MP2-Setup-Spring16 new install using sqlserver 2016 (1 Viewer)

gpnash

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After having failed to create a plugin for MP1; rather than dive into it to figure out why I decided why not bring up mediaportal 2 and start plugin development there.
so to that end, on my HomeW computer (almost identitical to HOMET my mp1 client/server) I installed MP2-Setup-spring16.
the default installation went fine but had some trouble with my ceton eth6.. fixed that by setting up the cam (to 1) and using ATSC.
Acid test was the channel scan...and I was amazed when it mostly worked. ATSC finds 637 channels on the second ATSC channel it tries and then keeps trying on a bunch move never finding anything else. I cancelled the scan (637 channels is close enough for now) and took a look at what I got. None of the channels had their names from the channel map all appeared as "Unknown Station" with their program and service id. It was when I went to fix that, that I noticed MP2 was using sqllite3 for it's database.
Next order of business was changing from sqllite3 to sqlserverexpress which I have running for MP1 and other projects so I changed the gentile.config parameters to use sqlserver as the default with the correct connection parameters for my server. Stopped the mp2 services using the "stop services" context menu and started them. When I tried to start the MP2 tv config program I received a nasty remoting error.
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upload_2016-11-18_8-57-46.png


I can see where the empty database was created and created with all the tables. but there appears no way past this error.
switching the gentle.config back to sqllite3 and MP2 tv config works, switch to sqlserver and it doesn't.

For me using either sqllite3 or oracles MySQL is not an option. Neither are robust enough for other projects I work on, neither have a management environment suitable for setup and forget. I use mssqlserver and/or mssqlserver express have for over 20 years and in the last 4 years of running it with MP1 it has proven to be a much better environment. Both sqllite3 and MySQL suffer from memory management issues and sql language implementation issues. sqllite3 further is just plain buggy... returning the integer 42 instead of the string "42" when a movie title by that name was selected. by the way, even running mssql 2016 in windows 10 virtual machine on windows 10 I get better query response than MySQL (when MySQL is running alongside MP1 not virtual) and I've never had to reboot to fix memory issues (in the case of running sqllite3 a reboot every 3 or 4 days is required)

I guess my question at this point is... Has support been dropped for sqlserver or have I just hit a bug in MP2 tv config?


btw... the sqlbrowser isn't really required for MP1. I've never used it so I removed the dependency from the tvservice definition and haven't had any issues over the last two years.
 
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ge2301

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    Great, that you are interested in developing plugins for MP2.
    @Lehmden can you answer the question? Otherwise a dev is needed I guess.
     

    Lehmden

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    Hi.
    Has support been dropped for sqlserver
    MP2 was not and is not usable with SQLExpress database. There don't even exists any plans to do so. And as the TV Engine is running inside MP2 server as a plugin it has no own database- connection at all. Changing Gentle config only leads to errors, as you have seen already. This tiny little tables used for TV engine is nothing that needs a database server. It never had and it never will. You even can use a plain text file (XML or JSON) better than a full blown database server. But definitely the best is to use SQLite for it.

    If you really want to use SQLExpress you first need to write a proper MP2 server database plugin for it. But I can proof you never will get the performance and easiness than with SQLite. That's why MySQL and any other database sources were dropped long time ago. I was involved in the development those days and I have seen with own eyes that SQLite was at least 10 times as fast as MySQL in "real live" situations, needs lot less power and memory and was (and still is) absolutely stable. The MySQL Plugin still is available, but afaik it is no longer working with recent MP2 versions. Haven't looked at it for years now. But maybe you can use it as a manual for writing the SQLExpress plugin...

    robust enough for other projects I work on
    As SQLite did not need any setup or configuration and it also did not interfere with any other DB system, there is no need to use it wich "other projects" if you use it with MP2...

    Maybe SQLExpress is more to play with, but SQLite is the perfect solution for anybody who simply want something functional without any setup or hassle...
     

    breese

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    And as the TV Engine is running inside MP2 server as a plugin it has no own database- connection at all.
    Timeout.... While the TV is a plugin to MP2, there is a separate DB for the TV side.
    ProgramData\Team MediaPortal\MP2-Server\Database\MP2TVE_3.s3db

    Running a channel scan you can see the DB being used as it creates and close the MP2TVE_3.s3db-shm and MP2TVE_3.s3db-wal files.
     

    Lehmden

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    imeout.... While the TV is a plugin to MP2, there is a separate DB for the TV side.
    Yes, it is, but the DB handling is done by the MP2 server, not by the TV engine. The separate db is a relic from MP1, because we are using the same TVE...
     

    henso

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    If you really want to use SQLExpress you first need to write a proper MP2 server database plugin for it.
    Has support been dropped for sqlserver or have I just hit a bug in MP2 tv config?
    I already did some of the work, but I never got around to testing it with TV. You could test it with TV and fix any remaining issues if you want.
    Look in this thread.
     

    ge2301

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    In case you want to create any plugin with GUI for MP2, you can call for me. I can hopefully help here.
    I can only use xaml, but not #C.
     

    gpnash

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    I'm glad you haven't been bit by sqllite3. After months of trying to work around it's problems I gave up on it entirely when developing my EPG/recording system. I had to use it to get into the tvseries database but between the memory issues and nonsql conformance it wasn't worth continuing. Ended up scraping IMDB myself for the information. I'd been using mssql in MP1 for the last 5 or 6 years (having given up on MySQL because of performance issues there as well) MSSQL 2008 r2 +, 2012 and 2016 have all been rock solid low overhead and easy to maintain. looking at MP from the outside and trying to get things like EPG to work with bad free sources means needing to combine data. if sqllite is the only database used that pretty much puts paid to me being able to access/fix channel lists or do any of the predictive show scheduling I've been doing. at this point I've been able to keep all processing away from MP so I impact it as little as possible. if I need to move the design to a plugin to access the required fields then performance becomes more of a concern.

    Thanks for your insight. I guess my next step is to investigate plugins.. both for sqlserver access and my end user scheduling stuff.
     

    henso

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    Ended up scraping IMDB
    If you look in the OnlineLibraries library you will also find API support for online sources like TvDB, TMDB etc. ready to use. No direct IMDB support though since they have no free API.
     

    breese

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    Ended up scraping IMDB myself for the information. I'd been using mssql in MP1 for the last 5 or 6 years (having given up on MySQL because of performance issues there as well) MSSQL 2008 r2 +, 2012 and 2016 have all been rock solid low overhead and easy to maintain.
    Also being in the U.S. (Chicagoland) I would be very interested in knowing what you have or plan to work on...
    ATSC is a real pain for us and if you have the experience in making it easier, I am sure the other Dev's would love the help.
    Are you on ATCS, cable card, etc????
     

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