Are FanArt Backdrops limited to library-mode only?

kraqh3d Wrote:i do not think its possible to display movie information in files view. and this is regardless if the file is in the database or not.

In xTV, I have a "Movie Information" option from the white button dialog window that shows it. I wonder if the $INFO[listitem.property( )] would give me what I want. I know the scrappers are able to read it so maybe there is hidden function already in that may help... Of course, I am still a newbie so what do I know.

In case you have a revolutionary idea, here is the typical format for the .nfo file

Thanks


Ex: for Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003) file

<movie>
<title>Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle</title>
<rating>4.7</rating>
<year>2003</year>
<top250>0</top250>
<votes>32,895</votes>
<outline>The Angels investigate a series of murders that occur after the theft of a witness protection profile database. Their prime suspects? A "fallen angel" who was once their ally and the Creepy Thin Man.</outline>
<plot>The Angels--Natalie, Dylan, and Alex are back again but this time they're preparing for a strike without even warning as they go undercover to retrieve two missing silver bands. These are no ordinary rings. They contain valuable encrypted information that reveal the new identities of every person in the Federal Witness Protection Program. When witnesses start turning up dead, only the Angels, using their expertise as masters of disguise, espionage and martial arts can stop the perpetrator, a mysterious "fallen" Angel. Aided by their trusty colleague, Jimmy Bosley, the Angels' adventure begins at a remote Mongolian outpost and ends only after Dylan is forced to face a dark secret from her past--a secret that puts the lives of her two best friends in danger.</plot>
<tagline>This summer the Angels are back.</tagline>
<runtime>106 min | UK:106 min (cut) | USA:107 min (unrated version)</runtime>
<thumb></thumb>
<mpaa>Rated PG-13 for action violence, sensuality and language/innuendo.</mpaa>
<watched></watched>
<id>tt0305357</id>
<genre>Action / Adventure / Comedy / Crime / Thriller</genre>
<credits>Ivan Goff / Ben Roberts</credits>
<director>McG</director>
<premiered></premiered>
<studio>Columbia Pictures Corporation</studio>
<trailer>http://www.totaleclips.com/Player/Bounce.aspx?eclipid=e18067&amp;bitrateid=314&amp;vendorid=102&amp;type=.flv</trailer>
<actor>
<name>Cameron Diaz</name>
<role>Natalie Cook</role>
<thumb>http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTk2OTU3OTM1Ml5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMjg3NTYyMQ@@._V1._SX100_SY140_.jpg</thumb>
</actor>
<actor>
<name>Drew Barrymore</name>
<role>Dylan Sanders</role>
<thumb>http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTYzOTQwNjkyMl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMzUwNjYyMQ@@._V1._SX99_SY139_.jpg</thumb>
</actor>
<actor>
<name>Lucy Liu</name>
<role>Alex Munday</role>
<thumb>http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTM0Njc1MzMxNV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNDc0ODUyMQ@@._V1._SX100_SY134_.jpg</thumb>
</actor>
<actor>
<name>Bernie Mac</name>
<role>Jimmy Bosley</role>
<thumb>http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMjA5MjIwMDk4Ml5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwNTA5NTI1._V1._SX100_SY138_.jpg</thumb>
</actor>
<actor>
<name>Crispin Glover</name>
<role>Thin Man</role>
<thumb>http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMzEyMzUxODg4MF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwOTg4MjcyMQ@@._V1._SX100_SY129_.jpg</thumb>
</actor>
<actor>
<name>Justin Theroux</name>
<role>Seamus O'Grady</role>
<thumb>http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMjAzOTAyODgzNF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNjEyMzAyMQ@@._V1._SX93_SY140_.jpg</thumb>
</actor>
<actor>
<name>Robert Patrick</name>
<role>Ray Carter</role>
<thumb>http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTI4NTEwNDg2OF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNDUyNzQxMQ@@._V1._SX100_SY134_.jpg</thumb>
</actor>
<actor>
<name>Demi Moore</name>
<role>Madison Lee</role>
<thumb>http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTg0MzIxMDQ5NF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNzE3NjEzMQ@@._V1._SX100_SY138_.jpg</thumb>
</actor>
<actor>
<name>Rodrigo Santoro</name>
<role>Randy Emmers</role>
<thumb>http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTc0MzQwMDk5MF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMTYyMTAyMQ@@._V1._SX100_SY124_.jpg</thumb>
</actor>
<actor>
<name>Shia LaBeouf</name>
<role>Max</role>
<thumb>http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMjE3MDAyOTc4NV5BMl5BanBnXkFyZXN1bWU@._V1._SX100_SY137_.jpg</thumb>
</actor>
<actor>
<name>Matt LeBlanc</name>
<role>Jason</role>
<thumb>http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTQ1NjQ0Nzk1NF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwOTQ4NzQxMQ@@._V1._SX100_SY140_.jpg</thumb>
</actor>
<actor>
<name>Luke Wilson</name>
<role>Pete</role>
<thumb>http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTcwODY0Nzg0NV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwOTUzNjQxMQ@@._V1._SX100_SY138_.jpg</thumb>
</actor>
<actor>
<name>John Cleese</name>
<role>Mr. Munday</role>
<thumb>http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BNjY5MTE5MjM5OF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMzQwNjQxMQ@@._V1._SX100_SY134_.jpg</thumb>
</actor>
<actor>
<name>Ja'net DuBois</name>
<role>Momma Bosley</role>
<thumb></thumb>
</actor>
<actor>
<name>Cheung-Yan Yuen</name>
<role>Deranged Mongol</role>
<thumb></thumb>
</actor>
</movie>

