[Karellen]

Yeah, but I have no 'refresh' button

Yes you do. Just scroll to it. There are more buttons than you see on your screenshot.

Also note that the title is missing at the top, only the year shows.

Well, that shows you are using the Universal Movie Scraper. This scraper has been having problems on and off for a few months due to IMDB changes and restrictions.
This also means you changed the default scraper when you set it up. Probably shouldn't have done that considering you are a newbie to Kodi.
Change back to The Movie Database Python scraper and rescrape those affected titles.

[jistme]

This also means you changed the default scraper when you set it up. Probably shouldn't have done that considering you are a newbie to Kodi.
Change back to The Movie Database Python scraper and rescrape those affected titles.

I tried to remove that one, but it doesn't show up at any of Kodi's addon menu pages that I visited. (and there are a couple of those...)
Let alone that I found an 'uninstall' button.

I'll try again with a fresh mind some time later.
Thanks for all the replies and support.

[brazen1]

I tried to remove that one, but it doesn't show up at any of Kodi's addon menu pages that I visited. (and there are a couple of those...)

Settings/Media/Videos/your movie folder.  Right click/edit source.  Select Ok.  New window pops up.  Choose information provider.  Select The movie database python.  Now you are using the correct scraper because the one you changed to broke recently.  Their end... not Kodi.

[Karellen]

I tried to remove that one,

Read here... https://kodi.wiki/view/Changing_Scrapers

Also, you don't delete scrapers from Kodi. They are either in use or not. Don't go all OCD trying to delete everything in sight, especially while in this early, learning phase.

[Klojum]

Maybe the blue arrow on the right should reveal a 'refresh' button?
I don't know, nothing happens when I click it.

Have you tried moving the focus/cursor to the right (with the cursor keys on your keyboard), all buttons should then move to the left so that other buttons appear.
It's a bit odd to me that a 10 yr Kodi/XBMC user is having problems navigating the default Kodi skin.

[jistme]

Maybe the blue arrow on the right should reveal a 'refresh' button?
I don't know, nothing happens when I click it.

Have you tried moving the focus/cursor to the right (with the cursor keys on your keyboard), all buttons should then move to the left so that other buttons appear.
It's a bit odd to me that a 10 yr Kodi/XBMC user is having problems navigating the default Kodi skin.

If you are referring to when I subscribed to the forum:
That was some ten years ago when I gave Kodi (probably XBMC then) a test drive.
It wasn't what I was expecting, so I abandoned it.
This is my second try at it.
And running into the issues I am experiencing at the moment, I am not sure I will stick with it this time.

A brief response on the blue arrow not working: the one next to the actors images does function, the one next to the buttons doesn't.
But I will try what has been suggested by all experienced members in this thread at a later moment. (when I have gathered my courage and have a fresh mind)

[izprtxqkft]

note the blue arrows are not in fact buttons but rather indicators so if youre trying to click them with a mouse it will not do anything edit just see the second part
using a remote or keyboard the left-right travel will bring the extra items into the row for selection

[jistme]

note the blue arrows are not in fact buttons but rather indicators so if youre trying to click them with a mouse it will not do anything

As I mentioned, the one next to the actors does work, like a button.

[Karellen]

As I mentioned, the one next to the actors does work, like a button.

Thanks. Looks like a small oversight in the skin. The little arrow next to the actors works, but along the bottom row of buttons they don't work. I'll report it for you.

Regardless, have you scrolled along the bottom row of buttons. I have asked this a couple of times already but you don't seem to answer me.

[scott967]

A couple thoughts.  I have taken over maintenance of an existing Kodi addon that queries info from tmdb, and have spent some time understanding the restful api for that site.

Personally, about 95% of my video content is not available on these sites so I have gotten experienced in using nfo creation tools (I like Media Companion but there are several others like Tiny Media Manager).  Creating nfo files avoids having to accept whatever filename parsing and lookup gives you.

As you discovered, Kodi provides some regex pattern matching to parse a filename into a title and year which is passed to the tmdb python scraper along with the scraper settings (of these I think language is important in how tmdb api responds).  All the scraper does to the Kodi-provided title is strip English-language leading articles A, An, The then provides the resulting title and year to tmdb get movie api call.  I don't see any sanity check on year (like 1900 < int(year) < 2300).  From what I've seen tmdb query search isn't super-powerful.  The scraper attempts to sort the tmdb query results by "best" first, "popularity" (as defined by tmdb) being a factor and tmdb "release date".  Tmdb results are based on language and country inputs.

I wrote a little Kodi addon script that (on windows) opens the folder containing the (local) video "listitem" (selected video item in Kodi GUI container listing) that I bound to an <fn> key.  Normally I would direct you to my github but it is so simple I will take the risk of quoting it here

addon.xml:

xml:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

    <addon id="script.openfolder" version="0.0.1" name="Open folder in Explorer" provider-name="scott967">

    <requires>

    <import addon="xbmc.gui" version="5.15.0"/>

    <import addon="xbmc.python" version ="3.0.0"/>

    </requires>

    <extension point="xbmc.python.script" library="default.py" />

    <extension point="xbmc.addon.metadata">

    <summary lang="en">Open the listitem folder in explorer</summary>

    <description lang="en">Open the listitem folder in explorer</description>

    <platform>all</platform>

        <assets>

            <icon>icon.png</icon>

        </assets>

    </extension>

</addon>

default.py

python:
import os

import xbmc, xbmcvfs



moviepath = xbmcvfs.makeLegalFilename(xbmc.getInfoLabel('ListItem.Path'))

os.startfile(moviepath)

scott s.
.

[jistme]

A couple thoughts.  I have taken over maintenance of an existing Kodi addon that queries info from tmdb, and have spent some time understanding the restful api for that site.

