For EmulationStation. Used for merging sets or restoring hand-crafted edits after a new scrape.

merge_gamelists.py

import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET
import sys

def update_game_data(old_file, new_file, output_file):
    old_tree = ET.parse(old_file)
    old_root = old_tree.getroot()
    
    new_tree = ET.parse(new_file)
    new_root = new_tree.getroot()
    
    old_games = {game.find('path').text: game for game in old_root.findall('game')}
    new_games = {game.find('path').text: game for game in new_root.findall('game')}
    
    for path, new_game in new_games.items():
        if path in old_games:
            old_game = old_games[path]
            
            old_name = old_game.find('name')
            new_name = new_game.find('name')
            old_description = old_game.find('desc')
            new_description = new_game.find('desc')

            if old_name is not None and old_name.text is not None and old_name.text.strip() and old_description is not None and old_description.text is not None and old_description.text.strip():
                new_name.text = old_name.text
                new_description.text = old_description.text
            
            old_image = old_game.find('image')
            new_image = new_game.find('image')
            if (new_image is None or new_image.text is None) and old_image is not None and old_image.text is not None and old_image.text.strip():
                new_image = ET.SubElement(new_game, 'image')
                new_image.text = old_image.text
    
    new_tree.write(output_file, encoding='utf-8', xml_declaration=True)
    print(f"Updated file saved as {output_file}")

def print_usage():
    print("Usage: python script.py <old_data.xml> <new_data.xml> [<output_file.xml>]")
    print("Example: python script.py old_data.xml new_data.xml merged_data.xml")
    print("If <output_file.xml> is not provided, the default 'merged_gamelist.xml' will be used.")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    if len(sys.argv) < 3 or len(sys.argv) > 4:
        print_usage()
    else:
        old_file = sys.argv[1]
        new_file = sys.argv[2]
        output_file = sys.argv[3] if len(sys.argv) == 4 else 'merged_gamelist.xml'
        update_game_data(old_file, new_file, output_file)