display only movies not viewed

[billberet]

hey
is there a way to display only movies not viewed.
every time my wife asks what we didn't watch yet, i have to scroll thru everything.
it would be easier to click a button that displays only movies not viewed.
and the ability to mark a movie as not viewed, which would come into play when
i test a movie to see how it looks.

thanks

[wesblack]

Good idea but would require some options.

1. What if you watched the movie but other family members have not.
2. The whole movie would have to be watched in order to store a value to represent the content was actually watched and not started then viewed for only a few minutes before the user aborted the movie.

Add the request in Mantis.





Wes Black \ Calrad

[S Pittaway]

a simple last played timestamp does what billberet wants... with an option to reset it.

then you can simply sort on -1:lastplayed

[billberet]

Wes, i'll put a request in mantis, quick question, how about something simple as a rating star.
give the movie a star and it's new, after you watch it, you can remove the star.
in the beginning it doesn't have to be automatic, it could be a simple button click, once for star, again for no star.



S. Pittaway, can you explain the last played timestamp.
i've had movies jump to where i was last, with the timestamp.
yet i've watched movies, and when i watch them again they are at the beginning of the movie.

if you are watching a movie, and just back out of it to the main menu, is the timestamp saved?
if you hit stop while watching, does the timestamp stay where it was stopped?
if you hit refresh, does this bring the timestamp back to zero?
what happens to the timestamp when you get to the end of the movie, i assume the timestamp would reset, this would give me a false positive.

just trying to understand what brings the timestamp back to zero.

[samsonlov]

yet i've watched movies, and when i watch them again they are at the beginning of the movie.

if you are watching a movie, and just back out of it to the main menu, is the timestamp saved?
if you hit stop while watching, does the timestamp stay where it was stopped?
if you hit refresh, does this bring the timestamp back to zero?
what happens to the timestamp when you get to the end of the movie, i assume the timestamp would reset, this would give me a false positive.

just trying to understand what brings the timestamp back to zero.

Hi bb,

This should be close enough to answer your questions, but for now, only Wes or Steven can provide the "100%" answer.

There are two variables associated with your issue: ("datetimeplaybackhistory" and "bookmarkresume")

Both variables are stored in the file "item.xml" in the folder that (if you are using XLobby to "manage" and download covers and info), should also contain, "'moviename' front-cover.jpg", and the folders AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS.)

In the default skin, there is an additional step in the event "movies: play movie new" that sets the value for the "datetimeplaybackhistory" variable each time the "play movie new" event is executed.

If "datetimeplaybackhistory" exists, it should have a value with the syntax: yyyy-mm-dd"T"hh:mm:ss" without the quotes. The "T" appears to be a "separator", is present in all instances of the variable, and probably just means "Time". (as in: "2009-10-05T19:36:47" without the quotes.)

In the default skin, see the event tied to the "play" button on the "movieviewer" screen to see all the steps to creating "datetimeplaybackhistory" as well as the logic for determining whether or not to show the "bookmarkresume" screen.
(Just ignore the events that have a red "off" next to them, and also ignore the "if %movies>parameter% string ends with movies.bdmv" event.)

If "bookmarkresume" exists, it should have an elapsed-time value with the syntax hh:mm:ss (as in: "00:27:38" without the quotes.) The "bookmarkresume" variable appears [to me] to be "hard-coded", but I might have missed the event that "creates" it.

The time that the "bookmarkresume" variable appears to be "CREATED / SAVED" is when when mediaplayer is "exited" if both of the following 2 conditions are true:
1. More than 5 mins have elapsed since the start of the movie, AND
2. More than 10 minutes remain until the end of the movie...

...AND...

The time that the "bookmarkresume" variable appears to be "DELETED" is when mediaplayer is started after telling the bookmarkresume popup "Not to resume from bookmark" (The event "Category:Variable Unset:Movies:bookmarkresume" is one of three events attached to this button as a "local event"), and also when "exited" if ANY of the following 3 conditions are true:
1. Less than 5 mins have elapsed since the start of the movie, OR:
2. Less than 10 minutes remain until the end of the movie, OR:
3. The movie is "exited" by killing XL with "End Process" from Task Manager, or by another "Crash" before XL saves the variable.

