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DVDFolks - making data entry less painful

DVDFolks is no longer maintained, and became pretty much inoperable on 19 Feb 2007 due to a new page design implemented by IMDb. In keeping with long-announced plans, DVDFolks functionality has been added to the DVD Profiler Companion and all future updates to the IMDb import will be made to the Companion only. Version 0.4 beta 3 of the Companion is fully compatible with the new IMDb pages, although editing will not be added until beta 4.

Update: IMDb have made it possible (for now) to use the old design instead - to do this navigate to 'Redesign FAQ', then 'Can I change my user preferences to keep the old design?'. Pick the option to use the old design, and then go and find the movie with the cast/crew you want to import.

Because IVS do not want discussion of third-party database extraction utilities on the intervocative.com servers, I have created a mailing list for discussion to take place on. Instructions for adding yourself to this list are here.

Please note that usage of DVDFolks is subject to version 1.0 of the CDDL, as well as the IMDb's terms of use.

Program features

  • Takes cast list from IMDb, and transforms it to a DVD Profiler–compatible format
  • Small
  • Stable
  • Quick
  • Automatic merging of duplicate name/role combinations
  • Automatic copy to clipboard

Known limitations

  • The displayed XML is ugly - due to a limitation in MSXML.
  • Options aren't saved between sessions.
  • IMDb recently changed the way they presented cast and crew information for TV shows, breaking DVDFolks. This will be addressed when DVDFolks is merged into the DVD Profiler Companion

Idiot's guide to DVDFolks usage

  1. Download
  2. Allow DVDFolks access through any firewall
  3. Load DVDFolks
  4. Navigate to 'Full Cast and Crew' page for whatever profile you need data for
  5. Click 'Next'
  6. Choose options
  7. Click 'Next'
  8. Wait briefly
  9. Click 'Next'
  10. Verify / amend any data
  11. Click 'Next' (this will automatically put the XML onto your clipboard)
  12. Load DVD Profiler
  13. Find the relevant profile
  14. Click 'Edit'
  15. Click 'Assign Cast' or 'Assign Crew' (depending on options chosen previously)
  16. Right-click on (empty) cast/crew list
  17. Click Paste
  18. Confirm your choice

Plans for next version

  • Active development of standalone DVDFolks has ceased, but the DVD Profiler Companion will acquire this functionality in a future version.

