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Feature Suggestions / Re: Option to automatically save additional cover art as extra images
« on: March 04, 2012, 03:27:58 am »I will add to my TODO list with minor priorityYou are a gentleman and a scholar.
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Support / Re: Could not load skin: pvd_imdb_theme_eng.xml
« on: January 30, 2012, 10:13:18 pm »If using a portable version, it does not mean that nothing is stored in the registry.
If you have PVD start with viddb.exe, these data are linked to pvdconfig.ini, which is for example in the following folder:
C: \ Documents and Settings \ Administrator \ Application Data \ Personal Video Database (Administrator - in my case is called so, this folder can also be called otherwise).
I am complete lost now.
There is no pvdconfig.ini in any of my profile folders (windows 7) and not in the local installation folder. Still the application did know where my DB is after deleting the install folder and reinstall.
The name of the file is not "pvdconfig.ini", but rather "pvdconf.ini" -- and it does indeed get stored in the installation folder. (I am also running Windows 7 -- in my case, the 64-bit version, which means that my installation folder is under "Program Files (x86)".)
Quote
And why on earth would a portable version of an application store anything on the computer? The complete mean of a portable version is to have it portable and do not depend on anything being stored in any other location than in the intall dir.That's exactly what this does -- for a portable version that you are using in its strictest sense, you would be running it off a flash drive or other external drive, yes? And so your installation directory/folder would be on that external drive -- and that's where the configuration file is stored. Thus, "portable".
The "-portable" switch does not know or care where you've installed that version of PVD, it just knows to save the configuration file in the same folder from where you are running it -- whether that is an external drive or your computer's hard drive.Hope that helps to clear things up!
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Support / Thanks for the update to the IMDb Movie Import Plugin! - just two issues...
« on: January 26, 2012, 11:22:59 pm »- Hey, the plugin update seems to be mostly working very well again for TV episodes. Just a couple of issues I've noticed since the new version was automatically downloaded the other day...
- After importing info for a new TV series, the info is downloaded from IMDb, but there is no "+" to expand the title, and show the seasons & episodes. However, if you go into the main title to edit it, then save your changes, suddenly the ability to expand the title appears. It's as if the title in the list column isn't being refreshed, or something. (Importing from TVDb after the IMDb import also causes the expand option to appear, but then that was always the case with that.) EDIT: OKAY, WEIRDLY NOW THIS APPEARS TO BE WORKING -- AT LEAST FOR THE LAST SEVERAL TV SERIES I'VE UPDATED. Newer Edit: Whoops -- no, now it's doing it again. Just added a new series and the option to expand the title did not appear, just like before.
- When first running the plugin on a TV series main title, the images being downloaded from IMDb for each particular episode in the TV series are thumbnails, not the full version. So I have to go into Preferences, and check the box to have the plugin overwrite the existing posters, in order to get the full-sized versions when I run the IMDb plugin again on the episodes themselves.
Otherwise, I appreciate you getting it working again! IMDb's formatting of episode titles is generally better than TVDb, which I find makes the final IMDb updates-by-episode run more smoothly.
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Support / Re: Can't get Excel import to work at all - any ideas?
« on: January 22, 2012, 10:32:02 pm »This may have been covered elsewhere, but is the beta version anywhere near become officially released? I usually like to let others get the nasty surprises first.I hear ya.
But if you poll the long-time users of PVD, I'd bet you'd find that a lot of them are using the beta version. From looking at his response to you in this thread, Rick appears to be using it -- and he is one of the most knowledgeable users of the program. The beta has been in release (and regularly updated for quite a while now), and so has probably gotten many kinks worked out. This week I've probably spent 30 hours using it -- so far it hasn't eaten my database nor exploded my computer.
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Support / Re: Saving and updating PVD file?
« on: January 22, 2012, 02:45:24 pm »will we still be able to use PVD in 10 years from now? ... like I said, I'm paranoid because I don't want to lose all of this. xD
It's a legitimate concern. I've used two previous movie database programs -- one of them was back in the days of DOS, and I lost all my entries due to a bad floppy disk (boy, I'm really dating myself here!
