Databases?

[HoustonAerosFan]

Does CE use the same databases as ANW?

If not, can the CE databases be edited and if so what is the editor to use?

Happy T-Day!!

[CV32]

ORIGINAL: HoustonAerosFan
Does CE use the same databases as ANW? If not, can the CE databases be edited and if so what is the editor to use? Happy T-Day!!

They are completely different and incompatible databases. Thankfully, HCE's database is capable of being edited and the Access based Platform Editor (PE) comes with the game.

[HoustonAerosFan]

Thanks.
 
Do I need MS Access installed or will the Open Offfice equivalent work?

[roeddog]

ORIGINAL: HoustonAerosFan

Thanks.

Do I need MS Access installed or will the Open Offfice equivalent work?

Houston

From OOo page database info here is the quote "For more advanced requirements, BASE supports many popular databases database natively (Adabas D, ADO, Microsoft Access, MySQL), or any database through industry-standard ODBC and JDBC drivers. It also supports any LDAP compliant address book, as well as common formats such as Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Windows, and Mozilla."

I have used OOo mostly for the pdf conversion but the few times I've opened msoffice excel forms they've worked pretty well, so I'd say off hand it should work for you.

Jeff

[TonyE]

ORIGINAL: HoustonAerosFan

Thanks.

Do I need MS Access installed or will the Open Offfice equivalent work?

You need the real thing as the PE uses a lot of vbscript and other such stuff that Open Office doesn't have a clue about.

We'll have the ancient Access 97 runtime available for you in the near future to download (so you don't have to buy MS Access).

[WYBaugh]

Tony,

Wouldn't it be better to develop a frontend for the Platform editor rather than relying on Access and VBScript?

Bill

[TonyE]

Hiya Bill,
     Most certainly that is true, however, the Platform Editor was created by a person outside of the development team so none of the core programmer's time was spent on the PE (yes, that is a gross simplification).  That person is Jon Reimer and much of the HC PE is derived from the Harpoon 2 database builder that Jon crafted more than a decade ago. 
     To recreate the wheel now I'd venture to guess would take thousands of hours, hours that can otherwise be spent improving the game itself.
     Access also has its benefits as the front-end in terms of accessibility.  Divefreek doesn't have to be a master programmer but can hop into the PE and throw together custom reports that probably would have required fairly in-depth coding otherwise and since the PE front end is created in Access, he has a lot of existing examples to look at for guidance.
     From my perspective it means if we didn't have a platform editor I wouldn't make it new in Access but since we do have a PE, I have no great reason to re-create what already works.
 
All hail Jon as a matter of habit [&o] and kneel at the feet of his Pooner award http://www.harpoonpages.com/pooner1999.htm
 
 
 

[HoustonAerosFan]

Thanks, guys.

I think I have Access '97 around someplace from n old computer no longer used. Hope is runs on XP SP2.

[SteveF2006]

From my experience (admittedly it is limited), you really need Access 2003 or better to get the full benefit of the PE. Because I am NOT any type of programmer, I can't give details. But I know that there is for instance, an issue with the number of loadouts a plane can have due to the limitations of the older Access versions. Maybe one of the vets here can give the details!
 
Steve

[TonyE]

ORIGINAL: SteveF2006

From my experience (admittedly it is limited), you really need Access 2003 or better to get the full benefit of the PE. Because I am NOT any type of programmer, I can't give details. But I know that there is for instance, an issue with the number of loadouts a plane can have due to the limitations of the older Access versions. Maybe one of the vets here can give the details!

Steve

I'm a bit of a programmer [;)], and all of the PE functionality is present even when using Access 97 (in fact, Access 97 is where I 'program' the PE so nothing is added that will not work in Access 97).

[Divefreak]

ORIGINAL: TonyE

throw together custom reports

BTW This is the result of such a "big throw":



If those mods will ever make it into the official pe, you can print(i recomend to use a pdf. printer like pdf995) several reports that might help scen designers with their work.

Regards René

[erict]

Office 2007, I cant use the editor. If I choose YES to convert I get all kinds of errors. Either way if I convert or not when I click on edit aircraft or whatever nothing happens.
 
