Kodi Community Forum
Explanation needed for clean database & smart playlist functions - Printable Version

+- Kodi Community Forum (https://forum.kodi.tv)
+-- Forum: Support (https://forum.kodi.tv/forumdisplay.php?fid=33)
+--- Forum: General Support (https://forum.kodi.tv/forumdisplay.php?fid=111)
+---- Forum: OS independent / Other (https://forum.kodi.tv/forumdisplay.php?fid=228)
+---- Thread: Explanation needed for clean database & smart playlist functions (/showthread.php?tid=350087)

Explanation needed for clean database & smart playlist functions - maeda - 2019-12-14

I would greatly appreciate if someone would explain the behavior i'm experiencing

Kodi 18.4, platforms win10 & Linux

The `TV` source is added to library, inside are tvshow1, tvshow2 etc, the usual stuff..
TV library is set to use local nfos only
When i delete the tvshow1 on the hard drive and do a `clean library`, kodi removes it from the source&library, as expected

The ting i can't explain is:
The smart playlist with a `TV` source as a `path` still shows the tvshow1, that is, the poster and info, nothing inside
why that playlist can't see that tvshow1 is removed from the library? is that a bug or expected behavior?

tnx

RE: Explanation needed for clean database & smart playlist functions - maeda - 2020-01-11

bump, can anyone confirm that 'm not the only one experience this?

so even if i delete the tvshow from the kodi itself (not by external means) and do a clean library, tvshow will be removed in general tvshows, but it's still present in the smart playlist (eg ghost poster and info)
This is definitely not the behavior i was having in Kodi17

tnx

RE: Explanation needed for clean database & smart playlist functions - Klojum - 2020-01-11

(2019-12-14, 12:58)maeda Wrote: When i delete the tvshow1 on the hard drive and do a `clean library`

This is not the preferred way. Although the clean library routine should be sufficient as possible (but is currently not as picky as it could/should be), having Kodi remove the files via de GUI from the library as well as from the source(s) directly is a better procedure.

Removing a TV show from the GUI should delete all related files, including nfo files and fanart.

RE: Explanation needed for clean database & smart playlist functions - maeda - 2020-01-12

(2020-01-11, 14:39)Klojum Wrote: This is not the preferred way. Although the clean library routine should be sufficient as possible (but is currently not as picky as it could/should be), having Kodi remove the files via de GUI from the library as well as from the source(s) directly is a better procedure.

Removing a TV show from the GUI should delete all related files, including nfo files and fanart. 

thank you @Klojum for the answer

I know deleting manually is not the preferred way, i've read posts about it, althou it worked fine in previous version
What i found strange is: if i go to setting>library>videos and delete the show via gui, do i clean library, it's still shows in my smart playlist
The only way to remove properly is to remove/delete the show directly from my smart playlist (but than clean library is of no purpose?)

And if i may say so, pressing context menu>scroll down several items>press remove from library>press left>press left is kinda long way to be the only way, i mean i do this often but maybe i'm an exception

What i would like to know is, when you say: `but is currently not as picky as it could/should be`
Does that mean we could hope this will be handled better in the future?

tnx

RE: Explanation needed for clean database & smart playlist functions - Klojum - 2020-01-12

(2020-01-12, 11:17)maeda Wrote: if i go to setting>library>videos and delete the show via gui, do i clean library, it's still shows in my smart playlist
if the Clean Library routine doesn't do its job properly (for whatever reason), smartlists will show incorrect data. Smartlists are simply enhanced database queries, so any movies/tvshows/episodes remaining in the video database will taint the results of those lists.

(2020-01-12, 11:17)maeda Wrote: Does that mean we could hope this will be handled better in the future?
There is ALWAYS room for improvement. :-)
If only I had Kodi development skills myself, then the non-video technical stuff could be addressed better.
There is also the Kodi Bug Tracker if you want to fully report a bug.

RE: Explanation needed for clean database & smart playlist functions - black_eagle - 2020-01-12

Probably a part of this is the caching that Kodi does for every image that it displays.  When it first shows an image, it caches it locally (to prevent high load on servers if the image is remote, and to speed up future loading).  The next time it shows that image, it will read it from the cache, rather than anywhere else.  This means that you can delete a poster from your HDD but Kodi will still show it because it's loading it from the cache rather than the original location.  Cached items are not re-checked for changes until 24 hours has elapsed from the time the image was first displayed.

There is a utility here https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=158373 that can remove redundant artwork from the cache.  Its definitely worth running after a 'clean library', especially if you have removed a chunk of stuff.  Run it with the P option to automatically remove any art that is no longer associated with anything.

RE: Explanation needed for clean database & smart playlist functions - maeda - 2020-01-18

(2020-01-12, 12:51)Klojum Wrote: There is also the Kodi Bug Tracker if you want to fully report a bug. 

I would be more confident to report a bug if i knew more people experience this
But anyways, i found a solution!
I went back to my old kodi17 userdata and looked up my custom playlists, it looks like i had this problem before, my solution was to write:
xml:


<rule field="numepisodes" operator="greaterthan">

<value>0</value>

</rule>
It simply doesn't display shows with zero episodes


tnx @black_eagle that utility looks interesting, it might be useful to clean up things from time to time