Coin collecting software?

[QUOTE='Ol Silver]David, Where did you find Coin Manage? I currenty just use Microsoft Word to keep track of my collection but I'm tired of its limitations and manual updating. It would be nice to have an actual program designed just for coins. I tried Coin Elite but also had some problems with it locking up but that was a few years back. Maybe they have a newer version that works better.[/QUOTE]http://www.libertystreet.com/shots21.htm

 

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Thank you sir!

 

Thats what i use and it works great.
you can enter images of each coin and get the value's updated.
Itwas given to me by a friend.

 

That needs to be recompiled for Mac OS X. I don't like using X11 if I don't have to.

The solution I went with was using an old (and therefore cheap) version of FileMaker Pro to create my own collection database.

Despite what mrbrklyn says, it's not that simple. For one thing Perl is butt-ugly. Python is a much better choice.

 

Hi Ruben,

If you don't mind, could you provide the lines of code mentioned in your post? I'm looking to create something simple enough for tracking my metal detecting finds, and this sounds like it will allow me to design it with fields the suggested software do not seem to have.

Thanks.

Angel

 

pod

=head1 SQLPARSE.pm

=head2 $Id: SQLHANDLE.pm,v 1.5 2001/02/09 02:47:16 brian Exp $

=head3 Copyright Ruben Safir 1997

=over 4

=item Overview

This class is used to hold data normally associated with DBI/SQL database retreival. It is largly a wrapper for DBI/DBD. The idea is to create an object which holds both the databse handle and the data retrieved. Currently, it has fields for a fetching method, the SQL statement, a reference to records, and the name of the database to be retrieved from. It currently is statically pointed to localhost and using a default password for the database. This might change over time.

=item B<Creating a new database object>

The basic way to create a new SQLHANDLE object is to do the following:

$objref = SQLHANDLE-E<gt>allocate($database);

where $database name is a string that names the database you wish
to connect to.

=item B<Retrieving records>

To retrieve records, you use the following syntax:

$records_ref=$objref-E<gt>records('fetch_method','statement')

The fetch method is optional for retrieving records. It defaults to storing any array reference of records in the records field of the object. For example:

$obj=SQLHANDLE-E<gt>allocate($database);
$recsref=SQLHANDLE-E<gt>records("SELECT * from people");
for $tmp @$recref{
@all_fields = @$tmp;

}

if you use both of these arguments, they must be in this order.

=item next_record

The method next_records has the same syntax as records, but next_records forces a call to the database, whereas records will only call to the database if there is no information in records aleady (i.e., if you have already made a call to records). This behavior of next_records allows you to retrieve current information when it is possible the database has changed, you have changed your statement or fetch_method, or when you use a fetch_method that does not retrieve all of the information in one call.

All other methods in the object work in two ways. One, assign a new value to the private fields and two, retrieving values from the private fields. For example:

$sqlref->database('people')

will change the database name to people. However:

$databasename = $sqlref->database();

will return the current database name.

This behavior is the same for the rest of the methods (i.e., fetch_method and statement).

Sub classes may also overload the methods in SQLHANDLE, such as the method statement which is overloaded in SQLPARSE, because you should not simply assign a statement when using SQLPARSE. You should allow SQLPARSE to parse it for you.

=item B<INSERTING RECORDS>

Inserting Records is not done through the records method. This is done by design because SQLHANDLE is mostly a CGI based tool and querrying information is far more common than inserting or updating data. It does provide for inserting records with the insert_statement method. But you have to fed it an entire SQL insert statement for it to work.

For example:

my $statement = "INSERT INTO calander VALUES('$date', '$start', '$end', '$event', '$user')";
$obj->insert_statement($statement)


=back

=item COPYRIGHT LICENSE:

Copyright Ruben Safir and Brian Sietz 1999

Preamble

The licenses for most software are designed to take away your freedom to share and change it. By contrast, the GNU General Public License is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free software--to make sure the software is free for all its users. This General Public License applies to most of the Free Software Foundation's software and to any other program whose authors commit to using it. (Some other Free Software Foundation software is covered by the GNU Library General Public License instead.) You can apply it to your programs, too.

When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not price. Our General Public Licenses are designed to make sure that you have the freedom to distribute copies of free software (and charge for this service if you wish), that you receive source code or can get it if you want it, that you can change the software or use pieces of it in new free programs; and that you know you can do these things.

To protect your rights, we need to make restrictions that forbid anyone to deny you these rights or to ask you to surrender the rights. These restrictions translate to certain responsibilities for you if you distribute copies of the software, or if you modify it.

For example, if you distribute copies of such a program, whether gratis or for a fee, you must give the recipients all the rights that you have. You must make sure that they, too, receive or can get the source code. And you must show them these terms so they know their rights.

