Topic: *NEW* aTagger (Alan's Tagger) plug-in (Read 9716 times)

@l@n · « **on:** March 28, 2004, 06:35:43 pm »

I've been using Media Jukebox/Media Center since version 7. While I'd never posted messages on Interact until the last couple of weeks, I've been lurking around for years. During this time I've gotten to know and appreciate many of you through your posts.

I've often tried to think of ways to repay KingSparta (for his awesome plug-ins) and others for all of the help that I've received over the years. I'd been unable to figure out how to contribute to the JRiver community.

A couple of months ago, I began writing my first Media Center plug-in, in hopes that others would be able to leverage my work to clean up there media files. I've used it successfully on many of my files. I can only hope that others find it useful as well.

What is aTagger? I'm glad you ask, aTagger automatically updates the ID3 tags of Media Center audio files with Artist, Album, Year, Genre, Styles, Tones, Type, Image, and Parental Advisory information from online sources.

aTagger is available for download at http://atagger.auldridge.biz. I hope that you find it useful. Please remember that this is my first plug-in so it may not be as refined as the KingSparta plug-ins that you are used to using.

Oh, one more thing... Special thanks to KingSparta for his inspiration, scott_r for his .Net code samples and documentation, and DJ_Hazelwood for his suggestions and testing.

Enjoy... Alan

LonWar · « **Reply #1 on:** March 28, 2004, 07:07:35 pm »

Hello...

Thanks for the time and energy in creating this...

A Couple of things...

Any way to get the Band Members that were in the band/group at the time of the album?
(Been looking for a source to do this manually) Also getting the album rating would be way cool as well...

Other then that I tried this Plug In on AC/DC Back In Black, And it put Styles in the Styles place and it also put it in Album? The year it said it found but did not put it in the Year spot...

Not sure If I'm doing anything wrong...

Thanks

@l@n · « **Reply #2 on:** March 28, 2004, 07:30:59 pm »

imjustagamer, I'm really sorry about the problem with Styles updating the wrong database field. I've corrected the problem and published a new 1.0.8 version. Please let me know if you find any more problems.

You can automatically upgrade to the latest version by pressing the [Check Now] button on the "Processing Options" tab.

I've added your requests for Band Members and Album Rating to my list of todo items as possible enhancements.

Thanks... Alan

LonWar · « **Reply #3 on:** March 28, 2004, 09:14:12 pm »

Thanks for the quick update... It's working VERY well...

Thanks,

Sauzee · « **Reply #4 on:** March 28, 2004, 10:41:42 pm »

Alan

What a a fantastic idea.

I've just started using this and it's great. However I wasn't able to get cover art to update.
I love especially the differences reporting.

Thank you so much.

@l@n · « **Reply #5 on:** March 28, 2004, 11:27:40 pm »

I'm so embarrased.

You guys already found two bugs. I fixed it in aTagger v1.0.9 which is available now. You can automatically upgrade to the latest version by pressing the [Check Now] button on the "Processing Options" tab.

I'm real sorry for the inconvenience. You guys keep finding the bugs and I'll keep fixing them.

Thanks... Alan

LonWar · « **Reply #6 on:** March 29, 2004, 07:14:28 am »

Quote from: @l@n on March 28, 2004, 11:27:40 pm

I'm so embarrased. You guys already found two bugs. I fixed it in aTagger v1.0.9 which is available now. You can automatically upgrade to the latest version by pressing the [Check Now] button on the "Processing Options" tab.

I'm real sorry for the inconvenience. You guys keep finding the bugs and I'll keep fixing them.

Thanks... Alan

Hi Alan, Don't be embarassed... This is a really great tool that you have created. How easy/hard is it to add extra fields? I know that you said that you would think about adding Band Members and Album Rating. If it's not much harder could you also add the Album list and Album Review?

I know there was someone else around here that was looking for a plug to get Album Reviews....

Thanks for the great work...

@l@n · « **Reply #7 on:** March 29, 2004, 08:32:29 am »

imjustagamer, the Album list and Album Review have been added to the ToDo list

Doof · « **Reply #8 on:** March 29, 2004, 03:56:54 pm »

I keep getting this:

Year: 1994 (currently 1993) [from Date: Jan 25, 1994] *** Different ***
*ERROR*: Unable to set Year tag. Did you forget to create user defined field "Date (year)"?

So it's finding the Date (year) field long enough to know that the years differ, but then it can't find it to set it.

And is there any chance we could get the whole date, and not just year?

TimB · « **Reply #9 on:** March 29, 2004, 06:11:03 pm »

Wow, I got year on a lot of MP3's that didn't have it.

Some of us have removed the "The" from group names so "The Band" becomes "Band" and "The Who" become "Who". Is there a way to accomodate this in the lookup?

Thanks.

-=Tim=-

LonWar · « **Reply #10 on:** March 29, 2004, 07:00:51 pm »

Hi Alan,

I'm using the plugin with about 4000 files. Any chance of getting a Yes to all? As it is I have to watch this go through all tracks and hit yes at the end of each album...

Still a LOT faster then doing it manually...

@l@n · « **Reply #11 on:** March 29, 2004, 07:31:04 pm »

Doof,
I'm sorry about the date problem. I'll try to figure out what is going on and fix it in the next release. Let me think about where I can get the whole date from. I beleive that the year is the only reliable component that I have of the date.

TimB,
I've added an option to remove The, and A to my ToDo list. Thanks for the request!

imjustgamer,
If you turn off Interactive Processing from the "Processing Options" tab you will not get any prompts. Will this work for you? Or do you still think I need to add a "Yes to All" button?

LonWar · « **Reply #12 on:** March 29, 2004, 09:20:31 pm »

Quote from: @l@n on March 29, 2004, 07:31:04 pm

If you turn off Interactive Processing from the "Processing Options" tab you will not get any prompts. Will this work for you? Or do you still think I need to add a "Yes to All" button?

Works like a charm... Thanks

pipsqueak · « **Reply #13 on:** March 29, 2004, 10:24:15 pm »

@l@n

impressive stuff... i got a message saying it couldnt load the a_tagger_config file on mc bootup / fist click on plugin but that seems to have sorted itself out now. now zipping through the 6000 badly categorized files that im always too busy to manually edit

[Edit]
i kkep getting this message in the _rpt file. i dont understand why as 1) date (year) is a standard field in MC and 2) i have it already:

*ERROR*: Unable to set Year tag. Did you forget to create user defined field "Date (year)"?

alan?

pip

@l@n · « **Reply #14 on:** March 29, 2004, 10:59:31 pm »

pipsqueak,

There seems to be an intermitent error when processing the date. I'm sure I'll be able to sort it out for the next build (hopefully tomorrow).

pipsqueak · « **Reply #15 on:** March 29, 2004, 11:06:18 pm »

cool, will hold off my mammoth task until then

pip

benrad · « **Reply #16 on:** March 30, 2004, 07:58:17 am »

This is sort of stupid question, but how would I use the "tone" and "style" descriptions in Media Center? Obviously it's for creating smartlists, but where are these fields?

@l@n · « **Reply #17 on:** March 30, 2004, 09:34:15 am »

Quote

This is sort of stupid question, but how would I use the "tone" and "style" descriptions in Media Center? Obviously it's for creating smartlists, but where are these fields?

Not a stupid question at all... To use "tone" and "style" you must add new library fields to the Media Center database. The following steps are how I add new fields:
1) Select "Tools" from the pull-down menu
2) Select "Options..."
3) Select "Tree & View"
4) Select "Show only user fields" (do make sure what I need isn't already there)
5) Press the "Add" button
6) Enter a "Name"
7) Optionally enter "Display" and "Keywords"
8) Press the "OK" button (2 times)

Now you can have aTagger store data into the new library fields which can be used in smartlists.

I hope this helps...

benrad · « **Reply #18 on:** March 30, 2004, 09:50:45 am »

Thanks, that's what I figured, but I wasn't sure.

Ben

clout · « **Reply #19 on:** March 30, 2004, 10:38:18 am »

Alan,
this plugin is great. Just ran a few albums through as a test.
I have been looking for some time for a way of importing "Tones" & "Styles". I have these fields in many of my mp4 tags created by "The Godfather" but could never get them to display in MC. This plugin makes it so simple, just rescan my mp3's.

Would it be possible to parse the results of the tone & style fields into semicolon delimited fields. This would make tagging mode in MC more useful.
It should just be a matter of replacing any occurrence of a comma followed by a space with a semi-colon.
If not it can be done with a find/replace, but it's an extra step and I'm basically lazy.

Also while you're looking up fields how about Album Review & Artist Bio.

Anyway congratulations on your first attempt at a plugin - a superb effort.

@l@n · « **Reply #20 on:** March 30, 2004, 10:52:09 am »

Quote

Would it be possible to parse the results of the tone & style fields into semicolon delimited fields. This would make tagging mode in MC more useful.

In the next release of aTagger (tonight?), I plan to include Type, Rating, and Review. Also, the Tones & Styles will be semicolon delimited. Finally, the year bug will be fixed.

Quisp · « **Reply #21 on:** March 30, 2004, 11:03:05 am »

Just found about this and am at work!

I know what I'm doing tonight.

One thing regarding the search and replace for the semi-colon, I'm using the GF also, and for one category the delimitor is a comma and a space, the other is just a comma. I'm sure you already know this, but I don't know how much of an issue the space is in MC.

Thank you for doing this. I had actually stopped ripping/cataloging my CDs as it was just taking too long to process the data and seriously, I may have injured my hand with all the intensive copy and pasting.

pipsqueak · « **Reply #22 on:** March 30, 2004, 11:14:26 am »

ooh whats the godather? can someone give me a link...