As kraqh3d points out, you cannot view library information in files view as we do not hit the library. If you want library information, use the library view.

no that will not give you what you want. the movie info button may pull the info from that local nfo xml file and display it, i've never tried. but even if it does, the info still will not be accessible from files mode. the video listitem.* properties are only available when in library mode. when the library mode file lists are generated, that information is pulled from the database and populates a video info tag thats linked to the item.

though, this could be possible in video files mode in the same way its done in music files mode. in music files, if you enable "id3 tag reading" in settings, every time you enter a folder, you'll get a popup dialog while xbmc reads all the metadata tag information from the files. the same approach could be done for videos except that it would look for nfo files, and load the data if its xml based.

jmarshall Wrote:You STILL haven't answered kraqh3d's question. Let me simplify it for you:

When you are using AEON, does the fanart in files mode show for all movies, or only those that you have scanned into your library?

The reason this question is important is that you can achieve showing any image from the current folder being displayed via the skin. This is what I think AEON is doing, and it's certainly not the way things should be done.

Cheers,
Jonathan

in AEON fanart (local stored files named movie-fanart.jpg) work in filnemode for all movies, even those that havent been scanned.

kraqh3d Wrote:no that will not give you what you want. the movie info button may pull the info from that local nfo xml file and display it, i've never tried. but even if it does, the info still will not be accessible from files mode. the video listitem.* properties are only available when in library mode. when the library mode file lists are generated, that information is pulled from the database and populates a video info tag thats linked to the item.

though, this could be possible in video files mode in the same way its done in music files mode. in music files, if you enable "id3 tag reading" in settings, every time you enter a folder, you'll get a popup dialog while xbmc reads all the metadata tag information from the files. the same approach could be done for videos except that it would look for nfo files, and load the data if its xml based.

But (in theory) it could be also read from the videodb, couldn't it? please, correct me if I'm mistaken: one of the fields in the DB is the path+filename, if there were an index with that field, a look up in the db would be really fast, so entering a directory in file mode I assume right now a table is filled with all the video files there; that table could also contain some info (genre, IMDB rating) from the db to be show or to sort the files.

There are a number of reasons because of them library mode does not work for me. I'll put them in another message to not make this one too long.

Many say that by no using the library mode I am losing some of the greatness of xbmc... I do not think so, in fact I think that, at least for me, library mode is completely broken and cannot even be mended, for a number of reasons:

1) I have very eclectic tastes and also there are more people that watches movies in my house with different tastes; some of my movies are hollywood hits, some are hispanic, some are european, some are dubbed, some are in its original language with subtitles... when you select "comedy", "meet the spartans" can be side by side with a very subtle french movie in french without subtitles, that is just plain wrong, when you're in the mood to watch one of them you are NOT for the other! I simply have them in different disk hierarchies.

