Jump to content

Custom Collections not Displaying


Quizabuck

Recommended Posts

Quizabuck

Hopefully a quick question. I have a few custom collections that are no longer being displayed. I can still see the collection folders in the server data folder, and the collection.xml looks the same as other automatically generated collections. Without creating all the collections again is there a way to get them to display?

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Quizabuck

Yes, all the paths are valid and the media plays fine if browsed to directly. Nothing has changed on the server/file locations. 

Edited by Quizabuck
Link to comment
Share on other sites

archmajor1

I'm having the same issue as well. Everything's been working beautifully for nearly two years. Then a couple of weeks ago everything under the Collections library disappeared.  (FYI, I'm running the EmbyServer package on a Synology NAS.)  All collections folders (78 of them) still exist under /var/packages/EmbyServer/target/var/data/collections.  Each still contains the XML file with accurate/valid item names and paths, as well as fanart images, etc.  No changes have been made to the NAS or EmbyServer aside from a couple of Emby updates that have been applied.  Unfortunately I am not sure after which upgrade this issue began.  I have tried doing a library scan...no joy.  So I tried creating a new collection and added a movie to it, but it simply overwrote the existing XML file (which listed multiple titles/items), resulting in a collection now with only a singular title.  But that newly created collection does now display properly in the library.  I then ran another Collection library re-scan, but it still just shows the one.  Hoping for a resolution other than re-creating all collections.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My issue seems to be resolved!

 

I ran a manual metadata refresh via metadata manager.

It seems that you can not do it for the entire collections library, but if you go through each one that gives you issues, it seems they are restored.

i selected replace all metadata and selected replace images. this restored all movies and TV shows to my selected collections and restored the cover art.

 

I did also need to restore some of the collections *.xml files as they were wiped when i attempted to re-add items.

 

Hopefully this will also work for others 

Edited by DUG
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Quizabuck

Hey DUG, thanks for the suggestion, but my "custom" collections do not show in the metadata manager. 

 

I was able to fix the issue by editing the specific collections XML. It turns out the missing collections all had locked metadata. I changed <locked>true</locked> to false and that solved the issue. Once they showed up again, I was able to relock the files. A recent update must have done something that did not allow locked collections to be initially scanned. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's interesting, thanks for the feedback. We'll try to chase down why that happened.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey DUG, thanks for the suggestion, but my "custom" collections do not show in the metadata manager. 

 

I was able to fix the issue by editing the specific collections XML. It turns out the missing collections all had locked metadata. I changed <locked>true</locked> to false and that solved the issue. Once they showed up again, I was able to relock the files. A recent update must have done something that did not allow locked collections to be initially scanned. 

 

Yeah right.

some of mine also were not visible in metadata manager, yet they had a lock status as false. (i have not manually locked any of mine)

I manually recreated these by adding a movie and then overwrote the xml file with a backup and refreshed metadata.

 

but this all falls apart if you dont have a backup.

 

 

i.e.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="yes"?>
<Item>
  <ContentRating>AU-M</ContentRating>
  <Added>1/26/2019 2:16:53 AM</Added>
  <LockData>false</LockData>
  <Overview>A Collection of science fiction films that are believed to be based in the same fictional universe.</Overview>
  <LocalTitle>Alien Universe</LocalTitle>
Link to comment
Share on other sites

archmajor1

I appreciate both DUG's and Quizabuck's suggestions/recommendations, but neither resolves my scenario.  The only collection currently showing under my Metadata Manager is the one I re-created a couple nights ago, and there are now two identical copies of it (both with the same Date Added per the original creation of it back in Sept 2017.  I've also checked on the lock status of the collections in the XML files, and all are set to false.  Strange things are afoot!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Quizabuck

I appreciate both DUG's and Quizabuck's suggestions/recommendations, but neither resolves my scenario.  The only collection currently showing under my Metadata Manager is the one I re-created a couple nights ago, and there are now two identical copies of it (both with the same Date Added per the original creation of it back in Sept 2017.  I've also checked on the lock status of the collections in the XML files, and all are set to false.  Strange things are afoot!

 

I wonder what would happen if you changed <LockData>false</LockData> to true? Or if you just re-saved the XML, if that would force a refresh on the items. That could be what happened to mine and it was editing/saving the XML that fixed it, not the actual changing of true to false. Just a thought. I would also backup that folder before doing anything as DUG suggested. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

archmajor1

I wonder what would happen if you changed <LockData>false</LockData> to true? Or if you just re-saved the XML, if that would force a refresh on the items. That could be what happened to mine and it was editing/saving the XML that fixed it, not the actual changing of true to false. Just a thought. I would also backup that folder before doing anything as DUG suggested. 

 

We're thinking along similar lines. Already backed up the entire collections folder before fooling around with anything further.  Here's what I've just tried:

 

1) Just to rule out the possibility of there being multiple collection data folders/locations, I made a change to the metadata in the collection created a couple days ago, and confirmed the XML timestamp changed. It did, so no issue there.

 

2) I then created a new collection (Alien Anthology) with a single item (Alien). I copied the Collection Items tags from the backed up XML file (including all of the other Alien movies) into the newly created XML file and saved it. Again, verified the timestamp change of the XML file, and everything looks good. Go back into Emby and view the collections, go into Alien Anthology, and only Alien shows.  Double-check the XML file, it still lists them all, and I verified all paths are correct.  I then made a minor metadata change and saved it. Went back to the XML file again and the timestamp changed again as it should.  However, upon opening the XML, all of the Collection Item tags I had added were now gone and it only lists Alien.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Quizabuck

Where did you make the metadata change? If you did it in the metadata manager, I could see how it overwrote your old file with all the movies (since the movies are not in the new collection it's expecting). Try making the change directly in the XML. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

zebo51

Weird, I just came to search for this issue.  I had created a custom collection many years ago.  I moved my media and paths and noticed it was no longer showing.  Show I just created it again, now I have two of the same collection.  As far as I can tell they are exactly the same.  When I view a movie, it shows it is now included in both of my collections even though they are the same. 

 

I'm not sure where to look and which one to try and remove, any advice? 

 

Looking here I see my custom collection with a date back in 2016.  Where would the new one be that I just created the other day? 

C:\Users\***\AppData\Roaming\Emby-Server\data\collections

 

If I was to delete a collection, it doesn't actually delete the media in it does it?

 

Thanks

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Happy2Play

Weird, I just came to search for this issue.  I had created a custom collection many years ago.  I moved my media and paths and noticed it was no longer showing.  Show I just created it again, now I have two of the same collection.  As far as I can tell they are exactly the same.  When I view a movie, it shows it is now included in both of my collections even though they are the same. 

 

I'm not sure where to look and which one to try and remove, any advice? 

 

Looking here I see my custom collection with a date back in 2016.  Where would the new one be that I just created the other day? 

C:\Users\***\AppData\Roaming\Emby-Server\data\collections

 

If I was to delete a collection, it doesn't actually delete the media in it does it?

 

Thanks

 

No as collections are all virtual via the path you provided above.  That is the only place collections reside.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

zebo51

No as collections are all virtual via the path you provided above.  That is the only place collections reside.

Got it.  I renamed one, but they still both pointed to the same collection folder/boxset.  I deleted one and they both ended up going away.  I then recreated it and added the ones back in I had before.  Glad I took a few screenshots of what as in it :D

 

Thanks

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...