View Issue Details
| ID | Project | Category | View Status | Date Submitted | Last Update |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0002547 | MMW v4 | Properties/Auto-Tools | public | 2006-07-13 17:55 | 2007-06-15 09:04 |
| Reporter | rusty | Assigned To | |||
| Priority | urgent | Severity | feature | Reproducibility | always |
| Status | closed | Resolution | fixed | ||
| Fixed in Version | 3.0 | ||||
| Summary | 0002547: New 'Unorganized tracks' node / Library Automation | ||||
| Description | In files to edit, it would be useful to have a node for unorganized tracks. It would contain all tracks that are stored to a location that doesn't match a specified mask. The specified mask would be specified in the config panel along the following lines, and would also have the option to be automated: --Desired Destination for Tracks-------------------- | Directory | Track Format: <Artist> - <Album> / <Artist> - <Title> | [ ] Automatically organize tracks in the background | ------------------------------------------------------- | Note: There would need to be a means of setting up an 'exception folder' so that not all tracks are auto-organized. | ||||
| Additional Information | Originally raised in bug 0000055 | ||||
| Tags | No tags attached. | ||||
| Fixed in build | 1042 | ||||
| related to | 0000102 | closed | petr | Improve Filter functionality usability |
| related to | 0000097 | resolved | petr | Library Automation: Analyze Volume automatically |
| related to | 0002370 | closed | petr | Rationalize Masks implementations across the product |
| related to | 0002583 | resolved | petr | Show which automation features / New status framework |
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I agree that this could be useful. I just think that we have to support multiple masks, because users often store different genres/types of audio in different format. I.e. user could define a list of masks and MM would report track that don't comply any of the masks. This would imply that 'Automatically organize tracks in the background' couldn't be implemented, but I'd prefer to not implement it anyway (due to possible misunderstandings, etc.) |
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I agree with your point that users may want to use multiple masks depending on Genre. Below is a slightly modified spec that deals with this. If we implement this, I see no reason why this functionality couldn't be automated, though I do agree that having the node to begin with is the first priority. --Default Track Organization Settings-------------------------------------- | Genre . . . . Directory . . . . . . . Track Format . . . . . . . . . | AudioBook . . My Documents/AudioBooks /<Artist> - <Album>/<Track#> <Title> [+] [-] | All . . . . . My Documents/My Music . /<Artist> - <Album>/<Artist> <Title> [+] [-] | Exclude Folders: _/My Documents/My Downloads____________________ | | [ ] Automatically organize tracks in the background | -------------------------------------------------------------------- Note: -When the user clicks the Genre textbox, a Genre picker appears (users should be able to check multiple checkboxes, or all checkboxes) -When the user click a directory textbox, a Directory browser should appear -When the user clicks a track format textbox, the box should be editable and the Mask dropdown described in bug 0002370 should appear. |
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Well, if we decide to group it be Genre, we can support automated organization (I was originally thinking about several independent groups of tracks - not necessarily specified by genre. Your genre based classification will hopefully work for most users, though not for all). However, instead of a checkbox, I'd rather make it a button, so that the organization isn't started automatically but manually instead. The reason is that it could be pretty confusing is a user is browsing Library node, changes some property (like artist name) and the track disappears (is moved into another folder). So user could either start the organization for this Options dialog sheet, or from a right-click menu on Unorganized node. |
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I still think that it's ok to allow MM to automatically organize the library (both iTunes and WMP do this albeit in a non-configurable manner). Couldn't we just disable path editing if this feature is enabled? Whether or not we enable this as a background function, for users who want to access it manually, the feature should be accessible via the Auto-Organize dialog (rather than via new context menus). i.e. modify the top of the Auto-organize dialog as follows: Auto-Organize allows you to move and rename files based on Track tags. ( ) Use default library organization settings . . . . . . . . [Configure] (o) Use custom settings ...<auto organize dialog>... |
