Capitalization differences in identical category names cause some channels not to show

[lehtikissa 3]

I found a minor bug in how Media Server 2.x deals with capitalization differences in otherwise identical category names for channels.

 

Let's assume that there are two channels:

 

Yle TV1
with Category "YLE"

 

and

 

Yle TV2
with Category "Yle"

 

Categories are almost the same except for the capitalization.

 

In DVBViewer 6.x Channel Editor, for example, both channels are shown in category "YLE". In DVBViewer 5.x the channels were shown in separate categories ("YLE" and "Yle").

 

I'm not sure if that change was intentional, but in any case it doesn't cause functional issues.

 

However, it seems that this change (if they're related) might have caused an actual functional bug in Media Server 2.x.

 

When one opens Channel EPG in Media Server's web interface, only one category "YLE" is shown (as in DVBViewer).

 

The problem is that Media Server fails to show in that category the channels with category "Yle" (only channels with category "YLE" are shown). Because of this some channels are missing completely from Channel EPG in Media Server.

 

I'm aware that a workaround is easy (just rename the categories consistently; I believe that in my case the inconsistency occurred due to channel searches done at different times).

 

But it might be good to fix the bug nevertheless as it might cause other issues as well.

 

Please let me know if you need more details.

Edited July 28, 2017 by lehtikissa

[Griga 572]

35 minutes ago, lehtikissa said:

I'm not sure if that change was intentional,

 

It was intentional  because some careless providers write their name in three or even more different kinds in the service information tables, so after scanning with grouping by provider you get three categories where there only should be one.

 

35 minutes ago, lehtikissa said:

The problem is that Media Server fails to show in that category the channels with category "Yle" (only channels with category "YLE" are shown).

 

I can't imagine why, but I will check it.

 

However, on saving DVBViewer should merge the two categories to one, and after loading this channel list with the DMS (when it is stopped an re-started) everything should be fine. If the Save Tool Button in the DVBViewer Channel Editor is grayed just change something a little bit for activating it.

[lehtikissa 3]

Thanks for your reply. That change indeed should be positive as it certainly is nice to have the channels by default in same category.

 

I now did the following test per your suggestion:

 

I changed details for an unrelated channel in DVBViewer Channel Editor and then re-started DMS.

 

That change appeared correctly in DMS after re-starting, so the lists are in sync.

 

However, the channels impacted about this potential bug still fail to appear.

 

The only channels that I know to be missing are as follows:

 

1) the ones with different capitalization in category name ("Yle" instead of "YLE")

2) 1 channel with category name "YLE".

 

I have no idea why that channel mentioned in 2) fails to appear as all other channel with category name "YLE" appear ok. Just in case the channel name might have something to do with it, here are the details for that channel + a channel with almost the same name: "Yle Teema & Fem" (this appears ok) and "Yle Teema" (this doesn't appear). Both have same category name "YLE". This is something that isn't actually a problem for me as I could simply delete that "Yle Teema" instance completely (defunct channel), but I mention it in case it is a symptom of the underlying issue.

 

One other thing as you told the change to combine channels with identical category name except for capitalization was intentional: in DMS TV Guide the channels still appear in different categories based on capitalization. Is that intentional or do you plan to combine the channels in TV Guide too?

 

Edited July 28, 2017 by lehtikissa

[Griga 572]

On 28.7.2017 at 10:11 PM, lehtikissa said:

I now did the following test per your suggestion:

 

Well, it doesn't work as expected because there's something I've missed: The DVBViewer Channel Editor UI shows the channels in the same category, but it doesn't actually unify category names with different upper/lowercase. This has to be changed because it even causes inconsistencies in the DVBViewer OSD that still displays different categories.

 

Nevertheless I can't imagine why channels are missing in the web interface. What about the "Show in Channel List" filter options on the configuration page? Is "Channels without EPG" ticked?

[lehtikissa 3]

I now ticked "Channels without EPG" and while it didn't fix the main issue, it did explain why "Yle Teema" didn't show even though it had category name "YLE" (all other channels with that category name appear correctly). As I mentioned, it is a defunct channel and thus has no EPG information, so with that option ticked it does appear in web interface. But all channels with category name "Yle" still fail to appear.

 

I can send you my channel list file if it'd help with troubleshooting. Just let me know which file(s) you need.

 

[Griga 572]

4 hours ago, lehtikissa said:

I can send you my channel list file if it'd help with troubleshooting.

 

That will be helpful. Just zip your channels.dat (plus ChannelsURL.ini if present) from the configuration folder and attach it here.