Need Ideas -- Manga Look-up Program

[Forget Me Not]

Alright, I'm going to try to be straight to the point. I'm a programmer, I'm also a fan of Naruto. I've been thinking of making a program lately. This particular program is basically something where end users can look up certain information throughout the manga (i.e. quotes, verbatim, otherwise, etc). Or any other string of information.

This is going to be done on a technical level through extracting all content from the manga translations and cross-referencing them in a database (MySQL/SQLite). To do this I'm going to have to do a lot of copying/pasting from the manga editions. As such, I may need help. We'll see.

Anyway, this thread was made to gauge thoughts/opinions from the base. What do you all think? Feel free to post any questions, comments or concerns.

Thanks.

TL;DR - Making a program. Essentially a Naruto manga "look-up" program that will allow you to search for certain information from the manga in an intuitive and seamless manner. If you need any further detail, just ask.

Postscript - This will probably be done around next year. I've been pretty tied up as of late. This thread is for future references.

 

[Rikud0 Sennin]

It would take forever to make. Well, it would seem that way to me ~someone who has no experience in the area. But its a great idea, and what iv'e been wanting for a while now

 

[Forget Me Not]

It would take forever to make. Well, it would seem that way to me ~someone who has no experience in the area. But its a great idea, and what iv'e been wanting for a while now

It would certainly take a bit of time aggregating and compiling all of the information from the manga edition(s). But with a peer of individuals, that time can be greatly decreased.

I plan on tackling this task eventually, but not now. In any case, thank you for your feedback.

 

[Forget Me Not]

I'm going to give an instance example for some of those who don't completely understand.

Instead of manually digging for particular info you're looking for in the Naruto manga, this program will allow you to search for that information on-the-fly.

Say I'm looking for what Itachi said to Sasuke about the EMS. I would, hypothetically, look for the terms "Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan" and see the results the program yields.

This program is basically for the debaters or users wanting certain information from the manga faster and easier. It's meant to do the work for you. Thought it'd be pretty convenient, but again it will take a bit of time. In theory the key concept of the program seems easy enough, though.

 

[Forget Me Not]

I apologize if this is the wrong section or if I'm inadvertently breaking any of the other forum rules. This thread was meant to inform, and to promptly gain feedback.

Note: I may or may not decide to make the resolve to complete this program. It's a thought, and depending on responses/circumstances I might not actually do this. Consider this a disclaimer.

 

[somniferous]

This is a really good idea and I would love this.

 

[Forget Me Not]

This is a really good idea and I would love this.

Thanks.

I'm going to need some motivation to try and accomplish this, and your comment certainly helps. Support/approval serves as incentive, so I'm trying to gain feedback in order to determine if something like this is actually necessary or redundant.

 

[Forget Me Not]

Also, I'm looking for more ideas on a consumer level. As a user of the program in question, what features would you like to see? The ability to view the latest manga as well as search for information from it? Do you have a different operating system (OS) or platform that you would like to be able to use this application on? (Mac/Windows/Linux/etc.)

Just any ideas, thoughts or suggestions. The posts made by others thus far have been helpful to say the least.

 

[Varrah]

I like the idea. Simply for curiosity reasons, can you explain the technicalities involved with such a program?

 

[Forget Me Not]

I like the idea. Simply for curiosity reasons, can you explain the technicalities involved with such a program?

Sure. The programming language I'm probably going to use is either Delphi (Object Pascal), Lua or AutoIt.

If all else fails, I'm going to use Python and the Qt Framework. It depends really. I'm more proficient in Delphi, AutoIt, and Lua. But I also have a bit of experience with Python/Qt.

If I'm going to make this program exclusively for users of the Windows OS, I'm probably going to use Delphi since it's the quickest way I'd probably be able to pull this off. If not I may use Lua or Python.

I'm going to need this program to have a point-and-click interface, so I may have to use a GUI as opposed to CLI.

If this program is going to be actively updated I'm maybe going to use MySQL as my database technology as it has a notion of TCP/IP (ergo remote dynamics).

Those are for the most part the technicalities on surface level. Is there anything else you would like to know?

