Welcome to the Invelos forums. Please read the forum rules before posting.

Read access to our public forums is open to everyone. To post messages, a free registration is required.

If you have an Invelos account, sign in to post.

    Invelos Forums->DVD Profiler: Plugins Page: 1  Previous   Next
How do I get access to the Plugin Development forum so I can write plugins?
Author Message
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantCyborg
Registered: April 7, 2021
Posts: 5
Posted:
PM this userView this user's DVD collectionDirect link to this postReply with quote
I requested access to the Plugin Development forum months ago and never received a response.
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorGSyren
Profiling since 2001
Registered: March 14, 2007
Reputation: Highest Rating
Sweden Posts: 4,508
Posted:
PM this userVisit this user's homepageView this user's DVD collectionDirect link to this postReply with quote
The sad truth is that you probably won't get any response, and you won't get access to that forum. There have been no response from Invelos in several years, and nobody knows why.

I suppose someone here could give you the links to the documentation, but I don't think it feels right given that Ken wanted to control access. And even if you did get access to the docs, the API is quite tricky, especially if you had to tackle it without any additional help.

I would suggest that you take a look at mediadogg's plugin HTTPJolie (see the thread in this forum). It gives you access to a lot of the functionality with a lot less hazzle.
My freeware tools for DVD Profiler users.
Gunnar
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantCyborg
Registered: April 7, 2021
Posts: 5
Posted:
PM this userView this user's DVD collectionDirect link to this postReply with quote
Quote:
The sad truth is that you probably won't get any response, and you won't get access to that forum. There have been no response from Invelos in several years, and nobody knows why.


That's unfortunate.  This is the best application I've found for downloading and maintaining DVD metadata and I'd like to help extend it's functionality.  Thanks for the tip on HTTPJolie - at first glance, it appears that plugin may give me the access to the metadata I'm looking for.
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorGSyren
Profiling since 2001
Registered: March 14, 2007
Reputation: Highest Rating
Sweden Posts: 4,508
Posted:
PM this userVisit this user's homepageView this user's DVD collectionDirect link to this postReply with quote
We always welcome people who look to extend the functionality of DVD Profiler.

There have been many people writing tools and plugins, but nowadays it's pretty much only three of us, and here are links to our available programs:

DJ Doena: http://doena-journal.net/en/dvd-profiler-tools
mediadogg: http://www.mediadogg.com/
and me: http://gsyren.ownit.nu/MySoftware.html

Now, if you want to roll your own using HTTPJolie, that's fine. But if you're just looking for something to extend DVD Profiler's functionality, you might want to check if what you're looking for has been done already.

Personally I have never written any actual plugin. My programs - before HTTPJolie was available -  used to depend on data exported from DVD Profiler in an XML file. My "crown juwel" is ProfilerQuery. Now I have a choice. For large amounts of data, reading an XML file wil always be a lot quicker than getting the data through HTTPJolie/DVD Profiler. But it also has many limitations.

If you want help, suggestions, or whatever, ask in this thread, and I'm certain you will get answers. Good luck!
My freeware tools for DVD Profiler users.
Gunnar
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantCyborg
Registered: April 7, 2021
Posts: 5
Posted:
PM this userView this user's DVD collectionDirect link to this postReply with quote
Sorry for the long delay, GSyren... last year was not a good year for my family.  But I think I can turn my mind back to this idea now.

Thanks for the introductions.  I remember mediadogg; back when I bought my VGP-XL1B changers he was the first person I know of (besides Sony) to write software that supported them.  I still run his Mediachanger GUI app on my HTPC.  Since I installed DVD Profiler, I've been using his LoadDVD plugin - very nice!

I haven't yet noticed anything missing from DVD Profiler - it holds the richest set of movie metadata I've seen.  What I'm looking for is definitely an extension for my need.  I need a way to generate DVD XML files used by Windows Media Center so I can have that metadata available in Media Center while trying to decide what to watch.  (I still run Windows 7 Media Center on my HTPC, for which Microsoft disabled all such in-place metadata services.)

