can you attach your pinballx.ini and log.txt files, along with the database manager log file (in the the log folder of the install location).  A zip of your databases folder and some sample unfound file names may also be useful. Does any media show in PinballX database manager?

I will see what is set when i get home.    It does look at the correct Database .  But the manual copying of art might be correct.   But I am missing everything in that column.  Not just the Wheel Art.  

As for PinballX, it does see the art.  I cold not say if it is seeing all of it, but I know for sure it sees the Wheels.  That is easy to see.  When running PinballX, it has the art files.  

[minivp61]

2 hours ago, scutters said:

My guess is either you have 2 pinballx installations (and the app is looking at the wrong install) or you have file matching enabled in PinballX (and your media file names don't match the exact game name or description fields - most likely to have happened if you copied media manually). 

But hard to say.. can you attach your pinballx.ini and log.txt files, along with the database manager log file (in the the log folder of the install location).  A zip of your databases folder and some sample unfound file names may also be useful. Does any media show in PinballX database manager?

Okay i figured something out.  If i drag to resize along the right edge, i can see the missing area.  But the moment i release, it goes away.  

Any ideas @Mike_da_Spike?

[Mike_da_Spike]

3 hours ago, minivp61 said:

Okay i figured something out.  If i drag to resize along the right edge, i can see the missing area.  But the moment i release, it goes away.  

Any ideas @Mike_da_Spike?

Thanks for your feedback.

We will try to reproduce it as well.

Can you post your databasemanager.ini file and the dimension of the display where you run the program on ?

[minivp61]

@Mike_da_Spike I figured this out.  I run in the non-traditional portrait.  But if I put the screen in landscape, and relaunch the side bar returns.   I can then rotate to portrait, and it is still there.  but if i close and reopen... it disappears again.  

The above examples were done in landscape, without restarting.   In portrait i cannot drag to make larger to even peak at those settings.  

 

 

[scutters]

7 hours ago, minivp61 said:

Okay i figured something out.  If i drag to resize along the right edge, i can see the missing area.  But the moment i release, it goes away.  

Lol..  sorry, i misunderstood the issue entirely!

We will investigate. Thanks for the portrait / landscape hint. The ini file may also help if you can attach it, thanks.

[Mike_da_Spike]

3 hours ago, minivp61 said:

@Mike_da_Spike I figured this out.  I run in the non-traditional portrait.  But if I put the screen in landscape, and relaunch the side bar returns.   I can then rotate to portrait, and it is still there.  but if i close and reopen... it disappears again.  

The above examples were done in landscape, without restarting.   In portrait i cannot drag to make larger to even peak at those settings.  

I think this is caused, because of the display size (not sure what resolution you have)
The app is build as 1227 pixels width and 577 height.
Our assumption (well especially my) is that people do all the work (adding/chaning tables) in landscape mode.
For myself, I installed team viewer and sit behind my normal work PC (or as Scutter called it : My crappy machine) and do a team viewer session to my cabinet (that is runnign at 4k resolution)

Closing PinballX, I run a command that sets the DPI to 150% and display settings  to 4k  portrait mode. Because when I shutdown the computer and power up again, I see everything from cabinet perspective.

When I want to change software on the cab, I rotate my screen 90 degrees, so I can do a team viewer session
I normally had 2 shortcuts on my desktop 

• Rotatescreen portrait.cmd 

  @Echo off
  "C:\Pinball\DisplayTools\DC\dc64cmd.exe" -rotate=right

   

• Rotatescreen landscape.cmd 

  @Echo off
  "C:\Pinball\DisplayTools\DC\dc64cmd.exe" -rotate=up

   

With the latest version of Database manager , we added launch and exits commands.
I added the command , so that when I launch database manager (and close it again) , the screen is as I want.

For starting and closing PinballX , I use DC2.exe 
When starting pinball X, I launch a batch file that contains the following :      

c:\windows\system32\reg.exe import C:\Pinball\DisplayTools\DC2\monitor_100dpi.reg
C:\Pinball\DisplayTools\DC2\dc2.exe -configure=C:\Pinball\DisplayTools\DC2\4kdisplay_landscape_60p.xml

(I created the XML file when I setup the monitors correctly . The 100DPI, I could not find any tool, so I modify it in the registry)

When exiting PinballX:

c:\windows\system32\reg.exe import C:\Pinball\DisplayTools\DC2\monitor_150dpi.reg
C:\Pinball\DisplayTools\dc\dc64cmd.exe -rotate=right

I put my monitor to 150 DPI, because the default texts on a 100DPI on 4k in Windows is not readable (well not for me ...)

I hope this make sense for you.
If you still want to use it in portrait mode .... I think Scutters and I needs to adjust the size of our application to lower it to the width of the screen .... 

[minivp61]

@Mike_da_Spike I sort of understand what you are saying.  For now i am going to keep running in Portrait mode.  Eventually, I would like to setup in the mor traditional way.  But for now, since most things are working, I am going to leave as is.  

[Mike_da_Spike]

22 hours ago, minivp61 said:

@Mike_da_Spike I sort of understand what you are saying.  For now i am going to keep running in Portrait mode.  Eventually, I would like to setup in the mor traditional way.  But for now, since most things are working, I am going to leave as is.  

I send you a pm with a modified exe file

[minivp61]

Your fix worked.  Here are some pics.  

