My Anime plugin (2 Viewers)

[yhoogi]

Hi Iwerndly,

Good to see you still working on the plugin.

How about the issue with sub-folders? Is there a change to get it fixed?

 

[lwerndly]

yhoogi: I hadn't been able to reproduce the problem before, but last night I did
Will see if I can fix it

 

[lwerndly]

Ok, here is a new version.
Please do not download this version if you DO NOT consent to submitting your file/series data to the new web service.
I will uploaded another version in a few days which makes this optional
Consider this version a beta of a beta.

Also if anyone does download this version, I would appreciate it if you can run the new utility as described in the change log below

0.2.0
CHANGED: Have removed most of the caching, as it wasn't effective
CHANGED: showing the number of new episodes for a folder is not displayed until you select that folder (performance reasons)
FIXED: Faves folder was always showing meta data even if the option was not selected (same with genre/year view)
FIXED: cover images were being downloaded multiple times
FIXED: rendering of sub-folders when using the "Combined View" option (as described by yhoogi)
FIXED: no longer gets anime description from website when it already exists in local database
ADDED: uploadling/downloading of file/series data to web service to improve performance
ADDED: New option "Utilities / Database and Metadata / Upload Data to Web Service", which will upload all file and show data to the web service. This will help individual users if they start moving files around, and also help all users in using the web service instead of the AniDB API (much faster).

 

[mastrboy]

"Upload Data to Web Service"

What web service will this data be uploaded to?

Will this new version not query AniDB for information anymore? (i really loved that feature)

 

[lwerndly]

"Upload Data to Web Service"

What web service will this data be uploaded to?

Will this new version not query AniDB for information anymore? (i really loved that feature)

AniDB will still be the primary source of information.
I'll give an example.
You download the following file and put it in your MediaPortal share (as you normally do)
[Ayako]​_Kannagi​_-​_11​_[H264][8294EB1E].mkv

You press "scan for new files"
The plugin will check the new web service for any files with a matching name and file size.
It won't find it, so will do the normal file hashing and querying AniDB data for information.
After the information is retrieved, both the file info and series info are uploaded to the new web service.

The next day I download the same file and press "Scan for new files".
It will find the info from the web service and retrieve it from there instead of AniDB.

The advantages of this method
1. The file hashing skip is stepped (which is quite slow for some)
2. The AniDB step is skipped

Querying AniDB is also quite slow, as the API limits you to one query every two seconds.
The web service will be much faster.

 

[mastrboy]

Ok. that seems like a good idea,.. some other questions then:
- Who is hosting this web service? and what is the reliability on it?
- In case the web service is down, will the plugin fail-back to anidb? (needs some kind of check to confirm that it is up)

Unrelated, but could you start releasing the source for the plugin.. This about the only plugin i use in Media Portal and would hate too see the developer just disseapear with the source code (talking about worst-case scenario)

 

[lwerndly]

- Who is hosting this web service? and what is the reliability on it?

The web service is hosted on my production work server. This is a 24 hour a day server etc.
I will look at moving it to an independent host at some stage.

- In case the web service is down, will the plugin fail-back to anidb? (needs some kind of check to confirm that it is up)

If/when the web service is down it will automatically fall back to AniDB.
It is basically the same as turning off the web service option in your configuration screen.

So basically, if I suddenly disappeared (and the web service with me) you could just turn off the option, and it would work the same as it did previously.
I have already implemented this change, and it will go out with next release.

Unrelated, but could you start releasing the source for the plugin.. This about the only plugin i use in Media Portal and would hate too see the developer just disseapear with the source code (talking about worst-case scenario)

I will attach this the next release.

 

[mastrboy]

thanks

 

[lwerndly]

I decided to put up a little page where you can get the latest version of the plugin. Will make it easier to get previous versions in the future etc

Anime Plugin for Media Portal

Also has some information on what I am currently working on.

 

[lwerndly]

Ok, next release.

NOTE - this release includes changes to the existing skins files and new ones as well.

0.2.1

FIXED: "Back" button or ESC key will now navigate up one folder
CHANGED: Using the web service is now an option in the configuration screen
ADDED: New option in configuration to switch between original series view and a simplified view
-------Simplified view does not contain series description or other info. This has been moved to a new screen.
ADDED: Info button on simplified series view shows a new series information screen.
------- Press "Info" button on F9 to search for character and voice actor information from MyAnimeList