I see in the forms that at least a couple of customers have asked for this feature over the years, but were left frustrated... so I assume that feature was never added.  If you know that capability was added to DVD Profiler or a plugin, please point me to it!  I'll look into the DVDProfileLoop, HTTPJolie and ProfilerQuery plugins and see which will work best for my need.
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorGSyren
Profiling since 2001
Registered: March 14, 2007
Reputation: Highest Rating
Sweden Posts: 4,508
Posted:
PM this userVisit this user's homepageView this user's DVD collectionDirect link to this postReply with quote
Hi Cyborg, nice to see you back!

If the data that you need can all come from the Profiler export XML, then it would seem doable to write a small program that does that transformation. Have you looked at the Profiler export XML? If you are proficient in C# or Visual Basic, maybe you can create such a program yourself?

If you have a description and/or a sample of the XML file for Media Center then I can take a look at it and see if it seems feasible to write such a program. I'll PM you my email address.
My freeware tools for DVD Profiler users.
Gunnar
DVD Profiler Desktop and Mobile Registrantmediadogg
Aim high. Ride the wind.
Registered: March 18, 2007
Reputation: Highest Rating
United States Posts: 6,396
Posted:
PM this userVisit this user's homepageDirect link to this postReply with quote
What a dream team of creative collaboration!!!! Anything I can do to help you guys, just shout. 

DVDProfileLoop is kind of legacy, if it even still works. I would ride on HTTPJoile and / or BulkEdit for any new requirements for plugin support from me.
Thanks for your support.
Free Plugins available here.
Advanced plugins available here.
Hey, new product!!! BDPFrog.
DVD Profiler Desktop and Mobile Registrantmediadogg
Aim high. Ride the wind.
Registered: March 18, 2007
Reputation: Highest Rating
United States Posts: 6,396
Posted:
PM this userVisit this user's homepageDirect link to this postReply with quote
And don't forget mithi's XSLT tools for XML -> XML transformations.
Thanks for your support.
Free Plugins available here.
Advanced plugins available here.
Hey, new product!!! BDPFrog.
DVD Profiler Desktop and Mobile Registrantmediadogg
Aim high. Ride the wind.
Registered: March 18, 2007
Reputation: Highest Rating
United States Posts: 6,396
Posted:
PM this userVisit this user's homepageDirect link to this postReply with quote
Some info I have found:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/how-do-video-metadata-xml-files-work-with-windows/4b217240-2889-4a87-8038-0ddad876079c

http://www.invelos.com/Forums.aspx?task=viewtopic&topicID=450078&PageNum=1&messageID=1243348#M1243348

http://www.invelos.com/Forums.aspx?task=viewtopic&topicID=537320&PageNum=1&messageID=1545836#M1545836
Thanks for your support.
Free Plugins available here.
Advanced plugins available here.
Hey, new product!!! BDPFrog.
 Last edited: by mediadogg
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantCyborg
Registered: April 7, 2021
Posts: 5
Posted:
PM this userView this user's DVD collectionDirect link to this postReply with quote
Thanks for your help.  I've never found any Microsoft documentation on format of those XML files - just people with questions and no answers.  All solutions I've found for generating those files have focused solely on scanning ripped movie folders on hard drives and not the inserted movie discs themselves. 

Several years ago the author of YAMMM (Yet Another Media Meta Manager) updated the app to work with Windows 7 but that version only works on ripped movie folders (or at least I couldn't guess a way to configure it to scan inserted movie discs).

I have examples of the Microsoft-generated XML files (which are seriously lacking in metadata, but work) and the superior YAMMM-generated XML files (it's easy to fool it into thinking you have a ripped movie folder if you know the movie name - and sometimes the year it was released).  But I think the DVD Profiler metadata is richer than YAMMM's source metadata.  Let me look through those XML files and I can post an example.

