Cato History Help

[DiamondThug]

version 5.3

once i get to the create html pages...and click on it

i get an error message:

Error 94 occurred:
Invalid use of Null

anyone have any suggestions?

thanks in advance!

[DiamondThug]

bump

[bbergin76]

I don't know if this is a solution but I had that when I first tried to run the program. I decided to wait until I finished my first season and once I got the 'Proceed to Next Season' option I ran it and it worked just fine. Guess it all depends on where you are in your season when you are trying to run it.

[DiamondThug]

sounds like that may be it

thanks for your help

[koohead]

yup...what bbergin said

[A.J. Holz]

Originally posted by bbergin76
I don't know if this is a solution but I had that when I first tried to run the program. I decided to wait until I finished my first season and once I got the 'Proceed to Next Season' option I ran it and it worked just fine. Guess it all depends on where you are in your season when you are trying to run it.

Right - the Cato utility is really designed to be run at the end of each season, not in the middle of a season. I suppose you could probably get it to work in the middle of a season, but it may error out like you guys found out.

[couriers]

First time Cato user here and I have one question for now and probably several others to follow. Any insight is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Step 2 of the Importing Data instructions states that Player Pages & Box Scores are not necessary. Does this mean that they should be skipped or that they could be skipped? Will the output be better when they are included and is this just a matter of space? Actually, I haven’t even attempted to run this yet so I don’t even know if it is possible to include them. I was just hoping to get some sort of confirmation before pressing forward.

[couriers]

Ok, I read further and found out that the only game generated HTML files needed are:

league.html
lnews.html
ltrans.html

Is this correct and if so then that should pretty much answer my question in the previous post?

Also, is there somewhere specific that these should go to like maybe the same Data folder that the exporter will use for a specific league?

Lastly, for now, once the next season is completed will it be safe to overwrite these files as well as the exporter files or should they be retained from one season to the next?

Thanks again.

[Killebrew]

Originally posted by couriers
Ok, I read further and found out that the only game generated HTML files needed are:

league.html
lnews.html
ltrans.html

Is this correct and if so then that should pretty much answer my question in the previous post?

I think you actually might need at least one other file - I'm basing that on how OOTP History used to work for OOTP4. The wise advice here would be to just follow the instructions.

Originally posted by couriers
Also, is there somewhere specific that these should go to like maybe the same Data folder that the exporter will use for a specific league?

The Data folder should work fine but it's wiser IMO to have a different folder to reduce mess and make it easier to remember at which step in the process you are. Whatever folder you choose in OOTP History options to hold the game html files will work fine though. I think the directory I use is C:\Program Files\OOTP History\ootphtml. You can change this path to go anywhere you want to put the OOTP html files, but it's less confusing if you always use the same folder for these files.

Originally posted by couriers
Lastly, for now, once the next season is completed will it be safe to overwrite these files as well as the exporter files or should they be retained from one season to the next?

My advice would be to zip them up in a clearly named zip file, something like 2005FOBL_OOTP4_Html_Files (for Cato DB v4.1).zip or 2009FOBL-OOTP5_HTML_files_for_OOTPHistv5(No-Player-Pages).zip etc. where the league name, year, OOTP version, and OOTP History version are listed. If you ever have to use these html files again then you don't have to go to the trouble of regenerating them - a major PITA. That advice holds true for all the CSV files as well, and of course you already are backing up the OOTP History MDB file after each season right?.

[couriers]

I will definitely follow your advice to back everything up including my entire league folder and the history database file as well.

The instructions are what originally confused me about the HTML files that should be used for each season. At one point it says that the players and box scores are not need and then again it reiterates this by saying that the only files needed were the three that I listed. I am running a test right now to see how things work out with just those three files.

Another question popped up while working on this test import.

When it asks me for the ending date of the regular season this seems to obviously not include the post season dates. However, if any teams needed to play a one game play-off to determine the wild card winner would this be considered a regular season or a post-season game? I would think that it would be a post-season game but a confirmation would ease my mind a bit.

Thanks again.

[couriers]

And yet a few more stupid questions:

When would be the best time to run this utility, before or after proceeding to the next season? It dawned on me that there are certain reports that don't get completed until you press the proceed to next season button and that it might be best to wait until afterwards.

Should the utility be run before actually starting to play out the next season or is it safe to compile the necessary data and then run the utility at a later date?

[koohead]

you have to export the game html BEFORE proceeding to the next season.

[A.J. Holz]

Originally posted by couriers

When it asks me for the ending date of the regular season this seems to obviously not include the post season dates. However, if any teams needed to play a one game play-off to determine the wild card winner would this be considered a regular season or a post-season game? I would think that it would be a post-season game but a confirmation would ease my mind a bit.

Thanks again.

Any tiebreaker games should be considered regular-season games.

[couriers]

Thanks for the info. Here is another question that came to me last night while I was lying in bed unable to sleep because I couldn't stop thinking about this damn fine utility.

How well does the program handle manager changes? Meaning that if I change a team’s manager at the beginning of a given season will the program create a separate web page for the new manager and still keep the old manager's web page available? If so, then is the beginning of the season the best time to do this and will it still work correctly if the new manager takes over in the middle of the season instead?

