Personal Video Database

English => Support => Topic started by: rick.ca on February 13, 2009, 11:16:19 pm

Title: Help Index
Post by: rick.ca on February 13, 2009, 11:16:19 pm
Please note a Help (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?board=11.0) board has recently been added. Anything of value here will soon be incorporated into the Help documentation, and this topic will be deleted.

This is the recommended method for seeking help...





Opening Credits

This "Help Index" is a categorized list of links to helpful topics. Please post your suggestions for additions to this list. Provide a title and a topic or message link, and perhaps a comment that will help me categorize it. Please do not post requests for help here—start your own topic (after reading Read this first (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=3.0), of course).

If you don't see what you're looking for, use the forum's powerful Search (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?action=search) feature (discussed ~here (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=1184.msg4103#msg4103)). :(

Most of the links on this page (marked with a "~") are to messages that have been lost. I have attempted to recreate them from my personal records. Unfortunately, those include only my posts and whatever I may have quoted from others. I'll mark those with a "*" and change the link to a post below. I have struck-out those for which I have nothing. :(

Getting Started

*Where do I begin? (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=1189.msg10492#msg10492) – This is a long discussion, but worth a read if you're just starting out.

Importing from Excel (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=851.msg1806#msg1806) – Get started quickly by importing anything from anywhere!
An edited version (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=1189.msg10516#msg10516) of this topic is posted below.

*Importing from other software via Excel (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=1189.msg10498#msg10498).

~Running PVD in Vista with UAC (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=1147.msg3729#msg3729) – Read this if you're having problems.

How to...

Download from IMDb
– *Configuring the plugin (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=1189.msg10492#msg10492)
– *Handling movie titles (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=1189.msg10493#msg10493)
– *Using Silent mode (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=1189.msg10494#msg10494)
– *When the wrong movie is downloaded (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=1189.msg10495#msg10495) (or ~here (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=843.msg1761#msg1761))
– ~Using custom instead of standard fields (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=1178.msg4075#msg4075) :(
– *Adding a single season to a series (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=1189.msg10496#msg10496)
– *Updating series information (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=1189.msg10497#msg10497)
– Batch plugins (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=765.msg1291#msg1291)

Filter
– *Disappearing movies (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=1189.msg10499#msg10499)
– *Use to select movies for export (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=1189.msg10500#msg10500)

Search
– *Search box behavior (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=1189.msg10501#msg10501)
– ~Advanced search operators (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=1153.msg3766#msg3766) :(
– ~Advanced search tips (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=881.msg1987#msg1987) :(
– *Advanced search vs. Statistics (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=1189.msg10502#msg10502)

Print
– described *here (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=1189.msg10503#msg10503) and ~here (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=1182.msg4089#msg4089)

Export
– *Selecting a template (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=1189.msg10504#msg10504) (or ~here (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=1084.msg3300#msg3300))
– *Various questions (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=1189.msg10505#msg10505) including, "Is there any way to export posters in original title names?"

Cool Features

*Web search (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=1189.msg10506#msg10506) – If you can't download it, Web search it!

New Features in 0.9.9 (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=1191.0) – Maybe your issue has been addressed in the new version.

Related Software

Kroozbox (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=1031.0) – PVD to media theatre solution

PK's MovieDB (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=1029.0) – Dynamic website template

~Video editing/conversion utilities (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=1136.msg3645#msg3645) :(
Title: Reserved
Post by: rick.ca on February 13, 2009, 11:17:31 pm
This message intentionally left blank. ;)
Title: Re: Help Index
Post by: rick.ca on February 13, 2009, 11:20:38 pm
Excellent post rick.ca
This should be one of the pages in an online wiki or manual
In suppose the easiest way to start one is if you started an help index thread, maintained the first "Contents" page (with helpful suggestions from other forum users) then stuck it to the top of the support forum.

Thanks for the suggestion, patch. Now what? ;)
Title: Help Index Nominations
Post by: rick.ca on February 14, 2009, 06:31:54 am
If you see or receive a message you think would make a good addition to the Help Index (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=1189.msg4136#msg4136), please "nominate" it. Do that by replying to the message and using the key phrase "help index" (e.g., "Thanks for the great explanation—it belongs in the help index!"). I'll periodically update the index based on a search for "help index."

And if the brilliant advice is to be found only in your head, please post a message—and nominate yourself! 8)
Title: Re: Help Index Nominations
Post by: patch on February 15, 2009, 02:15:38 pm
You have excelled again rick.ca
I'm sure the index will help novices (and forgetful veterans) more rapidly solve their problems & ultimately get more out of PVD. I like the idea of users tagging threads deserving of addition to the index. That should ensure it continues to grow and evolve with PVD.
Title: Re: Help Index
Post by: rick.ca on February 15, 2009, 08:09:37 pm
Quote
That should ensure it continues to grow and evolve with PVD.

I hope it also encourages users to participate in the forum. Preparing this demonstrated finding the best answer to a topical question is not always easy to do. Much of what I have included is still far from what one would expect to find in a wiki or manual. But that's just the nature of the thing. Those of us who participate regularly obviously enjoy tinkering with the software, sharing ideas and helping others with problems. Hopefully, this will encourage others to participate by reducing frustration and the feeling being forced to ask "stupid" questions due to a lack of instruction. Maybe we'll have a wiki, manual or help file some day. But I hope this will always be a community where anyone can jump in and ask, "How do I do this?"
Title: Re: Help Index
Post by: rick.ca on March 12, 2009, 10:27:56 pm
Quote
Maybe we'll have a wiki, manual or help file some day.

PVD Wiki is now online! (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=1226.msg4343#msg4343)
Title: Where do I begin?
Post by: rick.ca on August 21, 2010, 06:51:48 pm
Originally posted to lost topic Where do i begin??? Help File??? in May 2008...

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The only difference between New Movie Master and Movies...

Or another way of putting this: New just creates a new movie record—you then have to add the information "manually." New Movie Master is like a script that creates a new record, then "automatically" runs all the various data gathering routines for the movie you specify. You can change any of the information obtained, or import from any of the information sources "manually" to get more control over what is downloaded.

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So at this point i think here's another thing for your todo list!

I think what you want (because I had hoped nostra would have done it this way myself) is "field mapping" whereby you can match each column in your worksheet (whether it has a name or not) to a field in the database (or not, in which case the column is ignored). It's not as convenient as it is, but it does work. You have to be more focused on what you're importing and where it's going, which is perhaps a good thing.

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But is there a way of importing films from IMDB by using for example a keyword?

Not directly, but you can using Excel as an intermediate step. For example, if I wanted to add all IMDb movies made in Jamaica, I would do the search...

http://www.imdb.com/List?tv=off&&countries=Jamaica&&nav=/Sections/Countries/Jamaica/include-titles

...and cut and paste the resulting list into Excel. In Excel, I would parse the text into "title" and "year" columns (this requires some comfort with Excel's string manipulation formula). The resulting file would then be imported to PVD, as I've previously described.

