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goodguy's Credit Lookup Plus
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DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorGSyren
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I didn't say that I prefered the attribute (that was AiAustria), but at the time it didn't matter too much which type was used. Now it does, since I can use the exact same code to analyze both types of output if all the relevant XML nodes have the same name.

It's not a total showstopper, but unless there is a very good reason to keep things as they are, I would really prefer to have the element names the same as in the Profiler XML output.
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Gunnar
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Ok.
Thanks for your support.
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DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorGSyren
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Excellent! Thank you! 
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Gunnar
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorGSyren
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I just realized that there is a serious flaw in my XPath approach. XPath searches are case sensitive. Is there any chance that you can provide the variants in the correct case? If not, I'll have to scrap XPath and do it another way.

It would be disappointing, because XPath seemed so elegant. But consistent terminology between the two formats would still be very helpful.
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Gunnar
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Quoting GSyren:
Quote:
I just realized that there is a serious flaw in my XPath approach. XPath searches are case sensitive. Is there any chance that you can provide the variants in the correct case? If not, I'll have to scrap XPath and do it another way.

It would be disappointing, because XPath seemed so elegant. But consistent terminology between the two formats would still be very helpful.

Gunnar on this one, I have to respectfully decline. Every time I open and make changes, it results in extended time to stabilize it. And I would never depend on a case-dependent search. That spells doom.

Here is what I can do:

- pass what the user types in, through to the XML. That's where I get the variants from. The user decides the case.
- preserve the case from any exported Invelos XML. I think I am doing that. It is my intention, so I will check to make sure.

To go further, I would have to know apriori what variant case is "correct". I haven't studied it, so I always assume that any database that accepts user data has the potential to reflect whatever the user types in, so I don't know whether the names stored in credits are standardized.

Just FYI, I will share what I do, without making any recommendations, and I am open to improvements:

(1) Load a copy of the XML for searching, using "ToLower()" and squeeze out the printer control that is often in Invelos overviews that causes XML to crash.

xml = ("" + searched.GetXML(false)).ToLower().Replace("\f", "");

(2) For searching, I use "ToLower()" on the variants, and here is one of my Xpath statements that includes handling multiple embedded spaces.

castcredassearch = @"dvd/actors/actor['" + actorname + "'=normalize-space(@creditedAs)]";
crewFMLsearch = @"dvd/credits/credit['" + actorname + "'=concat(normalize-space(@firstname),' ',normalize-space(@middlename),' ',normalize-space(@lastname))]";


Then for the exported XML, I use the original XML instead of the copy I use for searching (I will double check to make sure).

In my testing, I have wanted to use another "normalize-space()" call surrounding the concatenation, but that doesn't seem to work.
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 Last edited: by mediadogg
DVD Profiler Desktop and Mobile Registrantmediadogg
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By the way, I think Xpath includes a "to-lower" function as well (might be Xpath 2.0)

Edit: It is "lower-case()" in Xpath 2.0 and beyond.
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 Last edited: by mediadogg
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorGSyren
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Quoting mediadogg:
Quote:
Gunnar on this one, I have to respectfully decline.

Yeah, I kind of expected that. I thought I'd throw the qustion out there just in case you had an easy solution.

Quote:
It is "lower-case()" in Xpath 2.0 and beyond.

I don't find any mention of this in the Microsoft's documentation.
Is Xpath 2.0 included by default or is it something I need to download?
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Gunnar
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XPath 2.0

It might have been deprecated. Anyway, I don't depend on it. I use the method I showed in my previous post, which is much easier.
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 Last edited: by mediadogg
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorGSyren
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Never mind the Xpath 2.0. I tested converting the whole input file to lower case, and it wasn't as time consuming as I feard. I thought it might screw up something, but it seems to work.

Thanks!
My freeware tools for DVD Profiler users.
Gunnar
 Last edited: by GSyren
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I'm finding that the normalize-space method does not work, at least on my system. So, I'm on the hunt for some other helper XPath methods or custom Xpath extensions out there on the net.

Edit: now I'm reading that MS did not implement Xpath 2.0 in .NET. Hmm ...
Edit: Found this way to define custom Xpath functions.
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 Last edited: by mediadogg
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorGSyren
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I just noticed a couple of discrepancies in terminology between the formats.
For crew you have "Role" where Profiler XML has "CreditSubtype".
You have "ReleaseDate" where Profiler XML has "Released".
Can this be changed? I can program around it, but I think it would be best if the terminology is consistent.
My freeware tools for DVD Profiler users.
Gunnar
 Last edited: by GSyren
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Quoting GSyren:
Quote:
I just noticed a couple of discrepancies in terminology between the formats.
For crew you have "Role" where Profiler XML has "CreditSubtype".
You have "ReleaseDate" where Profiler XML has "Released".
Can this be changed? I can program around it, but I think it would be best if the terminology is consistent.

You must mean the CLTBoss output. The discrepancy was once part of the design that had a single element called "credit" that was the same for both cast and crew. As the original design has been changing, we are getting ripple effects. The point was providing a simpler XML format than the Invelos format, such as the elimination of episode and group dividers. I personally never had a goal to make the CLTBoss XML format exactly replicate the Invelos format, for the very reasons that are happening as it gets changed bit by bit. I appreciate the fact that you intend to support that format, but at some point the original design concept that I had becomes meaningless, and I have to decide whether I want to keep it.
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Hey, new product!!! BDPFrog.
 Last edited: by mediadogg
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Could I ask that we focus, as you once suggested, on the Invelos output of CLTBoss. I just have too many changes pending and my main objective is getting an accurate match to the CLT. If that means that you make a decision to not support the CLTBoss alternate format, I understand. I just can't keep track of all these changes and the ripple effects at the moment. Doesn;t mean I disagree, it is a management and focus issue.
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 Last edited: by mediadogg
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The other thing that happens to us plugin guys, is that we have to reconcile the XML view of the world with the API view of the world. And they not only sometimes have different terminology, sometimes they actually conflict.

Here are the relevant API calls for Cast and Crew so you can see what I mean:

void GetCastByIndex(int CastIndex, out string FirstName, out string MiddleName,
  out string LastName, out int BirthYear, out string Part, out string CreditedAs,
  out bool Voice, out bool Uncredited, out bool Puppeteer);

void GetCrewByIndex(int CrewIndex, out string FirstName, out string MiddleName,
out string LastName, out int BirthYear, out int CreditType, out int CreditSubtype,
out string CreditedAs);

So, I will make a note to revisit the CLTBoss output format, once I get my CLT results dead on.
Thanks for your support.
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Hey, new product!!! BDPFrog.
 Last edited: by mediadogg
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorGSyren
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Ok, I just felt that compatability between the formats would be a good thing. But no problem, I'll handle it.
My freeware tools for DVD Profiler users.
Gunnar
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Quoting GSyren:
Quote:
Ok, I just felt that compatability between the formats would be a good thing. But no problem, I'll handle it.

It is not a problem. I just don't have time to focus on it. Compatibility in general is a good thing, if it doesn't conflict with another objective. The compatibility you mention is the ability to reuse a piece of code. My objective was different, in this case.
Thanks for your support.
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Hey, new product!!! BDPFrog.
 Last edited: by mediadogg
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