FRI for managing ROM libraries

[Mavtak]

I've been working on a program which I call FRI, the Fantastic Rom Indexer. The name is pretty lame, but what it does it cool. It takes all of your ROMs and all of your emulators, and allows you to search through your ROM library in one place, do quick title searches or advanced searches, and double-click on a ROM and have it just play. It also has other features like letting your rate ROMs, which is really useful for ROM libraries that are 95% "stuff that I just downloaded in a big RAR file".

Anyway, I have a download link and a tutorial on how to use it here: http://mypieceoftheinter.net/archives/310

I'd really appreciate some feedback. Feature requests, bug reports... name suggestions, whatever! :)

[Hrothgar]

I downloaded FRI and it opened fine. I wasn't until I tried to scan the rom folders that I got an error message

See the end of this message for details on invoking
just-in-time (JIT) debugging instead of this dialog box.

************** Exception Text **************
System.ArgumentException: The path is not of a legal form.
at System.IO.Path.NormalizePathFast(String path, Boolean fullCheck)
at System.IO.Path.GetFullPathInternal(String path)
at System.IO.DirectoryInfo..ctor(String path)
at RomDB.RomDatabase.getNewRoms()
at FRI.MainForm.scanForNewROMsToolStripMenuItem_Click (Object sender, EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.RaiseEvent(Obje ct key, EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripMenuItem.OnClick(Eve ntArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.HandleClick(Eve ntArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.HandleMouseUp(M ouseEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.FireEventIntera ctive(EventArgs e, ToolStripItemEventType met)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.FireEvent(Event Args e, ToolStripItemEventType met)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStrip.OnMouseUp(MouseEven tArgs mea)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripDropDown.OnMouseUp(M ouseEventArgs mea)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmMouseUp(Message& m, MouseButtons button, Int32 clicks)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ScrollableControl.WndProc(Mes sage& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStrip.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripDropDown.WndProc(Mes sage& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.O nMessage(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.W ndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)


************** Loaded Assemblies **************
mscorlib
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.312 (rtmLHS.050727-3100)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.NET/Framework/v2.0.50727/mscorlib.dll
----------------------------------------
FRI
Assembly Version: 1.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 1.0.0.0
CodeBase: file:///C:/Users/Elliott/Desktop/E-Folder/Programs/FRI.exe
----------------------------------------
System.Windows.Forms
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.312 (rtmLHS.050727-3100)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Windows.Forms/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Windows.Forms.dll
----------------------------------------
System
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.312 (rtmLHS.050727-3100)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Drawing
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.312 (rtmLHS.050727-3100)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Drawing/2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Drawing.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Xml
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.312 (rtmLHS.050727-3100)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Xml/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Xml.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Configuration
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.312 (rtmLHS.050727-3100)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Configuration/2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Configuration.dll
----------------------------------------

************** JIT Debugging **************
To enable just-in-time (JIT) debugging, the .config file for this
application or computer (machine.config) must have the
jitDebugging value set in the system.windows.forms section.
The application must also be compiled with debugging
enabled.

For example:

<configuration>
<system.windows.forms jitDebugging="true" />
</configuration>

When JIT debugging is enabled, any unhandled exception
will be sent to the JIT debugger registered on the computer
rather than be handled by this dialog box.

This program does appeal to me though. It's very user friendly, and I hope I can use it soon :D. I don't really have too many suggestions since I didn't get very far with it, but I think it would be neat if you had various skins for the program.

[Hrothgar]

Sorry I accidentally double posted. Could someone delete this?

[Mavtak]

I downloaded FRI and it opened fine. I wasn't until I tried to scan the rom folders that I got an error message

[. . .]

This program does appeal to me though. It's very user friendly, and I hope I can use it soon :D. I don't really have too many suggestions since I didn't get very far with it, but I think it would be neat if you had various skins for the program.

I'm looking at the trying to figure out the problem right now. I have a few suspicions why my code may have failed. Will you give me the rom library path that you used, copied exactly? That would be really helpful.

Thanks!

[Jale]

Seems like it's been written in Java.

[Mavtak]

Seems like it's been written in Java.

Yikes! I spent 2 years learning Java in school, and I've had enough of it. :(

I'm writing this program with C#. I greatly prefer it over Java, but it doesn't matter how good a programming language is if the code is wrong. :D I think I know what went wrong, but I'll know for sure when Hrothgar gives me more information.

[Hrothgar]

C:\Users\Elliott\Desktop\E-Folder\Games\Snes\Roms
C:\Users\Elliott\Desktop\E-Folder\Games\Atari 2600\ROMS
C:\Users\Elliott\Desktop\E-Folder\Games\Atari Jaguar\roms

Here you go.

[Mavtak]

C:\Users\Elliott\Desktop\E-Folder\Games\Snes\Roms
C:\Users\Elliott\Desktop\E-Folder\Games\Atari 2600\ROMS
C:\Users\Elliott\Desktop\E-Folder\Games\Atari Jaguar\roms

Here you go.

Augh! I don't see why there would be an error with those paths. Even though I don't know specifically why FRI crashed, I think improvements I have made might fix the problem.

The latest version of FRI is available here: http://mypieceoftheinter.net/projects/fri

Thanks for hanging with me.

[Hrothgar]

Scanning of roms worked this time :D. I've loaded games with FRI and that worked too. I've added Mame32 and that also worked. I added .a26 extension to the atari 2600 vocabulary and the scan found my roms. So far I haven't found any problems. This program is very easy to work with :).

I do have one suggestion. It would be nice to be able to organize the list by system or name of the roms. (Kind of like on Itunes you can organize by artist, genre, album, etc.)

I'm looking forward to seeing more of this program :D

[Mavtak]

Scanning of roms worked this time :D. I've loaded games with FRI and that worked too. I've added Mame32 and that also worked. I added .a26 extension to the atari 2600 vocabulary and the scan found my roms. So far I haven't found any problems. This program is very easy to work with :).

I do have one suggestion. It would be nice to be able to organize the list by system or name of the roms. (Kind of like on Itunes you can organize by artist, genre, album, etc.)

I'm looking forward to seeing more of this program :D

I'm glad that it worked!

I think sorting will be the next feature I add. It should be relatively trivial, too. Thanks for the suggestion. :)