What's new?

Fixed:

• Main Screen: The width of the columns wasn’t remembered correctly sometimes.

Fixes:

• Several Access Violation errors in the main screen.
• List View: Double clicking on checks would make list unresponsive.
• Edit Screen: Using Next/Prev would cause strange effects with checkboxes in main screen.
• Main Screen: The “keep filter active” checkbox and “Reset Filter” button were hidden.

A couple of weeks ago, our CLZ Cloud (and Movie Connect) has been updated with 9 more fields and loan information. Today’s version 18.3 now supports the syncing of all these new fields and your loan information to and from the CLZ Cloud!

Added for syncing:

• Full Release Date (previously, only the year was synced)
• Runtime
• IMDb Number
• IMDb Rating
• Audience Rating
• Region
• Studio
• Distributor
• Box Set
• Loans

Heads up: after updating to version 18.3, the software will automatically mark most of your movies as “changed”, to force the upload of your data for the new fields to the CLZ Cloud.

These fields also all sync to the latest iOS and Android versions!

Fixed:

• Behaviour: The setting for ‘Let selection “Follow” the Edited Movie’ didn’t work.
• An access violation could occur when double clicking on the checkboxes.
• The details panel could not be resized correctly sometimes.
• Edit Multiple movies would sometimes not activate due to an issue with counting the selected movies.
  

During 2017, our content managers worked for months to enhance our Core online movie database with movie list information for thousands of multi-movie box sets.

As of today, Movie Connect can use this new Core data: Just use the enhanced Add Movies screen to find a box set, either by title or by barcode, and our Core “knows” which movies are in the box.

See it in action:

Find and add box sets by barcode

Scan a box-set barcode and Core will show you which movies it contains. Click Add to Collection at the bottom right and all contained movies will be added to your database, automatically linked by a box set entry.

Find and add box sets by title

Alternatively, use the Title tab and enable the new Box Set search to find box sets by their title.

Note: the new Movies, TV Series and Box Sets checkboxes now let you search each of these three Core section separately OR combined.
AND: The check boxes now also operate on the Search-As-You-Type suggestions, for even quicker searching and adding!

New box set panel on movie details page, with movie list!

A nice new box set panel at the top of the movie details for each of the contained movies. Now showing the list of the contained movies, in the correct order, AND with clickable links to go straight to the other movies in the set!

Change the order of movies in a box set

At the bottom of the list of movies you will find a link to “change order of movies…” to modify the order in which the movies are displayed in the details page.

Fixed:

• Crash when the ‘loaner’ folder was selected.

By popular demand, we have added 10 more editable fields to CLZ Movies. Two completely new fields (Is TV Series and Box Set) and 8 fields that were already available as automatic Core fields but are now fully editable:

Completely New Fields:

• Is TV Series (Yes/No). For your entries, indicate whether these are movies or TV series. Use Is TV Series folders to split them in the main list. This is a new field. Default values for your entries have been set using our Core central database, but you may want to run though your list to check and correct as needed.
• Box Set. Enter a box set title in your movies to make them part of a box set. You can see the box set information at the top of the details panel for each of the movies inside that box set. Also available as a folder option.

Fields that are now fully editable:

• Release Date. Previous only available as Release Year, this is now a full date field.
• Runtime. Previously set automatically, now fully editable.
• IMDb Number. Previously set automatically, now fully editable.
• IMDb Rating. Previously set automatically, now fully editable.
• Audience Rating. Previously set automatically, now fully editable. Also available as a folder option.
• Region. Previously set automatically, now fully editable. Allows multiple values. Also available as a folder option.
• Studio. Previously set automatically, now fully editable. Allows multiple values. Also available as a folder option.
• Distributor. Previously set automatically, now fully editable. Also available as a folder option.

But wait, that’s not all: All the above fields now also sync to and from the CLZ Cloud!

Secure HTTPS connections, for your security and privacy

As indicated in our recent GDPR email, we are updating our software and services, to be more secure and to better protect your privacy.