This is more work, but is a technique worth mastering. With it, you can gather information from any source that will produce a list or table of what you want. And you're not there yet, but the Excel plugin is also very good at importing additional information for movies already in your database.

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My excel database successfully imported but the Producer and Year info is the wrong way round, is there a way to correct this?

The field names and their order in the plugin configuration probably do not exactly match the columns in your Excel file. At this (early) stage, you should start a new PVD database and try the import again.

Before you do that, consider what I suggested before. Import just the movie title and year. Use PVD to download all the information you want from IMDb. Then do another import from Excel to import only the additional information you want to include in your database. This way, you can more carefully consider whether you want to overwrite an IMDb-populated field with your own data, or put it in a custom field.

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not sure if excel has a search function but if there is one i don't know how to use it

Soon you are not going to need Excel, but... Select the first row of your Excel worksheet (i.e., the headings/field names) and from the menu select Data-Filter-AutoFilter. That will create drop-down lists for filtering each field. You may find that useful until you are satisfied all your data has been properly imported into PVD. Otherwise, you're going to find searching in PVD much more convenient and powerful.

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Is there a way i can scan my whole films list to get imdb info added to what i've already got?

This is one of the fundamental features of the program (and others like it). In effect, it allows you to maintain a database of IMDb information for a subset of movies that you are interested in—all of the information is downloaded from IMDb. From there, using other plugins, you might add information IMDb lacks, or replace specific IMDb information with that of a preferred source. To that, you add any "personal" information you want—date viewed, rating, comments, etc.

This is why I suggest you start with just the IMDb information for all your movies. I understand you may be very "attached" to the information you already have. But if that is the case, you should study carefully the information you can get and maintain automatically from IMDb. For each field decide whether to replace that with what you've already got (and no longer download it) or to import the information you already have to a custom field (and maintain it independent of the IMDb information). As you seem to appreciate, you need to be careful about which fields to leave alone, which to update and which to overwrite.

Note that you do not have to import all of your existing data at once. And once you're familiar with PVD, you might want to use the import feature to modify or update your database. For example, you might decide information in two or more columns of your Excel worksheet might best be combined and imported back into one memo field of your PVD database.

I know all this hurts the brain when you're just getting started, but the results are well worth while. You have found the right software. PVD is the only one out there that allows you configure your database exactly the way you want it.

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how does the import function recognize where to put each piece of info...?

Each time you use the import plugin, include the movie title and year so the correct record in PVD can be identified. It won't matter what other records are in the database at the time, or what order they are in. If you change any titles in PVD, you might have to take care to make the same changes in your Excel file so any future imports will work correctly. I suppose it would be a good idea to refrain from changing titles in PVD until you have finished all your importing.

PVD is built on a robust relational database. Generally, you can be assured it will do whatever is necessary in the circumstances to identify the correct record and fields to be added or changed. The downside is, if anything does go wrong, you have to accept it is probably your fault.  Make sure to keep backup of your Excel file, make backups of your PVD database (File-Backup) each step of the way, and you'll be fine.

I'm going to spend some time messing with it all

That's the best way to learn how to use it. To avoid becoming overwhelmed, it might be a good idea to start with a database of just a few movies. This is what I do when I'm beta testing. You can quickly make a backup, try something out, and see at a glance it's doing what you expect it to do. If not, restore the backup and try again. You will find you progress much faster than if your database had 1,600 movies in it. Even if you've already created your 1,600-movie database, you can still use a small "test" database to try out things that you're unsure of or would take a long time to complete on the full database.

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[Question about the Field Overwrite settings]

It's a little confusing because the appearance depends on the user's Windows settings. Hopefully, this makes sense:

-If a field is unchecked (Grey/blank Box) it will not accept data at all
-If a field is checked greyed (Green Box) it will accept data only of it is clear (i.e., the field is empty/unused)
-If a field is checked/black (Green Tick) it will always be overwritten

If you are starting out with just titles and years, you probably want Green Ticks for everything except Title, which should be blank so the download doesn't change any of your titles. (Remember, you want to be sure they stay the same as in your Excel database.)

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i just noticed a bug...

This has be discussed in the past, but I can't remember how it was resolved. You may very well be right, but a more sensible approach might be to run the update in silent mode, and then update the ones that "failed" manually—one-at-a-time. If a movie is not in the IMDb, there is, of course, nothing you can do. But usually the problem is the name is different, and doing it "manually" allows you to change the name to something so the correct movie does appear as a "candidate." Some users may prefer this behaviour—so it does stop, giving them the opportunity to do this.

Continued in new topic, Importing from Excel (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=851.msg1806#msg1806).
Title: Handling movie titles
Post by: rick.ca on August 21, 2010, 07:13:04 pm
Originally posted to lost topic Sequels in August 2008...

To summarize—about handling movie titles in general:

• Use the Title as your "key" field—to uniquely identify each movie and to serve as the default sort key. (The program does not restrict it's use in this way—it will allow duplicates, and it will allow plugins to overwrite it.)

• As a "key" field, the Title should be under your control (you are the database administrator!) Do not allow any plugins to overwrite it.

• To make your job easier, set your Title format preferences to remove prefixes, or put them at the end of the title.

• When adding a movie, don't worry about what you want the title to be. If necessary, use whatever helps the the download plugin find the right movie. After the download is complete, change the Title to whatever you want (so, for example, it sorts correctly).

• If you have made the Title different than the original title, the program will automatically save the original title in the Original Title field.

• I don't think the program considers an identical title a duplicate if the year is different. In the case of remakes, I go against my own advice and use the same name as the original, and allow the year to distinguish the two (by showing titles in the list as "Title (Year)").
Title: Using "Silent Mode"
Post by: rick.ca on August 21, 2010, 07:25:25 pm
Originally posted to lost topic IMDb Plugin - Silent Mode Fails to find results in July 2008...

If you restart the program, and select a different batch of movies for updating, is the behaviour the same?

Have you checked your preferences carefully to see if your settings may be causing the problem? In particular, is the overwrite setting for the fields you expect to be updated set to "on" (i.e., a green check-mark)? Have you left the ID and password fields blank in the IMDb configure dialog?

I see nothing wrong with the way you're using the program. I wonder if the behaviour is normal, and the "problem" is with the data. If the plugin can't uniquely identify a movie, it will stop and ask you to pick from a list. In silent mode, it will skip the movie and go on to the next. Did you perhaps run a mass update before, and are now left with just the titles that can't be uniquely identified? Does your original data include the year? The chances of matching are greatly increased if the year is included.