Thanks for explaining this, scott967.
So the reading of filenames, and using regex to extract the title and year is done by Kodi, not by the movie addons?
Then I hope somebody is able to explain what Kodi's regex is expecting the formatting of a title to be exactly.
I'm not prepared to mutilate all my movie's filenames by removing all info except for title and year from them, just to make Kodi usable.

Also thank you for the xml and py code.
To be honest at the moment I have no clue how to put those to work, but for now that also doesn't matter much, since they will only be helpful if the filename issue is cleared up.

[jistme]

This is my (interim) report on trying to get Kodi to recognise my movies.

After a previous failed attempt to get all my movies recognised by Kodi (and doing some testing), I decided to remove Kodi and do a clean install.
With this clean and fresh install and going through the initial steps it's becoming more obvious to me why things may have gone wrong at my previous try.
e.g. me adding another 'movie scraper' (that later on was explained to me to be problematic) because it wasn't obvious to me there was one already included.

So I have learned now that 'The Movie Database' add-on is included with an install.
Why doesn't it show up here? It is a video add-on isn't it?:


Far as I understand at this moment, to use such an addon, you should select the folder that contains your movies, and then have 'the scraper add-on' managing it.
Why doesn't it show up when I right-click the folder that contains my movies?:

and why can't the 'content provider' (The Movie Database) be selected?:


I did take a look at the add-on page and clicked on 'guides':

But that lead me to an empty page:


Consider this write-up as (perhaps a slightly frustrated and somewhat tired) report on my troubles getting Kodi to work with my movie library.
I'll just wait and see if there are replies that can help me further.
And perhaps it will help to provide some insight in what a new user is going through getting things like this to work, and maybe result in some improvements.

Or..
Somebody will just post a link that explains all this stuff at one go. (while proving my disability to perform searches, and find out how this all works myself)

P.S.
The forum structure is quite advanced, so there is a good chance this post of mine should go elsewhere.
@mods: feel free to move this to a board that you find more appropriate.

[Karellen]

So I have learned now that 'The Movie Database' add-on is included with an install.

No it is not. The Movie Database Python is included in the install. Along with TMDB TV Shows for tv shows. As well as others for music videos, artists and albums.

Why doesn't it show up here? It is a video add-on isn't it?:

Because it is a scraper addon, not a video addon, or any other type of addon shown in your image.
To access the full repository go to Settings>Addons then if you want to install, go to Install from repository, or if you just want to browse what is installed go to My Addons

Why doesn't it show up when I right-click the folder that contains my movies?:

Why should it. If it displays, what would you do with it?
I think you are misunderstanding how scrapers work. A scraper is a single component of a larger process. Its not the scraper that scans your library searching for movies and tv shows, downloads artwork, loads the metadata into the database or caches it. All a scraper does is download a bundle of data for Kodi to use, nothing else.
The videoinfoscanner component scans your files, the thumbloader downloads artwork, then there are other processes to write to the databases, cache artwork then load into the display.
The scraper is a single component, a single cog, in a larger process. But it is a component that allows you choice of where scraped data comes from. That's all.

and why can't the 'content provider' (The Movie Database) be selected?:

Because you haven't told Kodi what is in the source, so it can offer you the correct scrapers. You have This directory contains... set as none. Which basically means ignore me.
I strongly urge you to read the setup guide... https://kodi.wiki/view/HOW-TO:Create_Video_Library
Or if you just want to skip to the scraping bit, jump to 6. Add Source & Scrape in the top right nav box

But that lead me to an empty page:

Thanks. I have fixed that bad link. Though I have given that same link in one of my previous posts.

Consider this write-up as (perhaps a slightly frustrated and somewhat tired) report on my troubles getting Kodi to work with my movie library.

Thats fair enough. But many people have chipped in trying to set you straight, but from what I can see, you are still forcing your incorrect ways, nor responding to questions being asked of you.
Hopefully some more of my explanations may set you right. And do read the links I give you.

Somebody will just post a link that explains all this stuff at one go.

I have, but you seem to ignore them.

[jistme]

I have, but you seem to ignore them.

I truly appreciate all the replies and info that has been returned by you and other forum members.
But there is only so much information a person can digest in a short period.
And, buttons that don't function, links that lead to empty pages, and the still unclear way how Kodi (or it's add-ons?) exactly parse filenames also doesn't help in working things out very quickly.
There's a lot to digest and process.

[Karellen]

And, buttons that don't function, links that lead to empty pages,

Sh*t happens.
You notify us of a broken link, we fix it pretty much straight away. Between the forum, wiki and github, there are tens or hundreds of thousands of links. Do you think we check them all? So we rely on members to notify us and we fix it, just as I did with your report.

But I can appreciate your frustration. Its always hard starting with new software and then trying to quickly fall into the flow of how it works. All I can suggest is that you don't rush and read the guides. In a week or two, it will all start falling into place for you. You ever tried installing Photoshop, Gimp or AutoCAD? You think you can figure those out in a few hours?

As for the non working buttons, the developers have stated that those buttons are informative only, to let you know there are more buttons off screen. They appreciate there is a discrepancy between the working and non working buttons, so they will consider the best way to fix that. Sounds like they will break the working one as its meant to be informative only, not an action button.

still unclear way how Kodi (or it's add-ons?) exactly parse filenames also doesn't help in working things out very quickly.

I thought I explained how Kodi parses filenames. And I think scott967 chimed in as well.
You have spent so much time figuring out how you can get Kodi to read your filenames, you probably could have just fixed all your filenames by this time.
f:\MyMovies\Movie Name (Year)\Movie Name (Year).mkv