), and the other program's author stopped updating it entirely and it basically quit being useful. In the latter case, it was a proprietary format, and so I pretty much lost all the entries I'd made there, too -- although I did print the whole thing out on paper once. The good thing about PVD -- aside from it being a free program -- is that Nostra, the author of the application, has been very "hands-on" in responding to feedback, and keeping the program operating as well as can be expected. There's also very quick responses to queries and issues here in the forum.
And you can currently export the database to a CSV file or HTML file, for instance, saving much of the data that way, so that should negate any worries about potentially losing access to your movie info. I'm sure others with much more knowledge than I have will chime in, as well.
Have fun!
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Support / Re: Can't get Excel import to work at all - any ideas?
« on: January 22, 2012, 02:25:12 pm »QuoteJust chiming in that I used the Excel import plugin successfully this week, but was having troubles using it with v9.9.21, so I downloaded the latest beta version of PVD, and it worked great.
I am using 9.9.21. By 'having troubles using it with v9.9.21' do you mean something similar to my experiences? It may be that something has been knowingly or unknowingly fixed in the beta release.
Honestly, I was having so many issues with other things this week (mainly trying to use both the stable release and the beta at the same time and corrupting my configuration file -- but that's another story), I don't completely recall the issue with importing from Excel, but as my memory serves me, when I tried the import initially, it just hung there and didn't do anything.
I would suggest you install the beta version and see if that makes any difference for you. Then, if it does, you can decide whether you want to start using the beta release exclusively (which is what I'm doing). Just make sure to back up your database first -- you won't be able to open the database in the stable version of PVD once it's been opened in the beta (preview) release of the application. And also when you run the beta, make sure you do what I should have done in the first place, and run it with the "-portable" switch (without the quotes) -- that will keep your configuration files separate between the two versions.
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Support / Re: Can't get Excel import to work at all - any ideas?
« on: January 22, 2012, 10:38:48 am »
Roy -
Just chiming in that I used the Excel import plugin successfully this week, but was having troubles using it with v9.9.21, so I downloaded the latest beta version of PVD, and it worked great. (I can't vouch that the switch from the stable release to the preview release is what made the difference, however, since I did also make some changes to the Excel spreadsheet during that time, as well.)
The Excel document that I used has over 2700 rows.
I did make sure I had the columns organized a certain way, though. First column was ID (which I put the exact same thing I had in my 7th column, LOCATION). The second column was TITLE. Third column, YEAR; fourth column DESCRIPTION; fifth, COMMENTS; sixth, RELEASE DATE; and seventh column, LOCATION (which, in this case, since I was importing records of my videotapes, was the number I assigned to each particular VHS tape -- i.e., 823-01 or ST-A-01). The "type" format of all columns except DATE was formatted as Text. All columns had a header row.
There was a lot of babysitting while I was importing, but despite the time it took, it was a pretty easy method of getting over 2,700 titles into the database, relatively speaking.
Just chiming in that I used the Excel import plugin successfully this week, but was having troubles using it with v9.9.21, so I downloaded the latest beta version of PVD, and it worked great. (I can't vouch that the switch from the stable release to the preview release is what made the difference, however, since I did also make some changes to the Excel spreadsheet during that time, as well.)
The Excel document that I used has over 2700 rows.
I did make sure I had the columns organized a certain way, though. First column was ID (which I put the exact same thing I had in my 7th column, LOCATION). The second column was TITLE. Third column, YEAR; fourth column DESCRIPTION; fifth, COMMENTS; sixth, RELEASE DATE; and seventh column, LOCATION (which, in this case, since I was importing records of my videotapes, was the number I assigned to each particular VHS tape -- i.e., 823-01 or ST-A-01). The "type" format of all columns except DATE was formatted as Text. All columns had a header row.
There was a lot of babysitting while I was importing, but despite the time it took, it was a pretty easy method of getting over 2,700 titles into the database, relatively speaking.
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Support / IMDb plugin and Titles with reserved characters
« on: January 22, 2012, 10:23:16 am »
First of all, I'd like to say thanks once again Nostra for all your tireless efforts in making such a terrific piece of software, and to you, Rick and others for being so helpful here on the boards.