I am a programmer so I'm not worried about generating the XML myself if necessary, so long as I have the movie metadata available to my app.  I'll also look at XSLT tools for XML.
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorGSyren
Profiling since 2001
Registered: March 14, 2007
Reputation: Highest Rating
Sweden Posts: 4,508
Posted:
PM this userVisit this user's homepageView this user's DVD collectionDirect link to this postReply with quote
All info is available in the export XML. If you don't find what you need there, then you're out of luck, I'm afraid.
My freeware tools for DVD Profiler users.
Gunnar
DVD Profiler Desktop and Mobile Registrantmediadogg
Aim high. Ride the wind.
Registered: March 18, 2007
Reputation: Highest Rating
United States Posts: 6,396
Posted:
PM this userVisit this user's homepageDirect link to this postReply with quote
Well the first post shows several examples. Seems almost a trivial conversion to / from Profiler. Clearly those files contain much less metadata. Not much you can do about that. I do have code embedded in various plugins that make profile ID guesses based on incomplete metadata. And unreleased code that scans folders using movie title names.

Using the Profiler API, it is possible to:

(1) Search the online database
(2) Use release date, title, rating, genre, actor and director info to narrow down the search
(3) Make an intelligent guess about the locality
(4) Present the user with a best guess, plus the full list of candidates

Takes some amount of grinding, but it works well for single profiles. But when there are a lot of profiles, it can take a long time, and you need a fancy GUI with dropdown list of choices for each profile in the target list.

I have a bunch of abandoned starts at it, and portions of the code, as I said, in various plugins such as BulkEdit, DVDPca, LoadDVD and CLTBoss.

I would be willing to explore putting a one-profile algorithm into HTTPJolie, or consulting on the algorithm for anybody who wants to build their own. I can give details on what I have tried.
Thanks for your support.
Free Plugins available here.
Advanced plugins available here.
Hey, new product!!! BDPFrog.
 Last edited: by mediadogg
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantCyborg
Registered: April 7, 2021
Posts: 5
Posted:
PM this userView this user's DVD collectionDirect link to this postReply with quote
I looked at the Export XML and it provides all the metadata I could want for Media Center, except for the cover art.  So I looked at the XLST XML transformation.  I don't know anything about style sheets, but I downloaded the example provided and it seemed to make sense: for each source XML tag, it specified the destination XML tag to put the data in.  But that solution seems to be a non-starter.  The recommended XLS processor is msxsl.exe and that program is no longer available - Microsoft removed it from their websites.

Mediadogg: I think you're right.  An automated solution could be developed (like YAMMM), which would have to take a single movie disc and find it in the online database - and run into the issues you listed.  Media Center used to do that by starting with the DVD ID.  It didn't always pull up the cover art for the same DVD I have, but it did pull up the same movie (in English) and that's usually good enough for Media Center, where you are just selecting which DVD to watch.

Regardless, I'll need a mapping of DVD Profiler XML tags to Media Center XML tags, so I'll start on that.  I'll look at HTTPJolie to see if it can provide the cover art (Media Center uses cover art images that are about 150x210 pixels).
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorGSyren
Profiling since 2001
Registered: March 14, 2007
Reputation: Highest Rating
Sweden Posts: 4,508
Posted:
PM this userVisit this user's homepageView this user's DVD collectionDirect link to this postReply with quote
No need to use HTTPJolie to get cover images. They are not in the Profiler database per se, they are stored separately as standard JPEGs. You'll find them in:

[Documents]/DVD Profiler/Databases/[database name]/Images
- or -
[Documents]/DVD Profiler/Databases/[database name]/Images/Thumbnails

The thumbnail images are probably the best to use for you. They are typically something like 180x210.
My freeware tools for DVD Profiler users.
Gunnar
DVD Profiler Desktop and Mobile Registrantmediadogg
Aim high. Ride the wind.
Registered: March 18, 2007
Reputation: Highest Rating
United States Posts: 6,396
Posted:
PM this userVisit this user's homepageDirect link to this postReply with quote
Good stuff all!
Thanks for your support.
Free Plugins available here.
Advanced plugins available here.
Hey, new product!!! BDPFrog.
    Invelos Forums->DVD Profiler: Plugins Page: 1  Previous   Next