OOTP Developments Forums - View Single Post - CATO to OOTPB 2007

SandMan · 03-21-2007, 09:09 AM

I am really feeling a bit overwhelmed by the types of response that this topic is getting for a few reasons.

1. Everything in the CATOBASE database is taken directly from the LNEWS and LTRANS or LALLTRANS file and the CSV files exported from the Exporter program (was it commishjoes?).

2. The only stats that I would want are the winshares which for some reason were only created when creating the html pages. All the data is in the MDB files to create this though with out creating the pages.

3. It is very simple to create the csv files needed without using CATOBASE and using the csv files created by the exporter. With the exception to the player splits between multiple teams.

4. An easy way of converting the MDB file to csv in the lahman format is to simply write queries getting the data that are in each lahman table from the mdb file and then changing the select query to a make table query and exporting that to a csv file. This is very easy and I have done it in the past to create my own lahman style database with my fictional players in it.

5. CATOBASE had many flaws and was difficult to get to work correctly when problems arose, especially after version 6.5 was released. The program needed to be rewritten so that it did not recreate every page after the season. It simply was not written well. Don't get me wrong the DATA it provided in the PAGE format it created was very very good. The program itself was a mess and could have been rewritten. After a while I just did the first sequence of importing the data into the MDB and then wrote my own queries to get the data I wanted to see.

6. What exactly is there to gain from importing this into 2007 other than the player career stats for players no longer in the game?

7. Almost everything in the CATOBASE is in the newer versions of OOTP and most of the data is calculated fields. So getting the data from the CATOBASE is not necessary for a lot of the data. Remember, CATOBASE itself does not store leaderboards and other calculated data and creates pages at the time requested, but unfortunately it recreates all pages.

8. The one nice thing catobase keeps that would not be found in the OOTP game files or the exporter files are the Player History records of all players (including RETIREES!!!). But this data is not in the Lahman database, so this important data would not be imported into 2007.

9. Other than splits for players on multiple teams during the season, winshares and player history for retired players there is no data that would not be in the EXPORTER files and if you created CATOBASE MDB files you have the EXPORTER files saved in the DATA folder.

Bottom line. It would only take about a day to create all the queries needed to put into an access application. But is this really necessary! I would think the way to go would be to get the data from the CATOBASE DATA folder (which is the EXPORTER CSV files) - convert these to lahman, which will be easier to do in EXCEL and then you have most of the data to import into 2007

Just my opinion. I was confused on what data the end users want out of the CATOBASE and is it ONLY the data that is in the Lahman DATABASE. Maybe it is the data that is in the EXPORTER files which can be more closely matched up with lahman fields.

I was going to rewrite the catobase program at one point after 6.5 was released. My theory was to take the data from the exporter as cato did but the draft history from the team files, transactions from the team files and to also included the news stories. Also export the logs from each game and have a link to the boxscores and logs from the html pages. Have pages created as needed or requested (would take a second or two to create but then you would not need to store pages you would never look at). Ran some test and everything but winshares and progressive boards came out as expected. But then 2006 was announced and I thought that there would not be a need for 6.5 utils and that the format would not work with 2006 and that 2006 would have the utils built in. Most of this is correct with the exception to Winshares. Markus has all the data in the files to create winshares (3rd party mod of course) so is the cato data really needed?

BTW, I still use catobase and have not had problems with any leagues in over a year using the utility. You just got to remember to change the LALLTRANS file to LTRANS and to delete the LTRANS file (prior to the rename of the LALLTRANS). This solves most of the issues with the program blowing up on the transactions (usually involving player moving from team a to team b - the conversion then blows up when trying to determine the date of the transaction in the CATOBASE program).

Just my

Regards,

Steve

03-21-2007, 09:09 AM	#38
SandMan Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2003 Posts: 2,946	I am really feeling a bit overwhelmed by the types of response that this topic is getting for a few reasons. 1. Everything in the CATOBASE database is taken directly from the LNEWS and LTRANS or LALLTRANS file and the CSV files exported from the Exporter program (was it commishjoes?). 2. The only stats that I would want are the winshares which for some reason were only created when creating the html pages. All the data is in the MDB files to create this though with out creating the pages. 3. It is very simple to create the csv files needed without using CATOBASE and using the csv files created by the exporter. With the exception to the player splits between multiple teams. 4. An easy way of converting the MDB file to csv in the lahman format is to simply write queries getting the data that are in each lahman table from the mdb file and then changing the select query to a make table query and exporting that to a csv file. This is very easy and I have done it in the past to create my own lahman style database with my fictional players in it. 5. CATOBASE had many flaws and was difficult to get to work correctly when problems arose, especially after version 6.5 was released. The program needed to be rewritten so that it did not recreate every page after the season. It simply was not written well. Don't get me wrong the DATA it provided in the PAGE format it created was very very good. The program itself was a mess and could have been rewritten. After a while I just did the first sequence of importing the data into the MDB and then wrote my own queries to get the data I wanted to see. 6. What exactly is there to gain from importing this into 2007 other than the player career stats for players no longer in the game? 7. Almost everything in the CATOBASE is in the newer versions of OOTP and most of the data is calculated fields. So getting the data from the CATOBASE is not necessary for a lot of the data. Remember, CATOBASE itself does not store leaderboards and other calculated data and creates pages at the time requested, but unfortunately it recreates all pages. 8. The one nice thing catobase keeps that would not be found in the OOTP game files or the exporter files are the Player History records of all players (including RETIREES!!!). But this data is not in the Lahman database, so this important data would not be imported into 2007. 9. Other than splits for players on multiple teams during the season, winshares and player history for retired players there is no data that would not be in the EXPORTER files and if you created CATOBASE MDB files you have the EXPORTER files saved in the DATA folder. Bottom line. It would only take about a day to create all the queries needed to put into an access application. But is this really necessary! I would think the way to go would be to get the data from the CATOBASE DATA folder (which is the EXPORTER CSV files) - convert these to lahman, which will be easier to do in EXCEL and then you have most of the data to import into 2007 Just my opinion. I was confused on what data the end users want out of the CATOBASE and is it ONLY the data that is in the Lahman DATABASE. Maybe it is the data that is in the EXPORTER files which can be more closely matched up with lahman fields. I was going to rewrite the catobase program at one point after 6.5 was released. My theory was to take the data from the exporter as cato did but the draft history from the team files, transactions from the team files and to also included the news stories. Also export the logs from each game and have a link to the boxscores and logs from the html pages. Have pages created as needed or requested (would take a second or two to create but then you would not need to store pages you would never look at). Ran some test and everything but winshares and progressive boards came out as expected. But then 2006 was announced and I thought that there would not be a need for 6.5 utils and that the format would not work with 2006 and that 2006 would have the utils built in. Most of this is correct with the exception to Winshares. Markus has all the data in the files to create winshares (3rd party mod of course) so is the cato data really needed? BTW, I still use catobase and have not had problems with any leagues in over a year using the utility. You just got to remember to change the LALLTRANS file to LTRANS and to delete the LTRANS file (prior to the rename of the LALLTRANS). This solves most of the issues with the program blowing up on the transactions (usually involving player moving from team a to team b - the conversion then blows up when trying to determine the date of the transaction in the CATOBASE program). Just my Regards, Steve