Gamelist Excel export script

detron

thank you for the help others may be saved by your edit, but I have zero roms for that system. I just thought the idea of a gamelist with all images was brilliant. add your few roms, and the art would show up.

meleu

I have a strong conviction that @Used2BeRX will love this tool! :)

Used2BeRX

This looks AWESOME!!!!! @mitu
I can't wait to try it out. I actually asked a few months ago if somebody could make something EXACTLY like this.

If this works the way that I think it will from your OP, I think this is going to end up saving me countless hours on my work in the future, and I should still be able to get a ton of work out of it for the NES project I'm currently working on.

Is there any chance that you could write a reverse script that would then convert the existing spreadsheet back into a gamelist.xml? That would make this absolutely perfect then and I would be able to do all of my editing inside of a single spreadsheet (assuming it wasn't insanely taxing on my ancient PC to do so).

Thanks for the heads up @meleu.

If this is something that I can use like I think it is, I was hoping that when you get time to do some more things with our script that you might be able to make that reverse script we were talking about that would then take the gamelist.xml and convert it back to the initial synopsis.txt files.

That way when all of the work was done I could re-generate the edited synopsis files for the XBox ready release as well as the Pi Zero and Pi 3 release without having to edit all of them by hand.

Amazing. Thanks for sharing mitu!

mitu

@used2berx said in Gamelist Excel export script:

Is there any chance that you could write a reverse script that would then convert the existing spreadsheet back into a gamelist.xml? That would make this absolutely perfect then and I would be able to do all of my editing inside of a single spreadsheet (assuming it wasn't insanely taxing on my ancient PC to do so).

Having read the other 2 threads about your work on the NES ResurrectionXtra, I know how important this feature would be for you. I'll take a look at producing a gamelist - or any other way of extracting the information out of an Excel spreadsheet. Technically, it shouldn't be to difficult, since this is already supported by Excel (https://bitwizards.com/Thought-Leadership/Blog/2010/November-2010/How-To-Export-an-Excel-2010-Worksheet-to-XML).
I've worked before with VBA in Excel (it's not pretty), I'll see what can be done and how easy would be to make this export happen with just the push of a button.

Used2BeRX

@mitu said in Gamelist Excel export script:

to a gamelist.xml? That would make this absolutely perfect then and I would be able to do all of my editing inside of a single spreadsheet (assuming it wasn't insanely taxing on my ancient PC to do so).

Thanks bud. :)

I can't wait to take this for a spin. Things have been really busy IRL and my focus on the project has been all over the place though. I don't want to half-ass it with my testing when I do it, so I need to make sure I can dedicate some real time to this and make sure everything is working as designed.

Hope you're going to be around and you're not going to disappear any time soon.

This could be something I've been wishing I had for over a decade now man, and it's so cool that you just happened to make it for different reasons than I needed it for. So glad you did it and that @meleu brought your work to my attention. Thanks for looking into the reversal process for me.

MrSco

@mitu thanks for the updates. No more errors now when exporting, but the file has some warnings when opening in excel 2016 ...

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="true"?>
<recoveryLog xmlns="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/spreadsheetml/2006/main">
<logFileName>error100720_01.xml</logFileName>
<summary>Errors were detected in file 'D:\raspberry pi\export_25-02-2018.xlsx'</summary>
<removedFeatures>
<removedFeature>Removed Feature: AutoFilter from /xl/tables/table3.xml part (Table)</removedFeature>
<removedFeature>Removed Feature: Table from /xl/tables/table3.xml part (Table)</removedFeature>
</removedFeatures>
</recoveryLog>

the file still seems to have all the data in there. not sure what it had to remove...

detron

@mrsco said in Gamelist Excel export script:

@mitu thanks for the updates. No more errors now when exporting, but the file has some warnings when opening in excel 2016 ...

