PVR Manager not finding The Strange Case of the Law

[Derek Moss]

On 6 July 2012 13:26, dinkypumpkin <dinkypumpkin at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 06/07/2012 09:46, Derek Moss wrote:
>>
>> On 6 July 2012 09:45, Derek Moss <dmgi at stoptheviolence.co.uk> wrote:
>> Hmm, wouldn't it be easier just to put whatever commandline is needed
>> in pvr_manager.cmd, so that the cache is automatically updated
>> whenever the Web PVR Manager is started?
>
>
> The batch file doesn't have access to your web pvr settings, so it won't
> know which caches to refresh.  The settings are stored in a browser cookie
> wherever your browser saves cookies, and the cookie may not even exist if
> you use a cookie manager of some kind.
>
> What you suggest might work up to a point.  You could add an entry for the
> "type" option with your preferred programme types to your options file and
> then insert a call to "get_iplayer --refresh" at the top of pvr_manager.cmd
> to force a cache refresh before the web pvr launches. For users with slow
> connections, that will slow down web pvr startup noticeably, but if you were
> going to add this feature you should make it optional, turned on by a
> command line switch.  Additionally, you can't manage your options file from
> the web pvr gui, but you might not care if you always search on the same
> programme types.
>
> The basic question here is whether or not you should have to use the options
> file to configure web pvr functions that can otherwise be managed in the
> gui.  The guy who wrote the web pvr obviously thought not.  In general, I
> agree that the web pvr should remain in its own little universe.  For one
> thing, there is no equivalent of the above for anyone who runs the web pvr
> as a CGI application in a web server (though that is most likely a tiny
> group of users).  More importantly, from a support perspective it's much
> easier to communicate "hit Refresh Cache and search again" when someone
> complains that they can't find a programme in the web pvr.  The alternative
> would be "close your browser, kill the web pvr, open a command prompt, enter
> a certain command to update the options file (which web pvr users may not
> even know about and thus might require additional explanation) to add the
> programme type(s) you want, restart the web pvr, make sure caches update on
> startup by looking for the listing in the terminal window, open your browser
> and reconnect to the web pvr, then search again".

I don't know about all that. I just know that doing "get_iplayer
--type tv "strange case"" refreshed whatever cache the Web PVR Manager
uses, so it seems sensible to do something similar when starting it,
to ensure the cache is up-to-date. Of course, if it's left running
then it will need to be updated from time to time with the Refresh
Cache button, but for users like me who just start it, find a
programme and download it and then close it until next time I need it,
making sure the cache is updated when starting would be sufficient.