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annomatik · (This post was last modified: 2017-12-30, 18:56 by annomatik.)

Dear all,

a couple of days ago, I lost my whole main profile because Kodi told me, it would "separate my sources" for a new profile where apparently it did not do that. So when I deleted everything in the new profile... you can imagine the rest.

Now, the last couple of days I've been spending rebuilding my database because Kodi only can scrap about 70 % of my stuff without me helping. And I have a lot of stuff, so there's still a lot left to do.

Long story short, I add movies by entering the "Source". This gives me some sort of "hybrid file browser". Movies, that have been scrapped, appear with their poster and without the filename, movies that haven't appear with the file name and a thumb-nail.

1) I can right-click on a scrapped movie there and mark it as watched. But I cannot rename the movie title there. For that, I have to exit the source and enter the movie browser, where I can rename the title but of course cannot add the movies. For that, I have to go back to the source directory again. Imagine doing that hundreds of times (I'm not exagerating). Would it be possible to add a "Manage..." menu entry to the menu of that hybrid-filebrowser where I could simply rename e.g. "Ghostbusters II" to "Ghost Busters 2" (also for sort name). That would make my life a lot easier.

2) Also, in that "hybrid browser" (source? I don't know how it's called), I don't seem to be able to rename file names either. For that, I have to go to Total Commander / Windows Explorer, rename the file, go one directory level up in the "hybrid browser" and back again, so it will detect the filename change. Would it be able to add a "rename file" to that hybrid browser? Again, that would help me out.

3) TV Shows are strange. In the source view, sometimes, it shows me a cropped poster / fanart / whatever picture when scrapped. Most of the time it does not. I have a hard time judging by the "hybrid view" of TV shows, if they have been scrapped or not. Is it possible to enable some sort of indicator for that? And, would it be possible to be able rename the "TV show title" in that view as well?

4) Writing of TV Shows... Some versions ago, I lost the possibility to Right-Click on the "All items" entry of a TV Show to change the Artwork of it. I'm pretty sure I was able to do that but I can't any more.

Any tips appreciated.

Thanks!

**PatK** · (This post was last modified: 2017-12-30, 20:27 by PatK.)

" Now, the last couple of days I've been spending rebuilding my database "

gadzooks, takes me a bit of time to re-establish my library, but not days... a few hours maybe, with multiple iterations. You really need to manicure and properly set-up your sources with proper names etc. You shouldn't have to use the Kodi internal rename with a few exceptions (foreign titles/type come to mind). If you have exported your library to separate files, with all meta-data and artwork, a scraped 'locally' with "local information only" should be quick, if you didn't, then shame on you.

1) You can request anything to be added to Kodi in the feature request thread, but with properly named titles, and local scrapes the title renaming request is redundant. Not something the developers are going to dive into as a missing feature. There is a presumption you are titling the movies according to proper naming convention. Naming video files/Movies (wiki) and not some higgly squiggly crap that includes extraneous material that the scraper has issues with.

2) The rename title command within Kodi, is not a 'file rename' but a list pointer to the file (Kodi never modifies the acutal real file), there is an assumption that you have properly named the movie to start with ala the meta-database you are using. Kodi's 'media browser function' is a convenience for spelling out the path to a media source, and should not be confused with various operating system tools. Making a change to the source will not be automagically reflected in the listing until the cache is dumpted, so exiting the source and re-entering should present any changes in 'filemode' only.

3) Strange TV shows? Yup.. there's a lot of crap out there. From your question/statement, I suggest you glance of this Artwork (wiki) and ensure your artwork is of the aspect for the view you are using (different views are available with the left slide menu) and should match with 'poster, fanart, banner' you are using. The test to see if a TV show has been scraped (in your library) is to use the 'TV Show' button from the home page, if it doesn't show up, then you need to scrape.

4) The video button should be called 'file managment', and all maintenance and manual scraping is done through this section. Hitting the "I" on your keybaord or right click over an entry will bring the context menu at which the 'information' option appears. In this the information page, you will see an 'extras' option and in that will be chose art.

The Kodi forum is full of tips and tricks, but the wiki's are real gold and if you want to take yuour library seriously you need to spend a bit more time to enrich your background with the best media manager the world has seen.

nickr · 2017-12-30, 20:39

Use filebot.

annomatik · (This post was last modified: 2017-12-30, 21:18 by annomatik.)

(2017-12-30, 20:25)PatK Wrote: " Now, the last couple of days I've been spending rebuilding my database "

gadzooks, takes me a bit of time to re-establish my library, but not days... a few hours maybe, with multiple iterations. You really need to manicure and properly set-up your sources with proper names etc. You shouldn't have to use the Kodi internal rename with a few exceptions (foreign titles/type come to mind). If you have exported your library to separate files, with all meta-data and artwork, a scraped 'locally' with "local information only" should be quick, if you didn't, then shame on you.

