Walt Grogan

Behind the scenes, I don't think they changed this title. Don't get me wrong, they may have and if they did, they should for other titles as well. I think what they may have done is simply trim trailing spaces in the query results which doesn't require actually changing the title, but I could be wrong.

I would love to see some appetite for anything that improves finding and organizing series in a comprehensive way whether it's managed by the user or by CB.

Wholeheartedly agree, Douglas, but there doesn't seem to be much appetite to fix these things -- which seems pretty odd for a database program. I'll continue to point them out, but I'm not holding out hope that they'll be fixed.

Hi, Randall-- I get it and, unfortunately, I'm learning to live with it, too -- but it really SLOWS things down when you have to stop and wonder 🤔, where is this thing going to be found in CB? Let's go on a scavenger hunt!

I would have given it a shot since I'm starting to figure out how older stuff, sadly enough, was indexed but really this should be its own title.

I just had an interesting time finding this issue. There is no title entry for Justice League Spectacular as it's indicated in its indicia and it was published too early for it to have a barcode. I couldn't believe that it hadn't been indexed, so how did I find this comic? Search by writer and artist? No, it's Dan Jurgens so that would have brought back too many issues. So I ended up searching the StoryLines field, hoping that the story title had been added to that field. Luckily, it had. The issue ended up being indexed under Justice League America as Item # SP 1/B. Obviously, someone decided that this issue should be buried under a different title. Is there a chance that this can be pulled out, and have its title created? Again, I love ComicBase, but I find this aspect of using it frustrating as it just slows me down from entering my very large collection. I hope that these criticisms are being taken in the spirit they are given -- to help, in some small way, to better ComicBase.

I don't know what that means but I think we both want some way to better organize titles. The answer from CB shouldn't be "We're not going to do anything."

@Fred Slota, Pete said that it was a "installed user base problem", not me or you. I don't believe it is nor do I think you do. There are numerous ways to solve this problem. I suggested one and you suggested another. Do you still think I misunderstand entirely?

Hi, @Fred Slota I'm not against that but at a minimum this problem could be solved by adding a Display Title field that's maintained by and organized by CB. It wouldn't violate foreign key constraints and would allow for titles to be organized based on a standard which could and probably would change over time. I like ComicBase but I don't buy that it's an "installed user base problem".

Hi, Mark-- Thanks for your response but that's actually the problem. Let's say I have a batch of 100 comics I'm Adding By Barcode and I unwittingly happen to have a something that's comic-sized in the bunch but classified as a magazine in ComicBase, I'm basically SOL when I save (this is what happened to me). If I have to look up all my comics up front to see if I happen to have a comic-sized item that's a magazine, it seriously defeats the purpose of Adding By Barcode. The Add By Barcode dialog does not show the category type of the top item and even if it did, it would still be mostly useless as anything that's miscategorized will trip up the Saving of the list. It also doesn't matter what you're currently looking at in the title view. I can add anything and since I don't know how it's categorized, I might be in for a rude surprise when I save, and that's bad since I want to update some custom fields. It seems to me that each issue must have a type (book, comic, or magazine) that should be accessible through title. If it can be looked up and added, then its type should be available and displayed. Or based on you comment, if the first thing you scan is a comic, it should reject anything that's not based on that type. I actually prefer this approach. I also hope my criticisms are taken in the spirit they're given. I like ComicBase. These suggestions are only to help it be better and more user-friendly. Best, Walt

Any thoughts on this? It seems like something that would make ComicBase even better!

I love Add by Barcode but if I'm scanning a bunch of stuff and I accidentally scan different types in the same session, the resultant Save list won't show everything due to different types. This is a colossal pain, if I've scanned a whole bunch of stuff. For instance, I scanned a whole bunch of comics and unwittingly scanned a a comic-sized book that was typed as a magazine. The Saved results only showed the magazine. --Walt

Ah! I see it now when I switch to Magazine! Thanks!

Weird! Because I'm only seeing one instance of Draw! in the Find dropdown.

I've been cataloging TwoMorrows Draw! magazine and they were all there at one time, but now issues 1-15 are missing. 16 is there, but 17-25 are gone, too! This happened after a content update. --Walt

There's also an additional benefit to this approach... it allows a user to define his own display name. It a setting is added to not override DisplayName, a user could easily maintain their own names.

