Movie Information Manager
version 1.1.0
© 2003 the analog underground
0. Revision History
• 1.1
» Added to 'how to use' section of readme
» Creating new database now respects default database path
» Current database now cleared out before new one is loaded
» No longer tries to calculate bitrates if time is not entered
» No longer crashes if unable to write to database file
» IMDb now comes up and searches for movie title automatically if no URL is provided
» Changed picture on IMDb button
» Currently selected movie now always shows in table
» Some columns are now centered
» Tab order fixed in settings window
» Table no longer looks active at first
» Single view now shows first movie instead of last after load
» New database window no longer puts .mim for file name when left blank
» New database window now has a default CD size
» No longer crashes when a report is minimized
» No longer crashes if default database is missing
• 1.0
» Project started as rewrite of Movies Front End
» Using ActiveX / COM components
» Definition of .mim file format
1. License
Movie Information Manager (MIM) is released as freeware, which means
that it may be distributed to anyone at no charge. MIM is also
an open-source project, which means that the source code is available
to anyone who might want to use it. The most current files are
available from the analog underground page (
http://geek.track7.vze.com/analogu.html),
and anyone who would like to make MIM available for download is
welcome to, provided that a link to the analog underground is
included.
2. Requirements
MIM should run on any computer running Windows 95 and up, or Windows
NT 4 and up. A default web browser is required in order to view
the readme file from within the program, and an internet connection is
required in order to make use of the
IMDb.
MIM does not serve to encode or decode movie files, nor does it burn
CDs--it is simply an enhanced database.
3. Installation
In most cases, extracting the contents of the .zip file
to a temporary directory and running setup.exe will
install MIM correctly. On some systems, however, this process
may not work, and a manual install may be necessary. For a
manual installation, extract the contents of the .cab
file to the program directory, then copy any .ocx,
.dll, or .tlb files to the Windows SYSTEM32
directory and register them one by one. To register components,
go to START > Run... and enter regsvr32
"C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\auComCtl.ocx" and repeat for all other
components. A window will pop up saying that it was successful.
• Application path
| Filename |
Description |
mim.exe |
Program executable |
readme.html |
This file (documentation) |
• Windows SYSTEM32 (usually
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 or
C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32)
| Filename |
Description |
asycfilt.dll |
Purpose unknown |
auComCtl.ocx |
analog underground Common Controls |
auMIMpnl.ocx |
Panel Controls for MIM |
auMIMsvr.dll |
Data Classes for MIM |
COMCAT.DLL |
Microsoft Component Category Manager |
COMDLG32.OCX |
Common dialog controls (Save, Open, etc.) |
MSCOMCTL.OCX |
Microsoft Windows Common Controls |
MSFLXGRD.OCX |
Microsoft Flex Grid Control |
MSSTKPRP.DLL |
Purpose unknown |
msvbmv60.dll |
Microsoft Visual Basic Virtual Machine 6.0 |
msvcrt.dll |
Microsoft Visual C runtime library |
oleaut32.dll |
Microsoft OLE for Windows |
olepro32.dll |
Microsoft OLE Property Support |
scrrun.dll |
Microsoft Script Runtime (file access) |
stdole2.tlb |
Microsoft OLE for Windows |
VB6STKIT.DLL |
Visual Basic 6 setup toolkit library |
4. How to Use MIM
The first step in using MIM is getting it installed correctly.
See the
installation section for more
information.
Please note that allowing the mouse cursor to hover over labels and
buttons in the program will usually bring up a tooltip with more
information.
• File Menu
» New Database
» Open Database
Opens an existing database
» Save Database
Saves the current database
» Save Database As
Saves the current database to a different filename
» Write HTML File
Saves the current database to an HTML file
» Exit
Exits the program
• View Menu
Opens or refreshes the report chosen from the submenu
» Single (Edit)
Toggles single (edit) area on and off
» Status Bar
Togges the status bar on and off
» Settings
• Help Menu
» Readme
Opens readme.html in the default browser
» About
Shows the about window
• Toolbar
» New Database
» Open Database
» Save Database
» Write HTML File
» Single (Edit) View
» Reports
• Single (Edit) Area
» Title
The title of the movie. Required.
» Discs
The number of CDs (or files) for the movie. Necessary for
Compress and Burn Reports.
» Size
The total file size of the movie in bytes. Necessary for
Compress and Burn Reports.
» Time
The total running time of the movie, in h:mm:ss. Necessary
for calculation of bitrates in the Compress Report.
» Res (resolution)
The width and height of the movie, in pixels. Enter width in
the first box, height in the second.
» Video
The video codec and bitrate used by the movie. Enter codec
in the first box, bitrate (in kbps) in the second box.
Necessary for calculation of audio bitrate in the Compress Report.
» Audio
The audio codec and bitrate used by the movie. Enter codec
in the first box, bitrate (in kbps) in the second box.
Necessary for calculation of video bitrate in the Compress Report.
» IMDb
The URL for this movie on IMDb. The URL must be in the form
http://us.imdb.com/Title? followed by a 7-digit
number. The button immediately to the right of this box will
open the URL in the default browser. The HTML output will
link the movie's title to the URL entered here if something is
entered.
» Year
The year the movie was released.
» Index
The index to file the movie under. Used for sorting.
