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Author Topic: Way to add "Seq" field to filename in a Copy operation?  (Read 854 times)

smjepsen

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Way to add "Seq" field to filename in a Copy operation?
« on: July 14, 2018, 09:21:51 pm »

Dear All,

I have a playlist that I'm trying to copy to an external folder. Using the filename rule in the copy dialogue box (Library Tools -> Rename, Move, & Copy Files -> Filename rule), I tried to include the "Seq" field (sequential number in playlist) as the first characters in the filename. For example, [Seq]_[Artist]_[Album]_[Track] as the filename rule. However, the "Seq" field is not an available option in the present fields to add (at least in my version of the software, #23). Is there a way to add the Seq field to the filenames in a copy operation?

Without doing this, the order of the files copied from the playlist to the external directory will be lost (i.e., Windows doesn't have info about the "Seq" numbers).

Thank you,
Steve
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ferday

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Re: Way to add "Seq" field to filename in a Copy operation?
« Reply #1 on: July 14, 2018, 10:01:37 pm »

i've never found a way to access the [Seq] field

there is a workaround if you want...make a new custom field
in your playlist view, sort by [Seq]
select all files
tag your new custom field with 
Code: [Select]
=counter()now when you copy to the folder, use your new field
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smjepsen

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Re: Way to add "Seq" field to filename in a Copy operation?
« Reply #2 on: July 14, 2018, 10:27:15 pm »

This sounds promising...

OK, I was able follow your steps through step "select all files", but couldn't get any further than that.

How do I tag my new custom field with the code "=counter()"? I tried right-clicking and selecting "Tag." I then saw a black flash, then nothing else seemed to happen. That's as far as I got with that. Is there a section somewhere in the documentation on doing this?

I was able to add an Expression "counter()" to the custom field, but the results was very unstable. The values in the custom column increased rapidly with time, so I undid that.

Thanks,
Steve
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ferday

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Re: Way to add "Seq" field to filename in a Copy operation?
« Reply #3 on: July 14, 2018, 10:44:33 pm »

selecting tag will open the Tag Window (in the tree)

you'll have to find your custom tag...it should be under "advanced"

type the expression in there.  it works fine, i use it all the time...
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smjepsen

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Re: Way to add "Seq" field to filename in a Copy operation?
« Reply #4 on: July 14, 2018, 11:03:08 pm »

Cool, that worked. The only problem is that the printed numbers in the filenames only come out in a single digit (1, 2, ..., 10, 11), which doesn't work for sorting more than 9 files by the number field. Numbers would need to be 01, 02, 03, ..., 99, to sort 99 files correctly in an external directory. 001, 002,... 999 to sort 999 files. I wonder if there is a way to specify the number of digits output from counter().

Another logical workaround for me is to use the following filename rule, which is what I used in the first place to get "Seq" sorted the way I wanted it: [Date]-[Album]-[Track #]. This sorts by date, then album, then track number, which is what I wanted.

Thanks for your help!

Steve
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ferday

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Re: Way to add "Seq" field to filename in a Copy operation?
« Reply #5 on: July 14, 2018, 11:17:31 pm »

sure

try

Code: [Select]
=padnumber(counter(), 4)
the 4 is how many digits to pad to, so change to 2 or 3 or whatever based on your playlist count

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smjepsen

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Re: Way to add "Seq" field to filename in a Copy operation?
« Reply #6 on: July 14, 2018, 11:33:11 pm »

Works beautifully! Thanks.

Steve
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