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goodguy's Credit Lookup Plus
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DVD Profiler Desktop and Mobile RegistrantStar ContributorAiAustria
Profiling since 2004
Registered: May 19, 2007
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Austria Posts: 5,715
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Quoting DJ Doena:
Quote:
Quoting AiAustria:
Quote:
First of all, here is a downloadable copy of goodguys former website.


But exactly the CLT file seems to be broken.

Just downloaded the file with your link, extracted the hta file from the zip file from the 7z file on my local drive... -> it work on my Windows 7 machine...

Two remarks:
Far in the back of my head, I can remember there was some security issue, which forces the file to be locally stored on C: (I extracted it to the desktop).
Since I use the export feature, I have installed the commdlg32.ocx as described in the readme...
Complete list of Common Names  •  A good point for starting with Headshots (and v11.1)
DVD Profiler Desktop and Mobile RegistrantStar ContributorDJ Doena
Registered: May 1, 2002
Registered: March 14, 2007
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Ah this explains why I couldn't open it and now I'm not sure I want to anymore:



Could be a false positive but then again, my interest isn't that big to risk it.
Karsten
DVD Collectors Online

DVD Profiler Desktop and Mobile RegistrantStar ContributorAiAustria
Profiling since 2004
Registered: May 19, 2007
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I am currently using this tool for:
- getting an overview
-- sorting and Grouping by original title
-- selecting by cast or crew
-- drilling into collapsed groups to see profiles and localities
- export to XML (real destination is Excel)

What would be nice to have (wish list for christmas):
- editing of the original title on screen (no write back into the data base for sure)
-- this would make the export smoother and ...
-- the manual counting much easier)
-- preferable by drag and drop (dragging one title onto another syncs the origianl titles
- excluding titles from counting
-- ability to mark features which do not belong to the person currently under investigation
- entering all known name variants at once to get all relevant titles on one screen
-- this would allow to show an exact CLT result for the person under investigation,
-- which could be recalulated on the fly when original titles are altered or features are excluded
- formatting the export
-- usually I only need Original title, year of production and credited as for setting up common name threads...
-- I would need only one export line for the above combination (until now Excel does this job...)
Complete list of Common Names  •  A good point for starting with Headshots (and v11.1)
DVD Profiler Desktop and Mobile RegistrantStar ContributorAiAustria
Profiling since 2004
Registered: May 19, 2007
Reputation: Highest Rating
Austria Posts: 5,715
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Quoting DJ Doena:
Quote:
Could be a false positive but then again, my interest isn't that big to risk it.

Very likely
- I'm using this piece of software for years now (with differen AV software active on my clients)
- The file is plain HTML - everybody capable of reading HTML could easily find the threat...
Complete list of Common Names  •  A good point for starting with Headshots (and v11.1)
DVD Profiler Desktop and Mobile Registrantmediadogg
Aim high. Ride the wind.
Registered: March 18, 2007
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Quoting GSyren:
Quote:
Quoting mediadogg:
Quote:
there is at least one tools developer that likes to build such tools.

I hope you mean Karsten, because I'm not interested. Oh no, not me!

I have way too many unwatched movies to waste time on a project like that, so not me!

It would need screen scraping, and I've never done that, so not me!

Of course there are some interesting screen scraping packages that might be interesting to investigate ... but oh no, not me!

I won't ... I can't ... I shouldn't ... I mustn't ... Oh dagnabbit you mediadogg you! You've planted an idea! I'm not sure anything will come of it, and if something does, it probably won't be anything like goodguy's program. 

   
Can't wait!!!!  Seems like a bunch of loyal members of the community would love it, and it seems tailor-made for your skills. Seriously, I wish you the best if you decide to take a stab at it.
Thanks for your support.
Free Plugins available here.
Advanced plugins available here.
Hey, new product!!! BDPFrog.
 Last edited: by mediadogg
DVD Profiler Desktop and Mobile Registrantmediadogg
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Just noticed in another thread, that yet more of our valuable contributors are leaving. I'm of the opinion that a new powerful tool for the CLT might help stem the tide by giving those guys who work so hard for us, another way to be productive. Just sayin' ...
Thanks for your support.
Free Plugins available here.
Advanced plugins available here.
Hey, new product!!! BDPFrog.
 Last edited: by mediadogg
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorGSyren
Profiling since 2001
Registered: March 14, 2007
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Quoting mediadogg:
Quote:
Seems like a bunch of loyal members of the community would love it, and it seems tailor-made for your skills. Seriously, I wish you the best if you decide to take a stab at it.

Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you. I have looked at it, and I don't understand what his program does, and even if I did I wouldn't have a frickin' clue how to go about it. 

Looks to me that you'd need a Master's degree in screenscraping to pull this one off. If anyone can do it, it would probably be Karsten. I doubt that he's interested, but who knows ...
My freeware tools for DVD Profiler users.
Gunnar
DVD Profiler Desktop and Mobile Registrantmediadogg
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Well I've done a ton of screen-scraping in my time, and actually quite a bit is used in several of my plugins (e,g, BulkEdit ScrapeGoat). But I don't specialize in standalone tools, and I don't know what a plugin would add for this application. As I remember, GoodGuy was also a master at making creative UI presentations. So, I quite naturally thought of ... well you know who. 

So sorry it doesn't suit you. 
Thanks for your support.
Free Plugins available here.
Advanced plugins available here.
Hey, new product!!! BDPFrog.
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorGSyren
Profiling since 2001
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As I see it there are three basic steps:
- Collect the informatiom
- Collate the information
- Present the information

There are several difficulties that I can see, but the biggest one is just to collect the information.
Just think of how you would do this manually.


Go to the CLT page and enter the name.
Click the first profile and collect the info from the detail window.
Repeat for every profile on that page.
Repeat for every page for that name.

For Clint Eastwood that's 120 pages, and you can see how many profiles.
Now do this with screen scraping ...

I wouldn't hesitate to collate and present the information, but collecting it, well that's just too big a task for a total newbie at screen scraping.
My freeware tools for DVD Profiler users.
Gunnar
DVD Profiler Desktop and Mobile Registrantmediadogg
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So was his tool in fact standalone, or was it a plugin? I find it hard to imagine that he scraped information from a web page that was in fact available in the database ...

Maybe I am not really understanding what it does.

You know, I'm thinking that he actually had figured out how to call the online directly ... I'll bet that's it. A plugin could actually download the entire online database. But, like the XML, it would be obsolete as soon as a change to the database was made. So, maybe his code calls the proprietary Invelos online API? Maybe he figured out how to use the plugin API from a standalone program. Maybe there is more to the story as to why the code was withdrawn ...
Thanks for your support.
Free Plugins available here.
Advanced plugins available here.
Hey, new product!!! BDPFrog.
 Last edited: by mediadogg
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorGSyren
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I downloaded goodguy's program and looked at it. It is not a plugin. It is in fact just HTML with embedded Javascript. One big mother of a Javascript, and from what I could tell from a cursory glance, it does screen scraping exactly the way I described. So it does in fact run inside the browser.

If AiAustria can still run it on Win 7, maybe he can tell us how long it takes to gather the CLT info for Clint Eastwood? 
My freeware tools for DVD Profiler users.
Gunnar
DVD Profiler Desktop and Mobile RegistrantStar ContributorAiAustria
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Yes, the tools walk through the output of a CLT search...
- it needs an Internet Explorer Session logged into the Invelos site
- it counts per pages
- it needs quite an amount of time (depending on Internet speed and the number of sessions used; the mshta host takes about one percent of CPU on my computer (52 CPU-seconds) - so the local machine does not seem to be an issue)
- and to answer the question: nearly 15 minutes:


... that's why
Quote:
- entering all known name variants at once to get all relevant titles on one screen
lurks on my wish list... But speed is not a show stopper, since this is the only tool to get an overview of the CLT content.
Complete list of Common Names  •  A good point for starting with Headshots (and v11.1)
DVD Profiler Desktop and Mobile Registrantmediadogg
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So, if it still works, and still has value, the only issue is that the author does not want it to be used or distributed. That means, as a professional software author, that my hands are tied without his permission. I seem to recall that somebody is able to get in touch with him, and I remember having a decent relationship with him. Is it possible that he would authorize a "clone" project that would allow us to extract / adapt the javascript logic and repackage as an HTML5 or windows or Android app? Would he want to be paid? If so, maybe pool together and buy the rights? I don't mind contributing a few funds and time to the project.

On the other hand, if the community would tolerate a plugin, the developer API has evolved since that program was written. The entire Online is available to a plugin. All profiles, all data, all cast / crew / credits - everything - in real time. I have been messing with it for a different purpose recently, and it works.

It would be fairly simple to create a thin server plugin that would return a data set (say XML) populated with the results of a specific query made on the Online database. Then some other program could handle the UI, query formation, etc. Just give me the query - I return the result - do with it what you will. EZ PZ. (I or somebody else - I don't care if another developer wants to do the thin server.) There would have to be some reasonable limitations. A query that says "return the entire profile XML for all profiles in locality x," would clearly be disallowed.

