What's new in Game Collector? 2017

Fixed

• Pick Item Screens: when using the quick search the list wasn’t always sorted correctly
• Manage Pick List:
  • When using the quick search the list wasn’t always sorted correctly
  • “auto resort” check box didn’t work
• Reassign Index fields sort fields were stored as “reassignindex” as sort fields preset
• Manage Presets: removing all presets would cause an Access Violation after closing the screen
• Edit Game: navigating Links using ALT+N or ALT+P would navigate the games instead

New:

• Pick Item Screens: adding a new item will now use the quick search string to pre-fill the name field

Fixed:

• Edit Screen: ALT+N/ALT+P for Next/Previous played a Windows sound
• Edit Screen: Adding a new item to a list sometimes displayed a popup that was too small
• Reassign Index Fields: Saving your selected fields wasn’t possible sometimes
• Export/Print field selection menus were missing “Manage Presets…” caption
• Clean Templates: Several layout improvements

NEW: Fully Automatic CLZ Cloud Syncing!

The free CLZ Cloud service is at the center of all our cataloging solutions (desktop, mobile and web), the glue that binds them all together.
Tens of thousands of users are using the CLZ Cloud syncing every day, to transfer data between their desktop, Connect and mobile software, to update their online collection list, or simply for keeping an online backup of their precious database.

Now, it is time to take the CLZ Cloud to the next level, with automatic syncing:
Add or edit games in Game Collector and these changes will auto-upload to the CLZ Cloud instantly. Did you make changes using CLZ Games or directly in Game Connect? Just start your software and changes will download automatically.
No more need to go to the Sync with CLZ Cloud screen, ever.

With “Sync Automatically” switched on…

1. Your online cloud backup is always up-to-date.
2. Your cloud viewer always shows the current state of your collection.
3. All your CLZ tools (desktop, mobile and Connect) will always be in-sync.

Automatic Cloud Syncing is an optional feature, switched OFF by default. If you don’t want to auto-sync, or don’t want to sync with the CLZ Cloud at all, just leave it switched OFF.

Revamped Edit Game screen

A huge refresh of the Edit Game screen, bringing the look and feel more in line with the recent Add Games from Core screen.

• Button bar is now at the bottom of the screen
  With OK button high-lighted in blue, nice Next/Prev arrow buttons, etc…

• Clearer blue + buttons for checkbox list fields (like Genres)
• Same blue + buttons for dropdown fields (like Platform and Format)
• Revamped Edit screen for pick list items
  Button bar at the bottom with blue OK button, smaller generate buttons, etc..

But it’s not all just cosmetic changes:

Improved interface for adding Publishers and Developers

The new interface helps you make better use of your existing publisher and developer pick lists:

• Drag the icon in the first column to change the order.
• Click the “x” in the last column to remove entries.
• Right-click to Modify the name and sort name of a company in the list.

Fixed:

• Add Games from CLZ Core:
  • Failed search would remain in barcode queue but would not be visible in the list
  • Expanding a result would sometimes scroll to a different part of the list

Fixed

• Add Games from CLZ Core: Access Violation when adding several games by barcode

Fixed:

• Add Games from CLZ Core:
  • (un)checking an item in a selection would not (un)check all those items

New:

• Add Games from CLZ Core: the 4 “Add by” tabs now have icons.

Fixed:

• Edit Game/Hardware: Screenshot & Links: adding “image files” as local links would add them as “screen shot” instead.
• Main Screen: Quick filter panel option “keep active” wasn’t applied directly after restarting software.
• Edit Game: Links tab: When editing a local link, the “previous” button didn’t work.

Fixed:

• Add Games from CLZ Core: program could crash when updating platform list.