After running some test imports it appears that once the initial import is finished I can then go back and make changes to the database for any given season at any given time. This would also mean that I could create the HTML pages at any given time as well. This would all translate into me being able to save the needed game files and then being able to run the history utility whenever time dictates without having to hold off on starting the next season. This should also mean that I can create the HTML pages again whenever I wanted to make some changes to the database even if I have already created them once before.

Lastly, does the program simply overwrite the existing web pages once another season is created and the create HTML option is selected or will this utility continue to require 100megs of space for each and every season?

Any verification on the above questions and statements is highly appreciated. I have a tendency of wanting to understand the programs that I use to their fullest extend. However, there is so much information on this program scattered about the board that it would take a lifetime to read it all or to find a specific answer.

Thanks again.

[couriers]

Originally posted by A.J. Holz
Any tiebreaker games should be considered regular-season games.

Ok, so I had 2 teams in a one game play-off to determine who would win the division and who would get the wild card. This would then be considered a regular season game, which makes my total regular season games for each team increase by 1 up to 163 instead of 162. Will this cause a problem with the history utility or will it adjust itself accordingly?

My guess is that it will adjust itself since the program never really asked me how many games are in the season but instead what the start and end dates were. I would think that if I enter the date of the one game play-off as the end date of the regular season then everything should be just fine. Besides, by looking at the standings within OOTP it seems that the game counted this as a regular season game.

Thanks again for the insight. I pretty much understand the concepts to most of the questions that I have asked but typing it out and seeing a confirmation always helps me to feel like I am doing the right thing.

[couriers]

Here are a couple more questions if anyone has any information to provide:

1. How important is it to include Career Splits and/or Yearly Splits for the player pages? The instructions state that the yearly splits will greatly increase the amount of space required for each page. Are either or both really worth the extra space?

2. Should the Leaderboards be included for team pages and if so should they be set at the top 100 or will a lower amount work just as well?

3. I am not all that familiar with how Win Shares work and am not convinced that they will help me in the long run. If they are not included will I be missing out on something that I will eventually regret?

4. The default settings for the Batting & Pitching Requirements seem to be set for a typical 162 game season. Will these work out for the best or should they be adjusted in any manner?

Thanks again.

[A.J. Holz]

You got it, setting the last date of the season to the day of the tiebreaker game won't cause any problems with the utility, even though this means that two teams actually played 163 games in the season. I've done this before with leagues that've had the tiebreaker and it seems to work just fine with no errors.

Hope this helps!

[couriers]

Thanks again A.J.

It is much appreciated.

Anyone else have any insight on the other issues by chance?

[couriers]

I ran another test season and then used the history utility accordingly. First of all, it couldn’t have been any easier. It was sort of like riding a bike in the sense that everything that I had done to get the program to work correctly for the first season seemed to come naturally for the second season.

Secondly, the only word that comes to my mind right now on the magnitude of how great this gem works is “WOW” and that pretty much sums it up in a nut shell. The amount of information that this puppy tracks is unbelievable and the ability to see your league develop over the seasons is outstanding. The game generated almanac is great but doesn’t even come close to how this works with all of the information for every season and compiles everything into one big almanac instead of leaving it all in separate files.

Lastly, anyone who is not using this utility for their solo leagues should highly reconsider their position. I had my doubts at first see how most people were using it for their online leagues but after some strong advice from other solo players the decision to press forward with it is clearly the right choice. The 2½ hours required to compile all of the data and create the HTML pages is more than worth it and the effort is extremely minimal.

Thanks to those that recommend that I look into this and to those who have helped along the way.

Here are some answers to a few of the questions that I have asked just in case others are ever interested in the results that I have come up with after some test seasons:

1. It has been confirmed that the only game generated HTML files needed are:

league.html
lnews.html
ltrans.html

2. The utility can be run at any time after creating the necessary files. This means that you could actual move forward with your league into the next season as long as the proper files are stored for use at a later date. This should help in keeping the playtime at a maximum and the downtime at a minimum.

3. The program handles manager changes without any problems what so ever. As a matter of fact, this is one of the strong points in using this utility is that you can create a league history for your team managers that goes a long way toward the overall sense of depth to your entire league.

One note is that manager changes can occur at any time during the season but the stats will be compiled for whom ever is the last manager for a given team at the end of the season. Meaning that if you replace a team manager half way through a season then the new manager will inherit all of the stats for the entire season and the previous manager will lose what ever stats that may have existed for them up to that point.

4. Once the initial import is finished you can in fact go back and make changes to the database for any given season at any given time. This also means that you can create the HTML pages at any given time as well. In turn this means that you can create the HTML pages again whenever you want to make some changes to the database even if you have already created them once before.

5. The program used the existing web pages and will overwrite them as need be. This results in approximately the same amount of space being required after each HTML creation session instead of always needing more for each season added. Thankfully the program does not require 100megs per season since many of us run multiple leagues at once and many of us have leagues that extend many many years.

6. Include Career Splits and/or Yearly Splits for the player pages does not seem to require too much extra space and therefore would be a good idea to include them right from the start.

7. Leaderboards are extremely nice and should be included to increase the benefit of using this program. Setting them to a minimum of 100 would probably produce the best results.

8. Win Shares do not require any extra time to compile nor disk space to store so there is no good reason not to include them right from the start.

9. The default settings for the Batting & Pitching Requirements seem to be set for a typical 162 game season. Therefore, they should work well without needing any type of adjustments.

[Shorty]

1940-1991 of my Iowa baseball league is all stored via Cato.

I.. I love Cato