Vote: Features for 0.9.9

[nostra]

Hopefully, the Customizable Views feature will allow us to create a view suitable for HTPC use. I think that's going to require a lot of discussion about how it's implemented and used. In other words, I think we need to wait to see what nostra has come up with before considering things like the best icons to use.

You will be able to reposition, resize and change color and font for everything in the information card. I'll add a possibility to change fonts for the movie/person list as well.

BTW, I've noticed many award entries are duplicated (a varying number of times). It looks like it's because it's a "team" award given to a number of individuals—but the plugin is not getting (or correctly saving) the peoples' names.

Normally it should create one entry per person merging those entries in normal mode and showing all of the them in edit mode.
Post a screenshot if it is not the case and tell me witch movie it is.

[rick.ca]

Post a screenshot if it is not the case and tell me witch movie it is.

The attached screenshots illustrate only the duplicate entry situation I described...

Normally it should create one entry per person merging those entries in normal mode and showing all of the them in edit mode.

I've never paid much attention before, but now I see this is true—in some cases. I'm sure I've seen a few that list every individual in normal mode (i.e., they were not merged). These screenshot examples appear the same in edit mode—the individuals names are still missing. I don't see a pattern, but the behaviour is clearly inconsistent.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[nostra]

Too small. Not as good as the current folder icons.

Why does everybody keep telling me that they are too small? nostra said that the 64x64 stars are too big so I uploaded 16x16; the same size of the programme icons.

Fine then. Here the 64x64 icons and I believe nostran can resize them.

Thx, as I said I can get a better view to choose best version when the icons are added to the application.

[nostra]

Quote
Post a screenshot if it is not the case and tell me witch movie it is.

The attached screenshots illustrate only the duplicate entry situation I described...

Quote
Normally it should create one entry per person merging those entries in normal mode and showing all of the them in edit mode.

I've never paid much attention before, but now I see this is true—in some cases. I'm sure I've seen a few that list every individual in normal mode (i.e., they were not merged). These screenshot examples appear the same in edit mode—the individuals names are still missing. I don't see a pattern, but the behaviour is clearly inconsistent.

Do you have the option "Do not add people from awards if they are not listed in movie credits" on? If yes, it is the answer. I had to add some extra code to handle this situation, but it seems that I have forgotten to do this. The issue will be fixed in 0.9.9

[rick.ca]

Do you have the option "Do not add people from awards if they are not listed in movie credits" on?

Yup. No room for hairstylists and the like in my database.

[nostra]

What is so problematic in starting PVD with portable.bat???
I do not really want to make PVD run in portable mode by default as it is not standart conform, unless most of the users want it to behave like this.

You can also modify path in the normal shortcut to videodb.exe -portable, if you do not like the .bat file...

[rick.ca]

but I just felt sorry that all the tiny sophisticated changes of the settings went in vain.

Why don't you just move the configuration file? As I mentioned earlier, it's a good idea to keep a backup of the configuration. Especially the one with the sophisticated settings.

[kri kri]

Can you possibly include a feature to export to XML? I have posted a message here:

http://forum.team-mediaportal.com/my-films-164/personal-video-database-support-43411/

About using PVD with MediaPortal.

Thanks!

[nostra]

You can export to XML using XML Template with existing export plugin.

[rick.ca]

About using PVD with MediaPortal...

darichman did this for Media Center, which also requires import files to be in XML format. See if this topic helps.

[kri kri]

You can export to XML using XML Template with existing export plugin.

OK I got a hold of the author of the MyFilms plugin for MP - he just has a question about where the posters are stored - is there a way to export the posters along with the XML file?

[nostra]

Yes, the plugin can export posters (any images actually) into a folder near xml file.

[ruffa]

Not sure if anyone has suggested it yet but i think an import function for British Film Institute Database would make your database the best ever! It contains most UK TV broadcasts ever screened......

Or better still, is there any way you could include a customizable import function so that users could fill in pre set fields with the variables needs to import from such online databases? This would be excellent!

Great work your doing....

[nostra]

You can create your own scripts to import information from any resource. Here is expalined how to do this: http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=777.0

[deazo]

 Hi, first of all, I'd like to thank u for this software, it is very powerful. I am using it as well as EMM and can't decide which I prefer.
 The fact that PVD can captures tags/keywords from imdb is fantastic. Also I like the hyperlinkings, this helps me a lot when searching interesting movies in my collection.

 One feature I'd like to see is a cloud of tags, showing (in big letters) the ones that I have the most (recurring theme in my collection). I guess this will be in the stats tool. Of course we could have clouds of actors, directors, years, etc... It's just another way of displaying the results, rather than using columns or bars.
 
Thanks for listening!

D.

[rick.ca]

I guess this will be in the stats tool.

I think you would want a tag cloud to be interactive (i.e., click the tag to display the movies with that tag), which rules out the stats tool. This would just be a visible enhancement to what can already be done with Tree View. If it were to be implemented, that's probably where it should go—as a third "Cloud View" for the list pane. Alternatively, it would be nice to be able to sort tree view in descending order of the number of movies in each node. While not as visual as a tag cloud, that would provide the same information while leaving the functionality of the tree.

[rick.ca]

It's got to be way too late to asking for new features for 0.9.9, but since I'm here anyway...

I find myself often wishing there were back and forward navigation buttons—like in a browser. I suppose that's because that's what I'm often doing with my database—browsing. It would be nice to be able to just click a button to go back to what I was previously looking at, instead of having to change views and/or find and select the item in the list.

[nostra]

I find myself often wishing there were back and forward navigation buttons—like in a browser. I suppose that's because that's what I'm often doing with my database—browsing. It would be nice to be able to just click a button to go back to what I was previously looking at, instead of having to change views and/or find and select the item in the list.

I have this in my TODO already. Let's see when I can get to implement this feature.

[punking]

Well, this is probably too late for 0.9.9 and I'm sure if anybody else has mentioned these but:

1. Any chance of being able to write your own filters. Example - Filter out films viewed in 2007 that were released in 1960.
2. Change 'wish' category to 'owned' or 'not owned'. I like to keep a check on what films I've seen but I don't necessarily wish to own them after renting them.

[rick.ca]

1. Use Advanced Search to do things like this.

2. Hmmm. I don't recall this being discussed before. Most of the movies in my collection are ones I've rented in the past. PVD detects those which are on my hard drive and distinguishes them with a filter. None of them are "owned" DVD's, so that's all I need. I'm sure other users record only DVD's they own, so all they need is the "wish" flag to distinguish those they do not yet own. But what about those who are doing both? Perhaps there should be a filter added for "owned DVD's." I'm not sure how that would work—it could be based on the barcode, or some other data recorded when a DVD is scanned. Then one would be able to filter movies on fixed drives vs. removable drives (e.g., DVD's) vs. rentals viewed in the past.

BTW, this illustrates another issue. Because PVD can handle different kinds of collections, the standard filters can be used in different ways. As a result, the default captions may not be appropriate. For example, I use the wish list feature, but this has no bearing on "ownership" in the context of my collection. I therefore use a custom language file to change that filter's captions from "owned" and "not owned" to "seen/available" and "wish list." There are other creative ways one might use existing features. The Loan Manager, for example, could be used to distinguish and manage owned DVD's. Just "loan" all your DVD's to yourself for 365 days—the loan filter would then show all your DVD's. The loan feature could still be used for it's intended purpose by "returning" and "reloaning" a movie. A simple search will isolate a loans to a specific borrower.

There. It seems I've found your features—and saved nostra from some unnecessary work.