antp.be forum

I don't know, as I said in the example that you take the file you mention is different from the file that AMC is trying to use, so for this particular case it is the reason why it didn't find the image.
So for example why is that? Was the file renamed? Or mixed with files from another catalog or from an export? Or did you move/delete files?

I've done nothing. I update when it needs updating, that's it.

I've opened the xml file in Notepad++ and it does not show the path to the movie file? How can I view this please?

For the name of the picture file, search for Picture= attribute.
For the file referenced in "file path" field, it is the FilePath= attribute.

Where the path should be there's just little blocks with NUL written in them

Did you open the real XML file or the .amc file that you renamed to .xml? Cf the discussion on the previous page.

At the top of the XML document there is <?xml version="1.0" encoding="windows-1252"?>

If you see AMC_4.2 Ant Movie Catalog 4.2.x as the first contents of the file, that's not the XML file but the binary .amc file, which is much more difficult to analyse (and can't be done with Notepad++).

I just opened the only xml file there is?

I've just exported it again and sure enough the ones without pictures have movies.jpg as default. Ones that display, have the film title as the picture name.
So I guess the question is, is it possible to name the picture files with the same name as the movie file?

That's something that can be defined in the options, but that's not the cause of the problem.
Picture import options is in the "Picture importation" page of the Preferences window.

Sorry, I know how to rename photos and attach, but 3200 of them already have the same name as the movie file, they just aren't attached in the database.
So I click on each movie, select the picture to import, find the correctly named image and add it.
What I'm asking is is there a way to batch process them all, rather than attempting 3200 by hand which will take a prohibitive amount of time?

It should be possible to do most using scripting of AMC or Notepad++'s search & replace, I'll check that later.
But if you don't know which action caused it in the first place, the problem may come back.

Well I can't script so it's going to have to be manually done.

Now I am frustrated though.

I click on a movie and there is no picture there. I click on 'select a picture' and the picture is indeed in the catalog. So I select it and click open and it attaches tot he movie entry.

However when I look in the catalog, it has made a new file with a new name!!!!

I just added one called The Greatest. The picture was called The Greatest.jpg.
However after adding it to the file it made a new picture called The Greatest_12868203.jpg. In preferences I have asked for no extension to be added.

This is driving me nuts now, please explain why it is doing this?

boristhecat wrote: However when I look in the catalog, it has made a new file with a new name!!!!

That's normal: as there is already a file with that name in the folder it considers that it can't overwrite it because it may belong to another movie or another catalog.
You would have to either move it to another folder before adding it, or select the option "only link picture" in the windows where you select the picture (but that should be used only for pictures that already are in the right folder).

About the script thing, I may try to do something, I'll try to find time for that Wednesday or Friday. In the meantime try to do a few manually to see how it works, if the pictures stay, and solve problems like the one you describe here

Aha...only link picture! Grr I shoulda been able to work that out. Many thanks, that's one problem resolved. Thanks for your time on that one.