Automatically force IMDB+ (1 Viewer)

SpudR

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  • July 27, 2007
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    Is it possible, on adding new movies, to automatically force IMDB+ instead of the IMDB one?
    Currently forcing it works fine, but wondered if I could make the movies automatically be assigned to this?
     

    RoChess

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  • March 10, 2006
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    Yes, the IMDb+ scraper-script simply has to be in primary scraper-script position "above" any others.

    This is normally done when you install the IMDb+ plugin. However when you update MovPic and it contains an internal update for the "imdb (default)" scraper-script, it will kick IMDb+ to the curb and ruin everything. Since there might be a valid reason for not having IMDb+ be the primary scraper-script, the only time a quick verification is done is when you enter the IMDb+ config (inside MediaPortal GUI via 'plugins'). It will then prompt you if IMDb+ is not the primary scraper-script and by answering with 'Yes' you can fix the problem instantly.

    Via the "IMDb+ Info..." hidden menu option you can manually verify that IMDb+ is in the primary spot, and this is also where you can verify that you do infact have the latest version of IMDb+ in use.

    Encounter some weird bugs recently on systems from friends, that I have not been able to reproduce. On @Lyfesaver74 HTPC for example the latest version of IMDb+ was installed, but MovPic refused to use it and instead decided to use v3.3.3 instead. In the end I was forced to open his database with an SQLite tool and manually replace the v3.3.3 IMDb+ scraper-script in the "scripts" table with the current version. Bugs like these are fortunatly very rare, but it still sucks that I'm unable to reproduce them when they happen, because that is first-step in finding a solution.

    Restoring an older MovPic database inside a newer MovPic edition appears to be a major contributor to this, because when you launch MovPic the first time it does some 'upgrade' stuff, and possibly this is causing some issues when done out of bound. If this matches the steps you have taken recently, then please provide me with that same backup, so perhaps I can reproduce it myself.

    Some of these bugs are actually within MovPic, but I need concrete steps to reproduce if I'm ever to convince a developer of MovPic to look into fixing things.
     

    SpudR

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    I already manually tried that - I had attempted to lower the + scraper and made the plugin move it back, also I moved it to the top manually too - no joy.
    I had a look at the scripts table and mine just shows some XML stuff - nothing related to the IMDB+ scraper.
    There is another table in there with lots of numerical data - presumably relating to the scripts table.
    Should I nuke the DB and recreate?
     

    RoChess

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    LOL, that XML stuff *IS* what you want, as those are all the scraper-scripts.

    It sounds like you might have had the exact same problem that Lyfesaver experienced. Did "IMDb+ Info..." show a lower version then v4.9.13?

    The other table, think it is called "scripts__movie_info" or some, links the movies to the scraper-scripts IDs. I guess this is done so you can import one movie with scraper-script v1 and another with v2 and keep them seperated, but to me that's one messed up system if you ask me. I can somewhat understand a reasoning for that if it offered a way to go-back a version if there are issues with new one, but that does not appear to be implemented. If MovPic would just store the XML based scraper-script files as-is in some folder, things would be a lot easier, but ohh-well.

    Anyway, if you look at the scripts table, you will find an entry (more then likely at the end), that has the following header:

    Code:
    <ScriptableScraper>
     <details>
      <!-- These details are for display purposes only. -->
      <name>IMDb+</name>
      <author>Ron (RoChess)</author>
      <description>Combination scraper, using the best data from IMDb and RottenTomatoes.</description>
      <id>314159265</id>
      <version major="4" minor="9" point="13" />
      <published month="05" day="09" year="2013" />
      <type>MovieDetailsFetcher|MovieCoverFetcher</type>
      <language>various</language>
     </details>

    Find the one with v4.9.13 and use that to overwrite all the older entries via a quick copy-and-paste. If you resize your SQLite tool, you should be able to view enough of the content field that you can quickly spot which ones are IMDb+ by looking for the <name>IMDb+<name> part at the top.

    This should fix your issue. You technically only have to do it once, but it will take more time then it is worth it to explain how you can find out exactly which one it is, versus just quickly replacing them all. I'm sure there is some fancy SQL query that can do it automatic, and I might be forced to look into that for the next IMDb+ plugin, because now that you appear to be the 2nd person running into this 'bug', something is wrong with MovPic.

    Another way that I used to use was to delete IMDb+ scraper-script from MovPic config and let IMDb+ plugin reinstall the latest script, but this appears to make the older entries loose their ID reference. Technically this can be fixed with the "Force IMDb+..." method, but this appears to not be working 100% again.

    I can also help you fix it, but then you have to supply me with a copy of your database. And indeed a resort that always works is to purge database and start over. Considering how many features are added to IMDb+ regarding release_date, and collections. That might not be such a bad idea, because you technically need to re-import/refresh your entire collection for that anyway (be sure to use the test build if you do, because otherwise MovPic doesn't store the info)
     

    SpudR

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    Right - expanding the info in that column shows a little more info :)
    It looks like i have all releases of the script version in there, including the latest, in the old database.
    Renamed db3.old and created a new DB - had to reinstall the IMDB+ plugin again (MovPic didn't even recognise it)
    The new database has 4.3.8 only!
    Cut 'n' pasted your header but I've not got any more movies to add...
    Weird!
     
    Last edited:

    RoChess

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    No, no, the entire 1764 line scraper-script is needed obviously, not just the header. That was just provided so you knew what to look for in fixing your damaged database and does not apply to a fresh installation. I can give you the link to latest version at Google code project site, but that one uses C:\files.xml locations for the rename database and config files, so if you use that as-is IMDb+ will not work.

    The IMDb+ plugin fixes this during auto-upgrade. It was created a long time ago and comes bundled with v4.3.8 for initial installation. When you launch MediaPortal GUI the IMDb+ plugin will immediatly auto-update the IMDb+ scraper-script upon launch. If you build IMDb+ from SVN it works, as it will then include the latest IMDb+ scraper-script automatic, but I didn't push anything new out yet as official next release, because I need to add a lot of new features/options. Just have not been able to find the time to work on this, so there is this weird situation currently to make it work in which you have to:
      1. install IMDb+ plugin (with MovPic already installed)
      2. let it install the older bundled scraper-script
      3. launch MePo GUI so that IMDb+ plugin can auto-update itself
      4. close MediaPortal and finish configuring MovPic.
    Plan to update the IMDb+ plugin, so that it will do this 'update' check upon fresh installation as well, so that this weird situation won't happen anymore. For now you have to use this dirty workaround. If all goes well next weekend I will have free time to get back into IMDb+ development, but I've been saying that for a lot of weeks now and each time something interferes :(
     

    SpudR

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    saying that for a lot of weeks now and each time something interferes
    You need to seal yourself off from the outside world ;)

    What happens if I just await the new script?

    (BTW - followed the above procedure and now all movies are listed as IMDB+ info) :)
     
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