Preference settings / Custom fields

[leogets]

1.
I originally set this option to Not Seen as apposed to the Default Seen, when I did my original scan for movie info.  Then, a while later, I went to update the database with another directory of approx. 30Gig of movies.  After downloads were complete, all the movies were added as "Seen" rather than 'Not Seen' as I had set it too a while ago.  Why must I prior to doing a scan always have to check and reconfigure this option prior to doing a new scan.

2.
The placement of pvdconf.ini and what it retains in it.  I set my windows options to 'Not show hidden files' and to 'Hide system protected files' yet in order to be able to view the contents of pvdconf.ini I have to delselect the 'Not show hidden files' option and then reintialize it when finished, that is if I don't forget.  
- Why does this pvdconf.ini file have to be placed in this strange place? (C:\Documents and Settings\*UserName*\Application Data\Personal Video Database" this is an Hidden Sytem File folder) under XP.  
 -Why can it not be placed in My Documents folder under the Personal Video Database folder that this program creates there? I'd prefer this much more.
- While viewing the pvdconf.ini file I see it has [FileScanner] options but there is not entry made for 'Information Card' where it would = Seen (1) or Not Seen (0).  I would like it if this option could be added and to pvdconf.ini and that the pvdconf.ini be moved to the My Documents folder for PVD.

3.
I was using the PVD Condensed skin but later changed to PVD Classic Tabs skin, Because there are No Votes attached to the IMDB rating given, I tried to get to IMDB (to check on how many people had voted for this movie) through a people link provided in the Condensed skin but found out that link only took me into People mode, of which I could not find a way out of, or how to get back to Movies view mode, so I deleted the pvdconf.ini file and started the program over again.
- Even though if your in People Mode, there should be some simple way under "View" to get back to 'Movie Mode' as there is already a simple way under 'View' to 'Switch to People' Mode.
Because this program when retrieving the IMDB data does present the viewer with votes and nor does the PVD Condensed skin show URL or IMDB site link in the reason I changed to using the PVD Classic Tabs skin which fits pretty good for a resolution of 800 x 600 and I am quite happy in the end with its look.

4.
When will this program and plugins be capable of displaying 'Votes' by people to get the IMDB rating imposed on the movie in question?

Thanks to all. Most of prolems are of minimal concern, but should still be looked into.

[buah]

Leogets,

Did you define custom field for IMDb votes, than referenced it to IMDb plugin?

Why must I prior to doing a scan always have to check and reconfigure this option prior to doing a new scan.

I also use "not seen" as default state, and I have never had such a problem. Maybe prior to scanning you deleted pdvconfig.ini, than regenerate it, than scanned directory? Try to recall it.

Cheers

P.S. There's an icon in the toolbar for fast switching between viewing modes, you can set it to be shown in there.

[rick.ca]

Why must I prior to doing a scan always have to check and reconfigure this option prior to doing a new scan.

The last settings used are saved in the configuration file. Perhaps you're having this problem because you doing things like...

...so I deleted the pvdconf.ini file and started the program over again.

I would like it if this option could be added and to pvdconf.ini and that the pvdconf.ini be moved to the My Documents folder for PVD.

There's nothing strange about application data being saved in an application data directory and user data being saved in a user documents folder. The application data directory is hidden because Microsoft is afraid some people won't understand the difference (with some justification, it would seem). You can decide for yourself whether the application data directory should be hidden or not.

I was using the PVD Condensed...

This is an unsupported user-created skin only provided as an example of a special-purpose skin users are able to create.

Even though if your in People Mode, there should be some simple way under "View" to get back to 'Movie Mode' as there is already a simple way under 'View' to 'Switch to People' Mode.

Switch to people/movies is always available on the View menu, as a shortcut key and can be placed on the toolbar.

When will this program and plugins be capable of displaying 'Votes' by people to get the IMDB rating imposed on the movie in question?

This has been available for quite some time. Please check your IMDb plugin configuration.

[nostra]

I originally set this option to Not Seen as apposed to the Default Seen, when I did my original scan for movie info.  Then, a while later, I went to update the database with another directory of approx. 30Gig of movies.  After downloads were complete, all the movies were added as "Seen" rather than 'Not Seen' as I had set it too a while ago.  Why must I prior to doing a scan always have to check and reconfigure this option prior to doing a new scan.

The default seen setting is applied to all places in program where a default value for this field is needed. There is nothing strange in the behavior of this option as it is just consistent.

The placement of pvdconf.ini and what it retains in it.  I set my windows options to 'Not show hidden files' and to 'Hide system protected files' yet in order to be able to view the contents of pvdconf.ini I have to delselect the 'Not show hidden files' option and then reintialize it when finished, that is if I don't forget.
- Why does this pvdconf.ini file have to be placed in this strange place? (C:\Documents and Settings\*UserName*\Application Data\Personal Video Database" this is an Hidden Sytem File folder) under XP.
 -Why can it not be placed in My Documents folder under the Personal Video Database folder that this program creates there? I'd prefer this much more.
 I would like it if this option could be added and to pvdconf.ini and that the pvdconf.ini be moved to the My Documents folder for PVD.

