This page explains you how to compare two “My Collection” DVD lists of Jam River so that you can easily find out which DVDs are found on both lists, which are found only on the first list and which are found only on the second list.

 

How does it work?

The comparison is done with a Firefox extension. To get this working, just install this extension (download here) to your Mozilla Firefox browser (don’t forget to restart the browser after installing). If due to security reasons Firefox doesn’t allow you to install the extension, do the following steps:

a.       right-click on the download link (or here),

b.      choose “Save Link As…”,

c.       save the file on your desktop,

d.      drag and drop the downloaded file into a Firefox browser window,

e.       click “Install Now” and “Restart Firefox”.

 

After restarting the browser, you’ll see a sub-menu “My Collection” in Firefox’s popup-menu (right-click on a browser window to see it). With this sub-menu you are able to define both lists and let them be compared. The extension recognizes DVD lists as those frames in which the button “GO” is available (see, for example, the first figure). Hence, you are able to compare two “My Collection”-lists but also one “My Collection”-list with the full list (DVD Archive, or the “My Collection”-list from Sonic).

 

The following steps have to be done for a comparison:

 

1-     Add two tabs to your browser (with menu File >> New Tab or CTRL+T)

2-     In the first tab, load the first list you want to compare.

3-     Right-click on the list, and click on My Collection >> List 1, as shown below.

 

 

4-     The extension scans the page and informs you how many DVDs/shows it has found on the list.

 

 

5-     Select/Activate the second tab. Load the second list you want to compare. Right-click and select My Collection >> List 2, as shown below.

 

 

6-     Again, the extension informs you how many DVDs/shows it has found on this list.

 

 

 

7-     To start the comparison, just right-click again and select My Collection >> Compare, as shown below.

 

 

8-     A new window will open, just like the one in the figure below (well, it might be a little different as the extension is under development). The top-left box shows you some information: number of DVDs/shows on the first and second list and the combined number of DVDs. The top-middle box also shows you how many DVDs/shows from the total are common to both list (signalized by = = =), how many are found only on the first list (- - - >) and how many are found only on the second list (< - - -). With the check-box you can show/hide the DVDs signalized with the corresponding checkbox text. The “View Mode” box allows you to choose how to sort the table. The Chronologic Mode sorts the shows chronologically, from newest to oldest (Compilations are put at the end since they have no “date“.  The Block Mode sorts the list in “blocks”, i.e., first all DVDs common to both lists are shown (common block), then all DVDs only found on the first list are shown (first list block) and finally all DVDs only found on the second list are shown (second list block). Within each block, the DVDs are sorted chronologically. This view mode is also shown below.

The buttons at the top-right corner allows you:

(1) to update the table (this should happen automatically as you change something, but just in case it doesn’t, you can update manually);

(2) to export the table to a text file. Click on the button, enter a file name and location and the table is written to this file since it is not possible to "copy&paste" the comparison table. Keep in mind that only the shows shown on the table are exported, so if you are hiding some shows by de-selecting the checkbox, they will not be included in the text file;

(3) to close the window.

 

 

-- CHRONOLOGIC VIEW MODE --

 

 

-- BLOCK VIEW MODE –

 

 

Additional information:

 

-You don’t really need to follow exactly these steps every time you want to do a comparison. You can, set the second list before the first list. You can also set both lists, compare, close the window, then change the first list (or second) only and do another comparison. The extension always keep the last set lists (of course, separating between “List 1” and “Lists 2”.

 

-It is known that some shows have different versions and they have the “same title” in the DVD Archive. So if you see two lines on the table showing the same title/show (as, for instance, the highlighted area in the “CHRONOLOGIC VIEW MODE” figure, 20060917 Datch Forum, Milano) then it is about a show with two different versions. The extension recognizes two different versions but keeps the show title as in the DVD list. So keep in mind that it is all about different versions when you see repeated shows on the table. (The figure shows a good example: both lists contain both version of 20060917 Milano but, concerning 20060916 Verona, only the second list contains both versions, the first list contains only one version).

 

-The extension has been tested on Firefox 2.* and 3.* under Windows and Linux. I couldn’t find abnormal behavior. But in case you are having problems, please use the forums to report errors.  You can also use the forums to suggest improvements and ideas to be included in the extension.

 

That’s it. I hope you like it and it helps you keeping trading.

 

Have fun.

 

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