What version of Access do I need to use to get this to work?
 
Also what is the easiest way to add photos for units with no photos?

[TonyE]

ORIGINAL: erict

Office 2007, I cant use the editor. If I choose YES to convert I get all kinds of errors. Either way if I convert or not when I click on edit aircraft or whatever nothing happens.

What version of Access do I need to use to get this to work?

Also what is the easiest way to add photos for units with no photos?

You'd probably be best advised to start fresh, re-install, then follow the guidance at tm.asp?m=1621933

Once you've done that it should let you in, at which point you have to press the 'Import..." button at the main screen in the platform editor.

[erict]

Ah Ok I got it thanks.

OK PIC ID. WHat table has all the photos? How to add photos?

Also what are the photo constraints? Max Width, height, format: JPG, BMP, etc.

Thanks

[Divefreak]

ORIGINAL: erict

Ah Ok I got it thanks.

OK PIC ID. WHat table has all the photos? How to add photos?

Also what are the photo constraints? Max Width, height, format: JPG, BMP, etc.

Thanks

the pics are stored in \commondb\rsr in your HCE folder.

But there´s 1 big Problem

you can only substitute those pics (no154 and higher), otherwise you can break some stuff or you need to turn off the animations.

From Harpgamer written by Tony:

In HC Gold and newer the images shown in the platform editor (for the commondb battlesets, aka EC2003 and WestPac) can be changed by the user and new images can be added.


Game Requirement: In the game (GE, Winharp32.exe) you must turn off animations. If you do not do this, the game may crash with GetAnnex errors when the animations should show. In the Settings menu, Game Options, uncheck:

* Enable Launch Animations
* Enable Area Defense Animations
* Enable Hit Animations

The Images:

* RGB encoded Windows bitmaps (aka BMP)
* Maximum dimensions 320x240 pixels
* 16 or 256 colors, limited support for more colors (images tend to cut off at > 256 colors)

What to name and where to put the images:

* Make sure you have your database loaded into the Platform Editor.
* Find the file in the commondb\rsr with the largest number (in my case, res384.bmp).
* Save your first custom/new image in that directory and name it with the next number in the series, in my case res385.bmp. Continue numbering your next images in the same manner, with no gaps in numbers.
* Once your custom images are saved into commondb\rsr directory, go back to the platform editor.
* Find the platform that should have your first custom image you saved, change it's PicID to the image 'number' minus 154. In my case, res385.bmp - 154 = Pic ID 231.
* Save the record in the PE, change any other Pic IDs you need to change and Export your database from the PE.
* Give the Game a whirl and your new graphics should be associated with the correct platforms in the platform display.

You may also replace the existing images, so you could swap out the image for the Ticonderoga (Pic ID 4 = res158.bmp) with a different image by over-writing res158.bmp with your custom image and re-exporting your DB.


Special Pic IDs

* 0 - Shows the no image graphic
* -1 - The unit will not show up in the platform display

Note: If you distribute your DB to others, to see the changed images you will have to distribute not only commondb.res from your game directory but also commondb.rsr.


Paint Shop Pro palette of original 16-color HC palette:
R G B
0 0 0
0 87 0
0 171 0
0 171 171
171 0 0
171 87 0
171 171 255
171 171 171
87 87 87
0 87 171
255 171 171
87 255 255
255 87 87
87 87 0
255 255 87
255 255 255

[erict]

Good info, thanks. Actually what I want to do is add images for units that don't have any photos associated with them.  I can do this right? For example if I wanted to add an image for the SSN Virginia.

[Divefreak]

ORIGINAL: erict

Good info, thanks. Actually what I want to do is add images for units that don't have any photos associated with them. I can do this right? For example if I wanted to add an image for the SSN Virginia.

Yes you can do this, but you have to respect the given limitations.

Regards René

BTW My Euro-DB comes with drawings taken from shipplotter.

[TonyE]

ORIGINAL: Divefreak


But there´s 1 big Problem

you can only substitute those pics (no154 and higher), otherwise you can break some stuff or you need to turn off the animations.

The big problem does not affect HCE. For the moment you cannot go beyond res999.bmp. I need to update the HarpGamer thread to reflect this important change.