@l@n · « **Reply #23 on:** March 30, 2004, 11:20:30 am »

Quote

ooh whats the godather? can someone give me a link...

The GodFather is available at http://users.otenet.gr/~jtcliper/tgf/

clout · « **Reply #24 on:** March 30, 2004, 11:37:36 am »

Quote

In the next release of aTagger (tonight?), I plan to include Type, Rating, and Review. Also, the Tones & Styles will be semicolon delimited. Finally, the year bug will be fixed.

Thank you for your prompt response. Can't wait... Finally I'll be able to do everything I've wanted for tagging automatically from within MC

clout · « **Reply #25 on:** March 30, 2004, 11:41:24 am »

PipSqueak,
Alan's plugin combined with MC's already great tagging abilility will finally do almost everything that "The Godfather" will do, but in a much friendlier user environment.

pipsqueak · « **Reply #26 on:** March 30, 2004, 12:10:59 pm »

clout - thanks, thats good - it sounded hard to use. will download out of interest sake...

fex · « **Reply #27 on:** March 30, 2004, 02:20:34 pm »

@l@n,

This one is the one I missed in MC.

Thanks for your time!

Doof · « **Reply #28 on:** March 30, 2004, 03:43:32 pm »

It would also be really sweet if it could grab the Artist Bios from somewhere. I know KingSparta has a plugin that already does this, but if everything could be done from one plugin, it would simpifly tagging even more.

c1c9k72 · « **Reply #29 on:** March 30, 2004, 03:48:04 pm »

This is an amazing new plug-in, and I'm really looking forward to the new update! The only problem I'm having with it is that I get a lot of messages asking if, after three consectutive errors, I'd like to stop. Is there any way I can shut that off ?

skeeterfood · « **Reply #30 on:** March 30, 2004, 05:12:50 pm »

Nice plugin, but I have one issue with it. The Stop button is fairly unresponsive. I had it in interactive mode, so after I hit NO, I tried clicking Stop multiple times. Finally, after a few albums, I was able to get it to stop.

Other Suggestions:
1) Drop all the "tag" and "ID3" references. You're plugin is updating the library fields right, not directly writing to the file tags? If so, this works for any type of audio file/tagging scheme that MC can handle. For example, .mpc with APEv2 tags.

2) If you don't find a Tones/Style for a particular album, could you please grab the Tones/Styles entries for the artist if available?

3) What the heck is the Type field for?

-John

@l@n · « **Reply #31 on:** March 31, 2004, 12:06:49 am »

Well I'm sorry but i'm not finished making the updates tonight and it is already 1:00am so I need to stop for today. I was hoping to get out a new version tonight but I guess that it'll have to wait until tomorrow evening.

I'm 99% complete with the coding of:
- Bug storing Year [imjustagamer, Doof, udeups & others]
- Don't reset the user's options to their default values when upgrading
- Store Album Rating [imjustagamer & udeups]
- Store Album Review [imjustagamer]
- Allow all of the library field names to be set (including Artist, Album,
Year, and Genre) [udeups]
- Add an option to specify the delimiter for Styles and Tones [clout & udeups]

My limited testing looks good but I need at least a couple more hours to finish up.

@l@n · « **Reply #32 on:** March 31, 2004, 12:14:33 am »

Quote

Nice plugin, but I have one issue with it. The Stop button is fairly unresponsive. I had it in interactive mode, so after I hit NO, I tried clicking Stop multiple times. Finally, after a few albums, I was able to get it to stop.

Other Suggestions:
1) Drop all the "tag" and "ID3" references. You're plugin is updating the library fields right, not directly writing to the file tags? If so, this works for any type of audio file/tagging scheme that MC can handle. For example, .mpc with APEv2 tags.

2) If you don't find a Tones/Style for a particular album, could you please grab the Tones/Styles entries for the artist if available?

3) What the heck is the Type field for?

-John

John,
I liked your suggestions (particularly #2) and I've added them to the ToDo list. I'm not sure what to do about the sluggish Stop button. I don't like how it is working but I'm not sure how to make it better. Perhaps I can get some help on the development forum.

Re the Type field, it contains info about the album like "live", "compilation", "box" (box set), "parental advisory", etc

Quisp · « **Reply #33 on:** March 31, 2004, 06:04:11 am »

Alan, this is great. Had a problem getting 1.1 from MS so I didn't have a chance to really check it out. One thing, could you add credits to the fields? I'm not sure how GF stores this info, but it is pretty useful info.

Thanks again. The playlist pulldown is a fantastic touch, I use a lot of playlists in my workflow, this plugin fits in seamlessly.

INTERACT FORUM

Author Topic: *NEW* aTagger (Alan's Tagger) plug-in (Read 9716 times)

benrad

benrad

fex

Author Topic: NEW aTagger (Alan's Tagger) plug-in (Read 9716 times)