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APP FIELDS (HERO, APP, XAPP)
app
| What should the field look like? |
Syntax: [app:xx(aa),xx(bb;cc)] where aa and bb can be a number
In FSB files: Fourth line, between the 2nd and 3rd '/', only if there is a question mark (?) anywhere in the field.
Normally, the characters are considered "xapp".
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| What does the field contain? |
Like xapp, but the list of characters is possibly incomplete or in doubt.
We are aiming to replace all [app:] by [xapp:], in the end.
For error messages and usage in ISV files see also xapp. |
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| Which log messages are related to this field? |
Log2 (error)
463: Entry (...) has xapp:... while story has non-matching app:...
464: app:... does not match with story xapp:...
Log3 (info)
462: xapp:... not in story file (source ...) only app (...)
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| Which CSV field(s) use this field? |
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| How is the data used in the rest of Inducks? |
| If a character was not in the legend, it is added with status "unknown". |
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hero
| What should the field look like? |
Syntax: fixed position, or [hero:xx,xx]
In FSB files: Fourth line, between the 2nd '/' and the next ';'. This is in fact a part of the app/xapp field. If empty, [hero:--] is assumed.
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| What does the field contain? |
Name (or abbreviation) of the main character of a story or movie.
In DBI files this must be the character(s) that are printed with the title (as logo or part of the title).
In DBS files:
Sometimes, this main character is given by the writer or editor of the story.
In other cases, we use the issue hero of the original print of the story.
If a story has no title hero: "--".
If a story has an apparent hero, but no hero is mentioned in the title, a ')' is added. For example: DD)
If a story has no hero in its title, both "--" and "DD)" are valid. It is for the indexer to decide which of the two options to use.
HF prefers to use "--", unless no xapp field is present. We may decide to drop the "DD)" possibility in the future.
For covers and illustrations (that usually don't have a title), the "apparent hero" is listed, without a ")".
More than one character can be listed, separated by commas. For often occurring combinations, we have own abbreviations, like M+G, D+D.
Heroes can also be "hero-only" things like DuckTales (DT), Goof Troop, Junglebook (JUN), etc.
See heroonly. |
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| Which checks are done? |
A value of "nn" is allowed as alias for "--" (except in movies.dbs).
A character name (or abbreviation) should only occur once in this field.
Every name should be mentioned in the characters legend.
Every name should also appear in the xapp field, unless:
- The name is marked as hero-only in the legend file (field heroonly)
- The name is followed by a '!'
- The hero is "--"
- The xapp for this item is not given anywhere in Inducks
- The name is mentioned in the seealso field of one of the xapp characters, for example [hero:HDL1] [xapp:HDL]
- The hero is DD in a YD or ZD item (newspaper strip)
- The hero is MM in a YM, YF, or ZM item (newspaper strip)
- The hero is WTP in a YW item (newspaper strip)
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| Which log messages are related to this field? |
Log1 (serious)
C02: ... is nonempty: <...> is not written to ISV file
- Information between () is ignored in this case.
Log2 (error)
210: hero <...> does not appear in xapp <...> (add ! to hero if this is intentional)
- This message is not given for YD/ZD stories with hero DD, YM/YF/ZM/ZQ stories with hero MM, and YW/ZW stories with hero WTP.
833: ... <...> is an ambiguous Italian name
- In FSB, the Italian character names are normally used. If such a name is not unique, a special FSB name should be used.
C11: Character [...] is both one-time and unknown
Log3 (info)
291: ... <...> is not in the dbl file
- Every name or abbreviation should be mentioned in the legend (with the exception for one-time characters).
294: ... <...> should be indicated as <...>
298: ... <...> should be spelled as <...>
- The field is almost right: some spaces or capital letters differ.
Log4 (pedantic)
211: do not use [hero:...)] when story has xapp
295: Character more than once in (x)app, as ... and indirectly as ...
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| Which CSV field(s) use this field? |
Table inducks_character, field onetime
Table inducks_herocharacter, field charactercode
Table inducks_herocharacter, field doubt
Table inducks_herocharacter, field number
Table inducks_logocharacter, field charactercode
Table inducks_logocharacter, field logocharactercomment
Table inducks_logocharacter, field number
Table inducks_logocharacter, field reallyintitle
Table inducks_movie, field appsummary
Table inducks_moviecharacter, field istitlecharacter
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| How is the data used in the rest of Inducks? |
| If a character was not in the legend, it is added with status "unknown". |
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xapp
| What should the field look like? |
Syntax: [xapp:xx(aa),xx(bb;cc)] where aa and bb can be a number
In FSB files: Fourth line, between the 2nd and 3rd '/'.
Characters are separated by commas or ';'.