I'm noticing something with the IMDb import plugin (and it may be an across-the-board plugin issue, I don't know), regarding punctuation. Specifically, PVD seems to ignore titles listed on IMDb with certain types of punctuation (returning another version of the title instead), and even when the punctuation matches both in PVD and IMDb, it can't seem to find the right title.
Examples:
I had the Beatles movie "Help!" listed in my database, and ran the IMDb import plugin. Even though the way I had written the title in PVD exactly matched the way it was listed on IMDb (with exclamation point at the end), it did not return the proper title as an option -- instead, it gave me the two choices of "Call for Help" (1998) and A Cry for Help 2 (2002). If I enter the title in PVD simply as "Help", without the exclamation point at the end, then the IMDb plugin does return the Beatles film, along with several dozen other choices.
When running the IMDb import plugin on the PVD title of "And Justice For All" (spelled that exact way in the database), it does not even return the option to choose, but instead retrieves a Michael Moore documentary (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0207965/) by that name, instead of the Al Pacino title, which IMDb spells with an ellipsis (three dots) at the beginning of the title. But here's the crazy part -- I actually had written the title in PVD the way I remembered it, with the ellipsis -- "...And Justice For All" -- but again, the Al Pacino movie was not returned as an option; instead this 2012 title was automatically retrieved: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1988529/. Needless to say, this was throwing me, as I was sure I had the title right, so I opened up my browser and searched IMDb directly. Turns out they have the title spelled not only with the leading ellipsis, but with an extra period at the end, like "...And Justice for All.". Now, I'd not seen it spelled that way, but the IMDb import plugin should have returned the correct title as an option, nonetheless. So it was being confused both by the periods at the beginning and the period at the end.
Seems that perhaps it needs to be told to ignore punctuation, both outgoing and incoming, yes?
(P.S. I am running the latest beta version of PVD, and the latest version of the IMDb import plugin.)
I'm noticing something with the IMDb import plugin (and it may be an across-the-board plugin issue, I don't know), regarding punctuation. Specifically, PVD seems to ignore titles listed on IMDb with certain types of punctuation (returning another version of the title instead), and even when the punctuation matches both in PVD and IMDb, it can't seem to find the right title.
Examples:
I had the Beatles movie "Help!" listed in my database, and ran the IMDb import plugin. Even though the way I had written the title in PVD exactly matched the way it was listed on IMDb (with exclamation point at the end), it did not return the proper title as an option -- instead, it gave me the two choices of "Call for Help" (1998) and A Cry for Help 2 (2002). If I enter the title in PVD simply as "Help", without the exclamation point at the end, then the IMDb plugin does return the Beatles film, along with several dozen other choices.
When running the IMDb import plugin on the PVD title of "And Justice For All" (spelled that exact way in the database), it does not even return the option to choose, but instead retrieves a Michael Moore documentary (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0207965/) by that name, instead of the Al Pacino title, which IMDb spells with an ellipsis (three dots) at the beginning of the title. But here's the crazy part -- I actually had written the title in PVD the way I remembered it, with the ellipsis -- "...And Justice For All" -- but again, the Al Pacino movie was not returned as an option; instead this 2012 title was automatically retrieved: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1988529/. Needless to say, this was throwing me, as I was sure I had the title right, so I opened up my browser and searched IMDb directly. Turns out they have the title spelled not only with the leading ellipsis, but with an extra period at the end, like "...And Justice for All.". Now, I'd not seen it spelled that way, but the IMDb import plugin should have returned the correct title as an option, nonetheless. So it was being confused both by the periods at the beginning and the period at the end.
Seems that perhaps it needs to be told to ignore punctuation, both outgoing and incoming, yes?
(P.S. I am running the latest beta version of PVD, and the latest version of the IMDb import plugin.)
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Feature Suggestions / Re: Option for a checkbox next to each title in the list
« on: January 21, 2012, 09:55:18 am »
Ah, Bookmarks! I've never done a thing with them before, but they'll work just fine.