We protect your rights with two steps: (1) copyright the software, and (2) offer you this license which gives you legal permission to copy, distribute and/or modify the software.

Also, for each author's protection and ours, we want to make certain that everyone understands that there is no warranty for this free software. If the software is modified by someone else and passed on, we want its recipients to know that what they have is not the original, so that any problems introduced by others will not reflect on the original authors' reputations.

Finally, any free program is threatened constantly by software patents. We wish to avoid the danger that redistributors of a free program will individually obtain patent licenses, in effect making the program proprietary. To prevent this, we have made it clear that any patent must be licensed for everyone's free use or not licensed at all.

The precise terms and conditions for copying, distribution and modification follow.
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=cut

package SQLHANDLE; #BASE CLASS
use DBI;
use Carp;
use strict;
use vars qw(@ISA);
@ISA = qw(DBI); #INHERITS FROM DBI



sub allocate{
my($pkg) = shift;
my($database) = shift;
my $r_statement = bless {
'_fetch_method' => 'fetchall_arrayref',
'_statement' => 0,
'_records' => 0,
'_database' => $database,
'_dbh' => SQLHANDLE::getdbh($database),
}, $pkg;
return $r_statement;
}


sub records{
#print "i'm in records in SQLHANDLE.pm\n";

my ($objref) = undef;
my ($firstarg) = undef;
my ($secondarg) = undef;
#if records already exist don't retrieve again
if ($objref->{'_records'}) {
return $objref->{'_records'};
}

$objref = shift;
#print "OBJREF HANDLE: $objref";
$firstarg = shift;
#print "FIRST ARG: $firstarg";
$secondarg = shift;

#$dont_print_statement = shift;
#figure out what is the fetch and what is the statement
#######################################################
#This doesn't work with strict!!! $firstarg not #
# defined. The documentation says it should work #
#with just the statement. If the $firstarg is #
# why not just put the default argument in straight up#
#God knows how many things I'm going to break now #
# Changing this.......... RIS 01/10/2000 #
#######################################################

$firstarg =$objref->fetch_method unless( defined $firstarg);#risjan102000

my ($input_fetch_method, $input_statement);
if ($firstarg =~ /^fetch/) {
#print "\nFIRST ARG HANDLE:$firstarg\n";
$input_fetch_method = $firstarg;
$input_statement = $secondarg;
}
else {
$input_statement = $firstarg;
}

#if a statement or fetch method passed, set values in object
if ($input_fetch_method) {
$objref->fetch_method($input_fetch_method);
}
if ($input_statement) {
$objref->statement($input_statement);
}


my($fetch_method) = $objref->fetch_method();
my($database) = $objref->database();
my($statement) = $objref->statement();
#my($dbh) = $objref->connect("DBI:mysql:$database:localhost", 'apache','some_password');
#print STDERR "STATMENT $statement";
my($sth) = $objref->{_dbh}->prepare($statement);
# my($sth) = $objref->prepare($statement);
#print STDERR "STATMENT $statement\n\n";
my($rv) = $sth->execute or croak "died line 117 - STATMENT $statement $! ";
# my($rv) = $objref->execute;
$_ = $fetch_method;
SWITCH: {
if (/^fetchall_arrayref$/) { $objref->{'_records'} = $sth->fetchall_arrayref; last SWITCH; }
if (/^fetchrow_array$/) { $objref->{'_records'} = $sth->fetchrow_array; last SWITCH; }
if (/^fetchrow_arrayref$/) { $objref->{'_records'} = $sth->fetchrow_arrayref; last SWITCH; }
if (/^fetchrow_hashref$/) { $objref->{'_records'} = $sth->fetchrow_hashref; last SWITCH; }
if (/^fetchall_hashref$/) {
my $row_ref;
while ($row_ref = $sth->fetchrow_hashref) {
unshift(@{$objref->{'_records'}}, $row_ref);
}
last SWITCH;
}
my $error = "Invalid fetching method specified: $fetch_method";
#add apache die
return $error;
}

return $objref->{'_records'};
}

sub next_records {

my ($objref) = shift;
my (@restargs) = @_;
undef $objref->{'_records'};
$objref->records(@restargs);
return $objref->{'_records'};
}


sub statement {
#print "i'm in statement in SQLHANDLE.pm\n";

my ($objref) = shift;
my ($input_statement) = shift;
if ($input_statement) {
$objref->{'_statement'} = $input_statement;
}
return $objref->{'_statement'};

}
sub fetch_method {
#print "i'm in fetch_method in SQLHANDLE.pm\n";

my ($objref) = shift;
my ($input_fetch_method) = shift;
if ($input_fetch_method) {