• Add Games from Core: Search Results list is now loading/refreshing faster, especially for long lists.
• New option for CLZ Barry: Auto-Connect. When enabled, the built-in Buddy for Barry automatically connects to the server when you start the program or open the Add screen.
• The Expire Date of your Update Plan is now always visible in the lower right bottom of the main screen.
• Image open dialogs could crash the program when used a lot and browsing through thousands of images

Big changes today! The Add Games Automatically screen has been completely re-designed, to make it both easier-to-use and easier-on-the-eye (and it’s now called “Add Games from CLZ Core”):

• A simple two-panel design: Search Results on the left, Preview on the right.
• The Search Results now show cover images for every game.
• Automatic Preview of selected result (no more double clicking).

See it in action:

Here’s the full list of improvements:

Read more

Fixed:

• Edit Screen: clicking “Update” would cause an Access Violation

Fixed:

• Edit Screen: switching tabs could throw a “Cannot focus a disabled or invisible window” error when the screen was still loading.
• Edit Screen: clicking “Update” could throw a “hotkey not registered” error.

New:

• Links to renew your update plan will now automatically log you into your account on the website.
• Check for Updates: now has a link to the “What’s New” blog on our website.
• My CLZ Account popup: now has a link to the “What’s New” blog on our website.

Fixed:

• Edit Game: using ALT+N or ALT+P to navigate to Next or Previous Game could throw a “Cannot focus a disabled or invisible window” error.
• “Completed” field didn’t properly sync down from CLZ Cloud.
• Updating games or Pricecharting values will clear them for unlinked games.

For Game Collector, the v17.1 update has turned out to be a bigger update then the v16 to v17 update 🙂
Because for v17.1 we have added several game-specific fields and features, especially targeted at the serious video game collector:

New “Completeness” field: Loose vs CIB vs New

This is for the real video game collectors, especially those that are into collecting retro games:

• Added: a new “Completeness” field, to indicate how complete your copy of a game is. Choose from:
  • Loose, meaning “cartridge or disc only”.
  • CIB, meaning “Complete In Box”, everything included.
  • New, meaning CIB and also still sealed.
• Two extra checkbox fields “Manual” and “Box”.
  
  To further specify the “Loose” status. You know, for those cartridges with just a manual, no box. Or in a box, but with the manual missing.

Read more

We’ve expanded the quick search box to now also allow “search-as-you-type” with suggestions for pick list fields.

How does it work?

In the quick search box top right of your screen you should see a “dropdown” button. Use this to select which field you wish to perform a search on. If “search-as-you-type” is available for that field, it will instantly work once you start typing in the box.

Example

You can now select the field “Edition” in the quick search box, start typing some edition information like “special”, and instantly see suggestions (based on what you typed) of editions you have in your database. Click on an edition entry to see all games you have in that edition.

Fixes in this version

We also fixed some issues with the program in this version:

• Images Popup:
  • “size window to picture” showed image slightly smaller
  • .tiff images were not showing

New:

• Images popup now also supports “Size Picture to Window without stretching” option
• Quick search: suggestions now also are shown when searching on “Title” field

Fixed:

• Main Screen:
• Quick Search: applying a filter could cause unexpected behaviour
• Images Popup:
  • the status bar wasn’t always showing the right image path when opening
  • .bmp images were not showing
  • only screen shots were showing from the local images
• CueCat scanner wasn’t working properly any more

Quick Search: Search-As-You-Type suggestions

Instantly find and select a particular game in your local database:

• In the Quick Search box, just start typing the first few letters of the title you are looking for.
• While typing, a drop-down list will appear, showing the first five matching games (for most games, it only takes 2 or 3 letters before it shows up).
• Once you see the one you were looking for, use the up/down keys to select it, then hit Enter.
• The game will now be selected in your list, with the details showing in the Details Panel.

Read more

Fixed:

• Crashes during Check for Update proces

Fixed:

• Edit Game:
  • On User Defined Fields tab, “_[Add pick list item]_” didn’t work for comboboxes
  • Changing the role for a credit would mark all games dirty where that person appeared instead of just the edited game
• Manage Pick Lists: removing pick list items didn’t mark their corresponding games as modified
• Main Screen: accelerator keys in main menu (like “ALT+F” for files menu) didn’t work