There are so many capabilities and features within PVD, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I discover new things after over 2 years of using the program, but it's nice when one of them already exists to fill I need I was having!
Yeah, believe me, I tried the advanced search and filters and even in congress with grouping. Part of it was that some of the advanced search conditions didn't seem to be working properly for me, or probably more likely, I wasn't setting them up properly. No worries, in the end it was just far easier to select as I went -- but the bookmarking feature will cut down on my anxiety about accidentally unselecting everything.
There are so many capabilities and features within PVD, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I discover new things after over 2 years of using the program, but it's nice when one of them already exists to fill I need I was having!
Yeah, believe me, I tried the advanced search and filters and even in congress with grouping. Part of it was that some of the advanced search conditions didn't seem to be working properly for me, or probably more likely, I wasn't setting them up properly. No worries, in the end it was just far easier to select as I went -- but the bookmarking feature will cut down on my anxiety about accidentally unselecting everything.
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Feature Suggestions / Option for a checkbox next to each title in the list
« on: January 21, 2012, 07:53:32 am »
I've been encountering situations where I need to select a number of titles, and it's beyond what I'm able to do with filters and searches.
For example, tonight I needed to locate all titles with an IMDb URL that were added in the past 3 days, but did not have poster/cover art, did not have anything already in the "description" field, and weren't TV shows. So I used CTRL+select for this purpose, but frankly I get nervous when I start doing that with 100+ titles, since I'm always afraid I'll accidentally click somewhere without the CTRL key pressed, and erase all my selections.
What I was thinking was that a checkbox (or some other method of temporarily "marking" the title entries) would allow me to easily go through the database (whether it was filtered or unfiltered) and select whatever titles which happened to match my particular needs, and then be able to perform any action on those titles as if they were selected in the normal manner.
Such a feature would ideally also have an "inverse select" and of course a "clear all selections" option, as well.
Thank you again!
For example, tonight I needed to locate all titles with an IMDb URL that were added in the past 3 days, but did not have poster/cover art, did not have anything already in the "description" field, and weren't TV shows. So I used CTRL+select for this purpose, but frankly I get nervous when I start doing that with 100+ titles, since I'm always afraid I'll accidentally click somewhere without the CTRL key pressed, and erase all my selections.
What I was thinking was that a checkbox (or some other method of temporarily "marking" the title entries) would allow me to easily go through the database (whether it was filtered or unfiltered) and select whatever titles which happened to match my particular needs, and then be able to perform any action on those titles as if they were selected in the normal manner.
Such a feature would ideally also have an "inverse select" and of course a "clear all selections" option, as well.
Thank you again!
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Feature Suggestions / Option to automatically save additional cover art as extra images
« on: January 21, 2012, 07:40:06 am »
I'd like to see this implemented in a future version of PVD:
When downloading from 2 sites at once (via one of the scripts such as IMDb+AllRovi), if the first site finds cover/poster art, generally there will be none downloaded from the 2nd site, even if it exists. But it would be nice to have a setting to enable the 2nd site to download their art, as well, and save it as a 2nd image (or 3rd, 4th, etc.). Well, either as an option, or as the default setting.
My reasoning for this is that oftentimes the 1st site will have substandard artwork, and so I'll usually delete it, run the 2nd site's update again, and hope that their art is better -- and if not, run the 1st site's update again and stick with the poor cover art (or go try to find better artwork on my own). Seems like it'd be fairly easy to do -- just a line of code to the extent of "if cover art already exists, then save new art to next available open slot".
Thanks!
When downloading from 2 sites at once (via one of the scripts such as IMDb+AllRovi), if the first site finds cover/poster art, generally there will be none downloaded from the 2nd site, even if it exists. But it would be nice to have a setting to enable the 2nd site to download their art, as well, and save it as a 2nd image (or 3rd, 4th, etc.). Well, either as an option, or as the default setting.
My reasoning for this is that oftentimes the 1st site will have substandard artwork, and so I'll usually delete it, run the 2nd site's update again, and hope that their art is better -- and if not, run the 1st site's update again and stick with the poor cover art (or go try to find better artwork on my own). Seems like it'd be fairly easy to do -- just a line of code to the extent of "if cover art already exists, then save new art to next available open slot".
