Gatherer Downloader App (v1.6.8) [hq pics / card database]

[Ark]

MWS is also shutdown basically, as it should be. The issue is you can't use copyrighted material however you want, so if you are reproducing card text or art, it has to follow certain guidelines.

[cbartonnh]

Thanks to ark for the quick response...as always!

[skibulk]

@Ark - did you remove the pre-downloaded database files from your site?

sorry, was looking for a link on the main page. found it in the paragraph text under Gatherer Downloader. When you download these, do you do a full download, or do you do a supplemental download of only the new sets?

[Ark]

I do a new, full download from scratch at the point in time I put those up, because the oracle text may have been updated for older cards sometimes.

[woogerboy21]

FYI.
The link you have in the original post to the .zip file has an extra "h" at the beginning of it so if people click on the link it takes them to a "not found" page.

[Ark]

Fixed. I wonder how long that's been like that. Oh well.

[Ark]

v1.6.6 posted at http://ark42.com/mtg/gathererdownloader ... -1.6.6.zip
Added work-around for Wizard's XML problem on the language page for each card.

[Ark]

v1.6.7 posted at http://ark42.com/mtg/gathererdownloader ... -1.6.7.zip
Added work-around for Wizard's change to card number field name.

[woogerboy21]

Have you ever considered adding the ability for the app to actually check to see if there is any updates for either the app itself or the sets list from your site (or some were that would be regularly updated)? Like a "check for updates" menu option or "update".

[Ark]

No, because the amount of work needed for a feature like that (both in the program and on a server), and the amount of pointless traffic it generates just doesn't make sense. You'll probably get an email whenever a new post is in this topic, which will alert anybody who wants to subscribe to this topic to any new versions, and the sets list is simple enough that I figure people can manage to add a line or two for new sets themselves without having to recompile the program. It also makes it more future-proof that way, if I disappear, people can still probably work with newer sets as they come out.

[skibulk]

Although with the way Wizards changes the schema for gatherer, inevitably something will break, or need to be added. Any chance you could post the source code to git hub for the ultimate future-proof guarantee?

[Ark]

No, it's not an open source project at the moment. I'd probably will my entire C:\src folders to become open source in the event I disappear someday though.

[woogerboy21]

I noticed today some of the gatherer tools I use stopped working. Has this tool stopped working right? I haven't had a chance to take a look at specifics yet. If I were to guess they changed some formatting again on the gatherer.

Quick update, looks like Wizards changed the syntax in the URL for the gatherer. If your tool inst working any more check that first.

[Ark]

What exactly changed?

[Ark]

v1.6.8 posted at http://ark42.com/mtg/gathererdownloader ... -1.6.8.zip
Added work-around for Wizard's change to some URLs.
Added Dragon's Maze and Modern Masters to the default set list.