(I've tested this a bunch of times, and ended the movie by "Esc." and mouse-clicking "Menu", and it seems to consistently "Create" or "Not Create" the "bookmarkresume" variable upon exit as described herein.)

To answer your questions:
1. Yes, a variable called "bookmarkresume" is saved when you exit the media player as described herein.
To see the variable working, download a recent build, choose "keep and reinstall" when the installer detects your existing installation. BE VERY CAREFUL NOT TO OVERWRITE YOUR CURRENT INSTALL!!! (Because the default install location for "Keep and reinstall" is the same as where your current install probably is - C:\Program Files/xlobby)

(After you've done a "full install" install of the default skin to a new location, you can see some examples of the "popups" that you get when xlobby detects a "bookmark".)

2. The value to "bookmarkresume" will be saved when you exit mediaplayer - whether stopped, paused or playing ("stop" appears to function much the same way "pause" does in mediaplayer.)

3. No, doing a refresh will not "remove" either variable discussed here.

4. What happens to the "timestamp" ("bookmarkresume") at the end of the movie is nothing. - It actually happens when you choose "No" from the "bookmarkresume" screen, the "bookmarkresume" variable is "deleted" and then created / saved again if mediaplayer is exited more than 5 minutes into the movie and more than 10 minutes before the end of the movie, else, it doesn't get created again. (You should check the events tied to the buttons in the default skin to get a clear picture of what's going on here.)

Hope that helps.
Samson

(I do not work for Calrad, nor for XLobby, and I recommend ALWAYS making a "backup" of your ENTIRE XLobby directory before skinning or trying something new.)

[billberet]

yes, this helps me understand alot.
sorry to make you type all that

i think maybe a different route is needed, something more simplistic, a simple (1,0) field added to the database
will tell me if it is new, 1=new 2=old.
if i add a button on the media player page, i can toggle this button to 1 or 0, this will tell me if it is new or not.
then i simply filter on the new field the same way i filter on (comedy,action,drama,etc)

what do you think of this approach?

[samsonlov]

Following is an (what will probably be overly detailed for you ,but may be useful for others) explanation of how to incorporate some buttons and local events that may provide a solution for you issue(s):

[This is based on the latest build (3.0.9279.6) and the "default" skin]

1. Exit XLobby.

2. Rename the following screens in the default skin as follows:
"moviemanager.xml" - change to "moviemanager.xml.old"
"movies.xml" - change to "movies.xml.old"
"moviessort.xml" - change to "moviessort.xml.old."
"movieviewer.xml" - change to "movieviewer.xml.old"

3. Download the attached zip file containing the files you renamed in step 2, and copy them to the default folder.

Here is the file:

4 Screens.zip

(10.04 KiB) Downloaded 437 times

4. Start XLobby.

5. Play with the buttons and "sliders" on the new pages to see how they work, and what their ids look like so you will be able to create your own "user data" to suit your needs.
Some of the buttons/sliders are set-up as "indicator" and I didn't want them to work if accidentally clicked. - If you want these elements to work like regular sliders, make sure that the option "2 Way" (in Element Properties/Slider) is "ticked".

Also, re:"Sliders" if the width and height are the same the slider will be "vertically" oriented.
to get a "square" slider to have a "horizontal" orientation, just make the width at least 1px longer than the height. (this appears to be "hard coded" at least for now.)

I also changed the default value for the sliders from 20 to 10 because I wanted to display 1/2 stars.

To get this to work properly, you'll have to first "create" the variables that indicate wether the movie was "not watched", "partially watched", or "watched" for every movie in your database, and also for each of the "users" that you wish to maintain data on in your skin - I have not tested this, so I do not know if there is a limit to the number of "users" ("data fields") you may add to the item.xml file.

I made events tied to each of the text labels above the columns of "buttons" that set the "watched" button status on "moviemanager.xml" and "movieviewer.xml". Clicking on the text will cause "ALL 4 users" to show the same status icon as the text label clicked.