Thanks!
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Support / Re: Range Check Error upon PVD startup followed by application error
« on: January 20, 2012, 10:36:53 am »
Thanks. Weirdly, the other day I found the thread here that discussed deleting the configuration file and letting the program create a new one, but when I tried that, it didn't seem to work -- and now (moments ago) it does work... the stable release started up fine, and loaded up a backup copy of my database with no problems.
I guess I wasn't aware that the database structure wouldn't be backwards-compatible, however. I'm disappointed to hear that, because I've made literally thousands of additions with the beta version (not to mention about 10-15 man hours of doing manual updates), and so there's really no going back to a prior version for me. But since v1.x has been running fairly well, overall, I'm not in horrible shape.
Let me ask you this, Rick -- is using the "-portable" switch a good long-term solution to running both versions? Or is there something I can change in the settings to have the beta version create a unique configuration file in another folder? It doesn't really matter to me, as long as I can continue doing what I'm doing and have a reasonable expectation that it will continue to work.
I guess I wasn't aware that the database structure wouldn't be backwards-compatible, however. I'm disappointed to hear that, because I've made literally thousands of additions with the beta version (not to mention about 10-15 man hours of doing manual updates), and so there's really no going back to a prior version for me. But since v1.x has been running fairly well, overall, I'm not in horrible shape.
Let me ask you this, Rick -- is using the "-portable" switch a good long-term solution to running both versions? Or is there something I can change in the settings to have the beta version create a unique configuration file in another folder? It doesn't really matter to me, as long as I can continue doing what I'm doing and have a reasonable expectation that it will continue to work.
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Support / Re: Range Check Error upon PVD startup followed by application error
« on: January 20, 2012, 03:18:49 am »I can now load the latest beta, and my database.
Just want to clarify, that although I'm able to load beta v1.0.2.2 (thanks to the "-portable" switch), I still cannot load the latest stable release of PVD (and presumably wouldn't be able to load the preview version without that switch).
Any suggestions for how I can fix my configuration file? I do like the beta version -- and have been using it for day-to-day entries since I encountered the issue noted above -- but obviously I'd like to be able to run the stable version, as well.
Muchas gracias!
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Support / Re: Range Check Error upon PVD startup followed by application error
« on: January 18, 2012, 09:11:27 am »
Hmm... it seems that maybe I messed up my configuration file. Was reading a few more posts about working with the beta version (I know, it's a bit late now, but I've beta tested lots of software before, so I made my database backups and thought I'd just dive in 
), and came across Rick's caution to use the "-portable" switch when using the preview version of the application. Trying this, I can now load the latest beta, and my database. (A cautious) Whoo-hoo!
So what the heck did I do to corrupt "pvdconf.ini"? Was it simply running the beta (preview) release and the latest stable version back-to-back? More importantly, can I undo the error somehow? Perhaps do a clean install of the stable version and then make sure I always use the -portable switch when running the beta?
), and came across Rick's caution to use the "-portable" switch when using the preview version of the application. Trying this, I can now load the latest beta, and my database. (A cautious) Whoo-hoo!So what the heck did I do to corrupt "pvdconf.ini"? Was it simply running the beta (preview) release and the latest stable version back-to-back? More importantly, can I undo the error somehow? Perhaps do a clean install of the stable version and then make sure I always use the -portable switch when running the beta?
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Support / Range Check Error upon PVD startup followed by application error
« on: January 18, 2012, 08:41:32 am »
I downloaded the latest beta of PVD a few days ago, since I needed to add a whole bunch of titles from an Excel file, and the beta's features made that much easier. I've spent a number of hours since yesterday, doing the confirmations on the added titles, and then starting to download full info for them (over 2,000 new entries).
It actually went very well, until now.
This is what I was doing just before the code gremlins showed up: I had an old movie serial that I initially entered with each chapter as separate versions of the same title, then altered each entry to match the titles of each particular chapter in the serial. Here's where I may have gotten too clever for my own good...
