CATO to OOTPB 2007 - Calling all programmers

battists · 02-27-2007, 06:44 PM

Hi everyone. I've had a tough day, so I'll be brief.

Everyone who used CATO knows that one of the issues facing leagues that convert to 2006 is that your history becomes "split" between CATO and 2006.

Sadly, there's nothing in 2007 that will change this . . . yet. After discussing this in some detail with Markus, Markus has offered up this nugget:

If we (the community) can come up with some way to convert CATO data into Lahman format, he can probably write a process that will import it into OOTPB 2007.

Please don't ask me questions about how precisely it would work, we haven't gotten that far yet.

But, if you're a reasonably technical person with a decent chunk of free time, especially between now and March 23rd, there's no doubt that a tool like this would make you the hero of the OOTP community, next to Larry Anderson.

CATO stores data in Access format, Lahman in CSV format.

Please post here, or PM me, if you'd consider tackling this.

Steve

Comedian2004 · 02-28-2007, 01:09 AM

I was going to wait until 160 views before I replied, but got sleepy.

Go ahead, knock this battery off my shoulder.

If someone can zip up their 6.x league, the ENTIRE thing, photos and all and all of the Cato crap and place it where I can download it, I will see what I can do.

Please e-mail me at larry@cfl.rr.com when you have the download ready. DO NOT email me the zipped up file.

Tony M · 02-28-2007, 04:09 AM

Same as Comedian,

if someone can give a sample file then will give it a shot as well.

email address in profile (hopefully, will just check)

Marc Duffy · 02-28-2007, 05:37 AM

Why not work it through together and become uber gods in the OOTP community...

jazzrack · 02-28-2007, 06:04 AM

Quote:

If someone can zip up their 6.x league, the ENTIRE thing, photos and all and all of the Cato crap and place it where I can download it, I will see what I can do.

emails sent, but for anybody else.... be crefull what you ask for, the CLB CATO site includes everything, all the stats, all the photos. and after only 9 seasons the thing is a monster....

have fun

pick and choose what you need, if you need anything else just yodel (is that how you spell that??)

RBLwebguy · 02-28-2007, 06:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Comedian2004

I was going to wait until 160 views before I replied, but got sleepy.

Go ahead, knock this battery off my shoulder.

If someone can zip up their 6.x league, the ENTIRE thing, photos and all and all of the Cato crap and place it where I can download it, I will see what I can do.

Please e-mail me at larry@cfl.rr.com when you have the download ready. DO NOT email me the zipped up file.

I can send you mine Larry

Ryan W. · 02-28-2007, 08:18 AM

I'm going to take a stab at it as well. I am pretty familiar with the Cato structure and it's output (as I wrote a similar tool back in the day) and it shouldn't take a lot of effort to output some .CSV files from the tables.

The Wolf · 02-28-2007, 08:51 AM

Best of luck to you all.

battists · 02-28-2007, 09:33 AM

Seriously, there could be some big benefits in making this a team effort. But, I lack the time to coordinate (the one thing I'm good at) right now. So, I'm kind of leaving it all up to you guys.

Ryan W. · 02-28-2007, 09:38 AM

Larry, drop me an email at ryan@ootpdevelopments.com. I can probably get all of the SQL done in short order if you can build a GUI around it and output it to CSV files.

Comedian2004 · 02-28-2007, 09:43 AM

Ryan,

Sounds good to me. My e-mail is larry@cfl.rr.com, but if you need to send larger files, send it to webcomedian@msn.com. If you send it to the MSN account, drop a note to the cfl account to tell me, as that is my main mail.

I can handle the GUI and make it pretty and writing to the CSV files are a piece of cake. (not carrot cake, I hate that crap)

Recte44 · 02-28-2007, 11:28 AM

Please, please, please!!!!

If any of you ever do this there's free beer in Milwaukee in it for you.

Curtis · 02-28-2007, 03:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Recte44

If any of you ever do this there's free beer in Milwaukee in it for you.

That would be A free beer… and he's not telling you where he hid it.

enuttage · 02-28-2007, 08:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Recte44

Please, please, please!!!!

If any of you ever do this there's free beer in Milwaukee in it for you.

And as much as you can drink in one sitting in Austin.

