English > Feature Suggestions
Vote: Features for 0.9.9
rick.ca:
--- Quote ---the programmer is writing the software for personal use
--- End quote ---
True, but he always does his best to accommodate users' wishes. I think he does a better job at that than many commercial developers, who often come to believe there is some better way to make money than to listen to your customers.
--- Quote ---"what does the Go Button do?"
--- End quote ---
But answering those questions helps develop my communication skills. And I need more practise in being sensitive and understanding. Sometimes, the only right answer is, "What would you like the Go Button to do?" ;D
jshepler:
Ok. I am very new to this program having just downloaded and installed it about 30 minutes ago after reading through quite a few posts in the forums. (I always like to read up on something before I just dive in willy nilly) ;)
After playing around for a very short while, it seems like this program could be very useful.
For what it is worth, I would like to submit a few comment/suggestions that I cam to my mind.
* Portability. I know that this was brought up previously and you can run it portably, but it seems like a untouted feature that I think could possibly be greatly appreciated by many users. (I personally am trying to make all of my apps portable so that I can use them on any of the 7-10 machines that I use on a regular basis and not have to maintain seperate installs for each)
* I like the whole Client/Server option, I think that this is a good goal and do not remember what version it was supposed to be in, but look forward to it. Can you tell any more about it? Is there going to be any security, what kind of optimization could be used, how can it be set up in this way, etc.? Also, would there be a way to convert the databse over to use SQL instead of Firebird? (I only ask because I am more familiar with that and have not found a free plug in that allows me to access a Firebird database from SQL yet, but haven't looked in quite a while either). Also, if this were client/server based would there be a field to distinguish which user made what change? For example, if my wife went in and marked a movie as a wish list, would it just be on a wish list specifically for her, or would there be one big wish list that served all people? If it is all one big one, then will I know who marked it as a wish?
* I would like to know if there is any way to use this software for other things besides movies. Things such as Books/Games/Software (Wii, xBox360, PS2, Music,PC etc...) If this software could do that as well, then it would be invaluable to me. I have a huge collection of movies (imho around 400-600, at least too many to enter by hand) and roughly 50 Gb of music that I would like to track. I currently have a portable version of iTunes that I use to synch with 4 different iPods for my family. It would be nice to be able to use something like this to keep track of things like that as well (music). This can be a nightmare at times ???, so this would be my highest priority request.
* Probably my second highest priority request would be to make a Windows Mobile version of this application. I would like to be able to add this to my Windows Mobile device and be able to take my library with me in the fact that I can pull up my wish list and see what I have marked (I always forget by the time I get to the store, sometimes I even forget what I already have and don't have). This would also help with Christmas and Birthday shopping for my family :) since we all have very different tastes in just about everything. I am a very technical person (although not as much of an eagle eye as rick.ca seems to be :o Wow is all I can say!) and would be more than happy and willing to help test these features out.
I work with programmers and developers all the time and Nostra seems to be one of the most open, humble, willing to listen, and polite out of all of them.
Keep up the great work, this seems to be something to really be proud of. I apologize if any of this information was covered elsewhere in the forums that I have not gotten to yet, I was just really excited about this software and wanted to throw my thoughts out there while they were fresh in my mind.
nostra:
--- Quote ---Portability. I know that this was brought up previously and you can run it portably, but it seems like a untouted feature that I think could possibly be greatly appreciated by many users. (I personally am trying to make all of my apps portable so that I can use them on any of the 7-10 machines that I use on a regular basis and not have to maintain seperate installs for each)
--- End quote ---
Sorry, but I do not understand what is your suggestion here? Do you want the portable mode to be default?
