problem: memories/videos

[sflamm]

Under the memories/videos section I am experiencing 2 problems:

1. Not all the videos are showing up which are under the path set for "HomeVideos" in Phoenix
2. The videos that are showing are not displayed in the folders/directory structure under that path

I was looking at the phoenix filter and view definitions:

<item name="homevideos" label="Home Videos" class="sagex.phoenix.vfs.filters.HomeVideosFilter">
			<option name="value"/>
			<tag value="video"/>
			<tag value="simple"/>
		</item>

<view name="phoenix.view.primary.homevideos" label="Home Videos" visible="${GetProperty(&quot;phoenix/core/enableAdvancedViews&quot;, true)==true}">
			<tag value="primary"/>
			<tag value="video" />
			<view-source name="phoenix.view.source.allimportedvideo"/>
			<filter by="homevideos" scope="include"/>
		</view>	


<view name="phoenix.view.default.homevideos" label="Home Videos" flat="true">
			<description>Home Videos</description>
			<tag value="homevideos"/>			
			<tag value="default"/>
			<view-source name="phoenix.view.primary.homevideos"/>
			
			<presentation level="1">			
				<group by="filedate">
					<option name="field" value="YEAR"/>
				</group>						
				<sort by="title"/>				
			</presentation>
			<presentation level="2">
				<group by="filedate">
					<option name="field" value="MONTH"/>
				</group>
    			<sort by="recentactivity"/>
			</presentation>
			<!--
			<presentation level="3">
				<group by="filedate">
					<option name="field" value="DAY"/>
				</group>
				<sort by="title"/>				
			</presentation> 
			-->
		</view>

It is not clear from the filter why it isnt picking up all the videos... and I am not sure how to alter the view to display by folder structure...


Help please...

[sflamm]

I should not that none of the missing videos are any special type... all .avi
Others of this type are showing...

[sflamm]

The plot thickens... I tried two different files (test.avi & test1.avi)in the same directory structure and only test1.avi shows up under HomeVideos...

I've attached an analysis of the files from Gspot and it appears the only difference is one is an DivX (not working) and the other a Xvid (working).

Not sure why one file would show up and the other wouldnt? And it seems it should not be at all related to the files themselves, but it appears to be...

Help!

[stuckless]

Since phoenix uses the underlying Sage filesystem (ie, GetMediaFiles() or other Sage Apis) for building its views, this is unlikely to be a Phoenix issue... But here's how you can do some testing...

1. Does the file show up in any other views?
2. Does the file show up in the default stv all media files view (not a folder view)

If it does, then somehow, the APIs that Phoenix is uses, is removing the file (not sure why). I did notice that the test file was very small... maybe sagetv thinks its not valid and decides to kick it out. You might search the sagetv_0.txt log file for test.avi and see if there is a message about it.

[sflamm]

I checked on one of my SageTV clients running SageMC and both the files appear there fine which I believe indicates a Phoenix issue. Thoughts?

The file just a kid's cartoon - plays fine inside SageMC and elsewhere.

I didn't get a chance to further troubleshoot inside Phoenix or default STV.
Will investigate further when I return home.

[sflamm]

The problem is with Phoenix.... here is how I know:

In Phoenix
----------
1. Navigated to "Memories->Home Videos".
2. Bring up "Universal Media Browser Options->Browse Views".
3. Under the available views there are two views "All->Home Videos" (phoenix.view.primary.homevideos and phoenix.view.default.homevideos)
4. The first (phoenix.view.primary.homevideos ) produces a single ungrouped list of videos with descriptions on the right. In this list all the videos under all the folders for the "Home Videos" directory including BOTH 'test' and 'test2' appear CORRECTLY
5. The second (phoenix.view.default.homevideos) produces the list of folders (the current default for "Memories->Home Videos" menu). Under these folders ONLY 'test2' appears and NOT 'test1'

According to the x-vfs.xml, the definitions are:

<item name="homevideos" label="Home Videos" class="sagex.phoenix.vfs.filters.HomeVideosFilter">
			<option name="value"/>
			<tag value="video"/>
			<tag value="simple"/>
		</item>