2) Since I have movies in english and movies in spanish (dubbed, subtitled or otherwise), I want the plots to be in the same language as the movie, also the spanish titles do not work to scrape IMDB, nor there are many of the non-dubbed movies in spanish-language sites. The consequence is that I scrape my movies from different sites, and some (but not all) the genres' names are also different ("comedy" and "comedia") and the ratings are also completely incoherent one to another, one site rates 1 to 10, another 0 to 5...

3) I have many movies, also I like to know all the actors in a movie, the consequence is that "actors" listing is thousands and thousands long, so it is not useful but in very special cases.

4) Since my collection of movies is very large, I have them distributed over 4 different computers, only one of them is online 24/7, in library mode ALL of them get listed even when there are not available.

5) Since there are so many movies, to speed selection I keep a directory with movies more interesting at the moment, I move some to their "permanent" directory when I watch them or lose interest in them, or simply when the directory content grows too much. All the movies in any library mode listing is overwhelming, more so when some appear more than once as in "genres" listings. The "recently added" listing is also not very meaningful, having watched some of them already (not in xbmc, but in theatres or otherwise) and keeping out some movies still "fresh" but added some time ago.

The point is, library mode is not (and cannot be) for everyone, but is a real pity that you cannot use all that powerful metadata when you are in file mode. I would like, in file mode and dvd view, to be capable of sorting by rating or year or genre, to see some metadata when selecting a movie without having to select "movie information", also to be capable of deleting library information of a movie when in file mode, or to select other movies from the same writer or director or studio from the "movie information" window just as you can look for movies featuring a given actor/actress.

On the other hand, I'm sure library mode is almost perfect when you just watch english-language movies, everything scraped from IMDB, so it is simply great for some people. But NOT everyone!

Thanks for your message pko66,

All your points are exactly the reasons why I do not want to use the library mode as well...

I was able to hack and modify the List View in xTV to demonstrate what I want to achieve.
The fanart is available from $INFO[listitem.property(fanart_image)]
The Movie title is actually a label $INFO[ListItem.Label] but the rest is static text.
The complete movie information is available from the movie.nfo file and if somehow this information could be loaded along as some property for the item (ListItem of better), it would go a long way for everyone to use or not the library. I will look into kraqh3d's suggestions that it could be similar to id3 tag info loading but I am still very green in skinning...



thanks

By digging around, there seems to be a VideoInfoScanner.cpp
with function calls such as:

Quote:NFOResult result = CheckForNFOFile(pItem.get(),bDirNames,info2,pDlgProgress,scrUrl);
...

and

Quote:CFileItem item;
item.m_strPath = file->strPath;

// handle .nfo files
CStdString strNfoFile = GetnfoFile(&item,false);
...

in the source but it seems to be bound only to library use indeed (scrapper context ?).

I feel that it shouldn't be too much work for someone who knows what they are doing (i.e. kraqh3d, jmarshall, ...) to add a more "global" functionality in the code at the same level as the listitem.property(fanart_image) and open up a whole new "non-library" world for skinners and users like pko66 or I...

But what do I know, I haven't programmed for 10 years... hehe

Does it make sense ?

pko66 Wrote:I think that, at least for me, library mode is completely broken and cannot even be mended, for a number of reasons:

"Completely broken" is incredibly harsh, not to mention not true. Just because something is not perfect/appropriate to you doesn't make it broken and unmendable.

Quote:When you select "comedy", "meet the spartans" can be side by side with a very subtle french movie in french without subtitles, that is just plain wrong

Why is it? I'm sure if I went to Blockbuster video store, the exact same thing could happen. In fact if I went into an actual library, the same could happen but with books. This is not a fault of the library mode!

Quote:3) I have many movies, also I like to know all the actors in a movie, the consequence is that "actors" listing is thousands and thousands long, so it is not useful but in very special cases.

But in files mode, you don't get any of the actors, do you?

I see your point about the library not being compatible with your particular way of working, but still maintain "broken" is the wrong adjective. I think the ability to add a user-defined category or subcategory might alleviate two or three of the issues you have - especially number 5) - but, as you say, the Library mode is not going to fit with particularly esoteric ways of organising your media.

of course. theoretically, anything is possible, someone just needs to code it to do so. xbmc intentionally doesn't rely on the videodb when in video file mode. this was a design choice. and this is a choice i stand behind. if you're using files mode, then xbmc should be nothing more than a dumb file browser.