Personal Video Database

Hi Rick, please see the attachment, after all a picture says a thousand words

Sorry, I don't know what this is meant to show me—the three rating fields/images appear normal here. If you're not seeing all three for all movies, I don't know why. Try renaming your pvdconf.ini file and then starting the program—forcing it to use the default. That would tell you if the problem lies there. If not, try creating a new database, or loading a backup. If the problem doesn't exist there, that would suggest a problem with your database.

I can't keep up with you. I just replied to another post that Amazon wasn't worth the bother. Nevertheless, you've discovered an annoying issue. I have the same problem with extra posters shown in a flow section at a thumbnail size. Only three of the buttons fit on the image, so I have to rotate them to the poster container to see all the buttons (it's usually Delete I need). I'm not sure what the solution is. I suppose the commands could also be shown in a context menu.

Comparing the two sites, it seems the German one is still using an older format. That suggests to me it would be more difficult than one might assume to support both. Maybe nostra will comment. I'm sure this has been requested before, and he would know much better than I.

Welcome.

Use Help > Check for updates to ensure you have the latest version of all plugins (particularly the IMDb plugin).

I don't think there are any working cover plugins. Most cover sites are better accessed via the Web Search feature anyway (because you need the site to select the cover).

I think the only poster plugin still working is TMDb. That's not so bad, as it currently has the best quality posters anyway. Unfortunately, it only gets all the posters available for a movie (as does the TMDb movie information plugin). That doesn't work so well, as popular movies can have a dozen or more fairly high resolution (the standard being 1000 x 1500) posters. I prefer to run the movie information plugin without the option to get posters, then use the resulting URL to go to the site and choose the poster I want. That works fine when adding one or a few movies, but not when you have hundreds of movies to update. I wish the plugin were modified to get only the default poster—so we could allow it to do that automatically. If we want more, or to look for a better one, we can always visit the site.

The beta version uses the same plugins, but includes a new feature very useful for collecting images. Images on the clipboard can be pasted directly to an image container. For getting one image at a time, visiting the source and copying the desired image is arguably more effective than using a plugin. Unfortunately, the cover and disc containers aren't yet working, but hopefully that will be fixed soon.

Are they still checked in Preferences > Movies > Visible items?
Do they appear in edit mode?
Have you changed or modified the skin?

There are two completely different issues here. One is using [OrigTitle] to record the original title of a film, and [Title] for how you want to refer to it in your database—which may include naming members of a series so they appear together in chronological order. The other issue is about naming files and configuring the file scanner so files are properly matched to the movie records.

The first issue can be dealt with two ways. The obvious one is to use [Title] as it is intended—to name the movie whatever is most meaningful and convenient to you. That can include using the form [Series] # [Episode] even if the original titles (recorded in [OrigTitle]) are not even close to that. The other method is to use a [Movie Series] field to record the series, which can then be used to group the episodes even if they're not similar. I recommend using both. Having a method of grouping the series means you don't have to struggle with dilemma of prefacing a title with a series name when you (or others) may still expect to find it under it's original name. If you look at how I've handled different series in the screenshot, you'll understand what I'm getting at. (My List title format is Title (Year) Movie Series—so I'm reminded of the series even if the episodes are not grouped.)

Important note: I've used the otherwise unused standard [Release] field as my [Movie Series] field (I've renamed it in the UI language file). That has the advantage of having some characteristics a custom field would not—like the context menu (shown) and being a standard search category.

I recommend doing some research before deciding what needs to be done about the second issue. The file scanner default configuration has sample regex for matching some common file naming patterns. Your file names have to contain the necessary data in a recognizable and consistent pattern. Regex that recognize the pattern used must then be added in the right order (they're processed until a match is found). So for the scanner to work properly, you have to either change the filenames so they're recognized by the regex, or change the regex to they recognize the filenames. You can find helpful topics here by searching for 'regex' or 'regular expressions.'