<view name="phoenix.view.primary.homevideos" label="Home Videos" visible="${GetProperty(&quot;phoenix/core/enableAdvancedViews&quot;, true)==true}">
			<tag value="primary"/>
			<tag value="video" />
			<view-source name="phoenix.view.source.allimportedvideo"/>
			<filter by="homevideos" scope="include"/>
		</view>	


<view name="phoenix.view.default.homevideos" label="Home Videos" flat="true">
			<description>Home Videos</description>
			<tag value="homevideos"/>			
			<tag value="default"/>
			<view-source name="phoenix.view.primary.homevideos"/>
			<presentation level="1">			
				<group by="filedate">
					<option name="field" value="YEAR"/>
				</group>						
				<sort by="title"/>				
			</presentation>
			<presentation level="2">
				<group by="filedate">
					<option name="field" value="MONTH"/>
				</group>
    			<sort by="recentactivity"/>
			</presentation>
			<!--
			<presentation level="3">
				<group by="filedate">
					<option name="field" value="DAY"/>
				</group>
				<sort by="title"/>				
			</presentation> 
			-->
		</view>

Why does the phoenix.view.primary.homevideos view have all of the files and the phoenix.view.default.homevideos view does not?

[stuckless]

The second view uses the first view as a source, and then groups those items by the file's "YEAR" and then "MONTH". So in the second view are you seeing a folder with the year? or just a single file? Given what you've shown, there is probably a bug in the grouper??

[sflamm]

Correct - the files are grouped by year. The folder "2011" is created/shown but only the "test2" file is within it.

Can you provide an updated jar file once the bug is located?

I would actually prefer to show the HomeVideos in a view that preserves the original folder structure on the disk... Is there an easy way to do that?

[sflamm]

If I redefine the HomeVideos view by creating /sagetv/userdata/HomeVideos.xml" as:

<view name="phoenix.view.default.homevideos" label="Home Videos" flat="false">
		<description>Home Videos</description>
		<tag value="homevideos"/>			
		<tag value="default"/>
		<view-source name="phoenix.view.primary.homevideos"/>
			
		 <presentation>
			   <sort by="title">
				<option name="folders-first" value="true"/>
                           </sort>
		 </presentation>
</view>

This should work to display homevideos as a directory hierarchy?

Any thoughts/corrections before I try it?

Thanks in advance.

[stuckless]

You will need to have the base xml nodes in there as well...

<!DOCTYPE vfs SYSTEM "vfs.dtd">
<vfs>
    <views>
         <view name="phoenix.view.default.homevideos" label="Home Videos" flat="false">
		<description>Home Videos</description>
		<tag value="homevideos"/>			
		<tag value="default"/>
		<view-source name="phoenix.view.primary.homevideos"/>
			
		 <presentation>
			   <sort by="title">
				<option name="folders-first" value="true"/>
                           </sort>
		 </presentation>
</view>
    </views>
</vfs>

The new view goes in userdata/Phoenix/vfs/

You can reload the views from bmt (Refresh -> Refresh Configurations)

The easies way to create a new view stub is to use BMT (Tools -> Edit Xml -> New File -> VFS) There is a bug in the tool that doesn't allow saves to happen correctly (I think), but it will create a new view stub in the browser.

[sflamm]

Thanks for the input.

On a Phoenix client can I just load the view in the /userdata/Phoenix/vfs directory and "reload views" from the STV?

Or does the view also need to be installed on the server?

[sflamm]

Ok - the custom view loaded...

But the problem is that is only creates a top level folder for "HomeVideos" and then everything under it is flat...

I want to keep the folder structure on the drive...

How do I do that?

[sflamm]

The only solution I could get working is the following:

<!DOCTYPE vfs SYSTEM "vfs.dtd">

<vfs>
<views>
	<view name="phoenix.view.default.homevideos" label="Home Videos" flat="false">
		
			<option name="root" value="HomeVideos"/>
			<option name="children-only" value="true"/>
			<description>Home Videos</description>
			<tag value="video"/>

			<source name="sageimports">
				<option name="combine" value="false"/>
				<option name="mediamask" value="BDV"/>
			</source>

			<presentation>
				<sort by="title">
					<option name="folders-first" value="true"/>
				</sort>
			</presentation>
	</view>

</views>


</vfs>

In general looking at the threads and experimenting:

1. There is no longer a sagevideoimportsv7 view
2. The <root> tag is having serious issues
3. Filtering on "by="filepath" and use "<option name="use-regex-matching" value="true"/>" never works...

