The Def Guide to Zzap!64

I have written a utility which is basically a scanned magazine viewer, it allows you to flick between magazines easily, and jump straight to Magazine/issue/page, show thumbnails of covers/Magazine contents etc. (if anyone is interested, I will be making it available for download freely once it is in a user-friendly state.)

Ages ago, I found a full text file index for crash, your Sinclair, your Spectrum and Sinclair user, which I have incorporated into my utility to allow " searching" of Magazine contents. Does anybody know of indexes for "Computer and video games" magazine and zzap 64 ? A simple format of game/article title, issue number, page number and if possible article type (Review /Preview etc) would be great. And for a computer and video games magazine, a format field (c64, sinclair, arcade etc) would be useful.

The zzap back database would be ideal as a starting point for zzap 64 - was this ever made available in a downloadable text file ? It was mentioned in the forum years ago . . . .

My utility allows additional index entries to be created but creating an index for computer and video games magazine would be one heck of a task . . . . .

screenshots at www.pdkeeper.f2s.com/

I meant zzap bible, not zzap back of course . .

Looks pretty impressive! How does it know the filenames of the scan images, are they as named on Mort's Dvds?

I should be able to export a text copy of the Zzapbible for your program.

What info would you need? Game Name, issue and page?

I was emailed a Tips index a while ago (havn't got around to adding it to the site though yet.. ) but I don't have any Features index or a full issue index, although one would be very handy...

When you add a "magazine" to the program, you tell it which folder the magazine issue is in, and you tell it what "jpg" is the real page 1, and as long as the jpg are in "real" page no sequence, it does not matter what the file name is. So it could easily be used to browse a DVD of magazine scans. Sounds fiddly, but a few clicks is all it takes.

The index uses the page no field as opposed to the file name, so Game Name, issue and page would be all that was needed and much appreciated.

Program is close to completion now, so should be available for download soon . . . i just keep thinking of extra features . . . . .

Cheers

Impressive stuff! Looking forward to your program! Keep it up!

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Once again I emerge from beneath a massive pile of paper which makes my desk groan to bring you the world’s most amazing posts.

Just refound this topic via Google.

Was the viewer ever finished or released?

yes, it was finished but I never got round to uploading it as there wasn't a great deal of interest . . . .

Can we have a look at it then?

www.pdkeeper.f2s.com/mview.zip

OK, the above link should download the install package. Copy the titles.mdb to the install location once the installer has finished. (not very elegant I know!). I've left the indexes in the mdb file, but no magazine entries so if all goes well, the program should prompt you to add your first magazine. Type in the magazine title, issue no, and if the cover is page 1, leave first page as 1. You can change this for magazines that don't count the cover as a valid page. IE, the contents page is classed as page 1. This is important if the index is to marry up with the jpegs of each page. If it is wrong, delete the magazine entry and re-add it!

Obviously, the code is beta and no support is guaranteed, etc. This was something simply for my own personal amusement and benefit, so if you have problems, let me know and I will see what I can do, and if you manage to get it working also let me know! Oh, and your screen needs to be a minimum of 1280 x 1024 or the window will be too big to fit.

downloading...

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Once again I emerge from beneath a massive pile of paper which makes my desk groan to bring you the world’s most amazing posts.

No time to try it out tonight but I should have a chance tomorrow.

What's your quick verdict Rob?

My quick verdict?
It downloaded quite well, actually...hehe

I'm running the wrong screen res, but as soon as I have time for a quick glance I'll post.
Laterrr.

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Once again I emerge from beneath a massive pile of paper which makes my desk groan to bring you the world’s most amazing posts.

still looking for a contents list / index for C&VG if anyone can help ??