1) You can request anything to be added to Kodi in the feature request thread, but with properly named titles, and local scrapes the title renaming request is redundant. Not something the developers are going to dive into as a missing feature. There is a presumption you are titling the movies according to proper naming convention. Naming video files/Movies (wiki) and not some higgly squiggly crap that includes extraneous material that the scraper has issues with.

1) I was expecting an answer like that. For me, Kodi means being in control of my media and my meta-data. If I wouldn't want that, I'd stick to Netflix.

Example, for me "Return of the Jedi" is a nice title. But "Star Wars 06: Return of the Jedi" works much better for me, because then I have everything in one place -- I usually go for an alphabetized view (not the Set view, I know about it, but I don't use it often). Sure, *Kodi* would find everything if I'd call the file "Return of the Jedi (1983).mkv" and so on, but *I* would have a hard time finding it again (this is one of many examples) and for me, it's finding things in my media library that's important and being able to customize it to my needs, not that Kodi has an easy time finding stuff which I have to rename afterwards anyways.

Is it really hard to add the "Manage..." item to the menu there? Isn't there some sort of "node editor" or does that just work for other things?

And yes, that 'higgly squiggly crap" is not what the scrapper expects, I understand that. Unfortunatelly, the exported database dump wasn't importable either and so I spend my vacation with rebuilding my database (to my needs, not to Kodis) instead of enjoying a couple of movies.

(2017-12-30, 20:25)PatK Wrote: " Now, the last couple of days I've been spending rebuilding my database "

2) The rename title command within Kodi, is not a 'file rename' but a list pointer to the file (Kodi never modifies the acutal real file), there is an assumption that you have properly named the movie to start with ala the meta-database you are using. Kodi's 'media browser function' is a convenience for spelling out the path to a media source, and should not be confused with various operating system tools.

The Kodi forum is full of tips and tricks, but the wiki's are real gold and if you want to take yuour library seriously you need to spend a bit more time to enrich your background with the best media manager the world has seen.

2) Also understood. But for me, convenience means, that I have everything in one place, not to have to switch between applications and views within Kodi. I cannot even launch Kodi twice with two different views.

At the moment, I have Kodi on my left screen and Total Commander on my right to get things going, but there are things that would make my life easier, as described.

(2017-12-30, 20:25)PatK Wrote: " Now, the last couple of days I've been spending rebuilding my database "

3) Strange TV shows? Yup.. there's a lot of crap out there. From your question/statement, I suggest you glance of this Artwork (wiki) and ensure your artwork is of the aspect for the view you are using (different views are available with the left slide menu) and should match with 'poster, fanart, banner' you are using. The test to see if a TV show has been scraped (in your library) is to use the 'TV Show' button from the home page, if it doesn't show up, then you need to scrape.

3) Thanks, I also knew that. I know about the info screen, I know about the artwork. In fact, I even did a lot of my own artwork, see for example below. But I wasn't refering to that. See this screenshot:

"Pimp my ride" shows up cropped in the source view. It shows up just fine in the ... media (?) view. And it's the same artwork. That's true for most of the tv shows I have. The media-view is fine and dandy, the source view sometimes shows a cropped version, most of the time doesn't show any artwork when scrapped. As the artwork is fine in the media view, I suspect it's not the artworks fault.

(2017-12-30, 20:25)PatK Wrote: " Now, the last couple of days I've been spending rebuilding my database "

4) The video button should be called 'file managment', and all maintenance and manual scraping is done through this section. Hitting the "I" on your keybaord or right click over an entry will bring the context menu at which the 'information' option appears. In this the information page, you will see an 'extras' option and in that will be chose art.

The Kodi forum is full of tips and tricks, but the wiki's are real gold and if you want to take yuour library seriously you need to spend a bit more time to enrich your background with the best media manager the world has seen.

4) Thanks, I know about the Information option. This helps me in the overview. But not when I "enter" the season-view. See for example here (artwork done by me, by the way, also available via thetvdb.com). I can "skin" all the seasons except the "all items" season. But I used to be able to select artwork for that as well. Now, if I right-click on "* All seasons" and click "Manage..." all that happens is ... nothing. For all the other seasons, I can select artwork.

And dude, believe me, I didn't spend days with learning Kodi. It's been more like months or rather years. The wiki helped me with my multi-client installation (I have one MySQL db and four user profiles in it, used by three windows PCs and one raspberry) and was also helpful regarding creating my own NFO files. But the points I wrote, I couldn't see there.

annomatik · 2017-12-30, 21:14

(2017-12-30, 20:39)nickr Wrote: Use filebot.