Starting with version 4.11 CLZ Movies now uses secure HTTPS connections for all communications with our servers:

• for logging in with your username and password
• for syncing your data with CLZ Cloud
• for sending your searches to Core.

To make this possible, we have created new secure “entry points” on our servers, that are only allowing secure HTTPS connections. The new CLZ Movies app only communicates with those secure entry points.

For your privacy and security, we strongly recommend updating your app to v4.11.

Over the last week Joël from team Connect worked on splitting the settings into more logical places, and added new tooltips to explain what all the buttons do. The full what’s new:

Added tooltips

Hovering your mouse over the various buttons will now show tooltips to explain what the buttons do! Hover your mouse over the buttons to see what they do.

Split the settings

All settings used to be together in one screen, but they weren’t easy to find so we decided to split the settings up into their own logical pages. You can now find them by opening the menu (top left), and look for:

• Field Defaults: to set up default field values for new items
• CLZ Cloud Sharing: to set up all your CLZ Cloud sharing options
• Settings: with just the behaviour and display settings

By popular demand, we have added 10 more editable fields to CLZ Movies. Two completely new fields (Is TV Series and Box Set) and 8 fields that were already available as automatic Core fields but are now fully editable:

Completely New Fields:

• Is TV Series (Yes/No). For your entries, indicate whether these are movies or TV series. Use Is TV Series folders to split them in the main list. This is a new field. Default values for your entries have been set using our Core central database, but you may want to run though your list to check and correct as needed.
• Box Set. Enter a box set title in your movies to make them part of a box set. You can see the box set information at the top of the details panel for each of the movies inside that box set. Also available as a folder option.

Fields that are now fully editable:

• Release Date. Previous only available as Release Year, this is now a full date field.
• Runtime. Previously set automatically, now fully editable.
• IMDb Number. Previously set automatically, now fully editable.
• IMDb Rating. Previously set automatically, now fully editable.
• Audience Rating. Previously set automatically, now fully editable. Also available as a folder option.
• Region. Previously set automatically, now fully editable. Allows multiple values. Also available as a folder option.
• Studio. Previously set automatically, now fully editable. Allows multiple values. Also available as a folder option.
• Distributor. Previously set automatically, now fully editable. Also available as a folder option.

But wait, that’s not all: All the above fields now also sync to and from the CLZ Cloud!

Secure HTTPS connections, for your security and privacy

As indicated in our recent GDPR email, we are updating our software and services, to be more secure and to better protect your privacy.

Starting with version 4.11 CLZ Movies now uses secure HTTPS connections for all communications with our servers:

• for logging in with your username and password
• for syncing your data with CLZ Cloud
• for sending your searches to Core.

To make this possible, we have created new secure “entry points” on our servers, that are only allowing secure HTTPS connections. The new CLZ Movies app only communicates with those secure entry points.

For your privacy and security, we strongly recommend updating your app to v4.11.

Fixed:

• Last update made some settings disappear in the settings screen. They are back now.
• Added bottom margin to the add auto screen on iPhone X to make the add button more reachable
• The sync screen wasn’t logging local deletes.

A BIG update for your Movie Collector software today, with two important changes:

1. Secure HTTPS connections, for your security and privacy

As indicated in our recent GDPR email, we are updating our software and services, to be more secure and to better protect your privacy.

Starting with version 18.2, Movie Collector now uses secure HTTPS connections for all communications with our servers:

• for logging in with your username and password
• for syncing your data with CLZ Cloud
• for sending your searches to Core.

To make this possible, we have created new secure “entry points” on our servers, that are only allowing secure HTTPS connections. The new Movie Collector software only communicates with those secure entry points.

For your privacy and security, we strongly recommend updating to version 18.2.

2. More sync fields

Last week, our CLZ Cloud (and Movie Connect) has been updated with 9 more fields and loan information. Today’s version 18.2 now supports the syncing of all these new fields and your loan information to and from the CLZ Cloud!

