Java Movie Database - Help


Main Window

The main window is simple. The most important function (after converting the IMDB text files the first time you run JMDB) is to search in the database. In the toolbar there is a button to start a search. Alternatively, you can quickly open a Search Window by pressing ALT+S.

Setup Dialog Box

Before you start to use the database and search for infos on movies, you have to configure some settings.

Setup General

In the General tab, you have to enter the location of the IMDB text files. They are used when converting them into the MySQL database. The path to helpfile and soundfile (played after finishing a database request) have also to be set.

The Number of results is not used yet.

Window Maximize Recognition is a workaround to be able to maximize the main window on a windows platform. Because there is no such feature in the Java standard (because not all the systems Java is running on support it), the program will try to recognize if the main window is maximized by looking at its position. A maximized window has the upper left corner at position (-4,-4) with a standard width of a window border and a size of (screenwidth+8)*(screenheight+8). If you have set the borderwidth of a window to another value (in Windows control panel), try to edit the Maximize Recognition Pixels value.
If you don't use a Windows platform, disable the Window Maximize Recognition feature.

Enable logging means that some debug infos are written onto the console and in "jmdb.log". In the actual version of JMDB you should turn this feature on.

Because generally the first thing you do when using JMDB is opening a Search Window, you can enable popup Search Window after startup that does this automatically.

Setup DB Setup

In the DB Setup tab, you can enter the settings for using the MySQL database. After configuriong the MySQL database as described in the Readme file, you enter the same values here and try to connect to the database by clicking on Test Connection. You can see the result only in the Java console by now.

Setup Detail Window Options

The options you can change in the Detail Window Options tab decide which parts of information the detail windows show. If you disable some categories, the database query will finish more quickly.

DataBase Converter

In the Database Converter window you convert the IMDB text files into the MySQL database. If you started JMDB for the first time, you have to convert them before you can use the rest of JMDB.

Database Converter

The database consists of round about 50 database tables. For speedup when searching in the database, you should create indices.

Because the conversion of the IMDb text files will last several hours just as creating the indices, you can either create the database with indices (e.g. in the night when you don't need your computer) or you could first create the database only and make the indices on another day.

Search Window

To search for a string in one of the four main categories Movies, Actors, Directors and Producers is a basical function and regularly the first thing you do when using JMDB.
String Comparison means a simple search method, with Regular Expression, you can make more complex searches. Read the MySQL documentation for learning how to use regular expressions.
When you select Expert Result Window you will have the result in one of these, otherwise it will be displayed in a Simple Result Window.

New Search

Simple Result Window

In most cases, a Simple Result Window is what you need to get the informtion you wanted. After searching for a movie, for example, you select the one you want to know more about and press Details, or alternatively, you open the Detail Window by double-clicking on the item. A Simple Result Window is easy to use and looks nicely simple, but you don't have the possibility to change something.

Simple Result Window

Expert Result Window

With the loss of simplicity, the Expert Result Window gives you the possibility to change the set of data which was the result of a database search. After arranging the items by standard cut/copy/paste actions, you can start another search based on the items in the tree.

Expert Result Window 1

For an example, let's ask "Which directors have to do with some batman movies or with the actor Harrison Ford?".

For this query, the first thing to do is to make two searches, one for movies like batman, another one for actors like Ford, Harrison. After that, you have to copy some batman movies and the actor Harrison Ford together in one Expert Result Window by using the Copy and Paste buttons. (Drag and Drop is not supported by now.)

Expert Result Window 2

The result will be something like this:

Expert Result Window 3

Now, you select Out only for Directors and Or for Categories. Then press New Search.

The result will be an Expert Result Window showing all Directors which have to do with the selected batman movies or with Harrison Ford.

Detail Window

This Window shows details of the selected item in a Simple or Expert Result Window. You can configure what exactly is showed in here by changing the options in the Detail Window Options tab in the Setup Window.

Movie Detail Window

Note that in a Movie Detail Window, the appearing actors are sorted by their importance they had in that movie.

Actor Detail Window

As you can see here, in a Actor Detail Window, the movies in which the actor played are sorted ba year.