Well if the savings is not enough, you always have the option of not using that feature. But I have to code it on faith, that there are some savings, however small. And then try it.

Quoting mediadogg:

Quote:
I think other cool stuff is in progress, but not my place to announce.

I guess mediadogg is thinking of a program that I am currently developing that will take the XML output from CLTBoss and present the information in a way similar to goodguy's CLTPlus. I'm hoping to be able to present it in the near future.

I'm back. I have CLTBoss V3.04 as a component within BulkEdit (Tools > CLTBoss).

Edit: substituting the word "lookup" for "scrape" in some places.

Features:

- Scrape the Invelos CLT using an embedded browser (similar to CLTPLus) for profiles matching a name
- multiple variants of the name (or different names) can be searched for, within one Lookup session
- profiles matching the name variant(s) are collected into a grid
- following the profile lookup, the online database XML is scanned for credits
- credits export file is available in a text window
- variants table can be saved and re-loaded
- profiles grid can be saved and re-loaded
- XML export can be saved
- flag for allowing the inclusion of credits matching the name, but marked "uncredited"
- context menu item for populating the variants table with the complete cast and / or crew of the displayed profile
- error handling to bypass some kinds of online profile corruption
- error log

Usage Notes:

- designed for reuse of scraped CLT data to lessen the impact of CLT searches on the Invelos database. If you save the profiles grid, and the named variants have not made more movies, you can load the saved profiles and re-run the XML scan, eliminating the time consuming profile scraping. You can even edit the saved file and add new profiles - all you need is the profile ID, and then run the XML scan. The new profile credits, as well as the updated prior ones will be available in the rebuilt export XML.

- there is a message popup that comes in-between the pages of the CLT that are being scraped. It is an artifact of a technical workaround to the embedded browser limitation. The message box must be answered between pages, but there is a flag for doing it automatically. A future update will save your default preference.

- another example of an interesting use. I ran CLT for "Tom Criuse" and saved the scraped results. Later, I was wondering how many films the actress "Koyuki" (my avatar) shared with Tom. I simply reloaded the profile list (which automatically added Tom to the variants table), then manually added Koyuki to the variants table, Then I ran the XML scan to get the total credits for both actors within the set of profiles I had previously looked up for Tom. So now I know how many movies (DVDs) they have in common without re-running the CLT for both of them and doing a complex comparison. Cool? Yes.

I will probably do another video later to demo the features in real time.

Ego has nothing to do with stuffing things into BulkEdit. I am old and a bit tired these days. I will happily donate the code and my help to a developer who wants to carve this out into a separate plugin.

Note: a quirk in the DVD Profiler plugin interface is that "04" is read as "4", so the version number will read 3.4 instead of 3.04. I will fix that later.

New version BulkEdit / CLTBoss V3.10

- removed confusing and useless "Speedup" function
- auto advance is now defaulted on startup

More usage notes:

- One More Time about that dialog box. It is not for debugging. It is an annoying workaround for a technical issue for which I have not found a solution, even after searching and begging. The embedded browser will not refresh the internal web page when pagination comes from a program and not the user. Google it. One nasty way to force it, is to pop a modal message box. I don't like it either. If you know of a solution, please let me know.

The dialogue box somehow forces the new CLT page to be loaded into the browser, so it can be scraped. Internally, the event handler never fires. Just wait for 600 milliseconds, then use AutoIt to close the dialogue box, then grab the browser contents and scrape, Repeat for all the pages in the CLT.

To get control, wait for when the dialogue box disappears for a few seconds in-between pages and uncheck the auto advance box. Then when the dialogue comes back you can answer "Yes" to continue, "No" to stop processing for the current name variant, or "Cancel" to stop processing for all variants. Also, during the few seconds of scraping time in-between dialogue box popup, you can click on the View Web Site / View Profiles button. If in profiles view, you can watch the scraped profiles as they populate the grid.

