The "Expert Mode" experiment



I recently stumbled across scripting library called Devesprit.Scripting, and it occured to me that it might be fun to try to use it in ProfilerQuery. It uses standard VB.Net (not VBScript). So what it would allow the user to do is to perform additional tests to select or unselect profiles from the result.

This would allow you to do mixed and-or selections in one run. It would also allow you to perform some tests that would not be possible in the standard selection. The example above selects all profiles that have Gregory Peck as the first name in the cast list.

The gray areas are fixed, you just fill in the rest of the function. The whole function is compiled when you click Run, so it adds very little to the time it takes to run the query, even with thousands of profiles.

The downside is twofold. You need at least a basic (no pun intended) understanding of VB, and an good understanding of the internal structure of ProfilerQuery's Profile object.

The structure can of course be documented by me. It is also possible for me to add some programatic support. But it's a big job. And I just don't know if there is enough interest in it to justify the effort.

So I put the question to you all: Who would be interested in such a feature?

Drooling ...

Wish I had the time to collaborate with you. But you are building stuff similar to what has long been on my wish list. Just don't have the time or skills.

The best use of such a capability would be in collaboration with other things, ideally as a plugin. Ok, I said it, but I know that's out.

Alternatively, creation of flag sets is also very useful (I'm sure that you do that). A flag set can control reporting, bulk edit, copy / paste and just about every other useful function within DVD Profiler. Keeping that in mind, anything you could do to make it seamless to use flag sets would be good (e.g. automatically setting the save location of your flag sets into the correct DVDP path).

The other thing I dreamed of (and actually tried to implement), was a way to present tabbed views of a collection, guided by a set of filters / search criteria. Each tab would have an associated filter, so that just by switching tabs, the user could view the collection in any number of unlimited ways.

My attempt was called MyTabs (since withdrawn). It was slow and buggy. Eventually Ken came up with collection categories, but it suffers from the problem that you must assign a DVD to a specific, and only one, category. This is not the same as a "view." Views are dynamic and configurable and each view is independent of the other.

So, if you could combine your most excellent query tool with the concept of tabbed views, giving the ability to assign a filter / query / script to each tab, so that any view of the total collection can be instantly presented, it would be amazing.

Any interest in that? 

Quoting mediadogg:

Quote:
creation of flag sets is also very useful (I'm sure that you do that). A flag set can control reporting, bulk edit, copy / paste and just about every other useful function within DVD Profiler. Keeping that in mind, anything you could do to make it seamless to use flag sets would be good (e.g. automatically setting the save location of your flag sets into the correct DVDP path).

Yeah, ProfilerQuery already does that.

Quote:
So, if you could combine your most excellent query tool with the concept of tabbed views, giving the ability to assign a filter / query / script to each tab, so that any view of the total collection can be instantly presented, it would be amazing.

Hm, that sounds interesting. Not sure how easy it would be to integrate it in ProfilerQuery, but I'll give it some thought.

Quoting GSyren:

Quote:
Quoting mediadogg:

Quote:
creation of flag sets is also very useful (I'm sure that you do that). A flag set can control reporting, bulk edit, copy / paste and just about every other useful function within DVD Profiler. Keeping that in mind, anything you could do to make it seamless to use flag sets would be good (e.g. automatically setting the save location of your flag sets into the correct DVDP path).

Yeah, ProfilerQuery already does that.

Quote:
So, if you could combine your most excellent query tool with the concept of tabbed views, giving the ability to assign a filter / query / script to each tab, so that any view of the total collection can be instantly presented, it would be amazing.

Hm, that sounds interesting. Not sure how easy it would be to integrate it in ProfilerQuery, but I'll give it some thought.

Another thought. How about adding to PQ a command line and / or DLL callable interface, such that PQ saved queries can return results to another program such as a plugin. That could have some awesome future usefulness. Returned results could be XML, JSON or whatever (but preferably not CSV). How about that?

Input parameters would include an XML collection file(or path), and a saved query file(or path).

Even a command line interface CLI might be useful. One could set up a DVDP command file that calls a query and creates a flag file that would then be loaded as a filter before some other useful activity. Could make for some efficient one-click style maintenance for the heavy contributors?

Quoting GSyren:

Quote:
You really don't want me to have any time to watch any DVDs from my unwatched pile, do you mediadogg? 

It does sound like another ”it would be cool but would anyone use it” project.
But hey, I'm a sucker for cool projects, so who knows. 

Here is how I would use it (no guarantee as to when I would have time ...)

(1) In BulkEdit spreadsheet mode Load function: Perform a call to PQ that dynamically prepares a set of profiles to edit.
(2) In MyTools (toolbar editor): Allow associating PQ call with a toolbar icon.

Quoting GSyren:

Quote:
It might be more confusing than helpful.

Well, something very important for a user is the facility to use those tools. ProfilerQuery is powerful AND rather easy to use, and I think it presents a good compromise. Making it more complex may make it less usable, even if it can do more things. I speak as a user that loves play with data, but has very few skills at programming.

ProfilerQuery 3.19.0

Good news, bad news ...

Good news
I have added two crew fields to selection / presentation; Role and Custom Role.
Please see "What's New" in the help file for important information.

Bad news
The translation feature started giving me problems, so I decided to remove it from ProfilerQuery. So it is now in English only.
Apologies to those who may have preferred a localized version. My most sincere apologies to the individuals who spent time translating ProfilerQuery, a job that now is in vain.

Well, the version of ProfilerData.dll that comes with PQ 3.19 should work with PqLib.dll, but it doesn't add any useful functionality since PqLib doesn't support the new crew fields. I would have to update PqLib for that. Do you feel that PQPal needs that functionality?