Pedia Maintenance Practices
Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2021 3:52 pm
With the release of Apple SOC known as Apple Silicon and the increase in new macOS releases and updates to the pedia's to accommodate these new OS's, I thought it was time to give everyone some maintenance tips re the pedia's and macOS.
Conor has updated the Apple App store and the Pedia's app and Pedia's Beta download pages to the latest versions.
It is always good protocol to do some house cleaning every once in a while and here are some maintenance tasks you could try.
Regular visitors to these forums will know I am big on the following:
NOTE: ******** represents the particular pedia - Book, DVD, CD or Game.
1 - When I am updating App's to a new WHOLE number version or upgrading to a new OS version, or I know that there has been a major rewrite of the App such as with the case of all the pedia's for 64 bit technology and Apple's regular macOS updates plus the introduction of their own Apple Silicon SoC CPU's, I always do a complete uninstall of the old pedia versions prior to update.
I achieve this by using a FREE program called AppCleaner which you can download from here. On using this App place a check mark IN ALL the boxes EXCEPT: [pedia name] ~/Library/Application Support/********pedia , which is the second line down from the top. This is where your data base is located. Ensure that is NOT ticked.
You will loose your Preference settings though but they only take a couple of minutes to redo. If you do not want to redo your pedia Preferences then untick com.bruji.********.plist
Note: Your Preferences are found here: ~/Library/Preferences/com.bruji.*****pedia.plist
ONLY DOWNLOAD THE VERSION FOR YOUR macOS.
NOTE: By default the Pedia database folder is located in your Home folder under ~/Library/Application Support/*******pedia. If you would like to change the location and to ensure the Pedia's look in the correct location for your database and all the required Folders and Files listed below, do the following:
a) ensure the Pedia is quit in the Dock
b) hold down the option key during start up and choose a different location or a different data folder.
2 - These are the Folders and Files that should be in ~/Library/Application Support/*****pedia/ .
Covers
InfoTemplates
Plug-ins
Templates
AddMultiple.xml
autofill.xml
backup1Month.*****pd
backup2Months.*****pd
*****pedia Backup.zip
Database.******pd
Database.******pd-shm
Pocketpedia.******pd
Pocketpedia.******pd-shm
Pocketpedia.******pd-wal
The above entries in blue are Folders do not delete them or their contents.
AND of course do not delete: Database.*****pd OR Pocketpedia.*****pd
The Files with the suffix; .shm & .wal can be deleted as they are changed and recreated automatically again on each starting up of your pedia. You can think of them as a temporary index cache files. The Database and Backup files are self explanatory so not advisable to delete those. The .xml are again a type of index file for your autofill fields and are important so do not delete those two. You can clean these up to some extend within each Pedia's Preferences > Autofill.
3 - There is also one other thing you can do and that is to use, what I call a "Grease & Oil Change" maintenance program called Onyx. This is a FREE program that is a multifunction utility that you can use to verify the structure of the system files, to run miscellaneous maintenance and cleaning tasks, to configure parameters in the Finder, Dock, Safari, and some of Apple's applications, to delete caches, to remove certain problematic folders and files, to rebuild various databases and indexes, and more. I always use it prior and post system OS updates and about once a month. Also especially in this case concerning the new mac Operating System's.
This program is available here: Titanium Software - Onyx. ONLY DOWNLOAD THE VERSION FOR YOUR macOS
It is available in many languages and is regularly updated (about once a month).
4 - Also there are some hidden menu tasks that you can perform:
'hold down the option key and click on the main Help menu in each program once and select - each in turn: 'Verify Database', 'Remove Orphaned Covers' and 'Clean Duplicates in Fields' these may not solve your problems but it wont hurt either.
5 - And finally if your particular pedia is actually crashing do check for the Crash Logs. You can find the relevant logs in your Home folder under: ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/
iDevice problems
1. If covers are not loading correctly on your iDevices you can tell each particular pedia, in turn, to forget what it thinks it knows about the state of the cover sync and do a full sync again by holding down the Option (alt) key on the Mac while pressing the sync button on Pocketpedia.
