English > Feature Suggestions

Have child windows not lock main screen

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pencilhead:
Hi,
would it be possible to have pop up windows not lock main program window (ie. open in non-modal mode).

I am performing a bulk download of posters.
ie.
Select a bunch of movies in left hand pane ( they have already been populated from imdb/import from excel etc).
When I am unsure of which poster matches the move, I would like to be able to select the movie from main screen.
I could then make an informed decision on which is the correct poster to choose based on the information that is presented on main screen.


For example:
I select 10 movies from main screen, go to "Get posters from amazon" plugin.
The program queries amazon and pops up a list of thumbnails for me to choose from for each movie.
I select the one I want.
Program inserts poster and queries the next movie in the list.
now.
Program queries a movie (for example "taken"). There are 10 different movies called "taken" and I can't remember what the movie is.
The thumbnail dialogue displays 10 different posters for "Taken" and I can't remember which one is mine.

I can either guess and review it at the end, skip it and review it at the end or cancel manually check the details of the movie "taken" from main screen and start the run again.

What I would like is the ability to click on the movie "taken" in the main screen while the thumbnail dialogue box is open. I could then see what the movie is about and match it to the thumbnail box that has been presented from amazon.

I believe all that needs to be done is for the popup box to be open in non-modal mode. This will allow interaction with the main screen while the popup is open.

Regards
PH

rick.ca:

--- Quote ---I believe all that needs to be done is for the popup box to be open in non-modal mode.
--- End quote ---

I have no idea what would be involved in implementing this or what the pitfalls might be. It seems clear, however, it's unnecessary if the plugin is finding posters with 100% accuracy...


--- Quote from: rick.ca on July 26, 2009, 04:44:43 am ---If Amazon poster searches are so inaccurate, maybe we should be asking if there's any way that can be improved. Poster plugin searches should be happening after the movie information download has been completed—so there should be enough "good" information with which to do a search that gives accurate results. So maybe the plugin should use Amazon's advanced search page, using Title and Director to ensure it gets only correct posters. Amazon, being what it is, will also throw in crap like packaged sets, but those appear at the end of the list and are easy to spot.
--- End quote ---

I think the problems and shortcomings of the Amazon plugin (an perhaps similar ones) need to be addressed first.

The suggestion refers to pop-up windows in general, but I can't think of how this might be applicable in other circumstances. There are things about the file scan results dialog that make me wish I could access other parts of the program, but I think these are issues that should be addressed in the design of the file scanner.

patch:

--- Quote from: pencilhead on July 27, 2009, 01:57:11 am ---I believe all that needs to be done is for the popup box to be open in non-modal mode. This will allow interaction with the main screen while the popup is open.

--- End quote ---
+1
Provided it does not add significant complexity to the code.

pencilhead:
I'll try and repost so I don't offend rick.ca fine sensibilities and have my posts deleted...


--- Quote from: rick.ca on July 27, 2009, 02:33:22 am ---It seems clear, however, it's unnecessary if the plugin is finding posters with 100% accuracy...

--- End quote ---
You don't understand my issue.
Posters are being found with 100% accuracy.  I would like the ability to select the movie from the main database while the poster selection dialogue box is open. So I can make an informed choice about which poster to choose when there is confusion.

Again to try and explain....
I have 100 movies I have impored, run the plugin from IMDB got all the information, but no posters have downloaded (for whatever reason).
When I run the get posters plugin, I get presented with a choice of posters.
I then choose a poster to match my movie.
If I can't remember what the movie is about and there are multiple different movies with the same name, I am unable to select the details from the main window. ie The main window can't be activated. For non-programmers this is called "modal mode"
I want to be able to compare the downloaded thumbnails with the information that currently resides in the database.
For this to happen, the program needs to be modified so the window is opened in "non-modal mode". This will allow the user to interact with the main database program, select the movie to be reviewed and then choose the appropriate poster as desired.

This has nothing to do worth plugins, how amazon works etc, it is an enhancement to the main program, that will allow me to overcome my particular mouse trap and at least 1 other person.

nostra:
Of course it is possible to make PVD act like this, but considering the fact that I do not really understand why Title, Original title and Year (which are shown in the selection dialog) are not enough for proper movie selection and that implementation of it will indeed need more than trivial coding, this new behavoir will not be implemented any time soon. Sorry  :-\

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