I put these items on different pages to provide different examples, but the events used are all "local" to each page, so if you change something on one page, and it appears in more than one location make sure to change all instances of that element.

Also, you could manually (or automatically with another program) edit all the info.xml files, but I don't use a bulk xml editor, and I suspect that most XLobby users don't either, and besides, you only have to do this once, and from then-on the info is stored in item.xml for each movie.

The short delay between "hovering" over or "navigating to" a movie cover and the info being updated is a function of the "load delay" under Options in F2. - Shortening this to anything below about 750 msec on most machines that have more than a few hundred movies, or over 1,000+ albums, actually slows down the interface.

One "Caution":
Since the "data fields" for all the aformentioned variables are stored in the item.xml file for each movie, I don't know if the "data fields" would be overwritten if you use some of XLobby's advanced database management features in F2.

6. Let me know if this solves your issues.

Good Luck,
Samson

4 Screens.zip

(10.04 KiB) Downloaded 437 times

[billberet]

thanks again,
i believe this will be exactly what i need.
sounds like a weekend project to me !!!!

i appreciate all the detail, if your ever in Ny, i'll buy you a drink


i will let you know my results.

[samsonlov]

Glad to help.
Maybe you can post some screenshots when yours is "finished".

[billberet]

one more favor
where can i get the star images, or if you can zip them up that would be great

thanks again
-bb

[samsonlov]

They are in the "default" folder.

If you downloaded the latest build, you will find them in:

C:\Program Files\xlobby(whatever the name of the default folder you created)\skins\default\buttons\ratings

remember to put the "gold" slider button on top of the "gray" button

[billberet]

i'm stuck at the moment, i can't download the latest build or i loose the ability to play movies in my video database. video_t files won't start up, XL says the data is unavailable.

it's a bug that is being worked on.

[samsonlov]

Yes, but you can download the latest build to a "different" folder just to "grab" the elements you want from the latest build.
What's more, you can (under options in F2) "allow multiple instances" so that you can run your build at the same time as a "default" test build to compare how the two work, and to compare events/variables, etc. without having to keep restarting and going "back and forth" the long way.

[Caution: when running multiple instances of XLobby from a single client machine that is getting all it's content and audio zones from a server, sometimes the audio won't run too smoothly when both clients are trying to play the same audio file, or even files in the same folder (this also applies to video) - but this is to be expected.]

I generally download a new build click the exe, and when prompted, select the "keep and install" option - then I specify the folder to install to like:
c:\program files\xlobby default 3.0. 9280.28 - or whatever the version of the exe is.

Doing it this way also keeps "default" copies of each of the versions I downloaded, so checking to see where an issue "creeped-in" is also a lot easier.

Just make sure to make a "full backup" of your main xlobby folder FIRST (Just in-case you make a mistake and accidentally overwrite your default folder), and then go through the installation steps as described above, and I'm sure you'll be pleased with the results.

See video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch_private?v=g81APS-q_CA&sharing_token=ojB3lHcdKW3PYEX-sJt5bg==
Hope that helps.
Samson.

[billberet]

you are just full of information, i should have a direct link to your pc so every time i have a question i can send an IM. lol

i tried multiple instances and you are right, i had sound issues.
i have 3 sound cards plus the onboard. i'm sure i had some things misconfigured as well.
i'm actually going to install it in another directory and grab the images.

thanks for the info !!!!
(again)

[samsonlov]

So from your last few posts, it appears to me that you now have a solution to your original 4 questions:

...is there a way to display only movies not viewed...

Yes

...every time my wife asks what we didn't watch yet, i have to scroll thru everything...

Not anymore.

...it would be easier to click a button that displays only movies not viewed...

And now you/she can.

...and the ability to mark a movie as not viewed, which would come into play when i test a movie to see how it looks.

Which now exists (Including a "mark" for movies that have been "partially-viewed").

4/4
Wow, my 100th post!!! and instead of a question or comment, I actually "solved" something!!!
Yes, I'm very excited about that.

I know of no other "platform" that can get "enhancements" and "bug-fixes" incorporated as quickly, and with the level of "custom" that XLobby provides, and I'm glad to be part of the community.