 

[Rikud0 Sennin]

Also, I'm looking for more ideas on a consumer level. As a user of the program in question, what features would you like to see? The ability to view the latest manga as well as search for information from it? Do you have a different operating system (OS) or platform that you would like to be able to use this application on? (Mac/Windows/Linux/etc.)

Just any ideas, thoughts or suggestions. The posts made by others thus far have been helpful to say the least.

Mabey, two search engines? Like, a simple search where you just type in what you are looking for, and an advanced search to narrow down the results (by selecting the arc mabey?)

 

[Forget Me Not]

Mabey, two search engines? Like, a simple search where you just type in what you are looking for, and an advanced search to narrow down the results (by selecting the arc mabey?)

Ah. So two means of searching? Something like the base has, right? A simplified way of searching and another that provides options of customization?

Definitely. Sounds good. Thanks for the idea. There probably isn't much more to add since it's simply a lookup program, but if anyone else has any original, creative or innovative things to add it would be appreciated.

 

[Forget Me Not]

P.S. This probably won't be as easy as I'm (perhaps) making it sound. But once I establish a scheme for the program and hierarchy/format for the DB, it should be relatively simple.

I'll probably make a flowchart for the program flow and mechanics and update this thread with more information whenever I have the time.

 

[6PathsofKami]

Great idea man that will be awesome

 

[Forget Me Not]

Great idea man that will be awesome

Yep. Should be a nifty little tool for the Base (or other users).

Hopefully it'll serve to be useful to people. I wouldn't want my work to be in vain.

Don't know when I'm going to start, but it probably won't be anytime soon. Just trying to get endorsement at the moment.

 

[Forget Me Not]

Edit: I think I'm going to use a SQLite database for this utility. I don't have a spare server (obviously not going to use my main PC), so MySQL is a no-go. Plus on second thoughts I figured it wouldn't really be necessary.

It's not like we receive manga releases every day, so active updates won't be necessary. Initially I'll provide a database with all of the current manga chapters, then every week when there's a release I'll try to distribute an up-to-date local database containing the addition.

This will be done via a procedure I'll code up that receives the timely updates from my server and remotely downloads it.

The only implications/drawbacks to this is that it's going to use space/bandwidth from your computer, not mine. And depending on how large this database will be when everything is set and done (I approximate that it'll be at least ~10+ GBs), it'll come out of your computer's resources.

Shouldn't be too much of a problem for anyone with a sufficient amount of memory on their computer.

Still don't know how this will program will work in its entirety, but I think I just about have the right idea.

Edit2: Just realized that 10+ GBs is going to be a lot to download, therefore a lot of time... May have to use MySQL or another database technology. For the meantime I'll be debating on my avenue.

 

[Naruto N Uzumaki]

I'll be willing to help.

 

[thegame]

I think you can find translations of many chapters in pure text, so it can be copied. People usually translate the RAW scans into text and post it somewhere, before some actual scanlaters put it into the actual manga pages.

So if you were to do it, an idea would be, simply connecting all these translations (since it would spare you a lot of time to simply find them), to every chapter. Then you search for words, and you find the chapters, the word appear in. Seems pretty simple U_U

 

[charmingx2]

This is not as simple as you are stating. It will not work unless you crop down each clip of manga image and connect them to record's keyword strings. Its because most of info clears when we see actual drawing of manga. Or other option you have to use is adding some Notes/explanation with each record. Both are lengthy procedures time consuming + structure designing. So needs a lot of efforts. adding explanations is easier but this will be question again who will agree with you because you fan boys .
A lot easier than all this you want to design will be separate each page of manga and add keywords and tags on each page about their matter. Or if you want to refine it more than you can separate each drawing box and tag it.
This will be a lot easier than programming. And for that users dont need any of installation. And because it does not need much skills you will be able to get help from others (non-professionals) too.
Or dont drop your idea. Just go for it in steps. First add tags and keywords to each page then you will be able to see what design you need for your database and after compiling database you need just copy past data in it with chapter no, page no info. Through this you will able to design master records and it will be useable. Then go for next step and make a table and fill up child records with explanation/drawing whatever you want.
Sorry for long post but I hope you will get my view

 

[Handsome Jack]

Mmmmm Great idea!