Characters are considered "app" and not "xapp" if a question mark occurs (anywhere in the field).
Things between () behind a character are taken over, but "(?)" and "(??)" and "(???)" are converted to a single "?",
and "(1o)" (with a small superscript o) is converted to "(1st)".
If on line 5 (or subsequent): [lookalike:xxx] is used, the contents is added to the xapp (or app) with the comment "(lookalike)".
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| What does the field contain? |
An exact comma-separated list of appearing characters, including the title character.
Basically, all appearing characters must be listed.
If a character is a one-time character, its name starts with a *. These characters are not mandatory (not even in the xapp field).
The following text was written by BLi (in March 1999), on request of HF.
The HTMLisation was done by HF.
Changes: some new insights about appearances in pictures etc. added. HF, 27.04.2005 (and edited 13.12.2006)
Changes: again edited HF 2007-06-21 and 2010-06-10
XAPP FAQ *)
Q: What's this FAQ about anyway?
A: Read the title! About xapps of course!
Q: Meaning?
A: O.k., o.k., sorry! Just suffering a little from the effort to finally overcome myself and do this piece of text. Xapps of course are those fields like [xapp:DD,MM,GO] you
encounter in Inducks. This text intends to explain the purpose, rules and syntax a little bit.
Q: What does "xapp" mean exactly?
A: It's an abbreviation for "eXact Appearances". In those fields the Disney characters appearing in a specific story are listed, usually abbreviated.
Q: And those [app:] I'm also seeing in Inducks?
A: Those are the precedessors of xapps. We're currently eliminating and replacing them with xapp.
Q: What's the difference between [app:] and [xapp:]?
A: Well, like the name says [xapp:] is more exact than [app:]. For [app:] there have been very loose rules. So we try to replace all [app:] with [xapp:].
Q: Why do the effort?
A: Since Inducks continuously is growing in size, detail and contributers we simply changed our mind. Keeping track of the exact appearance helps us identifying new stories for Inducks, is of
better use for statistical purposes and should also help users of Inducks to find specific stories they might be looking for.
Q: Where do I find explanations for the abbreviations of the characters?
A: A list of the most used abbreviations is here: inducks.org/characterabbrev.php.
Q: I've never heard anything about a lot of the characters in xapp or in the legend file.
A: That's not a question, is it? But anyway, since we index almost every Disney character appearing in a story there are a lot of obscure ones, too. Also Inducks is an international
database of the stories appearing in the whole world we had to decide which names we assign to the characters. We ended up using the name of the character it has in the country of its
conception. The bulk of it of course is of American origin and well-known worldwide. But there are Disney productions in other countries as well, most notably in Italy, Brazil, France
and Denmark. For instance the character known in the U.S. as "Duck Avenger" (or "Superduck", Donald's superhero alter ego) is of Italian origin and is called "Paperinik" there, so its
abbreviation is "PK". Characters created by Egmont (Denmark) have English names though since the stories and characters mostly are conceived in English.
Q: So I can be sure now that a xapp contains all characters appearing in a story?
A: Almost. Remember that I said xapps are more exact than apps. We hardcore indexers kind of agree to index every character in a story anyway, so you can almost rely on that.
But the rules for "xapping" are a little less strict. You may rely on the characters listed in an xapp field appearing in a story (aside human inaccuracies of course).
You also may rely on Disney characters we consider as important not being in a story if they aren't listed in xapp.
Q: Which characters do you consider important?
A: Well, over the years we list more and more characters, even the ones that only occur in one story. So it's not that important anymore to know which characters are important.
Q: What do those numbers behind some abbreviations like "HDL1" and "BB2" mean?
A: HDL (Huey, Dewey and Louie) and BB (Beagle Boys) are characters we consider as "group characters". Others for instance are MF,AMJ,BBB,SIB (look the abbreviations up yourself).
Normally those group characters appear together. We consider it noteworthy if not all of them appear in a story. So "HDL2" for instance indicates only two of Donald's nephews appear
in the story. This goes only for interchangeable group characters though. Meaning those characters looking alike so they can't be differed by their visual appearance. Even if one
of HDL appears in a story and is called by a name it's indexed as "HDL1" since it may vary in translations.
Q: How comes I've seen a HDL4 but never more than a BB2?
A: Those are special cases. There are a few cases known where some artists (for instance Carl Barks
and Vicar) accidentally have drawn an additional fourth nephew in a panel. This "additional nephew" commonly is called "Phooey". But xapp-wise we index him simply as part of HDL4. The BB case
is different again. You might be aware of the fact that the exact number of Beagle Boys isn't known. So we consider every appearance of three or more BB as normal appearance indexed as
"BB" only. Only appearances with less than three BB are indexed as "BB2" or "BB1".
