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All Forums >> [Current Games From Matrix.] >> [World War II] >> War In The Pacific - Struggle Against Japan 1941 - 1945 >> Scenario Design >> WITP Files --> Tables

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WITP Files --> Tables - 3/12/2006 6:00:46 AM

dereck

Posts: 2800
Joined: 9/7/2004
From: Romulus, MI
Status: offline

I haven't been able to spend as much time working on my WITP Oracle database but I have got this far to planning a sort of Oracle Forms editor. I don't know .net so I can't do a Bohdi and make a .net version of it though

Anyways, I forsee using the WITPload program to extract scenario data into CVS files which would then have to have their extensions changed from VCS to TXT. From there they will be the input into an Oracle database where the information could then be edited.

I've set up the following "constraints" so far:

1. Air Groups - each Leader ID must be unique in the table. No duplicate values will be allowed.

2. Headquarters - duplicate Leader ID will be allowed simply because of MacArthur starting the game commanding two headquarters. This is a referential integrity breach I'd like to change but with MacArthur it will be possible, with HQs at least, for a commanding officer to be put in charge of two different headquarters at the same time.

3. Land Combat Units - each Leader ID must be unique in the table. No duplicate values will be allowed.

4. Ships - each Leader ID must be unique in the table. No duplicate values will be allowed.

5. Task Forces - each Leader ID must be unique in the table. No duplicate values will be allowed.

Here is the breakdown of the WITPLoad files to my database tables:

Attachment (1)

_____________________________

PO2 US Navy (1980-1986);
USS Midway CV-41 (1981-1984)
Whidbey Island, WA (1984-1986)
Naval Reserve (1986-1992)

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RE: WITP Files --> Tables - 3/12/2006 7:41:44 AM

treespider

Posts: 9796
Joined: 1/30/2005
From: Edgewater, MD
Status: offline

AAwulf did something similar with WitpExcel although it has some errors and he has vanished... and my version is password protected so i can't go in and look at the guts..

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"It is not the critic who counts, .... The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena..." T. Roosevelt, Paris, 1910

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RE: WITP Files --> Tables - 3/12/2006 7:53:28 AM

dereck

Posts: 2800
Joined: 9/7/2004
From: Romulus, MI
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: treespider

AAwulf did something similar with WitpExcel although it has some errors and he has vanished... and my version is password protected so i can't go in and look at the guts..

I'm transitioning from the logical design into the physical design right now. Once I get that all fleshed out and finalized I'll be able to create the physical database and then work on my editor program. That part won't be hard at all. What's going to be tricky is breaking down the input files from WITPload into the many database tables so things can be edited but I have a pretty good idea how to do it so it shouldn't be too difficult.

The only thing is I'm doing this in Oracle so it won't be portable to just anybody once I get it working.

_____________________________

PO2 US Navy (1980-1986);
USS Midway CV-41 (1981-1984)
Whidbey Island, WA (1984-1986)
Naval Reserve (1986-1992)

(in reply to treespider)

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RE: WITP Files --> Tables - 3/12/2006 8:56:12 AM

pad152

Posts: 2871
Joined: 4/23/2000
Status: offline

And the point of the database is what exactly?

I'll bet a major problem with WITP is the database, which is nothing more than a bunch of text files it's integrity starts going towards zero after turn one. Oracle seems like over kill, a flat-file database such as FF-PHP would seem to be better fit.

< Message edited by pad152 -- 3/12/2006 9:08:27 AM >

(in reply to dereck)

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RE: WITP Files --> Tables - 3/12/2006 6:22:15 PM

dereck

Posts: 2800
Joined: 9/7/2004
From: Romulus, MI
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: pad152

And the point of the database is what exactly?

I'll bet a major problem with WITP is the database, which is nothing more than a bunch of text files it's integrity starts going towards zero after turn one. Oracle seems like over kill, a flat-file database such as FF-PHP would seem to be better fit.

I know Oracle and unlike flat-file "databases", Oracle is 1) truely relational and 2) a database. Flat files are just that - files that are not relational nor technically a database.

Other than that disagreement with you (friendly however since I'm an Oracle programmer/analyst/dba and this is giving me a chance to just putz around with Oracle and WITP at the same time

), I completely agree that the so-called WITP database is hosed big-time.

If you look in the chart above the table/file WITP calls Locations is actually used for FIVE different entities: HQs, Land Combat Units, Locations, Task Forces and TO&Es - and their associated devices if they have any. None of the 5 are the same items. A HQ is not a LCU; a LCU is not a Location, etc. They simply do not belong in the same table/file. By doing so WITP is just asking for problems - which we all know they have.

There's also little, if any, referential integrity or check constraints. There seems to be nothing which prevents a Leader from being assigned to command more than one item at a time - that is something easily taken care of in a real relational database design. In my last attempt at using the WITP editor I created a new class of submarines for the Americans so I could assign American boats to their historic classes. Unfortunately in an upgrade I forgot to assign the upgrade a class type so when they upgraded they went from being SS to being unknown and not any type and were completely unuseable. There was nothing in the editor which checked that any constraints, or rules, etc were being violated.

Also, too much in the WITP "database" design depends on positional location of records. There is no legitimate reason why slots 100-200 (example) are just for Allies and 201-300 just for Japanese. Put a field in the damn record which indicates which side it belongs to. Stuff like that should be handled within the design of the database itself and not need programmer interdiction to maintain. It just adds another layer of programming complexity and when there is complexity there's going to be ... *drumroll* ... bugs. The same goes for the requirements that certain devices are in certain slots. That information should be contained in the record itself and not be dependent on the record being in a certain slot number. The addition of one simple field in the device record indicating the device type and using that field instead of the slot number would release the record from a certain slot yet still indicate what type of device it is.

I'm of the personal opinion that the WITP "database" (if you can call it that, more like a file system) is seriously flawed on the design level and until that is taken care of certain bugs (missing leaders, Japs commanding allied units and vice versa, leaders commanding more than one ship, etc) are never going to go away.

_____________________________

PO2 US Navy (1980-1986);
USS Midway CV-41 (1981-1984)
Whidbey Island, WA (1984-1986)
Naval Reserve (1986-1992)

(in reply to pad152)

Post #: 5

RE: WITP Files --> Tables - 3/16/2006 7:59:47 AM

Ron Saueracker

Posts: 12121
Joined: 1/28/2002
From: Ottawa, Canada OR Zakynthos Island, Greece
Status: offline

Well, sounds like you might want to talk to Joe and Don.

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Yammas from The Apo-Tiki Lounge. Future site of WITP AE benders! And then the s--t hit the fan

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