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[pcstockton]

Good day all!

Can someone help me try to use MC for things other than music?  For music it works fantastically, but for pictures I can figure it out.

When I open Picasa, it shows everything by "Directory Structure".  It gives each "photo album" a title from the name of the folder the pictures reside in.

Can someone please help me sort them like this?

I suppose the same goes for videos, although honestly i typically use VLC for video (ducks for the incoming!!)

Thanks for the help,
Patrick

[rick.ca]

Unlike wimpy applets like Picasa and VLC, MC offers lots of different ways to organize your media. If you like using your existing directory structure, you could use a Panes View with "File path" type category (see Customize View). You can also add an "Expression" category to extract a "photo album" name from the path. Depending on your folder structure, use an expression like ListItem([Filename (path)],3,\) to do this (in my structure, the "photo album" name is always the third in the list).

[pcstockton]

Thanks for the help.

Sorry If I am being an idiot, but....

I am talking about Theater View.  Every "album" has a "heading" of a datestamp.  I was hoping i could get the heading in "images" for each album to be the name of the Folder.

Using a specific example.  I have pictures from hundreds of golf courses.  Each course has its own folder.  I would love for these to be sorted alphabetically using these folder titles in Theater view.  I am sure MC is a much more robust program than Picasa, but Picasa seems to sort the way I like.

Thanks again!

[rick.ca]

Theatre View is completely configurable (at Options>Theatre View). Before considering that, however, I recommend you first learn how to get the result you want in Standard View. That's where you'll be categorizing and tagging your photo—before viewing them in Theatre View.

The first thing to understand is that MC will allow you to organize your collection anyway you like. Your probably using a default view. Even if I could remember what that looks like, I wouldn't assume it's appropriate for your circumstances. And while most people might be able to make use of the standard album, events, places, people, keywords categories, exactly how they use such fields is up to them.

The easy answer to your question is to change the default Album value to the name of the golf course (this can be done in one step using an expression). But maybe you have photos of things other than golf courses, and Album should be used to categorize them (e.g., Places could be used for golf courses, and all of them could be in one "Golf Courses" Album).

Once you've decided how to organize and manage your photos, the best techniques to use will be more apparent. If you're going to continue to rely on the existing folder structure (e.g., you're going to continue to use Picasa), then using an expression category to extract an album name makes sense. On the other hand, if you're going to use MC exclusively, you'll be tagging the files as you import them (i.e., with golf course name and whatever else you want to record). You can then use Rename, Move & Copy Files to move them to whatever folders you would like them in.

Once you've got a Standard View view you like, you can use it in Theatre View using Add...Library Item from Standard View in Options>Theatre View, or create a different view.

[pcstockton]

Fantastic Rick! Thanks for spending the time to give me some training.

I will play around with the settings and see what I can achieve.

Thanks again!
Patrick

[pcstockton]

Rick,

Ok.  I have things working well in standard view.  I am not sure though how to use the expression.

Right now I have headings that are the entire file path which is quite long.

-thanks
Patrick

[rick.ca]

The easiest way to experiment with and learn expressions is by creating "Expression Columns." In a Panes or Details view, right-click on the column header and select Add Expression Column... This will open the Expression Editor where you can select from available functions and fields, and get tooltip instructions for the syntax of functions. Even if your goal is to use an expression to fill an actual field, it can be helpful to use an expression column to create and test the expression (and just delete the column when you're finished).

To use an expression to add data to an existing field, select all the rows to be changed—making sure the last field selected is the field to be changed. The press F2 to enter edit mode. Enter the required expression—prefaced with an equals sign. Press Enter, and the fields selected will be changed to the result of the expression. If the result is not what you want, immediately Undo it by pressing Ctrl+Z.

Another way to get data from the pathname is to use the Fill Properties from Filename function. To set Album to the last folder in the path, for example, just set Directory: to [Album].

[pcstockton]

thanks for the help Rick!

Perhaps I need to wait on using MC for images.  I fooled with expressions for a while and I just dont know how they work or how to apply what I learned to images in theater view.

I am typically very computer saavy.  Ive made some really nice Columns UI configs in Foobar.

I guess it is because my photos arent tagged that they dont display like my music does.

I figured each folder of pictures would be like an "Album" in music.  Click on the album and all the pictures show up.

Each "photo album" would be named by the folder they are in.  The folder name and album name would match.

Then in Images in Theater. I would see a single thumbnail for each folder.

So the question is.... how do I easily tag photos and can I use them to create the display I am talking about above?

Thanks again Rick for your tireless assistance.

[rick.ca]

I figured each folder of pictures would be like an "Album" in music.  Click on the album and all the pictures show up.

It will be, as soon as you set [Album] equal to the folder name. Did you try Fill Properties from Filename? If you're having problems, tell us exactly what the pathnames are so we can offer more detailed instructions.

[raldo]

Another way to achieve what you want, would be to create a new field, and then autofill the field using an expression which picks up the lowermost folder name:

o In tools, options, library, manage library fields, select "Create new field". Name the new field .Album to distinguish it from "Album"
o Select "Calculated data" and insert the following text: ListItem([Filename (path)], Math(ListCount([Filename (path)], \) - 1), \)
o Create a new view scheme which displays .Album

That's basically what I've done. When I have a new batch of photos, I put them in a new folder in my \\server\photos share. When they've been imported by MC, I have a new album which corresponds to the lowermost folder. No extra work.

MC's approach is to offer more flexibility than other, less configurable applications. One challenge with this approach is that the learning curve is steeper but once you've mastered some basics, you can do a lot of nifty things.

[pcstockton]

Rick and Raldo,

Thanks for holding my hand through this.  Everything is displaying perfectly in Standard View.  Raldo, your method was perfect.

I think I should be able to apply this to Theater now.

Again, I am blown away by the amount, quality and promptness of the help in this Forum.

Have a great weekend!
-Patrick