PlaymoFriends
General => News => Topic started by: GrahamB on March 24, 2014, 17:33:26
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These three developments suggest someone is updating the site. Whether this is Heather or somebody else (Geobra employee perhaps?) remains to be disclosed....
Maybe these have been mentioned elsewhere, but here goes:
1. Each "Inventory" link now has a link to the pdf on the Playmobil website i.e. to the set's instruction booklet, where one exists:
(partial screenshot)
(http://i1287.photobucket.com/albums/a621/GrahamB2013/Clip_7_zpsaf6ebf1b.jpg)
I find the links work very quickly and are a great addition to the site.
2. Recently released sets have been added to the DB.
e.g. 40th Anniversary Sets (http://playmodb.org/cgi-bin/your_set_list.pl?setlist=5168,5169,5456,5457;title=Your%20Set%20List)
(http://i1287.photobucket.com/albums/a621/GrahamB2013/Clip_9_zps0cf55079.jpg)
3. Text List inventories have been added for newer sets. These lists are only partial, as some parts are listed by number only with no description (perhaps newly created parts?) and no quantities are given.
e.g. 5168 partial screenshot:
(http://i1287.photobucket.com/albums/a621/GrahamB2013/Clip_8_zpsc1dea1bf.jpg)
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Yes those are interesting developments
What do you think is going on with the db?
Heather is mum, geobra never answers real questions.
Many members offered to help with no response.
So much secrecy
Where is klickyleaks when you need them?
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Noone knows anything: Heather? But is she told to end the database and to be silent (copyright of Playmobil)?
It's only a hypothesis (not only my opinion)...
Playmobil/Geobra began at this time playmoDB was off with it's own database on their homepage to ask after ETNs and Sets etc... Is this possible?
And now the hyperlinks of Heathers database were linked to the Playmobil site...
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Another hypothesis is that she will be working with geobra on this, but has been required not to tell what is going on with it for confidentiality reasons.
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The links to the instructions at Playmobil.de have been there for a year or two. That new sets are still getting added is a good sign. I don't know if the parts lists are automated or not, they may be.
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I think that's quite likely, bonniebeth. Heather said (about a year ago now!) she had requested Geobra's help, then sent the whole database to one of their staff to look at. So I don't think its Geobra silencing the database, zugpferdchen.
I like the links to Geobra's pdf files on PlaymoDB (they are, after all, only hyperlinks!) and my initial suggestion that this might have been done by Geobra (with Heather's permission) was a completely serious one. Perhaps Geobra are also adding new sets? I don't know how it works, but I wouldn't think new sets' pdf links or inventories could be added automatically, could they?
My biggest fears are that the older sets (no pdfs) will be overlooked from now on, new parts will not be given names, counts of parts will not be added and the errors in the database will not be addressed. It will quickly lose even more of its former value. I for one would like to see someone back at the helm.
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My guess is that Heather is still updating info as much as she can. As Tim said, the links to the building plans have been there for a while and I have heard in the past that the folks in Zirndorf are big users/fans of Playmodb so I doubt they would try to shut it down. I am sure that Heather will let us know if any big changes are happening - I am pretty sure she checks in here from time to time. :)
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Where is klickyleaks when you need them?
Sorry, busy spying on the eastern border of Ukraine ;)
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Sorry, busy spying on the eastern border of Ukraine ;)
Good luck with that one, you will need plenty of it :captain:
coincidence or not the db stopped working around the time Geobra launched their own parts site.
Geobra has the archive, parts list with price and availabilities, instructions, and they are adding more as we speak
If Geobra would just organize their own site like Heather did, with same part different color links, lots of info and cross references
Perhaps Geobra could hire Heather to fix their site.
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I am missing the functionality we used to enjoy, for sure. I am just wondering if it is going to become moribund through lack of anyone working on it, like Collectobil.
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I see that it also includes placeholder(s) for sets that will be released later this year -- for example the 5586 Gästebungalow (to be released mid July) -- although I cannot find them as part of a specific theme in PlaymoDB.
http://playmodb.org/cgi-bin/listinv.pl?setnum=5586
It is very good news that something is happening with PlaymoDB. Hopefully it will be back online with full functionality soon :love:
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Hi folks. I'm home from work on a snow day today (yes, winter still has a vicious grip on Newfoundland), got a bunch of practice and housework done, and decided to see what you were up to.
I told you I wasn't giving up on PlaymoDB. Your conspiracy theories are entertaining, but, no, I'm still on my own... I was talking to a Geobra programmer for a while but wasn't in a position to take advantage of his help. However, there's now lots of data available on the web from Playmobil themselves, so I'm looking at seeing how much I can get the computer to do for me.