OR
2)
• open desktop DVDpedia and hold the Option key and click on the Help menu and this will open a hidden menu
• select and click on Export for Pocketpedia
• save the resulting For Pocketpedia.pocketpd file to Desktop and Quit DVDpedia
• connect your iDevice to your mac via cable
• open Finder and click on your connect iDevice in the left column under Locations
• let it finish completely the Sync'ing process
• select Files on that windows tab bar
• select Pocketpedia and right click on each Folder/File and select Delete However DO NOT DELETE the actual Pocketpedia entry
NOTE: sometime Finder does not immediately show these App's & Files, wait a few minutes.
• select the For Pocketpedia.pocketpd on your Desktop and drag & drop it into Finder on top of the Files Pocketpedia entry
• eject your iDevice from your Mac
• open Pocketpedia on your iDevice and select DVDpedia within the Collections column - it should now start to reload all your entries and cover art, be patient as it may take a while. (from seconds to several minutes)
3 - To view iPhone crash logs:
• On your iPhone, navigate to the Settings app
• Go to Privacy
• Go to Diagnostics & Usage
• Go to Diagnostic & Usage Data
You will see an alphabetical list all crash logs on your device
Hint: Once you’ve entered the crash log, you can long-press to select all of the text and copy to your clipboard.
Connect your iPhone to your mac and let it do its thing and then have a look at: ~/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/MobileDevice
Zip compress these logs up and send them to Bruji Support: support@bruji.com
AND of course always carry out a general machine BACKUP first. Remember that all the pedia's also have the ability to create individual data base backups: File > Export Collection > Backup > Location of your choice
If you want to transfer all your databases from your iDevice/s to your mac please read this article: Sync your Pedia's from iDevice to iMac
NOTE: When posting in the forum please state what pedia/s is involved, pedia version number and what macOS and or iOS version number. Always ensure you have installed the latest version of all OS's and pedia/s.
Hope you find these Tips & Hints helpful
Conor has updated the Apple App store and the Pedia's app and Pedia's Beta download pages to the latest versions.
It is always good protocol to do some house cleaning every once in a while and here are some maintenance tasks you could try.
Regular visitors to these forums will know I am big on the following:
NOTE: ******** represents the particular pedia - Book, DVD, CD or Game.
1 - When I am updating App's to a new WHOLE number version or upgrading to a new OS version, or I know that there has been a major rewrite of the App such as with the case of all the pedia's for 64 bit technology and Apple's regular macOS updates plus the introduction of their own Apple Silicon SoC CPU's, I always do a complete uninstall of the old pedia versions prior to update.
I achieve this by using a FREE program called AppCleaner which you can download from here. On using this App place a check mark IN ALL the boxes EXCEPT: [pedia name] ~/Library/Application Support/********pedia , which is the second line down from the top. This is where your data base is located. Ensure that is NOT ticked.
You will loose your Preference settings though but they only take a couple of minutes to redo. If you do not want to redo your pedia Preferences then untick com.bruji.********.plist
Note: Your Preferences are found here: ~/Library/Preferences/com.bruji.*****pedia.plist
ONLY DOWNLOAD THE VERSION FOR YOUR macOS.
NOTE: By default the Pedia database folder is located in your Home folder under ~/Library/Application Support/*******pedia. If you would like to change the location and to ensure the Pedia's look in the correct location for your database and all the required Folders and Files listed below, do the following:
a) ensure the Pedia is quit in the Dock
b) hold down the option key during start up and choose a different location or a different data folder.
2 - These are the Folders and Files that should be in ~/Library/Application Support/*****pedia/ .
