GameDB2 User Manual - Categories, Publishers and Designers
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Categories, Publishers and Designers
Description
Categories, Publishers and Designers are arbitrary tags which can be attached to
game records to help classify them and group them into logical orderings.
Each Category, Publisher or Designer is just a simple string which represents some piece of
information. As such, all of them are handled in the same way, and so the help system provides
you with the same help regardless of which of the items you are attempting to work with.
A game may have any number of Categories, Publishers and Designers attached to it, including
none at all. The very first item of each type associated with a Game is known as the
Primary item of that type. This is the only item that is seen in abbreviated
data listings, such as the
Game List.
Categories
A category is a completely arbitrary label that you can attach to any of the games
that GameDB knows about, to help classify games. Examples of categories might be Card,
Tile Based, Auction and so on.
Besides being informative, categories are used to group games together in some logical way. As such,
you are free to use whatever text or classification that you like. The only restrictions that GameDB
places on categories is that every category must have a unique name.
Publishers
Publishers represents the actual companies that have produced a game for sale. Examples might be
Rio Grande and Mayfair Games. Like Categories, Publishers are a way to group together
games, as well as for informative purposes.
Designers
Designers represent the actual people that come up with the designs for games. Examples might be
Alan Moon or Bruno Faidutti. Like Categories and Publishers, Designers are a way to
group together games, as well as for informative purposes.
Primary Items
While a
Game may have any number of Categories, Publishers and Designers attached to
it, in some places there is only room to display a single item. An example of this is in the
Game List, where only a single Category, Designer and Publisher is displayed, regardless
of the number of each item the game has attached.
The item that is displayed is known as the Primary item. This is the first item of each type assigned to
a particular game. In the
Game Edit page, you can change the Primary item of each type
by changing the item that appears first in the list.
Viewing the list of current items
The list of
Categories,
Publishers and
Designers that
are currently registered with the ssystem is available by clicking on the desired item in the main GameDB
menu. The list of items is displayed alphabetically.
Each list has a short filter bar that allows you to view all of the items, or only items that begin with
a particular letter. The filter bar only allows you to set filters for items that actually exist, so any
filter items that are not clickable are indications that there are no items that match that filter.
The list iteself contains:
Name
The name of the item, as it appears in game records throughout the system.
Games
The number of games that list this item among their data. This information is a link which will display
a game list and set a view filter to view only games containing this data.
Rename
This link allows you to rename the text of this item to something else. Such a change is instantly reflected
system-wide.
You will not see this link unless you have permission to edit this type of item.
Remove
This check box allows you to flag this item for removal from the system. To remove items, you must first select
one or more items by checking the check box next to their name, and then clicking on the "Remove" button at the
bottom of the form. You will be asked to confirm your intention to remove the specified items before the
removal takes place.
You will not see the check boxes or the Remove button unless you yourself have permission to
remove items of this type.
Adding a new item
To add a new
Categories,
Publishers or
Designers to the
system, first display the
item list for the item type you want to add by clicking on the item
name in the main GameDB menu, and then click the button labeled "Add more" at the top of the page.
The page that appears allows you to enter in up to 10 new items at once, by entering the text in the text fields
provided. All items of a particular type must have unique names (case is not important).
You can also add items directly at the
Game Add Page by entering the new data into the text fields
provided there, allowing you to add in items for a game on the fly.
You will not see the Add button if you do not have
permission to add new items of this type.
Editing an existing item
To edit the name of
Categories,
Publishers or
Designers that already
exist, first display the
item list for the item type you want to edit by clicking on the item
name in the main GameDB menu.
In the Item List, you can click the Rename link next to the item whose name you would like to change, to be taken to
a page that allows you to alter the text. GameDB requires that all items of a particular type have unique names (case
is not important).
You will not see the Rename link if you do not have
permission to edit items of this type.
Removing an existing item
To remove
Categories,
Publishers or
Designers, first
display the
item list for the item type you want to remove by clicking on the item
name in the main GameDB menu.
In the item list, check the check box next to the items that you would like to remove, and then click the
"Remove" button at the bottom of the list. You will be asked to confirm the operation before the removal
takes place.
You will not see the check boxes or the Remove button unless you have
permission to remove
items of this type.