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="true"?>
<recoveryLog xmlns="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/spreadsheetml/2006/main">
<logFileName>error100720_01.xml</logFileName>
<summary>Errors were detected in file 'D:\raspberry pi\export_25-02-2018.xlsx'</summary>
<removedFeatures>
<removedFeature>Removed Feature: AutoFilter from /xl/tables/table3.xml part (Table)</removedFeature>
<removedFeature>Removed Feature: Table from /xl/tables/table3.xml part (Table)</removedFeature>
</removedFeatures>
</recoveryLog>

the file still seems to have all the data in there. not sure what it had to remove...

I got the same thing, but thought it might have been something on my end. I just accepted the changes and saved the file.
since I am not alone, I agree this might be something to investigate

mitu

@mrsco @detron I think it has removed the table and auto-filtering on one of the exported systems. I encountered a related error (which should be fixed now) when the system exported has a - in the name (such as mame-libretro).
Can you see which system (worksheet) doesn't have the table style and the filters ? Do you have any systems with empty list of games ? Alternatively, you could upload the export file somewhere and I could take a look at it.

EDIT: While looking over the code, I think the error you're receiving might appear when you don't have any Favorites of Kid Games. Can you check to see if this is the case ?

mitu

@cyperghost I added the ability to export the custom collections, just re-download the script (URL changed, but it's updated in the 1st post). See if it works out.

detron

@mitu,

sorry for the delay. I do not have any Favorites of kids. this might be the issue.
is there a reason that the "all" has notes with informational text, but the individual system tabs do not?

thank you for all you have done on this. it is great!

@mitu said in Gamelist Excel export script:

@mrsco @detron I think it has removed the table and auto-filtering on one of the exported systems. I encountered a related error (which should be fixed now) when the system exported has a - in the name (such as mame-libretro).
Can you see which system (worksheet) doesn't have the table style and the filters ? Do you have any systems with empty list of games ? Alternatively, you could upload the export file somewhere and I could take a look at it.

EDIT: While looking over the code, I think the error you're receiving might appear when you don't have any Favorites of Kid Games. Can you check to see if this is the case ?

mitu

@detron said in Gamelist Excel export script:

is there a reason that the "all" has notes with informational text, but the individual system tabs do not?

It's an arbitrary decision :). I left out of Description field since it wouldn't look nice in a table, but I decided to add it as a comment for the All sheet.

detron

@mitu said in Gamelist Excel export script:

@detron said in Gamelist Excel export script:

is there a reason that the "all" has notes with informational text, but the individual system tabs do not?

It's an arbitrary decision :). I left out of Description field since it wouldn't look nice in a table, but I decided to add it as a comment for the All sheet.

that makes sense. probably a good descision. thanks

Used2BeRX

@mitu Hey bud. I had a few questions for you. I've only got about 120 more carts to go and should be done with that in a few weeks. Still have all the boxart to work on and tons of other stuff, but I think I need a break from artwork and would love to dive into this when the cart is done.

Were you ever able to make some sort of script or find out if there is a way to convert this spreadsheet back to a gamelist.xml file with all of the tags?
Do you know if this can be used in Google Spreadsheets? I have both, but personally I prefer having my work online where others can view it or even make a copy of their own to further edit when I'm ready for a public release. It's okay if we can't do that, but it would be awesome if we could.
Could you add more tags if I gave you a list? Or... if it's pretty menial to do so and you think you could teach a total newb how to do it would you be able to maybe walk me through that? As of now, most people who would use your script wouldn't benefit from them much if at all, but in order for me to convert my synopsis.txt files to a gamelist.xml file to a Spreadsheet and then all the way back to a synopsis.txt file, I would need to be able to populate all of the fields from my original text files in your spreadsheet or it wouldn't work right for me when it was converted back. Even more importantly, if I wasn't able to carry over gamelist.xml specific tags that won't go back into the synopsis.txt files, it would still leave us with a gamelist.xml file that is missing a lot of tags like locations for artwork and videos and such after I was done with the Spreadsheet edits and converted it back to the gamelist.xml file.

I can't wait to try this out man. I should be able to start using it in about two weeks hopefully. If this works like I think it will I think you might have been able to save me hundreds of hours or more of work if I actually do eventually get around to completing all of the console and handheld systems that I'm planning on working on.

