[Milhouse]

Does your script have the ability to scan my folders and apply the extra art based on the way Kodi names the files either when I initially scrape the new movies or when I click a button within Kodi?

It can scan folders, it can load new movies, it can correct the artwork issues that AD causes due to not supporting movie-name prefix, it can load artwork (standard and non-standard) using the names Kodi uses (or also the"simple" variety), it can find problematic metadata and refresh it, it can basically do all that you require, but there's no need for you (or family/friends) to click buttons, or even think about how Kodi works, instead you just automate your requirements. I mean, if you really want to click a button, you could kick it all off that way...

All I've been trying to impress on you is a better, more efficient way of solving your problem than the overly manual approach you seem intent on following because you only see things in terms of duplicate artwork files and having you and your family click buttons.

If not, then I am sorry but your script isn't the solution I am looking for. Apologies if that hurts your feelings for some odd reason.

Lol, I can assure you my feelings are not hurt, I'm just gobsmacked at the crazy amount of effort you seem willing to put into keeping your sub-optimal, inefficient and excessively manual solution operational, yet you balk at one or two lines of "code".

Do you know how much effort my family put into maintaining their Kodi systems? None whatsoever. Zero. Zip. They've never done a library scan, or been bothered by problems with artwork or missing metadata, and it's not because I'm doing it all for them myself, it's because their systems are fully AUTOMATED - new content arrives, any time of the day or night, and Kodi is updated within minutes and without any user intervention.

Bah, I'm done. As they say, you can lead a horse to water...

[Dave the Minion]

Does your script have the ability to scan my folders and apply the extra art based on the way Kodi names the files either when I initially scrape the new movies or when I click a button within Kodi?

It can scan folders, it can load new movies, it can correct the artwork issues that AD causes due to not supporting movie-name prefix, it can load artwork (standard and non-standard) using the names Kodi uses (or also the"simple" variety), it can find problematic metadata and refresh it, it can basically do all that you require, but there's no need for you (or family/friends) to click buttons, or even think about how Kodi works, instead you just automate your requirements. I mean, if you really want to click a button, you could kick it all off that way...

All I've been trying to impress on you is a better, more efficient way of solving your problem than the overly manual approach you seem intent on following because you only see things in terms of duplicate artwork files and having you and your family click buttons.

If not, then I am sorry but your script isn't the solution I am looking for. Apologies if that hurts your feelings for some odd reason.

Lol, I can assure you my feelings are not hurt, I'm just gobsmacked at the crazy amount of effort you seem willing to put into keeping your sub-optimal, inefficient and excessively manual solution operational, yet you balk at one or two lines of "code".

Do you know how much effort my family put into maintaining their Kodi systems? None whatsoever. Zero. Zip. They've never done a library scan, or been bothered by problems with artwork or missing metadata, and it's not because I'm doing it all for them myself, it's because their systems are fully AUTOMATED - new content arrives, any time of the day or night, and Kodi is updated within minutes and without any user intervention.

Bah, I'm done. As they say, you can lead a horse to water...

Please explain how your script works. How us laymen implement it into our system to do all these amazing things you claim, and hopefully do so without being condescending. And it need to work just as you described which means once set-up no user has to do anything ever again.

Thus far you've not done anything but tell me I'm dumb because I want to make Artwork Downloader work better for me and hopefully others can benefit from it as well.

You can lead a horse to water but it does him little good if it's all in sealed bottles.

[Milhouse]

See sig (and use your imagination). I'm done wasting any more time here.

[vbat99]

@Dave the Minion

I'm sorry, but you will need to either ask the Author of this Addon for support, or check other addons for methods they use to get the moviename before the artwork type.
One example would be the addon MovieSet Artwork Automator, which gets the MovieSet artwork, with either poster.jpg or moviename-poster.jpg.

Milhouse is a very busy person, supporting his Awesome texturecache.py scrypt, nightly Openelec builds and assisting users with trouble-shooting.

If you wish to learn Python, then google python tutorials is the best bet. Else, wait for the author to update this addon.

While you can lead a horse to water, it is better they find it themselves for when you are not there.

[Glorious1]

What would be great is if Artwork Downloader could use the same filename-artwork.png names like Kodi does.

No, what would be great is if Kodi would simply recognize and use disc.png and all the other local, extra art without going through Artwork Downloader.

Like you, I download all the artwork myself before scraping (using a media manager, which also creates the nfo file). Also like you, I find AD somewhat confusing at best. But I've got a working relationship with it.

All I do is set AD for local files only, and run it. All the artwork gets imported to Kodi. There is no need to export anything from Kodi, as the files are already all there in my movie folder. No duplicate files with alternate names or any problems.

[Dave the Minion]

If you want Kodi to recognize the extra artwork automatically, what difference does it's file name make? Simple, full movie title, whatever. The issue is as of now Kodi will only recognize it's format and Artwork Downloader uses a different one.

I can make my disc art named poop and edit Artwork Downloader to look for poop and apply it as the discart. But having all the files in a movie's directory follow the same format sure makes maintenance easier.

If I can understand how to get Artwork Downloader to read file names and pull only the -discart.png info etc. from them than I've solved my query. I know how to do this in XML but I don't know Python. Searching for tutorials hasn't provided the answer either.