This would be huge for online leagues hesitating to convert.

Comedian2004 · 02-28-2007, 09:10 PM

I don't drink, but a hamburger well done would work fine or memory for my computer. This 512 is limiting my programming abilities.

enuttage · 02-28-2007, 10:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Comedian2004

I don't drink, but a hamburger well done would work fine or memory for my computer. This 512 is limiting my programming abilities.

The 512 is near and dear to my heart (and MD's!). I'll buy you the county's finest BBQ if you can get 'er done. I'll drink the beer.

Killebrew · 02-28-2007, 10:34 PM

Related questions for Markus:
1a. Does this mean that a v2007 league would need to be based on the Catobase files (ala a new historical league using the Lahman DB) instead of a conversion from a past OOTP version league file?

1b. If no to 1a, then how would the Catobase player keys be matched up with an imported league? Catobase does not use the OOTP player keys - it creates it's own. Could be a match on fname + lname?

1c. If yes to 1a, then how would the talent, speed, defensive ratings and other player data get set in OOTP. Catobase does not store that data.

2. Creating MS Access queries that would output Lahman format csv's from Catobase data is not very difficult, but the Catobase DB does not contain all the data that the Lahman files do. How would OOTP handle null fields? It seems to me this project would face a serious challenge if some of those null fields are required by OOTP.

3. Is there hard coding in the OOTP Lahman DB import process? EG: The awards names in the Lahman DB files are consistent while the awards names in the Catobase files are created by the user. If that would present import problems then it's possible additional manual Catobase data tweaking would be required before outputting the data to Lahman format csv files.

battists · 03-01-2007, 07:18 AM

The answer to 1a is "no."

As to the rest, I think these are the sorts of things we will discover during this process. I fully expect there to be a number of these issues.

FWIW, regarding 1c, I don't believe the intent here is to use CATO data to create a new league. All we're intending on doing is importing the historical data, so that OOTP's history reports will include all of the CATO history as well. (Or at least, that portion which OOTP supports.)

You're right - the player matching may be problematic. We may end up with a manual process. Matching names is challenging, because there could be multiple Dave Smiths. Perhaps matching on a combo of name and date of birth, if CATO has that field available...

Faroo6 · 03-01-2007, 11:18 AM

Ok, maybe I'm missing something here. Are we just converting a Access file to a .csv? Or does it need to be formatted to have all the fields line up exactly as a Lahman file.

battists · 03-01-2007, 11:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Faroo6

Ok, maybe I'm missing something here. Are we just converting a Access file to a .csv? Or does it need to be formatted to have all the fields line up exactly as a Lahman file.

It has to be formatted exactly like a Lahman file.

02-27-2007, 06:44 PM	#1
battists Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 18,506	CATO to OOTPB 2007 - Calling all programmers Hi everyone. I've had a tough day, so I'll be brief. Everyone who used CATO knows that one of the issues facing leagues that convert to 2006 is that your history becomes "split" between CATO and 2006. Sadly, there's nothing in 2007 that will change this . . . yet. After discussing this in some detail with Markus, Markus has offered up this nugget: If we (the community) can come up with some way to convert CATO data into Lahman format, he can probably write a process that will import it into OOTPB 2007. Please don't ask me questions about how precisely it would work, we haven't gotten that far yet. But, if you're a reasonably technical person with a decent chunk of free time, especially between now and March 23rd, there's no doubt that a tool like this would make you the hero of the OOTP community, next to Larry Anderson. CATO stores data in Access format, Lahman in CSV format. Please post here, or PM me, if you'd consider tackling this. Steve

02-28-2007, 01:09 AM	#2
Comedian2004 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: In a house in Saint Cloud, Florida. Posts: 7,085	I was going to wait until 160 views before I replied, but got sleepy. Go ahead, knock this battery off my shoulder. If someone can zip up their 6.x league, the ENTIRE thing, photos and all and all of the Cato crap and place it where I can download it, I will see what I can do. Please e-mail me at larry@cfl.rr.com when you have the download ready. DO NOT email me the zipped up file. __________________ Like BLUES? Visit www.smokestacklightnin.com, you will LOVE it! New show every Monday!! New Blues HOF![/COLOR][/FONT]

02-28-2007, 05:37 AM	#4
Marc Duffy SI Marketing Wizard Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Old Street, London Posts: 4,741	Why not work it through together and become uber gods in the OOTP community... Last edited by Marc Duffy; 02-28-2007 at 05:39 AM.

