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Adding movies, etc.

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rick.ca:

--- Quote ---my suggestion for a fix: either implement the above restrictions for "new..." (don't open existing databases or at least warn) and "open..." (don't create new databases or at least warn), or merge the two commands to a single "open/new" command which behaves like it currently does. For security reasons, I would prefer the former (two commands with warnings).
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In short, New and Open should generally function as most Windows users would expect them to. More specifically, periods should be allowed in filenames, and only PVD extensions should be allowed. In other words, New should only be able to create PVD files, and Open should only be able to see PVD files.


--- Quote ---That's why i tried so hard to learn about uniqueness, and/or to try and create uniqueness with the methods available in PVD.
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Well, then, I probably shouldn't say it, but... you're only scratching the surface. PVD is a relational database. If you're using in the way most of us do, for each movie you add something in the order of 100 related movies (depending on your configuration and types of movies) are added as "invisible" records. These are all the movies in the filmographies of the people in the movie you added. The program manages to do that without bothering you about very real issues of uniqueness and duplication. If you really are concerned about this and don't mind being bothered, there are some "Adding records" settings at Preferences - Miscellaneous.


--- Quote ---it would be nice if i could setup several schemes for "tree view nodes" to easily and quickly switch between them and not have to go through preferences to change that, for viewing lists sorted by movie series name and sequence (eg 007, Godzilla), or theme series and sequence (eg "other japanese monster movies" :-) or sorted by folder/box where i keep the DVD, etc.
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The ability to save multi-level grouping configurations would be nice, and has been requested. It's not necessary for single level groupings, however. For any field that can be grouped, just right-click on the field data in the movie panel and select Group movies by...


--- Quote ---but there is one problem with the title field: when i have movie connections to series, the title of the series and the episode number are included in the link, and PVD puts them in the original title and in the title.
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You've lost me. Please provide an example.


--- Quote ---That applies even more if i already have nicely prepared a series (with all details, posters, whatever) and those connections still point to "virtual movie entries" for the episodes which have no info at all besides a title and an URL.
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With this much I can agree, but I'm not familiar with the issues. In an effort to limit the number of (invisible) movies in my database, I download only "Followed by" connections. If you're concerned about this, I suggest you do some thorough testing to determine what exactly is happening and what the issues are. For example, does it make any difference if the series referred to already exists in the database when the movie with the connection to it is added? If the series exists, are the "virtual entries" detected as duplicates and remove by Optimize database?


--- Quote ---(btw: i see it as missing feature when i am not warned about losing a record with possibly lots of data because of having neither title nor original title.)
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I think it's intuitively obvious a title has to be entered to create a record. Technically, it's not required—so I'm sure it's by design. It would be pointless to provide warnings for every mistake a beginner might make as they are learning the program—especially if, like this, it's an error they're unlikely to make twice. We considered administering an electric shock whenever an error like this is made, but decided data loss works just as well. ;D


--- Quote ---thus: how do i create (or import) a new record with an URL to get all details from a plugin later, when i may not use "dummynames"?
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Please consider what I've already said. Title can be whatever you want. AFAIK, if you provide a valid URL, it can be gibberish and the correct record will be retrieved. I'm not positive (I'm not in the habit of testing things that make no sense to me), but I would be concerned using a identical dummy name might screw up the programs attempts to avoid duplicates. Or, as I think you mentioned, it would result in the program asking you to resolve the ambiguity. So why do it?


--- Quote ---i wanted to try the other approach of using the URLs from mymovies, importing them all (together with some fields and custom fields, like wish, seen and storagebox) and then let PVD work by its own, updating all records.
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Yes, that would be a much more sensible approach. It don't think you're going to find an easy way to to get the URL's from My Movies. But it doesn't matter. As I mentioned before, using the exact IMDb title and year will result in near 100% accurate searches.


--- Quote ---no objections :-) but after looking it up on the web, do i really have to manually start creating a record, fill it with an URL and a title (and possibly a year too) which will be overwritten soon, apply the changes, and then use one or more plugins, or wouldn't NMM be the ideal tool to add a move when i feed it an URL (just like i can feed it a title or a file now) ?
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It would save you from typing a name—or a dummy name—like "X". Wow. ::)

For the kind of thing you're talking about—whether it be adding a movie from a URL or a title found on the web, what would actually be useful is an "Add this to PVD" browser add-on. Close, but not quite the same thing, is the existing Add movie from clipboard function provided by the tray menu. I see it uses NMM, so that might be reason enough to add the URL to NMM.


--- Quote ---the info i was missing was not only available on the AKA site, but every movie now seems to have one page .../releaseinfo with all releasedates and all AKA names.
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If you look at your log, you'll see the plugin is getting to /releaseinfo#akas from a link on the main page. For Conquest, the link is missing. Unfortunately, the proper function of the plugin depends on the consistency integrity of the IMDb pages. It could be changed to check that page for all movies, but that would slow things down.


--- Quote ---the internal titles themselves should still always be formatted with (TV) appended, or with "title" instead of title for series, etc, but to make it prettier, it might be displayed differently on some pages, like a subtitle "TV series 2000-2003".
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The subtitles can be easily identified in the HTML as (for example) <span class="tv-extra">TV series</span>. Other types (according to this guide) are "TV movie" and "TV miniseries." The plugin can add "TV series" for series just shown in quotations with no suffix.

patch:

--- Quote from: Anson on September 12, 2009, 05:00:41 pm ---I tried creating a new record with only an URL and neither title nor original title, and it didn't work. on doing the "apply changes", the edit session was closed and nothing happened. the record was lost.

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Agree this is counter intuitive & workarounds using dummy titles to create record without confusing PVD matching logic would just add to the confusion.
All other fields can be left blank, so if these are different, blank entries should generate a warning.

I suspect it is there because the pluggin assume a title is available. (eg create record, delete both titles & add url -> plugin errors).

A good solution / feature request would be supporting url in "add from clip board".

rick.ca:

--- Quote ---Agree this is counter intuitive & workarounds using dummy titles to create record without confusing PVD matching logic would just add to the confusion. All other fields can be left blank, so if these are different, blank entries should generate a warning.
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What's clearly counter-intuitive is the idea of creating a record with no name. When I used the word "intuitive," the context was not just the program, but record keeping in general. I think most people can appreciate the consequences of putting a paper document in an unmarked folder and filing the folder in a random location in a filing cabinet. Why would their expectations be any different here? A title is needed 100% of the time if there is to be any hope of finding the record after it's saved. I think a polite warning is counter-productive in the cases where a smack in the head is called for. But I suppose that's just me. ;)

patch:

--- Quote from: rick.ca on September 13, 2009, 05:43:34 am --- A title is needed 100% of the time if there is to be any hope of finding the record after it's saved.

--- End quote ---
No
It has a creation date and unique internal id so can readily be displayed and found.
Although the issue is, if a valid url to imdb is supplied, then there is no reason why PVD could not fill the other fields in (other than it does not currently support it).

rick.ca:

--- Quote ---Technically, it's not required—so I'm sure it's by design.
--- End quote ---

I think that was clear enough. If the ability to add a record from a URL is provided, I'm sure it will be done via NMM or some mechanism where the user will not need to initialize a record. If you want to do this now, you can open a new movie record, paste in the URL and type an "X" for the title, then save and download. I don't find typing the "X" particularly demanding. The idea the program should allow a user to create a record without a name, or warn them they're attempting to do so is silly.

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