I've recently submitted child profiles for the first season of Monk (apparently, I was the first person to get thinpaks (each with their own UPC) in a slipcase rather than a digipak), complete with detailed cast and crew from the episode credits.

Now, I want to add these into the parent profile for the season as a whole, but I can't work out a good way to do it. The obvious solution is to type all that information in again, but that seems like effort.

Is there a way to merge different profiles together? I'm pretty sure there's not an obvious way to do it (because I don't think it's something Ken anticipated), but maybe something involving hacking XML files or backup databases?

Basically, I want to submit the data for the good of the community (and because I've decided to only store TV shows at the season level, for consistency) but I'm loathe to duplicate effort I've already put in. If there's a better way to do it, I'd love to know about it...


Thanks guys.

Quoting Behemot:

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The only way to do it at this point is to copy the cast and crew from the child profiles and paste them into Notepad, then add them together after doing some further cutting and pasting in Notepad.

But then how do I get them back into the parent profile?

Quoting wintermute115:

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Quoting Behemot:

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The only way to do it at this point is to copy the cast and crew from the child profiles and paste them into Notepad, then add them together after doing some further cutting and pasting in Notepad.

But then how do I get them back into the parent profile?

You highlight the entire text in Notepad and copy it, then paste it back into the parent profile. Make sure, like Mithi said, to remove superfluous end- start-tags, or you won't be able to paste it back in.

Quoting wintermute115:

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Quoting Mithi:

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Quoting wintermute115:

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Now, I want to add these into the parent profile for the season as a whole, but I can't work out a good way to do it. The obvious solution is to type all that information in again, but that seems like effort.

"Never type a word when you can copy and paste it!"
See this thread: Adding tv series with dividers
So I simply would copy all the Childprofile-Castlists in an Editor, remove the superfluous End- Starttags and paste that into the parent. In the cast-editor simply rightclick int he window and you see "Copy all cast" and "Paste all cast"

cya, Mithi

By Odin's missing eye, that just might work! I'll try it when I get home.

Just so I'm clear, "copy all the Childprofile-Castlists in an Editor" means just highlight the list and Control-C? Or is there a "copy" button? I mean, it's something that obvious, and doesn't involve hacking the files, right?

You need to go into Edit mode for each separate child profile, one at the time, then right click on the cast list and choose "Copy cast". Same thing for crew. Then you paste the different child cast lists into an editor like Notepad and edit them together, removing the superfluous parts at the beginning and end. After it's completed, Ctrl-A and then Ctrl-C in Notepad. Then go into the Edit mode of the parent profile and right click on the cast list and choose "Paste cast". Needs a little bit of practice, but I'm sure you'll get the hang of it!

OK. Thanks for the help.

It sounds easier than I was expecting, so hopefully I'll get that done tonight.

I use Tom Gaines' Cast & Crew Editor for merging/copying cast and crew list. It's a great program...thanks Tom .

Quoting kahless:

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Quoting 8ballMax:

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I use Tom Gaines' Cast & Crew Editor for merging/copying cast and crew list. It's a great program...thanks Tom .

Definitely a great tool and very easy to use! If you own MS Excel 2k or newer, you can have a look at this alternative.

I am an OpenOffice man, I'm afraid. But I'm quite comfortable getting my hands dirty with XML, so that is the route I shall take.