Personal Video Database

Rick appears to be using it -- and he is one of the most knowledgeable users of the program.

That's right, but I'm the one he wants to have the nasty surprises.

I haven't had any. I think it's stable.

What plugin are you using? '/' is a reserved character that has to be replaced (with '%2F'). The host search (e.g., IMDb) may not handle that correctly, but it shouldn't cause a 404 error.

When I try (in 1.0.2.2) updating '20/20' using the IMDb plugin, the search fails because IMDb does interpret the replacement correctly. This is exactly the same issue mentioned in above [topics merged]. Maybe nostra can clarify...When part of the query component of a URI, why is it necessary to replace reserved characters? When done from a browser,

http://www.imdb.com/find?s=tt&q=20/20 works fine, while (what the program does)...

http://imdb.com/find?s=tt&q=20%2F20 fails, because IMDb converts it to...

http://www.imdb.com/find?s=tt&q=20%252F20 (the '%' is replaced with '%25').

I note my usual practice of changing reserved characters that I know cause problems fails in this case. Nothing is going to find '20/20' but a search for '20/20'. What I would normally do after such a failure is go the site and do the search manually.

Last question, will we still be able to use PVD in 10 years from now?

According to this, nostra did not predict the end of the world in 2112, so it's a good question. I'm sure he would tell use if he knows that will happen in the next ten years. Also, I'm sure the source code is impeccably documented and left in his will to the open source community. We will, of course, be very upset if he gets hit by a bus, but life will go on.

I've been using 'save as' and 'backup' every time I'm finished using it. And I've got multiple copies of the actual saved file and the backup file. So does this mean that if my hard drive got accidentally wiped, would I be able to re-install PVD and use an old backup file to get my collection back with 'restore'?

I think the backup feature exists only because people expect it. Save as is faster and equally effective. If your backups are just copies of the database, you're not dependent on the program to Restore them. I prefer to simply copy the database using my file manager. That can be done even if the database is open in PVD, and I can see exactly what I'm doing (e.g., what backup copies I already have).

Backup copies provide effective protection and speedy recovery from problems caused by the program or user error. But they're only the first line of defence. If saved locally, they offer no protection from drive failure or any other risk data on your HDD faces (e.g., being corrupted by a virus, accidental deletion, reformatting, etc.). The best protection from those risks is to use some sort of backup routine that automatically backs up all critical data to external media. Windows 7 includes a simple backup utility. That will protect the data from all risks, including the biggest one—that you will surely neglect or forget to make a copy the one time you really needed to. Or the second biggest risk—that when something goes wrong and corrupts your database, the first thing you will do is open your backup with the program and corrupt it too!

And if there is a major update for PVD, will that affect my collection?

A major update (like from 0.9 to 1.0) normally includes changes to the structure of the database. The older version will not be able to read a database created by the newer version. The new version, however, will have the ability to read and convert the old format.

Understand the plugin can only request a search, then parse the search results page returned. Most of these kinds of issues you would see using the host directly, although you're likely to fare better with the actual results page.

In the case of Help!, the '!' is a reserved character and therefore sent as as '%21'. I wonder if that's necessary, as it's part of the query component of the URL, but it doesn't seem to be incorrect. IMDb, however, doesn't handle it properly. Ironically, it seems to handle an actual '!' by ignoring it.

As for ...And Justice For All. the period at the end doesn't seem right. But there's nothing the plugin can do about that. And looking at the search results page, it's obvious what the problem is.

These search exceptions (whether IMDb or any other source) are small enough in number they're probably best handled by manually searching using a browser, and getting the URL of the target page. If you happen to know the host will have a problem with a special character, you might find it easier to just remove or change it, and then run the plugin. Even if the frequency of exceptions could be reduced by modifying the plugin, they can't be eliminated. There's nothing a plugin can do about a flaky search engine at the host.

[Edit] I now wonder, however, as a result of the following exchange, if changing the handling of reserved characters in the search string portion of the URI might reduce the number of such exceptions.

Using Advanced Search along with Filters will take care of most such searches. If it becomes more convenient to flag items than fine-tune the search, the first tool to use would be Bookmarks—which you can then filter. If that's still not enough, you can always add a custom field (there's even a checkbox type) to serve as a flag. In version 1, the Editor works with multiple records and all fields, providing the means to bulk set and clear any field used as a flag.

If you delete the configuration file, the program will create another default one. If the problem is the program cannot open the database because you opened it with the beta version, all you can do is restore it from backup. A newer (major) version typically converts any old version database it's asked to open to a new structure that cannot be read by the older version of the program.

If you post your test worksheet, I'll try it. You'll have to zip it, or change it's extension to TXT.

Any idea who updates the plugins?

He who does everything around here—nostra.

I'm not sure what bearing it has on the problem, but the task sounds odd. Are you really importing one actor for each of 1,000 records?

If never tried matching records with [File Path], so I'm not sure that works. All I've ever used for matching is [Title] and [Year]. And I've used that to import [ID], which now has me wondering if [ID] is really used for matching (if it can also be added).

If you're being prompted for a field update method, it must be matching something. Is it matching the first item in the list? Are you selecting Update when prompted?

I had a quick look at the IMDb site and there does appear to be some changes to the way the Series information is displayed.

Yes, it has changed. The plugin will need to be updated.

...or any suggestions how to get arround it please?

I'm getting by (sort of) by updating the series with TVDb to add any missing episodes, and then updating those with TVDb and IMDb (which is what I do routinely anyway). The IMDb plugin will still update an episode if a valid URL has been recorded.