ClrVpin - content management tool

[stoj]

A dedicated post for the ClrVpin tool (previously posted individually for each version).

 

ClrVpin is an open source virtual pinball content management tool.

 

It's designed to automate the manual tasks of keeping your collections and databases..

• Accurate
• Clean
• Minimal
• Current

 

Features..

1. Scanner - clean your existing file collections.  For example, rename files to matche your database entries, remove duplicate/backup files, alert for missing content, etc.
   
2. Rebuilder - merge new/updated downloaded pinball files into your existing collections.
   
    
3. Importer - check against online resources whether your collection is up to date, link to content, and optionally update your database
   

 

Note..

• The tool has been around for a while now with a small user base, so hopefully all the crinkles have been ironed out.  If you find anything amiss or have any questions/suggestions (check also the roadmap), then please post either here, in the discussion topic, or (better yet) feel free to raise an issue/question via github.

• It's intended to extend the existing open source virtual pinball ecosystem and thus targets the PinballY frontend, but also supports PInballX which shares a compatible database format.

• The 'Importer' feature will work with ANY frontend (e.g. PinUp Popper), with the PinballY/X database update options automatically disabled.

• By design, it will update the fils and database(s) of your collections.  Everything is backed up before any changes are made, but if in doubt please be sure to make your own additional backup too.  Also, it can be run in 'trainer wheels' mode which describes what would be changed without making any changes.
• Once installed, there is an automatic update option to ensure it keeps in sync with the latest version.

 

Plenty more information available here.

 

 

I hope you find it useful as I do.. enjoy 😀

[stoj]

Version 4 released earlier today which completes one of the last major milestones in the roadmap.

 

ClrVpin can now synchronize the local Pinbally/PinballX database wiht updates from information from online sources.  For example you can now automatically update your local database to..

• Add missing tables, e.g. add any missing manufactured/original table entries to your collection.
• Add missing information in your existing collection, e.g. add IPDB references, authors, etc.
• Fix information in your existing collection, e.g. wrong manufacturer/year, table name, etc.

Also includes are a host of other improvements such as fuzzy matching, feed fixes, UI, identifying manufactured vs original tables, etc.

 

More information available in the release notes if you're keen.

[barryodog]

Looks good, but after  one hour of not being able to get past setup i gave up 😂

[stoj]

hi @barryodog, sorry to hear you're having issues with the setup.  It *should* be pretty easy.. essentially you just need to designate these 2 folders..

• VPX exe folder
• PinballY/X folder

And if you've got a 'standard folder setup', then you can use the wand icon to fill in the remaining sub-folders automatically.  Or specify them individually if you prefer.

 

That said, perhaps a future version could optionally read those folder locations from the registry.

 

 

[barryodog]

For the front end i have popper, but i hit X on frontend and vp is all good but when i save the scan is grayed out

[stoj]

If you're using popper, you can leave the entire setup unchanged (or select 'reset' to put it back to the initial state if you've already made changea already).

 

Using popper you can still use importer to check for new content.. but the scanner, rebuilder, and any fuzzy features will be automatically disabled (if not configured) as these only apply to the PinballY/X frontends.

 

[timhobbs]

i use pby but the scan button is greyed out (it looks just like the example above). the magic wand gets the pby folders wrong (visual pinball is v9, visual pinball x is v10) but even when manually setting everything up correctly it still won't work. i'd really like to try this out but not sure what else to do now...

[stoj]

hi @timhobbs

 

Sounds like you have your tables split into separate vpt and vpx folders?  If so, that's not a setup I had considered.  But assigning manually as you've done should work.

 

The scanner/rebuilder buttons are disabled if any of the folders aren't assigned or they don't exist.  It's not super obvious in v4.0.0, but the front end folder setup section is scrollable (in red below) so perhaps you've missed some?  There are quite a few folders (about 10) to be assigned, so hopefully the wand works for you in this section.. but if not then let me know as I'd be keen to know what's amiss.

[stoj]

Version 5 released today.  This release has a lot of UI/memory/usability/performance improvements.

 

Also, Importer has reached another milestone and now provides full support for unmatched tables (i.e. those that exist in your local collection, but can't be located online).  For instance, unmatched table DB entries can now be editted similar to matched tables.  Also unmatched tables are now displayed in the same list as matched and missing tables.

 

More information available in the release notes.

[stoj]

Version 6 released today.

 

This release supports deleting table entries from your local database. The corresponding table/backglass/media/etc will also be automatically deleted when Scanner is run.

 

The release also includes some other improvements.. unmatched table information is used in the driop down filters, more options are persisted across applicaiton restart, 'check for applicaiton update' dialog lets you scroll through all missed versions, plus a few minor bug fixes.

 

More information available in the release notes.  Enjoy.

[encryptedmind]

Has pin up popper been incorporated into this build? Or is it just mainly meant for pinballX/Y?

[stoj]

hi @encryptedmind

 

Sorry, Popper isn't incorporated.  I appreciate it's is a nice frontend, but ClrVpin is intended for the open source Visual Pinball community to work with other open source tools such as PinballY (which by extension includes PinballX as they share the same xml database format).

 

That said, the 'importer' feature is front end agnostic, so you can use it to check for online content updates such as tables, backglass, Pups, wheels, etc.

[TravelNVal]

@stoj Good Evening - just trying to understand what all this tool does, I did read GitHub too... but essentially, if I have one version of a table and then download the latest version with a completely different name. Will this tool essentially delete the previous version for me, and then copy the new version table to VPX and then update PinballY database so the media files, and content is associated with this new table name? Or does it change the name to the same same as the previous version file that is already in the PinballY database?

 

Just trying to get a sense on versions how the PinballY database or in what step is the PinballY database updated? Thank you

 

Edited January 8, 2023 by TravelNVal

[stoj]

Hi @TravelNVal, it does quite a few things

 

The short story.. it's the latter of what you've described where the existing PinballX/Y DB file is left unchanged.

 

The longer story.. below is a more detailed workflow breakdown.

• Rebuilder
  • The newly downloaded table/media/etc, which may optionally have different file name(s), are fuzzy matched (with some other configured criteria too) against the existing entry in your existing PinballX/Y DB file.
  • The file(s) are copied to the appropriate folders (e.g. table, wheelss, etc) if either are true..
    • Scenario #1 - file doesn't already exist, i.e. different file name, e.g. file includes version name, mod type, acronyms, author, timestamp, etc.
    • Scenario #2 - file does already exist AND matches the configured criteria, e.g. file larger by percentage, newer, etc.
• Scanner
  • Clean your collection to remove redundant files.
  • This also covers scenario #1 to remove any duplicate files from a previous merge/rebuild where the file names were different.

I'd recommend running with 'trainer wheels' enabled and review the logs which describe in detail what happens with every file that would be changed (moved, copied, backed up, etc) without actually performing any changes.  And even with the trainer wheels off, no files are ever actually deleted.. they are just moved to the configured backup folder instead.

 

Unrelated but possibly of interest..

• ClrVpin does also provide support for optionally updating PinballX/Y database file in the 'importer' feature (which connects to an online feed to look for new content).
• I'm working on an update that (amongst other things) renames some of the features so they are hopefully a little more intuitive.

Hope that helps.