Select a few of the problem movies and add the year (get it from IMDb if you're not sure). Try a silent mode update again. If that doesn't work, turn silent mode off and update. Are you presented with a list of movies to select from, or does it just skip the movie? If that doesn't work, find the movie on IMDb, enter the URL to the URL field, and try the silent mode update again. If that doesn't work, we'll at least know the problem lies with the program or your configuration.

[later...]

I imported your Movies.Import.File.csv into a new database. It contained 153 unique movie titles (there were a number of duplicates), without years. In silent mode, 58 updated and 95 were skipped. I tried updating those 95 again; a few were updated on the second attempt, but most were skipped. The plugin got "stuck" a few times, and had to be stopped and restarted (the ones it got stuck on updated or were skipped when it was restarted). I added years to a small sample, and then about half those updated. As expected, it updated without fail when the URL was provided. With silent mode off, I was presented with a list of movies to choose from for each movie. For 8 or 9 of the 10 or so I updated this way, the first title in the list seemed to be the correct choice.

So this is what I recommend for this situation: Run the update in Silent Mode. Select those that do not update (e.g., do an Advanced Search for "Year IS NULL"). Turn off Silent Mode, and run the update again. You will have to select the correct title for each movie, but this is not as bad as it sounds. I updated 10 in a little less than two minutes, so I could have done all 95 in about 20 minutes.

[sidebar]

Nostra, there do seem to be some issues with the plugin running in Silent Mode. I don't think they're critical—but perhaps you can consider them next time you update the plugin:

• A small portion (I guess less than 10%) of movies that are skipped, will update on a second attempt. Why not the first?

• It may get "stuck" part way through a batch; there is no apparent significance to the movie it gets stuck on.

• Most of the titles skipped just need confirmation of the most likely match (i.e., the one that appears at the top of the selection list). It would be nice to have the options of (1) this one being selected automatically (i.e., so it would not be skipped in Silent Mode), and/or (2) only if the year also matched. This would result in some mismatches, but I think at a rate low enough most users wouldn't mind. I suppose it would be a good idea to flag these movies in some way, so the user would be aware the match may be incorrect.
Title: When the wrong movie is downloaded
Post by: rick.ca on August 21, 2010, 07:35:40 pm
Originally posted to lost topic IMDB downloaded wrong movie in October 2008...

You've discovered the surest way to resolve problem, but there is another way that is more convenient—if it works: Clear the erroneous information. Add something like "xx" to the title, and invoke the plugin again. It should then present a list to choose from—the "xx" preventing it from thinking it found an exact match.
Title: Re: Help Index
Post by: rick.ca on August 21, 2010, 07:57:06 pm
Originally posted to lost topic Adding a single season in August 2008...

Downloading all the information available for a series is the only reasonable thing for the program to do. You can use a filter to hide the seasons/episodes you don't own, if that's your preference. Or you can delete them. Given the series-season-episode tree structure used—a feature, I believe, most users want—I don't see any way to sort by season. The ability to add information at the season level has been requested. If that's implemented, and depending how it's implemented, you may get something close to what you want.

I suppose what you're really looking for is the ability to control the series-season relationship. For example, turn it off to "untie" seasons from their series—so they can be sorted by year. I think that would be a nice feature, but not worthwhile unless it were easy to implement. There is already something like this, on a very basic level. See the screen shot. Perhaps this is not very practical, but it demonstrates the flexibility of the program:

•   download the series
•   rename as one season, change year, delete other seasons
•   repeat for next season
•   in Preferences-Movies, set Do not create season group...

The screen shot doesn't show other series, so I should clarify... The single season series of Lost I created are "promoted" to the level of series. They sort correctly by year. All the preference option does is hide the unnecessary season branch.

[attachment deleted by admin]
Title: Updating series information
Post by: rick.ca on August 21, 2010, 08:19:23 pm
Originally posted to lost topic Series information not imported anymore in September 2008...
 
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If this is changed on imdb after the episode is aired i found no way to update the information in PVD by importing from imdb.

I thought this was the case too, until I realized it was because I had the Title overwrite flag set "off." The title placeholders are those used by IMDb. If the placeholder has been replaced with the actual title, updating the episode will update the title—as long as the overwrite flag is set "on." If I update the series, however, a duplicate episode record is created, rather than the placeholder being updated. Also, no other information (for the placeholder episode or the duplicate) is downloaded. So it seems the way to update the information correctly is to select the episodes in need of updating, and run the plugin.

I've long been frustrated by my need to configure the IMDb plugin differently for movies and series. The setting of the Title overwrite flag is one example of why I need different configurations. When I have used an English title for a foreign movie, I don't want the plugin to overwrite it (IMDb titles are generally the original titles). For series, however, it seems I need it set so new episode titles can be updated. There are a number of other things I set differently—as a matter of personal preference.

I've just "discovered" a workaround for this. I made a copy of imdb.dll, named it imdb_tv.dll, and reloaded PVD. Now I have two IMDb plugins—one set for movies, the other for series. Unfortunately, this only works for the overwrite settings; the other configuration settings are saved in imdbconf.cfg, so changing one changes both. Also, the description (the caption that appears in the menu) is the same, so the two are difficult to distinguish. Perhaps nostra will be so kind as to compile a version of the plugin that has a different name and description, and saves it's settings in a different file. Or maybe there's a more elegant way to facilitate multiple configurations that's easy to implement.
Title: Importing from other software via Excel
Post by: rick.ca on August 21, 2010, 08:57:24 pm
Originally posted to lost topics Movie Collector database to PVD and Mass (bulk) additions of titles to the library in September 2008...

I was able to import both files without any difficulties. So I have no idea what might be causing the error, but it doesn't seem to have anything to do with your data or the format it's in. Maybe nostra will have some ideas.

Aside from that, I can offer a few suggestions based on your detailed data:

1. If you're exporting your data from Movie Collector, include the year, if you can. It will help PVD to correctly identify the IMDb entry.

2. PVD handles actors and roles as separate data, so your "actor as role" data is imported as an actor's name. I suggest you just leave this out, and let PVD download the correct information from IMDb.

3. I suggest you change your "Yes"/"No" Collection Status data to 1/0 or TRUE/FALSE and import it to a custom check-mark field.

4. You need to convert your "#.# star(s)" data to a 0 - 10 numeric field.

5. You can do things like 3 and 4 in a text editor, but it's much easier in Excel. Once your data is in Excel, you may as well use the Excel import plugin. It's functionally identical to the CSV plugin.



As we've already established, the import configuration must include the PVD fields in exactly the same order as they occur in the import file. It also includes three options which must be properly set:

Delimiter - mandatory - a character that indicates the end of a field; usually a comma or semi-colon (if a semi-colon is used, the file is still called a "Comma-Separated Value" file). When importing to PVD, it's a good idea to use a semi-colon as a delimiter so comma's occurring in the data (e.g., as normal punctuation in a memo field) are not interpreted as delimiters.