Added for syncing:

• Full Release Date (previously, only the year was synced)
• Runtime
• IMDb Number
• IMDb Rating
• Audience Rating
• Region
• Studio
• Distributor
• Box Set
• Loans

Heads up: after updating to version 18.2, the software will automatically mark most of your movies as “changed”, to force the upload of your data for the new fields to the CLZ Cloud.

BTW: Updates for the CLZ Movies mobile apps are coming up soon, so that you can fully sync the above new fields from desktop to mobile and vice versa.

Fixed:

• Preferences: Ignore Sort Title Setting was ignored
• Add Movies Files: Batch add checked for movie files was not working

A cool user interface update for your Movie Connect software today, in which we makes it easier to select movies and easier to perform batch actions on the selected movies.

Select using checkboxes

To select movies, just click the checkboxes on the left of each movie entry in the list. Checkboxes are also available in Card View and Images View, just hover your mouse over an item.

No more need to go into “Select Mode” first. The Select Mode is automatically activated as soon as you checkbox the first movie, clearly indicated by the blue Batch Action Bar that replace the regular toolbar.

Batch Action Bar

While in Select Mode, the blue Batch Action Bar is visible, always showing you the number of selected movies. Also:

• Use the “Select all” checkbox to select all movies in the current list in one go
• Use the “x Cancel” button on the right to leave Select Mode
• And of course, use any of the action buttons (Edit, Delete, Print, Export, Duplicate and Loan) to perform an action on the selection movies

Fixed:

• The Unrecognized Barcode popup gave an error
• Added movies weren’t correctly cleared from the barcode queue after adding them sometimes

Movie Collector offers powerful batch commands, for performing actions on multiple movies in one go, e.g. editing, removing or updating from Core.
However, we are finding that many users have never use these these batch actions, either because they are not aware of their existence or because they don’t know how to actually select multiple movies (by Shift or Ctrl-clicking).

In today’s update we addressed these issues:

New Selection Checkboxes in the List View, for easy selection of multiple movies

The List View now features checkboxes on the left. Use the checkboxes to easily select multiple movies, no Shift or Ctrl-clicking needed. Of course the classic Shift/Ctrl-clicking still works too, this is just an extra method.

Don’t need the checkboxes? You can hide them using Tools / Options / Customization.

A new Action Bar with batch actions

As soon as multiple movies are selected (that is, more than 1), a new Action Bar appears above the list. It shows how many are selected, plus offers buttons for the most popular batch actions.

Also new: Action Bar above Details Panel

At the same time, we also added a new Action Bar above the details panel, for quick access to commands operating on the selected movie.

TIP: The commands in this new Action Bar have been removed from the main toolbar, to make that one a bit cleaner. However, if you are upgrading from an older version, it will remember your toolbar. To get the new clean main toolbar, choose View / Toolbars / Reset.

Don’t need or want this new bar? You can hide it using Tools / Options / Customization.

You can now loan movies in Movie Connect: just find and select a movie (or select multiple with the Select tool), and click the “Loan” button at the top!

Loan Manager

Click the menu top left, and then Loan Manager to access the new Loan Manager where you can see all your loaned out items, and directly return them. Alternatively you can also use CLZ Barry to scan a barcode of a movie, find it in your outstanding loans, and return it.

In the Loan Manager, you can click on a loaned item to modify the loan date, due date, return date, loaner and notes about the loan.

Print current loans to PDF

You can print out all your current loans to a PDF file by clicking the Print to PDF button in the Loan Manager screen.

Alternatively, you can select a loaner from the dropdown menu there, and only print out his/her current loans to a PDF file!

