STV Import: Select and Batch Delete

[tmiranda]

If you are frustrated by the amount of time and number of keystrokes it takes to delete multiple recordings of different shows this STVi will make you a happy camper. This STV import drastically reduces the number of keystrokes it takes to delete multiple recordings in Sage TV by allowing you to very easily mark one or more recordings with a single keystroke and then at some time in the future delete them all at the same time. The STVi works for the default STV and also for the Malore menus in the default STV.

To install:

• Stop Sage and the Sage service.
• Download and unzip to your Sage install directory. (Usually C:\Program Files\SageTV\SageTV)
• Go to Setup->Detailed Setup->Advanced and add the Select and Batch Delete STVi to your list of imports.
• Force a rebuild of the STV.

Usage:

From the Sage Recordings screen press the "DVD Return" button on your remote (bottom right hand corner of the remote, just below the Delete button) or Ctrl-m on your keyboard to select the show to Mark for future deletion. If the focus is on a group of shows, all of them will be marked. If the focus is on a single show, only it will be selected. To unmark a show press the DVD Return button or Ctrl-m on a marked show.

Alternatively to mark or unmark shows you can bring up the options menu and mark or unmark from there.

You will know if a show is marked for deletion if a script "D" appears in the status bar.

Once you have the list of shows marked bring up the options menu (on a single show or a group of shows) and select Batch Delete. That will bring up a pop-up that allows you to browse the shows you have selected or delete them. You also have the options to delete and Set/Clear Watched and delete and Set/Clear Don't Like.

When browsing the shows in your list, selecting one by pressing the OK button (or enter on a keyboard) will remove it from the list.

Note that you must enable the advanced options to make full use of the STVi.

Download here: http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/down...do=file&id=353

[csacksteder]

This will be very useful for many; thanks.

I don't have a "DVD Return" button, so I mapped one. But I'm still unable to mark recordings for delete that way

This is via a MediaMPV extender. I mapped a couple other buttons to some other commands to be sure that works, and it does. Restarted service, made sure import is in there (new entries show in option menus).

Oh, selecting "Mark for batch delete" from the options menu doesn't seem to work either (nothing changed on the display and the option menu still has "Mark for batch delete" rather than unmark.

Any ideas what could be wrong?

[tmiranda]

First, welcome to the forums.

It sounds like you have two issues and I don't really know why either is happening

What version is your STV? Are you using the default view or have you enabled the malore menus (aka the "secret extras")? Are you using Windows, Mac or Linux as your server?

I don't know if you are new to Sage or just the forums, but to check the STV version go to Setup->Detailed Setup->Advanced and look for the "Check for STV update" button on the right. It will tell you the current version. It should be "2009120901". You may have to update more than once so keep updating until it tells you that no more are available.

Let me know if that helps or not. If it does not help I'll have to fire up my MVP and see if I can reproduce the problem.

[tmiranda]

Version 1.1 now available:

• Better handling of shows that are being recorded.
• DIsplay the "D" ison in the thumbnail icon panel.

[tmiranda]

Murphy's Law - I just found a small bug in this. If you select a group of recordings to mark or unmark, the screen does not refresh so you do not see the "D" icon.

I'll wait a day or two to see if anything else comes up before updating a fix. If you find anything please let me know ASAP.

Tom

[tmiranda]

Version 1.1a is now available:

• Fixed a bug that caused the "D" icon to not be displayed after selecting a group of shows to mark or unmark.

[tmiranda]

Version 1.2 is now available. This version works for Sage7 only and is available via the plugin manager.

[tmiranda]

Version 1.3 is now available. After upgrading to the latest beta I noticed I was getting nullpointer exceptions in the logfile so I updated the code to better check for, and recover from, errors.

if you see nullpointer exceptions in your logfile please let me know so I can pinpoint the issue if my fixes didn't work.

Tom

[Savage1701]

this does not work under the latest build of Sage 6. There is a fancy D icon under advanced options but nothing shows up as ready to be deleted.

Exactly which menu are you supposed to go to to be able to batch delete say, 10 different shows from 8 different folders?

Not gettin' this one.

Running under Win 7 64 Home Premium, if Windows is the culprit it would not surprise me !!!

Awesome idea, and glad it works for many. No go here.

[tmiranda]

You can delete all the shows you have marked from the options dialog that appears if you select a single recording or a group of recordings. You have to have the advanced options enabled because the option to "Batch Delete" appears on the right hand column of options.

Tom

[tmiranda]

For those of you with an HD300 you know the "DVD Return" button on the remote has been replaced by the "TV Power" button. Pressing "Play Faster" should have the same effect as pressing "DVD Return" button. (i.e. either select or unselect file(s) for deletion.)

I probably should have posted this sooner but after getting my HD300 I kept on using the old remote from my HD100 so I never missed the "DVD Return" button.

[MalibuDave42]

Thanks for the GREAT plug in.

Maybe as designed, but not expected "feature" -- when one first accesses the TV recordings the default is 1, after setting to 2 or 3, then access group of shows, moving back to the top level, the setting is reset to 1. I would expect that it remembers the 2 or 3 when coming back up from a group. When first accessing TV Recordings, a default of 1 is good. When moving from deeper in the tree, it is unexpected for get reset to 1.

For what it's worth. Thanks again.

[tmiranda]

Dave,

I think you are referring to the menu navigation and what happens if you have focus on one of the shows in a group, correct?

That functionality is controlled by the menu and this Plugin does not change that behavior at all. (Or at least it shouldn't.)

FWIW - I agree with you. If I have the focus on one show in a group I'd like the focus to return to that show when I exit the group and then come back to it later.

[cyberlewis]

Hi tmiranda,

I've noticed a few things with the 'Select and Batch Delete' plugin, which I use regularly due to its utility, that are primarily cosmetic.

1. I didn't really care for the 'D' graphic used to denote items marked for deletion, so I copied the MarkerDelete.png graphic provided by SageTV into the same folder as the provided '7d.gif' graphic and renamed it '7d.png'. I then performed a global replace in the Select and Batch Delete STVI to replace any occurrence of '7d.gif' with '7d.png'. This worked marvelously, and I like the look of the new graphic in the interface. I am happy with this solution, but figured I would bring it up in case someone else wanted to do something similar.

2. On all of my extenders, the 'Mark for Batch Delete', 'Unmark for Batch Delete', 'Mark (x) for Batch Delete', and 'Unmark (x) for Batch Delete' options in the Advanced Options for a media item is left justified, whereas everything else in the menu appears center justified. This is interesting since the 'Batch Delete (x)' item does appear to be center justified. This isn't a functionality thing, simply an eyesore and I wasn't sure if this was how the plugin was provided or something unusual in my setup.

3. The 3rd observation is really the reason that I decided to write this post. The 'Select and Batch Delete' plugin does not appear to honor the 'Allow Deletion' option in the Video Browser, which I have unselected in my setup to prevent the accidental deletion of videos. As a result, I still see the 'Mark for Deletion' option under Advanced Options when selecting an imported video even though the SageTV default 'Delete' option has been hidden as a result of unselecting this option (side note, it does not appear that SageTV is listening for the 'DVD Return' keypress in Video Browser though, as I am not able to set imported videos as marked for deletion using the keypress method..this is a good thing). I realize the absurdity of someonen 'accidentally' marking videos for deletion and then actually executing the batch delete, but there's also a basic continuity issue as a result. Along those same lines, the plugin also does not appear to honor the Security Profiles feature of SageTV when 'Deletion' is disallowed for the active specific profile. I must admit that with this last observation regarding the Security Profiles feature that I only did a quick single point test and I could be completely wrong here.

I just wanted to make these observations on the 'Select and Batch Delete' plugin for your sake in case you were ever 'cleaning-up' your plugins. I do want to state that I use a majority of the plugins that you have provided the SageTV community and I am extremely thankful for the output of your labor, as I'm sure many others are as well. Are these the types of things that I could iron out for myself if I were to delve into SageTV Studio? Is it possible to open up an existing STVI in Studio and modify it?

Thanks,
Brian

[tmiranda]

Brian,

Thanks for the feedback. Let me address your items:

1. Very clever and it should work. I never liked the graphic either but I'm so horrible at graphic design it was the best I could come up with

2. Yes, I should fix that.

3. I never updated it when security profiles were added so it wouldn't surprise me that it didn't work properly. As for honoring the "Allow Deletion" property, I never even thought about it until you brought it up.

Very good suggestions for a maintenance release, thanks.

Edit: Yes, you could certainly change the STV!

Tom

[tmiranda]

@cyberlewis - I looked at the code a bit yesterday and the reason it seems to not be honoring the DVD return key in the video browser is because it DOES honor the "don't allow video deletion" setting. I do need to put a check in the dialog because as you pointed out it completely ignores the setting there.

[tmiranda]

Version 1.4 has been released. Changes:

- Center text in advanced options menu.
- Enforce user permissions.
- Honor setting allowing or disallowing video deletion.

Thanks to cyberlewis.

Tom

[cyberlewis]

Great update to an already great plugin. This has made my day, thanks Tom!

[cyberlewis]

Hi Tom,

Sorry to revive this thread, but I just wanted to report a recent observation that I made with regards to the Select and Batch Delete plugin. In Version 1.4 you introduced a feature that honors the selection of the 'Allow Deletion' option in the video browser. I noticed the other day that while that does work in the list view, that when entering the detailed view for a video import and hitting the 'Enter' button on the remote to bring up the menu, the 'Mark for Batch Delete' option is available. If I use this option to mark the current video for deletion, I then get the option to perform a Batch Delete, and I can confirm that it actually does delete the previously selected video. This is not a huge deal, and obviously it took me nearly a year to notice it, but I was wondering if there is anyway to correct this behavior with a quick fix.

Thank you,
Brian

[tmiranda]

Brian,

I'll take a look at it. From what you describe the fix will probably be easy. There were two other small tweaks I wanted to make to this plugin so maybe you just gave me the excuse to go ahead and do them.

Tom