I decided to use the "copy" and then "paste as episode" feature, to put all these chapters as if they were episodes of a regular series -- and that also seemed to work very well. But I still had the original chapters all existing as separate, unique entries, so I figured I'd delete those and then they'd only exist as "episode" entries.
But hold on, I thought. I'd better make a backup of the database before I delete anything, in case it screws something up. So I did. Then I reloaded the original database, and began to delete those entries. Here's where my trouble began.
Forgive me for not recalling the exact sequence of events, because I've since tried numerous things and I can't remember exactly what happened first. I think I got an application error. Then upon restarting the app, I got the "range check error". I clicked OK and it continued to load the program, but no database, so I tried opening the one I was working on, and got the dialog "An error occurred in the application" with the "continue/restart/close" options. I tried all options, to no avail.
Okay, maybe a database which I know is good will work -- nope. Same problem.
Alright, how about ditching the beta version for now and going with v0.9.9.21? Nope. Same issues, no matter which database I'm trying to open.
Rebooted my system, and still the same errors. So now I can't load either version of the application, and none of my databases, even my backups.
Help.
Running 64-bit Windows 7 Ultimate, with 24GB RAM. Lots of processing power. This seems to be a new problem for me with PVD.
The one thing I'm wondering about is whether I have enough free space on my hard drives? (I know nothing about databases, but thought I'd mention it, in case it's relevant.) I have about 5 gigs free space on each of my two drives, but perhaps that's not enough, since each of the databases I'm trying to open are in excess of 850MB in size. And I did actually fill up my drives quite a bit in the past 24hrs, while I had PVD open.
Okay, this post is sufficiently bloated...
Much thanks in advance for anything you might be able to do, and for slogging your way through the above ramblings.
It actually went very well, until now.
This is what I was doing just before the code gremlins showed up: I had an old movie serial that I initially entered with each chapter as separate versions of the same title, then altered each entry to match the titles of each particular chapter in the serial. Here's where I may have gotten too clever for my own good...
I decided to use the "copy" and then "paste as episode" feature, to put all these chapters as if they were episodes of a regular series -- and that also seemed to work very well. But I still had the original chapters all existing as separate, unique entries, so I figured I'd delete those and then they'd only exist as "episode" entries.
But hold on, I thought. I'd better make a backup of the database before I delete anything, in case it screws something up. So I did. Then I reloaded the original database, and began to delete those entries. Here's where my trouble began.
Forgive me for not recalling the exact sequence of events, because I've since tried numerous things and I can't remember exactly what happened first. I think I got an application error. Then upon restarting the app, I got the "range check error". I clicked OK and it continued to load the program, but no database, so I tried opening the one I was working on, and got the dialog "An error occurred in the application" with the "continue/restart/close" options. I tried all options, to no avail.
Okay, maybe a database which I know is good will work -- nope. Same problem.
Alright, how about ditching the beta version for now and going with v0.9.9.21? Nope. Same issues, no matter which database I'm trying to open.
Rebooted my system, and still the same errors. So now I can't load either version of the application, and none of my databases, even my backups.
Help.
Running 64-bit Windows 7 Ultimate, with 24GB RAM. Lots of processing power. This seems to be a new problem for me with PVD.
The one thing I'm wondering about is whether I have enough free space on my hard drives? (I know nothing about databases, but thought I'd mention it, in case it's relevant.) I have about 5 gigs free space on each of my two drives, but perhaps that's not enough, since each of the databases I'm trying to open are in excess of 850MB in size. And I did actually fill up my drives quite a bit in the past 24hrs, while I had PVD open.
Okay, this post is sufficiently bloated...
Much thanks in advance for anything you might be able to do, and for slogging your way through the above ramblings.
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Feature Suggestions / Re: Ability to find new file location for specific movies
« on: November 15, 2010, 01:23:21 am »Quote
It's just a bad idea. It's only purpose to accommodate a refusal to use the program in the way it was designed. Adding such "features" just confuses the matter more. Users naturally assume there's a reason for a feature. So the existence of such things steer users away from the recommended way of using the program, thereby making it more difficult to understand, learn and use.
