[Resolved] Does CMC need an export from CME to update categories?

[Manni]

I only noticed this recently.

It looks like when I change my categories on a title using CM, I have to run a full export in CME for CMC to pick this up. Is this as designed?

If so I can't wait for the automatic updater, because that's quite fastidious. I don't add titles more than once a week, but I do change categories quite often as I watch films and take them off from their respective watching lists...

I enjoy 3.1 tremendously though, so thanks again for such a great release!

Any idea when we might get WOL (per title, I use MyMovies to wake up all the shares when the HTPC is switched on, but that's not very eco-friendly!) and Vera lights support?

[Pauven]

This sounds more like a bug in the My Movies API. Unfortunately, the API and MMCM has many bugs.

In the data returned from the API is a Last Updated timestamp, and CME uses that timestamp to identify titles that have been recently changed.

But I've found that the API doesn't change this timestamp for every kind of change. For example, flagging a Title as Watched will update the timestamp, but flagging an Episode was Watched will not. Most likely, changing the Category assignment does not update the timestamp.

While I've been able to work around other API bugs, and come up with fixes for many, I fear this one is beyond my ability to fix.

When I get a chance I test this to confirm my suspicions.

Also unfortunate is that this type of bug will manifest itself in the automatic updater as well.

The only true fix is for Binnerup to fix their code. I've reported numerous bugs to them over the past two years, including several related to the API, and they have chosen to fix none of them. In general Binnerup seems unsupportive of CMC, though they do allow me to post on their forum. Just a thought: It may be better received by Binnerup if the bug report doesn't come from me...

I enjoy 3.1 tremendously though, so thanks again for such a great release!

Awesome, thanks!!!

Any idea when we might get WOL (per title, I use MyMovies to wake up all the shares when the HTPC is switched on, but that's not very eco-friendly!) and Vera lights support?

Sometime in 2020 is my best answer at the moment. It is still on the roadmap, though I haven't figured out where it fits in with the feature releases, so the timing is a bit up in the air at the moment.

[Manni]

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the quick reply.

Makes sense.

Please could you confirm when you have a minute that it's an API issue?

Then I'll report it to Brian.

I've found another bug but will open another thread.

Thanks!

[Pauven]

Here's my test results.

Before changing a Category, here's the output for the GetTitleList API command showing my movie Eulogy:

Code: Select all

<Response status="ok">
<Titles>
<Title id="1" recordChanged="8/8/2017 6:31:36 PM" personalDataChanged="8/10/2019 10:34:08 PM" worksAsTVSeries="false" localTitle="Eulogy"/>

Note that the main title data (recordChanged) was last changed on 8/8/2017, over 2 years ago. The Personal Data was changed 4 months ago on 8/10/2019.

I then added Eulogy to the 'Test' Category and saved it:

image.png (58.9 KiB) Viewed 8170 times

I would expect this change to be reflected in the "personalDataChanged" date. Here's the new API response:

Code: Select all

<Response status="ok">
<Titles>
<Title id="1" recordChanged="8/8/2017 6:31:36 PM" personalDataChanged="12/31/2019 7:49:28 PM" worksAsTVSeries="false" localTitle="Eulogy"/>

Sure enough, there it is.

As a second test, I changed the Category from 'Test' to 'Halloween' and checked the API again. And again the API had the correct timestamp. I tested changing the Category through both the Categories button, and by right-clicking on the title, and it all worked correctly.

I also tested that CME picked up this change, and it did. So as of right now, everything appears to be working correctly, and I am unable to replicate the issue you have described.

So I was wrong that there might be an API bug, at least in MM 5.24. What version are you running?

[Manni]

Thanks for testing this so quickly. I use the latest MyMovies 5.25 (release, not RC) for the 19th of September 2019.

You might have misread my report though. CME does pick up the category changes here too. My question was (see the title): do we have to run CME for a category change to be picked up? Because my CME scan takes AGES when I scan all my (3200+) titles. It was a bit more acceptable when I scanned only my TV series (less than a hundred, so even with multiple seasons it wasn't too bad) , but since I noticed this issue with categories I have to export the whole collection to get these changes picked up.

If I don't run CME before doing a full scan in CMC, CMC doesn't pick-up the category change.

If I do run a CME export, then the category changes are picked-up by the full sync in CMC, but it's very time consuming (even with a fast HTPC/SSD, it takes something like 20-30 minutes).

EDIT: almost forgot: HAPPY NEW YEAR

[Pauven]

EDIT: almost forgot: HAPPY NEW YEAR

Happy New Year!!!

You might have misread my report though. CME does pick up the category changes here too. My question was (see the title): do we have to run CME for a category change to be picked up?

Doh! Yep, I misread alright. My mistake.

To (correctly, this time) answer your question: Yes, you must use CME to export the change to make it available to CMC.

Here's why: When you make the change in My Movies, it should automatically create updated mymovies.xml files - which CMC can still read, but will ignore if there is a mmTitle.xml file in the same directory. Since you've used CME to create the mmTitle.xml files, CMC will ALWAYS read that file, even if it is old and out of date, and even if a new mymovies.xml file has the updated data in the same folder. This is by design and exactly as it should be (so no suggesting I change this logic). So once you've used CME to create the mmTitle.xml files, you MUST continue to use CME to update them, and until you export the new data, CMC will keep seeing the old data.

If I do run a CME export, then the category changes are picked-up by the full sync in CMC, but it's very time consuming (even with a fast HTPC/SSD, it takes something like 20-30 minutes).

Wait... what? This takes less than 10 seconds on my setup. Are you still running full exports? If so, why? You should be running a changes only export from CME.

CME is highly optimized, and with changes only scanning for changes every 60 seconds, it can often export changes to mmTitle.xml files faster than My Movies exports them to mymovies.xml files! You can have CME constantly scanning for changes, or run it once a month or as needed, whatever you like, always looking for changes since the last run, and it will be quick (though with constant user contributed changes queueing up, running it once a month will still take a few minutes to process all the changes).

I've also done a lot of work on the logging so that you can review the log and see everything that got changed and exported, even stuff processed in the middle of the night when you were asleep (assuming you have it scanning every 60 seconds 24/7). So if you see a change in CMC and are curious, you can review the log and see when that change occurred.

[Manni]

Hi Paul,

Yes, we had discussed the auto-update for CME and had decided that I should go manual because 1) my shares are often offline and 2) I don't lock all my titles.

See viewtopic.php?f=7&t=276&start=30

This is why I'm running a manual export, and why it takes so long with 3200+ titles.

[Jamie]

Sorry for butting in.

I manually run CME and request that it only update the MM data that has changed from the last CME update. It is in the CME settings. Manni, have you gone into settings and requested changes only? It is on one of the tabs near the bottom. Sometimes I go a month between updates

The reason I do the update manually is that I prefer not having another program running in the background and also I copy my movies manually too. I just copy my movies into MM CM and then run the CME update.

Jamie

[Manni]

Hey Jamie,

Thanks a lot, that's all I needed!

I set the option to changes only, with the "minutes" to 0 so that it's disabled and I can run it manually (that's what I was missing, I had not realized the changes only would work manually).

Works fine, it took a few seconds to detect the changed categories.

That means I can keep running it manually, when I know the shares are online.

Happy new year, and thanks for pointing me in the direction of CMC last year, I owe this to you

[Pauven]

Awesome. Thanks Jamie! Happy New Year gents!