[mafis90]

If i have the choice between java and c/c++ i prefer java.
But if have the choice between java,c++ and c# i prefer c#.

mafis90

[Bram77]

And I wouldn't say that performance is worse in C++ than other languages. I'd even say it's better, but I think we could discuss about that point for a while

That's what I ment to say, performace is better with C++
But using a language like C# or Java would guarantee more users helping with development since C++ is a knot harder to use/less forgiving. Choosing a 'scripting language' would lower the bar for development by less experienced developers. I don't have much experience with Java, but as far as I know they have their own native interface library (two actually, counting JavaFX in).

[zitroneneis]

@Bram77

Your point is good, but:
As far as the infomation in this thread suggests, the idea to guaranty the cross platform accessability
is to use a web-fronend coded in ASP.net.
And the core functionality (apart from windows.forms) in mono .net is quite well under all supported operating systems.
I just think that apart from the front end situation, it's more like a matter of personal preference (or capability)

But I have to say that my experience in Cross-Platform development is very limited...
And I've worked with netBeans and Java and it's a very good combo !

So----I'm fine with both (might even throw Ruby in the ring)

-------------------------
started answering, was interrupted, came back, post came in a lot too late =)

[Bram77]

We plan to seperating the core from the whole interface, so you can create the interface in any language you want.

The biggest question what language for the core ?

You want to make the core a command line application?

Edit... right Web based is nice to. But using a web interface provides other problems. Cross browser compatibility for instance. Making a snappy web based interface, especially when using Ajax/a lot of Javascript, isn't easy either.

[mafis90]

I think the best way is to start a vote about this.

Today all languages are OOP, so i thinking switching from one language to another is not the biggest probleme.

@Bram77 yes, the programm runs without any interface like a server thats the plan

mafis90

[zitroneneis]

a vote sounds good, but I would wait for another day or two, until everybody who wants to participaty has access to the internal forum....

or was your intention to make this vote public ?

[Montellese]

That's what I ment to say, performace is better with C++

Ah sorry then I got that wrong, sorry about that :-)

But using a language like C# or Java would guarantee more users helping with development since C++ is a knot harder to use/less forgiving.

Yeah I think you are right on this. The "glorious" days of C++ are over (at least in desktop development).

I wouldn't limit cross-platform compatibility to a WebGUI. WebGUI's are nice to have but like mentioned before browser compatibility (I don't even wanna think about IE) is a real pain. I used to do websites with HTML, CSS, Javascript/Ajax and PHP before I started on embedded systems developing and getting a website with lots of user-interaction to work in all the "big" browsers like IE, FF, Opera and Safari is a hell lot of work.

[mafis90]

Yes, we start the vote in the development area then.

And the vote is only about the core of the programm. We plan the programm that you can create in all languages you want.

[Gamester17]

I haven't access to the forum and i am listed at the list of devs.

Please try again now.

[mafis90]

Please try again now.

Works, thanks.

[azido]

Ok, so easily edit the nfo. Rename and organize files like Gamester mentioned? Anything else?

I'm not trying to be sarcastic about the project, I just want to make sure you guys have a good idea of what you want to achieve & why before you start coding it... something I think most other "media managers" for xbmc forgot to do....

while i'm no programmer, i share your point of view and might spot my idea of the ideal media manager software:

1. AN EASY TO USE, INTUITIVE AND UNDERSTANDABLE INTERFACE!

yes, i'm shouting, and it has a reason. look at all those big media manager tools that exist: they are great, they have an enormous amount of what can be done with them - and this also breaks their necks, because they are so full of added features that nobody except their creators will ever understand where everything is and how it works together unless he spends a week or more to explore them.
So ideally, take a look at xbmc's config screens - everything has it's place and is very intuitive to find. i'd like to see that level in a media manager, too. don't use one big page for every clickable option you add there, use different tabs with a clean oversight of the options in the same topic.

2. it should be able to display every information for a movie, every information for a tv-show, every information for an album you can manage in a clean "preview" where the stuff appears like it would do in xbmc. but, unlike xbmc itself, you should be able to directly edit those informations in this view. a good way would be to add an "edit" button just after each field of information, where you can click, edit the content and hit a save button - and then get the new entry displayed.

