Option to use folder date for recently added movies

WinRAR seems to be very stupid. It only adjusts the mtime of the top-level folder in my rar archive. Any file in that directory keeps the original mtime.

(2013-04-18 19:42)Montellese Wrote:  WinRAR seems to be very stupid. It only adjusts the mtime of the top-level folder in my rar archive. Any file in that directory keeps the original mtime.

Okay? So you haven't really tested this in Windows or do you use another Winrar application that works as XBMC needs it to?

(2013-04-18 20:05)snowjim Wrote:  

(2013-04-18 19:42)Montellese Wrote:  WinRAR seems to be very stupid. It only adjusts the mtime of the top-level folder in my rar archive. Any file in that directory keeps the original mtime.

Okay? So you haven't really tested this in Windows or do you use another Winrar application that works as XBMC needs it to?

Come on man, lighten up already. That's a winrar problem, not an XBMC problem.

Yeah, I thought there was "problems" when it came to windows and mtime, I came across it before doing a perl script at one time a while back. It simply doesn't behave the same as it does in other OSes. Take winrar out of the equation and simply copy any file. Both the ctime and mtime will be the same as the original file on the time. In other OSes, the new file would have the current time for ctime/mtime on the new file.

I haven't tested it on windows with RAR archives because I don't use RAR archives for videos or any other media because IMO it's an extra burden on the user and is therefore plain stupid. Why can't you just use the dateadded mode that always uses the current time when a video is added to the library/database instead? It will do exactly what you want without having to mess around with winrar or touch your files or whatever.

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.

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

(2013-04-19 07:25)jmarshall Wrote:  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.

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.

(2013-04-15 16:50)snowjim Wrote:  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