Any ideas anyone?
Thanks for your support.
Free Plugins available here.
Advanced plugins available here.
Hey, new product!!! BDPFrog.
 Last edited: by mediadogg
DVD Profiler Desktop and Mobile RegistrantStar ContributorAiAustria
Profiling since 2004
Registered: May 19, 2007
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Quoting mediadogg:
Quote:
It would be fairly simple to create a thin server plugin that would return a data set (say XML) populated with the results of a specific query made on the Online database. Then some other program could handle the UI, query formation, etc. Just give me the query - I return the result - do with it what you will. EZ PZ. (I or somebody else - I don't care if another developer wants to do the thin server.) There would have to be some reasonable limitations. A query that says "return the entire profile XML for all profiles in locality x," would clearly be disallowed.

I can't speak for others around here. But for my purpose a simple XML would be enough; Excel is a usable front end for XML data...

What would I need?
All CREDITASSIGN (?) where "credited as" is equal to the prepared name (or better any one out of a small list of names) with the following information:
- name (first/middle/last)
- BY
- credited as

- profile title
- profile production year
- profile original title
- profile UPC/EAN/Disc ID
- profile locality

- role name
- function (if crew member)
if it is not too expensive (the CLT lists it): group/episode the name is listed in
Complete list of Common Names  •  A good point for starting with Headshots (and v11.1)
DVD Profiler Desktop and Mobile Registrantmediadogg
Aim high. Ride the wind.
Registered: March 18, 2007
Reputation: Highest Rating
United States Posts: 6,458
Posted:
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Quoting AiAustria:
Quote:
Quoting mediadogg:
Quote:
It would be fairly simple to create a thin server plugin that would return a data set (say XML) populated with the results of a specific query made on the Online database. Then some other program could handle the UI, query formation, etc. Just give me the query - I return the result - do with it what you will. EZ PZ. (I or somebody else - I don't care if another developer wants to do the thin server.) There would have to be some reasonable limitations. A query that says "return the entire profile XML for all profiles in locality x," would clearly be disallowed.

I can't speak for others around here. But for my purpose a simple XML would be enough; Excel is a usable front end for XML data...

What would I need?
All CREDITASSIGN (?) where "credited as" is equal to the prepared name (or better any one out of a small list of names) with the following information:
- name (first/middle/last)
- BY
- credited as

- profile title
- profile production year
- profile original title
- profile UPC/EAN/Disc ID
- profile locality

- role name
- function (if crew member)
if it is not too expensive (the CLT lists it): group/episode the name is listed in

Closing in on it.

Is it possible to model the concept by first looking at the local database, and maybe using ProfilerQuery as the UI model? If the concept works on the local, then it will work with the Online. Then we package the query up in XML format based on the Profiler filter format maybe. Once happy with that, we test the idea of blasting that query into a plugin that executes on the Online instead of the local, and returns exactly the same formatted result that the standalone program has already perfected using the local database. Then the standalone program just does its UI thing, not knowing or caring where the result has come from?

Thoughts?
(Meanwhile I think I will mess around and see if I can replicate the Clint Eastwood query and how much time it would take in a plugin)
Thanks for your support.
Free Plugins available here.
Advanced plugins available here.
Hey, new product!!! BDPFrog.
 Last edited: by mediadogg
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorGSyren
Profiling since 2001
Registered: March 14, 2007
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Sweden Posts: 4,652
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A server that returns an XML file with the same format as the regular export XML would certainly open up a host of possibilities. A query in the same form as Profiler filter sounds good to me.

A bit of interesting trivia that occured to me when I looked at the filters. You can select AND/OR in all filters except Crew and Studios. Those two are always OR. Probably a remnant from way back when there was only one crew (Director) and one studio. There would be no reason to keep that limitation in the server application, I assume?

Quoting mediadogg:
Quote:
So, if it still works, and still has value, the only issue is that the author does not want it to be used or distributed.
Well, if I understand correctly it only works under Win 7 and in Internet Explorer.

It seems that goodguy left and withdrew his programs because he got pissed that Invelos did nothing to stop the Forum wars. Now that the main "warlord" has long since retired, maybe someone could entice goodguy to come back and update CLT Plus? Probably wishful thinking.
My freeware tools for DVD Profiler users.
Gunnar
 Last edited: by GSyren
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