--- Quote ---I like the whole Client/Server option, I think that this is a good goal and do not remember what version it was supposed to be in, but look forward to it. Can you tell any more about it? Is there going to be any security, what kind of optimization could be used, how can it be set up in this way, etc.? Also, would there be a way to convert the databse over to use SQL instead of Firebird? (I only ask because I am more familiar with that and have not found a free plug in that allows me to access a Firebird database from SQL yet, but haven't looked in quite a while either). Also, if this were client/server based would there be a field to distinguish which user made what change? For example, if my wife went in and marked a movie as a wish list, would it just be on a wish list specifically for her, or would there be one big wish list that served all people? If it is all one big one, then will I know who marked it as a wish?
--- End quote ---
You will need to install a server application on the computer where the database file is located. All client instances in the network will access this server to view/edit data. I plan to have this feature implemented in the final 0.9.9 release. Storing data pro user is not planned yet, so if someone mark a movie as wished you will just see it's wished, nothing more.
Firebird is a relational database that uses SQL, so if you know SQL you can connect to it using software that support Firebird (Firebird Maestro, EMS SQL Manager, and others) and manage data using SQL - no problem.
--- Quote ---I would like to know if there is any way to use this software for other things besides movies. Things such as Books/Games/Software (Wii, xBox360, PS2, Music,PC etc...) If this software could do that as well, then it would be invaluable to me. I have a huge collection of movies (imho around 400-600, at least too many to enter by hand) and roughly 50 Gb of music that I would like to track. I currently have a portable version of iTunes that I use to synch with 4 different iPods for my family. It would be nice to be able to use something like this to keep track of things like that as well (music). This can be a nightmare at times Huh, so this would be my highest priority request.
--- End quote ---
Theoretically, if you rename the fields using custom translation and write some scripts for other data types you can store pretty everything in the database. I am not planning to make changes for other data types myself.
--- Quote ---Probably my second highest priority request would be to make a Windows Mobile version of this application. I would like to be able to add this to my Windows Mobile device and be able to take my library with me in the fact that I can pull up my wish list and see what I have marked (I always forget by the time I get to the store, sometimes I even forget what I already have and don't have). This would also help with Christmas and Birthday shopping for my family Smiley since we all have very different tastes in just about everything.
--- End quote ---
I would love to implement all features and software of the world, but unfortunately ;) my time is not infinite, so it is not possible. There are 2 possibilities for me to write a Windows Mobile version of PVD:
1. PC Version is full featured and I have nothing to do
2. Someone pays me for the work
rick.ca:
Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts, js. Yes, you will find these things are discussed elsewhere in the forum, but they're not always easy to find.
--- Quote ---it seems like a untouted feature
--- End quote ---
Yes, it runs nicely from a memory stick. Just one of so many wonderful features that they all seem untouted. ;D
--- Quote ---Storing data per user is not planned yet
--- End quote ---
The ability to handle multiple users in one database seems like a good idea, but I wonder how practical it really is. In most situations, the multiple users are not going to be "equal partners" in sharing a database. There is going to be a primary user (one who created the database and is ultimately responsible for maintaining it) and secondary users. The secondary user want access to the primary user's database, in part, because they would rather not go to the trouble of maintaining their own. As such, their interest in recording personal information (i.e., wish list, seen date, comments, etc) is somewhat less. If this were not true—and the secondary user might also find they are interested in different movies, different information sources, different program configurations—then it becomes clear that user is much better off maintaining their own database. If the multiple user database approach works, except for personal fields being shared (e.g., Seen date), this can be dealt with by using adding custom fields (e.g., Seen by). The result might even be preferred in a family situation. Seen means somebody has seen it, Seen date is the date it was first seen, and those viewing it at a later date would just add their names to Seen by.
--- Quote ---I would like to know if there is any way to use this software for other things besides movies.
--- End quote ---
If you look at the software as a front end to a relational database relating people to their creations, with the ability to download and populate the database with information from websites, then it can be used for anything that fits that model. It would require a lot of work, however, to rename captions, add custom fields, design skins, and—most of all—write download scripts. While the core functions are the same, you would find requirements vary considerably according to the subject matter. The idea of making it do everything is clearly impractical. If one has a keen interest in one particular thing (e.g., video games) not already better served by other software (e.g., music), they may find adapting PVD to this purpose a fulfilling hobby.
