Xant Help

[dhcf23]

I have recently started to play around with the Ant Movie catalog and Xant. However when I load Xlobby it does not create the database. Is there something I am missing to get this to work. I started this with a fresh install of Xlobby to make sure something I screwed up elsewhere was not the cause. So there is no movies database at all in the databases folder.

Thanks to Marbles for his Xant document for getting me started on this.

I have created an Ant Catalog of some of my movies to test with and it is located
C:\Program Files\Ant Movie Catalog\Catalogs\movies.amc
I use Borower field to show the Rating - G, PG, PG-13, etc and set up the script for DVDEMPIRE to add the proper URL for the movie.

As for the Xant plug in...I have the .dll .ini and moviestemplate in the in the plugins folder for Xlobby like this

C:\Program Files\xlobby\plugins\XAnt.dll or C:\Program Files\xlobby\plugins\XAnt.ini

My .ini file looks like this

[movies]
input=c:\Program Files\Ant Movie Catalog\Catalogs\movies.amc
output=c:\Program Files\Xlobby\databases\movies.xml
images=c:\Program Files\Ant Movie Catalog\Pochettes movies\
sort=$$ITEM_ORIGINALTITLE
template=c:\Program Files\Xlobby\plugins\moviestemplate.xml
filters=

and the template like this

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<database>
<sortorder>sorttitle</sortorder>
<sortable>
<sort>actors</sort>
<sort>title</sort>
<sort>sorttitle</sort>
<sort>genre</sort>
<sort>director</sort>
<sort>year</sort>
<sort>rating</sort>
<sort>name</sort>
</sortable>
<template/>
<paths>
<path/>
</paths>
<item>
<parameter>$$ITEM_URL</parameter>
<coverart>$$ITEM_PICTUREFILENAME</coverart>
<display>$$ITEM_ORIGINALTITLE</display>
<offline></offline>
<information>
<name>$$ITEM_ORIGINALTITLE</name>
<title>$$ITEM_ORIGINALTITLE</title>
<sorttitle>$$ITEM_ORIGINALTITLE</sorttitle>
<director>$$ITEM_DIRECTOR</director>
<runtime>$$ITEM_LENGTH</runtime>
<plot>$$ITEM_DESCRIPTION</plot>
<actors>$$ITEM_ACTORS</actors>
<year>$$ITEM_YEAR</year>
<genre>$$ITEM_CATEGORY</genre>
<rating>skin://buttons/$$ITEM_BORROWER.png</rating>
</information>
</item>
</database>


Are there steps I am missing to make this work? Do I need to launch this some way other than just executing Xlobby. Does this need to be in the plugin folder a different way. Like this C:\Program Files\xlobby\plugins\XAnt\XAnt.dll

Any help you can give would be appreciated since this would save me countless hours updating my DVD's.

[scottw]

Mine are in an xant folder in the plugins folder...I believe it has to be that way.

[Marbles_00]

I've had issues both ways. It may be dependent on which version of the plugin you are using though...maybe....don't know. Currently mine are sitting in the plugin root folder.

The only other thing, which I'm assuming your doing, is you have to restart xlobby in order for the plugin to build the database for the first time.

[dhcf23]

Thanks for the responses, I have tried a few different ways and versions now. I tried it with the plugin in the root folder and also in a seperate XAnt folder. I have also tried multiple version of the plugin. I tried the one from sharp_1's help pages and also from marbles page no luck with either of those in any configuration. As far as restarting Xlobby, yeah lots of times with no luck, it just never builds the database. Is there anyway to force it to run while Xlobby is open to at least test it? I will keep playing around with it but if anyone has any other ideas please keep them coming.

[Marbles_00]

The other thing you could check is to see if copies of the coverart are placed in the "Pochettes movies" directory. What this plugin does is extract the artwork, which is embedded in the .amc file, and places copies in the directory you specify in the ini file. Then the plugin will build the database directing the coverart field to this location. If so, then the plugin would appear to be working, only something hasn't quite been defined properly. If not, then the plugin may not be working at all, for some reason. I just can't think of anything right now, as your formatting seems correct.

[dhcf23]

Still no luck, and the coverart is not being saved to the folder either.