3. it should support scanning the media for useful information (codec, aspect ratio, audio, language, subs come in my mind) and give you the ability to add this to your nfo. (i'm speaking of aeon's very promising feature of media flagging - of course this would mean xbmc developers should have an eye on that and add their official support of these so we can write that stuff into the db and read from it like we do for all those other infos)

4. it should support creating your very own set of informations for any movie/album/tv-show that can't be scraped without the need to manually create some dummies first.

5. i guess nobody has all his media online on hdd, so there should be support for adding new media without the need to physically present your manager that media. this means: simply add a new movie, a new show, a new album by hitting "add" and simply write all that information you have about it - the manager creates a dummy file along with the standard set of additional files you can supply so xbmc can add it by scanning then. right now i believe all those media manager apps don't let you add any media that hasn't been or can't be scraped from somewhere. correct me, if i'm wrong.

6. of course all available scrapers (and any future scrapers) should be supported (maybe as plugins to choose from).

7. it would be nice to take movie stills from withing that manager for a given movie in a user-defined amount (imagine having imagegrabber II just inside the application) where you can select the toughest ones to be saved to the movie folder (once again, i'm referring to aeon which currently supports 2 extra images in it's plot info and even an unlimited slightshow in another layout)

8. a bonus would be to have the ability to create a backup of your db from within the manager (some kind of "restore point") so you can revert your modifications and go back to a point where everything was alright

needless to say it should finally be able to save all the given data in a way xbmc can read everything by hitting "update database" - so in an ideal world, there is no further need to scrape any info from within xbmc anymore.


that's just my points, don't see it as a criticism, but as a consumer's dream of what such an app should be like. i fully respect the work of everyone that has created something for supporting our wonderful xbmc, but some of them i simply do not understand because they are so full of knobs/tweaks and settings

may this post hopefully inspire you.

[Bram77]

Whichever road you all choose to walk. I'd be glad to help wherever I can. This is a pretty crucial part of the modern XBMC experience. I'm a professional PHP developer (web applications in general actually, i can do anything but graphics... XHTML, Javascript, Ajax, CSS... etc) and I'm pretty familiar with C#/C++, I've just started to familiarise myself with Java/NetBeans and I have experience with cross platform development in C#. In general, no language should be a real problem to learn quickly

[mafis90]

Whichever road you all choose to walk. I'd be glad to help wherever I can. This is a pretty crucial part of the modern XBMC experience. I'm a professional PHP developer (web applications in general actually, i can do anything but graphics... XHTML, Javascript, Ajax, CSS... etc) and I'm pretty familiar with C#/C++, I've just started to familiarise myself with Java/NetBeans and I have experience with cross platform development in C#. In general, no language should be a real problem to learn quickly

I think that`s a good start :-D

So for example you can create a web interface and 3 other programmers create the core,... . I think we find a good way.

Gamestar only have the ability to add you to the other Subforum.

mafis90

[Bram77]

I'm not sure a web interface is the best solution to this problem. I'd personally rather see an interface where context menu's give a lot of power to the use (which I love to use personally). With context menu's it's possible to do a lot with little. So the interface can be minimalistic and clear. These menu's are possible with a web interface, but they are trouble makers because it requires the usage of dynamic layers which are a b*ch to work with when it comes to cross browser compatibility.

On the other hand.... I think it's a great idea to bundle powers and experience and create 1 application for this purpose. So I'll adjust to the idea that gets the most votes Especially sharing scrapers with XBMC is an excellent idea. This way the amount of scrapers will grow and more media sources will be available in no time. Luckily there are some great (cross browser) ajax api's available, that helps. If I can work with someone with some design skills I'm sure we can create a nice, userfriendly interface

[skunkm0nkee]

I'm not sure I really understand the need for a Media Manager, if XBMC was adapted to include screens to edit the library data would that not provide the missing functionality?

I just think that before people dive in to create an application that needs to be used alongside XBMC, you should first of all consider what it is you feel is missing from XBMC and whether or not it would be better to adapt XBMC to implement the missing functionality or not.

I know that most users would not want to be able to edit the library data in XBMC but those same users would also be unlikely to run a Media Manager application.

I also saw it mentioned that an external app is better for editing the data as XBMC shouldn't be doing that, but isn't that what the primary purpose of the scrapers and library within XBMC anyway?

I don't doubt that this application will probably come to fruition (quite a few have popped up over the last few months already) but I would prefer to see XBMC expanded to include any missing functionality.

The ideal scenario (in my opinion) would be for multiple XBMC clients (on mixed platforms) to use a central database and each of those XBMC clients have the ability to manipulate and edit the data in the database.