Although ComicBase is an amazing program and the defacto standard for cataloging a comic book/magazine/book collection, it suffers from a major defect and that is how titles are created, named, and maintained especially if a title ends and is restarted with a new number one adding it as part of a series. A classic simple example of this is DC Comics's Metal Men, e.g. Metal Men Metal Men (3rd Series) Metal Men (4th Series) Metal Men (Mini-Series) In the example above, Metal Men (Mini-Series) would ideally be Metal Men (2nd Series). However, there is an underlying decision that makes renaming Metal Men (Mini-Series) problematic, as described by Pete, and that is that the title name is used as the foreign key in, what I presume, is the Item table. This defect can make it difficult to locate a specific title, organize titles in order of their publication and often results in additional titles added for titles that already exist. Based on the comments of @Peter R. Bickford in the live stream of 4/13/2022, it seems that it is unlikely to change. I think that's a shame since organization is the major component of a database application. After giving this just a little bit of thought, I think this may be a starting point of a solution that could solve the problem. Caveat: I'm suggesting this without knowing the intricacies of the DB structure and would welcome input. I expect that moving forward with this will not only take time to mull over but to implement as well, but ultimately will make ComicBase an even greater product than it already is. Here's my take: Create a new field called DisplayTitle in the table that contains Title. Copy the values of the existing Title field into DisplayTitle. Use this DisplayTitle for searching and display. When a new title is created either by CB or a user, copy that value into the DisplayTitle field as well. If a DisplayTitle needs to be changed, CB verifies the new display title, changes it and voila, after the next update, the title can be found and sorted correctly. This would allow the implementation of a title naming standard perhaps using the indicia, year, and even the publisher of the title. Something like Metal Men (1993 Series) (DC) The benefit of this is if the standard changes, titles can be easily updated. This solution addresses some of the problems that @Peter R. Bickford brought up in the live stream. It doesn't violate the foreign key constraints between Title and Item. It easily allows for renaming the DisplayTitle if the indicia changes between solicitation and publication of the title. There is no requirement to shift data around in the tables and potentially mess up a user's data, since it's simply a DisplayTitle change. I'd love to see something like this implemented. --Walt

After giving this just a little bit of thought, here's a solution that could solve the problem. Caveat: I'm suggesting this without knowing the intricacies of the DB structure. Create a new field called DisplayTitle in the table that contains Title. Copy the values of the existing Title field into DisplayTitle. Use this DisplayTitle for searching and display. When a new title is created either by CB or a user, copy that value into the DisplayTitle field as well. If a DisplayTitle needs to be changed, CB changes it and voila, after the next update, the title can be found and sorted correctly. This would require a fairly strict naming protocol using the indicia and year of first publication as the name... something like Metal Men (1993 Series) although even if it gets messed up, it can be easily changed. This solution addresses some of the problems that @Peter R. Bickford brought up in the call yesterday. It doesn't violate the foreign key constraints between Title and Item. It easily allows for renaming the DisplayTitle if the indicia changes between solicitation and publication. There is no requirement to shift data around in the tables and potentially mess up a user's data, since it's simply a DisplayTitle change. I'd love to see something like this implemented. --Walt

It's a shame that there will be no action on this as there are remedies to fix titles. I was stunned to learn that the foreign key that links titles and items together is the title itself and not a unique identifier of some kind. I understand this is a legacy problem and sympathize but it seems strange that the answer is inaction especially for a product that emphasizes organization. At worst, a new title field could be implemented that is curated by ComicBase following a well-defined standard and that could be activated via a preference. Until then, if ever, I guess we'll have to live with the existing disorganization. ☹️

That's my feeling as well for the same reason.

@Gregory HechtI have a hard time making the live streams... is there any chance you can bring this up on the live stream today? Best, Walt

I think it's a great idea, I'm just afraid this is going to die on the vine and I'll be complaining about it again the next time I come across a crazy title.

I definitely expected as much but I still think it's sad since ComicBase is the defacto comic book database. I realize that CB is nearing 30 years old but there is so much mess in it that it makes finding some things near impossible. One has to constantly think how some might have cataloged a title. Did they: Lop it on to the same title from another publisher (eg. Blondie) Throw multiple different titles under the same pot (eg. ... Spider-Man Comics Weekly #1-157 Super Spider-Man with the Super-Heroes #158-198 Super Spider-Man and the Titans #199-230 Super Spider-Man and Captain Britain #231-253 ( no title, number or date in the indicia) Super Spider-Man #254-310 Spider-Man Comic #311-333 The Spectacular Spider-Man Weekly #334-375 Spider-Man and Hulk Weekly #376-424 Spider-Man and Hulk Team-Up #425-449 Super Spider-Man TV Comic #450-499 Spider-Man #500-552 Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends #553-578 Spider-Man #579-633 The Spider-Man Comic #634-650 Spidey Comic #651-666 All this leads to is someone creating a new title because they can't find an existing one (e.g. Super Spider-Man and The Titans) Ignore the indicia and add it to the bottom of a different title. Not pay attention to how other titles were organized. In the case of Metal Men or Star Wars or titles that have multiple series, scroll through the list hoping that the logo on the comic associated with the title is representative enough that you choose the correct before trying again. One of the selling points that Pete, himself, makes is how labeling your comics makes it easier to organize and find them -- that may be true for a few titles but this lack of consistency makes that claim nearly preposterous in quite a few cases. Not know the start of a title and just guess locking the first issue in stone and making the addition of previous issues impossible (e.g. DC Coming Comics) And those are just a sample of the cases that I've come across. I have a monstrous collection that I want to organize and these inconsistencies make it difficult to do so. I can't believe that these issues can't be resolved in a database (which is really the point of a database and that is to resolve inconsistencies). I'm hoping the ultimate answer is not "well it's set in stone now" so we can't do anything about it. Because then everyone is at the whim and mercy of whomever enters a new title and all everyone can do is hope that they enter it correctly. That seems like the worst possible answer. --Walt

Absolutely agree! As well as...

Or why not both... Metal Men (2nd Series) (1993) -Walt