You seem to be assuming that I'm acting stubbornly because I have suggested something that, in my opinion, will make my workflow more efficient -- and because I want to see if there's a better and easier way of doing things. You also seem to be assuming a lot about other users, and whether they'd find such an idea more confusing or less confusing, I think. To you, it may sound like useless clutter. To me, it sounds like more simplicity. It's not that I'm "ignoring your advice", but your suggestions simply did not seem to me to be as elegant a solution as the one I was envisioning. It's your right to call my ideas bad, but that's your opinion. I just don't see that what you've suggested are better options than my proposal. Certainly, what you've suggested is the only current way of doing things, and so that's what I've been doing, and likely will need to continue doing for the life of the program.
Nonetheless, I don't think we're getting anywhere with this conversation, so I'm going to bow out before this just cycles further into something unproductive and nasty. But feel free to grab the last word, if you want it -- and something tells me that you do.
::shrug:: Different strokes for different folks, I guess.
Anyway, I appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts on the matter, and that you always have shown an excellent grasp of the program whenever I have questions about something. Cheers.
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Feature Suggestions / Re: Ability to find new file location for specific movies
« on: November 14, 2010, 10:08:51 pm »QuoteIn my experience, scanning folders comes with inherent issues (such as occasional duplication of titles).
This is the reason for the different point of view.
Again, I beg to clarify: this is one of the reasons for the different point of view. As I mentioned, in addition to the issues that crop up when using this method, the scan folders option is far more than is needed for the task which I require in these circumstances. Yes, it works -- as does the sledgehammer killing the mosquito -- but rather than having the application look for every potentially new and changed file all across the path I specify, I was merely asking for a more precise method.
Sure, it'd be wonderful if my filenames matched what the application and its author deemed to be the "proper" naming convention. But doesn't it make sense to have a user interface which accommodates the user, rather than the user having to rename all his files and/or modify the regex to accommodate the software? Especially when there's a simpler alternative? Because the other thing is, it doesn't seem to me like this would be a horribly difficult thing to implement. That's my reasoning for the suggestion: a helpful new way of updating a record (which scores of users could take advantage of), without a Herculean effort involved to program it. It's the same reason I often create macros in office applications for frequently-used tasks -- the time spent setting it up pays off with a more efficient experience. Of course, I could be way off with my notion of its relative programming simplicity -- such areas of expertise are far beyond my ken.
In any case, it was merely a suggestion -- I never expect that when I suggest a feature for the next version of a software it will actually ever be implemented. Still, I continue to do so (here and elsewhere) because I figure the author(s) might possibly be interested in feedback on how people use the software and what they think may make their use of it better than what the existing version currently offers.
Thanks for your response.
18
Feature Suggestions / Re: Ability to find new file location for specific movies
« on: November 14, 2010, 10:55:02 am »
And here I thought my suggestion was elementary.
Well, my dear Moriarty, here are my issues with your suggested tactics.
Suggestion # 1) It's several extra steps: Go into edit mode, scroll down to the file path field, delete the current entry, browse to the correct file, select, and save the title.
Those steps become even more tedious when considering a television series. If it were possible to select a series title with a right click and have the option of automatically locating the missing files (with the help of a folder selection dialog), one could easily update the paths with a minimum of fuss. Ideally, I'd also like to be able to select multiple titles which I know all have incorrect file paths, then perform this action on them.
Suggestion #2) In my experience, scanning folders comes with inherent issues (such as occasional duplication of titles). More importantly, it does not allow the level of control I would prefer for such a task (as I attempt to explain briefly below).
To clarify my original post: What I am proposing -- and it need not be factored into a context menu, although I feel that's the easiest and most efficient method of implementation -- is a file/folder scan function specifically for updating paths in existing titles, which retains the original file name. Thus, when you tell it to look for this specific filename (or filenames) in a new path, you can be assured that the results it returns will be exactly what you wanted.
As to your first question: either that, or S06E12. Until our next holodeck conversation... "Computer -- end program."
