EMULAB Forum

clrmamepro [English] => clrmame Discussion => Topic started by: clonemaster on 25 February 2010, 04:09

Title: [REQUEST] allow omission of <description> element
Post by: clonemaster on 25 February 2010, 04:09

It would be nice if the <description> element could be omitted from dat files.  The generic xml format requires the tag, and clrmame chocks when it's left out.  This element works fine with arcade roms...

Code: [Select]

<datafile>
<game name="puckman" sourcefile="pacman.c">
<description>PuckMan (Japan set 1)</description>
<year>1980</year>
<manufacturer>Namco</manufacturer>
<rom name="namcopac.6e" size="4096" crc="fee263b3" sha1="87117ba5082cd7a615b4ec7c02dd819003fbd669"/>
<rom name="namcopac.6f" size="4096" crc="39d1fc83" sha1="326dbbf94c6fa2e96613dedb53702f8832b47d59"/>
<rom name="namcopac.6h" size="4096" crc="02083b03" sha1="7e1945f6eb51f2e51806d0439f975f7a2889b9b8"/>
<rom name="namcopac.6j" size="4096" crc="7a36fe55" sha1="01b4c38108d9dc4e48da4f8d685248e1e6821377"/>
<rom name="pacman.5e" size="4096" crc="0c944964" sha1="06ef227747a440831c9a3a613b76693d52a2f0a9"/>
<rom name="pacman.5f" size="4096" crc="958fedf9" sha1="4a937ac02216ea8c96477d4a15522070507fb599"/>
<rom name="82s123.7f" size="32" crc="2fc650bd" sha1="8d0268dee78e47c712202b0ec4f1f51109b1f2a5"/>
<rom name="82s126.4a" size="256" crc="3eb3a8e4" sha1="19097b5f60d1030f8b82d9f1d3a241f93e5c75d6"/>
<rom name="82s126.1m" size="256" crc="a9cc86bf" sha1="bbcec0570aeceb582ff8238a4bc8546a23430081"/>
<rom name="82s126.3m" size="256" crc="77245b66" sha1="0c4d0bee858b97632411c440bea6948a74759746"/>
</game>
</datafile>
However, with roms that have file names longer than 8.3 character it, becomes slightly redundant having to state the name three times...

Code: [Select]

<datafile>
  <game name="&apos;89 Dennou Kyuusei Uranai (1988-12-10)(Jingukan)(JP)[!]">
    <description>&apos;89 Dennou Kyuusei Uranai (1988-12-10)(Jingukan)(JP)[!]</description>
    <rom name="&apos;89 Dennou Kyuusei Uranai (1988-12-10)(Jingukan)(JP)[!].nes" size="262144" crc="ba58ed29" sha1="56fe858d1035dce4b68520f457a0858bae7bb16d" status="verified" />
  </game>
</datafile>

Title: Re: [REQUEST] allow omission of <description> element
Post by: Roman on 25 February 2010, 08:45

Description is required, it's used internally for all kind of checks, sorting possibilities and displaying information.
I don't see a problem having it in the dat either.
Within cmpro it's stored only once anyway if it matches the setname and datfiles can be compressed.

Of course you might say, so if cmpro uses it only once if it's identical to the setname, why not cloning it during datparsing....hmm...I might think of it.

Title: Re: [REQUEST] allow omission of <description> element
Post by: clonemaster on 26 February 2010, 05:39

Quote from: Roman on 25 February 2010, 08:45

Description is required, it's used internally for all kind of checks, sorting possibilities and displaying information.
I don't see a problem having it in the dat either.
Within cmpro it's stored only once anyway if it matches the setname and datfiles can be compressed.

Of course you might say, so if cmpro uses it only once if it's identical to the setname, why not cloning it during datparsing....hmm...I might think of it.

I don't have a problem with the description element either, but I would like the option of developing dat files without having to include it.  With all due respect to you and all the hard work you've put into clrmame, the data file format was originally designed to audit mame rom sets and not single-file console roms.

Title: Re: [REQUEST] allow omission of <description> element
Post by: Roman on 26 February 2010, 08:31

see...I never understood why "singe console roms" need a name which is 132947310897414 characters long if you got a nice description tag.
Besides of that, MAME is not fully 8.3 since years ;)

Title: Re: [REQUEST] allow omission of <description> element
Post by: clonemaster on 26 February 2010, 23:56

Quote from: Roman on 26 February 2010, 08:31

see...I never understood why "singe console roms" need a name which is 132947310897414 characters long if you got a nice description tag.

True, but which emulators support the description tag?  MAME?  MESS?  Any others?  Most modern emulators have a windows type gui with a file/load dialog box.  This becomes cumbersome when you have thousands of roms in one directory.  Moreover, all the popular groups that develop dat files, use the long names for renaming roms.

The point I’m trying to get at is perhaps you could consider extending the generic xml format to ad more flexible elements and attributes.  Perhaps even creating a second doctype much like the fact that we have both html and xhtml to choose from when developing web pages.

Title: Re: [REQUEST] allow omission of <description> element
Post by: Roman on 07 April 2010, 22:09

For cmpro 3.133 you don't need the description tag anymore.

Title: Re: [REQUEST] allow omission of <description> element
Post by: clonemaster on 09 April 2010, 03:45

Thank you very MUCH!