Text Qualifier - optional - a character used to enclose text; usually double quotes. Not necessary, but if present in the CSV file, specifying it here prevents the routine from including these characters in the data.

Ignore header - optional - set if the first line of the CSV file is a header, so it will not be imported as data. PVD does not use headers to map the import data to fields—this must be done "manually" using the field list.

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I also added ; as a text qualifier in the csv import options, if that made any difference.

I'm sure it did make a difference, especially if it was also used as the delimiter. Setting it as the text qualifier caused it to be ignored. If it were not, each line would consist of three fields, with only the second containing data. According to the field list, only the first would be imported.

Putting a " at the beginning of each line and specifying as a text delimiter would cause the routine to take everything between the first two quotes as the first first (only) field, and then ignore everything until the next line after the second ". It hurts my brain to think about it, but it seems a good way to skip every other title.

I suspect the source of the confusion here is that despite the fact only one field is being imported, the data must include a delimiter, and that delimiter must be specified correctly in the configuration options.



Originally posted to Import from MC in November 2008...

If it's not already clear from what blue and patch have said, you need to plan what you want to do with your data before attempting an import. The first step is to determine what data can be exported from Movie Collector. Assuming the example file you have provided includes all fields that can be exported, the next step is to examine this and decide how to import it into PVD. You can do this however you like—I would import it into Excel and create something like the attached screen shot...

The "-" in the PVD field column means I would not import this field—I would rather use PVD to download this from IMDb (or elsewhere). "Custom" means I would create a custom field to accommodate the data. In some cases, this is just to avoid conflict with IMDb data. If you prefer, you might decide, for example, to put Plot in Description, and configure the IMDb plugin not to overwrite this. In other cases, as I've noted under Comments, the required field has been added to version 0.9.9, but a custom field will be required if you would like to have the data in 0.9.8.

With such a "field mapping" done, it's much easier to prepare the import file, add the required fields to PVD and configure the import plugin without errors or omissions. Also, once you have a complete and properly prepared import file, many of your decisions about where to put the data in PVD are not that critical—because you can use the same file to do another import to put a particular field's data elsewhere. Let's say, for example, you put Plot in a custom field, and later decided you would rather use it for the standard field Description. You would just delete the custom Plot field, delete all fields but Title, Year and Plot from the import file, and import again. BTW, the import plugin will use Title and Year to match an existing movie in your database, so you should take care not to change these data if you want to be able to do these subsequent imports.
Title: Disappearing movies
Post by: rick.ca on August 21, 2010, 09:15:14 pm
Originally posted to lost topic Worrying discovery when saving my database in September 2008

Please do as nostra asks—update to the latest version. Just install "over" the existing. No data or settings will be lost. It's always "worthwhile" to update the program. Even if you don't think you need the fixes and new features, it becomes increasingly difficult for others to help if you are using a different version of the program. And, of course, we don't want to waste time isolating a bug that's already been fixed. I note from the Changelog "Issues with working directory" were fixed in 0.9.11, so it seems likely that's what we're doing here.

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it's not convenient to have all the films i have listed (which i've spent years working on) along with my dvd list as my dvd list is something i like to pass out sometimes so i guess i still need 2 databases really.

My point is the program is designed to handle different "categories" or "types" of movies (i.e., just like your situation) in one database. It's easy to generate a list of any particular type. I think the only "good" reason to maintain separate databases is if movie types are so fundamentally different they require the program to be configured differently (e.g., they cannot share the same fields). I believe the ability to combine two databases will be included in version 0.9.9.

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i didn't quite understand what u meant by using the comandline thing in PVD?

I think updating the program will solve your problem, but for future reference: Edit the shortcut used to start PVD to include "-debug" in the target (e.g., mine is "C:\Program Files\Personal Video Database\viddb.exe" -debug).

PVD is built on a true RDBMS—Firebird—that records all changes as they are made. There is no cache. All of your data is in the data file. It's pointless to attempt to "backup" the data by saving it in a different format (i.e., export to Excel). Your concerns about keeping your data safe need to be focused on an effective routine for the backup of the PVD data file. You may find this helpful: [another lost topic]  ::)

Quote
I appreciate that PVD includes a backup routine (and, yes, the default directory should be configurable), but I prefer to rely on my own backup routines. As with most database applications, the data is changing all the time, the most likely error is user-created, and it's likely to go undetected for a time. So I'd rather rely on an automated backup routine that retains a sufficient number of backup versions (in case I don't immediately detect a problem). In the case of PVD, my backup scripts backup the PVD data file every night, and keep the seven previous versions. I use the PVD backup routine to make what are more in the nature of "archives." For example, I would make a backup immediately before converting to a new version—just in case I need to "start over" with that new version (often helpful during beta testing). If I want to make a backup before doing something risky, I usually just make a temporary copy of the file. This is faster than the backup routine (I imagine because that's compressing the data as it saves the file). Whether I'm using the PVD backup or not, the backup file that saves my a__ 90% of the time is my automated nightly backup.
Title: Use filters to select movies for export
Post by: rick.ca on August 21, 2010, 09:22:15 pm
Originally posted to lost topic Selecting individual movies to export in July 2008...
 
It exports the movies displayed, not those selected. Use filters or search to display only those you wish to export.


Title: Search box behaviour
Post by: rick.ca on August 21, 2010, 09:49:15 pm
Originally posted to lost topic Search box behaviour in December 2008...

Currently, the basic Search feature works like this:

•   The default search is for "All."
•   The search box is the default location for keystrokes (i.e., they go here unless another input control is active).
•   Searching is done (after a short delay, I presume) "as-you-type."
•   For list fields, a drop-down list of terms is available, and the first match is displayed as-you-type.

This all seems very logical, but I just can't take it any more!  >:(

[Update: This has all been fixed, but this may help explain how and why Search works the way it does now.]

A search "All" is the most useless and normally the last choice one would make. In the rare case it might be helpful, it's not because the results don't indicate where the hits are. I'm losing precious minutes of my life waiting for the program to complete searches of the entire database for my every accidental keystroke.

With keystrokes going to the search box by default, and search-as-you-type in effect, the most useful search would be of Title/Name—what is displayed in the list panel. Or perhaps better, Title + Original title + AKA for movie view, and Name + Translated name + Alternative name for people view. Not only is this a better default for the search function, it facilitates the behaviour naturally expected of the list pane—to react to a keystroke. Usually, lists will jump to the first item starting with the letter of a keystroke. Search-as-you-type results would be a little different, but still logical and more powerful. I think most users would appreciate that—even if they weren't expecting it.

Search-as-you-type is very handy when the search results come as fast, or almost as fast, as one types. For longer searches, however, it's just an annoyance. I think it should be used for a Title/Name default search only. For any other search, the "interim" results—as shown in the movie/person list—are not so relevant or helpful. It would be faster to type the whole term and hit enter. For list fields, it would be more helpful for the drop-down box to open at the first matching term, rather than a search be started.