02-28-2007, 11:28 AM	#12
Recte44 Global Moderator Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Oconomowoc, WI Posts: 2,818	Please, please, please!!!! If any of you ever do this there's free beer in Milwaukee in it for you. __________________ Matt Rectenwald Commissioner, GM: Las Vegas Hustlers, The Brewster Baseball Association- fictional league (JOIN NOW)

02-28-2007, 04:09 AM	#3
Tony M Global Moderator Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Here Posts: 6,156	Same as Comedian, if someone can give a sample file then will give it a shot as well. email address in profile (hopefully, will just check)

02-28-2007, 08:18 AM	#7
Ryan W. Jack of all trades Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Somewhere, not sure where. Maybe nearby, maybe far away. Posts: 1,371	I'm going to take a stab at it as well. I am pretty familiar with the Cato structure and it's output (as I wrote a similar tool back in the day) and it shouldn't take a lot of effort to output some .CSV files from the tables.

02-28-2007, 09:33 AM	#9
battists Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 18,506	Seriously, there could be some big benefits in making this a team effort. But, I lack the time to coordinate (the one thing I'm good at) right now. So, I'm kind of leaving it all up to you guys.

02-28-2007, 09:38 AM	#10
Ryan W. Jack of all trades Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Somewhere, not sure where. Maybe nearby, maybe far away. Posts: 1,371	Larry, drop me an email at ryan@ootpdevelopments.com. I can probably get all of the SQL done in short order if you can build a GUI around it and output it to CSV files.

02-28-2007, 09:43 AM	#11
Comedian2004 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: In a house in Saint Cloud, Florida. Posts: 7,085	Ryan, Sounds good to me. My e-mail is larry@cfl.rr.com, but if you need to send larger files, send it to webcomedian@msn.com. If you send it to the MSN account, drop a note to the cfl account to tell me, as that is my main mail. I can handle the GUI and make it pretty and writing to the CSV files are a piece of cake. (not carrot cake, I hate that crap)

02-28-2007, 09:10 PM	#15
Comedian2004 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: In a house in Saint Cloud, Florida. Posts: 7,085	I don't drink, but a hamburger well done would work fine or memory for my computer. This 512 is limiting my programming abilities.

02-28-2007, 10:34 PM	#17
Killebrew Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Posts: 3,326	Related questions for Markus: 1a. Does this mean that a v2007 league would need to be based on the Catobase files (ala a new historical league using the Lahman DB) instead of a conversion from a past OOTP version league file? 1b. If no to 1a, then how would the Catobase player keys be matched up with an imported league? Catobase does not use the OOTP player keys - it creates it's own. Could be a match on fname + lname? 1c. If yes to 1a, then how would the talent, speed, defensive ratings and other player data get set in OOTP. Catobase does not store that data. 2. Creating MS Access queries that would output Lahman format csv's from Catobase data is not very difficult, but the Catobase DB does not contain all the data that the Lahman files do. How would OOTP handle null fields? It seems to me this project would face a serious challenge if some of those null fields are required by OOTP. 3. Is there hard coding in the OOTP Lahman DB import process? EG: The awards names in the Lahman DB files are consistent while the awards names in the Catobase files are created by the user. If that would present import problems then it's possible additional manual Catobase data tweaking would be required before outputting the data to Lahman format csv files.

03-01-2007, 07:18 AM	#18
battists Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 18,506	The answer to 1a is "no." As to the rest, I think these are the sorts of things we will discover during this process. I fully expect there to be a number of these issues. FWIW, regarding 1c, I don't believe the intent here is to use CATO data to create a new league. All we're intending on doing is importing the historical data, so that OOTP's history reports will include all of the CATO history as well. (Or at least, that portion which OOTP supports.) You're right - the player matching may be problematic. We may end up with a manual process. Matching names is challenging, because there could be multiple Dave Smiths. Perhaps matching on a combo of name and date of birth, if CATO has that field available...