-Brading Software Message Board
+--Forum: Mp3/Tag Studio Suggestions
+---Topic: Sortable fields and Undo rename "bug" started by Joe Schmoe
Posted by: Joe Schmoe on Dec. 28 2002,20:20
2 things:
1. It would be nice to have a "<SortableArtist>" and "<SortableAlbum>" and "<SortableTitle>" option for renaming files/folders. By that, I mean "The Smiths" turns into "Smiths, The". So basically, if "A" or "An" or "The" is the first word, move it to the end with a comma. I like keeping my mp3s like so:
<SortableArtist>\<Album>\<Artist> - <TrackNo>. <Title>
Which isn't possible.
The following regexp should do it: s/(A|An|The) (.*)/\2, \1/
2. I did a rename thing, and told it to rename the files to "Artist\Album\......", and already had them sorted into those sub-directories. So it ended up giving me "Artist\Album\Artist\Album\....", which sucked. So I did "Undo" (cool!!
, but it left the subdirectories it created during the operation! I have hundreds of albums. It took awhile to delete all those things! Help! 
Thanks for listening
Posted by: Magnus Brading on Dec. 28 2002,22:05
---------------------QUOTE-------------------
1. It would be nice to have a "<SortableArtist>" and "<SortableAlbum>" and "<SortableTitle>" option for renaming files/folders. By that, I mean "The Smiths" turns into "Smiths, The". So basically, if "A" or "An" or "The" is the first word, move it to the end with a comma.
---------------------QUOTE-------------------
Making it a field like that would deviate from the current processing model (none of the current fields perform modifications to the data they represent), but it might make a good addition to the case-fix tool. Hence, I'll put it on the (veeeery long) todo-list.
Thanks for the suggestion.---------------------QUOTE-------------------
2. I did a rename thing, and told it to rename the files to "Artist\Album\......", and already had them sorted into those sub-directories. So it ended up giving me "Artist\Album\Artist\Album\....", which sucked. So I did "Undo" (cool!!, but it left the subdirectories it created during the operation! I have hundreds of albums. It took awhile to delete all those things! Help!
---------------------QUOTE-------------------
I did this on purpose. I cannot see from the undo-data if the directories existed before the original processing sweep or not, and while this could of course be easily remedied, I still can't be sure that the user hasn't started using these directories for other things since the original processing sweep in Mp3/TS that created them (although some of them might currently be empty). In such a situation it is always the best choice to select the alternative which is less destructive, i.e. not delete the directories at all, even if it could potentially mean some extra work for the user. This will also help the user in the way that it encourages him not to make the same mistake again.
Posted by: Joe Schmoe on Dec. 29 2002,00:09
---------------------QUOTE-------------------
I'll put it on the (veeeery long) todo-list.
Thanks for the suggestion---------------------QUOTE-------------------
Cool! Thanks for listening!
---------------------QUOTE-------------------
This will also help the user in the way that it encourages him not to make the same mistake again.
---------------------QUOTE-------------------
Consider this user as having learned.
However, it might make sense (but be extra effort, of course) to check if the sub-directories created are empty, and if so, remove them. Or..have a check-box option that says, "Undo also removes created directories unconditionally" (defaults to OFF). And if the user turns it on, and his files that he put in the directories get lost, that will "encourage him not to make the same mistake again."
But yeah, your call.
Let's say you have the following 2 files:
C:\mp3s\Band A\Album A\Song1.mp3
C:\mp3s\Band A\Song2.mp3 (from "Album B" in tag data)
Is there currently a way to make sure Song2 from "Album B" ends up in a sub-directory similar to "Album A"? That was what I was trying to attempt when I ran into the problem above. (I have some miscellaneous songs that are sorted just by band, and some subdirectories from there that are whole albums.)
I assumed the right way to do that would be to rename the files based on the tags, and have the sub-directories as <Artist>\<Album>.. But that would create:
C:\mp3s\Band A\Album A\Band A\Album A\Song1.mp3
C:\mp3s\Band A\Band A\Album B\Song2.mp3
And that's not what I want at all. Obviously what I want is:
C:\mp3s\Band A\Album A\Song1.mp3
C:\mp3s\Band A\Album B\Song2.mp3
Any way to get *that* result?
Sorry for the long and hopefully not TOO confusing example.
Posted by: Magnus Brading on Dec. 29 2002,03:29
---------------------QUOTE-------------------
Let's say you have the following 2 files:
C:\mp3s\Band A\Album A\Song1.mp3
C:\mp3s\Band A\Song2.mp3 (from "Album B" in tag data)
Is there currently a way to make sure Song2 from "Album B" ends up in a sub-directory similar to "Album A"? That was what I was trying to attempt when I ran into the problem above. (I have some miscellaneous songs that are sorted just by band, and some subdirectories from there that are whole albums.)
---------------------QUOTE-------------------
Sure, simply use the absolute path mode of the renaming tool (advanced mode feature, see helpfile for more info).
The following template should do it:
---------------------CODE SAMPLE-------------------
C:\mp3s<\><Artist><\><Album><\><OldFileName>.mp3
---------------------CODE SAMPLE-------------------
end