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[Jamil]

I added a smartlist to Playing Now to see a duplicated file that is the bottom of a stack appear playing.  I search options to find nothing new for stack.  Version 27 never did this.

[Jamil]

Here is another example of it:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/6igcuw6y6jwmajs/mc28_bottom_of_stack_added.png

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/buy4fp1awoyd1ub/mc28_all_music_at_bottom_of_stack.png

[marko]

That entire "Absolutely the best of" album looks to me to be members of stacks, but none of them are "top of stack" files.

The only reason you can see them (unless you've been clever with the view rules) is because the stack has been expanded.

Try this:
Select all audio.
Right click > Stacks > Collapse Stacks

That should sort you all out

Some "Stacks" info that you may, (or may not) find useful/interesting can be found here, and here.

I built a view scheme exclusively for stack management. It's attached to this post if you are interested. As it's primary focus is image stacks, it might need some minor tweaking to get the best out of it for audio purposes. If you need any help with that, just shout.

-marko

[Jamil]

This is interesting.  When this is done, all files that are not top of stack disappear not showing at all except for the top of stack.  MC never always did this.  This was changed.  In order to see all files now so that they are not invisible, I have to make the changes you are suggesting?  I have no other way to see all files that are stacked? 

[marko]

This is interesting.  When this is done, all files that are not top of stack disappear not showing at all except for the top of stack.  MC never always did this.  This was changed.

I promise you, nothing has changed in regard to stack behaviour. They have always behaved this way, since the day they were conceived.

In order to see all files now so that they are not invisible, I have to make the changes you are suggesting?  I have no other way to see all files that are stacked? 

You can, naturally, keep your stacks expanded, and then you will always see all stack members. If you do that though, what is the point of stacking them in the first place? Besides that, yes, creating a view such as the one I linked to is the only other way.

Something must have changed in your workflow for this to become an issue out of the blue in the way that it has.

I note that you sourced the files that first brought your attention to this, from a smart list. You could, if you liked, keep your stacks expanded, then, add an extra rule to your smart lists that excludes any files that are in a stack, but not the top file... Something like so would do that, but if I'm honest, feels counter intuitive.

Code: [Select]

([=isequal([stack files],)]=0 or [=isequal([stack top],-1)]=1)
I can't help but wonder what, if anything, changed that brought your attention to this. Maybe, it's possible that you have been playing "not top of stack" files for longer than you think, and it's just now that you have noticed?

Here is how you could check that if you were curious too...

List all of your audio files, select all, right click and expand the stacks.
Next, paste this into the search field in the top right:

Code: [Select]

-[stack top]=-1 [stack files]=[] ~sort=[last played]-d
Now, the list should only contain files that are stack members, excluding top of stack files and files that are not stacked, sorted with the most recent played at the top. Does that look correct, or does it show that some "not top of stack" files have been played more recently that you expected?

-marko

[Jamil]

I promise you, nothing has changed in regard to stack behaviour. They have always behaved this way, since the day they were conceived.
You can, naturally, keep your stacks expanded, and then you will always see all stack members. If you do that though, what is the point of stacking them in the first place? Besides that, yes, creating a view such as the one I linked to is the only other way.

Something must have changed in your workflow for this to become an issue out of the blue in the way that it has.

Okay -- this could possibly be.  I generally set my stacks initially.  After I set them, I still remember seeing top of stack and all items within the stack remaining visible.  I do not remember seeing items stack completely vanish from my music library.  This is a big change to never have notice before, so this is surprising.

I thought I remembered seeing the stacked icon appear for all files, and the software simply skipped files that were not on the top of stack from playback.  It is possible this happens during initial stacking only to become invisible later.  I never used the expand all in very old versions of MC (has this even been around since the beginning?)

Anyway, thanks for the smartlist change suggestion.  Hiding files is bad for me.  I would like to always see all, so I will simply change my smartlist to work-around this behavior for the time being.  The stacked icons clearly indicate which files are top of stack versus which is bottom.  Making any items in my library invisible is not good for me.

[Jamil]

I just installed MC18, and the behavior is unchanged.  Expand Stacks does exist in this version, and it behaves the same way.  I somehow turned this on and do not remember doing it.

Thanks again for the smartlist script change.  I will leave stacks expanded and simply add this filter.

[Jamil]

List all of your audio files, select all, right click and expand the stacks.
Next, paste this into the search field in the top right:

Code: [Select]

-[stack top]=-1 [stack files]=[] ~sort=[last played]-d
Now, the list should only contain files that are stack members, excluding top of stack files and files that are not stacked, sorted with the most recent played at the top. Does that look correct, or does it show that some "not top of stack" files have been played more recently that you expected?

I ran this and see 587 total files 47 hours.  This means that I expanded stacks not understanding its behavior not that long ago under version 27.

[marko]

OK, thanks for reporting back. Good luck going forwards with your stacking