MDB postprocess V2.0 in Beta 1.56.25

Hi postprocess users!

The latest WG++ beta 1.56.25 contains a new version of the mdb side of the postprocessor. Here a detailed description of the changes and features:

MDB postprocess V2.0

The biggest change for the user is the new option to match series with the episode number. This besides the already available matching with episode title (sub-title). This allows a series episode to match with a mdb-site (e.g. thetvdb.com or imdb.com) entry of the series episode with either the episode title or the episode number.
​Other changes are, defaults settings in mdb.config (see 2) and the intro of MdbIni types (see 3)
​This new version of the MDB postprocessor needs the last (also updated) MdbIni's (see 4)

1. Episode-num matching:

This option can be selected in the mdb.config.xml file through the matchserie, mustmatch settings. E.g.
<matchserie mustmatch="title, episode-num" optional="" minimum="2"/> or even better
<matchserie mustmatch="title, sub-title, episode-num" optional="" minimum="2"/>
In the latter case, which is the prefered setting, the program will try to match the sub-title first , if that fails because the sub-title is not available in the xmltv source file or for another reason, it will try to find a match with the episode-num. See also 2. defaults

1.1 Episode-num pattern in mdb.config:
 

This new episode number matching is a tricky operation. Episode number formats in epg's vary from site to site and sometimes even within sites for different channels. Further, also wg++ siteini's sometimes convert them to formats prefered by the user or to the xmltv_ns standard format. At the other end, even the mdb sites have different formats. The program must bring (convert) these to one standard internally else a matching is not possible. For the episode-num values in xmltv source file this conversion is done automatically for two formats: xmltv_ns and the onscreen format Sx Ey ( e.g. S3 E5 = season 3 episode 5). Other onscreen formats need a pattern specification in mdb.config.xml, e.g. :
<episodenum_pattern site="se.timefor.tv">"Season'S1'Episode'E1'"</episodenum_pattern>
In which:
-- site is the site name for which the pattern is valid. This must be the site_id value.
-- the pattern value must be composed of the following elements:
 strings , like Season or Temporada or Aflevering or Folge , whatever strings or characters accompany the numbers.
 One or more of the following standard expressions to indicate the meaning of the numbers:
 'S0' or 'S1' the season number, S0 for 'zero based numbers' (first season is season 0) 'S1' for 'one based numbers'
 'St0' or 'St1' the total number of seasons (if present)
 'E0' or 'E1' and eventual 'Et0' or 'Et1' for the episode number
 'P0' or 'P1' and eventual 'Pt0' or 'Pt1' for the part number
Example :
Value in xmltv  : Season 5, Episode 12      pattern :   Season'S1',Epsode'E1' (for one based numbers)
 or   : Ep12/24 of Sn3   pattern : Ep'E0'/'Et1'ofSn'S0'  (partly zero based)   
* remarks: spaces in patterns are ignored
* multiple patterns can be specified if a site uses different formats in the xmltv source. The program automatically selects the one that gives the best matching. Each pattern must be enclosed by " ".
Example:
<episodenum_pattern site="se.timefor.tv">"Season'S1'Episode'E1'""Season'S1'Episode'E1'/'Et1'"</episodenum_pattern>

 2. Defaults for mdb.config:
 
Select and match settings have build in defaults values: (recommended)
These can be specified like this:
For movies:
Select:
<selectmovie>defaults</selectmovie> or with a contains argument:
<selectmovie contains="blabla" >defaults</selectmovie>
which is the same as:
<selectmovie duration="45" minumum="2" musthave="title" contains="blabla" optional="productiondate,actor,director"/>
Match:
<matchmovie>defaults</matchmovie>
<matchmovie mustmatch="title" optional="productiondate,actor,director" minimum="2"/>

For series:
Select:
<selectserie>defaults</selectserie> or
<selectserie contains="blabla" >defaults</selectserie>
which is the same as:
<selectserie duration="25" minumum="2" musthave="title" contains="blabla" optional="sub-title, episode-num"/>
(note the sub_title and episode-num as optional together with minimum=2, this will ensure that either sub-title and or episode-num is present in the selected show) (Do not add additional optional elements!!)
Match:
<matchserie>defaults</matchserie>
<matchserie mustmatch="title, episode-num, sub-title" optional="productiondate,actor,director" minimum="2"/>
(note both episode-num and sub-title in mustmatch as described above)

3. MdbIni types: 

The mdbini's come in two different types, the ones suitable for movies, like imdb.com.ask.ini and imdb.com.bing.ini etc, and the ones designed for series matching, like tvdb.com.bing.ini and imdb.com.imdb_series.ini
The ones for movies simply do not work for series matching and opposite!!
The revised mdbini's (see 4) that will be published together with mdb postprocess V2.0 contain a mdbinitype variable that is checked by the program and warns if used for the wrong purpose

​4. Suitable MdbIni's

​for movies (mdbini type= movie):
​imdb.com.ask.ini rev 11 (recommended)
imdb.com.bing.ini rev 10
imdb.com.imdb.ini rev 10
(imdb.com.google.ini is discontinued!)

​for series (mdbini type = serie):
tvdb.com.bing.ini rev 1
imdb.com.imdb_series.ini rev 7
imdb.com.bing_series.ini rev 1 (coming soon)
(tvdb.com.ini is discontinued)