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[drc]

Want to create a smartlist showing for ex:

All artist stating with D thru F

Once I can create this smartlist I can modifiy to say:

all artists D thru F that have incomplete albums.  (unless there's a better rule to create this task.

Currently i can find all incomplete albums, but the list is so long, Iwant to split it my artists

Thanks

[marko]

Reading your post, I would suggest a "Library View" to work in would be a better option.

You would then have all of the data in panes, and as you make selections in the panes, the other panes and file list will filter accordingly.

The rules for file display for your view scheme would be to only include incomplete albums, or, you could include them all and make a pane for Complete / Incomplete filtering, and then, more panes for Artist (Grouped) and albums.

I won't be in front of an MC for a few hours... If that sounds like something that would work for you, and no-one else has jumped in beforehand, I'll post the steps and the filters for your panes for you later on.

-marko

[marko]

Hi drc... Try the steps below...

Right click on Audio in your tree, and click on "Add Library View"
At the bottom of the result window of thumbnails, you will find "Empty View". Click on it once to select it.
Underneath that, change the name field to Incomplete Albums?
Press OK.

MC will have added the view to your tree, selected it, and opened the view scheme editor for you. You should be looking at something as shown below...


Starting on the left, we'll now add your panes. Press the "Add" button. You will now be looking at the category editor below...


Select the "Expression" type.
Enter Complete Album? in the name field.
Paste the following code into the "Expression to group by" field.

Code: [Select]

if(IsEqual([complete album],0,2), Incomplete,All There)Press OK

You will now be back at the first image. Press the "Add" button again.

This time, keep the Library Field type selected, choose Artist from the list of fields.
Keep sorting and matching at their defaults, tick "Grouping", enter your desired size, which, from your OP, will be three.
Press OK.

Press "Add" again, select Artist from the list, again, and press OK.

Press "Add" again, select Album from the list, and press OK.

Your view editor should now look like so:


The default settings should be fine for you. If you want to know more about these, see this post, old, but still current.

Press OK. How does this work for you?

Also, for the sake of clarity, some notes regarding the logic MC uses to determine an album's "completeness"...
Complete Albums

Media Center can automatically display complete and incomplete albums. An album is considered complete if all the files with the same [Album] value in the same directory:

·      are sequentially numbered tracks starting at 1

·      have at least 2 files or 10 minutes of audio (this might be out of date now. I think 1 track albums are now deemed to be complete if the track # is 1)

·      are Audio and have a non-empty [Album] value.


-marko

[drc]

Got it!  Working but I have a few questions for clarification

I created the panels as instructed.
Complete Album
Artist
Artist
Albums

1.  Why create to Artist panels? 
2.  It seems they all show complete Albums.

For now, i just want to find all the incomplete by artist.  I'm familiar with the standard find all incomplete allbum but cecause t the list is so long, i wanted to break it down by artist and do it at my leisure.

So far it does break down by artist 0-9, A-c, etc...

Reloaded database so its taking a long time

Thanks

[marko]

1.  Why create to Artist panels? 

Just for ease of reading. When you select a grouped entry in the pane to the left, the second Artist pane will filter to show only the artists in that grouping. It's not essential and can be removed if you would prefer.

2.  It seems they all show complete Albums.

I was not 100% sure how you would like this to work. In its current state, the view lists all albums, both complete and incomplete.
If you select the "Incomplete" entry in the first pane, everything should adjust so that you are only looking at artists with incomplete albums.

For now, i just want to find all the incomplete by artist.

You could, if you prefer, make it so the view only contains incomplete albums. As you work through them, fixing them, each one you fix will automatically be removed from the view, and finally, when you are done, the view will list zero files.

To do that, follow steps below:
Right click your "Incomplete Albums" view in the tree, choose "Customise View"
In the "Categories" section on the left, select the first entry, "Complete Album?" and press the "Remove" button.
In the middle "Settings" section, click on "Set rules for file display"
Use the drop menus to set a rule that says "Complete Album is False", as shown below...


and OK your way all the way out.

Is that any better for you?
The only other thing I'm wondering about is any incomplete "Multiple Artist" albums you may have...

This view doesn't really handle those very well, unless you select only the album name and leave the others at "All". If this is an issue though, simply open the view editor again, and edit the two "Artist" categories by changing them to "Album Artist (Auto)" instead of "Artist"

-marko

[drc]

got it.  I will try the new suggestion for ease of use, but i understand how to use the first suggestion.

Under completed albums, if i select unassigned it switches to all incomplete... so it works perfectly.. just didn't understand how to read it initially thank..

[drc]

Last suggestion "incomplete only" is exactly what i needed.  Could not have done this without your help.

thank

[marko]

You're welcome. Any other questions, don't hesitate to ask.

-marko.