If you have the "Scan after Lookup" box checked, the online XML scan will start immediately after all variants are processed. If not checked, then you can defer the XML scan and click the "Scan Profiles XML" at your convenience.

Found bug in Find/Next. Watch this post. Easy fix.

Edit: recently introduced bug - profile list reported empty when it isn't. Easy fix, sorry for the inconvenience.

CLTBoss futures

(1) First of all, I continue to apologize for the ridiculous pagination popup. Rest assured that the moment I find a solution to that issue, I will implement it. In case you wonder why I don't scrape the locality, as does CLTPlus, in order to complete the Profile ID for the XML scan - that also requires a mouse click that does not refresh the page without, well you know ...

(2) I would prefer to take the code out of BulkEdit, along with "ScrapeGoat" - basically a lot of shared code. Too old and tired. I repeat my request for some "young(er)," smart(er) developer to come along and take responsibility. I will donate code, time, debugging, etc. until my time is up.

(3) I have found it surprisingly engaging to mess around with the Google images web site. You can get to the artist Wiki, IMDB and tons of delicious pix of all my favorite actresses (or whatever your persuasion  ). I came across an old plugin of DJ's - "6 degrees". But it needs Profiler XML, and then I thought about Database Query. To wit, high priority new function for CLTBoss is Invelos collection formatted XML for selected profiles in the profile ID grid, and optional Invelos formated  XML scan output. 

(4) Other items under consideration:

- Add to collection of selected profiles (code already in ScrapeGoat)
(if you start with a clean database, you could create database collections consisting of just the profiles  for a favorite actor)
- View selected actor IMDB page
- View selected actor Wiki page
- Direct link to Amazon, Netflix , or whatever from PID Grid?
- Something I didn't think about?

I want to thank GSyren and AiAustria for their help in what seems to have been (another) failed mission. And on top of it, I think Gunnar has been frustrated by me. I apologize for that. I'm thinking that perhaps my DVD Profiler Forum days maybe should be coming to a close. I am not helping and not happy. I'll probably go ahead and release the next BulkEdit and call it a day, whenever that day happens to be.

Well I am aggressively testing and debugging the next release of CLTBoss, which hopefully will validate the following features:

- The popup is gone! Pagination is automatic without interruption. However, the dreaded fixed delay is still required. Now there is a user option. My system works best at 15 seconds. I am still searching for a solution to the problem of not being notified when the downloaded data is ready for scraping.
- Ability to save selected profiles in Invelos Collection format
- Ability to create and export credits XML containing compact CLTBoss format for processing by other programs
- Ability to create and export XML containing credit embedded in standard Invelos Export XML format
- Ability to add selected profiles to your local collection
- Attractive Google images display of selected actor
- Display of selected actor Wiki, IMDB and Instagram pages
- Automatic treatment of Firstname field as "CreditedAs" search if MN and LN fields are blank
- Credits tally includes a separate column for matches on "Credited As" field in the database, along with the total credits including F/M/L/BY
- Match on "CreditedAs has priority for matching in the search. If that fails, the F/M/L/BY is attempted
- Ability to manually scrape an individual page from the CLT
- Ability to consolidate scrape results into a single list of profile IDs
- Ability to manually initiate an online XML scan of a list of profiles
- Ability to run CLT search on a set of variant names, consisting of the same or different persons
- Ability to save/restore the variants list and profiles list
- Ability to populate variants list with cast / crew from the displayed DVDP profile
- Ability to manually edit the variants table and profile list
- Find / Next in Export XML

Maybe some other stuff. Anyway, I am hoping that some people will enjoy the plugin. If requested, I will consider breaking out CLTBoss into a separate plugin. Hoping to post demo video and code within the next couple of days.

Screenshot: fan bingbing fun! Credit As search.
Screenshot: multi-person variants
Screenshot: XML scan in progress.
Screenshot: Invelos XML Export and profile list. Small sample.