Covers
InfoTemplates
Plug-ins
Templates
AddMultiple.xml
autofill.xml
backup1Month.*****pd
backup2Months.*****pd
*****pedia Backup.zip
Database.******pd
Database.******pd-shm
Pocketpedia.******pd
Pocketpedia.******pd-shm
Pocketpedia.******pd-wal
The above entries in blue are Folders do not delete them or their contents.
AND of course do not delete: Database.*****pd OR Pocketpedia.*****pd
The Files with the suffix; .shm & .wal can be deleted as they are changed and recreated automatically again on each starting up of your pedia. You can think of them as a temporary index cache files. The Database and Backup files are self explanatory so not advisable to delete those. The .xml are again a type of index file for your autofill fields and are important so do not delete those two. You can clean these up to some extend within each Pedia's Preferences > Autofill.
3 - There is also one other thing you can do and that is to use, what I call a "Grease & Oil Change" maintenance program called Onyx. This is a FREE program that is a multifunction utility that you can use to verify the structure of the system files, to run miscellaneous maintenance and cleaning tasks, to configure parameters in the Finder, Dock, Safari, and some of Apple's applications, to delete caches, to remove certain problematic folders and files, to rebuild various databases and indexes, and more. I always use it prior and post system OS updates and about once a month. Also especially in this case concerning the new mac Operating System's.
This program is available here: Titanium Software - Onyx. ONLY DOWNLOAD THE VERSION FOR YOUR macOS
It is available in many languages and is regularly updated (about once a month).
4 - Also there are some hidden menu tasks that you can perform:
'hold down the option key and click on the main Help menu in each program once and select - each in turn: 'Verify Database', 'Remove Orphaned Covers' and 'Clean Duplicates in Fields' these may not solve your problems but it wont hurt either.
5 - And finally if your particular pedia is actually crashing do check for the Crash Logs. You can find the relevant logs in your Home folder under: ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/
iDevice problems
1. If covers are not loading correctly on your iDevices you can tell each particular pedia, in turn, to forget what it thinks it knows about the state of the cover sync and do a full sync again by holding down the Option (alt) key on the Mac while pressing the sync button on Pocketpedia.
OR
2)
• open desktop DVDpedia and hold the Option key and click on the Help menu and this will open a hidden menu
• select and click on Export for Pocketpedia
• save the resulting For Pocketpedia.pocketpd file to Desktop and Quit DVDpedia
• connect your iDevice to your mac via cable
• open Finder and click on your connect iDevice in the left column under Locations
• let it finish completely the Sync'ing process
• select Files on that windows tab bar
• select Pocketpedia and right click on each Folder/File and select Delete However DO NOT DELETE the actual Pocketpedia entry
NOTE: sometime Finder does not immediately show these App's & Files, wait a few minutes.
• select the For Pocketpedia.pocketpd on your Desktop and drag & drop it into Finder on top of the Files Pocketpedia entry
• eject your iDevice from your Mac
• open Pocketpedia on your iDevice and select DVDpedia within the Collections column - it should now start to reload all your entries and cover art, be patient as it may take a while. (from seconds to several minutes)
3 - To view iPhone crash logs:
• On your iPhone, navigate to the Settings app
• Go to Privacy
• Go to Diagnostics & Usage
• Go to Diagnostic & Usage Data
You will see an alphabetical list all crash logs on your device
Hint: Once you’ve entered the crash log, you can long-press to select all of the text and copy to your clipboard.
Connect your iPhone to your mac and let it do its thing and then have a look at: ~/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/MobileDevice
Zip compress these logs up and send them to Bruji Support: support@bruji.com
AND of course always carry out a general machine BACKUP first. Remember that all the pedia's also have the ability to create individual data base backups: File > Export Collection > Backup > Location of your choice
If you want to transfer all your databases from your iDevice/s to your mac please read this article: Sync your Pedia's from iDevice to iMac
NOTE: When posting in the forum please state what pedia/s is involved, pedia version number and what macOS and or iOS version number. Always ensure you have installed the latest version of all OS's and pedia/s.
Hope you find these Tips & Hints helpful