Q: But what if I want to list that a story has 12 beagle Boys?
A: Simply list the number of characters in brackets: BB(12).
Q: Not all group characters are interchangeable, aren't they? How are those indexed?
A: Right! There are other characters regularily appearing as groups though not identical in appearance. Examples are TLP, SD, CD, just to mention a few. If characters from
those groups appear individually they're indexed with their individual names in xapp. Don't confuse it with group names only used for the hero column.
Q: Group names in the hero column?
A: Yes, hero is the name of the character appearing in the title of the story. Some group characters are only used there
while they have to be indexed individually in xapp. Examples are M+D, D+D, AR, DT.
Q: What does [xapp:MM(1st)] mean?
A: Well, it's pretty obvious. (1st) indicates that this is the story this specific character appeared for the first time in a Disney comic.
The brackets after an abbreviation of a character are a general means to provide information for an xapp. Apart from "1st",
there are some others like "MM(cameo)", and the "BB(12)" that I already mentioned before.
Q: Cameo?
A: I'll adress this later on in this FAQ.
Q: I keep noticing Goofy and Super Goof in the same story. Aren't they the same person?
A: Yes, Super Goof (SG) is an alter-ego of Goofy (GO) (like Clark Kent and Superman). But SG stories as super hero stories are "another kind" of stories than normal GO stories.
So we decided to differ and treat them as "different persons". This is valid for other Disney characters with superhero identities and alter-egos as well, e.g. DD/PK, DA/Paperinika,
GiL/Super Gilly, FE/Paper Bat. Also HDL/JW.
Q: Huey, Dewey and Louie are different from Junior Woodchucks?
A: Not really of course. But we treat them again as "different persons" because JW stories again are another kind of story than "normal" HDL stories. So essentially we index JW if HDL can be
seen with their JW cap and HDL if they can be seen in their "normal" outfit. If they appear in both outfits in a story it's indexed as [xapp:HDL,JW].
Q: What about other Junior Woodchucks than HDL?
A: Well, the character "JW" also includes all other JWs not mentioned separately.
So if there's an officer or JW comrades of HDL they're not indexed aside "JW". This also means that "JW" might be indexed if HDL don't appear as JW but there are other
JW character in the story. This should occur not very often though. Not included in JW for instance is the "Mogul", the duck-like JW officer known from Carl Barks, Tony Strobl and Kay
Wright Junior Woodchucks stories. Also some characters of the Italian JW stories are indexed separately.
Q: There's a story with Phooey appearing as Junior Woodchuck. How's this indexed?
A: That's almost a little too specific for this FAQ and should only interest you if you want to index xapps yourself and come across this incident (which I doubt). But for the
record, I probably would index this as [xapp:HDL4,JW] even if HDL don't appear as "HDL".
Q: Hey, I might want to index xapps. What do I have to mind?
A: Well, apart from reading this FAQ, not that much. You can't go wrong if you index all characters in the story.
If you're not sure you got all right, then call the field only [app:].
Be warned, the rest of this FAQ is more or less specific and only interesting for those who indeed want to index xapps themselves.
Q: Does a phone call of a character count for xapp?
A: Not if he doesn't appear visually in the story elsewhere. A character "appears" only in a story if he can be visually seen by the reader. So it also doesn't count as xapp if a character
is talked to "out of the panel", is heard in the radio, has written a letter and so on.
Q: And if only a part of the body of a character appears in a story?
A: That's a tough one. But yes, if only a leg or another part of the body of a character can be seen in the story and it is clear who the character is it counts for xapp.
Q: I have a case where Goofy is covered by a blanket, he also is talking, but never seen.
A: Goofy is visually in the story and should be xapped. It's similar to Goofy as the Invisible Man where he isn't "seen" as well and is/should be xapped, too.
Q: What about pictures of characters in a story?
A: Xapping of pictures is recommended. It should always be accompanied by something between () like (picture), (dream), etc.
We also like to have "Cornelius Coot(statue)" in our xapps.
Q: But on covers, the characters are very often in "pictures"!
A: Ah, yes. We make an exception for covers (and illustrations) that are supposed to be photos.
But if a photo (or balloon, or illustration on a coin, etc.) appears in an illustration that also has normal appearances, we do add (photo) etc.
In other words:
- normally, you xapp them, but you must add "(photo)" etc.
- for covers and illustrations that are a "photo", you xapp them, but you don't add "(photo)" etc.
Q: What about dream appearances?
A: We consider those as taking part in the story. So it's a xapp. The same goes for appearances in thought balloons, appearances on TV etc.
Q: And what about appearances only in one panel?
