STV Import: TVExplorer for SageMC

[razrsharpe]

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Current Version: 1.01.040 3/6/2010


What it is
TVExplorer is a replacement screen for the My TV screen. It duplicates most/all of the functionality on the My TV screens. It is similar to Windows Explorer and/or the Malore Menus.

• Very customizable to get the exact look/feel the user is after
• Fully supports fanart/posters/banners.
• Multiple different grouping/sorting/filtering settings.
• Displays imported TV (videos that are TV but are not part of the Sage recording DB) alongside recorded TV. (It is possible to limit the scope of the imported TV search to certain directories using pathfilterexpressions or a property item. I recommend doing this with large dvd/bd collections)
• Leverages metadata collected by BMT or mediascraper to determine if a particular video is TV and also displays season/episode information
• Filters groups by Record Year, Original Airing Year, or Season/Episode.

Installation Instructions

1. Shutdown SageTV including the service if installing on the server
2. (If upgrading from 1.0) Delete the TVExplorer working directory (usually C:\Program Files\SageTV\SageTV\STVs\SageTV3\SageMCE\TVExplorer)
3. Extract the latest "TVExplorer_XXX.zip" (where XXX = the TVE Version) file to your sage installation directory (usually C:\Program Files\SageTV\SageTV)
4. Make sure you are running sagex 6.6.1 or later. You can check what sagex version you have installed in TVEOptions -> Info. You can get the latest sagex version here.
5. Restart SageTV
6. Load an STV WITHOUT TVE installed. This is important. TVE will not import correctly if an earlier version exists. The easiest way to accomplish this is to load the base SageMC STV (My Menu -> Settings -> Load STV). See here for more info. Note: You will need to reimport your other customizations after upgrading TVE if reverting back to the base SageMC STV.
7. Navigate to My Menu -> Settings -> Import STVi
8. Browse and Select TVExplorer_XXX.xml (where XXX = the TVE Version). Yes to import the STVi.
9. Show TVExplorer on the main menu. You have 2 choices here:
   Edit sage_menu.xml (in your installation directory)
   1. Shutdown SageTV
   2. Add the following to your sage_menu.xml file in your sage installation directory
      

      <internalScreenMenuItem icon="hover_my tv.png" screen="TV Explorer" title="TV Explorer"
           <evalExpression> </evalExpression
       </internalScreenMenuItem>

   3. Restart SageTV
   Customize the Screen Layout from within the UI
   
   1. From the Main Menu. Options -> Main Menu Options -> New... -> New Internal Screen.
   2. Browse and Select TV Explorer
   3. Give TV Explorer a Name.
   4. Save the Menu File. File... -> Save menu file
10. You should have a TV Explorer Menu Item now. Time to go exploring

Requirements

• SageMC 6.3.9a or later. Have not tested with earlier versions
• Phoenix api 1.32 or later. The easiest way to get this is to install BMT 3.0 Beta 9 or later
• sagex 6.6.1 or later. Get it here.

Version History

1.01.040 3/6/2010
-add Alpha option for overlay transparency setting in Group cell (TVE Options -> Browser -> Overlay Alpha)
-Fix bug where the watched count and/or banner for a group would not display (or show null) when entering TVE.
-Fix bug where ignoring indefinite articles during sort was sorting things it shouldnt. For example (A.I... was sorting with I, rather then A). the method will only use " " as a word separator now. previously it also used "." and "_". At the programmers discresstion they can optionally pass additional separators to the method.
-fixed bug where when a mediafile was deleted at the end of playback navigation was corrupted when returned to TVE. If a mediafile is deleted and the group no longer exists TVE will apply default focus. If the group still exists TVE will remove the deleted mediafile from the list and set focus to next episode in the episode list.
-fixed bug where if you deleted the only episode in a group (Focus on Episode -> Options -> Delete) navigation would get corrupted
-updated ortus api (0.5.03.265)

1.01.038 3/3/2010
-Fix "Episode Sorting" menu title so it makes sense
-Store the UIContext after a fork where it sometimes would not get passed properly to the fork
-Add grouping option "Title: Original Air Date". Update Cell Time Display for new grouping option so the time displayed is the original airing date when grouping by that date.
-Left Selection Panel Width is now configurable from the UI (TVEOptions -> Browser -> Left Selection Panel Width)
-Update some ortus api metadatamethod names for consistency
-Fixed bug where when a show was deleted it would remain visible in TVE until TVE was reloaded
-Group Options is now wholly TVE and not linked to SageMC options menus.
-Episode Options is now wholly TVE and not linked to SageMC options menus.
-Group Options available from EpisodeFilterPanel for the currently Selected Filter (ie the currently display Episode List)
-Added Option to NOT display recorded TV (that is not a filter). TVEOptions -> ImportedTV -> Display Recorded TV (Default Enabled)
-Added Option to Disable Deleting mediafiles. TVEOptions -> Main -> Allow MediaFileDeletion (Default Enabled)
-Fixed some bugs with navigation to/from Episode Filter Panel.
-update ortus.api (0.5.03.263)

