Release Notes: Event Channel Managarr v0.3.0a

This is a major feature release that overhauls the plugin's logic. The old method of hiding channels has been replaced with a powerful, customizable, and prioritized rules engine.

Major New Features

1. Hide Rules Priority Engine

You now have full control over why and when a channel is hidden. The old, hard-coded logic has been replaced with a new "Hide Rules Priority" setting.

• The plugin now processes rules in the order you define them (top-down).
• The first rule that matches a channel will be used as the reason for hiding it.
• This allows for much more granular control and better logging.

2. New Rule: Date-Based Hiding (Past & Future)

The plugin can now read dates from your channel names (e.g., "Oct 25", "10/25/2025", "(OCT 25)") and hide channels based on them.

• [PastDate:days]: Hides a channel if the event date is more than days in the past.
  • Example: [PastDate:0] hides any event from yesterday or older.
• [FutureDate:days]: Hides a channel if the event date is more than days in the future.
  • Example: [FutureDate:14] hides any event that is more than 2 weeks away.

Settings Changes

• [ADDED] Hide Rules Priority Field: A new text box where you define your hide rules. It comes pre-filled with a new set of defaults that mimic and improve upon the old logic:

  [NoEPG]
  [PastDate:0]
  [EmptyPlaceholder]
  [NoEventPattern]
  [BlankName]
  

• [DEPRECATED] Regex: Mark Channel as Inactive Field: This field is now deprecated.
  • Its functionality has been replaced by the new [InactiveRegex] rule.
  • For backward compatibility, if you have a value in the old field, the [InactiveRegex] rule will automatically use it.
  • Recommendation: Move any regex from the old field into the new Hide Rules Priority field as a new line: [InactiveRegex].

Logic Improvements & Bug Fixes

• Smarter Duplicate Handling: The plugin is now much better at detecting duplicates.
  • PPV 15 | CROWN JEWEL and PPV 15 | POWER SLAP are no longer considered duplicates and will both be shown.
  • Duplicates are now only flagged if both the base name and the event description (after the | or :) are identical.
• Fixed NoEventPattern: The [NoEventPattern] rule now correctly catches both "No event" and "No events" (plural).
• Improved Date Parsing: The date extraction logic is more robust and correctly identifies dates in formats like "Oct 25" that were previously missed.
• All Logic Re-written: The entire _check_channel_has_event function was replaced by the new rules engine (_check_channel_should_hide, _check_hide_rule, _parse_hide_rules), making the code cleaner and easier to update.

Updating the Plugin

To update Event Channel Managarr from a previous version:

1. Remove Old Version

1. Navigate to Plugins in Dispatcharr
2. Click the trash icon next to the old Event Channel Managarr plugin
3. Confirm deletion

2. Restart Dispatcharr

1. Log out of Dispatcharr
2. Restart the Docker container:

   docker restart dispatcharr

3. Install New Version

1. Log back into Dispatcharr
2. Navigate to Plugins
3. Click Import Plugin and upload the new plugin zip file
4. Enable the plugin after installation

4. Post-Update Configuration

1. After upgrading, go to the plugin settings page.
2. Review the new Hide Rules Priority field. The new defaults should work well for you.
3. If you were using the Regex: Mark Channel as Inactive field, copy your regex pattern from that box.
4. Paste it as a new line in the Hide Rules Priority field, like this: [InactiveRegex].
5. Press "Update Schedule" to save your new settings.