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[yonkiman]

Trying to clean up some flacs using Fill Properties from Filename.  I like the new preview feature - very helpful.

Artist and Album were no problem, but I couldn't extract the track number, and it loses the Title Case MC20 fixed when it initially imported them. 

For example, the incoming filename was "04 dechirico street.flac".  MC20's auto import thought the Name was "04 Dechirico Street".  So I tried a manual Fill Properties from Filename but I couldn't get it to pull the track number out of the name (see attached image).

To clean it up, I had to import the tracks, sort them by filename to get them in order, fill the track number from list order, do the manual import described above to strip the track number, then do a Clean File Properties to clean up the capitalization.

Would be nice if I could do all of that (or at least most) from within Fill Properties from Filename - I imagine that's what the intention of the function is, and I seem to remember it working reliably in earlier versions of MC.  This is with MC 20.0.124.

-Fred

P.S. Is there any way I could have inserted the image in-line?  I just got the img html tags but didn't see how to link it to my attachment.

[blgentry]

You've got a little syntax problem in your Filename expression.  You used:

[Track] [Name]

Track isn't a valid MC field.  What you're looking for is Track #.  Very close.  Easy to get it mixed up.  So:

[Track #] [Name]

Should do the trick.  I'm not 100% sure about capitalization, but the "fix" library tool will certainly take care of that for you in one step for all files that you're working on.  So it's not much extra work.

Good luck.

Brian.

[glynor]

The format in your Template was incorrect, which caused the problem.

[Track] isn't a valid Field, so it threw that away.  [Track #], which is the right field name, works fine with your example:


I don't think the Fill Properties from Filename tool ever automatically did a Clean on the results. But, that isn't a huge deal as you can just right-click on the files again and do it in a second pass.  Still, that's a good idea, and I think I'll add it to the new Too Easy thread.

[glynor]

Doh. Brian ninja-ed me while I was messing about with my screenshot.  I put in more effort, though, Brian. 

[yonkiman]

Thanks guys.  I tried [Track] and [Track#] - I should have kept trying!  Though while we're on the topic of the Too Easy list for the future...is interpreting [Track] and [Track#] as [Track #] a good idea?

Thanks to glynor, I now KNOW you can do inline images.  What am I missing?

[glynor]

Though while we're on the topic of the Too Easy list for the future...is interpreting [Track] and [Track#] as [Track #] a good idea?

No. Square bracket notation always uses the true name of the field, as is shown in the Library Field Editor under:
Tools > Options > Library & Folders > Manage Library Fields

The spot labeled #1 in the following screenshot:

Thanks to glynor, I now KNOW you can do inline images.  What am I missing?

You need to use an image hosted on a web server somewhere. Then you paste the link into the forum post editor, and surround it with IMG tags. The one above looks like (in my editor):

Code: [Select]

[img]http://wiki.jriver.com/images/5/58/Library_Fields.png[/img]
The one in my previous post looks like:

Code: [Select]

[img]http://glynor.com/img/screenshots/MC20/Fill_Properties-yonkiman_Example.png[/img]
I uploaded the screenshot to my own, personal, web server. You could also use a free image hosting service, though those often expire after some period of time.

You can add the IMG tags by selecting the text in question and clicking the Image button in the editor (below the Italics button), or type them manually. More about BBCode:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBCode

[yonkiman]

Thanks for the quick response.

[Track] - was just trying to make it more foolproof for fools like me.

[img] - I've actually done the image on my web server before, I just thought that sense I could upload it to the forum I might be able to link to to - it's a bit easier.

Cheers,
Fred

[6233638]

FYI you can right-click in the editor and select fields from a list.

[dtc]

If [Track] or [Track#] is not a legal field, shouldn't any attempt to insert or use such a field generate an error rather than throwing it away?

[glynor]

If [Track] or [Track#] is not a legal field, shouldn't any attempt to use such a field generate an error rather than throwing it away?

It is actually a feature.

If you need to skip a particular section in a Filename Template, you can use [] to do it, separated by delimiters.  So, if your filename was:
183u45893459 Something Useful Here.flac

You could use this filename template to extract it, and ignore the first part:
[] [Field Name]

Or if you want the 183, but not the rest of the number, you do:
[Track #]u[] [Field Name]

Now, I didn't actually know it would ignore anything other than a blank bracket, but it makes sense in a way, I suppose. The preview shows you what it is going to do right there, so that is an error in a way.

[glynor]

[Track] - was just trying to make it more foolproof for fools like me.

The problems there are:

1. Where does it end?

The parser uses a system, and the system has to have rules you can understand. The square brackets denote, throughout the application, field names.* There are, of course, plenty of places where you might not "know" the field name exactly.  Is it [Bit Rate] or [Bitrate]?  Is it [Bit Depth] or [Bitdepth]? (Latter, and then former.)

Or, what about ambiguous names? Does [Remark] (which is invalid by default) mean [Comment], [Description], [Caption], or nothing?

2. Conflicts.

What if I made my own, real, [Track] field? Perhaps I use it as a checkbox field to decide whether to "keep track of" a file in a system or not? What if they decide that [Remark] equals [Comment] but I want to make my own [Remark] field (or already have)?  If they implement these arbitrary rules, there won't be a way to "look it up", you'll just have to memorize them. And how could they not conflict with someone's custom fields somewhere?

Remember:


You can always look up the current names in the Library Field Manager, as described above, or use the drop-down selector as mentioned by 6233638.  In any case, I doubt you'll make this particular mistake again!  

* With one irritating exception.

[yonkiman]

Yeah, my request was just as inane as that xkcd example.

Anyway, I get it.  You're not going to change it and there are several less intuitive ways to do it that other users who run into this problem will eventually figure out.

[glynor]

Yeah, my request was just as inane as that xkcd example.

No. Certainly not. But then, it is intended as a metaphor, obviously. But if they did change it and then people come here screaming that it broke their [Track] field they've used for 15 years...?

You're not going to change it

For the record, I don't work for JRiver and have never contributed a single line of code to MC (I just help on the forum).  So, I can't change it. It's, like, just my opinion, man.

[yonkiman]

You want a tag? I can get you a tag, believe me. There are ways, Dude. You don't wanna know about it, believe me. 

Appreciate the explanation and suggestions.

[blgentry]

You want a tag? I can get you a tag, believe me. There are ways, Dude. You don't wanna know about it, believe me. 

I just can't see girls with light green nail polish on their toes anymore without thinking about this.  Very few of them seem to get the joke either.  Oh well. 

Brian.