Since Playmobil has revamped their site, I've picked at writing a few batch-routines to grab data from there, and some of that data I've released. There are at least 1366 PDFs of instructions on their site right now (press space bar in the "Building Instructions" search in their page footer, and you'll see the current count). In the "Ersatzenteile Finden" link in that same footer, you can search for any part number, and you might get its name in German, its price, maybe a picture, maybe a list of some sets it's in; so I've been automating searching for those, rolling through series of part numbers on spec, and found piles of parts with mysterious names (or none), no pictures, no sets, that I have no idea where they go! A detective game for someone. All the PDFs have proper URLs now, easily constructed by substituting the set number into the URL you get when you search; set pictures, box-back pictures, set names, all in a standard place. Quite a few sets on the .de and .fr sites have decent lists of parts, in plain HTML now, not those obscure flash files they used to use. So I've added a few things as you've seen.
It's not completely dead, never was. I can't manage to do the comprehensive rewrite that the site needs to return to former glory, but, as you probably know, "Your Set List" http://playmodb.org/cgi-bin/your_set_list.pl (http://playmodb.org/cgi-bin/your_set_list.pl) has always worked, and now has little blue Playmobil-head icons that are links to the PDFs; the text search http://playmodb.org/cgi-bin/textsearch.pl (http://playmodb.org/cgi-bin/textsearch.pl) and part-category browser http://playmodb.org/cgi-bin/category.pl (http://playmodb.org/cgi-bin/category.pl) have always worked; you've seen the text inventory lists, and I think I can make the German part names show up there instead of blanks, pretty easily, if that'd be any help.
So hang in there - I'm still thinking about you all :) Don't send me stuff, post in the forum instead (except for instructions, of course), it'll definitely get out quicker that way, and will be there if I'm ever able to start collecting info and doing inventories by hand again. And if anyone else wants to try their hand at making a database that works better than mine, go get Playmobil's data and go right ahead - no harm to me, and it'll benefit everyone.
Cheers, Heather
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Hi Heather,
The building plans/instruction and the price information are the perfect complement to your database but will never be a competition.
Your database quickly shows alternatives in shape and color and therefore opens customizing possibility someone never has thought of. I agree that when you know the part from a current set you can look it up in the instructions but the major number of parts is of unknown origin for most of us collectors (eg no set or set number in mind).
This is just a little stimulation to continue. Playmodb is one of the few sites used by collectors world wide. It unifies us in our hunt for Playmobil parts and the site is an ambassador for customizers all around the globe.
Never give up, you created something too important - a spiritual loophole into a fantasy world. We are the servants and follow you, Master!
(I stop now before it gets too greasy...)
Cheers,
HDL
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Hi Heather,
The building plans/instruction and the price information are the perfect complement to your database but will never be a competition.
Your database quickly shows alternatives in shape and color and therefore opens customizing possibility someone never has thought of. I agree that when you know the part from a current set you can look it up in the instructions but the major number of parts is of unknown origin for most of us collectors (eg no set or set number in mind).
This is just a little stimulation to continue. Playmodb is one of the few sites used by collectors world wide. It unifies us in our hunt for Playmobil parts and the site is an ambassador for customizers all around the globe.
Never give up, you created something too important - a spiritual loophole into a fantasy world. We are the servants and follow you, Master!
(I stop now before it gets too greasy...)
Cheers,
HDL
Heather,
HDL is SO right - the interlinking and the search functionality of PlaymoDB is a Feature (and USP) that is by NO means conquered by PM with its pdf's.
We miss the PlaymoDB with its former functinality and love to hear from You!
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It's good to hear from Heather again! I agree with the others ;D. PLaymoDB is far better than what PM has now, more friendly and has more functionality... Thank you for everything Heather :)
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It's good to see you here again, Heather, and many thanks for all your work in the past and your continued work for us all. :wave:
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Thanks a lot again for all your efforts.
I still hope that playmoDB will even get enjoyable for you again soon.
:)
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I for one would like to see someone back at the helm.
Hello Heather! Glad to know its you still in charge! I didn't mean to sound rude :-[, but I use the DB every day and it puzzled me how things were being updated. I am glad you can assimilate the data on PM's own website into the DB. I am also extremely grateful for the continued existence of the DB (and daily I thank you for the 'Klicky page' loophole which lets one look up any part number and find what sets its in!). You have clearly been in my thoughts and those of many other PM fans over the last few months!
I am keen to see the addition of data on earlier sets (I have a raft of stuff on the Specials and the Gnomes, plus some on hats- missing part numbers, new descriptions/part numbers (pnnnn) to suggest) but this is probably not a priority at the moment. I guess the thought of another Excel spreadsheet is not welcome just now...
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Could PlaymoDB be crowdsourced? Then we could call it Klickypedia.
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I've made some updates. :wave: I've added little blue heads for all 1658 PDF's, plus a few that are not accessible from the search (5554!) and added the part numbers for the instructions themselves to the sets (by hand), so the Wishlist (http://playmodb.org/wishlist.shtml) is now working better.
I've also automatically scraped the heck out of the Ersatzteile Finden function and added every part I could find that gave me a name or picture. Most of these are in the TO BE ASSIGNED (http://playmodb.org/cgi-bin/category.pl?cat=TO%20BE%20ASSIGNED;subcat=none;pics=on;sortby=description) slagheap, but anything with a German name that matches the German name of an existing part, I've copied over the English name and category to the new part. The French names (shown on the "Visualiser les pièces détachées" sections of the sets on the .fr site) sometimes include colours, which is handy although not always right. I've found a whole bunch of torsos, heads, legs, skirts, and hair, with no notion of how to assign them, since no picture - but I have my suspicions that they're all Fi?ure parts. The odd one has shown up in a regular set, so I've been able to identify a few from that. I've put them all in "Klicky-Body Part (http://playmodb.org/cgi-bin/category.pl?sortby=description;category=Klicky-Body+Part;pics=on)" and "Wearable-Hair (http://playmodb.org/cgi-bin/category.pl?sortby=description&page=1&category=Wearable-Hair&pics=on)" for your amusement.
Instructions and stickers are also easy to identify from the German name, so I've written a script to place those in their sets. Some part numbers exist for PDFs that are not yet available, like the new fairy and knight bags ??? but the PDF's will turn up eventually, I'm sure.
Might not be any more big additions until the summer, but I'll keep running the scrapers to add PDFs and parts at regular intervals - now that the scrape programs are set up, it's easy to run a batch overnight.
Have fun!
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Now, more than ever before, I feel that I must learn German! :D
Thanks for the update, Heather - you have been a busy bee and we appreciate it so much! :love:
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Many thanks indeed, Heather, for these updates and all your work. It is greatly appreciated. :wow: :wow: :wow:
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Thanks for the update, Heather. I love that expression, scraping data off the websites. Bowing and scraping to get data from Geobra!
I found some of the German part names in my wanderings through the DB, thank you for those!
Do you want any volunteers to create English set inventories for recent sets (e.g. Inventing suitable names for new parts) as you have in the past?
Are you interested in the odd corrections I find when using the DB? I have not been emailing them to you, but saw on the Wishlist page you are still asking for these.
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Thanks all. It's not often I get any amount of time to give this, as I did this Easter weekend, so any updates you send me may languish, I'll be honest. (The wishlist text just hasn't changed - I should, I suppose.) Post to the forum, if you like - I caught the tripod image problem, thanks for that, Graham. I'd love to get a chance to go through your Gnome list - and Tim's Fi?ures pages! - and get all of that into the DB, but for now, I'm glad it's out there and not just in my inbox. I'm keeping a list of what needs to be done, and it's really long :o but I'll do what I can, and if I can spend a few hours of programming time to save hundreds of hours of data entry, then that's a good thing to do first!
Now waiting for the rest of the amusement-park sets to have PDFs and spare parts. The parts are there, I can see them, just not with pics and assigned to sets! Does anyone know of a really good free OCR program that works on instructions? Google Docs is almost useless, sadly.
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I used to use a piece of free Russian software but this was so good that they eventually started £75 for it! A query on Google of "free ocr software" turns up quite a few answers, but I haven't used any of them.
Edit: so really not a helpful post!
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"Wearable-Hair (http://playmodb.org/cgi-bin/category.pl?sortby=description&page=1&category=Wearable-Hair&pics=on)"
Wow! 152 hair pieces with part numbers. And many available from DS (at least for part of the globe :-[)
Just 47 to find out colours for. Some of these are easy as they have only been issued in one colour- Afro, Kleopatra and Hula-Frau for example, only in black (German names often follow the klicky who first wore that hair).[Edit: Afro also available in red, Hula-Frau also in blue, Kleopatra only in Black.] I will order a few from DS (taking care to get only one of each name at a time- they don't have labels when they arrive!) to reveal their colours.
I was planning a thread on hair types, part numbers, German names, DS availability etc., so this came just in time to let me rewrite it! And there are now PlaymoDB names for some of the newest hair types. Great stuff!
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what's going on at Playmodb??
http://playmodb.org
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Try this link: http://playmodb.org/playmodb.shtml (http://playmodb.org/playmodb.shtml) :)
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Where is klickyleaks when you need them?
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: