UltraXMLTV Enhancer Version 2 - Beta

[TomR]

Tags tab
In the "To What Tqag" dropdown there are 7 entries. On the right of the screen there are 3 section that I assume are corresponding to 3 to the entries in the dropdown. That leave 4 entries: -; Title; Category; StarRating.

The "-" I figured out means remove from current section. Possibly give it a better name than "-".

Can we add tags to the other 3 sections?
If so, how do would we know what's bee added to these sections and where would it appear?

Also LewE asked but I did see a good answer...
Where is the "(Seriers, idiodic, B/W, HD, 16:9, dB, TV-14, PG)(3/4*)" coming from? It looks like it's displaying some of the 'mystery' info from the Misc tab. But making changes on the Misc tab doesn't seem to be reflected on the Tags tab. Is this something we can control?

BTW, I like the new look of the display better.

[LewE]

Release: Enhancer: 2.0.3378.42784 ]I will bet that the reason you are having trouble with the concept of the fields, and how tags are moved around in the fields is because you consistently look at the data in TV Listings, and with non default skins to boot. No wonder the data looks all screwy for you.

If the different guide plug-in and skins can cause that much variation in the results so as to confuse the user about whether Ultra is working correctly then this needs to be clearly stated in the wiki and also probably as a warning right in the program UI too.

I know your often repeated admonition about using TV Listings vs TV Guide but in the past I had not really noticed anything different in the results except for appearance but the data had been there and in the places I expected. That is why I reverted to not going back and checking TV Guide's output each time.

[LewE]

Tags tab
In the "To What Tqag" dropdown there are 7 entries. On the right of the screen there are 3 section that I assume are corresponding to 3 to the entries in the dropdown. That leave 4 entries: -; Title; Category; StarRating.

I had noticed those too but had avoided them while we were trying to get to the point where Ultra was stable for the basic functions.

The "-" I figured out means remove from current section. Possibly give it a better name than "-".

I've used this designation to remove a number of the tags I wasn't interested in for quite a while now. I agree that a different name like "Don't Use" would be much more user friendly.

Can we add tags to the other 3 sections?
If so, how do would we know what's bee added to these sections and where would it appear?

Agree. This area seems to have been given "after thought status" and hopefully could be more transparent in the initial release.

Also LewE asked but I did see a good answer...
Where is the "(Seriers, idiodic, B/W, HD, 16:9, dB, TV-14, PG)(3/4*)" coming from? It looks like it's displaying some of the 'mystery' info from the Misc tab. But making changes on the Misc tab doesn't seem to be reflected on the Tags tab. Is this something we can control?

These entries almost seem like they are being handled during development with quick and dirty entries to try out a new feature and haven't yet made it to the point where they are intregrated into the Use Interface approach.[/quote]

BTW, I like the new look of the display better.

Frank. If I have asked for things that frustrate you (like the First Run marking of Howie Do It) it has been because I was looking at it from a user viewpoint and wanted to see consistency in the results. If a user sees a listing with a current date in a tag but doesn't see it marked as first run like other shows are handled then they begin to suspect the accuracy of the program logic.

It doesn't matter to the user what the programming issues are beneath the hood because they are not even aware of those issues. Sometimes this means that "special cases" from a programming standpoint may take extra logic even though they seem no different than other programs' listings.

Maybe we should get back to just getting to the point where basic functions are rock solid and user friendly for a Release Candidate. I have tried to keep (most of) my comments to what I thought were logic errors rather than cosmetics. I know I have been guilty of asking for new features but you have to just acknowledge each of those requests and say something like it is on the list for Release 2.1. We have short attention spans and if we don't bring something up we might forget them.

I don't know about Tom, but the User Interface in Ultra 2 is so much better than Version 1 that I have gotten into actually using its features. In version 1 I was just happy if i could get it to add some information.

Frank, if we get out of line, just remember you can always bring up the "Nuclear Option" again - the one where you threaten to go back to version 1. :eek:

[zehd]

Frank, if we get out of line, just remember you can always bring up the "Nuclear Option" again - the one where you threaten to go back to version 1. :eek:

But I'm confused. Is it this big red button, or that big red button?

Many of the things that you guys are talking about are actually related to documentation, and I have not been keeping the docs up.

Here are things that would be moot if explained better in the docs:

I like "-" instead of "Don't use" It conserves real estate.

There are only a few areas that GB-PVR displays data. Ultra takes data that is not normally displayed and moves it (appends or prepends those tags) to fields that are displayed.

Any Field with an asterisk, is a 'virtual' tag, and isn't directly used by GB-PVR. And example is Extra Desc *. You can think of this as separate area but it is really a text space that is appended to description, separated by a CRLF. It something like label = 'Description' + CRLF + 'Extra Desc *'

There are only three 'tag order' boxes on the right because there are only three fields for users to change the tag order. It will get too complicated to adjust the Category order (might not even be possible)

In the display, Right below the show time, is a string that includes listed Categories, Ratings and Star Ratings. Those three fields run together in 1 (or 2) lines, and may be closed with (). That's GB-PVR, TV Guide.

Categories (or Genres) are usually one word description of shows. For sample purposes I added a couple of genres. GB-PVR builds the Category string by listing laterally, enclosed in ().

When you have a Video Description and selected to add it to category, it takes the descriptions and turns it into a single word Genre. GB-PVR reads that and builds the string. Long and short of it, when you add Video or Audio, or Ratings to Category, you see that sample data reflected in the display as a category.

