Database documentation: help wanted!

[TheLuda]

Greetings,

we recently started an effort to completely document the mangos-zero database, with all the information you need, and are very close to releasing a preview of our work.

This also means that now is the time, where your help is wanted! Yes, and it's quite easy to help. You do not need to write SQL, code, or anything else.

What we want from you is your questions. When working with the mangos-zero database on your server, what are the most common issues you run into? Tell us where you need information, what's the thing you most often stumble upon?

So, ask away, tell us what troubles you when working with the database! The more questions asked, the better we will able to shape our tutorial section for the database into something beautiful.

Currently we have three topics initially planned for tutorials, and those are:

• 
  [li]Creating loot: how is it done, what kinds of loot are there, all with examples[/li]
  [li]Conditional content: what to do, when you need to restrict content with specific requirements[/li]
  [li]Database scripts: what can be scripted, and how the hell does this thing work? What are the limits, and when do you have to resort to the C++ scripting library[/li]
  

So please, add you own suggestions to this topic, and help us to create a great database documentation for you.

Update

A first version of our database / DBC documentation now is online.

Have a look at https://bitbucket.org/danielsreichenbach/mangos-zero-database/wiki/ and let us hear your opinion.

With kind regards,

Daniel

[Natrist]

Will the same work be done on the other MaNGOS projects?

It would be quite nice to have such documentation, as a general default.

[Svarr]

Most likely. But there's much water running down the river until then.

If everything goes according to the plan, we will use the Zero Database documentation as a base for MaNGOSone when it's done and so forth.

[TheLuda]

Will the same work be done on the other MaNGOS projects?

It would be quite nice to have such documentation, as a general default.

The documentation is based on Markdown formatted text files, which can be viewed as pretty HTML online, or used offline.

Which means: the Wiki is simply a git repository, which everybody can clone, and thus making a fork and changing it for mangos-one, mangos-two, etc. will not be a lot of work.

Updating a few table structures, and usage instructions per each branch should be a work of a few hours if done properly. But what will really be a lot of work is updating the docs for DBC files. I've added the structure for these too, since the database references many parts of it, and becomes a lot easier to understand this way. For mangos-one, etc. the structures are quite different, the usage is different, thus you have to invest probably a week or two of work. Still, that is less than I had when building all the docs from scratch, so it should be fine.

[Floux]

Very interesting news! Have you got an idea about the release date of this documentation?

[bofg]

Hello,

I am interested in helping out. I currently do requirements management and documentation for my database at work. I also know C++, SQL, Java, and I am working with Lua. I would like to contribute by coding and documentation but I am new and not sure where to start.

Thanks!

[TheLuda]

Please contact me via PM, if you want to assist.

We already have a running documentation project which currently is about 65% finished, and need both contributors and reviewers.

For reviews, native English speakers would be preferred.

[kupix]

What is the most annoying (at least for me) that many tables uses data (precisely ID's) witch are not described any ware. It's hard for new users to dig into db without any explanation what exact ID means. Of course you can find some information in google and finally find that value 4 in column rank, in table creature_template means that creature is Rare. It was just an example, but sometimes it would be easier if there were any "dictionary tables" or some kind of documentation describing fields in tables.

Another thing, relations between tables. Mangos uses a lot of data placed in many tables and new players might have some problems with that (eg. quests system uses few tables with different values in each).

Like i said, users can search for information somewhere in the internet but if there could be some documentation in our application, it would be a time saver for all.

kupix

[TheLuda]

A preview of the zero documentation is available at https://bitbucket.org/danielsreichenbach/mangos-zero-database/wiki/

It does cover table relations, and also covers structures for DBC data referenced in tables.

Have a look. Much is done already - some said I wrote like a mad man the last weeks - and much more is to come.

Everything has been written from scratch, and is in sync with the current mangos-zero core.

Contributions are welcome, of course.