There seem to be many issues/challenges that need to be tackled in for folks to be able to use custom views...

Btw, I'm running the 409 (latest) version of Phoenix.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by sflamm

Ok - the custom view loaded...

But the problem is that is only creates a top level folder for "HomeVideos" and then everything under it is flat...

I want to keep the folder structure on the drive...

How do I do that?

I think that you are over complicating the problem If you already have a specific location on you filesystem that only holds home videos, and it's been organized in folders in a way that you like, then just use the videofolder view source and bookmark/root your location.

I do this for a location where I drop new movies before I archive them into another location.

		<view name="sls_newmovies" label="New Movies" flat="false">
			<option name="bookmark" value="/Movies/New"/>
			<option name="children-only" value="true"/>

			<description>Movies in the New folder</description>
			<tag value="video"/>

			    <view-source name="phoenix.view.default.videofolders"/>
		</view>

The bookmark and root options work exactly the same, the difference is that bookmarking simply positions the view at the location (and the use the navigate out) whereas 'root' makes that folder lever the top level of the view (ie, you can't navigate up).

bookmark and root both take a path that is relative to the view's items. This is probably the single most piece that people get confused about because people try to stick a windows path in there, but you need to use a path exists within the view itself. ie, if didn't have a root|bookmark option and browsed the view, and there were top level folders called, "Movies", "TV", etc, then the start of the bookmark|root options would be "/Movies" or "/TV".

The home vidoes view that phoenix provides is an organized view by year/month of your designated home videos. It has it's own structure that is different than the real filesystem.

[sflamm]

Right - I understood both Root and Bookmark were relative (but thanks for clarifying the navigational difference - I did not understand that).

I tried your approach to the view and it still seems to have the same bug in 'Bookmark':

<!DOCTYPE vfs SYSTEM "vfs.dtd">

<vfs>
<views>
	<view name="phoenix.view.default.myhomevideos" label="My Home Videos" flat="false">
		
			<option name="bookmark" value="/HomeVideos"/>
			<option name="children-only" value="true"/>

			<description>Home Videos</description>
			<tag value="video"/>

			<view-source name="phoenix.view.default.videofolders"/>
	</view>

</views>


</vfs>

I've attached pictures of both the 'HomeVideos' directory and the output of the "My Home Videos" view above.

As you can see... the bookmarks tag is not filtering the "phoenix.view.default.videofolders" view at all - the output is the same (yes I reloaded the view in BMT to make sure changes were taken)

[jusjoken]

Originally Posted by sflamm

Right - I understood both Root and Bookmark were relative (but thanks for clarifying the navigational difference - I did not understand that).

I tried your approach to the view and it still seems to have the same bug in 'Bookmark':

<!DOCTYPE vfs SYSTEM "vfs.dtd">

<vfs>
<views>
	<view name="phoenix.view.default.myhomevideos" label="My Home Videos" flat="false">
		
			<option name="bookmark" value="/HomeVideos"/>
			<option name="children-only" value="true"/>

			<description>Home Videos</description>
			<tag value="video"/>

			<view-source name="phoenix.view.default.videofolders"/>
	</view>

</views>


</vfs>

I've attached pictures of both the 'HomeVideos' directory and the output of the "My Home Videos" view above.

As you can see... the bookmarks tag is not filtering the "phoenix.view.default.videofolders" view at all - the output is the same (yes I reloaded the view in BMT to make sure changes were taken)

Your "bookmark" entry needs a trailing slash... as

<option name="bookmark" value="/HomeVideos/"/>

I have this working myself and without the trailing slash it does not work.

However, what is it you are expecting as output? for example, if you try...

<option name="bookmark" value="/HomeVideos/2003/"/>

you should get only the videos and folders in the 2003 folder... does this work for you?

If so, then what you are trying to do likely can not be done with the filesystem structure you have... this view as stuckless described mimics a filesystem but it is based on the filesystem that SageTV sees from your import directories and the root is ALL of the directories together. That is why you see your homevideos and the other moves/etc at the "root" level.