1 shows the original exe. 

2 shows how the new exe opens. 

3 shows the scroll over to the hidden parts of the screen.  

[Mike_da_Spike]

It's not an ideal solution, but a workable workaround.

I should prefer to put your playfield in landscape mode (and if you have an extra pc, use rdp/teamviewer or any other tool to connect to it)

Scutters and I will internally test this as well and if it doesn't break anything for the 'normal' users, this will be added in a future release. 

[Mike_da_Spike]

Thanks Tom. 

Databasemanager is written for PinballX and not for any other frontend. It requires a pinballx installation and full setup.

Configure PinballX and you can use databasemanager as well

And if you install it to another folder, Databasemanager will still find it, but it wont work with Baller as that is just another frontend installer.

[Mike_da_Spike]

Version 21.06.05 released !
Some minor bug fixes and small changes.

Thanks to @scutters for all his work on this release too
Just update it it, to not bump into issues  
But if you have any issues,  please let us know
 

 

 

[Mike_da_Spike]

Version 21.06.23.0 released.
Small update to align to PinballX 5.15 that supports now 60 systems instead of 40.

[Mike_da_Spike]

Small bugfix update for MEGA downloads (what was really annoying).
Issue :
When using MEGA links for getting media (see  below thread for some useful MEGA links), it happen to me that when I used MEGA links, and after a couple of minutes I used it again, the  program gives a crash message.

When switching from media type that was not used yet, and trying to use the MEGA it could give the following message in the action log (and you need to retry it)

With this version of Database manager, we tried to avoid the issues.
The code is updated with the latest MEGA API version (1.9.0 see NuGet Gallery | MegaApiClient 1.9.0 ) 
But this didn't fixed our issue.
So with a lot of effort from @scutters and myself, we finally made it work.

So if you are using MEGA links within Databasemanager , you definitely wants to update to this version

Of course a big thanks to  @scutters for all his effort, ideas and mental support for this program
If you want to know more about MEGA links check the below thread and also check our manual section "MEGA Folders tab"
(is there a manual, yes there is ! There is a shortcut  in your Windows start menu in the folder 'PinballX Database Manager' and the PDF is in your install directory )  

 

[Mike_da_Spike]

This is an emergency release for fixing FTP upload.
As mentioned in the following news bulletin, the access to the GameEx FTP must be done with your email address instead of your GameEx username (everybody knows, because we all read it ... )

 

As Databasemanager used the login name to upload files to FTP with your username, the upload wasn't available.
Thanks to @Tom Speirs who created quickly an API for us, we now have the FTP upload back.
Just fill in your emailaddress and password in the settings and click on 'Check FTP'

When your username is returned correctly (and check the 'Enable FTP Upload' setting), you are able to upload your media to FTP and share it with the rest of the community 

With this release, we added 2 extra small features that I really like.
Thanks @scuttersfor taking care of this !

• Action Log expendable 
  Just double click in the action log area will show an extra window with all the log entries
  
• File name with correct naming extension will extract manufacturer and year if no IPDB entry is found
  Most of the Pinball table creators, uses a naming convention with '<Table name> (<Manufacturer> <yyyy>)' where yyyy is year released.
  If Databasemanager cannot find an (fuzzy) hit on the file name against the IPDB/Dux Retro spreadsheet, we normally leave the fields 'Manufacturer' and 'Year' blank.
  In this release we automaticly add this.
  See this example (I used Scutters Pinemhi plugin for the weekly challenges and need a table setup):
  In my folder where my VPX table exists, I created a 'Table' "Weekly Challenge(DNA Disturber 2021).VPX"
  (this is just a dummy file)
  
  
  Within DatabaseManager, I click on 'Add Table' button, that will show by default all my tables that are not added yet :
  
  I select the table I want to add and click the 'Select' button
  
  The manufacturer and year field are now added automatically

Just 2 small things, but makes it so easy.
Again, thanks @scuttersfor helping on this release

Check also this thread for the PinemHi table launcher plugin:

 

[Mike_da_Spike]

Small bug fix release for 2 issues that we introduced in the last release (he we are human too ) 

Due to a lack of testing by @scuttersbefore we released the previous version, Scutters discovered that when you have a strange password with some strange characters that the username could not be retrieved

Thanks to @scutters, it was identified and fixed 

Due to a lack of testing by @Mike_da_Spike before we released the previous version, Mike discovered that when you upload an Instruction card to FTP, that the Email address was added instead of the GameEx username.
Thanks to @Mike_da_Spike, it was identified and fixed  

Another strange issue we discovered (and was not either of our fault), is that MEGA URL's didn't work anymore.
Although the URL's was still fine, it could set the application in 'Not responding' and give a timeout after a while

This behaviour was happening on 2 out of 4 machines we tested.

We changed some code, and now it was working on all the 4 machines we have.

As usual, a big thanks to Scutters for this release 
I really appreciate your help with Databasemanager 
 

[Mike_da_Spike]

A small bug found that causes that MEGA API wasn't functioning at all on some devices.
@scutters found quick a fix for this and we implemented and tested it.

Caused by Http request that where using non TLS 1.2  see https://github.com/gpailler/MegaApiClient/issues/181#issuecomment-937378384 that has the same issue

We now force all HTTP traffic in our code to use TLS 1.2

Thanks Scutters !