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Author Topic: How to save a new library view, showing music from one folder only  (Read 1721 times)

Al ex

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Hi,
I had that for years now: I customized one of the library views that way that it showed the content of my "new/unsorted music" folder on my hard disc only.

That was working I think from MC14-17.
Now, on MC18 I want to configure it the same way.

But I cant manage to do so anymore.
Tried to set up the folder path (in CUSTOMIZE VIEW --- SET RULES FOR FILE DISPLAY --- RULE "Volume Name is C:\Users\Al\Music\New").
Result: no files shown.

How can I do this? Thx
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Al ex

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Re: How to save a new library view, showing music from one folder only
« Reply #1 on: November 29, 2012, 11:31:46 am »

OK - the solution:
1) define a new view by "disc location"
2) define the path to the specific folder in the customize view settings...
3) done :)
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MrC

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Re: How to save a new library view, showing music from one folder only
« Reply #2 on: November 29, 2012, 01:59:10 pm »


Tried to set up the folder path (in CUSTOMIZE VIEW --- SET RULES FOR FILE DISPLAY --- RULE "Volume Name is C:\Users\Al\Music\New").
Result: no files shown.

You'd want the rule:

  Filename (path) starts with C:\Users\Al\Music\New
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Vocalpoint

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Re: How to save a new library view, showing music from one folder only
« Reply #3 on: November 29, 2012, 02:04:37 pm »

I had that for years now: I customized one of the library views that way that it showed the content of my "new/unsorted music" folder on my hard disc only.

Can I ask a question on this (Since this sounds like something I might be able to use). Let me set the stage for you first:

For my music cataloging/tagging/metadata activities - all tracks that need work ends up a specific "staging" folder that is located on my local (D) drive.

When I need to get some files in shape - I access this folder via MC by using the Drives/Devices(Explorer) tree item. I simply "expand " my way to this staging folder and work on each album as it sits out here. I move from folder to folder - tagging tracks up, replay gain, add art etc etc. Then I use the Rename, Move and Copy function in MC to move the now tagged material to another folder (local) that house the "Final" product (so to speak).

From there - I switch over to Windows Explorer and copy this "final" album (now being it's correct folder and file conventions) out to the Music share on our server. Then I move the final archive itself to a backup location where it's duplicated one more time for offsite storage.

Q: If you are creating a view for a specific folder location (which might work for me) - I assume that this "folder" is included in your folder path locations - so if/when MC does an import (either automatically or manually - I click Auto Import manually exclusively)...I take it that this "unsorted" folder is read each time - so you can have some meaningful stuff show up in this view?

The reason I use the Drives & Devices area on the Tree is that it acts like Explorer in that I can browse to any folder and the files just appear and I can get to work. But the option to just go to this "view" and do the same might be even better. But I need to know if you include this "unsorted" folder in your library paths....

Also - what are you having MC do (does Carnac work for untagged music?) to unsorted stuff in this view that have no tags at all or are in real rough shape...maybe just a file name etc (or no logical local folder) etc etc...

Would love an update on how you use this.

Cheers!

VP
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MrC

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Re: How to save a new library view, showing music from one folder only
« Reply #4 on: November 29, 2012, 02:23:16 pm »

Using the Explorer view has one advantage - you can see ALL files in a directory (and not just those file types that are imported).  This can be useful, but maybe not enough to force you to be restricted to a single directory.

Instead, you can add your Staging area into Auto-Import, and optionally auto-import tag all imported files with a Staging keyword if desired.

If you modify you main Audio view, you can configure it to ignore all files in the Staging area.  That way, your views are not polluted with the unwashed files.   Then, you can can configure a Staging view, which overrides the parent's default to ignore files in Staging, and includes them.  If this view were a panes view, with the first pane showing In Staging and Released, you can have the benefit of seeing your current metadata (to help guide in tagging), and seeing what still needs to be tagged and cleaned.  Context here is nice.

I don't think Carnac does much with music files.
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Vocalpoint

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Re: How to save a new library view, showing music from one folder only
« Reply #5 on: November 29, 2012, 03:19:00 pm »

Using the Explorer view has one advantage - you can see ALL files in a directory (and not just those file types that are imported).  This can be useful, but maybe not enough to force you to be restricted to a single directory.

Instead, you can add your Staging area into Auto-Import, and optionally auto-import tag all imported files with a Staging keyword if desired.

If you modify you main Audio view, you can configure it to ignore all files in the Staging area.  That way, your views are not polluted with the unwashed files.   Then, you can can configure a Staging view, which overrides the parent's default to ignore files in Staging, and includes them.  If this view were a panes view, with the first pane showing In Staging and Released, you can have the benefit of seeing your current metadata (to help guide in tagging), and seeing what still needs to be tagged and cleaned.  Context here is nice.

I don't think Carnac does much with music files.

MrC

Some great stuff here - thank you! Couple things - my "main" views target files on the server exclusively - where everything would be considered "released" (if you will) so I do not see any issues with these main views having any "unwashed" candidates in them.

Would like to know how to "auto import tagging" works tho. I am still on v17 but if it's relevant - would love some context on how to do that.

I will probably start with a Panes view that simply targets my Staging area.

Q: Would this "view" list all files in all folders? Like if I pointed the view to start in D:\Staging\Music and inside this main folder were 8 albums in 8 subfolders - would MC list all the files in the view?

Q: Can views be hidden from clients? As in - I really only want this view to be available to me when I am cataloging on my main workstation (which runs Media Server). I do not want my wife or son firing up MC on the kitchen PC and messing around in the "staging" view....ya know?

Cheers!

VP



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MrC

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Re: How to save a new library view, showing music from one folder only
« Reply #6 on: November 29, 2012, 04:22:13 pm »

Import tagging is done in the Configure Auto-Import... area, on a per-folder basis.  You can have MC apply values to any number of tags upon import (and optionally to omit applying a tag when the tag already exists).  The tagging mechanism uses the MC expression language so you can be creative.  So, you can use directory components to help assign tags (e.g. Artist, Album), or apply static tags as desired, based upon, for example, Media Type.  Ask for more specific help where you need it.  In your case, since all your Unreleased files are in a given directory tree, there's probably no need to add any sort of Unreleased tag or keyword.  The file location alone might be sufficient.

I'd use a panes view that shows all Audio files from any location, and it would have a Stage column showing values of Released and Unreleased.  A second pane might be a location-based pane, that shows the full or relative path of the media, perhaps in a hierarchical tree, so that you can explore it just like you do in Explorer mode.  The files list gives you the added benefit of being able to see files for any number of sub-folders, so you can tag entire lots of media for a given Artist, for example.

I'd customize the file list view, and save it as a Preset, and have it show all the fields you require to be filled out.  That way, you can see what's missing at a glance, or by quick column sorting.  Perhaps also include a column that makes clear which files are Unreleased.

As far as not seeing the view from Clients - the only thing I can think of is to use Access Control on each client, but I don't know if you're able to enforce that.  It would be nice to be able to protect content on the server, and by default require clients to enter the access control password.  Regardless, the view would be seen, but the content would not, so in the case of a pane showing Released and Unreleased, it would only show Released.  I'd make it a more clever expression pane, showing the path location for Released media, and a prefixed path location for Unreleased media (e.g. *UNRELEASED*\<media type>\<artist>\<album>).  This way, you can have a useful view regardless of stage of release.
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