Thanks again!

mitu

@used2berx Excel has a straightforward Export to XML functionality, as long as you feed it the correct schema (xsd) it's really easy to export. One thing that it's not correctly exported is the dates, but that we might address separately. I did a few tests - using my export to get back a gamelist.xml file - and seems simple enough to try.
So, a few questions:

What version of Excel are you using ? (2007, 2010, 2013, 2016)
Do you have a sample sheet for me to try out ? A few lines would be enough and should get you covered for 3. You can give me a Google docs sheet that I can copy and test on it.

Used2BeRX

@mitu Nice. I wasn't aware of the export to .xml functionality. Google Docs may have this as well, and it might be pretty easy to export the Excel to GD since I won't be making it look fancy like my compatibility spreadsheets will be. I believe I have Excel 2007, although I can't remember if I've ever installed it on my "new" ancient computer I'm working from right now. I'll have to answer that one when I get around to this and I'll try to figure out any GD stuff on my own and let you know how it goes.

I have an old gamelist.xml file from about a month ago on my computer I believe. It's outdated from what I have now, but there isn't anything important missing from it that would be on it now. For our testing purposes here it should have most of what you need.

There will still be some more tags down the road to add as well. I have a request in with @meleu for some additional tags that we'll need, but he hasn't had time to get to them yet. At this stage I'm just trying to get all the ducks in a row as much as I can while I'm still working on another aspect of the project.

Give me a few minutes and I should be able to get that gamelist.xml file to you. I'll also pull out one specific good example of all of the current tags meleu has in the script to post right up on the board here to view.

BTW... thanks for doing this. I'm sure most people won't need these tags for now, and some people using them might actually not like even having them. Maybe if you're going to add these tags for me you could have a separate option to load an "Rx Spreadsheet" or something to avoid this?

Used2BeRX

Oh... also BTW....

As far as the "date problem" goes, one of my requests to @meleu was to have an additional tag in there. I don't remember what the exact name of the tag was right now, but it's an alternate date tag that has the "human readable" date on it instead of the one we need to convert it to for use with RetroPie. My synopsis.txt files for use on the XBox emulators use the human readable date. When he adds this, both tags will be in the gamelist.xml file. Maybe this could help you out as well?

Used2BeRX

@mitu Damn.... The gamelist is too big to upload here and when I zip it I get a notification saying that I do not have enough privlidges to preform this action.

I'll just put up a sample game entry for now and if you think you need the full file I'll upload it elsewhere and send it to you.

I also looked back into the request to meleu and I have manually added all of the tags that I have requested that he make in his script. At this point I can't think of other tags that might be necessary, but there might be a couple that I've missed. Fingers crossed. :)

<game>
<name>Mario in Some Usual Day</name>
<path>/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/nes/(3) Unlicensed - Homebrew/(3_10) Super Mario Bros Updates/Mario in Some Usual Day.zip</path>
<image>/home/pi/RetroPie/Media/nes/Artwork/Cart/Mario In Some Usual Day.png</image>
<video/>
<marquee/>
<thumbnail/>
<desc>Some usual day isn't so usual after all. This game features enemies from Zelda, Metroid, and Kirby, new power-ups, and a brand-new secret coin system. And yes, that is a fire-ball-chucking Raccoon Mario below. This is a complete hack of Super Mario Bros 3, featuring 4 new worlds and 1 secret world! All worlds are filled with new levels, new graphics, new asm mods and more!

