XMLTagTweaker tool beta

Alright folks, throw this dog a bone. Somebody say something. If nobody is using this stuff I’m going to stop development. No sense in wasting time on something nobody needs. I need to know what I am doing right, what I am doing wrong, what direction I should take things. Hell, with metabrowser 2 is this tool even needed?

I’m willing to bet not a single person is using this. I’m putting hours into something pointless. I had plans to add a lot to it but again, if you all let me know that this tool is obsolete i can scrap it and get to bed on time :)

Next step was to add TV support (ie: series.xml editing). Then I was going to add a substitution/value clearing aspect where you could pick a node and see all the values that exist for that node (tag) in your xml and then make changes, keep the same, or clear. Basically like my old Genre tool but being able to do more than just genres. But then again, if nobody is using this then save me the time by letting me know so I can close down the project.

Since the downloads are pulling straight from dropbox I have no way of tracking numbers. So I’m pretty much in the dark. I wrote this tool based on a request posted on my TinyTools thread, but that post was from a year ago. So maybe I’m just way too late to the game.

Peace, tobias.

This is fantastic – particularly for situations where my movie collection started off in MKV format and all my movie.xml files show info for the tracks in those files. But I’m midway through a full migration over to M2TS files instead, as MKV seems to buggy/badly perorming on the Xbox extender.

Before this tool came along, converting a movie from MKV to M2TS meant remuxing the MKV file either manually using TSMuxerGUI or in batch mode using MKV2M2TSPro. But the mediainfo in the movie.xml file still referenced the now-retired MKV file.

I had to either manually edit each XML file in turn and remove the mediainfo section by hand, or use the MetaBrowser UI to clear the data on its MediaInfo tab. Neither was ideal.

This tool nicely solves the problem!!!

Great work!

The whole XML file editing is for advanced users, so that limits any feed back right away from the start. For me the TAG editing in the XML files is valuable as I do customize all my meta data and collections.

What would be very helpful is to know what TAGs are exposed for FOLDER.XML as well as for SERIES.XML files as I constantly edit them. Most of my editing is with FOLDER.XML files for collections that are a series but not a season. That would be something I definitely would use. ATM I am using MCM to get the basic information and then tweak it, studios & actors plus whatever else is incorrect or does not aptly describe the content.

Thank you to all of you that have responded to my request for feedback. It is helpful. Thanks! tobias.

As far as backup files go the way I would do it is :

When a backup is made the current date/time is taken and this becomes the filename. Then, when a restore is required, the user can be presented with a list of backups that are available.

If possible allowing the user to add a description of the backup could be handy too, so they know exactly what state the file was in when it was made.

For ease of use the descriptions could be stored in a single file say BackupDesc.txt or such to make it easier to recall later, 1st backup is line 1, 2nd is line 2 etc.

Just to chime in about the folder.xml. This is for content that basically doesn’t fit into the TV or Movie scheme as well as a way to do boxsets. Back to The Future is the folder in it are BTF 1, 2 & 3. Now the BTF 1, 2 & 3 have their individual movie.xml files but what do you put into the folder has these 3 folders in it? I put a Folder.xml file in this. If you search for Folder.xml on the site you will find plenty of references to it.

In addition I have a BBC folder that contains TV Shows, Documentaries and other Series'. Here is what the folder.xml file contains.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="yes"?>
<Title>
  <LocalTitle>BBC</LocalTitle>
  <OriginalTitle>BBC</OriginalTitle>
  <SortTitle>BBC</SortTitle>
  <ForcedTitle></ForcedTitle>
  <Description>   
● Dan Cruickshank's Advnentures in Architecture
● Russia - A Journey With Jonathan Dimbleby
● Darwin's Dangerous Idea         ● Planet Earth
● Empire of the Seas               ● Indian Food Made Easy
● Last Days of Lehman Brothers       ● Lost Cities of the Ancients
● Michael Palin's New Europe       ● Nuclear Secrets
● Panorama - Daylight Robbery     ● Paul Merton in India
● Star of Bethlehem                 ● The First World War from Above
● The Thirties in Colour           ● Frozen Planet

</Description>
</Title>

As far as worrying about deleting or wiping out XML file data, why don’t you do an incremental backup of the xml file when data has changed. Like create a movie.bak0.xml if that one exists increment the number after bak0 to bak1 etc. That way quick and easy restoring is possible, after all it is for advanced users and they know how to do this.

Fantastic idea. Do it. Do it!

Great tool Tobias, be interesting to see where you take it :–)

XMLTagTweaker Update Released

This will be short because I have to go to bed but…

1) TV Show support is added, as in, series.xml files can be manipulated in the same way as you can with movies. Add TV Show folders on the Settings tab.

2) On the settings tab you can choose to make backups of your xml files prior to changes being made to them. There is now a tab for doing restores from backups. Backups have a time stamp and should be listed chronologically with the oldest first.

3) You can also selectively delete backups or delete all backups

That’s the big stuff. Please test it out and let me know how it goes.

To get the update just open the program and it should auto update. If not, let me know. Also, I haven’t had time to update the user guide with information about using the stuff I’ve added.

Thanks, tobias.

Tobiastobin, this tool is amazing. Although I forgot to click “don’t” save an xmlbackup. How do I go about deleting all the backup folders?? I’d hate to do it manually, that could take some time.

There is now a beta 2 version with added features:

Either download and install using the link in the first post, or if you have it already, it will update the next time you run it.

Thanks, tobias.