Overview

How to filter your data, to password protect some films, display only certain films, or create filtered views.

Filtering your data

There are several ways you can filter your data:

1. Global Filters - to filter the display of films - can be turned on and off in My Films or selected as Default Start Settings.
2. Config filters - for different users, types of films or to password protect films (see PIN Protection for more info)
3. Custom Views - specify a value to filter films for only one view, such as only English films, or only High Def films. See Custom Views for details. 

Note: As of v 6.0.0 a new Filter Editor simplifies the process of creating filter expressions to filter either Configs or Views. See Filters Setup to learn how to use the Filter Editor to create advanced Filter expressions.

Global Filters

The main way to filter your data within My Films is by using the provided Global Filters.

The advantage of Global Filters is they apply to all views and searches.  They can be selected within My Films from the Main Menu > Global Filters or selected as Default Start Settings.

Select the Global Filters Menu option:

1. Unwatched - the default can be selected in My Films Setup > Views tab > Start Settings (see Filters Setup)
2. Media Available - show only films where media is available for playback, i..e on HDD or accessible network drive
   Note: this filter is only available once you have run Global Update > Update online availability, or if 'scan media on start' is enabled in My Films Setup > General tab.  As of v 6.0.0 you may also choose a Default filter in Filters Setup: 'Show only available movies' to only display movies available for playback when you start My Films .
3. Trailers - shows only films with trailers (if you have searched and added local trailers to your database using Global Updates)
4. Minimum Rating - which can also be set from the Global Filters menu

Whenever you turn on a global filter the view name will show 'Filtered' and a filter icon will display:

1. My Films will display 'Filtered' instead of 'All' after the current view name.
2. Display icons, if supported in your skin, show you what filters are active:  the
   •   - unwatched icon - for only unwatched films
   •   - trailer icon - for only films with local trailers
   •   - star icon - when films are filtered by minimum rating
   •   - online icon- for only films where media is available or 'online' for playback.

Of course the icons may vary depending on the skin.

See also Using My Films > Global Filters

Config Filters

You can create several configs to use with My Films, and filter any config to display only specific films (see Filters Setup), such as only DVDs or films on your hard disk, etc.. One of the common uses is to filter out Adult or restricted films and password protect them so your kids can only view the films you wish. They will never even see your adult films, cover images, fanart or anything! (see PIN Protection for more info)

Once you create more than one Config, you can choose to display a menu on startup of My Films if you wish (see Multiple DBs or Configs).  Or, simply change Configs via the Main Menu > Options > Choose DB Config.

Tip: If you filter a Config, give your Config a name that describes the filter, such as 'DVD' if it lists only films on DVD, or 'Adult' if it lists only adult films.

Filtered Views

As of v 6.0.0 you may filter Views much the same as Configs.  The main difference is that you can password protect a Config, but not a View.

When you create a Custom View, you can filter it by specifying a value for the field you select for the view or by entering more complex filter expressions using the Filter Editor as described in Filters Setup. 

For further information on creating and filtering views, see Custom Views.

If you filter a view by Value, for example, field=Category, Value=Action the value will display on the Views Menu (e.g. '(Action)'):

Whenever you select a filtered view, the view name (which you select in Setup) and the (value) display at the top of your screen:

Note: You can create and save a filtered view within My Films, see Using My Films >  Views (Add a filtered view), however to create a view with a filter expression you need to use the Filters Editor as outline in Filters Setup.

Related

• Using My Films