$objref->{'_fetch_method'} = $input_fetch_method;
}
return $objref->{'_fetch_method'};

}
sub database {
#print "i'm in database in SQLHANDLE.pm\n";

my ($objref) = shift;
my ($input_database) = shift;
if ($input_database) {
$objref->{'_database'} = $input_database;
}
return $objref->{'_database'};
}

sub insert_statement{
my $objref = shift;
my $statement = shift;
my $sth = $objref->{_dbh}->prepare($statement) or die "$!";
# my $rv = $sth->execute or die "$! killed $statement\n";
my $rv = $sth->execute or print STDERR "$! $statement\n";
$rv = $sth->{mysql_insertid};
print STDERR "RV is $rv\n";
return $rv;
}

sub update{
my $objref = shift;
my $statement = shift;
my $sth = $objref->{_dbh}->prepare($statement);
my $rv = $sth->execute;
return $rv;
}

sub getdbh{
my $objref = shift;
my $database= undef;
if( ref($objref) ){
return $objref->{_dbh};
}
$database = $objref;
if (!$database){
die "$! $database\n";
}

my $dbh = SQLHANDLE->connect("DBI:mysql:$database:localhost", 'apache','some_passwd') or die "$!";
return $dbh;
}

return 1;

 

WOW Ruben,
There is no way I'm gonna try and tackle something like that.
You have Soo validated my computer inadequacies.

I think I'm going to go with Coin Manage 2005.

 

Its all documentaiton on how to use it. This module just makes it easier to access the database.

$obj->allocate("passwd");
$coins = $obj->records("Select coins where date = '1793');

thats all there is too it. If you can use a computer you can do this.

Ruben

 

It does look daunting at first sight, but most of it does appear to be documentation, and the required licensing verbiage.

Thanks for posting it, Ruben.

Angel

 

I agree with you silver

 

Not like any documentation I'm used to. So you are saying that if I copy and paste those pages of (what I would call) jibberish into my web browser or maybe try as an e-mail address... back comes my polished program ready to enter coins into? :computer:

No worries Ruben. I'm sure to you it may be second nature but I hold no ambition to try and learn it. Maybe that sounds ridiculous to you but I've got a number of higher priorities for my few years left on this planet than learn computer programing. I'll leave that to those more able and inclined.

 

Not in the browser, in a file and click on it

 

I use excel and make my own columns such as purchase price, date, etc. As for values, I use the yearly Red Book and have columns for EF-40, MS60, MS63 and MS65 (or what ever you wish). It takes some time. but that is the hobby part I enjoy.

Now...if you want a decent FREE software. Go to Heritage Coin Auctions:

Heritage Auctions LINK

Now sign up and enter your collection under "My Collection"

The best part of this is that current wholesale prices are automatically updated so that you can see how your coin investments are doing. You can enter in the coin, what service graded it if any, how much you paid for it, date you bought it, date you sold it, plus whatever notes you wish to add.

Print out the report for your files OR just keep it stored securly online. Also, Heritage has a "My Want List" and you can see how many other Heritage members have your coin on their wish list. The more the merrier, because if you have to sell, you can see how market demand is (or not) for your coins.

I like it...and again, it is FREE!!!

 

Here is one I came across Virtual Coin Cabinet. It is free, unless you want technical support, that costs. But software always works perfectly, right?

I have not had much time to mess with it but looks like a neat little program.

 

From personal experience, both coin collecting applications for Mac OS X are utter crap.

 

NEEDS MORE PYTHON :hammer: :hammer: :hammer:

 

OK, after talking to a couple of my more computer expert buddies I'm growingly intrigued by the Excel-build-your-own-spreadsheet approach. I know this sacrifices the automatic value update feature however
1) they seem to be off or not very current on the values and more importantly,
2) I think someone was right in saying it is part of the fun to revise values each year.

This would solve my hand-transfer-human-error concerns, allow for a far less clunky process and summaries, and be much less onerous to maintain than anything I've tried to date.
Maybe it's not the full blown program writing some have suggested but will offer most everything I am interested in.

I've drafted one myself but it seems pretty simple with only date, mintmark, quantity, condition, value, amount, purchace price, and notes columns. Totals of each category (sheet) would go automatically to a summary sheet.

Any body have a Excel coin inventory template they are willing to share?

 

I've been using Excel for probably three years now, it's great for my collection. I would love to share the templates and all, but my comp with the sheets is out for a few weeks. A few sample templates using excel were on here a month or so ago, try searching for that link.

 

Midas. Thanks for the website. Just put a few of my coins in there. Very easy to use and the prices are right up to date. Thanks again.