BTW, what's got me frothing-at-the-mouth about this was trying to do filmography searches. I found it impossible to type a movie title without a search starting on a partial term (or, worse, a typo). I would then have to wait while it searched the 108,192 movies in the database. On my machine, it's faster to kill and restart the program. The only practical way I could do such searches was to copy the title to the clipboard, and paste it into the search box. 
Title: Advanced Search vs. Statistics
Post by: rick.ca on August 21, 2010, 10:35:32 pm
Originally posted to lost topic Subtitles in statistics in September 2008...

Considering most DVD's have a number of different subtitles, I don't understand what sense one would make out of summary statistics. I think Search and Advance Search are more appropriate tools for getting this sort of information. For me, subtitles in English language movies are irrelevant—I'm not going to use them. On the other hand, with Advanced Search, I can easily filter my foreign language movies and check that I have English subtitles—or just see how many I have.

Quote
Almost every decent DVD has plenty of languages which you can choose from, and there are automatically added to the statistics pie...

...which also produces a "statistics" of questionable use. My comment had nothing to do with my mother tongue being English. I was pointing out the search features of the program provide a more effective means of reporting such information.

[sidebar]

I suspect for most users the statistics feature makes a good first impression, then isn't used much. I think it's useful as an overview of the database. But with too many tabs, it becomes overwhelming for that purpose. Furthermore, having too many tabs suggests everything should be included, making it more difficult to maintain.

As an alternative means of providing statistical information, Advanced Search could be made more friendly by adding the ability to save searches. Saved searches could then be a means for generating whatever statistics one is interested in seeing on a regular basis.
Title: Printing
Post by: rick.ca on August 21, 2010, 10:45:53 pm
Originally posted to lost topic Print an alphabetical list of the movies in November 2008...

PVD does not yet have any "direct" print function. As you might imagine, there would be some complexity in determining exactly what should be printed. Maybe we'll see something in the next version.

The method that is available for producing reports is powerful and flexible, but not very user-friendly. You can produce any kind of report you like using the export feature (on the menu: Tools - Export - Export Movies or Persons using templates). The templates are managed by selecting Tools - Preferences - Plugins (left pane) - Plain text export (right pane) and clicking Configure. Here you will see a variety of sample templates that can be modified to suit your needs. When run, the export routine will create a plain text or HTML (i.e., web page) file that includes the movies or people currently displayed. This file can then be displayed and printed using your computer's native abilities for doing such things.

Needless to say, your computer ability is going to have to rise above a 1 before anything gets printed this way! But it's not as difficult as it sounds. The "Simple plain list" sample template is probably very close to what you want. I suggest you try doing an export with that template selected. You won't hurt anything by trying—it will just create a file. You can then view the file and decide whether you've got something worth killing a tree for. 
Title: Selecting a template
Post by: rick.ca on August 21, 2010, 10:53:09 pm
Originally posted to lost topic Export bug in October 2008...

In Preferences - Plugins - Plain text export - Configure, select the template you want to use and click the Use as default button. You can also check Select template on execute if you would rather select the template each time the plugin is run.
Title: Various questions on exporting
Post by: rick.ca on August 21, 2010, 11:26:15 pm
Originally posted to lost topic Exporting questions in August and September 2008...

Quote
It may seem we're a wee bit off topic, but... It's interesting to note the relative abundance of excellent music versus video cataloging software. The existence of some reasonable standards for music media tagging must have a lot to do with that. I think the ultimate success of software like PVD may depend on it's ability to respond to the emergence of such standards for video media—if that ever happens.

I'm just a user, but I'm sure nostra would be happy to put that on his todo list.  

While you're waiting (for a very long time), you could use a custom language file (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=763.0) to change all the field names, menus, etc. to accommodate a music database (series could be bands, seasons albums, and episodes tracks). Then create your own scripts to download music information. Let us know how you make out.  

In case you're new to music cataloging... I think it's a good idea to master the tagging of your files first (e.g., with something like Mp3Tag (http://www.mp3tag.de/en/)). Once they're tagged, just about any media player/manager can use the information. If it's a good one, it can take over the tagging function as well. If you're serious about organizing all your media, I recommend J. River Media Center (http://www.jrmediacenter.com/).

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so i guess that the lack of a standard is just a blessing...

Thanks to the standards, there have been things like iTunes and millions of users doing things like cataloging collections of 20,000 songs. Collectively, they produce enough demand for software that overcomes the limitations of the standards. While not perfect, the existence of tagging standards allows for enough portability that users can migrate their collections to the best software with relative ease. This, in turn, makes the market very efficient and drives development.

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...lets keep it that way for videos at least.

But you may be right. There's always the possibility PVD will become the standard. And if everyone were so loose with their 0.1 eurocents, that would suggest 6.8 million euro in revenue.  I'd be concerned nostra would be tempted to retire.  ;)  

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is there any way to export posters in original title names?

Not directly, but this technique (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=939.msg2287#msg2287) should suffice if it's a one-time requirement.

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...not all of my movies have path...

Then use field 2 (Title) or 3 (Origtitle) instead of 27 (Path). A list of field name/variables is here (http://www.videodb.info/help/hlp_export.html). [Update: Fields are now referred to by name. See the reference provided.]

The purpose of the Excel worksheet is to create an OS Command to rename each image file—a separate command for each image file. The Excel formula means nothing to the OS. That command is parsed using the formula, as described. The worksheet should look something like the following (except for the second line, which I have inserted to show how it works). When copying the formula, make sure it begins with "=". You should see the results of the formula, not the formula itself. Copy the third column (starting with "rename image1.jpg...") to a text file. That should result in only a list of valid rename commands.

Code: [Select]
Poster                  Path                                            Formula
{%value=63}             {%value=27}                                     ="rename "&{%value=63}&" """&{%value=27}&""""
image1.jpg              E:\Video\Metropolis (1927).jpg                  rename image1.jpg "E:\Video\Metropolis (1927).jpg"
image2.jpg        E:\Video\On The Waterfront (1954).jpg        rename image2.jpg "E:\Video\On The Waterfront (1954).jpg"
image3.jpg        E:\Video\Rebecca (1940).jpg                rename image3.jpg "E:\Video\Rebecca (1940).jpg"
image4.jpg        E:\Video\Some Like It Hot (1959).jpg        rename image4.jpg "E:\Video\Some Like It Hot (1959).jpg"
image5.jpg        E:\Video\Wall-E (2008) 8.8 #26.jpg        rename image5.jpg "E:\Video\Wall-E (2008).jpg"
Title: Web search
Post by: rick.ca on August 22, 2010, 12:02:34 am
Originally posted to lost topic Add db search sites in December 2008...