GB-PVR has had a long standing bug that it would not display Ratings and Star Ratings when they both exist because of the similarities of the tag data. Ultra gets around this by allowing the ratings to be converted into a category. Ends up in the same location, just not the same field

I believe strongly, and that belief is in my help and my programs, is that one must walk before they can run. If you or anyone has a new program, they should start walking again. That means using TV Guide and Blue or Slick skin.

I didn't originally bring the TV Guide graphic back because I tried the approach where the different filed were displayed, but barely separated. I assumed that you guys knew about the different filed types. I knew that the docs failed to explain this. That's why Ultra wasn't ready for prime time...

[TomR]

Thanks for the clarification. It makes it a little easier to understand but I was still confused.

Then while I was trying to type this up a really bright light can on and now I think I see.

The 'tag order' box are just that. They are used for ordering the tags. Not for showing which tags have been selected. I always assumed that whatever was listed in these boxes was what was selected. I thought their secondary purpose was for ordering them because that would just be a nice feature. I never thought that this was really main feature. And as a secondary feature it would show what was listed in those sections since you need to know what is in the section in order to be able to order it. Is this rambling on too much?

Documentation - goooood.
Writing it - sucks.

[zehd]

Release: Enhancer: 2.0.3379.18927

[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]

Rather than, explaining what Zehd's Picks does, here is a walk through with the basics, and ZEhd's Picks is not applied. In order to get to this point so you can follow along, simply delete the _Tag and _Title xmls.

Adjusting the size/length of Description
Click on the [[Description]] item in the Desc Tag list or select it from the Tag Name Drop Down list.

Simply change the number for the Max Value and save tag. You will see the sample description shorten or lengthen, to allow for more room for other data.

[INDENT]TV Listings users may not be concerned with this as the skin is designed to scroll through extended descriptions. TV Guide users have a fixed screen.[/INDENT]

You can also change the order of tags, by selecting an item in a list on the right and using the Up/Down button (Categories order can not be changed)

Adding the Series Status to Description
Find Status in the Tag Name drop down, and then Description in the ToWhatTag drop down. Click Save. Sample data is auto populated. You will notice how the Series Status is directly appended to the description, inline. If you click the 'Use CRLF after Tag' for the Series Status, and click Save, you will see the Series Status shift to just below the description.

Adding an Actor to Extra Desc *
In the Tag Name drop down, find Actor and then in the ToWhatTag dropdown select 'Extra Desc *'. Click Save. Sample data is auto populated. If you want to use different sample data, edit to suit and then save again.

You will now see Actor below the description. You can change the distance they are separated by clicking 'Extra CRLF' found on the right, between the Desc and Extra Desc lists.

Adding 'Video' to Categories
From the Tag Name drop down, click Video, and in the ToWhatTag drop down, select Category. Click Save. Sample Data is auto populated.

You will see in the display, the several video tag samples are added and appear to be categories.

Star Ratings and Ratings
There is a bug in GB-PVR where both Star Ratings and Ratings cannot coexist. So to solve this, I move Ratings into a Category, leaving the Star Rating field for Star Ratings...

Select Rating, ToWhatTag: Category: Save.
(Also you can choose to see the ratings system (VChip, MPAA, etc), by checking the 'Display Ratings System' check box on the Misc tab)

Star Ratings uses the Star Rating field (currently you can't choose for it to be elsewhere) which is inline, directly after the Category string.

You can choose to omit the denominator of a fraction your listings provides, by selecting the Maximum Stars that your provider uses. (some are 5 star based and some are 4 star based.) And if you want you use a different system, like you provider says out of 5 stars, but you like to see it out of 4, select 4 for the Max Value.

A Max Value of 0 send the entire fraction to the Star Rating field, which is like default GB-PVR.

Using Tag Masks
Most tags have masks, where you can decide extra formatting of the tag data. However all tag masks need to include the string '[TAG]' somewhere in the text box. If you make an error or omit that, the save routine will override your choice to the default tag mask that does include '[TAG]'

[zehd]

Bug, I recognize there is a bug when following the walk through and playing with Star Rating. I know what's wrong, and will be fixing later. Currently, you will have to delete _tag and _title files and start over, just avoid the Star Rating...

[zehd]

Release: Enhancer: 2.0.3379.20372

Fixed that StarRating bug.

I'd be interested to see the bugs that creep up with this walkthrough

[TomR]

Release: Enhancer: 2.0.3379.20372

Fixed that StarRating bug.

I'd be interested to see the bugs that creep up with this walkthrough

I'll see what breaks at home.

[TomR]

...Adding the Series Status to Description
Find Status in the Tag Name drop down, and then Description in the ToWhatTag drop down. Click Save. Sample data is auto populated. You will notice how the Series Status is directly appended to the description, inline. If you click the 'Use CRLF after Tag' for the Series Status, and click Save, you will see the Series Status shift to just below the description...

This does not work as described. If you click the 'Use CRLF after Tag' for the Series Status and click save you will not see the Series Status shift.

In order to see this you need to click 'Use CRLF after Tag' for the [[Description]] tag and click save. The will shift the Series Status down since the CRLF tag is append to the tag.

Nice description.

What about sorting the the entires in "Tag Name" dropdown? Alphabetically? I know you have the location for each of them memorized, but I had to keep scrolling up and down to find the tags you were referencing.

What about some sorting for the entries in "To What Tag" dropdown? Either in the order of the "order boxes" or alphabetically?