Thanks. The file names are already right, the shows can be scrapped. But some shows are skipped / not found and I would like to have some sort of indication for that or maybe even a list of all the shows, that haven't been scrapped yet.

annomatik · 2017-12-30, 21:45

I have added a feature-request here: https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=326251

**Karellen** · 2017-12-30, 22:25

Consider using an Combination NFO... http://kodi.wiki/view/Nfo#Combination_nfo

annomatik · 2017-12-30, 22:45

(2017-12-30, 22:25)Karellen Wrote: Consider using an Combination NFO... http://kodi.wiki/view/Nfo#Combination_nfo

Thanks, will try that.

wpbpete · 2017-12-31, 00:09

Quote:a couple of days ago, I lost my whole main profile because Kodi told me, it would "separate my sources" for a new profile where apparently it did not do that.

I'm curious how that happened?

annomatik · 2017-12-31, 13:10

(2017-12-31, 00:09)wpbpete Wrote:
Quote:a couple of days ago, I lost my whole main profile because Kodi told me, it would "separate my sources" for a new profile where apparently it did not do that.
I'm curious how that happened?

Yeah, that was the main problem. Together with me not having database backups, I'm working on automating that, too, but for now getting back my Master profile to how it was is main priority. And together with the export / import of the library via Kodi not working either.

I have a basic idea of what happened. I wanted to create a new profile for Kodi. You know, new year resolutions, so let's create a new "fitness" profile. I added the profile via the Kodi interface, I created a new network share for all the fitness content, told Kodi it that I'd want to separate sources and media. And what happened? When I first opened the new profile, all of my master profile content was there. Strange.

So I did a clean library. Kodi asked me, if I really wanted to remove the stuff without sources and I was positive -- I only added two sources for fitness movies and shows, so I didn't want to have the master content *in that profile*.

Apparently, what Kodi and I did not consider, was, that I'm using MySQL as a backend. The database-name is hardcoded in the advancedsettings.xml, so the "separate sources and media" is null and void. Except the sources part.

So what happened is, instead of accessing a new MySQL database for the new profile, Kodi used the old one. And so, my main profile was destroyed.

Lesson learned, but still painful and -- I think -- avoidable by having some additional checks within Kodi.

**PatK** · (This post was last modified: 2017-12-31, 20:49 by PatK.)

1) I was expecting an answer like that.

Your orginal message didn't convey the idea that you where an expert user, sorry if I regurgitated some newbie stuff, didn't want to you to think, I don't read.

Your example "Return of the Jedi" is reasonable, but given that the meta-database has this listing as exact, any modification would have to be handled manually (library work). I've handled this listing with sets, and have become confortable with boxed sets as a source. I rarely use the full library lists, and stick to various playlists, sets, nodes and file sources.

the exported database dump wasn't importable

Considering you were having an issue, it's likely that some screw-up comnpromised the opportunity. I've never had issue with meta-data exported to separate files, then scraped locally and recommend you do the same.

2) I cannot even launch Kodi twice with two different views.

Kodi remembers the view last set, and your usage regarding library mainainance is noted and ~ more or less similar to my set-up, although I may use more than one display.

3) Your example displays a shortfall in a skin, (it could be that the default icon is set) and would have to be addressed as a skin issue. There may be work-rounds or updates. re: "Pimp my ride" I would be inclinded to forgo artwork here or encourage you to explore alternate skins.

4) Some sortfall here, I can change the artwork using the 'context menu' of the seasons, specials, and *all seasons. Perhaps you are viewing in 'file mode' which doesn't offer that option. I'm sure you are using the 'missing movies' add-on, and some of the other 'must haves'.

Sometimes the written word conveys the wrong impression. Have a Happy New Year.

annomatik · 2017-12-31, 23:05

(2017-12-31, 20:48)PatK Wrote: Sometimes the written word conveys the wrong impression. Have a Happy New Year.

I agree and enjoyed your follow-up post, thanks! I also have two displays and I wouldn't want to be without them. Makes life a lot easier. Will look into that "file mode" thing and into the "missing movies" add-on, didn't know about that. Also, having these "combined" NFOs makes things easier, even though I still have to write about 600 of them to get what I want... Will probably take about two more days to get back to what I had, as of now, I at least have re-created the tv shows.

I also wish you and all the other readers a very nice and successful 2018!

**Karellen** · 2017-12-31, 23:18

In your case, I think the most important step you can take, after you have re-built your library to how you want it, is to use the Import-Export (wiki) function in Kodi.

Personally, I use it as my Library backup. Every few weeks I run it, and it saves the library in NFO files. If I ever lose my library, I just run an Update Library and it will restore my library as it was at the time of the last Export. Watched status, Play counts, resume points are all restored.

annomatik · 2018-01-01, 01:18

I did an export a while ago, but was never able to import it again. I can select the directory with the export but when I press enter, it just returns to the previous screen without doing anything.

Will try again, but will also work on automatically backing up my MySQL-Database once a day.

**Karellen** · 2018-01-01, 01:32

It depends on what type of Export you performed- Single file or Separate File.

Separate File are nfo files that are scraped using the Update Library function. Single File is what uses the Import function.