[snowjim]

Okay, so if a user is in the following environment :

1. Windows platform
2. Gets movies/videos in rar archives
3. Needs to sort on last added to library

he/she will now have to create a advanced setting file, look up how the tag is suppose to look like and then set it accordingly.

Something tells me that there is A LOT of users that runs like this, but hay, what do I know, you are the developers

I have nothing more to say, good luck with more quality development.

[jmarshall]

You won't have an issue if you don't extract the rars, right?

[snowjim]

You won't have an issue if you don't extract the rars, right?

Im not sure, I will look in to this. But not even you suggests streaming rar archives? And I agree with this, its generates other problems with the library.

I do agree that Winrar should set the modified date but it is not and this software have been around for a LONG time so if this is not a temporary bug all the users that needs this basic sort order will have to set the advanced setting file. Maybe there is another rar application that does this right?

All I'm saying is that there will probably be a lot of users that runs in to this problem and they will not have a clue to why until they read in the forums/Wiki.

But as I said, I have nothing more to add in this topic.

[pecinko]

What about movies/episode release/aired date? Is this available in DB?

Recently added node would filter by date added to DB, while Recently released would show fresh releases.

[bobloblaw]

Just to be clear on the status :

Before :
When setting sort order to "Last added" XBMC will order by the date the video/movie was scanned to the XBMC library (logical). This means that if the library is lost in any way the order of the items would be lost when re-scanning the library. Its possible to use the library Export/Import when doing a re- installation to keep the "Last added" dates" AND watched flag.

Now :
The sort order "Last added" do still exists but it is now using the external parameter "Last Modified" on the file itself. This means that the sort order behavior for "Last added" have changed a great deal even if its still called the same name as before (not logical). The change works great as long as its yourself that rips all your videos/movies. If you however would get videos/movies from external resource you can be sure that the items will end up in more or less random order in the XBMC library even if its was new to YOUR collection. The plus for this solution is that if you have your files setup correctly (Last Modified date) then you will only lose the watched flag if the library is lost(wounder how often this happens?).

The only way to get correct sort order on videos/movies from external resources is to manually setting a proper "Last modified" date with a external tool of some sort.

If you do not want the extra job to set the "last modified" on all external video manually but you do want them in "Last Modified" order you will have to get your hands dirty with the advancedsettings.xml. By setting the following in the advancedsettings file the behavior will revert back to the old one.

Code:

<advancedsettings>
<videolibrary>
  <dateadded>0</dateadded>
</videolibrary>
</advancedsettings>

SnowJim:

Thank you for posting the code for the advanced settings as well as your posts. This is exactly what I needed.

My case:
Windows
XBMC + Sab/Sick/Couch
Media stored on a NAS

Media (Independent of it being legal or not) that I downloaded via Newsgroups or Torrents was being sorted incorrectly due to the way the archives store the c/m date. I let Sab do the un-raring and it keeps the dates untouched from when they were uploaded.

+1 to having the default library sort based on Last Added (the last file added to the library)

A compromise could be an additional "Sort By" option that is Modified Date or Created Date

Thank you again

[fatal.]

Hey,

Will this new <dateadded> value be imported from local nfo files? If so, what is the tag in the nfo (assuming <dateadded>) and format of the date that would need to be populated for the tag?

Take Care

Yes <dateadded> is being read from NFOs. The correct format is

Code:

YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS

Hey,

Sorry to bring up an old post, but had a question.

Today I added a new movie to the library with a pre-existing nfo file which had a date added tag in the nfo of

Code:

<dateadded>2013-09-05 11:27:53</dateadded>

But in xbmc Frodo (openelec 3.2) it still showed up as the first movie in the recently added movies list (it used the files last modified or created time).

So my question is:
1 - Is it skin dependent as to which date to use to be shown in the recently added list (dateadded vs filemodified date vs lastwrite etc)
2 - Do I need to add something to advancedsettings.xml for xbmc to import the dateadded field?

Edit, nvm, found my answer:

No need to yell. The code to read the <dateadded> tag from NFO is there but it isn't used in the database to use instead of the mtime/current time/whatever so in the end it isn't really remembered.

So, will a future version/update use this tag/take preference over the mdate/cdate when importing a movie?

Take Care

[santosoch]

Hi all,

I hope a future version will be able to read dateadded value from nfo files.
If nfo file is missing or If the dateadded value in the nfo is invalid or NULL (I think Eden don’t have dateadded in the Files table), then xbmc will follow the dateadded setting in the advancedsettings.xml.

Here is my story. When I had to relocate my movies storage from local HDD to bigger storage (NAS), I did recreate the MySql database, thumbnails and artwork cache (its great to have everything fresh).

