INTERACT FORUM

More => Old Versions => Media Center 11 (Development Ended) => Topic started by: Tolga on January 30, 2003, 03:45:04 pm

Title: question about XML export
Post by: Tolga on January 30, 2003, 03:45:04 pm

I export my library, it looks nice.

I tried to open it in Excel, i could not; it tries to open it as text.
Any comments?

Also, will MJ be able to import xml as well? Otherwise what is the point?

Title: Re: question about XML export
Post by: RemyJ on January 30, 2003, 06:17:27 pm

Quote

I export my library, it looks nice.

I tried to open it in Excel, i could not; it tries to open it as text.
Any comments?

First, there's no '<?xml ...?>' at the start of the file.  One has to be there that has the correct character set specified.

Second, the XML isn't exactly structured in a useful format for Excel.  Instead of having field in it's own element..

<Item>
<Field Name="Filename">c:\music....</Field>
<Field Name="Artist">Peter Gabriel</Field>
<Field Name="Album">Security</Field>
</item>

It should be ...

<Item Filename='c:\music...' Artist='Peter Gabriel' Album='Security'/>

There's a problem with this format though:  Fields that have spaces or special characters in them can't be XML attribute names.  "File Size" would have to be converted to "File_Size" or something.

Title: Re: question about XML export
Post by: dthacker on January 31, 2003, 04:21:25 am

Yes, I tried the same thing with excel (before i saw your post). I can see the usefulness in the xml expot, but i am clueless about how to use it.

Anyone with some knowledge about how to take advantage of this feature?

I Would like to use my MCdb to find holes in my collection. (Incomplete albums...etc.)
Maybe it could compare my collection to what YADB says about the number of tracks that should be on the album.
Then generate a new xml doc with a list of those missing tracks or files to import into DC++ for automated queueing.

Then again maybe this could be a plugin?
If i only knew something about programming!!

;D

Title: Re: question about XML export
Post by: RemyJ on January 31, 2003, 12:33:34 pm

Getting the data into Excel is easily accomplished with a simple copy and paste.  What you do with it after that is limited only by your Excel/VB skills.

Highlight all the tracks in the library and do a "copy".  Open Excel and do a "paste".   Each track will be in it's own row, and each field will be in it's own column.

Title: Re: question about XML export
Post by: Cmagic on January 31, 2003, 10:33:48 pm

I don't catch the difference between database xml export and export playlist in MPL (provided you select all your tracks) since it ends up with the same file except for the extension (.xml vs .mpl) ?

At least mpl playlists can be imported with Media Import (check the mpl file type)

I thought that database xml export would also save all the database settings like playlists, etc...
For now database xml export is just an mpl playlist of all tracks in the DB.