Grouping of movies (1 Viewer)

[doskabouter]

I've been thinking of a way to group movies according to the folderstructure of the movies of my server.

I think it's relatively easy to implement as custom menus, and if that is possible, it exactly fits with how I want to be able to browse my movies.

I already had a quick look into the database, to see if it's doable, and (given that I'm able to fully work out the meaning of the tables and values) it looks good.

I also took a look at the code to see where a new menuitem is inserted and how it affects the database, but that wasn't easy to pinpoint.

Is this something that you guys would implement, or approve that I implement it (with a little bit of hinting now and then)?

For the rest, it's an awesome plugin, which has a big "bling" factor

Edit: just found out that you can't have sub-menu items mixed with movies

 

[LJG]

I think I do a similar thing to what you are asking.

So, on my server I have movies grouped into different folders, such as 'Watched Films' 'Film Queue' 'James Bond' 'Oscar Winners' etc.

Each main folder is configured to be a network share, so for example the top folder would be 'James Bond' and that is available across the home network as a full access network share, which every device can use. Within that folder each James Bond film is contained within a separate folder. So the path would look something like this..

\\Server\James Bond\Die Another Day\Die Another Day.mkv

In the Moving Pictures configuration, I then define categories using the configuration option of 'full path' 'begins with \\Server\James Bond' and that would create the James Bond category which would contain all of the films contained within that network shared folder.

I hope that makes sense, let me know if you need more details about how to set this up.

 

[doskabouter]

That is indeed along the lines of what I was thinking.

The only drawback is that you don't get the movie details if you're scrolling through the main list

 

[LJG]

You do if you are scrolling through each film in each category.

If you are scrolling through the list of categories it seems to display a backdrop from one of the films in that category, selected randomly, I am pretty sure that would be configurable.

You could always have an 'All Films' category if you wanted, as well as then having additional categories set. I think you could have them as a category within a category or as a separate category. There seems to be an enormous amount of configurable options within the define movie categories menu, I am sure you could get it set to meet your needs.

 

[doskabouter]

You do if you are scrolling through each film in each category.

If you are scrolling through the list of categories it seems to display a backdrop from one of the films in that category, selected randomly, I am pretty sure that would be configurable.

You could always have an 'All Films' category if you wanted, as well as then having additional categories set. I think you could have them as a category within a category or as a separate category. There seems to be an enormous amount of configurable options within the define movie categories menu, I am sure you could get it set to meet your needs.

I know, I've seen that indeed, but I (more or less) wanted to go 1 step further, so that if a folder contains just one film, it displays the full info of that film while scrolling through the list.
Guess that requires some programming and some skin changes too, so perhaps it's a bit wishfull thinking of me

 

[LJG]

I've not tried it, but if you had an all films category as the 'parent category' then I think it would show the details of the film in one folder as you scrolled through the list.

 

[doskabouter]

I've not tried it, but if you had an all films category as the 'parent category' then I think it would show the details of the film in one folder as you scrolled through the list.

That is true if there are no folders in that list. So mixing of folders (with f.e. all harry potters) and movies isn't possible, that was what I meant

 

[LJG]

Y

I've not tried it, but if you had an all films category as the 'parent category' then I think it would show the details of the film in one folder as you scrolled through the list.

That is true if there are no folders in that list. So mixing of folders (with f.e. all harry potters) and movies isn't possible, that was what I meant

You can define categories within categories though so I think what you want must be possible within the configuration options and parameters available.

 

[RoChess]

@lisag and @doskabouter, this is a known 'very desired' request, as you can see per: http://code.google.com/p/moving-pictures/issues/detail?id=229

That is what I get for realizing I might have read orginal question wrong, after I realized I had helped you with IMDb+ already to sort out your movie series issue.

To create groups that follow your folder structure, it is actually easy to do,it just as well requires a lot of custom category editing, and you simply use "Full Path" filter to match things. Obviously your folder structure would have to have a structure in place you can use, such as 'Genres', or some type of filtering you do. You can also combine multiple filters and add a powerful combinations of Moving-Pictures elements, such as watched count/status, MediaInfo data, etc.

Got about 500+ custom categories myself, which took a long time to create, but the enjoyment you get back from them is priceless once setup correct. Depending on your skin, you can then also make category images, so that once a custom category list item is selected, an image will appear. There is a very active thread on exchanging those type of images in the forum, so you can enjoy the work of others. This was prominent in the Default/DefaultWide skin, but no longer there in Titan. I'm actually working on redoing the Titan skin and bring back custom category images, as I got an extensive collection of them.

[collapse]
Aside from a lot of manual custom category editing, there is nothing currently that you can do about it. The only functional workaround right now is the IMDb+ plugin, which renames titles to 'group' 2000+ movies together as part of movie series or title-conflicts. So "Quantum of Solace" becomes "James Bond XXII: Quantum Of Solace" and groups nicely together with all the other James Bond movies throughout Moving-Pictures.

There is now also 'collections' support within MovPic v1.6, so be sure to add the dynamic category for that. If you are an IMDb+ user, you get the bonus of a few additional categories I've added such as "» IMDb Top 250", etc.

But if you have the C# skills, then pick up issue #229 and have at it, there are even some patches supplied in the thread from users that tried to give a go at it.

PS: @doskabouter, Miss Marple is added to IMDb+ default rename collection as well, you just have to refresh those movies, as your IMDb+ plugin will have auto-updated you t the new rename dbase.[/collapse]

 

[Peter2]

Hi guys,
Can I step in with a question regarding this?
Maybe my question (and the answer to it) can help others when looking for similar info.
I'm using the moving pictures plugin for movies and have them all in 1 folder which contain subfolders in case of vob files.
Aside of that collection, I have quite some concerts - also in a similar structure - which are accessed through the video/recordings share by browsing the normal way
Now, I was wondering if it is possible to have 2 structures in moving pictures: one for movies and another for concerts.

Thanks for your tips on this!
P.