First of all, I need to point out that I only downloaded v5.3 last night, so I was unaware prior to starting this idea two days ago (creating the mockup images that you will see below) that the "Profile Links" option had been added to Online => Other Websites. I updated the mockup images where appropriate, though, to reflect the changes in 3.5.

However, since I still like my idea, I am posting it anyway. Bare with me since the post is pretty long and is a little confusing even to me even though I know exactly what I am talking about!   For simplicity, I will be speaking as if the feature already exists.


One thing that made little sense to me when I first downloaded Profiler was how you could use Online => Other Websites to search IMDB and RT, but you were searching by the name of the movie when, in fact, each and every movie on both sites has a unique ID that has probably never changed since the day that it was added. It also seemed unusual that you could search for movies but not cast or crew since information about them is also shown in Profiler.

This gave me an idea for enhancement: select a few popular websites (including IMDB and RT) to be built in and include the sites' different page ID's into the database. They don't have to be built into the online database where others can download them; they can stay local, but being built into the online database would be even nicer.

The sites that I have chosen for this demonstration:
IMDB
Rotten Tomatoes
The Numbers
MovieTome
Hollywood.com
Reel.com.

The last three sites were only picked basically at random in order to have more sites for demonstration, however even if this idea is not accepted, The Numbers is a great site with statistics about movies that I feel should be added to the "Profile Links" section.

Here are the mockup images: (click each to see the full-sized image)
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)


Image #1 demonstrates a new "Web Links" tab. Just like how the other tabs next to it display information related to the movie, if you clicked on one of the website logos, it would take you directly to the correct page on that website through use of the proper ID (explained further down). If there is no ID for that website/movie combo, the website logo is greyed out.

Images #2 & #3 show the Cast windows (but would work for Crew as well). Again, click on an image and it opens the website displaying information about the actor/crew member. If there is no ID for that person for a website, the image is greyed out as displayed for 3 of the sites in image #2.

Image #4: The Personalize window. This is where you type in the ID's of each movie for the different websites. What are displayed are the correct ID's for the movie Air Force One for each site just to show how it would look.

Image #5: The Cast area of the Edit Profile menu shows at a glance (similar to the headshot being present or not) if an actor has ID's entered for the different sites already or if they need to be added. Again, they would be greyed out if no ID's have been entered.

Image #6: The Edit Cast Member window with the same addition as the Personalize window but for cast/crew. Displayed are the correct ID's for the actor Harrison Ford.

Image #7: The Options Menu => Websites. This last image is nitpicking a bit, but I also saw it as a precautionary option. Right now, for instance, if I want to look up any movie on IMDB, the URL for that movie will be the following format: www.imdb.com/title/tt#######, so assuming that never changes, the entire URL except for the ID could be built into Profiler. (Notice that the path is different for people than it is for movies.) However, if done that way and they someday decided to change the URL format slightly (it is less likely the the .com address wouyld change), this feature would be useless since it would bring up non-existent pages. This option adds "just in case" flexibility. It also lets you turn off different websites (removing the logos entirely) if there are a few that you prefer never to use.



Again, even if this idea seems too far-fetched to be used, I still recommend including The Numbers website into the Profile Links pages. 

Just tried the MovieTome site and got this to work. Notes field string is a bit involved but maybe a better route.....
Add to the Notes field .... <mvtome>276447/grease/index.html?q=grease</mvtome> - this is for Grease.

The use following to create a new html window


<HTML>
<HEAD>
<SCRIPT TYPE="text/javascript">
<!--
<DP NAME="HEADER_VARS" Language="JavaScript" Comments="True" IncludeCast="False" IncludeCrew="False">
/**************************************************/
// Open IMDb page for the profile
function mvtome() {
  var mvtomeStart = DP_Notes.toLowerCase().search("\<mvtome\>") + 8;
  var mvtomeEnd = DP_Notes.toLowerCase().search("\<\/mvtome\>");
  var mvtomeCode = DP_Notes.slice(mvtomeStart, mvtomeEnd);
  var mvtomeLink = ("http://www.movietome.com/movie/" +mvtomeCode);
  if (mvtomeEnd > 1) {
    window.location.href= mvtomeLink;
  } else {
    document.write("You need to add &LT;mvtome&GT;Reference&LT;/mvtome&GT; to your notes for this to work")
  }
}
//-->
</SCRIPT>
</HEAD>
<BODY onload="mvtome();">
</BODY>
</HTML>

You can create a new html window by going into the View Menu --> Html Windows --> Edit and slecting the new icon. Paste the above text into the editor (overwritingthe default code) and then click ok. Activate the window by selecting View and then selecting your new window.

Not quite what you wanted especially in the area of cast and crew but may help until anything more formal occurs.

tmb4016