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One step at a time.

Forget about the skin for now. The default skin will display all custom fields in a special section automatically. Use that until you're comfortable with the fields you've chosen to use, decided what you're going to record in them and how your routine for updating them will work. You'll then be in a much better position to decide how you would like them to appear in the skin. Designing and modifying a skin can be very tedious work even when you know what you're doing. It helps a lot to know exactly what you're trying to do.

Adding custom fields, on the other hand, is very easy and flexible. Just go to Preferences > Movies > Custom and add whatever you want. Until you have fields with data in them, it's very difficult to do any harm. Fields can be added, renamed and (within limits) have their type changed. If you change your mind, just delete the field. So experiment and get it right before you spend a lot of time collecting data and/or designing a skin for fields that are likely to be changed.

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If you hover the mouse pointer over the dots a label tells what it is.

I never noticed. The dots aren't really big enough for hover tips. It doesn't matter, but I wonder if it's possible to highlight the list item and add a hover tip to it.

Bookmarking and setting the filter "bookmarked" in PVD is the best and easiest way to export a custom selection of movies.

If by 'custom' you mean 'ad hoc'. Otherwise, using Filters and Search (or Advanced Search) is more effective. But I see your point. I can still use bookmarking to select those I want the 'dotty flag' on.

I'm quite sure you don't want to call it "DOTTY"...

Actually, I was going to suggest this, then I figured using bookmarking would be more convenient. I already have a [Flag] field—for which the caption shall be 'flagged' and the explanation 'Flagged: [reason]'. That works better than 'dottied'.

Thanks for the code. Now I just have to decide which to use, or both...

For export templates all interaction possible with the user is the "Save as" dialog. Or am I wrong?

I'm sure you're not. I was thinking of the interaction provided in the Print List page, and assuming something might be possible. But obviously it's too late once the page is generated.

Is is possible to set a variable in the header section of the template (easily changed by editing the template) that could then be used in empty.html?

Here is what Rick mentioned in a comment above, is a very good idea and would be very nice if you could come true. For me this would be very handy, perhaps also to many other users, which use PVD.

I don't understand. I was explaining what can be done now—without any changes.

And using custom fields, there's really no limit to what you can do. They won't be integrated as the standard [Seen], [Seen date] and filter are, but that probably wouldn't be practical anyway. Consider this...

Use the stock [Seen], [Seen date], [Rating] and [Comment] fields for recording the last viewing, regardless of who did the viewing. But you have a set of custom fields (the same one's) for each family member. You're probably joking about the cat, but you might want to include another set for guests (using the comment field to record who they were). The kids may not be interested in rating what they see, but willing to 'like' a movie. If so, give them a boolean [Like] instead of a [Rating]. Since some movies will be watched more than once, include a [Seen previously] boolean and record any available details (i.e., date, rating, with whom) in the person's [Comment].

This may sound like a nightmare to maintain, but it doesn't need to be. All of these fields would be presented in a separate section or tab of the skin as a table. The standard fields are going to be used in the usual way. The primary role of the custom fields will be to answer your question: Who saw the movie on [Seen date]? That doesn't get easier than ticking the [Seen] checkboxes for those people. A person's [Seen date] and [Rating] would only be used if that information differs from that recorded in the standard fields. [Seen date] could be left at a previously recorded value for a person, while the corresponding [Seen] flag is used to indicate if they attended the current viewing. All of the user fields could be set to be hidden if empty.

To get things started, I imagine you would just do the best you can to select the movies each person has seen, and set their [Seen] using the mass editor. If you happen to have some other kind of historical record (e.g., dates movies were seen or acquired), that could be imported. You might find it easier to add another field to record where a movie came from—you, your wife, a joint purchase, gift, etc. All this would require some work (mainly in creating or customizing a skin to accommodate the custom fields), but the result will be exactly what you need, and therefore much better than any additional feature could provide.