If left blank, an index will be automatically generated from the
title. A movie may only be added to a database that does not
already contain the index that movie wishes to use.
» Search
Finds the first movie that has an index beginning with the text
entered in the index box. Search is case-insensitive.
Enter the beginning of an index to search for, then click the
button.
» CD
Checked if the movie has been burned to CD. This will be
unchecked for all new movies, indicating that they have not been
burned to CD. Used by the Compress and Burn Reports, and
displayed on Online Report.
» HD
Checked if the movie is on a hard drive, or online. This
will be unchecked for all new movies, indicating that they are not
online. Used by all three reports.
» First Movie |<
This button will jump to the first movie in the database.
Pressing Ctrl-Home on the keyboard will do the same thing.
» Previous Movie <
This button will jump to the movie before the current movie in the
database. Pressing Page Up (or the up-arrow if the table
view is active) on the keyboard will do the same thing.
» Delete Movie ×
This button will delete the current movie from the database.
There is no way to undo this, but it is possible to exit the
program without saving the database.
» Next Movie >
This button will jump to the movie afterthe current movie in the
database. Pressing Page Down (or the down-arrow if the table
view is active) on the keyboard will do the same thing.
» Last Movie >|
This button will jump to the last movie in the database.
Pressing Ctrl-End on the keyboard will do the same thing.
» New Movie >*
This button will add a new movie to the database.
• Table Area
This is the area on the right side of the window, or stretching
across the middle if the single (edit) area is turned off. It
displays all the information about all the movies in the database,
and provides another way to select which movie will show in the
single (edit) area.
• Status Bar
The status bar shows across the bottom of the windows when turned
on. The left portion of the status bar displays messages, and
the right portion displays the name of the currently open
database. Hovering the mouse over the filename displays most
of the path to the file.
• New Movie Database Window
» File Name
Enter the filename the database should be saved under.
» Title
Enter the title to use at the top of HTML output from this
database.
» CD Size
Enter the maximum file size (in bytes) that should be burned to
CD. Necessary for Compress and Burn Reports.
• Reports
All of the reports can be open at the same time, though it may cause
some problems to do so. The purpose of the reports is to serve
as worklists, where movies on the report are moved off the report by
clicking the appropriate button. When the last movie is
removed from the report, the report will close.
» Movies to Compress Report
The Movies to Compress Report is the most complicated of the three
reports. Movies appear on this report if they are online and
not burned to CD, and they either have more than 1 file (disc) or
are larger than the CD size entered when the database was created
(see
New Database Window). When a
movie is selected from the list, its current information fills in
the New Values area. If some information is missing, it may
appear as a zero. Enter the new information (or leave the
old information if it has not changed) and press the Compress
button. If the movie no longer meets the criteria to be on
the report, it will be removed from the list.
To calculate a bitrate, enter a value for the other bitrate and
click the « button to calculate video
bitrate or the » button to calculate
audio bitrate. Bitrates are calculated based on 700 MB and
the length of the movie. The movie length must be entered
before a bitrate can be calculated.
» Movies Ready to Burn Report
Movies appear on this report if they are online and not burned to
CD, and are 1 file (disc) and smaller or equal to the CD size
entered when the database was created (see
New
Database Window). Burn the selected movie to a CD using
appropriate software, then click the Burn button to mark the movie
as being burned to CD and remove it from the list.
» Online Movies Report
Movies appear on this report if they are online. If a movie
is being taken offline, choose the movie from the list and click
Remove to mark the movie as offline and remove it from the list.
• Settings Window
» Default Paths
The default paths for database (.mim) and HTML
(.html) files may be modified here. New
databases may be created only in the default path. Enter a
full path manually or click the ellipses ...
to browse.
» HTML Columns
The columns listed here will be included in HTML output from the
program. The title is always included, and will be linked to
IMDb if the proper information is entered.
» Miscellaneous
Auto-save movies can be checked to automatically say yes to
prompts asking if changes made to the movie should be saved.
The Default Report selected here determines which report is run
when the report button on the toolbar (not the down arrow next to
it) is clicked. A Default Database may be entered, which
will automatically load on startup. If Default Database is
blank, it will be necessary to either create a new database or
open an existing database each time MIM starts.
» Erase
Clicking this button erases all of MIM's settings from the Windows
registry, and then exits immediately. There is a warning
that comes up first in case it gets accidentally clicked.
This is useful if the program is to be uninstalled.
» OK
Clicking this button saves changes to the settings and closes the
window.
» Cancel
Clicking this button closes the window without saving the
settings.
5. MIM File Format
Each movie database created by MIM is stored in a single ASCII file,
named what was entered in the File Name field when it was
created. The format of this file is detailed below.
• .mim
The pieces of database information are stored on one line
each. Each movie also has its own line, and pieces of
information for a movie are separated by pipe characters. This
file can be imported into most spreadsheet applications as a text
file with | as the delimiting character.
» Database information
· Title for HTML
· Maximum size to burn to CD
» Movie information
· Index
· Title
· Number of discs / files
· Size (in bytes)
· Time (hmmss)
· Width
· Height
· Year
· CD
· HD
· IMDb
· Video codec
· Video bitrate (kbps)
· Audio codec
· Audio bitrate (kbps)
Only the index and title are required. Numeric values will
appear as zero in the file if they are left blank in the program.