AMC file structure

Massi · Post by **Massi** » 2010-02-07 23:29:56

Hi,

I'm pretty new to this program but so far I can only say I love it

However, I would like to extend the features of the program to meet my needs. I read in the forum that several things can be done by scripts, but as the features I would like to add may contain some operating system specific functions etc. I thought about writing a tool which parses the amc file and provides any further features I would like.

I know I could alter the source code provided, but I haven't written a line in Delphi for a very long time and I don't assume that the features I would want to add would be necessary for everyone and therefore they would not be included in future releases (and than I would have to check the new code for any modifications etc. ...)

As I pointed out above I'm no longer familiar with Delphi. I would write the new program in VB.Net (and maybe some extensions in ASP.Net, don't know yet).
The real question is if there is any documentation on the amc file structure which I would like to parse. (Xml is great, but as the pictures aren't exported to the Xml file I would like to use the amc file)

If no documentation is available I will have a deeper look at the source code, but that's soo time consuming

A possible other solutions may be that the pictures are exported to the xml file, but I'm not sure if this is possible using scripts and without altering the source code. (And even if it is possible the xml files may be double the size of the amc file as binary data is usually stored using hex-string in xml file, but this is a question of design ...)

Some of the features I would like to add would be:

* Link movie entries to files on the HDD (including file size, format, frame rate etc.)
* Extended movie lookup functionality
* Play the selected movie
* Copy and zip the selected movie with all the information attached in some form (not sure how I am going to do this, but maybe I just add an xml file to the archive ...)
* Extracting movie screen shots using ffMpeg (and maybe some other stuff)
* Share list's with friends online
etc.

I believe thats it

Any suggestions, ideas or references are highly appreciated!!!

Thanks again for a great tool!!!

Greetz
Massi

PS: Before anyone tells me that I should not download movies ... I backup all my dvds on my PC (and don't download the movies) as I really don't like changing DVDs all the time and several of my DVDs I borrowed to friends returned ... well ... not the way they were

bad4u · Post by **bad4u** » 2010-02-08 07:23:19

You will find basic technical information about catalog file format on the help file (-> Technical information -> Catalog File Format).

Massi · Post by **Massi** » 2010-02-08 10:53:24

Hi bad4u,

thanks for the reply. I have to admit I am a bit embarressed as I should have been able to find this information myself.

This will give me a start, let's see how I manage to get the data type conversion running

Thanks again!

Grreetz
Massi

Massi · Post by **Massi** » 2010-02-08 14:14:19

Hi,

I just wanted to report that the import to .Net worked like a charm thanks to the information provided in the help file. Thanks again to bad4u for pointing me into the right direction!

If anyone is interested in the dll or the source code please feel free to ask.

Greetz
Massi

Post by **antp** » 2010-02-08 20:08:16

Someone already made a C# DLL for AMC file support:
viewtopic.php?t=4473

Massi · Post by **Massi** » 2010-02-09 02:05:02

Thanks for the reply.

I wasn't aware of that, but it's good that other people already did the job

But as my dll runs pretty stable I will stick with it and maybe have a look at the C# dll if I have time. Maybe I can find some improvements for my dll.

Thanks again!

antp.be forum