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EpisodeCheck
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DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorGSyren
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Registered: March 14, 2007
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It seems that DJ Doena and I had similar ideas almost at the same time. I wanted a program to help me keep track of TV shows, and so did DJ. But we took different approaches. DJ primarily wanted to keep track of episodes on his hard drive. I wanted to keep track of episodes on DVD/BD. So here's what I came up with:


You enter part of the season title. You double click a title in the list.


You get a list of episodes. Watched episodes are gray. You double click one.


You get the details page where you can flag it as watched, set a rating and enter notes.


You can search episode titles and notes.

(Actually only watched episodes should be in gray. This screenshot is from an early test.)

Complete instructions are found in the help file.

Download EpisodeCheck 1.0.0
My freeware tools for DVD Profiler users.
Gunnar
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorGSyren
Profiling since 2001
Registered: March 14, 2007
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And wouldn't you know it?

Even after careful testing, as soon as I publish it I find a bug. 

Sometimes the first episode gets added twice for some reason. Just remove the second occurence and you should be ok. There will be a fix, but right now I have some TV show episodes to watch. 
My freeware tools for DVD Profiler users.
Gunnar
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorGSyren
Profiling since 2001
Registered: March 14, 2007
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Fixed in EpisodeCheck 1.0.1
My freeware tools for DVD Profiler users.
Gunnar
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorGSyren
Profiling since 2001
Registered: March 14, 2007
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Minor update EpisodeCheck 1.1.0
- Season list shows number of unwatched episodes.
- Seasons with no unwatched shown in gray.
- Added "Set unwatched" to context menu in episode lists.
- Added "Exit without updating".
- Added Season title above episode listing.
- Help file updated.

Mostly cosmetic changes. "Exit without updating" lets you start over a session if you mess something up, like deleting stuff that you really did not mean to delete.

I have been thinking of adding disc info, i.e. which discs the episodes are found on, but I haven't decided on the best way of adding that info. I don't want to have to go into each episode separately to add the disc info. We'll see if I can dream up something not too complicated.
My freeware tools for DVD Profiler users.
Gunnar
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorGSyren
Profiling since 2001
Registered: March 14, 2007
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EpisodeCheck 1.2.0

Well, I think I made adding disc info quite easy.




Ok, I set it to 5 eps/disc for this one.

See the help file for more information.
My freeware tools for DVD Profiler users.
Gunnar
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar Contributordee1959jay
Registered: March 19, 2007
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Great work, Gunnar, as per usual!   
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorGSyren
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Quoting dee1959jay:
Quote:
Great work, Gunnar, as per usual!   

Thank you kindly!
My freeware tools for DVD Profiler users.
Gunnar
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorGSyren
Profiling since 2001
Registered: March 14, 2007
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Yet another small enhancement to make it just a bit easier to work with the program.

EpisodeCheck 1.3.0



When you start the program it automatically loads the last season you had open the previous time, assuming there are still unwatched episodes in that season. If that's not what you want, just hit Esc to clear the search box.

Also, when you open up a season, the program will automatically scroll up the episode list so the last watched episode is on the top of the list, as shown above.

Initially I thought I would put the first unwatched at the top, but I found it more satisfactory to get a visual confirmation that the program hadn't scrolled past any unwatched episodes. Not that I don't trust my own program, but still...
My freeware tools for DVD Profiler users.
Gunnar
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorGSyren
Profiling since 2001
Registered: March 14, 2007
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Looking but not seeing... 

This is something that often happens to writers. You proof-read what you have written, but miss things because you see what you expect, and not what you have actually written. That's why you should always try to get someone else to proof-read.

Well, it seems something similar can happen to software developers. Or perhaps it's just me. You get so concentrated on getting the functions bug free that you don't really see design details that are not quite what they are supposed to be. Usually I catch these goofs in time. It has happened more than once that I notice things when I take screenshots and paste them into the help file.

But yesterday DJ Doena PM'd me and asked "Why is there a bracket at the end of every episode name?" And I thought "Bracket? What bracket?" Then I looked at the screenshots and I was gobsmacked. I really hadn't noticed that I had flubbed the formatting of the episode names. Of course, once they have been pointed out to me, it's just like those spelling errors in proof-reading. Now they stand out like a sore thumb. 

Well, I have fixed it, of course. Just a very minor bug fix. Perhaps more to easy my mind than anything else. Still, version 1.3.1 is here if you want it.
My freeware tools for DVD Profiler users.
Gunnar
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorGSyren
Profiling since 2001
Registered: March 14, 2007
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EpisodeCheck 1.4.0

When I added the Disc Info feature in version 1.2 I was keenly aware that it had a limitation that could prove annoying. If you had a release where a disc in the middle of it for some reason contained fewer episodes that the other discs, then it would be impossible to use Add all discs. You would have to add it episode by episode. And in a large set that could be really boring.

