Release - List Cache Keeper - Reshow media plugin lists faster

Release List Cache Keeper - Reshow media plugin lists faster - Printable Version

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+---- Thread: Release List Cache Keeper - Reshow media plugin lists faster (/showthread.php?tid=311656)

List Cache Keeper - Reshow media plugin lists faster - torenvalk - 2017-04-07

Reshow media plugin lists faster.

Keeps media plugin list's cache files so they can be used to reshow lists
faster. Lists can be automatically expired after a specified number of hours or
manually refreshed via context menu or keymap.

Once installed you can find this addon in the Services section of My Addons.

Code:
My Addons -> Services -> List Cache Keeper -> Configure

On Linux the `chattr` command needs to be available to protect cache files
and either root access or permission to `sudo chattr`. Most Kodi operating
systems like LibreELEC work out of the box.

Keeping lists

Kodi caches most plugin lists but only keeps the cache files for going
backwards to the previous list. This addon runs as a service in the
background, protecting cache files it encounters for video, music and picture
plugin lists so they are reused rather than deleted. Cached lists are much
faster to load as they don't need to start any scripts or access the network
which is beneficial for lower performance hardware and internet connections.
Faster systems can also benefit from virtually instant list reshow.

Cached lists will not refresh when they are shown unless they have expired,
so any changes like new items, favorites, categories or search results will
not be seen until the list is manually refreshed.

Plugins can prevent their own lists from being cached, typically this is done
for hard-coded lists or lists that load quickly, some plugins make it
optional. Accessing lists remotely with JSON RPC does not use cache files so
there is no benefit.

On startup and when displaying cached lists, the log will show errors as Kodi
tries and fails to delete the protected cache files, this is normal and
expected behavior.

Expiring lists

Lists that have exceeded the specified expiry age are automatically refreshed
when they are displayed. File links may change over time causing the cached
ones to stop working, so it is best not to set the expire time too long. Lists
that contain only folders are less likely to need regular refreshing so can
be given a separate and much longer expire time.

Changes to the current list can be detected in the background, if the list
has changed the user can be prompted to refresh or it can be done
automatically.

Expired cache files are cleaned when the system starts and periodically when
the system is idle so that they don't accumulate. If a cache file has expired
but is still available when its list is shown, it will briefly appear before
being automatically refreshed. This behavior can be changed so that it
prompts before refreshing so the expired list can be retained. Expired cache
files can also be manually cleaned in the settings.

Manually refreshing lists

Lists can be manually refreshed with the "Refresh list" context menu item
(Jarvis 16+) or by key mapping.

Assign cache operations to buttons by editing the keymap file
`userdata/keymaps/keymap.xml`. The standard refresh operation
`Container.Refresh` won't work and requires functions provided by this addon.
The following example maps "Refresh list" to the F5 key, "Expire now" to
the F6 key and "Delete all list caches" to the F8 key.

Code:
<keymap>

  <global>

    <keyboard>

      <F5>SetProperty(service.plugin.listcachekeeper.doRefreshList, true, Home)</F5>

      <F6>SetProperty(service.plugin.listcachekeeper.doCleanExpiredCaches, true, Home)</F6>

      <F8>SetProperty(service.plugin.listcachekeeper.doDeleteAllCaches, true, Home)</F8>

    </keyboard>

  </global>

</keymap>

Notes

When updating Kodi it is possible for the cache file format to change which
will break any cached lists from the previous version. This may cause strange
errors when these lists are displayed but is easily fixed by deleting all
cache files.

Lists will stop being refreshed if the service crashes for whatever reason,
disabling and re-enabling the addon will restart the service.

Disabling/Uninstalling

Before disabling or uninstalling this addon it is important to delete all
list caches to avoid being stuck with old lists. This can be done in the
addon's settings, if you forget you can always temporarily re-enable or
re-install the addon.

Alternatively you can manually delete the list cache files. The files have
extension `*.fi` and are located in the `cache/archive_cache` folder (`cache`
folder prior to Krypton 17.0). On Windows they are protected by a read-only
flag and can be simply deleted in File Explorer. On Linux the `chattr`
command needs to be used to remove the immutable flag before they can be
deleted.

Download

Latest version: v1.1.0 (2017-04-10)

https://github.com/nkestrel/kodi.service.plugin.listcachekeeper/releases/latest

HOW-TO:Install_an_Add-on_from_a_zip_file

RE: List Cache Keeper - Reshow media plugin lists faster - User 325245 - 2017-04-07

Interesting. This is, I suppose, only for Kodi v 17?

Sent from my N7100

RE: List Cache Keeper - Reshow media plugin lists faster - Lunatixz - 2017-04-07

Interesting... but i'm not sure it's wise to cache outside of the original plugin. Assuming the initial plugin already uses a cache this plugin would double i/o usage.

Nevertheless looking over the code its definitely a unique idea, well done!

RE: List Cache Keeper - Reshow media plugin lists faster - torenvalk - 2017-04-09

(2017-04-07, 13:10)DaLanik Wrote: Interesting. This is, I suppose, only for Kodi v 17?

It's back-compatible to Helix 14 but you need Jarvis 16 or later to be able to refresh through the context menu which is fairly important.

(2017-04-07, 21:46)Lunatixz Wrote: Interesting... but i'm not sure it's wise to cache outside of the original plugin. Assuming the initial plugin already uses a cache this plugin would double i/o usage.

Nevertheless looking over the code its definitely a unique idea, well done!

Thanks! It is kind of a hacky approach but Kodi already caches lists outside of plugins when going backwards, this just makes it work when going forwards as well, until the cache expires and then it loads a new list normally. The only case of additional I/O is if an expired list is loaded before the cache file has been cleared, making it load and then refresh. But even then the load time for cached lists is very short and can be avoided by clearing expired lists on startup/idle/command.