Any chance the version of Ant has changed and the .AMC file is no longer valid for the plugin. The Ant I am using is this version

---------------------------
Information
---------------------------
MovieCatalog.exe : version 3.5.1.2 (2/1/2009 7:15:52 PM)
AMCExchange.dll : version 1.1.0.1 (9/22/2007 11:47:56 AM)
AMCReport.exe : version 1.0.2.2 (1/15/2005 5:13:58 PM)
MediaInfo.dll : version 0.7.10 (1/30/2009 11:19:42 AM)

probably not likely but who knows I am at a loss.

The versions of the XAnt plugin I have tried are

2.1.2109.39993
2.1.2243.43069

I also tried this on my other machine with no luck. Both of these computers are running Windows XP.

[Marbles_00]

2.1.2243.43069

I have that same version running on my computer here at work (shh...don't say anything). I have it in the plugins root directory. I would say, attach your ini and moviestemplate file, and I will give it a whirl. If I can generate the database based on your config files, then it is most likely the .dll was not downloaded properly...it is a possibility. If I can't generate a database using your config files, then most likely it is something to do with them.

[dhcf23]

ok here are the files

XAnt.ini

(282 Bytes) Downloaded 784 times

XAnt.Rar

(136 KiB) Downloaded 933 times

This .rar is the Dll

Thanks for checking this out for me.

[badubo]

you must verify that all path in your ini exists :

c:\Program Files\Ant Movie Catalog\Catalogs\movies.amc
c:\Program Files\Xlobby\databases\
c:\Program Files\Ant Movie Catalog\Pochettes movies\
c:\Program Files\Xlobby\plugins\moviestemplate.xml

this last line means that your templates are in the "plugins" directory, not "plugins/Xant"

[Marbles_00]

The .rar file appears to be damaged, so I couldn't open it.

The other thing you may have to do...can't recall if it is needed or not, but if there is an existing movies.xml file in the database directory, delete it so XAnt is forced to rebuild a new one.

I will try out your ini file to see what happens with that.

*EDIT*
Opps...my mistake....this rar is the dll....meaning rename the extension from .rar to .dll...GEESSS!! I guess I had a few loose marbles this morning.


*Second EDIT*
Just tried the .ini file on its own and it built the xml fine. So the ini file is correct. Then tried your .dll with the ini and it too built the xml fine, so your files are correct. Now as mentioned by badubo, are your directory structures correct (I know you indicate this in your first post, but it doesn't hurt to double check).

[dhcf23]

Thanks for checking those files for me, not sure if it is more frustrating that they work fine for you or if it makes me feel better knowing those are good and I can move on to other areas!! As for the Movies.xml I tried it both ways..a few times with an already existing movies.xml and again with no movies.xml.

As for the folders they all do exist how they are in the .ini file, trust me I have been over those a few times thinking that I was definetly making a careless mistake of naming something wrong. Unfortunalty that was not the case..at least not in that case...I'm sure it will end up being something small in the end that was overlooked.

Anyone have any other suggestions? Should I try any other version of Xlobby? I am using the most recent free version.

[scottw]

You do not have anything in the F2-Basic tab under Movies, do you? You shouldn't.

Also does the plugin show up under F2-Plugins?

[scottw]

Also the first line of the ini:

Code: Select all

[movies]

Is this case-sensitive and does it correspond to the name of the Category or DB....dunno.

dhcf23,
See if your category name and or DB is named the same as what is in the ini...don't know if it matters but worth a try.

[Marbles_00]

Also does the plugin show up under F2-Plugins?

Very good point Scott.

[dhcf23]

You do not have anything in the F2-Basic tab under Movies, do you? You shouldn't.

No, nothing there in the movies section in F2. The first time I tried I did have something there but the rest of the time was with a new installation of Xlobby and I did not put anything in the basic tab for movies.

Also does the plugin show up under F2-Plugins?

Yes the plugin shows up in F2-Plugins, and at one point I had the the plug in .dll in the plugins root and in plugins/XAnt at the sametime and it showed up twice. If I click on configure it does nothing which I'm assuming is how it should be since it is just supposed to execute when Xlobby loads.

As for the [movies] line in the .ini file I am not sure I will try it a few different ways and see what happens.