But I told myself that I would cross that bridge when I came to it. If it seemed to be too much trouble to be worth it, I could just say "Sorry! What you see is what you get!" and let the user live with it.

But of course it turned out to happen to the worst user possible - myself. 
So I thought to myself that there had to be an easy way around this problem. But I had a cold and a headache, so I put it on hold until I could think clearly. Or at least as clearly as a well worn 70 year old brain could think. 

Well, the cobwebs cleared and I saw the light. And the light said "You have overslept!" No, I guess it said "It's a bright new day, so get out of bed and fix EpisodeCheck!"  When you're retired you can sleep as long as you want. Anyway, it came to me. It's just so easy! Just implement Add episode, and then you can add dummy episode(s) as needed, Add all discs, and then remove the dummy episode(s). Ta-da! 

So, that's what I did. Just select the episode where you want the dummy episode inserted, right click and select Insert episode. You will see it added with an episode title of ">>> Inserted Episode <<<". Insert as many as needed, and EpisodeCheck will believe this disc has the same number of episodes as all the rest, and Add all disc will work just fine. Then remove them, and Bob's your uncle!

Of course, in the unlikely event that you need to insert a real episode, this works too. Just double click the inserted episode and you can edit it like any other episode.

And have a nice St. Patrick's Day if you're in Ireland, the US, the UK, Canada or wherever that green day is celebrated! Guinness is good for you!
My freeware tools for DVD Profiler users.
Gunnar
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorGSyren
Profiling since 2001
Registered: March 14, 2007
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Karsten just informed me of an error that shows it's ugly head if you are "an insane double-dipper" (his words). I hadn't noticed that, since my insanity takes other forms.

Anyway, if you have mutiple versions of the same seasons you might want to hold off on trying to load data into EpisodeCheck until I have had a chance to fix this.

And I'm afraid Karsten will have to make do with his own program for the time being. 
My freeware tools for DVD Profiler users.
Gunnar
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorGSyren
Profiling since 2001
Registered: March 14, 2007
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Woe is me! I was taken to task by Karsten for not following proper user interface design guidelines in EpisodeCheck. And to my shame I have to admit that he was 100% right. 

My policy has always been that it's ok to be messy when I build things just for myself, but when I subject others to my programs they should at least adhere to the basic design rules. And I slipped up here. I will make amends! It'll take a little time, though.

In the meantime I have fixed a couple of bugs in version 1.4.1. And I have also added code to check if the help file needs to be unblocked. The reason? See my post Why help files do not always work in Windows in General Discussions.
My freeware tools for DVD Profiler users.
Gunnar
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorGSyren
Profiling since 2001
Registered: March 14, 2007
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Ok, version 1.5.0 is here.

Add disc numbers has been moved to the Tools menu, where it rightly belongs:


It will open this window:

This makes it easier to add disc numbers to sets that have fewer episodes on the first discs because one is a feature length pilot episode (or whatever reason).

There are a few other minor changes as well.

The help file has been updated with more info on adding disc numbers.
My freeware tools for DVD Profiler users.
Gunnar
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorGSyren
Profiling since 2001
Registered: March 14, 2007
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PS Two minor things that the help file doesn't mention:
- I strip off leading articles from the season names, in order to preserve normal English sort order.
- You have to enter a minumum of three characters in the Season search field.

So if you're watching The OC, your out of luck! Sorry! 
My freeware tools for DVD Profiler users.
Gunnar
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorGSyren
Profiling since 2001
Registered: March 14, 2007
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Karsten asked me why I had the three character limit on search. I realized that it was just an old habit from when I worked with a system that populated the search result from a server via an API. That was quite slow, and searches with less than 3 characters didn't really accomplish anything useful.

Here, however, where everything is local, things populate vary quickly, and the three character limit really doesn't fill any useful function. So now 1 character is enough. OC fans rejoice! 

As per Karsten's suggestion I have also removed the window that pops up when adding seasons, listing all the seasons that were added (or not added). Instead you just gets a confirmation that x number of seasons were added, and an option to open the log file if you want to see what they were.

Finally I have added "Open data folder" to the Tools menu, in case you want to see where the season data is stored (and the log file).

So just a few minor improvements, nothing revolutionary. But version 1.6.0 is here if you want it.
My freeware tools for DVD Profiler users.
Gunnar
 Last edited: by GSyren
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorGSyren
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Registered: March 14, 2007
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I decide to add the possibility to change the watched date/time by double clicking the field in the episode edit window.

At the same time I noticed a really ugly bug.
When you edited a watched episode the watched date was set to the present date/time.   

So an update to version 1.7.0 is strongly suggested.

Finally just a tip. When episodes have commentaries I usually don't listen to those right away, but rather wait until I have finished watching the season. But sometimes these are not well documented, just a menu choice. So I use the Notes field in EpisodeCheck to note that there is a commentary, and then I can search later for "commentary" to find which episodes had them.
My freeware tools for DVD Profiler users.
Gunnar
 Last edited: by GSyren
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