This "strange" path is the best place to save application settings according to microsoft quidelines and as microsoft develops the operating system PVD runs in I need to develop according to their rules. You can optionally run PVD with -portable command line parameter (start the program with portable.bat or create a shortcut with this parameter included), so the settings are save in the application folder.

- While viewing the pvdconf.ini file I see it has [FileScanner] options but there is not entry made for 'Information Card' where it would = Seen (1) or Not Seen (0).

Default seen state is save in:

Code: [Select]

[MovieInfo]
DefSeenState=0
I do not recommend changing anything in the configuration file unless you are 100% of what you are doing as you can make the program behave unexpectedly.

When will this program and plugins be capable of displaying 'Votes' by people to get the IMDB rating imposed on the movie in question?

For IMDB votes you need to create a custom field of type "Number" in Preferences -> Movies -> Custom items
The go to Prefences -> Plugins and select the imdb plugin, press "Configure" button and select your custom field to be used for votes.

[leogets]

It is possible I might have deleted pvdconf.ini once prior to doing another scan of new movies added causing the problem to default back to Seen.

The icon for 'Switch Mode' was already selected and should/was on the toolbar, but because it was last on the list it was pushed off screen using a resolution of 1360 x 768.  So I moved it up behind the Export icon seperated by a seperator and also decided to add the icon for 'Switch View' then another seperator.
Or, Maybe it was located just behind the first Web Search icon on the toolbar and I just didn't notice it there.
Thank you.

For the Votes though, I'm still have a slight problem.
As Nostra tried to explain:

For IMDB votes you need to create a custom field of type "Number" in Preferences -> Movies -> Custom items
Then go to Prefences -> Plugins and select the imdb plugin, press "Configure" button and select your custom field to be used for votes.

So I went to Preferences\Movies\Custom Items at the bottom I typed "Votes" (without quotes) and then selected from the drop down menu there, 'Number'; hit Add button.  Moved down to 'plugins' and selected 'IMDB [EN]' then hit the 'configure' button.
IMDB Configuration window pops up. Under 'Custom Field for Votes' from the drop down menu I selected 'Votes'. (I also noticed 'Download full plot summary' was not selected so I selected it.  Brief explaination of this would be nice to know.). I hit OK to close configuration window. Then hit OK to close Preferences. But still No Votes appear. I'm using PVD Classic Movie Information Skin on this monitor.  Because nothing was displayed for votes I went back through the steps above, deleted Votes and started a new 'Votes' this time selecting 'Real number' from the drop down menu but still No Votes appear.

Am I doing anything wrong?
Do I have to rescan all the movies again to get the votes from the IMDB site?
Do I have to make some change to the Movie Information Skin to allow for Votes to appear?
Under Preferences\Movies\Visible Items, there is no check box for 'custom fields'. Should there be?
From the drop down menu selecting 'Number' or 'Real Number' and what is the difference between these two?
When movie info is downloaded, the 'Description' for the movies looks ok to me. For IMDB Configuration 'Download full plot' was not selected does this have anything to do with Movie Description because it sounds like it?


Thanks Again for all the help. Much appreciated.

[buah]

Number of votes is integer (in Serbia we call them "Whole numbers" - 1, 2, 3...), so don't define it as Real number (12.46, 138.69, etc), just Number. Maybe my configuration will help you. Please check images attached. Notice that you have to link IMDb plugin with Votes custom made field.

Unfortunately, you'll have to update online (not to rescan) all movies in order to get votes, or any other online data you didn't have. Otherwise, how would be possible?

[attachment deleted by admin]

[rick.ca]

Do I have to make some change to the Movie Information Skin to allow for Votes to appear?

Yes. It has to be added to the skin.

Under Preferences\Movies\Visible Items, there is no check box for 'custom fields'. Should there be?

No. Visibility/existence is determined by Custom items. To actually see a field, of course, it has to be in the skin.

For IMDB Configuration 'Download full plot' was not selected does this have anything to do with Movie Description because it sounds like it?

Look at a IMDb page for a movie. It refers to Description as "Plot," which is a very short plot description. It includes a link to "Full Summary," which is a page of multiple, longer, user-contributed descriptions. The plugin can be configured to use one or all of these.

[leogets]

Thank you buah,

How to "update online" (not to rescan)? Nevermind about this. I figured it out.  Just select all movies on the left then use the Toolbar icon to get IMDB info. again.

Before proceeding, for the plugins preferences I decided to select both Silent mode for all plugins and Download all available images.
I made a backup of my database just in case.  I did a rescan of all the directories.  A lot of movies were found to have changed file path, ok and some were new, again ok.
No interaction was required, but for each and every new movie the data was downloaded for, Not 1, has an image attached to it.  Do you know why?