If you had your homevideos in a subfolder such as ...

nas\videos\homevideos\2003

Then include nas\videos as the import directory. Then you should be able to get a view to only show the HomeVideos folder

k

[sflamm]

No, that isnt it. I have already tried with and without a trailing '/'. Results are the same.

It is as simple directory listing (see picture attached above). Prefix (bookmark) should be simply 'HomeVideos' as all the directories to be listed are underneath it... as shown (see picture attached above) it picks up all the directories not just the ones under the bookmark/root.

[jusjoken]

Originally Posted by sflamm

No, that isnt it. I have already tried with and without a trailing '/'. Results are the same.

It is as simple directory listing (see picture attached above). Prefix (bookmark) should be simply 'HomeVideos' as all the directories to be listed are underneath it... as shown (see picture attached above) it picks up all the directories not just the ones under the bookmark/root.

Can you outline where the other files are stored on your system. for example, where is "Batman Begins" stored physically as it does not seem to be under nas\HomeVideos? I assume it is in another import directory.

I will give an example to illustrate my point...

Example physical directories...

- \\share1\Videos\TVShows
- \\share2\Videos\Movies
- \\share3\Videos\HomeVideos
- \\share3\Videos\HomeVideos\MyHomeVideo1.avi
- \\share3\Videos\HomeVideos\MyHomeVideo2.avi

Example import directories defined in SageTV...

- \\share1\Videos
- \\share2\Videos
- \\share3\Videos

Given the above, I believe the VideoFolders view will display at the top level...

- TVShows
- Movies
- HomeVideos

If you then set the root/bookmark to "HomeVideos" you should see only...

- MyHomeVideo1.avi
- MyHomeVideo2.avi

If I adjusted the example above to have the import directories defined as...

- \\share1\Videos\TVShows
- \\share2\Videos\Movies
- \\share3\Videos\HomeVideos

Then the VideoFolders view would display all the movies, tv and homevideos and folders within each of those and the root/bookmark could only be set to a level under TVShows or Movies or HomeVideos.

If this does not help then perhaps post what your physical structure is for the media displaying within the VideoFolders view for those other than the HomeVideos and we may be able to figure this out.

k

[sflamm]

As shown in the filesystem path toolbar in the first attachment entitled "homevideos_directory" the path to the HomeVideos directory is \\nas\HomeVideos

The SageTv import directories are:

\\nas\Videos
\\nas\HDVideos
\\nas\HomeVideos

The default.videos view displays all three top level folders.
The homevideos view sets the <bookmark> to "/homevideos" and therefore should show only the folders in the 1st attachment. But as you can see in the second attachment it is showing all the folders even under the other import directories (ie the Batman movie is under HDVideos)

[stuckless]

I think you problem is that probably have at least 3 video imports defined in sagetv.

\\nas\Videos
\\nas\HDVideos
\\nas\HomeVideos

So, when you import those, the leading HomeVideos is dropped (since it's a parent name) and only the files underneath are imported and then all are merged together.

Typically I use a structure like...

\\nas\SAGETV\Videos
\\nas\SAGETV\HDVideos
\\nas\SAGETV\HomeMovies

and then I use a single import
\\nas\SAGETV\

And so when I browse the files in sagetv, I see the subfolder of Vidoes, HDVideos, and HomeMovies (since they exist UNDER the import)

I think without re-orgainizing your files, you might want to use a raw "soruce" as the source for your media files...

<!DOCTYPE vfs SYSTEM "vfs.dtd">

<vfs>
<views>
	<view name="phoenix.view.default.myhomevideos" label="My Home Videos" flat="false">
		
			<option name="bookmark" value="/HomeVideos/"/>
			<option name="children-only" value="false"/>

			<description>Home Videos</description>
			<tag value="video"/>

			<source name="sageimports">
                              <option name="mediamask" value="V"/>
                              <option name="combine" value="false"/>
                        </source>
	</view>
</views>

</vfs>

I actually create the view WITHOUT the bookmark|root and then view it BMT, and if you see the sub folders of HDVideos, HomeMovies, etc, then you have it right, and then add the bookmark for HomeMovies.