1.01.028 2/4/2010
-Make Left Selection Panel scrollable to make sure all options are displayed
-Fix bug where Imported TV that was a DVD object would not display (or group correctly)
-add Disc information in episode panel when displaying tv dvd discs (follows same format as Season Episode information)
-use ortus method ( ortus_api_GetFilePathForSegment(mf, 0) ) to return the path to the mediafile
-add segment information (number of segments) to expanded episode info
-add ortus logging options (TVE Options -> Ortus Config)
-Fix menu highlighting to use Scaling Insets
-Expand "Play" and "Group/Select" Navigation options (TVE Options -> Navigation)
-When an Episode Title is unknown (ie no mediatile, episode title, or description) display the filename instead of "Unknown"
-Load and Save TVE Options method name updated to latest ortus method names
-Update ortus.api version (0.5.03.254)

1.01.025 01/17/2010

New Features:

• Rework UI to add more customization options
• Rework Options screen for better navigation
• Movies can be grouped into a single item
• Protect Options screen with password. The default password is "0000" (no quotes). The password is disabled by default.
• Ability to load/save TVEOptions.properties files. Makes saving different configurations a snap and it can be used to deploy settings across multiple machines
• Auto generation of playlists for "Play All" functionality

Bug Fixes:

• Group operations (Set All Watched, Archive All, Delete All, etc) work as expected
• Preview Window display issues fixed
• original air date sorting issues fixed
• sorting by season episode fixed
• Removed the incorrect property item for the Load Fanart Deley

1.00 07/25/2009

• Initial public release

[razrsharpe]

Feature Requests:

• 07/25/09 - Mouse Navigation
• 07/25/09 - Add ability to store filter sets and call them up via multiple different menu items
• Add category based filtering ala Malore
• Specific sorting for each grouping and save that sorting behavior... long term todo.
• 08/03/09 - Season Poster support... when sorting by season/episode display poster for the current season (if selected)
• 09/01/09 - Navigate Tables with numbers (1 = top, 9 = bottom, 5 = 50%)
• 12/30/09 - Add support for rotating backgrounds ala stock SageMC
• 01/19/10 - Add group options when focused on season filter
• 01/19/10 - Add custom groups (ie creating groups of shows based on something other then title (ie groups of shows, certain categories, channels, etc)
• 02/16/10 - Support for imported Movies and Videos to be treated like recorded movies
• 02/16/10 - Sort groups so that if an entire group as been watched move it below all the groups that are only partially watched.
  

Known Issues:

• Not very friendly with mouse navigation... keyboard/mouse work fine
• When you delete a show from the options menu, the show still appears. Leaving and reentering TVE (back to the main menu) will clear the deleted show
• Page Up/Down from the top box in the title grid causes empty episode list.... not repeatable
• Apply episode filtering (season episode, record year, release year) to the episode list, Play an episode, Return to TVE (stop or episode completes), Only the selected filter (and All) is available in Episode Filter list.
• 01/19/10 - can not focus on the preview window. use the TV button on the remote (ctrl+v on a keyboard) until fixed

[razrsharpe]

Reserved

[gplasky]

Nice job. Looks real nice.


Bug:
When mousing straight over to the list of files it disappears and it seems like focus goes back to the first main column and shoots straight to the first item in the list. Remote or keyboard works fine.

EDIT: Also would be nice to be able to group the Movies into a single group.

Gerry

[PLUCKYHD]

first off just wanted to give razor a thanks this app is pretty much everything I wanted from sage from the start. Testing this app and getting to know razor he has a really good app that is very well coded. Also thanks for creating and sharing your great jar

Nice job

To Gerry who uses a mouse

[razrsharpe]

Originally Posted by gplasky

Nice job. Looks real nice.

thanks

Bug:
When mousing straight over to the list of files it disappears and it seems like focus goes back to the first main column and shoots straight to the first item in the list. Remote or keyboard works fine.

like plucky said who uses a mouse ... ya it's a known issue and i havent spent that much time exploring mouse navigation because i only use a client with a mouse for dev... but will add it to the list because i know people will want to use a mouse

EDIT: Also would be nice to be able to group the Movies into a single group.

should be easy enough to do, will also add it to the list

[razrsharpe]

Originally Posted by PLUCKYHD

first off just wanted to give razor a thanks this app is pretty much everything I wanted from sage from the start. Testing this app and getting to know razor he has a really good app that is very well coded.

and thanks for all your testing and constructive criticisms

Also thanks for creating and sharing your great jar

definitely. I still need to fully document it and release that publicly too... its on the todo list

[toricred]

How are you controlling the fanart display time? Mine seems to be changing every 2 - 4 seconds and it's really distracting. I think I have the MC setting to 10 seconds, but it doesn't seem to effect this screen.