To add a Web Search, select Preferences - Web Search and follow the directions at the bottom of the dialog. The URL you want is the same one that's used to execute a query when using the target website directly. Often that is not visible because the site uses POSTs rather than GETs to execute the query. You can fix that by using this... [alternate explanation here (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php/topic,2416.msg12759.html#msg12759)]

Code: [Select]
javascript:(function(){var x,i; x = document.forms; for (i = 0; i < x.length; ++i) x[i].method="get"; alert("Changed " + x.length + " forms to use the GET method.  After submitting a form from this page, you should be able to bookmark the result."); })();
Save this as a bookmark, and use it when at the search page of the website. Then, when you do a search, the search URL it uses will appear in your location bar. Copy & paste this into the URL box of your Web Search configuration and make the appropriate changes (e.g., change your test search word to "%s%u").

To download from a site, you would need to write a script. Instructions are [urlhttp://www.videodb.info/help/hlp_scripting.html]here[/url].

[Later]

You must have created a favorite for this page. Copy the code I provided, right-click on the favorite you created (or any favorite you want to use), select Properties, and paste it into the URL box. Rename the favorite "Change POSTs to GETs." Go to the search page you want to examine and select the favorite. You should see the message, "Changed x forms to use the GET method. After submitting a form from this page, you should be able to bookmark the result." Then do the query (i.e., "submit the form"). The query will work normally, but the location bar will now display a search URL that you can adapt for use as a web search query. Have a look at the query URLs already set up in Preferences if you want an idea of the different forms they can take. Most are very simple, a few somewhat finicky or impossible.



Originally posted to lost topic Web search in May 2008...

Quote
How does one determine how a particular website takes search parameters?

My trial-and-error approach is wearing thin. If the obvious doesn't work, I usually try creating a Firefox "quick search" to see how the search url is constructed. While the quick search usually works, the search url often does not reveal the search parameters. For example, for film.com, I get just "http://www.film.com/search". Adding "?%s" or "?q=%s" etc. is futile. In this case, I used my Google toolbar to create a "custom search" which indicated the search url to be "http://www.film.com/search?search-term=%s" (finally, I changed "%s" to "%22%s%22%u").

So, how could I have determined this directly? How can I find out how to pass additional parameters? Film.com's "advanced search," for example, includes the usual "any words," "all words" or "exact phrase" option, and some categories to choose from.

In an effort to answer my own question, I used the same technique to discover the advanced search url is "http://www.film.com/search?search-method=advanced&search-mode=phrase&search-type=Movie&search-term=%s%u". But I feel lucky getting this—sometimes I'll see something like this, other times just the root url. Examining the page source, I think I see the reason for this—a "hidden form" is being used. Attached is a screenshot of Firefox with the "Page Info" panel showing. From that, I suppose I could deduce an effective search url.

So, I suppose my question should be—Am I on the right track, or is there an easier way? It would be nice to be able to complete a search form, and then just cut and paste the resulting search url into PVD.

Quote
For such cases I use a "Web Developer" Add-on in Firefox...

Ahhh...much better. Thanks! And I promise I won't ask what all those other commands are for.   

[Later]

Nostra, Web Developer Toolbar got the job done, but I only used the one command. Afterwards, I realized I already had a bookmarklet that does the same thing:

Code: [Select]
javascript:(function(){var x,i; x = document.forms; for (i = 0; i < x.length; ++i) x[i].method=%22get%22; alert(%22Changed %22 + x.length + %22 forms to use the GET method.  After submitting a form from this page, you should be able to bookmark the result.%22); })();
I deleted the alert part and put this on my bookmark toolbar for easy access. So now I just click this before doing a search, and I can see all the parameters in the URL.

This exercise suggested a few refinements for PVD:

• The accuracy of IMDb (and probably some others) title searches is greatly improved if " (YYYY)" is appended to the title. It would be nice to have a "%y" variable to facilitate this.

• This may be unique to North American sites, but many handle foreign language titles very badly (like if it hasn't been renamed to English, it doesn't exist. It would be helpful if the PVD search term box were populated with whatever field is "selected" (no, I'm not sure what I mean by that) or highlighted in PVD, rather than always being the original title of the selected movie. I realize I can cut and paste anything into the search box, but I'm lazy.

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Rick, could you tell me what web sites are most popular among those queries you created?

I'm not sure what you mean by "popular," so I've provided following the Google PageRank and my subjective rating for each site. My rating is based more on the site's usefulness for use within PVD than its popularity, or what I may think of the overall site. As good as some of them are, part of the reason I use PVD is so I don't have to go there. I tend to prefer sites that provide information not otherwise in my database. So, for example, AMG is not the most popular site, but it does have movie synopses of reasonably consistent quality—something I do not get from my IMDb download. MRQE is not very popular, but it provides a comprehensive list of links to all popular reviews, so it's all I really need for movie reviews.

As I said before, this is very much a matter of personal preference. I think the best you can do is offer a selection that suggests to users the potential of web searches. Here's another idea: move this thread to a more suitable location in the forum (maybe its own group), and add a "Web search forum" link to it as the last web search in PVD. Maybe that would help convey the idea this is a user-configured tool—not something they should be bugging you about it if it does not work to their liking. Not that you're the least bit concerned about that possibility, of course.   

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I do not think it is a good idea to add all of them to the standard installation package as there too many.

What's the problem? My Web search menu has already turned into a scrolling list, and that works great!  ;D
Title: Importing from Excel
Post by: rick.ca on August 22, 2010, 08:13:23 pm
English => Support => Importing from Excel (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=851)

Post by: rick.ca on May 23, 2008, 04:59:37 pm

I tried testing the Excel import plugin—to see if I could replicate ruffa's problem and to answer some of my own questions about how it works. This is what I have learned...

It seems the plugin is not dependent on headings in the Excel file. As long as the configuration has the correct sequence of columns specified, it will work even if there is no heading row. On the other hand, it does recognize the first row is headings, if that's what they are. So I'm not sure what the implications are of excluding it. My preference is to include headings to help keep track of what I'm doing. Attached is a screen shot illustrating how I view my Excel file while entering the configuration. The Excel headings are not necessary for the plugin, but I do need to list the fields in the configuration in exactly the same order as the columns in Excel.

When importing additional information to existing records, the attached confirmation dialog appears. It may seem straightforward, but can be a little confusing when one appreciates the import works on a field level, not just for each record as a whole. This is what each option does:

Update adds source (Excel) field if destination record exists (as determined by matching ID, Title/Year or URL); otherwise does nothing.

Merge adds source (Excel) field if destination field (PVD) is null; otherwise leaves destination data intact.

Add adds all the source fields to a new duplicate record; the existing record is unaffected.

Do not add skips the record; continues the import with the next record.

Overwrite replaces the destination field with the source field; if the source field is null, the destination field is left unchanged.

Cancel terminates the import.

This dialog will appear for each record already in the database unless "do not show again is checked"—then the response is applied to all records imported.