Below is the way Votes are displayed after downloading (it looks to blah):


But I'd much rather it would be displayed as below when using both PVD Classic and PVD Classic Tabs for the Movie Info. Skins :

(this is just an edited image, not due to reworking the XML files)

Do you know I might be able to make changes to .xml of the skin to get the above?

Thank you rick.ca for clarification on some things.

[buah]

Leogets,

I would also like to have IMDb votes near IMDb rating, but unfortunately I'm not good at all with xml editing, and I'm not sure if it's possible to get it there. One day, sure I'll make some skins, but not in a months.

Glad you made it.

[buah]

No interaction was required, but for each and every new movie the data was downloaded for, Not 1, has an image attached to it.  Do you know why?

At this moment, I can only guess that you didn't choose to overwrite Poster field. Any field's checkbox background that you want to overwrite needs to be white, and not grayed.

[rick.ca]

Do you know I might be able to make changes to .xml of the skin to get the above?

I wasn't being perfectly correct in saying, "It has to be added to the skin." But, as you've found, it's rather useless sitting by itself in the custom field section. The following shows the imdbrating <row> as it is in the default skin, followed by a new <row> for a custom field named "IMDb votes".

Code: [Select]

<row>
 <column width="120" halign="right">
  <fieldlabel field="imdbrating" halign="right"/>
 </column>
 <column>
  <imdbrating/>
 </column>
</row>
<row>
 <column>
  <label width="100" halign="right">
  <caption>IMDb votes:</caption>
  </label>
  <spacer width="7"/>
  <custom field="IMDb votes"/>
 </column>
</row>


[buah]

When I paste this into skin, I get IMDb votes under IMDb rating, but my whole custom section was gone? 

[attachment deleted by admin]

[nostra]

If you define custom fields in your skin, then you must do it for all of them!

[leogets]

Thank you rick.ca the change works perfectly.

buah,

you didn't choose to overwrite Poster field. Any field's checkbox background that you want to overwrite needs to be white, and not grayed

I guess your refering to the IMDB [EN] plugin at the bottom to Overwrite fields when importing data...
I didn't touch it. It still has an X on it.
If I select it once, it turns into a check mark.
If I click it a second time it goes grey.

These are fresh movies to scan the info. and download the posters for.
Does this mean I should have the box greyed out with No 'X' or Check Mark over it?
When I did my first scan of what is in the database now, I left everything the way it was... I didn't have the options to use Silent mode for all plugins or Download all available images selected. When original first scan was finished, I was presented with pictures of posters found through Amazon.co.uk that I would select from for the images in my database.  Some of these New movies when I go to IMDB.com about the movie(s) have a thumbnail image at the top of the left hand column beside the title of the movie. Why does this picture not get downloaded for the movie(s) if the picture is there on the imdb site?


Thanks.

[buah]

If you define custom fields in your skin, then you must do it for all of them!

Thank you.

Leogets,

Please examine screenshot.3.jpg  I attached earlier for you.

[leogets]

I don't understand why you must do that.
In screenshot 3 - Custom items; I see you have defined everything in your skin. But why?

When I added that portion to my skin that rick.ca provided me with for adding IMDB votes, and then I selected all movies on the left then did an update using the icon on the toolbar (with of course the changes made to the Custom items and plugin preferences) everything still works fine.  I can still use prefereces\Movies\Visible items to apply changes to what I want displayed in the skin.  However, I found out if I remove IMDB votes from the Custom items list, and then want it back, then all the data for votes will be lost and I will have to update all the movies again to get the data for votes back again.

For the IMDB [EN] plugin at the bottom; Overwrite fields when importing data...
What is the difference between an X,  check mark and when there's nothing it goes grey, over each of the items?




Thanks To All.  (I'm using XP 32bit and 64bit on another, I have 3 levels of items in the Overwrite fields section and all boxes are grey no matter what, and the checkmarks and X's are either blue or black, hard to tell on a grey background).

[nostra]

What is the difference between an X,  check mark and when there's nothing it goes grey, over each of the items?

black x = overwrite
gray check = fill if empty
nothing = do not fill

[rick.ca]

The appearance of the Overwrite fields section apparently varies according to OS, display settings, or something. So, for the sake of others who may not be seeing the same thing, this is what mine mean:

Blue checkmark = overwrite
Greyed/blued/filled box = fill if empty
Nothing/white/empty box = do not fill

[attachment deleted by admin]

[buah]

The appearance of the Overwrite fields section apparently varies according to OS, display settings, or something. So, for the sake of others who may not be seeing the same thing,

this is what mine mean:

Checkmark in a white box = overwrite
Checkmark in a gray box = fill if empty
Empty box = do not fill

[attachment deleted by admin]