[gplasky]

Hey now. Don't brand me a mouse user. I just happened to be at the PC client and just doing my due dilligence on a new plugin.

But seriously I don't use a mouse with SageMC but I figured it would come up sooner rather than later so I may as well get it out there.

Thanks for the movie grouping. Just makes it so much easier to keep the lists straight.

Gerry

[ghostlobster]

Well now...this just got really interesting. I might have to give this a go later on today.
Thanks a bunch!

[toricred]

One more minor issue. When I delete a show after watching it, TV Explorer still shows the file as existing.

[razrsharpe]

Originally Posted by toricred

How are you controlling the fanart display time? Mine seems to be changing every 2 - 4 seconds and it's really distracting. I think I have the MC setting to 10 seconds, but it doesn't seem to effect this screen.

The fanart should only be changing when the show focus is changing (ie when in group panel you change groups). When you right over to the episode list focus should not change (when grouped by one of the title options). When changing focus on the episode list (but all the same show) the fanart should not be changing. There is a known bug that when navigating from the episode panel to the group panel the fanart changes and it shouldnt... its on my todo list. To be honest i havent seen the fanart changing randomly like you are describing. If you are not doing any navigating (with the mouse, keyboard, or remote). Can you explain exactly where you are navigating when the fanart changes? What are your grouping and sorting settings when this is happening?

TVE does not support fanart cycling (because i find it distracting ) so the MC setting has no effect.

Originally Posted by toricred

One more minor issue. When I delete a show after watching it, TV Explorer still shows the file as existing.

thanks for reminding me of that... leaving and reentering TVE will clear the deleted show. its because i was lazy when programming that and just put a link in there to the SageMC options... then i had no way to refresh the menu after closing the options menu... its on my todo list to redo these menus and not just link to the sagemc ones...

[razrsharpe]

Originally Posted by gplasky

Hey now. Don't brand me a mouse user. I just happened to be at the PC client and just doing my due dilligence on a new plugin.

But seriously I don't use a mouse with SageMC but I figured it would come up sooner rather than later so I may as well get it out there.

agreed thanks for putting it out there... i should really have put together a known issues list.... maybe ill do that...

Thanks for the movie grouping. Just makes it so much easier to keep the lists straight.

yup no prob. I assume you mean grouping all the recordings in the sage db(tv recordings, not video files) that have the "movie" tag...

[PLUCKYHD]

Originally Posted by razrsharpe

agreed thanks for putting it out there... i should really have put together a known issues list.... maybe ill do that...

yup no prob. I assume you mean grouping all the recordings in the sage db that have the "movie" tag...

You will only want to do this for tv db not video db

[razrsharpe]

Originally Posted by PLUCKYHD

You will only want to do this for tv db not video db

yup that is what i assumed just wanted to make sure thats what gerry wanted as well.

[toricred]

I had fanart cycling on. When I disabled it the problem went away.

Edit: I take that back. The problem goes away when I turn off the Random fanart setting in TVE. It is cycling as long as that setting is on even if I'm not navigating at all. Just being in TVE over a group that has more than one fanart for it.

Edit 2: Once I turn off my HD200 and turn it back on the problem with Random goes away. I guess it requires turning it off on the extender for the behavior to change. Anyway it is working now. Now I just need to get used to it. Is there any chance there's a program info screen that's coming to go with this?

[Fuzzy]

At a quick glance, fist question is, does it support multi-views? as in, can I choose to 'save' a couple different filter sets? or can it be called from sperate menu items? This is a 'must have' feature of the Malore menus for me.

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by PLUCKYHD

You will only want to do this for tv db not video db

Originally Posted by razrsharpe

yup that is what i assumed just wanted to make sure thats what gerry wanted as well.

Yepper.

Gerry

[toricred]

I may have been wrong that it is resolved. When I turn on the preview window that is causing the fanart to change. It must be triggering the refresh of the screen.

[razrsharpe]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

At a quick glance, fist question is, does it support multi-views? as in, can I choose to 'save' a couple different filter sets? or can it be called from sperate menu items? This is a 'must have' feature of the Malore menus for me.

currently no, but i see the logic and usefulness of such a feature... (and now it makes sense to me why the malore filters were programmed the way they were)... I did it differently but will look into changing it to support multiple "filter sets" either at menu load (via multiple menu items) or from the filter menu.