[timothyrenner]

I’m trying to wrap my head around searching and why it doesn’t seem to be working very well for me.  I can get some of my movie files to show up as searchable, but I seem to be at the mercy of the scraper I choose when I add a source... And the current scrapers are not doing very well.

My question is: Can I get all of my movies files added into the library when I update and search by file name. For example, if I search for “Rings”, I’d expect all the Lord of the Rings movies and extras to show up in search results since it’s present in a filename. I’m not interested in renaming my files to conform to a standard or requiring a scraper like the IMDB or Universal scraper to pick up my movies and decide they should be added… In fact, I’d be happier to not require a scraper for my sources. I just want to add my source, update to get my movies in, and be able to search by the names I’ve provided.

I found some very old (2009 and 2011) threads that just about exactly matched this and there didn't seem to be any resolution back then.  9 years later, is this a possibility now?  Googling this doesn't seem to be very promising.  I seem to be stuck using the provided scrapers to get movies into my library... And they don't do a good job of it.

Thanks,
-Tim

[Karellen]

And they don't do a good job of it.

Well, you have already admitted why they don't work so well for you. Your filenames are incorrect. And if you are adamant in not renaming your files, then there is next to nothing we can do for you. Sometimes expectations and reality are poles apart.

I suppose one workaround is the Parsing NFO File... https://kodi.wiki/view/NFO_files#Parsing_nfo and please don't respond by saying that is too much work and not something you intend to do.

[timothyrenner]

I sort of found an answer: https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=251769 and adapted the plugin in there to make it work for me.

So lets change this to an ease of use issue.  I saw similar requests back in 2008 and 2011 to be able to simply add files into the DB by filename, so there have been sporadic requests for this kind of a feature, but in every thread there's a similar response to yours above...  You're using it wrong...  And there seems to be a bit of backlash to just wanting filenames as titles in the library that I don't understand.  I get that there's a file format required for the default scrapers...  But why not add a dirt simple scraper by default to make it a lot more accessible for users like me and the few others who don't want to rename an entire media library for Kodi use (which might break naming for other servers).

Why can't I rename my files?  And why do I need library searching?  Files are already following another naming scheme and Kodi isn't my only server.  So file rename is out of the question.  I also need library search capability for the Kore Android app to be able to search for anything...  It syncs up with the library.  Other than the time it took to find it and get it modified and installed, the stupid simple filename scraper I found above gets me up and running *really* fast and works great, without requiring a great barrier to entry (renaming all my files) to using Kodi...  I'd lobby for this to be another option for those of us that either can't or don't want to use the other scrapers instead of being called out as more or less user error.

Edit: And as to the .nfo files... I don't have *any* nfo files for my movies.  My backup, if I couldn't find something better, was going to be to write a small script that would scan all my movies files and create them, then go with that scraper, but the filename scraper is better... I don't have to re-run a script and try to keep my .nfo files in sync every time I update the files in my media library.  The filename scraper just picks them up when I update the Kodi library.

[Karellen]

I sort of found an answer: https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=251769 and adapted the plugin in there to make it work for me.

If you got that working, why not share here so others can use it also?

I also remembered this that does a similar thing... https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid...pid2779060