J Paul's Vanity Page - SCDB - Simple Comics Database

SCDB - Simple Comics Database

SCDB

SCDB is exactly what its name implies, a simple comic book database. It's simple both in its function and how it is constructed. In function, it only keeps track of the basic data needed to inventory a comics collection. In construction it is built on top of common components to reduce complexity and software requirements.

Like a lot of stuff I've done, SCDB was born out of my own personal need for something that wasn't met by anything currently available. In this case, I wanted an inventory program that I could enter my (extensive) list of comic books into with just a minimal amount of info AND with a minimal amount of overhead. I tried several different apps but all either required the installation of some database backend, were window manager specific (requiring tons of library packages) or didn't work as advertised.

When I set out to do this I considered several options for the interface and underlying scripts. Perl Wx, Perl Tk, GTK, ad infinitum. I eventually settled on XUL/XPCOM/Javascript for the following reasons:

Window Manager Neutral - XUL is part of the Mozilla framework and as such all the window manager intergration is handled behind the scenes with no need for me to get involved.
OS Neutral - Since the Mozilla derived browsers work across so many OSes, future porting of SCDB would pretty fairly simple.
No Extra Packages Needed - No extra packages would need to be installed to get it to work. Just a working install of a Mozilla derived web browser.
Javascript - It's a mature scripting engine that is fairly easy to learn for newbies and already used by masses of old pros making contributions by others fairly simple. And it's supported internally by the Mozilla-derived browsers.
XPCOM - Allows Javascript secure access to the local file system.
XUL - Similar to HTML thus easy to learn; very flexible and fully supports CSS.

Requirements

SCDB requires the following to run:

Linux - Pretty much any recent version will do.
Window Manager - Again, pretty much any recent one will do.
Mozilla-derived browser - Firefox, Mozilla, Seamonkey, etc.

Screenshots

The main inventory screen.
The Add Comic form.
The Edit Comic form.
The Preferences form - Publishers tab.
The Preferences form - Configuration tab.
A Listing formated for Printing.
Help contents menu.

Download

Download the latest version: 0.6.11

View the change log.
NOTE: Due to changes in the data file layout, data files created with versions earlier than 0.6.2 will not work with this version. Sorry. I won't do it again.

Installation

Follow these steps to install SCDB:

Download SCDB via the link above
Unzip the downloaded file.
Run the install script, install.sh, located in the scdb directory.
Answer the questions that appear during the install.

Once the install is complete, refer to the Using section below for info on starting and using SCDB.

Using

See this page for instructions on starting and using SCDB (complete with screenshots).

Future Version Road Map (aka The To Do List)

Version 0.6.x - 0.9.x

Tweak the scripts.
Figure out a better way to sort the data.
Add more error checking.
Fix any issues found by users.
Add or revise anything else I can think of.

Contributing

Even though SCDB is a homegrown effort for my own comic inventory tracking, I won't turn down any free help. If you want to test out SCDB and recommend changes, please do so. I'll make sure you get credit for any contributions you make.

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