When having an application replying on the XML export of DVD Profiler my standard "workflow" has always been as follows:

1) Open DVD Profiler.
2) Edit/Add profile(s).
3) Close DVD Profiler.
4) Curse at my own stupidity.
5) Open DVD profiler.
6) Export DVD Collection to XML.
7) Close DVD Profiler.

I have now made a plugin to keep an XML export updated automatically, allowing me to skip step 4-7 above.

It's my first plugin, so before releasing it completely it would probably be best if a few brave people where willing to try it out first - just to make sure the installer actually runs etc.

If you are interested drop me a PM or reply here. If no one is interested I'll make the conclusion no one else needs it and keep it to myself.

There are a few limitations in the plugin: I have not tried it with 3.5 beta, and I doubt it will work very well if you have multiple databases you switch between regularly (as far as I know a plugin can't detect which database you have open).

Could be, I have not looked at 3.5 - but unless the XML export speed has increased I still prefer the plugin.

Any updates to this?

It can now be downloaded from here. You can also find it in Downloads/Plugins under the name "Instant Export".

I'm not sure how the plugin works, but if it is doing an incremental update, it is possible that it has gotten corrupted due to the recent Invelos database issues. Maybe try starting from scratch and suffer the time penalty to rebuild the plugin database.

If it is not incremental. and you get the full export each time, there are a number of other ways to automate XML export. For example, take a look at GSyren tools. And there are others.

Hopefully you will get lucky and get an answer. It would be nice to get his plugin fixed if that is the problem.

Quoting sba:

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The kind of error I get is that it cannot find some item ID.xml file. 95% of the time, deactivating / reactivating the plugin via the checkbox in its UI solves the problem (so that can't be linked to an issue e.g. with the database schema).

I'm not sure the export is incremental.

I had found about the GSyren tools, but they require a manual action (even if that's launching DVD Profiler with the /commandfile argument) to ensure the export is up-to-date.

I don't want to have to remember to run the export every time I change something to the database (adding a record, marking a movie as watched...).

Ok, good information. The fact that it is looking for an "ID.XML" almost reveals how the plugin works. And it seems incremental. The "ID" is profile ID. It seems that the plugin keeps a repository of xml organized by ID. Maybe separate files, maybe as blobs in an SQL file, I don't know. When a profile changes, that ID.XML is replaced. When time comes for the xml export, you collect the files, or blobs and build the xml collection file. Every plugin developer knows how to do this. I have this code in several of my plugins. So it is not a schema issue, as you said, but it could still be a synchronization issue. Take a look to see if there an index file, and whether he is using SQL or simply a folder of ID.XL files, where there a file for each profile ID in your collection.

The clever part of the plugin is correctly determining when there has been a change. I wrote a plugin like this a few years ago, but I was never satisfied that I could automatically detect all changes. So I respect the plugin that you have been using for years, if that author got it right. Props!

Quoting GSyren:

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Given that it's well over three years since Lars visited the forum (and way longer since he posted anything), it's unlikely that he'll read this thread any time soon.

Quoting sba:

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I had found about the GSyren tools, but they require a manual action (even if that's launching DVD Profiler with the /commandfile argument) to ensure the export is up-to-date.

DvdpScheduler can run the export automatically at a specific time. Personally I use it to run the export every night. DVD Profiler does not have to be running. DvdpScheduler will start it if it is not running, and can be configured to close DVD Profiler after the export. But, this does require that you are logged on in Windows.

Incremental export sounds intriguing. I'll have to look into that.

It is more than intriguing. It is hard, unless Lars discovered some magic. Remember "XmlSpy"? If you decide to take a shot at it, I would be happy to PM you a summary of the snags I hit trying to determine when things had changed. I might have overcomplicated things.

I thimk with XmlSpy, I was trying to detect not just profile changes, but database changes in the ways profiles were organized. I vaguely remember that there were some things that could change without notification, or an official "Event" associated with the change.

Oh we had a real slug fest. I think we even had DJ Doena in the ring. But again, perhaps we were shooting for an impossible perfection. The scenario that sba presented would be dead easy, as there are Events fired for changing a profile using the Edit menu.