English > Feature Suggestions
What PVD is missing is...
rick.ca:
--- Quote ---seems we find LOGIC to be different at times
--- End quote ---
It's not my fault Aristotle is rolling in his grave. ;)
Anson:
--- Quote from: nostra on July 04, 2009, 01:28:46 pm ---I will not add a new checkbox field (unless there is smth very important to solve with it).
--- End quote ---
true and reasonable
at first, i had wished for several more fields myself, but always having a hundred different checkboxes and other fields which somebody would like to have, would be really bad for all other people who only get a screen full of unused fields.
--- Quote ---You use custom fields to add any number of checkboxes and achieve functionality you need. Advanced search can be used to filter by those fields.
--- End quote ---
yes, that is exactly what i do now, but the more custom fields and corresponding different advanced searches i use, the more important it will be in the future to store and recall (or whatever other method you might have for such a functionality) those searches for quick access and filtering.
--- Quote from: nostra on June 30, 2009, 04:03:19 pm ---
--- Quote from: korbenPL on June 30, 2009, 09:01:31 am ---I use PVD to keep track of the flicks I've seen AND [then] bought.
--- End quote ---
So what's the problem? When adding a movie you check the "Seen" checkbox and "Wish" checkbox. When you buy the movie, you uncheck the "Wish" checkbox.
--- End quote ---
this ignores cases where i have seen a movie, don't own the DVD, but also don't want to buy it.
Since there are lots of other ideas about what "wish" means, I use a custom multiselect list to store info like "wish to buy collector's edition immediately", "wish to buy original DVD immediately", "wish to buy original DVD only at discount", "wish to record from TV", etc, and maybe even "wish to see in cinema" :-)
Some time ago, i read a suggestion/question whether "computed fields" would be nice. Maybe this would be another use for a computed field, if i could automatically set the standard "wish" field to true if the multiselect was not empty (but modifying standard fields probably would be too difficult and cause too many problems).
Another better use of computed fields might be to combine several other fields into one new field and then be able to sort on that field. This would solve many problems which currently exist when someone wants to sort a list eg according to year and title, or eg rating and seendate.
--- Quote from: rick.ca on July 04, 2009, 08:31:09 am ---If you prefer a Xmas gift of substance, wish for the ability to save advanced searches to a search menu. You would then have full-blown, fully customizable "filtering" at your fingertips, instead of just one more wimpy girly filter. 8)
--- End quote ---
sounds nice, maybe even having all the userdefined searches (which really are filters, aren't they?) as an additional item in the filters menu, with two buttons on the "advanced search" dialog to "store this search as new filter" and to "overwrite an existing filter with this search" (for editing a search)
--- Quote from: rick.ca on June 30, 2009, 09:55:13 am ---Use the "Movies on hard drives/removable drives" filter. Contrary to what the caption implies, this filter is simply triggered by something being in the file path field.
--- End quote ---
It must be a bit more complicated since there are two different options for harddrives and removable drives. Or does PVD assume all movies to be on any drive, and thus all movies which are not on a harddrive are automatically on a removable drive ?
All other filters have options to filter for "on" and "off", and for "all" which is effectively a "either on or off" ("don't care"). Since "on" and "off" are exclusive, those three options take care of every meaningful combination. But one filter is different: how can i look for movies on "harddrives OR removable media", and how can i look for "movies on NO drives"? To me it looks as if those two additional options should be easy to add to the drives-filter menu ...
rick.ca:
--- Quote ---this ignores cases where i have seen a movie, don't own the DVD, but also don't want to buy it.
--- End quote ---
No, it doesn't. Those are "seen" and "not on HDD." It seems your misunderstanding is connected with...
--- Quote ---Or does PVD assume all movies to be on any drive, and thus all movies which are not on a harddrive are automatically on a removable drive ?
--- End quote ---
As you quoted me...
--- Quote ---Contrary to what the caption implies, this filter is simply triggered by something being in the file path field.
--- End quote ---
All of the filters are of the form true/false/ignore one particular attribute. In this case, the attribute is the existence of a file path, not specifically a HDD or removable media path.
Anson:
--- Quote from: rick.ca on October 07, 2009, 09:22:20 pm ---No, it doesn't. Those are "seen" and "not on HDD."
--- End quote ---
you deleted the quote from nostra which i was referring to (where he only spoke of the "seen" and "wish" fields and not a "not on HDD" field). since nostra named the checkbox "wish" and named the corresponding filters "owned", i think he intended to use only that field and not also look at other fields like file path, and thus my original comment still stands.
your suggestion for a workaround (see below why i don't call it a solution) to use the file path and corresponding filters is very enlightening and shows another method to use because of exactly that problem that the "wish=notowned" field is not good enough for that pupose. it even caused to show up and clarify several of the misunderstandings related to these fields. thanks!
btw: when searching, I found a few partial lists from old versions in connection with plugins and referring to fields as numbers etc. is there some current list of all standard fieldnames and their types? (maybe even with a short info about restrictions like size of short text and long text, etc. or does PVD only use some default field types which i should look up at the firebird site)
--- Quote ---It seems your misunderstanding is connected with...
--- Quote ---Or does PVD assume all movies to be on any drive, and thus all movies which are not on a harddrive are automatically on a removable drive ?
--- End quote ---
As you quoted me...