It's easy to assume all records will be "updated" when choosing Overwrite. It can be important to recognize blank fields in import records will not cause existing data to be "deleted." If this is what is intended, blank cells in Excel should be changed to "null" or "delete me," which can be deleted in PDV after importing (if available for the field, using multiple movie editor).

Now, back to ruffa's problem: I was unable to replicate the problem with any combination of blank cells or special characters (like common field delimiters) in the data. Once the import was properly configured, it worked without error both initially, and when used again to add or change data. I only found this kind of error (data in wrong field for some records, not others) when changing columns the Excel file and not making the same change in the plugin configuration (or vice versa). For the reasons already mentioned, the corruption resulting from this can be difficult to interpret because some records are affected and others are not (e.g., a record is not updated because the import field is null, or the destination is not). Furthermore, for the same reasons, if the configuration is then fixed, running the import again will not fix the corruption unless all the affected fields are included, none of them are null, and the overwrite option is used. In most cases, it would be easier to restore from backup or start a new database than to "undo" an import that has run amuck.

Post by: ruffa on May 24, 2008, 12:43:47 pm

Ok, so i just tried importing from excel again, this time using only 27 rows of data. Problems i found...

Maybe this should be added to a future help file, explaining that in the excel plugin configuration, the order in which you select what fields to import corresponds to the Column position, for example:
If in the configuration i selected to import Title, Description, and Year in this order, then this would import my excel Column A to 'TITLE', B to 'Description' and C to 'Year' etc.

But what I now don't understand is, it the above Is correct, then if I wanted to Import lets say my 'length' column at a later date to my pvd. So I'd configure the plugin to only import the length, but surely If the above was correct this would then import not the length but column 'a' of my Excel database Into the PVD. So how could I go about trying to import only the length field from my Excel now? (i just tried to import only the LENGTH field but nothing happened, probably because it sees the first column full of titles i guess)

i noticed that there is no need to save the data you have entered into the database, it saves automatically i guess, this is a good thing in some ways but what do you do if you make a big mistake to your database then it autosaves! is there an undo or back button, i guess u just need a backup to hand which u backup regularly, it would be nice to see a save button with the option to turn off+on autosave function.

Post by: nostra on May 24, 2008, 01:38:59 pm

The plugin must always be configure for all fields.

There is no way skip some fields, but maybe I'll add such a possibility in future.

Check your length cells in Excel. Probably Excel made them to have type "Time" and PVD gets wrong data when importing such cells. Change the type to "Text". After your length cells are ok, just re-import the data and answer "Merge" when PVD asks you what to do with the duplicates.

Post by: rick.ca on May 24, 2008, 02:19:16 pm

Quote
The plugin must always be configure for all fields.
That is, all columns in the Excel file.

Quote
Change the type to "Text".
Nostra, does it matter whether the text is in the form "hh:mm:ss" or just "hh:mm" or "mmm"?

If the data in Excel is a number displayed as time, then make a new column using =LEFT(TEXT(TimeCell,"hh:mm:ss"),8). Select the new column, Copy it, and Paste-Special-Values it to another column (or on top of itself, if you like). This column will be text you can import (subject to what nostra may say about format).

Post by: rick.ca on May 24, 2008, 03:23:29 pm

Quote
...and what title you'd like to select for each column.
I think you understand, but this is not literally correct. The plugin will ignore whatever titles you put on the first row of the worksheet. The plugin configuration assigns valid PVD fields to each column. All that matters is that those fields are listed in the same order at the columns appear.

Quote
So how could I go about trying to import only the length field from my Excel now?
Aside from the matter of this data needing to be converted to text, the simplest import of additional information to movies already existing in the database would require two columns—one to identify the record (Title) and one for the additional information (e.g., Length). Remember what I said about this before...

Each time you use the import plugin, include the movie title and year so the correct record in PVD can be identified. It won't matter what other records are in the database at the time, or what order they are in. If you change any titles in PVD, you might have to take care to make the same changes in your Excel file so any future imports will work correctly. I suppose it would be a good idea to refrain from changing titles in PVD until you have finished all your importing.

Quote
there is no need to save the data you have entered into the database, it saves automatically
This is not "autosave." This is how "true" database software works—all changes are immediately written to disk. This is not something that can be "turned off." I suppose some kind of "undo" feature is feasible, but it may not be what you expect. Many changes are going to be so pervasive, it would not be possible to maintain reliable undo information for very long. (When you add a movie, about 20 people—maybe many more—will be added. For each of those, a complete filmography may be included. So adding one movie can easily involve 500 records being added to/updated in the database. You're right, frequent backup is probably the only answer. Perhaps some kind of backup reminder can be added.

Post by: ruffa on May 25, 2008, 01:14:29 am

You said if i want to import data to my existing database i need at least 2 columns to import, e.g. title, and length, the title so the database can ID where the stick the times. But i'm still confused, Nostra said i'd need to keep the plugin configured for all fields when importing to an existing database, i understand this and then import it with Merge ticked, then it will fill in the blanks, but i don't understand what you are saying about working only with 2 columns at a time, how would you do this? If i only selected to import title and length then surely the length would end up in my 'B' column which is my description column.

About the 'Length' columns, i have simply typed in the runtime like this: 60mins, 54mins etc. i have not done it like this: 00:01:03:00hrs. I've always manually typed out my database or copied+pasted, i've never altered any settings on excel, does this make any difference? Thanks for the piece of code you typed which would redo the times but i'm not familiar with how to actually use that sum you typed. But like i said the runtime is typed like 60mins.

Post by: rick.ca on May 25, 2008, 04:47:02 am

Quote
Nostra said i'd need to keep the plugin configured for all fields...
This really isn't that complicated. What nostra was trying to say, and what I attempted to clarify with my previous post, was you must configure the plugin exactly according to the columns that exist in your Excel file. It doesn't matter whether you have two columns or twenty. The plugin has no way of determining which field the data in each column should be put unless you tell it—for each and every column.

Quote
If i only selected to import title and length then surely the length would end up in my 'B' column which is my description column.

Maybe the reason you're not getting this is that you think your Excel file is "fixed." When I suggest you can import just the length field, I'm assuming you will make a copy of your Excel file, delete all the columns except title, year and length, and then save this new file for importing to PVD. If you insist on importing from your original Excel database each time, you will have to be very careful that your plugin configuration is correct. Furthermore—as you have discovered—if anything goes wrong, it's much more difficult to figure out what happened.

Quote
About the 'Length' columns, i have simply typed in the runtime like this: 60mins, 54mins etc.
I'm not sure exactly what format the plugin is expecting (i.e., "hh:mm" or "mmm"). I'd be surprised if it understood "60mins" (and, it seems you have already found it does not). I see PVD exports length in minutes ("mmm"), so let's assume the import plugin will recognize that. Since you're not comfortable using formulas, try this: Select your length column, Edit-Replace "mins" with nothing (i.e., delete all occurrences of "mins"), and format the column as text. This is confusing, but... what you want your minutes to look like numbers, but to actually be text.

