SabreTools/README.MD

<h2>SabreTools</h2>

<h3>Introduction</h3>

This project is a desktop port of some core features of Wizard of DATz Redux. For more information about the parent project, see <a href="https://github.com/mnadareski/wizzardRedux">here</a>.

<h3>Features</h3>

Currently, SabreTools consists of the following programs:

<b>SabreTools UI</b>
<p/>
A bare-bones attempt at providing a true GUI experience for the SabreTools suite. Currently only provides the following functions:
<ul>
	<li>Importing and Generating DAT files in ClrMamePro and XML formats</li>
</ul>

<b>DATabase</b>
<p/>
The main tool of the SabreTools suite. Performs the majority of the core features of the parent project, including the following:
<ul>
	<li>Importing and Generating DAT files in ClrMamePro and XML formats</li>
	<li>Converting DATs from any format to ClrMamePro, Logiqx XML, SabreDAT XML, and to missfile (last part formerly <i>DatToMiss</i>; requested by Obiwantje)</li>
	<li>Trim DAT entries and optionally merge into a single game (formerly <i>SingleGame</i>; requested by Kludge)</li>
	<li>Split a DAT using two different file extensions within the DAT (formerly <i>DatSplit</i>)</li>
	<li>Split a DAT or folder of DATs by best available hash or nodump (formerly <i>HashSplit</i>, requested by Obiwantje)</li>
	<li>Merge, diff, and dedupe an arbitrary number of DAT files, as long as it's two or more (formerly <i>MergeDAT</i>; requested by Obiwantje and Kludge)
		<ul>
			<li>Read in from commandline, drag-and-drop, a directory, or any combination</li>
			<li>Roms are compared with all information available, so duplicates can exist in the output</li>
			<li>Output type automatically determined by the first input file</li>
			<li>Optionally create a DiffDat of the inputted files instead of a straight merge</li>
			<li>Optionally merge the output DAT so no partial duplicates are included</li>
		</ul>
	</li>
	<li>Add and remove sources and systems from the database</li>
	<li>Retrieve a list of all sources and systems that are available</li>
</ul>
This tool can both be used with command line parameters or with the built-in text menu system.

<b>DATabaseTwo</b>
<p/>
An in-progress replacement for the Import and Generate functions of <i>DATabase</i>. This is the recommended version to use for mass DAT management but it is still lacking some advanced features found only in the <i>DATabase</i> version.

<b>Headerer</b>
<p/>
A simple auxilary tool that detects and removes headers and also restores headers for the following systems:
<ul>
	<li>Atari 7800</li>
	<li>Atari Lynx</li>
	<li>NEC PC-Engine / TurboGrafx 16</li>
	<li>Nintendo Famicom Disk System</li>
	<li>Nintendo Entertainment System / Famicom</li>
	<li>Super Nintendo Entertainment System / Super Famicom</li>
</ul>
The saved headers are currently stored in a database; multiple headers allowed per file.

<b>DATFromDir</b>
<p/>
This a versitile Directory to DAT file creator developed to reduce the overhead of creating custom DAT files.
<ul>
	<li>Create a DIR from a file, a folder, or a set of either</li>
	<li>Set most of the DAT header values</li>
	<li>Enable DAT to be created with forcepacking="unzip"</li>
	<li>Treat archives like directories (default) or files</li>
	<li>Output to both supported DAT formats</li>
</ul>

<h3>Power User Tools</h3>

This section is for tools that have been requested for a highly specific purpose and are not generally going to be used by regular users. All of them have a possibility of being included in the main DATabase program eventually.

<!-- <b>There are no tools that are for power users at this time.</b> -->

<b>OfflineMerge</b>
<p/>
This tool is meant to help users who want to keep their hard drives offline and still be up to date on what they have in their collection and what they need.
<ul>
	<li>Take a current merged DAT, a current missing DAT, and a new merged DAT and get all new files, files to remove, and a new missing DAT</li>
	<li>Set all hash values to 0-byte equivalents for rom managers</li>
</ul>

<b>UncompressedSize</b>
<p/>
This tool allows a user to determine the entire uncompressed filesize (including human-readable output such as KB, MB, etc.) of a DAT or folder of DATs. This is very useful for those fortunate enough to have the space to keep their files uncompressed and also provdes a good baseline for maximum space a set will take up.

<h3>Licensing</h3>
<p/>
The preceeding programs use, in part or in whole, code, libraries, and/or applications from the <a href="www.7-zip.org">7-zip project</a>. 7-zip is licenced under the GNU LGPL.<br/>
All other external code is marked as such within the source and correctly attributed to the site and/or person(s) that originally wrote the code.
All code written by project members is licensed under GPL v3. See LICENSE for more details.

<h3>Contributions</h3>

Any feature suggestions or code contributions are accepted. Please take the time to look over the existing code to see proper coding and documentation patterns.