Quick Overview Video

This video demonstrates the basic use of MovieFinder. It walks through how movies can be narrowed down for selection, demonstrates adding a new movie, and shows off a few appearance options.

Adding New Movies Tutorial

Tutorial video of adding new movies by entering their title and by dragging and dropping associated files or images. It also demonstrates how the auto-detection process works.

 

 

General Tips and Shortcuts

• Quick Overview Video
• Pause the mouse cursor over any button or object to read extra info about that item or function.
• Most buttons have a shortcut keyboard stroke associated with them. This comes in very handy on the Movie Details tab. The keyboard shorcut is displayed when hovering the mouse cursor over the button.
• Movies can have an Associated File.
  • This can be any file on your computer that you wish to be linked to a given movie.
  • If you click on the Open File button on the Movie Details tab, the file will open/play on your computer.
    • For example, an .avi file will open with your default video player.
    • All file types are supported, as long as your computer knows how to open that particular file extension.
• If you don't like the cover image that was downloaded, simply right click it to download an alternate.
• Drag and Drop features:
  • Cover Images (as displayed on both Movie Details and Cover Images tabs): drag a new image file onto the old image to replace it.
  • Associated Files: drag a file onto the text area of Movie Details tab, or anywhere on the Add New Movie tab or Edit Movie window.
  • Background Image. Drag desired background image onto Appearance Options popup window.
  • Alternatively, press the F key on your keyboard to manually browse for a file to associate with the displayed movie (Movie Details tab only).
• Edit Movie window and Add New Movie tab:
  • Clicking on the Associated File or Cover Image fields will pop up a window for you to browse for a replacement file.
  • Both of these fields also support drag and drop.
  • New Movie Tab automatically remembers last Date Entered and Media Format used for group entry purposes.
• Customizing Media Types (DVD, Blu-Ray, VHS, etc)
  • Start on either the Add New Movie tab or the Edit Movie window.
  • The last option in the drop-down box of the Formats field is Edit Formats. Click this option to customize the media formats you want to use.

 

 

Adding New Movies

• Adding New MoviesTutorial Video
• Simply type in the name of the title, and press Enter. Movie information from IMDb and a cover image are automatically downloaded for you.
  • Alternatively, drag and drop a media file or DVD folder onto the tab and the lookup process will automatically start based on the filename.
• You may alter fields *BEFORE* the IMDb query, such as:
  • Setting the Personal Rating (stars), entering text into the User Notes field, choosing the media type (DVD, Blu-Ray), manually entering the index, setting Checked Out To status, setting the Associated File, etc.
  • Clicking on the number displayed in the Number of Times watched field will allow you to type in a number vice clicking (+1) increments.
• Auto-Detected Movies:
  • On program startup, your Cover Images and Associated Files folders are checked for new files. New files found generate a queue of Auto-Detected movies with titles based on the name of the file found.
    • The movie source drop-down box on the Movie Details tab has an option to view this queue of Auto-Detected movies.

  

  • When displaying auto-detected movies on the Movie Details tab, a new button (Set to Existing Movie) appears at the bottom:
    • Auto-Detected movies are automatically created based on a new file being added to either the Cover Images or Associated Files folders.
    • Clicking the button will bring up a list of your current library's titles. Click on a title to associate the file to that movie.
    • If the movie is based on a new cover image, the Set to Existing Movie button will look like the button below, and it will offer to replace the original image with the new one:

    

    • If the movie is based on a new associated file, the Set to Existing Movie button will look like the button below, and it will offer to replace the original associated file with the new one:

    

 

 

Working with MovieFinder's List Displays ('Genre Searcher' and 'Selections' tabs)

• Quick Overview Video
• Genres are automatically set to match those listed at IMDb.com
• A single movie can be a member of several genres:
  • Example: Lethal Weapon's genres include Action, Crime and Suspense.
  • Think of it like this: Lethal Weapon contains elements of Action, Crime, and Suspense.
• The main function of these tabs is to quickly narrow down your list of movies to a manageable few.
• You can also eliminate movies displayed based on Date Entered in your library, Checked-Out status, and more.
• The Edit Advanced Search Criteria button allows you to narrow the display based on fields such as Rating, Cast, Director, Year of Production, check-out status, personal rating, etc.
• Interface with Selections Tab
  • Clear All Selections button: completely clear Selections list.
  • Add All Visible to Selections: adds movies meeting current criteria to your Selections
  • Radio buttons on top left: choose Add Movie to Selections Tab to add each movie clicked to the Selections Tab

 

 

Working with Selections (ie using MovieFinder to pick out a movie to watch)

• Very useful to keep track of a list of movies you or your guests are interested in watching.
• Versatile. You can save your Selections for another day or even use the feature temporarily only to re-load your Selections that were previously saved.
• Example scenario of a couple trying to pick out a movie to watch together:
  • In this case, Selections are movies that the couple are interested in watching together.
  • At this point, you can save the library and MovieFinder will remember these selections.
  • After Selecting several movies, switch to the Movie Details tab and change the drop-down box at the top to display All Selections.
  • Use the arrow buttons to scroll through each movie selected and view details / cover image. The View Trailer button comes in handy here.
  • As you flip through the movies, press S on your keyboard (or click the Selections toggle button on the bottom left next to the left arrow).
    • This will remove the diplayed movie from your current Selections.
  • Continue to narrow down your Selections until you pick out a movie.
  • If you close MovieFinder without saving, you may resume from the same group of movies.
• Reload Selections Last Saved - click this button if you used the Selections feature temporarily or simply want to restore your previous Selections.