Download

ChangeLog

DVDFolks 0.83
Minor release to stop using MSXML to 'prettify' the XML before display. This fixes the 'stylesheet has no document element' error that some people have started experiencing after a Microsoft security update to MSXML.
DVDFolks 0.82
Minor release to handle IMDb's increased use of headshots before cast names
DVDFolks 0.81
Minor release to handle IMDb's newly added use of headshots before cast names
DVDFolks 0.8
Sound and Writing crew updated for DVD Profiler 2.4
Can now handle 3 combined initials (e.g. J.R.R. Tolkien) properly
Crew role determination now handles alternate names properly in all cases
Crew role determination now also handles 'uncredited' as well as '(uncredited)'
Improved wording on 'remember previous'
Prefix handling now works with single names.
Changed default credit for cinematography section to DP
Added basic translation support (load up program in text, scroll down to near bottom and edit away. Lines 679-686 and 718 should contain all displayed text)
Fixed issue when different name fields contained same content (e.g. Doug E. Doug)
Names with 'the' (eg The Edge, Cedric the Entertainer) are now placed solely in the first-name field.
Sir, Dame added to 1st name prefixes
Added 'la' to middle name prefixes
St/St. added to last name prefixes.
TV Crew based on episode lists found on guest cast page. If a crew member has either an episode name/number in their role, they are considered for inclusion/removal based on chosen episode range. If the crew member does not have any episodes listed, they are included anyway.
Removal of 'year' text from role names.
Fixed some crew regressions from 0.7 preview 2 -> 0.7 final.
Speed improvements to crew processing
DVDFolks 0.7 (beta)
Program now works with all IMDb variants (www, uk, us, akas)
TV season support
More robust crew handling
Remember previous cast supports TV shows
Fixed issue with first name prefixes in middle name (e.g. Jill St. John)
'Hidden' settings are gathered in 1 place. You can access these by loading the HTA in a text editor and scrolling to the bottom. Be very careful how you change these! 'Hidden' settings are things like first name prefixes, and what the program considers to be a sound editor (an issue of contention!).
Joined double-initials in IMDb text are now split
Many interface changes
Ability to see original IMDb text in edit screen (hover)
Can delete actors (a previously hidden feature)
Auto-detection of TV/Film
Some small speed enhancements
XML generation for crew. This is based on a comparison of Actor copy/paste XML to Actors in exported XML. Final DVD Profiler format may well be different.
DVDFolks 0.6 (beta)
Very basic TV cast support. It's all or nothing. And slow...
Duplicate-matching code slightly amended to deal with edge cases that TV mode exposed.
DVDFolks 0.56 (beta)
Fixed XML to reflect the new handling of multiple casts.
DVDFolks 0.55 (beta)
Multiple cast lists now handled differently
Option to choose IMDb vs credits name
Double quotes in roles converted to single quotes (solves IE bug)
Fixed some of the window sizing issues people were experiencing
Removed 1st cinematographer to director of photographer conversion, since IMDb crew are actually alphabetical..
Some internal bits reorganised to make adding TV crew easier
DVDFolks 0.5 (beta)
Now always compensates for ampersands (&), not just in roles
A 1500%(!) speed boost, due to some rewritten prefix/suffix algorithms
The same algorithmic rewrite also fixed some other potential bugs
Added some more details to the 'extraction' page, about the progress of the program.
Add Sgt/Sgt. to the list of 1st name prefixes
Renamed 'Previous' button to 'Back'
Crew now use middle name field, due to change in IVS policy.
The first cinematographer in the IMDb list is now treated as the Director of Photography.
Expanded the list of words used to recognise roles. A crew person is included if their role includes any of (director, writer, written, story, screenplay, novel, book, teleplay, producer, executive producer, composer, songs, cinematographer, director of photography, editor, production design, art director, mixer), but NOT (assistant, associate, co-, line, re-, additional, technician, operator, unit)
Implemented processing options. These aren't saved, each time you return to the options screen they are reset.
DVDFolks 0.4 (beta)
Prefix/suffix matching is no longer case-sensitive
Revamped interface
Provisional crew support - the program can extract the information, but cannot transform it into XML yet (waiting for IVS to add support to DVD Profiler)
DVDFolks 0.36 (beta)
When parsing for last name prefixes, program didn't check that name matches were actually prefixes (e.g. for the name 'A B C D', B could be found as a prefix, even though C wasn't.
Added von der to list of recognised prefixes.
Now works on 'combined details' section, instead of giving an error. This one was not my fault!!
DVDFolks 0.35 (beta)
Now works on 'full cast and crew' section for ALL titles (movie and TV). Please note that this does not as-yet-constitute anything like full extraction of TV casts ('regular' cast only)
Worked around an issue where IMDb lists the same person twice (or more), instead of combining their roles.
Now gives helpful messages instead of program errors if you try and proceed without a cast (e.g. wrong IMDb page).
Can now do more than 1 cast list without restarting the program (I'm sure this time!).
DVDFolks 0.31 (beta)
Fixes issues encountered with ampersands (&). DVD Profiler gives an error message, but seems OK anyway...
DVDFolks 0.3 (beta)
Changed IMDb start page from http://akas.imdb.com to http://akas.imdb.com/search
Added 'hand' cursor when hovering over stage names
Implemented editing of names before generating XML (including identifing overlong names)
Changed behaviour for overlong names/roles. User must now decide how to reduce length
Removes (uncredited), (special edition), (archive footage), (archive sound) from role names
Recognises 1LT, 1LT., 1st, 1st., 2LT, 2LT., 2nd, 2nd., 3rd, 3rd., Admiral, Capt, Capt., Captain, COL, COL., CPT, Dr, Dr., GEN, GEN., General, Lcdr, Lcdr., Lt, Lt., LTC, LTC., LTG, LTG., Ltjg, Ltjg., MAJ, Maj., Major, MG, MG., Mr, Mr., Mrs, Mrs., Ms, Ms., Pastor and Reverend as part of first names. This is the list as used by DVDProfilerCast with a couple of my own additions.
Recognises d', de, del, di, le, san, ter, van, van de, van den, van der, von, I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, Jr, Jr., Sr and Sr as part of last names. This is the list as used by DVDProfilerCast with a couple of my own additions.
Can now (actually) do more than 1 cast list without restarting the program.
Did some more internal reorganisation
DVDFolks 0.21 (alpha)
Empty roles now generate no XML tag, instead of an empty tag. This was causing an access violation in DVD Profiler.
DVDFolks 0.2 (alpha)
Corrected extraneous <space> in middle names
Now deals correctly with single-name actors (no middle/last name)
Added preview of how the names will be split (no edit just yet)
Rewrote (rearchitected) large chunks, to enable easier addition of new features
Added some (very limited) error checking
Can now go back and import another cast list, without restarting the program
DVDFolks 0.11 (alpha)
Removed some debugging code when generating XML
DVDFolks 0.1 (alpha)
Initial Release (proof of concept)