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+--- Thread: Partial scraper updates (/showthread.php?tid=136411)
Partial scraper updates - aptalca - 2012-07-18
I have always primarily used xbmc's built-in scrapers and only relied on third party options a couple of times for specific things (like updating trailers with youtube ones from tmdb instead of yahoo movies, without rescraping the whole library)
I think olympia and others are doing a magnificent job of creating and maintaining the internal scrapers.
But one thing that really is missing from the internal ones is "partial scraping".
For instance if one wants to update just one season thumb, the only picture options are the ones that were scraped originally. For a tv show, that could be years ago. If one wants to update the option list, one has to refresh the entire show, and all the pictures might change. For movies, refreshing the movie not only results in all the pictures changing, but also the movie moves up to the top of the recently added list (wife gets mad).
Currently the only way to change only a single picture is to do it manually (to clarify, I mean "change to a tvdb or tmdb picture that wasn't previously scraped").
I propose to the community that we should add partial scraping capability to xbmc core.
For instance, when one clicks on set season thumb and is given the different pic options (previously scraped when the show was added to library) and the "browse" option; I propose that we add another option that says "update results" which will allow the scraper to only scrape that specific season's thumbs from tvdb. So your options for pics for that season will be updated, and you can select a new thumb without disrupting anything else about the show's entry in the database. (Whenever a show starts a new season, I have the same problem, no thumb options for the new season)
This is also a problem for people who imported their libraries from nfo's and local metadata. I have done that and the problem I have is, whenever I try to change a picture, the only option I am given is the local picture, simply because that show or movie was never actually scraped. So there are no listings from tvdb. Sure, I can refresh the show, but if I select the option "ignore local data and refresh from the internet", then all the pictures change. Not a desirable outcome.
I hope others think that this would be a useful addition as well. And I really believe that with this addition, many people would stop relying on third party media managers and use xbmc instead. In my experience, xbmc's scrapers work perfectly whenever I add a new item to the library. But they are somewhat lacking when it comes to managing or keeping existing items up-to-date.
Thanks
PS. I am not much of a coder, that is why I am putting this in the suggestions sections. Hopefully someone with the necessary skill will take it and run with it.
RE: Partial scraper updates - pko66 - 2012-07-23
Something related to this that I think would be very useful (specially with a headless xbmc "server") is to constantly update everything.
That option should rescrape every movie/tvshow/etc periodically and update some given fields (IMDB rating, pictures available, etc) but without affecting the scrape date that shoild remain as it was when it was first scraped. It should run over every item in the database but very slowly, waiting some time, perhaps one minute or more, between items (and stopping when doing actual scrape). It should remember the item that was last updated to continue from there whenever XBMC is turned off and the on again. That way, it should not interfere with anything but would keep the database pristine and up-to-date always.
RE: Partial scraper updates - aptalca - 2012-07-23
Hmm, that's a good idea.
Scrapers working as background services that update certain things on a schedule.
Constant updates would probably result in a ban from imdb but bi-weekly or monthly background updates for imdb ratings, pics available and such would be really nice.