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More => Old Versions => Media Center 17 => Topic started by: bannonb on October 30, 2012, 11:53:02 am

Title: Compression type FLAC not showing in library columns
Post by: bannonb on October 30, 2012, 11:53:02 am

Hey all:

New to JRiver, new to 24bit FLAC.

I downloaded some 24bit FLAC files to listen to and imported them into the library flawlessly.

I was using the "compression" column to show me which files are lossless and which are mp3, aac, etc.

I found that the FLAC files don't register in the compression column.  It is blank.  I can't edit the tags to update that.

My workaround is to use both the filetype and the compression fields so that I know which are FLAC and which m4a's are ALAC and which are AAC.

Any ideas on how to get that to display?

Thanks,

BannonB

Title: Re: Compression type FLAC not showing in library columns
Post by: MrC on October 30, 2012, 12:08:08 pm

Try this approach:

   http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=66330.msg444970#msg444970 (http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=66330.msg444970#msg444970)

Title: Re: Compression type FLAC not showing in library columns
Post by: bannonb on October 30, 2012, 02:56:35 pm

Thanks for the coaching and the expression!

That would work for the .flac files but how could I differentiate Apple Lossless which are .m4a (and might be confused with AAC--also .m4a)?

I note that FLAC files can't have their properties changed in Windows either.  In fact there is no metadata displayed (title, artist, etc).  Is this a normal problem that all FLAC users have with all players?  Can JRiver make the compression field updatable?

I guess FLAC is a special case that you have to handle by filetype since the compression field is not populated.

-is there any expression that can compare 2 fields and give me an answer in an expression field?
-using file extension (.flac or .m4a or .mp3 or .wav)
   if file extension=m4a and compression=ALAC then custom field=ALAC
   if file extension=FLAC and compression=blank then customer field=FLAC

Title: Re: Compression type FLAC not showing in library columns
Post by: MrC on October 30, 2012, 04:05:01 pm

You can concatenate fields and strings to create longer strings, so this might be a quick way:

    If(Regex([File Type][Compression], /#^(flac|wav|m4aALAC)#/), Lossless, Lossy)

Above, I combined [File Type] and [Compression] to create a longer string, and compared that.

This will give you back flac, wav, or ALAC:

    If(Regex([File Type][Compression], /#(^flac|^wav|ALAC)#/), [R1], Lossy)

You could also do a series of If() tests, testing File Type and then if necessary Compression, but the nested If() statements get messy after a couple of file type tests.

Title: Re: Compression type FLAC not showing in library columns
Post by: bannonb on October 31, 2012, 09:57:34 am

Almost just right.


I used a variant of your first formula to display valid/non-blank encoding:

If(Regex([File Type][Compression], /#(^FLAC|^WAV|^MP3|ALAC)#/), [R1], AAC)

--Can you describe how to get the output into my new column to be all caps?  Currently mp3 shows as lowe case while FLAC and ALAC and AAC show as upper.  I tried to make all the strings caps in the formula above, but it didn't affect the display.

--Also the result comes out as "FLAC..." or "AAC..." or "mp3..."       Is there a way to remove the ellipses?

Title: Re: Compression type FLAC not showing in library columns
Post by: MrC on October 31, 2012, 10:23:01 am

Wrap [R1], or the output of the entire expression, with:

   FixCase(xxx, 3)

Title: Re: Compression type FLAC not showing in library columns
Post by: MrC on October 31, 2012, 10:23:54 am

The ellipses you see are because your expression contains a blank line at the end.  Remove it with the expression editor.

Title: Re: Compression type FLAC not showing in library columns
Post by: bannonb on November 05, 2012, 12:00:48 pm

Thanks for sharing the secrets!

I decided to do away with all my ALAC and convert to FLAC.  Now I can use a default column (filetype) to get what I need but I got a little education in programming and regular expressions.

BannonB