(Menu) RDB and Curosrs in Playlists

[larrykoubiak]

Description

Extend rdb and cursors functionality and integrate it with playlists, and add supporting functionalities in query and file hashing

Expected behavior

1. Implementation of link between playlist and rdb/cursors (via crc32 for the time being)
2. Improvement of the search functionality to return query results from the rdb and use those results to launch content
3. Improve rdb structure to allow for a 4 level data structure, the proposed structure being:
   • System (currently rdb name) e.g. Nintendo - Super Nintendo Entertainment System
   • Software (the name of the actual content, e.g. Chrono Trigger
   • Release (the name of the release, basically the "rom name"/zip name) e.g. Chrono Trigger (Japan)
   • Rom/file : Chrono Trigger (Japan).sfc
4. Implementation of a "hash cache", meaning storing the list of files of a particular directory (and sub-directories) along with their hash values (crc32,md5,sha1)

Actual behavior

• Actually, the cursors only display the matching entries of the query, without allowing those entries to be launched
• The search function only returns the first result whose name matches the search string
• Playlists do not allow to have an entry comprised of multiple files and are not linked directly to the rdb, they are only generated during the scanning task
• Entries in rdb are limited to one entry per game, preventing multi-file content to be audited and added to the playlist if all files in that entry have the right hash value (e.g. MAME, FBA, DOSBOX, ScummVm,...)
• There is no concept of parent-clone relationship in rdb, making a preferred release (based on region, version, language....) impossible.
• The query functions do not allow more complex queries, like scan across multiple rdb, return only entries having the max/min value of a particular field)

--- Want to back this issue? **[Post a bounty on it!](https://www.bountysource.com/issues/43505286-feature-request-libretro-db-improvements?utm_campaign=plugin&utm_content=tracker%2F296058&utm_medium=issues&utm_source=github)** We accept bounties via [Bountysource](https://www.bountysource.com/?utm_campaign=plugin&utm_content=tracker%2F296058&utm_medium=issues&utm_source=github).

[RobLoach]

All great ideas! Any clue on how we could move in this direction?

[larrykoubiak]

there's a lot of code to sift through, but as far as libretro-db goes, it's a matter of rewriting the c-converter to be able to a) parse xml b) create a chain of RDT_MAP inside the rdb to replicate the structure

I just have a hard time expressing that in those callback functions

[Ezwen]

• There is no concept of parent-clone relationship in rdb, making a preferred release (based on region, version, language....) impossible.

It is indeed not always very easy to explore a large game collection because of this limitation. I would love to be able to have one only entry per title in my playlists, and to be shown all locally available releases only after selecting the title. This would make game lists much smaller when lots of clones, hacks and releases are present.