For those of us who have already entered info into BGG (and a LOT of it!), it would be ideal if BGI could accept CSV files to upload all our ownership/rating/comments -- there's no way I'm about to do all that manually!
Upload Tool
For those of us who have already entered info into BGG (and a LOT of it!), it would be ideal if BGI could accept CSV files to upload all our ownership/rating/comments -- there's no way I'm about to do all that manually!
|
I think that the biggest problem right now with that idea is that BGG has a lot more games in their database, and some of the games that are common are listed differently enough that it would be a rather large undertaking. Look up Chess and Checkers here for an example of a way the two approach things differently. It would be a large task to implement something like that right now (I'm making an assumption here. I'm not really a code guy). It might be a large task down the road as well.
|
We've long discussed such a tool, and our main obstacle is that our game database is far from complete at this time. While that wouldn't be that big of a deal for us, it might cause some confusion as we ask people to periodically re-upload a CSV file.Originally Posted by snoozefest
However, I think once we have enough to work with that might be entirely possible and I think something we'll make as a high priority.
How much detail is in a CSV file that is exported from there?
|
Quite a lot: my most recent CSV snapshot contains objectname, objectid, rating, numplays, weight, own, fortrade, want, wanttobuy, wanttoplay, prevowned, preordered, wishlist, wishlistpriority, wishlistcomment, comment, conditiontext, haspartslist, wantpartslist, collid, baverage, average, avgweight, rank, numowned, objecttype, originalname, minplayers, maxplayers, playingtime, yearpublished, recplayers, bestplayers, recagerange, languagedependence, publisherid, imageid, year, language, other, pricepaid, pp_currency, currvalue, cv_currency, acquisitiondate, acquiredfrom, quantity, privatecomment. Naturally, a lot of those fields are irrelevant or even undesirable. Even the "common" fields are different, though: for example (as far as I can tell) you're constraining ratings to integers whilst BGG permits decimals.
|
I was unaware of BGG allowing a CVS export of your own collections. I knew we could get the data through the API but they'd just block our IP address and so it wasn't worth writing something. If you have a CVS file on hand though, please email it to webmaster A T boardgameinfo.com and I'll try to get code working to import what it can match. It might only hit 25% of the time, but at least that's 25% less you need to enter in. It should only take a day or two to make something like that and I'd consider it a priority right now. It can just ignore dups so it should allow you to repeatedly try to upload your CVS file.
The easiest way to enter your collection here though is to use the browse/search functions and on the right side there is usually a OWN/WANT/TRADE pulldown you can quickly change on the spot. And if you got a lot of Z-MAN games, then search for publisher Z-Man and change all the boxes on the right on one screen.
I'll be finishing up a Mobile app very soon that lets you scan the bar-codes of your boxes on your shelf to automatically add them to your collection.
And of course you can always just add the item when reading about the game somewhere on the site.
Keep in mind though, it is NOT our goal to have a massive backlist of products, the games here are used as a backbone to tie other information together. So only bother to enter products you own or want to rate or review. The rest is worthless to us.
Thanks!
James
P.S. While on all the above screens - remember to rate the games. We need your help to make our top lists look right!
|
Ah, it looks like BGi is taking the BGG perspective of "one entry = one edition" of a game.
Well, I guess it doesn't matter as much when there's not specified games forums for each game. Still, a bit sad, considering there is an editions system working.
|
That's not exactly true or how I saw it... Just only if there's enough differences to warrant a different entry. See the other thread and how I saw it.
What he's referring to here is that you can't add a bunch of editions all at once - the 'core' info needs to be approved first.
|
Gotcha. When I went through the database to rate some games, though, I saw some identical games with only a different publisher – but I guess that might just as well have been a mistake duplicate (can't remember what it was; twas a game I didn't know about).
|
I'll look around for that - exact same title, too? I think that those will get merged together at some point (we have a tool for that if we find them).
|
You can now take your export of your BGG data and import it to BGI... just go here:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geekcol...&all&username=
(put your BGG username on the end of that, use %20 as a space character - else go to your user profile, game collection, and click the little "all" in the header of the table)
then take that file and login at BGi and go here (Import under the HELP tab):
http://www.boardgameinfo.com/gamedb/import-csv.phtml
The more imports we get the more accurate our game rankings will become.
Good luck
James
|
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks