DVD Database X 1.7 Documentation



Valencio Productions
joe@valencio.com

New Features in version 1.7

Interface redesign
Combined Amazon and IMDB searches into single window for one-click lookup
Contextual menus for DVD records


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Download and Installation

DVD Database X is distributed as a zipped archive. Double-click the DVD Database X.zip file to uncompress it. Drop the DVD Database X folder into your Applications folder, or keep it on your desktop. The DVD data folder must remain in the same folder as the application.

Drag and Drop the DVD Database application icon into your Dock for easy access to your movie collection.

Adding Movies With A UPC Barcode Reader

If you have a barcode scanner and an active internet connection, you can use multiple movie feature to add your DVD’s quickly to DVD Database X.

Click File > Add Multiple Movies by UPC Code (or hit Command-Shift-N), and the Multiple Entry Screen will appear. Scan the UPC codes into the UPC text field, one per line. Most barcode scanners (including the Kanescan) will insert an Return character after a barcode, so you will not have to use the keyboard at all.

Once all the codes have been entered, click the Lookup UPC Codes button. UPC codes found in the Amazon database will be displayed in the list.

Codes that are not found will be printed in blue, invalid codes will be printed in red.

Click the Add DVD’s In List button to add the DVD’s from the list into your database.

Most barcode scanners on the market should work just fine with DVD Database X, however the only officially supported model is the Kanescan CCD Barcode Scanner, available from http://www.kanecal.com. Please contact the author of DVD Database X for instructions to receive $20 off the Kanescan Barcode Scanner - total price $59 + S&H.

Adding Movies Using Amazon and IMDB

If you have an active internet connection, DVD Database X can perform a title or UPC search using Amazon and IMDB.

From the menu, click Search > Online Lookup (or hit Command-M). Type in the movie title, and click Lookup (or hit the Enter key). DVD Database X will query Amazon and IMDB websites. Search results are returned in the lists on each tab, or the database fields are automatically filled in if an exact match is found. If more than one result is found, click the movie in the list to load the fields for each search result.

Click Add DVD to add the selected movie to your database.

If you have a movie already entered, and you’d like to look it up using IMDB and Amazon, click the Search Menu > Online Lookup [Movie Name] (or hit Shift-Command-M). The Online search screen will open, and DVD Database X will search the Amazon.com and IMDB databases for the selected movie title. Click Update DVD to update the DVD record with the info shown, according to the rules set in Merging Panel of Preferences.

If you select multiple movies, and click the Search Menu > Online Lookup X Selected Movies, all titles from your selected movies will be loaded into the combo box at the top of the Online Search Screen. Select a movie title from the pull-down menu, and click Lookup to search Amazon and IMDB for it.

IMDB changes its website layout periodically, so I’ve externalized the html parsing routines for DVD Database X. The file IMDB script.txt contains the REALbasic code that’s used to separate the IMDB fields. When IMDB changes its website, I’ll post a new version of this script on my web server, and DVD Database X will download and install it automatically if the preference to do so is set. This preference is on by default, but you may turn it off from Preferences > IMDB.

IMDB is an independently operated website, and the author of DVD Database X cannot take responsibility for its content.


Adding Movies Manually

Click the Add button on the main screen (or hit Command-N), and fill in the fields.

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Selecting Movies

To select a single movie, click on the appropriate row in the movie list on DVD Database X’s main screen.

Hold down the Shift key while clicking to select all movie records between two points.

Hold down the Command key (Apple Key) while you click to select nonadjacent movies.


Editing Movies

Select a movie from the main screen, and click Edit. Or, you may simply double-click a movie. Edit the fields and click Save.

You can edit multiple movies by selecting them, and clicking the Edit button. The Multiple Movie Edit screen will be displayed. Any fields that are the same among your selected movies will be filled in. To make a change to all selected movies, click the checkbox next to the appropriate field, and fill in the information. Click Save or Cancel.


Searching Your Movies

You can search any field in your movie collection including user-defined fields. From the menu, click Search > Search My Movies (or hit Command-S). Pick the field you want to search and type in what you want to search for. Searches are not case sensitive.

After a search, hit the Show All button to display your entire collection.

Search > Quick Search comes with three queries built in: Loaned, Playable and Trailers. You can add your own queries or edit the buiilt in ones. Raw SQL for the queries can be edited by selecting a query from the Edit screen.


Adding Your Own Custom Fields

Click Edit > Database Fields (or hit Command-D), and the Custom Fields window will appear.

Type in a name for your new field in the Field Name text box, and click Add. Your new field is instantly added to the database. To delete a field, click its name in the list, and click the Delete button. You’ll be asked to confirm the deletion.

Your custom fields can now be populated from the Edit Movie screen. You can show and hide these fields using Display tab of the Preferences screen.


Showing and Hiding the Cover Graphics and Plot

From the menu, click View > Show Cover and Plot (or hit Command-Z). The Movie and Plot drawer will slide out from the left side of the main screen, and display the cover art and plot for each movie clicked.

Click View > Hide Cover and Plot (or hit Command-Z again) to hide this feature.

DVD Database X will remember the drawer’s position and size when you quit the program.

Cover View and List View

In version 1.5.3, DVD Database X now has a new Cover View option, to view your DVD collection as a grid of DVD cover images. Click View > Cover View to show all of your DVD covers. Click View > List View to view as a list.

When in Cover View, use the slider at the bottom right of the main window to adjust the size of the cover images.

Printing Templates

New in version 1.4 is a custom WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) layout tool for printing your movie records. Click File > Print > Template Manager (Shift-Command-P) to show the Template Manager.

Select the Form to display the available templates for it. The forms are Movie List Templates, DVD Label Templates, and DVD Jacket Templates.

Version 1.4 includes two built-in templates for each: Movie lists, DVD labels, and DVD jackets.

Movie List Templates

Default List Template - Use this template to produce a detailed listing of your movie info
Movie Title List - Use this to print a list of movie titles only

DVD Label Templates

Default Label Template - Prints a DVD label with Title, Year, Cover Image, and My Rating
Movie Title Label Template - Prints a DVD label with movie title only


DVD Jacket Templates

Default Jacket Template - Prints a DVD Jacket with detailed DVD info on the front, Plot on the back, and the movie title on the spine
Image Jacket Template - Prints a DVD Jacket with the cover image on the front, and the title on the spine

Click the New button on the Template Manager window to create a new blank template. Click the Edit button (or double-click a template) to edit it. Click the Delete button to delete a template that you’ve created - You cannot delete the built in templates. Click the Close button to close the Template Manager window.

If you’ve created a new template, or you’re editing an existing template, you’ll use the Template Editor. Drag a field from the Available Fields list into the layout window. Position it where you want it to print. Field Properties will be applied to newly added fields. To edit the properties of a field or to delete it, Control-Click it, and select the appropriate choice from the contextual menu.

Click Save to save your template, and your new template will be available for printing the appropriate form.

Click Close to close the Template Editor window.


Printing a List of Your Movies

Click File > Print > Print List of X Displayed Movies (or hit Command-P). Select the Template that you want to use to print. Click the Print One Movie per Page checkbox for a separate page for each movie. Click the Print button, and you will see the standard page setup and print dialogs for your printer.

If are displaying the results of a search, only the displayed movies will be printed.

DVD Database X will now order your listings in the same way they are ordered on the main screen.

Printing Information for a Selected Movie or Movies

Select a single movie or multiple movies on the main screen. Select Print Info for [Movie Title] or Print Info for X Selected Movies (Command-Option-P). Select the Template that you want to use to print. Click the Print One Movie per Page checkbox for a separate page for each movie. Click the Print button, and you will see the standard page setup and print dialogs for your printer.


Printing DVD Labels

Select a movie or multiple movies from the main screen that you want to print a label for. Click File > Print > Print DVD Label (or hit Command-L). Select the Template that you want to use to print for your label. Click the Print button, and you will see the standard page setup and print dialogs for your printer.

The Horizontal Offset and Vertical Offset fields are used to adjust the position of the label printed on your label stock. If the print is not correctly positioned on your label sheets, you need to make adjustments to these settings. Each pixel is 1/72”.


Printing DVD Jacket Inserts

Select a movie or multiple movies from the main screen that you want to print a jacket for. Click File > Print > Print DVD Jacket (or hit Command-J). Select the Template that you want to use to print for your jacket. Click the Print button, and you will see the standard page setup and print dialogs for your printer.


Creating Web Pages From Your Database

Click File > Export > Web Pages > Table... (or hit Command-R) and the Export Movie Database to HTML dialog will be displayed.

File Name will be proceeded by a page number, so if you keep the default, your pages will be named DVD Database X Movies_1.html, DVD Database X Movies_2.html, etc.

Rows and columns determine how your movies will be displayed on the web page. This is a regular html table. Depending upon how many rows and columns you set, the number of HTML pages will change.

Table Border Width is the width in pixels of the table border. Set it to 0 (zero) for an invisible table.

The Include Movie Plot and Include Images check boxes are self-explanatory. Your web pages will also include those fields in the order that are checked in the Preferences > Display tab.

Click the Browse button to save your web pages in a folder other than Documents.

Click File > Export > Web Pages > Templates... to use an html template to produce your web pages. Four example templates are included. Open up one of the text files located in DVD Data/HTML Templates, and see how they work.

Using the html templates, you can get your web pages to look exactly how you want, but you’ll need to learn a little html. Just use an html comment containing only the name of the field, and DVD Database X will insert the field’s value in the template for every movie in your database. For example, if you’d like the title in bold, use <b><!--Title--></b>.

DVD Database X will order your html output in the same way as the displayed order on the main screen.

Lending and Returning Movies

Select the movie or movies that you want to lend out. Click the Loan button, and select your friend from the pull-down list, or enter a new name.

The due date will default to 2 weeks after today’s date. Click the small calendar button to select an alternate due date.

Click the checkbox “Add iCal reminder for Due Date” to add an event to iCal on the due date. You can then set the event description, repeat frequency, and type of alarm the iCal will use.

The “Email Borrower” alarm uses the AppleScript iCalMail. This script was included in the download. If you’ve moved this script, you’ll be prompted to find it. When this event fires, it will run the iCalMail script, which will send an email to the attendees defined for this event. DVD Database X will have added the borrower as an attendee when the iCal event was added.

Click the Loan button.

In the preferences, you can check Show Address Book contacts when loaning movies on the Behavior tab. When loaning movies, you’ll see the names of people in your Address Book.

When the movie has been returned, select it on the main screen, and hit the Return button.

Click the checkbox “Delete iCal Event” to delete the iCal event set for this loan.

The X Movies on Loan button will display a menu list of your loaned movies. Click on them to jump to a loaned movie.


Friends and Formats

Delete friends (who have not returned your movies!) and video and audio formats by selecting Edit > Friends and Formats. Select the appropriate table, the appropriate entry, and click delete.


Importing and Exporting

Click File > Export > Text File (or hit Command-F) and the Export Movie Database to Text File dialog will be displayed.

Your database will be exported as a tab-delimited text file including the fields in the order that you have checked in Preferences > Display. Use the Include Movie Plot and Include Image File name check boxes to add those fields as well.

Click Export, and you’ll see a standard Save File dialog for your file. The first line of the exported file will contain the tag <DVD Database X Key> followed by a tab-delimited list of the field names. This line tells DVD Database X the names of the fields and their position in the exported file.

To import a tab-delimited text file, click File > Import... (or hit Command-I) and you’ll see a standard Open File Dialog. Select the file that you want to import.

If the file does not contain a key (see above), DVD Database X will assume that the file is the same layout as was created by version 1.2. Here is the layout that will be assumed:

Movie title
Genre
Year
Director
Video Aspect Ratio
Sound
Cast
Borrower
Borrowed Date
Path to VIDEO_TS Folder
Image file name (located in DVD data/images)
Plot
Runtime

Copyright 2004, Valencio Productions