Decorum for the Forum:
  • Be nice. If you want to be mean, try Reddit.
  • No Piracy. If you want to be a thief, there are dark places on the internet dedicated to that.
  • No Cracking. Discussions on AnyDVD, DeUHD, DVDFab, UHDKeys and similar tools are not permitted here.
  • No Spamming. If you want to make a buck, work smarter... somewhere else.
  • No Adult Content. Half the internet is dedicated to adult content. This half isn't.

Privacy Policy: Click Here to Review (updated September 30, 2020)

302 - Creating & Managing User Accounts

Chameleon CentralController (CCC) is used to export My Movies metadata directly to CMC's Movie DB, and manage User Accounts and Parental Restrictions, and tracks Watch History and WatchLists on a per-user basis.
Post Reply
User avatar
Pauven
Posts: 2777
Joined: Tue Dec 26, 2017 10:28 pm
Location: Atlanta, GA, USA
Contact:

302 - Creating & Managing User Accounts

Post by Pauven » Wed Nov 25, 2020 5:18 pm

TL;DR:

User accounts are created and maintained in CCC > Settings > CMC Users.

The first User Account is a hard-coded Admin account that cannot be disabled, and cannot be deleted if other accounts exist.

Admin rights are required both to access CCC Settings, and to change most settings in CMC (except for display preferences type settings).

The PIN code restricts access to both CCC Settings and to CMC User Accounts. :!: Do not forget your PIN for your Admin account, or you could lose access to CCC's Settings panel! (But we can help if that happens..)

Only Enabled User Accounts will be available in CMC. Diable accounts to hide them from view when not needed.

The User Preferences, Movie Library Startup Defaults, and Music Library Preferences can be changed in CMC and will sync back to CCC, and then sync to all other CMC PC's. The other settings cannot be overridden in CMC.

:!: Be sure to click the "Save User Changes" button to save any changes. Selecting another User, Adding a New User, or clicking Save or Close at the bottom of the screen, will all cause you to loose any current User Account changes.

User Account settings are automatically synced to CMC PC's as long as CCC is running and CMC can connect to it.

Skip to the next chapter: 303 - Selecting User Accounts in CMC



Adding Your First User (Special Admin Account)
If you've decided that User Accounts are a feature you'd like to try, then creating your first account is easy. In CCC, click the Settings icon, and then select the "CMC Users" tab:

image.png
image.png (56.54 KiB) Viewed 10361 times

By default, you will not see any user data until the first user is created. Click the "Add a New User" button, and the screen will change to show this new user's settings.

image.png
image.png (169.3 KiB) Viewed 10361 times

:!: IMPORTANT: This first account is a special Admin account. The ability to uncheck the "Enable User" and "CCC Admin" options are both greyed out. You will also only be able to delete this account if it is the ONLY account.

Additionally, the first user account has different default values for Parental Controls, User's Watched Status, and CCC Admin, with the goal being that this first Admin account is a Super-User type account with all-access, while other accounts would typically have reduced levels of access by default.

There settings are arranged into 6 distinct areas:

Main User Account Settings

Across the top are the main User Account settings, like UserName, numerical PIN code for secured access, Enable User, and CCC Admin.

If a User Account is not Enabled, then you will not see it as an available option when opening CMC.

The CCC Admin option controls access to the CCC Settings (from now on, only Admin users can open this Settings window, and PIN security is applied if configured). The CCC Admin option also controls access to most of the CMC Settings options - if you are not an Admin then you will be very restricted in what changes you can make, primarily limited to personal display preferences.

The PIN code is any numerical code, of any length, or blank/NULL to disable. If the code is not blank, then you are required to enter that code correctly in order to log in as that user in CMC, and to access CCC's Settings. WARNING - if you create a PIN for your Admin account, be sure to remember it, as otherwise you can get locked out of CCC's settings. If you do get locked out, contact CMC support for help in recovering access.


User Preferences

The User Preferences control most of CMC's general Display Settings including some Movie Library settings.

Parental Controls

The Parental Controls allow you to restrict what Movies/TV Series a user can see and play, and separately limit what movie fanart images are shown, both based upon Parental Rating.

User's Watched Status

In the User's Watched Status section, you will find two options, of which only one can be selected at any time.

If the "Updates My Movies Watched" option is checked, then when a Title or Episode is Watched, or manually toggled as Watched/Not Watched, that status will be sent to My Movies via the API, updating your My Movies data. In turn, the My Movies data will flow back out, through CCC, and into CMC, and by default show that this Title/Episode is Watched/Not Watched for all users, unless either a) they have overridden that Watched Status for that Title/Episode, or b) you check the next option below. You can enable this for more than one user, but understand that when enabled, what one user does affects all other users unless the next option below is enabled.

If the "Ignores My Movies Watched" option is checked, then by default all Titles and Episodes will be shown as Not Watched, at least until this user watches a movie or manually toggles the status to Watched. This can be helpful if you have a guest account for which you want to start the Watched status from scratch, or if you have a family member who wants to maintain their own personal watched status separate from yours.

Movie Library Startup Defaults

When CMC starts, or when changing User Accounts, these startup default values will be applied. These options control the default Sorts by Media Type, which Media Type filter is shown, whether or not Watched Titles are hidden, and what Disc Types are shown.

Movie Library Preferences

Similar to the User Preferences section above, but these option are specific to just the Music Library.

:!: IMPORTANT: User Preferences, Movie Library Startup Defaults, and Music Library Preferences, can all be adjusted by the User in CMC, and those changes will sync back to CCC, and in turn sync back to all other CMC HTPC's you have in the house. This way, users can adjust their own preferences in CMC without you having to adjust the settings for them in CCC.

User Account Settings, Parental Controls, and User's Watched Status cannot be changed in CMC - they can only be adjusted here in CCC.




Saving User Account Changes
After making any changes to a User Account, a new "Save User Changes" button will appear at the top-left above the "Add a New User" button.

When you click "Save User Changes", the button will disappear. Therefor, this button's visibility provides an indicator that there are unsaved changes.

:!: The "Save" button at the bottom of the screen does NOT save user data, and clicking "Save" or Close" will close the CCC Settings panel, causing you to lose any unsaved User Account changes. If you accidentally make User Account changes that you do not want to save, click Close to exit the Settings panel and discard those changes.

:!: WARNING: If you make User Account changes, but do not click the "Save User Changes" button, but instead select another User Account or click "Add a New User", you will lose the current changes.



Syncing User Account Changes to CMC
CMC will automatically import all User Account changes at startup and during Syncs, as long as CCC is running and CMC is able to successfully connect.

When a user changes their preferences in CMC, those settings are synced back to CCC when they click Save.


Proceed to the next chapter: 303 - Selecting User Accounts in CMC
President, Chameleon Consulting LLC
Author, Chameleon MediaCenter

Post Reply