Rectracker minor annoyance

[Ton]

Hello,

I have been using the CDK Scheduler / Rectracker combination for a while and for the most part I'm really pleased with it.

But (ofcourse) there's just one thing that's slightly annoying: Rectracker (for XML-TV) uses all of title, subtitle and description to match the recording to a previous one...

Unfortunately, my XML-TV provider manages, for a lot of programs that get broadcasted twice on the same day, to have something like: "rerun of 09:00" in the description.

This means, that these shows do not get marked as dupicactes (even though title and subtitle match).

Is it possible to change the logic of Rectracker to disable the match on description (with a command-line switch maybe?). If you're stuck for time, I could make the changes myself (sourcecode is on sourceforge right).

I just want to make sure this is something you would think is open for discussion...

Awaiting your reply,

(and again, thanks for some exellent tools )

//Ton

[KingArgyle]

Ton, The source for RecTracker is available the same place the CDK Scheduler is located on the Source Forge site. It may be a bit before I get to the code to add the option you requested. If you want, please feel free to download the RecTracker source and make the appropriate modification. I'm traveling for the next week or I would do it myself.

[Ton]

Hello,

My main question (I guess I wasn't really clear in my previous post), is how you think this should be done...

I think the best option would be to have this in a configuration-file, but as far as I can see, there are no config-settings for rectracker currently....

The other option is a command-line switch (which would work, but I think the other option has greater potential).

Any idea's or suggestions?

//Ton

[KingArgyle]

I would probably do it as a Configuration option for CDK Scheduler, which would be passed to or sets an option when it calls the RecTracker.dll. For the commandline, I'd do it as you suggest, just pass in a command line switch.

[Ton]

Okay,

I have looked around a bit and found that I don't need to update any of the RecTracker code....

Since RecTracker basically just puts the information in the database, I think it's no big deal to leave the contents of the description fields in the database (even if they're not being used, a user might want to use them in the future).

Furthermore, this is happening (for me) almost always with shows that are scheduled for the same day, so they don't have a chance to end up in the RecTracker database when PriorityRecordings does its job.

I've ended up doing the following:

1. Added an element to the XML-file (called "UseDescription"). I'm not too happy with either the name or the location of the element, but I guess it will do...
2. Made the appropriate changes to the XSD-file (same syntax and possible entries as the "DuplicatesAllowed" element)
3. Made a change to the logic in "isDuplicate" in the "RecordingUtils.cs" file. The new logic takes into account the value of the new element.

I'd like you to check the code if you have time. It's a pretty complicated piece of code (and lot's of boolean ands/ors). I have tested it, so it should work, but I always like a second pair of eyes on a piece of code like this... (I left the original code in there for comparison).

In the attached zip-file are the updated files (RecordingUtils.cs, PriorityRecordings.xml, PriorityRecordings.xsd).

Thanks for the chance to put my own idea's in the code. I really appreciate it. If ever I can return the favor (if you're stuck for time to do something), feel free to ask.

I used to code professionally, but some advances in my career mean I now only get to code in my spare time....

Best regards,

//Ton

[KingArgyle]

Thanks. I'll take a look when I get back. Conventions are a pain when you are the one standing around in a booth for 8 hours a day.

As for the contributions, that is why we put the source on Source Forge so that it can continually evolve.

[Ton]

I did a couple where I was the "behind the scenes" IT-guy. One show (where we were running 250 Internet kiosks) meant we were usually working all night to get things up and running smoothly for the next day (crappy hardware and lousy software, but we still had to get the stuff working).

That time I was really envyous of the guys standing in the booths (they could go home when I started working and get a decent night's sleep).

Anyway, I know some of what it's like. It's usually killing on my feet when I do something like this (and they usually won't allow you to wear comfortable shoes).

Hang in there...