--- Quote ---Contrary to what the caption implies, this filter is simply triggered by something being in the file path field.
--- End quote ---
All of the filters are of the form true/false/ignore one particular attribute. In this case, the attribute is the existence of a file path, not specifically a HDD or removable media path.
--- End quote ---
too bad that the menu options don't use the proper words to describe what is filtered and we needed your explanation what really would be meant.
When i get to reading DVD and file info for my collection, i would have to filter "files on harddisk" to find scanned files on my removable USB drives or DVDR, and filter "files on removable media" to find which files from my harddisk i didn't scan yet and/or which movies i don't own ? ... what a confusion :-(
is this translation of the filters correct now ?
- not owned = wished
- owned = not wished (including movies i hate and never will own)
- files on harddisk = files exist and have been scanned
- files on removable media = movie not owned or not scanned yet
As the wording currently is, i had thought it to be some help for playing movies: movies on harddisk are always available, while you need to get and insert/mount removable media first to watch movies on them, but i assumed for both types that they already had been scanned. A functionality like this would be a real nice feature suggestion for future versions.
since you (almost? only?) have movies on harddisk and probably even with proper original titles, it is easy for you to scan them, but when i am forced to scan all DVDs i buy or have bought it costs a lot of time and has very "mixed" results since PVD is no DVD management software but only movie management software which doesn't handle the original DVD's filenames too well when i shall associate them with specific movies, especially when having a multi-disc set with several DVD for a single movie and/or having additional movies on the same DVD (eg makingof, documentaries, additional short films, etc which even have entries in the IMDB, or trailers etc which have no such entries). Also scanning files will not be easy for me since i mostly have used the titles as they appeared on TV, thus being localized (in the best case maybe AKA titles) instead of original titles, and always are missing the year.
feature suggestion (many other people already suggested this too): the ability of PVD to rename files according to some pattern from the database, eg "otitle (year) [title]" so that i can better scan the files if i move them etc.
I now would be able to write any dummy text (like "DVD" or "DVDR") in that filepath field to use the filter without scanning the media, but instead rather will use my own custom fields for remembering what parts i still have to see and what kind of wishes i have. it is the same amount of work to edit each record, gives me more info, and also will save me from future problems when standard fields like the filepath might be overwritten with new info.
ps: while searching for something and not finding it, i found some other random info.
since the other post is old, i am saying my thanks for that hint here :-)
--- Quote from: rick.ca on November 02, 2008, 04:01:27 am ---URL's can point anywhere, including your hard drive. The program allows you to put URL in the description and comment fields by right-clicking and choosing Create Hyperlink (and link type = URL). All that does is enter <link url="[value]">[text]</link>. If you enter [value] = file:\\\c:\path to trailers\title trailer.avi and [text] = Trailer, you'll have a link that will play the trailer in your associated media player.
--- End quote ---
the idea of rightclicking fields didn't occur to me before, but now i will be able to do lots of useful, stupid and crazy things with those links which can not only be used in comments and description, but also in the tagline and most of all generally can be generated in any memo fields, including custom fields !
- linking to other websites which specialize in (localized) TV series info
- linking to my own txt files where i stored additional info on series
- links inside the database, eg when one movie is released on a disk together with another
- much much more
and while i started rightclicking fields, i discovered that there is LOTS more to discover in PVD, eg the ability to modify movie connections, and while doing so, the "add new movie" ("select a movie") dialog starts to make much more sense :-)
rick.ca:
This has nothing to do with my "suggestion for a workaround" (I made no such suggestion), or even nostra's intent in providing the filters. They are what they are—simple, consistent, mathematical realities. Their menu captions have absolutely no influence over what the program does. If you don't like a default caption, change it. Since you're obsessed with the need for precision, I suggest something like:
[Attribute] Ignored
[Attribute] False
[Attribute] True
where [Attribute] is, for example (to use the one you insist on being confused about), Pathname IS EMPTY.
[Rant on] With them named this way, maybe you can then focus on adapting them to their best purpose according to your personal circumstances and preferences. And before you suggest there is a deficiency in the program design, or that that you need an additional feature, I would hope you would fully explore the possibilities for adapting your circumstances or preferences to the program. To be honest, I'm getting rather pissed with the attitude (not just your's) reflected by, "I want to do it my way. Please change the program." I'm sorry—I just don't get it. Nostra seems like a sane fellow. Why would he invest more time in some aspect of the program to appease users who don't even respect the work he's already done? And on a more personal note, why should I bother helping someone adapt to the program when they dismiss anything I suggest as a mere "workaround" in defence of a flawed program?[/rant off]
You can argue there should be more or different attributes supported. But we've had that discussion before, and I believe the conclusion was there is no compelling need. If you have some difficulty applying or adapting the program's design to your particular circumstances, it doesn't necessarily mean there's any deficiency in the program design. The deficiency can just as easily be said to be in your personal database management/workflow design.
In case you should think otherwise, I'm not joking or being dismissive about your confusion over the filter menu names. There's no requirement the fields those attributes are based on be used for exactly the same purpose the default menu captions and field names suggest. "Wish" is just a flag—it can be used for whatever you like. "Loaned" has a specific loan/return functionality associated with it, but it doesn't have to be used for that purpose. I use it to apply a sort of categorized flag (where "borrower" is the category). So the default captions are not necessarily meaningful, and judging the program behaviour based on them is pointless.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version