New:

• Loan movies by selecting a couple in your list, or by viewing the details of a movie, and then click “Loan” at the top.
• Return movies straight from the loan manager or by scanning their barcodes with CLZ Barry.
• Check outstanding loans and loan history in the Loan Manager.
• Edit outstanding or returned loans by clicking on them.
• Print out current loans to a PDF file

Coming up:

We will be adding the syncing of loan information to Movie Collector for Windows and macOS, and CLZ Movies for iOS and Android.

Based on your comments we fixed some scaling problems and added a “Today” button in the new date pickers as it was missing from the new one. Full list of changes below:

New(ish)

• Datepickers: (Re)Added a today button

Fixed:

• Edit Screen: Edit Episode: font was to small
• Filters: boolean fields would flip (yes -> no) when upgrading from 18.0.x to 18.1.x
• Add Screen: Format icons the cells are now scaled correctly
• Image popups now scale according to your DPI settings
• Fixed some display issues in the Quick Search popup top right on screens with higher DPI settings
• More small DPI scaling fixes for other screens and popups

New for the Add Movies screen:

• Add button is now bigger and easier to spot (some new users missed the little round “+”).
• Add button now “remembers” your collection vs. wish list selection. No need to pick from the Collection/Wish List popup menu every time you add anymore.
• Remove from queue button is now bigger and easier to spot. Tap and hold on a barcode in the queue to select barcodes you want to remove.

Fixed:

• Accented characters in sortnames/titles were sorted incorrectly.
• Main screen: the over-sensitive quickscroll bar in the thumbnail view has been fixed.
• Edit: ‘Done’- button doest not scroll from screen on manual scroll.
• Edit: New ‘Unsaved changes’ dialog.
• Cloud sync: Sync reporting ‘invalid xml’ in rare cases.

New: Changed timing of “Report missing barcode” popup:

The missing barcode popup now pops up when you click on a “not found” result instead of interfering while you’re still scanning barcodes.

Fixed:

• Edit Screen: the Location field wasn’t displayed correctly.

If you’re a new user or thinking of moving your collection from the program “DVD Profiler” to Movie Connect, good news: we’ve just added a new “DVD Profiler” import tool in Movie Connect!

You can find the “DVD Profiler” import tool under the menu top left, then choose “Import Data”.

If you’re a new user or thinking of moving your collection from the program “Delicious Library” to Connect, good news: we’ve just added a new “Delicious Library” import tool in Connect!

You can find the “Delicious Library” import tool under the menu top left, then choose “Import Data”.

New for the Add Movies screen:

• Add button is now bigger and easier to spot (some new users missed the little round “+”).
• Add button now “remembers” your collection vs. wish list selection. No need to pick from the Collection/Wish List popup menu every time you add anymore.

Fixed:

• Details view: In-template editing of seen-it status was broken.
• Adding a movie would clear the collection status filter in the main screen.
• The sorting option screen would sometimes not fully show the chosen sort option when opened.
• iPad: Main screen: the details view did not refresh after changing the details template.
• iPad: Main screen: the ‘edit my rating’ pop up was rotated when in landscape mode.

With super hi-res 4K (or even 5K) screens becoming quite common, more and more people are running Windows with the Font Size (DPI scaling) set to 125% or 150%, to keep text readable. So earlier this year, we released maintenance builds for all Windows editions to fix various layout problems when running Windows with “large fonts”.

Today, with version 18.1 we’re taking the next step: Movie Collector is now fully “DPI Aware”. Starting with this version, if you have increased your font size in Windows, all screen texts will look sharper, less fuzzy, making full use of your hi-res screen.

Old version:

New version:

New collection status icons

We added new collection status icons to the main screen’s list view and card view to make the screen less clogged up and easier on the eye.

