Site: Document and Utility Public Submission News and More!

[RHDNBot]

This is an automated message generated by Romhacking.net's RHDNBot.

Update By: Nightcrawler

The most active ROM hacking resource and news site on the net has been working hard to continue to meet it's goal of putting the power in YOUR hands. It is with great pleasure that we announce the ability for public Documents and Utilities submissions!

Just like our Hacks section has already, you can now add entries directly into our database (subject to staff screening) for your favorite documents and utilities. This is YOUR database. If something isn't there that you think should be, you can now add it yourself! We are continuing our mission to remove the staff bottleneck (visitors having to rely on staff to do everything). Ultimately, the staff's purpose on this site is for maintenance, and screening. It's up to YOU to add the content you think belongs here. It's up to YOU to turn YOUR archive into the biggest and best it can be.

Add your Documents, Utilities, and Hacks here on the Submit Files Page.

Other New Additions to the Site:

• A ROMhacking.net Dictionary of ROMhacking Terms was added! Please submit any corrections or additions you'd like to see on the Forum.
• New Integrated Site Theme - A new theme entitled Metroid (made by p4ch3c0) was added.
• New Integrated Site Theme - A new theme entitled Transcorp (made by Nightcrawler) was added.
• Translation Scene History was added here on the site due to the deletion of the wiki page on Wikipedia. The history lives on at ROMhacking.net!
• Collapsable Sticky Posts - By popular demand, stickies are now collapsable! Go ahead and try it with this one!

Relevant Link: (http://www.romhacking.net)

[Kitsune Sniper]

Collapsable Sticky Posts - By popular demand, stickies are now collapsable! Go ahead and try it with this one!

Slaik! This isn't a sticky!

[Nightcrawler]

Collapsable Sticky Posts - By popular demand, stickies are now collapsable! Go ahead and try it with this one!

Slaik! This isn't a sticky!

I COULD code it to actually mimic the news and make a sticky here on the board but that's too much work.

[filler]

I have one question. What happens when there is a version update of a document or utility? Will it overwrite the old one or does it have to be a separate instance?

[KaioShin]

I have one question. What happens when there is a version update of a document or utility? Will it overwrite the old one or does it have to be a separate instance?

Ouch, you hit the weak spot  We haven't found a solution to that yet. In the meanwhile submit it like a new file and make it clear so we realize it's an update and we'll handle things manually.

[Kurasu]

I have one question. What happens when there is a version update of a document or utility? Will it overwrite the old one or does it have to be a separate instance?

Ouch, you hit the weak spot  We haven't found a solution to that yet.

Well, I'm not sure if you could automate it, but could you make a pull-down option for 'update', so at the very least, staff automatically knows which ones are to be checked as updates?

[Nightcrawler]

Yeah, that's a fine idea.  However, I haven't done that because I haven't decided what is going to be done in general about updates.

It's NOT a TECHNICAL problem. I CAN code a solution.  The problem is HOW to make it easiest for the public to do and understand.

1.As staff, we simply have an EDIT button next to each entry in the database that we can edit and bring up the filled in form and make whatever changes we need.

That IS one option to do for the public, but then we're hogging screen space on every entry with an 'Edit' button. Some sections are already crowded.

2. The simplest solution is to automatically detect an updated entry submitted, but HERE'S the problem. WHAT do we base that on? The title is the only logical thing I can think of. If we do that, the user MUST enter the title EXACTLY as it was or the system won't automatically recognize it as an update.  I suspect not many people will be compentent enough to understand and do that. This is based on the fact that many people don't even fill out the form correctly as it is.


So, we're still thinking over the best ways to handle it. Any other suggestions or input is certainly welcome.

[Dragonsbrethren]

How about a checkbox on the form that says "This is an update to" or somesuch and you pick the original from a pulldown list?

[Nightcrawler]

How about a checkbox on the form that says "This is an update to" or somesuch and you pick the original from a pulldown list?

I should mention one more problem.. If someone submits an update, why should they have to redo the description and what not. They should only need to say, update the file. Most of the other information will stay the same.

That's not possible unless there is some way to pick an item beforehand so the form is prefilled out.

Now, on to your suggestion. I'm not really sure what you're saying.  Are you suggestion, you have a pull down with ALL database entries and you pick one?

[Kitsune Sniper]

Either way, I have one request:

If you update a document, keep the previous versions on the site for reference (but unavailable to the general public). That way, if one doc gets borked between versions, you'll still have an older version to fall back on.

[RedComet]

Either way, I have one request:

If you update a document, keep the previous versions on the site for reference (but unavailable to the general public). That way, if one doc gets borked between versions, you'll still have an older version to fall back on.

Nightcrawler can clarify this, but currently orphaned files are checked for and removed at a fixed interval right now. Unless I missed something.

[Dragonsbrethren]

Now, on to your suggestion. I'm not really sure what you're saying.  Are you suggestion, you have a pull down with ALL database entries and you pick one?

Pretty much, maybe allow filtering so if you want to update say a palette hacking document you only have to pick from everything in that category.

[Neil]

a possibility could be having the entrant post a url for a homepage (if one exists) and then comparing it against the database

[Nightcrawler]

a possibility could be having the entrant post a url for a homepage (if one exists) and then comparing it against the database

Right, but plenty of entries in our database have no homepage...

[Neil]

but the ones that do would be golden

you're never going to find that killer solution that works 100% of the time without sucking incredible amounts of ass.