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Originally posted by thedjchad

First off Alessio, I think that you have done a fantastic job over the years, I have been using XMM for at least 5 years and really like the way it works, looks and feels. So with that in mind, I wanted to give a bit of technical logic about databases.

The 2nd question is in regards to changing the name of the cover image, which the program has allowed for 3 different naming schemes within the options page. However it is good to remember that this is a database and is bound by some rules to prevent it from either crashing or running really slow. One of those rules is regarding uniqueness, which is best done by using a number system that will uniquely identify something that is stored on another table. If you ever opened the database, using access, for example, you will see that there are approximately 41 tables that all need to work together, quickly to get the data that is requested. So naming a cover "167-Beauty-and-the-Beast.jpg" instead of
"Beauty and the Beast_Front.jpg" and subsequent covers listed as "168-...", "169-.." and so on would make the retrieval of the database go much faster since the database is looking for the numbers first, and retrieving that and moving to the next number versus having to find "Beauty and the Beast_" before you reaching a unique identifier. Also, databases are not all that keen on spaces with file names and depending on the database that is being used, it will not accept the name and the database will crash. This is also the same reason for your question in number 4 about the actor’s name. It uses their Actor Id, which XMM gives them, to uniquely identify them from everyone else, plus the date their picture was imported into the database.

As for the 3rd question, what is stopping you from adding "the Spine, Back, Full Scan and the DVD scan (the circular DVD scan)". You can do so by manually adding them into via the cover manager. And you can organize them in any order that you want.

Hopefully this helps and maybe Alessio can do something to help you get the files you are looking for, but don’t be discouraged if you don’t, he has created a great program that does more than one would have ever expected. This again Alessio.


thedjchad

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Originally posted by shaurya

Thello Thedjchad, Thank for your detailed response.

For the 2nd question, your argument makes some sense based on my limited DB knowledge. Moreover I was not aware about the 3 different options for naming scheme. Thanks for highlighting this.I will check it out. But the point is if I am using a thrid party software say an importer like XXM importer for Meedio or anything, I would not have any way of identifying which one is Fornt, Back, Spine, DVD circular or Full. This is the only reason. One crude way would be to always store Front as 1st, Spine 2nd, Back 3rd, Full 4th & DVD-Cirular 5th to acheive it but not user would be a geek/tinker... Moreover, If I write my own sql/xml extract, I would have no way of knowing which image I am getting.

For the 3rd question, the Front & back comes out nicely in the cover manager. If I however store a spine or the DVD (Circular image), XMM for some reason is distroting it...I mean Increasing the width for the spine and decreasing the height.

For the 4th question, I agree as far as DB performance issue is concerned but could there be a way to handle this better. My other half (wife) is not very computer savvy and 2007023943 for 'Tom Hanks' and 2748491030 for 'Helen Hunt' is not very intutive. I BELIEVE OUR AUDIANCE COMPRISE EVERY...PEOPLE LIKE MY OTHER HALF (WIFE) AND DUMB PEOPLE LIKE ME. JUST WANT TO SEE SUCH A GREAT PRODUCT BECOME MORE USER FRIENDLY.

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