Fixed:

• Edit Movie:
  • Index field had a typo
  • Clicking next or previous could create a second + button in the User Defined Fields tab
• Templates:
  • Fixed an issue where the template could become “white” if arrow keys were used on the keyboard.
  • Clicking an image would show a drag/drop menu. The image now opens properly.
  • Metro template didn’t show the movie info of a box set.
• Quick Search: Fixed normalization for quick searches so words with umlauts/accents etc. are now easier to be found.
• Fixed a problem with folder paths for users that have their Documents folder rooted to an external drive (program wouldn’t install properly).
• Link Screen could show “Link Selected” button even if there were no matches.
• Manage Column presets:
  • Clicking in certain parts of the screen could cause Access Violations.
  • Clicking the Edit menu could break the focus in the screen.
• Light Skin: Better visibility for selected items in your lists.
• User Defined Fields: It was possible to create invisible User Defined Fields which would then never show up in the edit screen.
• Add Screen: Scrollbar position wouldn’t update sometimes.

By popular demand, we have added 9 more editable fields to Movie Connect. One a completely new field (Is TV Series) and 8 fields that were already available as automatic Core fields but are now fully editable:

• Is TV Series (Yes/No). For your entries, indicate whether these are movies or TV series. Use Is TV Series folders to split them in the main list. This is a new field. Default values for your entries have been set using our Core central database, but you may want to run though your list to check and correct as needed.
• Release Date. Previous only available as Release Year, this is now a full date field.
• Runtime. Previously set automatically, now fully editable.
• IMDb Number. Previously set automatically, now fully editable.
• IMDb Rating. Previously set automatically, now fully editable.
• Audience Rating. Previously set automatically, now fully editable. Also available as a folder option.
• Region. Previously set automatically, now fully editable. Allows multiple values. Also available as a folder option.
• Studio. Previously set automatically, now fully editable. Allows multiple values. Also available as a folder option.
• Distributor. Previously set automatically, now fully editable. Also available as a folder option.

To make room for all the new fields in the Edit Movie screen, we introduced a new “Edition” tab and moved all edition-specific fields there (including the Format and Barcode fields):

We’ve added new fields to sort on to change the order in which your movies are displayed in your list. Your movie list will adapt to sort and show the field you’re sorting on. On top of that we’ve redesigned the Select Sort Order screen to make it more clear what you’re choosing.

Open the Select Sort Order screen by tapping the menu top right, then tap “Sort order”.

All available sort fields:

• Title
• Release Date
• Format, then Title (New!)
• Runtime
• IMDb Rating
• Order of Entry (New!)
• Viewing Date (New!)
• My Rating (New!)
• Purchase Date (New!)
• Purchase Price (New!)
• Current Value (New!)
• Quantity (New!)
• Index
• Storage Device (New!)

All fields can be sorted either ascending or descending. Tap the field you wish to sort on, then tap “Apply” to confirm.

Fixed:

• The Add Movie screen wasn’t able to search a full title or barcode. All good now!

Never a dull moment at the CLZ HQ… Here we were, working on nice improvements for our software, when suddenly… the guys at Apple had a brainwave: In their ultimate wisdom, they decided to start phasing out 32-bit applications.

Since April 12, users of macOS High Sierra are getting a “not optimized for your Mac” warning when they start a 32-bit application. Which includes the Movie Collector software for macOS 🙁

On top of that, Apple have already stopped allowing 32-bit applications in their App Store and rumours are that they may even stop supporting 32-bit applications in a future version of macOS, requiring every application to be 64-bit!

Of course, we were already aware that Apple would be going this route some day; the rumours have been around for quite a while. So we had already been working on a 64-bit version of our software, as a “back-burner project”.

But the introduction of last week’s “not optimized” warnings suddenly made this a high-priority project. So… we dropped everything we were doing and finalized our 64-bit project. And I am happy to report:

A fully 64-bit v18.1 version of Movie Collector is available now!

Not exactly what we were planning to do this month, but hey, this is what the Update Plans are for: your guarantee that we deal with everything the world throws at us 🙂

A small user interface tweak today:
The Add Movies screen is now a pop-up screen that lays over your movie list.
(previously it was a separate full screen page)

Looks cooler, feels more “snappy” and while adding movies, you can actually see the new additions appear in your movie list in the background!