A: You mean cameos? They count as a normal appearance. It's not about the importance of the role the character plays in a specific story but its "overall" importance. So if a
character appears even only in one panel in the background without any action or speech it is indexed in xapp. As I mentioned above this might be indicated as "DD(cameo)" for instance.
Q: Suppose I want to list a cameo of 12 Beagle Boys (yes, that would be a strange story...). How do I do that?
A: Ah, you mean you want to combine BB(12) and BB(cameo). In cases like that, use BB(12;cameo). Remember to always put the number first, then a semicolon and then the rest.
Q: Is there a special sort order in the xapp fields?
A: No. They may be sorted alphabetically by our processing programs. But it's not really necessary since there are also intelligent programs to compare the
contents of the fields without the need of having them sorted.
Q: Back to the alter-ego stuff. Aren't those BB in Ducktales different from normal BB?
A: Well, you can see it this way. So is GO from Goof Troop, Baloo from Talespin, CD from Rescue Rangers and so on. But even if the outfits and roles are a little bit different
we don't need to differ in abbreviation or with brackets since the different universes and series are indexed elsewhere, so it can be seen.
Q: In the story I PK 51-2, Paperinik wears the masks featuring Gladstone and Fethry. A superficial reading of the story lets the reader believe that Gladstone and Fethry appear in it.
Only a careful reading of the text reveals that those were in fact Paperink appropriately disguised. Should I xapp Gladstone and Fethry or not?
A: Yes, they should be indexed. Visual appearance here. Feel free to make a comment or a bracket like "(not really)" or something.
Q: Do you really think anybody reads this crap to the end?
A: Actually I expect at least Harry Fluks - whom you have to thank for pressing this FAQ out of me - to read it. Also the rest of the Inducks gang will have a look at it.
Everybody else who gets here exceeds my expectations, but of course is welcome.
Q: But aren't you Harry yourself, at least partly? I know I am partly Brix and partly Harry, since Harry edited this text heaviliy after Brix wrote it.
A: Uhm... Next question please!
* Actually most of these questions haven't been asked so far or this way, not to mention frequently. But doing a FAQ fakes an importance or a common interest worth the effort. |
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| Which log messages are related to this field? |
Log1 (serious)
287: Field ... contains an item (...) more than once
- Every name or abbreviation should occur only once.
Log2 (error)
210: hero <...> does not appear in xapp <...> (add ! to hero if this is intentional)
- This message is not given for YD/ZD stories with hero DD, YM/YF/ZM/ZQ stories with hero MM, and YW/ZW stories with hero WTP.
213: character in names-field <...> for <...> does not appear in xapp <...> (add ! if this is intentional)
292: hero-only <...> not allowed in (x)app
463: Entry (...) has xapp:... while story has non-matching app:...
464: app:... does not match with story xapp:...
481: xapp differs: story <...> - issue <...>
833: ... <...> is an ambiguous Italian name
- In FSB, the Italian character names are normally used. If such a name is not unique, a special FSB name should be used.
C11: Character [...] is both one-time and unknown
Log3 (info)
288: One-time character in (x)app <*...> is also in characters.dbl
291: ... <...> is not in the dbl file
- Every name or abbreviation should be mentioned in the legend (with the exception for one-time characters).
293: ... <...> is an ambiguous name
294: ... <...> should be indicated as <...>
298: ... <...> should be spelled as <...>
- The field is almost right: some spaces or capital letters differ.
305: One-time character (...) also used in ...
460: xapp:... not in story file (source ...)
462: xapp:... not in story file (source ...) only app (...)
Log4 (pedantic)
211: do not use [hero:...)] when story has xapp
214: character <...=...> appears in ... comic but has no name in that language
295: Character more than once in (x)app, as ... and indirectly as ...
482: issue xapp <...> seems incomplete: story xapp is <...>
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| Which CSV field(s) use this field? |
Table inducks_appearance, field appearancecomment
Table inducks_appearance, field charactercode
Table inducks_appearance, field doubt
Table inducks_appearance, field number
Table inducks_character, field onetime
Table inducks_movie, field appisxapp
Table inducks_movie, field appsummary
Table inducks_moviecharacter, field charactercode
Table inducks_statcharactercharacter, field charactercode
Table inducks_statcharactercharacter, field cocharactercode
Table inducks_statcharactercountry, field charactercode
Table inducks_statcharacterstory, field charactercode
Table inducks_statpersoncharacter, field charactercode
Table inducks_storyversion, field appisxapp
Table inducks_storyversion, field appsummary
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| How is the data used in the rest of Inducks? |
If a character was not in the legend, it is added with status "unknown".
The xapp of a story item is used to check the xapps of all entries that refer to the story, or fill them if they are empty. |
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