[scott967]

Note that vbat99 has been adding a lot of one-off art support into his Media Companion program (check it out). And also I get Milhouse's seeming annoyance. But in your defense I don't know if you are on Windows, but I find his example scripts work good on *nix but trying to get some of them to work on a Windows command line is non-trivial exercise. I had to give up on some as I could never figure out how/what to properly quote or double quote.

scott s.
.

[marhutchy]

...

I use AD, but I'm quite intrigued by this automation that you spoke of for mklocal.py.
I didn't realize I had this all along

All my artworks are stored locally. Naming scheme is artwork.filetype; no movie-name prefix.
How can I get this automation?

Thanks

PS. I love Texture Cache Maintenance utility!!!

[tesona1977]

@Martijn

Could you please change the artwork downloader summary to something like:

summary:
3124 artwork added to kodi db
2000 grabbed online
1124 grabbed from local storage

that makes it visible how many times artwork downloader took my artwork from local storage...and how many times artwork downloader downloaded new artwork from the internet.

[Milhouse]

All my artworks are stored locally. Naming scheme is artwork.filetype; no movie-name prefix.
How can I get this automation?

It requires you to think about your workflow and decide how and when to run the scripts.

In my case, I've got a scheduled job that pulls down new content, and once the content is finished downloading the scripts are run to update Kodi (scan new movies/tvshows, correct previously missing metadata (eg. plots, and particularly episode thumbs), run Artwork Downloader (I only use it for movie clearlogo/clearart), convert new remote artwork to local artwork, and finally cache all new artwork on all clients). Suspended Kodi clients can even be woken and put back to sleep once the update is finished.

Or you can run the scripts on a schedule (hourly, daily, weekely etc.).

Everyone's workflow is likely to be slightly different, so it's very much a bespoke solution in that sense - a matter of running the texturecache.py/mklocal.py steps as you see fit to get the job done.

I totally accept it's not the solution for everyone though, as developing this level of automation does require a degree of computer savvy that not everyone possesses. But if you can accomplish it, you can forget about spending time managing your library, and training family/friends to do things they're not really interested in doing, and concentrating on watching movies instead...

[BubbaLovesTv]

Hi,

I'm not sure if I should ask here, or in the Picture Slideshow forum, but.... after I've successfully used Artwork Downloader to download the images, how do I get Picture Slideshow Screensaver to use them?

Thanks.

[Glorious1]

If you want Kodi to recognize the extra artwork automatically, what difference does it's file name make?

You're right, it doesn't make a difference. So just name it disc.png and clearart.png, tell Artwork Downloader to import it to Kodi, and you're done. I don't see what the big problem is. Kodi does not recognize the extra artwork automatically, so people who download their own local artwork still need to use AD.

[marhutchy]

All my artworks are stored locally. Naming scheme is artwork.filetype; no movie-name prefix.
How can I get this automation?

It requires you to think about your workflow and decide how and when to run the scripts.

In my case, I've got a scheduled job that pulls down new content, and once the content is finished downloading the scripts are run to update Kodi (scan new movies/tvshows, correct previously missing metadata (eg. plots, and particularly episode thumbs), run Artwork Downloader (I only use it for movie clearlogo/clearart), convert new remote artwork to local artwork, and finally cache all new artwork on all clients). Suspended Kodi clients can even be woken and put back to sleep once the update is finished.

Or you can run the scripts on a schedule (hourly, daily, weekely etc.).

Everyone's workflow is likely to be slightly different, so it's very much a bespoke solution in that sense - a matter of running the texturecache.py/mklocal.py steps as you see fit to get the job done.

I totally accept it's not the solution for everyone though, as developing this level of automation does require a degree of computer savvy that not everyone possesses. But if you can accomplish it, you can forget about spending time managing your library, and training family/friends to do things they're not really interested in doing, and concentrating on watching movies instead...

Damn, I'm even more interested!

I think I prefer the idea of a schedule, because in my case, I scrape TV shows (not episodes) and movies externally and then update my library. Reason being, I have a degree of control of what I'm getting. Though if I had to do this for someone else, your method would be a perfect substitute. I'm not familiar with python, but I'm familiar with the command line and coding in general.

For new episodes, I have no problem there. I have an automated set-up that retrieves new episodes and download them exactly where I want them. They are then scraped into my library without any problem, with the help of the Watchdog add-on.

My only problem is having to run AD manually. But having it run on a schedule, if possible, would be helpful.

I ran ./texturecache.py in cmd and I saw quite a few commands.
I'm thinking of the automation. Am I correct in thinking that you create the script in a .dat file and then create a task schedule for it?

[Milhouse]

Am I correct in thinking that you create the script in a .dat file and then create a task schedule for it?

Not really sure about how you schedule stuff on Windows, but I think you would write a regular CMD then use the Windows equivalent of cron (is it "at"?) to run the script at particular times. It probably needs it's own thread to be honest, as it's rather OT for this thread...

[marhutchy]

Am I correct in thinking that you create the script in a .dat file and then create a task schedule for it?

Not really sure about how you schedule stuff on Windows, but I think you would write a regular CMD then use the Windows equivalent of cron (is it "at"?) to run the script at particular times. It probably needs it's own thread to be honest, as it's rather OT for this thread...

That's true, but one more thing: at is right, and task scheduler is Windows equivalent to a cron job. source

Just need to perform some trial and error.

Is there a way to test the scripts without actually interfering? Create logs maybe?

Yes, It would be great if a thread was created just to discuss automation.