I exported the libraries into separate folders and then rescanned. All the watched status and resume points were there; everything was perfect but one thing.
The dateadded value was not read from the nfo files. That made my recently added movies sorting completely new.

The sorting in the recently added movies is important to me, because I set the dateadded those new movies I don’t really like, few months/years from now (I backdated my computer date when scanning library). So they won’t show up on the top.

So I imagine, if xbmc can read the dateadded value from nfo files, I would have exactly the same library as before. For me, it would be perfect. Thank you.

[edrikk]

When performing such an activity, you should use a tool that preserves the dates (although I would agree that if XBMC exported that tag, it should either respect it upon re-import, or simply don't export it).

Anyways, in Windows Robocopy (part of the OS) is a great tool for copying files and keeping the required info (even if going across to a Linux based NAS via SMB.... This is what I do nightly for various purposes including backups).

[Bogi]

Bumping...

The latest Gotham stable release still does not use the dateadded value from the nfo upon scanning (I use a 3rd party scraper). Similar to what the previous poster stated; If it's exported please make it able to be imported into the DB correctly.

I like to be able to have my library sorted by when the movie was originally released. So for very old movies (think Charlie Chaplin) you cannot manually change the mtime to be that old. i.e. on windows mtime can't be older than 1980. I do manually change the mtime for my movies but I'm worried that down the line the mtimes may get messed up for whatever reason so it would be nice knowing that XBMC will import the dateadded field from the nfo and actually use it. I guess I'm getting picky and want to be able to have the full date of the original release and not just the year which "Sort by Year" would do.

[snowjim]

Bumping...

The latest Gotham stable release still does not use the dateadded value from the nfo upon scanning (I use a 3rd party scraper). Similar to what the previous poster stated; If it's exported please make it able to be imported into the DB correctly.

I like to be able to have my library sorted by when the movie was originally released. So for very old movies (think Charlie Chaplin) you cannot manually change the mtime to be that old. i.e. on windows mtime can't be older than 1980. I do manually change the mtime for my movies but I'm worried that down the line the mtimes may get messed up for whatever reason so it would be nice knowing that XBMC will import the dateadded field from the nfo and actually use it. I guess I'm getting picky and want to be able to have the full date of the original release and not just the year which "Sort by Year" would do.

Im not sure why you want to sort on the date when a movie first got out? Here in Sweden its common that we get movies that have been on the market for a while, so when I add a couple of movies to my big library I dont want them to be sorted on when thay was first released. It will simple take forever to find and it demands that I know when every movie was released to find it. Instead I need to have it sorted on the date it was added to my library, in this way its clear to me what movies that have left to watch. I do of couse filter on watched also so no watched is shown. If I need to see a already watched movie its simple to just remove the filter and change sorting to my likings(alfabetic).

So every time I start up XBMC I am greeted with a wall of movies that I have not yet seen. The movies that was added first is at the bottom and the newest at the top. This works really good for us.

But to get this working I hade to set a specific setting in the config file so it was not sorting on the releas that but the added to library date. So If you need it to sort by the release date you should have to do nothing.

I understand that we all have diffrent needs from the system, hope you get it to work as you need it to.

[sheepd]

So I have been having this strange problem forever, but now since installing Gotham, I finally investigated it a bit and arrived here.

Basically, I agree with the option to sort on mtime... BUT:

If I choose "Use folder names for movie naming" in the source configuration, I expect it to use the folder's mtime, and not the file's.

If possible at all, would you please reconsider giving this a try? I think this behavior is in line with the expectation: If I "value" the name/information contained in the folder name more than the actual movie file itself, why should I use the timestamp of the movie file? Usually, I once create the folder and then that's it, it will not be touched anymore and keep its timestamp.
Now, you could argue that mtime changes when I e.g. update the nfo file or rename/create any other file inside the directory... but why would Joe Random User (or I) do that after the initial add?

At the very least, it would already be nice if another option in the advacedsettings.xml file could be introduced for this.

[thenessie]

I also have the problem of getting the dateadded field re-scraped from NFO-File after relocation of movies on my disks. I'm using the as.xml-setting <dateadded>0</dateadded>. But when I update the library infos, the date added is filled with the todays date and NOT with the <dateadded>-field from the local nfo-file.
I would be very happy, if someone could change this behaviour so that IF a dateadded info is in the nfo-file, this date is taken into the library.
Thanks in advance

[jubilex]

I have to say I'm surprised we still do not have the ability to use the <dateadded> field from an NFO file when we import our libraries. Especially now that Helix doesn't use correct file dates either -- now the Recently Added list is a non-sensical order, at least for me, meanwhile my whole library has NFO files with the correct date right there.

[vick]

hi.. is there any way to have it use the below ?

for movies:

folder created date (file created date can be very old but i will create the folder each time i want to add a movie so that will be the right order date)

for tv:

episode file created date