--- Quote ---Probably my second highest priority request would be to make a Windows Mobile version of this application.
--- End quote ---
Unless you can afford to put nostra on your payroll, it seems you're not going to see this any time soon. ;) But don't despair—you should be able to export to HTML in some fashion that you'll find practical for mobile use. That could include most of the information for the entire database, as well as special purpose things like wish lists for use in the video store.
--- Quote ---I am a very technical person (although not as much of an eagle eye as rick.ca seems to be. Wow is all I can say!)
--- End quote ---
And here I was trying so hard to be humble. :-[ Oh, well. That, and seeing the future, is nostra's job. ;)
PVD is not for everyone, but as a technical person, you'll appreciate it's power and flexibility.
patch:
--- Quote from: jshepler on December 29, 2008, 08:41:49 pm ---
* I like the whole Client/Server option, I think that this is a good goal and do not remember what version it was supposed to be in, but look forward to it. Can you tell any more about it? Is there going to be any security, what kind of optimization could be used, how can it be set up in this way, etc.? Also, would there be a way to convert the databse over to use SQL instead of Firebird? (I only ask because I am more familiar with that and have not found a free plug in that allows me to access a Firebird database from SQL yet, but haven't looked in quite a while either). Also, if this were client/server based would there be a field to distinguish which user made what change? For example, if my wife went in and marked a movie as a wish list, would it just be on a wish list specifically for her, or would there be one big wish list that served all people? If it is all one big one, then will I know who marked it as a wish?
--- End quote ---
This functionality would be achievable by tagging movies, if you store them on a network drive. Then accessing the network drive from multiple accounts or users or portable installs.
If your collection is mainly stored on removable media then multi user preferences within a client server model is probably the only way to go but I suspect it would require a major program modification (all user state variables would need another dimension dependant current logged in user).
--- Quote from: jshepler on December 29, 2008, 08:41:49 pm ---
* I would like to know if there is any way to use this software for other things besides movies. Things such as Books/Games/Software (Wii, xBox360, PS2, Music,PC etc...) If this software could do that as well, then it would be invaluable to me. I have a huge collection of movies (imho around 400-600, at least too many to enter by hand) and roughly 50 Gb of music that I would like to track. I currently have a portable version of iTunes that I use to synch with 4 different iPods for my family. It would be nice to be able to use something like this to keep track of things like that as well (music). This can be a nightmare at times ???, so this would be my highest priority request.
--- End quote ---
There are many specialised music library management programs. I would not use iTunes as it does a poor job of separating library management and user management functions.
I would suggest you try Media monkey http://www.mediamonkey.com/ or similar program. This software can scan multiple directories at startup, importing changes as required. If you store your music in a network drive then each user can run a different instance of media monkey enabling them to have their own rating, play lists, play history, but still play any music from the file server. Alternatively you could use the client server functionality offered by such programs.
BTW
I suspect other software offers the same functionality, I have given media monkey as an example instead of iTunes only because I have used those two programs.
--- Quote from: jshepler on December 29, 2008, 08:41:49 pm ---
* Probably my second highest priority request would be to make a Windows Mobile version of this application. I would like to be able to add this to my Windows Mobile device and be able to take my library with me in the fact that I can pull up my wish list and see what I have marked (I always forget by the time I get to the store, sometimes I even forget what I already have and don't have). This would also help with Christmas and Birthday shopping for my family :) since we all have very different tastes in just about everything.
--- End quote ---
mmm
How were you hoping this would fit in with the client server? I suppose you would like a client accessing the server over an internet connection. Sound as if it would take significant programmer and user time to achieve, limiting the potential return to nostra.
Alternatively
What about using VPN to access a computer running PVD on your home network from a portable device. Existing tools can then be used to enable remote desktop control, functionally achieving PVD remote access.
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