Post by: nostra on May 25, 2008, 05:39:43 am

PVD accepts length as hh:mm:ss or a number of minutes without text after or before it.

Post by: rick.ca on May 25, 2008, 10:12:09 am

...So, the most effective way to deal with this sort of situation is to convert the form of the data using Excel. In this case, =TEXT(LEFT(Length,LEN(Length)-4),"0") would do the trick (replace Length with a reference to the cell with length in the form "123mins").

"hh:mm:ss" is another matter. If the data is already in this form, in text, the plugin will recognize it. If it is not text, but a time-value the cell is formatted to display like this, it will need to be converted to text with =TEXT(Length,"hh:mm:ss").

Once the new column with the formulae is displaying the data in the correct format, use Copy-Paste Special-Values to convert it to text. Now that it no longer relies on the original data, that column may be deleted.

Post by: ruffa on May 27, 2008, 10:31:11 am

if it accepts 'number of mins' without text after it then i will try the method of using the replace the word mins with nothing, then try to import again.

[attachment deleted by admin]
Title: Test: Wiki topic 1
Post by: rick.ca on September 08, 2010, 01:36:52 am
Filtering Movies

There are many different ways to filter how you view movies in your movie list. They include:

    • viewed
    • owned
    • loaned
    • movies on hard drives
    • bookmarked
    • movies/series

These filters act as toggles and can individually selected and/or turned on/off. When a particular filter is applied, only those records that match the filter criteria are available for viewing (the rest are all hidden). When you apply the filter by selecting one of the available three (3) options, the list of movies will immediately be updated.

Filtering viewed movies

Viewed movies are those that have the Seen (#post_id1) checkbox selected. You can filter by:

    • All
    • Not Viewed
    • Viewed

All basically includes both Not Viewed and Viewed.

Filtering owned movies

Owned movies are those that have the Wish (#post_id2) checkbox unselected. You can filter by:

    • All
    • Not Owned
    • Owned

Filtering loaned movies

Loaned movies are those that have a borrower associated with the movie. You can loan a movie using the menu item Movies - Loan (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=1189.msg10797#msg10797). You can filter by:

    • All
    • Not Loaned
    • Loaned

Filtering movies on hard drives

Movies are stored (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=1189.0) on hard drives, either fixed or removable. To filter by which type of drive a movie is stored on, choose:

    • All
    • Movies on Hard drives
    • Movies on Removable drives

Filtering bookmarked movies

Movies can be bookmarked for quick, convenient access within your list of movies. You can filter by:

    • All
    • Bookmarked
    • Not bookmarked

Filtering by record type

Records in the movie database can be of two different types, either Movies or Series. Your three filtering choices are:

    • All
    • Movies
    • Series

Filtering by poster

A movie can have posters associated with them. By default, filters ignore whether or not a poster is associated with a movie. If you wish to apply a filter so that only movies that do not have a poster is visible, toggle the filter option "No Poster".

A checkmark will appear by "No Poster" if the filter is applied (or ON). No checkmark means that All movies are available (and no filter is being applied).

Filtering by cover

A movie can have covers associated with them. By default, filters ignore whether or not a cover is associated with a movie. If you wish to apply a filter so that only movies that do not have a cover is visible, toggle the filter option "No Cover".

A checkmark will appear by "No Cover" if the filter is applied (or ON). No checkmark means that All movies are available (and no filter is being applied).

Filtering by screenshot

A movie can have screenshots associated with them. By default, filters ignore whether or not a screenshot is associated with a movie. If you wish to apply a filter so that only movies that do not have a screenshot are visible, toggle the filter option "No Screenshot".

A checkmark will appear by "No Screenshot" if the filter is applied (or ON). No checkmark means that All movies are available (and no filter is being applied).

Advanced Filters

There is an advanced filter that you can apply as well. The advanced filter defaults to Visible so that only those records that are Visible can be seen in the movies list.

Movies that are Not Visible are those that have effectively been deleted. There are also instances where movie records may be in the database and Not Visible in order to keep relationships with other movie information valid (i.e. movies associated with people, for example). This is sort of an advanced PVD topic so don't feel bad if it doesn't totally make sense. ;)

The important concept to understand is that you can view Not Visible records if you wanted to. This is very useful, for example, when you want to undelete (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=1189.0) a movie record.



Seen movie status     [Top] (#post_id0)

The Seen attribute for movies is used to indicate if the movie has already been viewed.

In addition to setting the flag, you can also specify the date the movie was last viewed. The date could be --

    • today
    • yesterday
    • 2 days ago
    • set date — specify the exact date that the movie was last viewed
    • Seen (no date) — set the flag that the movie has been viewed but do not provide a date


Methods for setting the Seen status of a movie
There are several methods for setting the Seen status of a movie. For example,

    • from the Movies menu
    • click on the Seen checkbox in the movie details screen (note that this will automatically set the Seen date to today's date)
    • from the New Movie Master window



Wish movie status     [Top] (#post_id0)

The Wish attribute for movies is used to indicate if the movie is Owned or Not Owned. By default, when you add a movie to your database, it is assumed to be Owned (i.e. the Wish checkbox is not set).

To indicate that the movie is Not Owned, you can...

    • select Movies->Wish->Not Owned
    • click on the Wish checkbox in the movie details screen (note that an icon will appear beside the wish box to remind you to purchase this movie. The drop-down button gives you two choices — Amazon.com and eBay — where you can go to purchase. If you click on the Wish button you will be taken to the corresponding web site)
    • from the New Movie Master window
Title: Test: Wiki topic 2
Post by: rick.ca on September 08, 2010, 01:57:48 am
Loaning a Movie

To loan a movie, select Movies - Loan or the Loan button from the tool bar. A window will appear where you can select the individual from a drop-down list box. If the individual does not appear in the drop-down list box, you can type in the individual's name and it will automatically be added to the list. You can also specify how many days the individual should be allowed to keep the movie on loan.

The movie list shows Loaned movies in Red, and a new field will appear in the movie details for Borrower indicating the name of the individual and when the movie was Loaned.

Loan Filter

You can filter (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=1189.msg10796#msg10796) the list of movies so that only those that are on Loan will appear in the movie list. To do this, choose Filters - Loaned.

Loans Manager

You can use the Loans Manager to keep track of what movies are currently checked out and a history of Loan activity. The Loans Manager can be found at Tools - Loans Manager or by using the shortcut Ctrl+Alt+L.
Title: Re: Help Index
Post by: rick.ca on October 01, 2010, 06:05:30 am
Added preamble (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=1189.msg4136#msg4136) to announce Help (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?board=11.0) board and demise of this topic.