 

 

Customizing MovieFinder's Appearance

• The Appearance Options window will pop up if you click the Appearance Options button found on the Options tab.
• Keep in mind that the more complex MovieFinder's appearance is, effects like mouse rollover and button clicking will not be as smooth depending on the speed of your computer.
• Default appearance:
  • MovieFinder Blue skin with the Stripes background.
• Backgrounds
  • Backgrounds are the watermark-like patterns you'll see on all MovieFinder windows.
    • Patterned Backgrounds: simple patterns that load quickly.
      • Example: Brushed Metal
    • Random Backgrounds: patterns that are drawn, therefore requiring more CPU usage. More complex.
      • Example: Maze
    • Psychedelic Backgrounds: patterns that are computation intensive and slower to load. Much more intricate patterns.
      • Example: Wormhole
• Color Themes vs. Preset Skins
  • Normal Theme: Simple color scheme. All buttons, window frames and backgrounds are based on different shades of a single color.
    • Examples: Barbie Pink and Sun Glare
  • Inverted Theme: The Normal Theme's respective color is inverted. This means that the base colors are inverted, but all shading effects on buttons and window frames remain the same.
    • Examples: Barbie Pink (Inverted) and Sun Glare (Inverted)
  • Negated Theme: All colors are negated. If you were to take the normal color theme and then take the negative of everything, this is what you would get. The shiny spots on the buttons become dark spots, white text becomes black, etc.
    • Examples: Barbie Pink (Negated) and Sun Glare (Negated)
  • Preset Skins: Skins are basically Preset Custom Themes (varying colors for different graphical components).
    • Complex Themes are discussed in the next topic below.
    • Examples: Business Black, Finding Nemo and Magma
• Misc Options
  • The Advanced Appearance Options window is opened by clicking on the More Options button found at the bottom of the Appearance Options window.
  • This window has five more tabs for additional appearance customization:
    • Frame: choose from 7 styles for window frames (aka title bars).
    • Button Texture: choose from 9 button textures, such as shiny, shaded, wavy, matte, even invisible:

    

    • Shape, Focus: choose from either rectangular or round button shapes, as well as 6 types of component focus (such as an underline):

    

    • Streamlining: toggle streamlined tabs and list boxes. Streamlined components present a more modern GUI look and feel.
    • Blending: allow the background pattern to bleed through textboxes and lists
• Custom Themes
  • Custom Themes allow you to create a custom color theme. You can make it as complex or as simple as you like.
  • You may begin creating your own Custom Theme by clicking on the Custom Theme radio button found at the bottom area of the tab:
    • This will open up the Custom Theme Editor in a separate window:

    

    • The first four tabs each allow you to choose/create 4 separate color schemes that will be used.
      • Frame Color: This color affects the title bar at the top of each window frame.
      • Active Color: This color affects active buttons (ie the color of a button when the button is moused-over or clicked).
      • Passive Color: This color affects passive butons (ie the color of buttons before they are moused-over or clicked).
      • Background Color: This color affects the background pattern.
        • You may need to experiment extensively to get the desired contrast.
        • The fifth tab, Background, allows you to change the background pattern as well as alter the Darkness Factor.
        • For some colors, the Darkness Factor has a significant effect, and is negligible for others.
    • Each of the first for tabs operate in the same manner:
      • Saturation: Move the slider to adjust the color's intensity.
      • One Color: Choose the color you want to use from the drop-down list.
      • Two Colors: Choose both colors you want to use with either of the following options:
        • Blend Mode: The two colors will be blended. A 2nd slider appears, allowing you to alter the blending proportion.
        • Mixed Mode: The two colors will be mixed, transitioning from left to right from the first color to the second.
          • This mode only has a noticable effect on the Frame, Active, and Passive Colors. Certain frame styles cannot be mixed. Frame Styles can be selected on the More Options window, detailed in below.
          • Increasing the number of mixes makes the blend smoother/more gradual, but uses more CPU, and therefore effects like mouse rollover and button clicking will be choppy, depending on your machine's performance.
    • Tips for success:
      • Keep in mind that inverting a theme will also toggle white/ black text. This may cause readability issues depending on your background pattern and color.
      • Blending normal and inverted/negated themes normally does not produce good results. The text often becomes grey and is therefore hard to read.
      • Try to keep the passive theme a subtle color theme.
      • To tweak background pattern contrast, experiment with different combinations of passive themes and background themes, as well as the darkness factor found on the background tab. Saturation of these themes also has an effect.

 

 

Additional Info - Options Tab

• Amplifying information can be shown by hovering the mouse cursor over a button or checkbox. A tooltip will appear such as this one:

  

• Buttons
  • Update Library - refresh movie information with current IMDb and download lastes cover image from DVD Empire. You can do this for as many or as few movies as you wish.
  • Backup Libary - copies your current library information (MovieFinder.dat) and cover images to a location of your choosing.
  • Delete Selections - each movie in your current selections will be permanently deleted from your library.
  • Reload Last Save - undo any changes to your library.
  • Print - print a list of your titles, either all movies or your current selections.
• Indexing
  • You may choose from fully automated, semi-automatic, and manual indexing of your library.
  • You may also specify how the index is (or is not) displayed on the lists found on the Genre Searcher tab.
• Parental Controls
  • Governs MovieFinder's functions if a movie's MPAA rating is above a set limit.
  • Blocks the display of cover applicable cover images and prevents Associated Files from being opened.
• Many more options available to customize MovieFinder to suit any taste.

 

 

Still Have a Question?

 

Send an email to support@moviefinderonline.com