<link>https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/53/</link>
<releasedate>19900101T000000</releasedate>
<releasetext>1990</releasetext> `Text date that is in our synopsis.txt files` 
<hackreleasedate/>
<transreleasedate/>
<developer>Nintendo R&amp;D2</developer>
<publisher>Nintendo of America Inc.</publisher>
<genre>Action / Platformer</genre>
<players>1</players>
<playerstext>1</playerstext> (Need this to properly convert back to synopsis after edits. Just a pure rip of the synopsis information without your code for converting it to an ES friendly field.  Examples: "1 to 2 VS", "1 or 2 CO-OP")
<region>USA</region>
<platform>nes</platform>
<media>Cartridge</media>
<controller>NES Gamepad</controller>
<gametype>Hack</gametype>
<xtrasname>Mario In Some Usual Day</xtrasname>
<originaltitle>Super Mario Bros. 3</originaltitle>
<alternatetitle/>
<hackedby>JaSp</hackedby>
<translatedby/>
<version>1.1</version>
<boxfront>/home/pi/RetroPie/Media/nes/Artwork/Box Front/Mario In Some Usual Day.png</image>
<cart>/home/pi/RetroPie/Media/nes/Artwork/Cart/Mario In Some Usual Day.png</cart>
<title>/home/pi/RetroPie/Media/nes/Artwork/Titles/Mario In Some Usual Day.jpg</title>
<action>/home/pi/RetroPie/Media/nes/Artwork/Action/Mario In Some Usual Day.jpg</action>
<threedbox>/home/pi/RetroPie/Media/nes/Artwork/3D Boxart/Mario In Some Usual Day.png</threedbox>
<gamefaq/>
<manual/>
<vgmap/>
<license/>
<programmer/>
<musician/>
</game>

Please let me know if you have any questions at all. I will try to get back to you ASAP. I need to sleep soon and might not be able to get to you before I go to work. I will answer any questions you have in no more than 36 hours from now. :)

mitu

@used2berx What I meant for example was an actual Excel file, don't you want to convert from Excel to a gamelist.xml file ? My script does not convert - right now - all the fields you have in this sample gamelist.xml file, it only reads the standard ES metadata tags.
You want me to modify the export script to produce an Excel from this sample gamelist XML file ?

Used2BeRX

@mitu Oh... yeah. I don't have any excel or Google Spreadsheet with any of this information now. I haven't run your script at all yet.

I was actually asking if you could add new columns for your spreadsheet conversion program that would use all of the tags listed in the gamelist.xml file above. That way, after I do the editing to fields like <desc/>, <genre/>, <publisher/>, etc., then I could convert the spreadsheet back to a gamelist.xml file and none of the other fields would be missing when converted back.

Some of these fields will actually never be used in ES, but I'm hoping once I start releasing sets that some of them are, such as manuals, gamefaqs and more image types. The fields that will never be used in ES are actually things that will be carried all the way back to the synopsis.txt files, which are individual files with the game rom name that are used to display all of the game information in the XBox Madmab Edition emulators. (These files are currently how meleu's script gets all of the individual game information into a gamelist.xml file, and with some other wizardry he's managed to also add all of the file location tags so long as media with the exact same name as the rom/synopsis.txt name is in the corresponding location).

This is why I had suggested a "Regular Spreadsheet" and a separate "Rx Spreadsheet" option so people who just want the ES tags wouldn't have all of my tags cluttering up their spreadsheet... or you wouldn't have to go out of your way to make a completely separate script for me that would have to be updated separately if you added other cool stuff to the one you have now.

Sorry for the confusion. :|

Used2BeRX

@mitu BTW... figured I should show you an example of what the synopsis.txt files look like. This is for Mario in Some Usual Day.txt, same game as the example above:

Mario in Some Usual Day
Original Title: Super Mario Bros. 3
Platform: Nintendo Entertainment System
Region: USA
Media: Cartridge
Controller: NES Gamepad
Genre: Action / Platformer
Gametype: Hack
Release Year: 1990
Hack Release Year: 2005
Developer: Nintendo R&D2
Publisher: Nintendo of America Inc.
Hacked by: JaSp
Version: 1.1
Players: 1
_________________________

Some usual day isn't so usual after all. This game features enemies from Zelda, Metroid, and Kirby, new power-ups, and a brand-new secret coin system. And yes, that is a fire-ball-chucking Raccoon Mario below. This is a complete hack of Super Mario Bros 3, featuring 4 new worlds and 1 secret world! All worlds are filled with new levels, new graphics, new asm mods and more!

https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/53/
http://www.mobygames.com/game/nes/super-mario-bros-3

Mario in Some Usual Day.txt is the same name as the <xtrasname/> tag in the gamelist.xml. All media for this game such as the rom, synopsis, artwork, etc. will have this exact file name.