Well, my dear Moriarty, here are my issues with your suggested tactics.
Suggestion # 1) It's several extra steps: Go into edit mode, scroll down to the file path field, delete the current entry, browse to the correct file, select, and save the title.
Those steps become even more tedious when considering a television series. If it were possible to select a series title with a right click and have the option of automatically locating the missing files (with the help of a folder selection dialog), one could easily update the paths with a minimum of fuss. Ideally, I'd also like to be able to select multiple titles which I know all have incorrect file paths, then perform this action on them.
Suggestion #2) In my experience, scanning folders comes with inherent issues (such as occasional duplication of titles). More importantly, it does not allow the level of control I would prefer for such a task (as I attempt to explain briefly below).
To clarify my original post: What I am proposing -- and it need not be factored into a context menu, although I feel that's the easiest and most efficient method of implementation -- is a file/folder scan function specifically for updating paths in existing titles, which retains the original file name. Thus, when you tell it to look for this specific filename (or filenames) in a new path, you can be assured that the results it returns will be exactly what you wanted.
As to your first question: either that, or S06E12. Until our next holodeck conversation... "Computer -- end program."
19
Scripts and Templates / Yet another toolbar (32px version only)
« on: November 14, 2010, 02:55:04 am »
Just to have another option for toolbar icons, thought I'd share the one I made. Attempted to make icons which made some sort of sense for each task, although some are more obvious than others, I suppose. I fudged with this for numerous hours, attempting to get them as clean as possible, and I think what I ended up with is perfectly acceptable, although to my perfectionist sensibilities, I wish I could have made them far cleaner. Anyway, download and try out if you wish.
This is probably only for those with a large-resolution screen, as this contains only 32x32 pixel icons (twice the size of the toolbar icons which are normally installed with PVD). I did not make the 16x16 size, because I wasn't going to use that size for my own purposes.
To use, first exit PVD. Then go into your PVD folder, and then the subfolder skins/images. In that images folder, rename "toolbar.bmp" to something else. Then extract the contents of this zip file into that folder. Restart PVD and the new icons should be there. If you want to revert back to the previous toolbar, close PVD, delete or rename the current "toolbar.bmp" file, and then rename your original toolbar file back.
Anyway, I hope you like it.
[attachment deleted by admin]
This is probably only for those with a large-resolution screen, as this contains only 32x32 pixel icons (twice the size of the toolbar icons which are normally installed with PVD). I did not make the 16x16 size, because I wasn't going to use that size for my own purposes.
To use, first exit PVD. Then go into your PVD folder, and then the subfolder skins/images. In that images folder, rename "toolbar.bmp" to something else. Then extract the contents of this zip file into that folder. Restart PVD and the new icons should be there. If you want to revert back to the previous toolbar, close PVD, delete or rename the current "toolbar.bmp" file, and then rename your original toolbar file back.
Anyway, I hope you like it.
[attachment deleted by admin]
20
Talk / Re: My PVD Rating - 10
« on: November 14, 2010, 02:18:47 am »
It's pretty rare that I will give a film a pure 10 out of 10 rating -- for me, that means that there is nothing (or nothing of any import) that I would change about it if I could do so. (And I've only gotten a fraction of the way into entering all of my titles into the database.)
That having been said, I'm still a bit surprised that PVD shows such a short list of movies/series I've rated as a 10:
Three Chaplin films make the cut: Modern Times, City Lights, and The Gold Rush
The miniseries John Adams makes it.
So do these films: The Man From Earth, Once, Aliens, & Sophie's Choice.
Sort of a motley selection, but then you'd get a better idea of my eclectic tastes if I posted a list of movies I rated 9 and higher.
That having been said, I'm still a bit surprised that PVD shows such a short list of movies/series I've rated as a 10:
Three Chaplin films make the cut: Modern Times, City Lights, and The Gold Rush
The miniseries John Adams makes it.
So do these films: The Man From Earth, Once, Aliens, & Sophie's Choice.
Sort of a motley selection, but then you'd get a better idea of my eclectic tastes if I posted a list of movies I rated 9 and higher.
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