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FR: AutoBoxsets plug-in - Separate by collection


bigjohn

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It would be great to be able to separate boxsets by media collection.  I've got my media separated into a Kids collection and an Adults collection, it would be nice to keep the boxsets separate too.

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The reason this plug-in is released only as beta right now is because I think it only does what about half the people want.

 

There are two ways to approach this whole auto box set thing:

 

1) Generate actual physical entities using our shortcut support to create a sort of "box sets" view of the movies that are within them

 

2) Modify the API or UI clients to show you your items organized into logical collections or box sets.

 

The request that was made and the plug-in that was developed was for #1 but, I think, what many people really want/expect is #2.  The thing is, #2 cannot be accomplished with a plug-in.  It has to become a part of either the API or each individual client/theme.  #2 is also much more complex and potentially performance impacting.

 

To do what you are asking will basically require the #2 approach.  It cannot really be accomplished effectively with #1 - unless we were to take the approach of actually physically re-structuring your content and I believe that is just too dangerous because, if something were to go wrong, we could actually end up deleting a large part of your library.

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Could features be added to the plugin in terms of where the collections are created? e.g. for movies under path X, put the collections in folder A.

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BATTLE DONKEY

Its easy enough to use the plugin to gather the metadata and artwork into a separate "boxset" folder like the plugin require then manually add the box set to the main movies folder and just copy the metadata and artwork.

 

That's what I do, it takes less than 5 mins of copy/paste, that's all. A little manual work will tide most people over until until the features they desire are implemented

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Theoretically, yes but that would complicate its setup quite a bit and I was going for a simple set and forget.

 

Also, that would only address this particular issue and not, what I feel is the bigger one of, displaying content organized into box sets instead of individually.

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BATTLE DONKEY

I know the point of the plugin like all others is set and forget, and I know at a later time I might have to go back into my media folders and delete or modify its contents as more features are added to the plugins. I just mean to say that there are other ways to achieve the desired look for the time being. I'm all for automation but I'm not afraid to do a little manual moving and copy/paste work on my end where need be because I can imagine how swamped u guys already are with the amount of things u guys are working on already

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Also, that would only address this particular issue and not, what I feel is the bigger one of, displaying content organized into box sets instead of individually.

 

Yes that is a desired outcome, but what I'm talking about here is really a separate issue.  I had asked about the possibility of displaying content organized into boxsets instead of individually in another thread, but this request is really more about separating content by media library.  Since I can only configure one folder for my boxsets to be created/stored in by the plugin, I can't give boxsets access to my "Kids" user because they don't need access to Hannibal Lecter, Blade, etc.

 

 

Could features be added to the plugin in terms of where the collections are created? e.g. for movies under path X, put the collections in folder A.

 

Luke said it in a more concise manner than I did, this is what I'm looking for in this feature request.  I thought this approach would be much easier to implement than the longer-term goal that you describe in #2 above.  I'm not asking/expecting for this to happen soon, there are certainly more important aspects of MB being developed.  Just trying to put the request out there for longer term planning.

 

 

 

Battle Donkey, I understand what you are saying too, that there is a way to do this using copy/paste and a little bit of time.  I'm already doing that to some extent, but am trying to take the long view on how this software COULD work given some time.  It is already making huge strides and I find it very interesting to be in on the process of testing/development and determining future directions.

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BattleDonkey - my response was to Luke's suggestion but your response slipped in in front of it.

 

BigJohn - I understand your specific request and Luke's suggestion would address it.  However, it would complicate the setup and I was trying to avoid that.  Also, while doing that would address this particular request - that wouldn't be necessary if option #2 ever became a reality.  That was the only point I was making there.

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Are you sure you guys aren't talking about two separate things?. Unless I'm misunderstanding, it sounds like Ebr is talking about viewing movies grouped into collections, and then not seeing those movies separately when you view All Movies. I think John is talking about having kids boxsets appear in your kids media folder, and so on for others. If that's the case then #2 could be solved by my suggestion. #1 requires effort from all of the ui developers.

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Are you sure you guys aren't talking about two separate things?. Unless I'm misunderstanding, it sounds like Ebr is talking about viewing movies grouped into collections, and then not seeing those movies separately when you view All Movies. I think John is talking about having kids boxsets appear in your kids media folder, and so on for others. If that's the case then #2 could be solved by my suggestion. #1 requires effort from all of the ui developers.

 

No, I understood exactly what he was asking - it's just that the second thing is very related as this request would not be necessary if it worked the second way.  

 

What he asked for has already been asked for before and I have resisted it for the same reason - the configuration (and, therefore the support) becomes much more complex and then the plug-in is less accessible to people.  It gets complex in a hurry not only just because there is more to configure but because what do you do if the three members of a box set are on three different physical drives?

 

Anyway, I understand this request I just wanted to make the point that, their are two completely different approaches to this particular problem and the one we've taken has some shortcomings - only one of which is this particular request.

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What he asked for has already been asked for before and I have resisted it for the same reason - the configuration (and, therefore the support) becomes much more complex and then the plug-in is less accessible to people.  It gets complex in a hurry not only just because there is more to configure but because what do you do if the three members of a box set are on three different physical drives?

 

If the boxsets and their locations were based on a library collection, it wouldn't matter where the media were located physically would it?

Edited by bigjohn322
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Maybe I am using the wrong terminology.  In the dashboard under Media Library you add "Media Folders", which can have multiple "Media Locations" within them.  I guess I am talking about the boxsets being based on Media Folders (which you probably have already understood, I am just being slow).  Does the same item being in multiple libraries or multiple physical locations cause a problem?

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When looking at an item, there isn't really anything that tells us what "Media Folders" it belongs to.  That is a logical organization we create.

 

Now, I could probably, by traversing the library myself for each user ascertain this, but still, you would have the issue that the same item could be there multiple time by virtue of different users having different library setups and also that you can point different media folders to the same items as well.

 

I'm sure there is a way to accomplish your request.  However, there is a cost and that cost is in complexity of configuration.  I don't want to incur that cost right now but we may in the future.

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@, Wouldn't parental control stop your kids from seeing Hannibal box set?

 

Well, I had not thought of that.  I'll take a look.  I have not been using the parental control because I already have everything physically separated.  The only problem I can see with that (and it is my problem, not a software problem) is a bunch of my kids media items don't have ratings associated with them because they are obscure or dvd collection riips or things like that which don't show up in TVDB or TMDB.  I can solve that by doing a bunch of manual editing if I really want to.  Thanks for the suggestion!

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DGMayor

Well, I had not thought of that.  I'll take a look.  I have not been using the parental control because I already have everything physically separated.  The only problem I can see with that (and it is my problem, not a software problem) is a bunch of my kids media items don't have ratings associated with them because they are obscure or dvd collection riips or things like that which don't show up in TVDB or TMDB.  I can solve that by doing a bunch of manual editing if I really want to.  Thanks for the suggestion!

 

 

Yeah you can just go into those and add it to the custom rating and you should be good.  I had do to the same.  I have mine physically separated as well, but I still use parental controls cause my kiddo is only (almost) 4 and I have some kids stuff for when he gets older, so I have him limited to like tv-y and it also hides anything that isn't rated.  This way Trailers are hidden for the most part too, unless it's for a kid's movie.  

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@@ebr, thanks, that works. Can I request this as an automatic feature for the plugin? That it will give the collection the lowest of it's items parental control value?

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@@Luke, The next guy could say that, but it would make absolutely no sense as you want to hide what a user with the lowest age shouldn't see.

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