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Ok, sounds good. I'd just suggest to replace [ ] Automatically organize tracks in the background by [ ] Automatically organize newly scanned (or added?) tracks This would handle the problem of tracks renamed/moved where automatic organization would cause a lot of confusion. So to summarize, we will have a new Options sheet, probably Library\Auto-Organization (?), like this: --Default Track Organization Settings-------------------------------------- | Genre . . . . Directory . . . . . . . Track Format . . . . . . . . . | AudioBook . . My Documents/AudioBooks /<Artist> - <Album>/<Track#> <Title> [+] [-] | All . . . . . My Documents/My Music . /<Artist> - <Album>/<Artist> <Title> [+] [-] | Exclude Folders: _/My Documents/My Downloads____________________ | | [ ] Automatically organize newly scanned (or added?) tracks | -------------------------------------------------------------------- And Auto-Organize dialog would be enhanced by: ( ) Use default library organization settings . . . . . . . . [Configure] (o) Use custom settings ...<auto organize dialog>... Remaining features to be implemented: 1. Add 'Unorganized tracks' node. 2. If check box is ticked, use proper auto-organize masks on tracks newly added to Library. |
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The summary is fine but I disagree with '[ ] Automatically organize newly scanned (or added?) tracks' in the sense that the functionality is usually _not_ applicable to newly scanned or added tracks. In other words, I expect that the typical workflow would be that: 1) The user will often download tracks to /My Music/My Downloads/ . 2) Such tracks may not include all metadata, and thus they may be automatically organized only partially. 3) After users tag the tracks with more metadata, they'd expect it to be organized according to the defined setting using the new metadata. If we take the approach you've described, then users will not get the desired results. Thus, I'd suggest that the setting remain as: '[ ] Automatically organize tracks in the background', but that it be disabled by default. |
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I don't think the problem is whether it's enabled or disabled by default, problem is that MM allows users to move tracks manually in folders (and it's very often used). Question is what to do when user tries to move a track that's auto-organized this way to another folder (or rename it, or so). |
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The scenario you describe could be potentially confusing, however, if a user configures MM to behave that way... Note: I previously suggested that we just disable path editing if this feature is enabled. Would that not work? |
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Yes, we can just disable path editing of tracks under auto-organization. Problem is that similar issues arise in many other cases, e.g. user uses d&d to move track to another folder - it must be disabled somehow too, or even user uses FileMonitor and moves tracks outside of MM - MM can either revert this user's action or keeps tracks unorganized - both pretty confusing and hard to manage. |
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I figured that we could use the same code that's used to prevent such operations in Party mode. Is that not possible? Another possibility is to pop up a dialog telling the user something along the lines of: 'Renaming or moving these library files will have no effect because they are being organized automatically. [x] Don't show this again' Side note: this should be a Gold feature (I'd like to position this, the file monitor, and the background volume analysis as 'Librarian' or 'Library Automation' functions). |
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This still doesn't handle FileMonitor case - there tracks can moved e.g. using Explorer and MM only finds out then that user corrupted auto-organize rules. |
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Ok, so then it really boils down to whether it is acceptable to have MM make modifications to track location in the background if the user has configured this to occur, given that this may cause confusion if the user tries to manually make changes and MM undoes them. I think that if the user has configured the library to behave in this manner, and it is clear that this is the result, then it is acceptable. If you strongly disagree, then we can push off the 'automation' aspect of the feature set, but I think it would be worth trying during the beta cycle, considering that WMP and iTunes already do this. Note: wording to make this absolutely clear could be: [ ] Automatically organize tracks in the background (overrides any manual edits) |
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Ok, so let's try it, hopefully it won't cause any damage (in any case we should preserve user's files, e.g. if a wrong mask is specified and some files would be ovewritten, something must be done, possibly automatically add some number in filename to prevent overwriting of another file). So the summary is: --Default Track Organization Settings-------------------------------------- | Genre . . . . Directory . . . . . . . Track Format . . . . . . . . . | AudioBook . . My Documents/AudioBooks /<Artist> - <Album>/<Track#> <Title> [+] [-] | All . . . . . My Documents/My Music . /<Artist> - <Album>/<Artist> <Title> [+] [-] | Exclude Folders: _/My Documents/My Downloads____________________ | | [ ] Automatically organize tracks in the background | -------------------------------------------------------------------- And Auto-Organize dialog would be enhanced by: ( ) Use default library organization settings . . . . . . . . [Configure] (o) Use custom settings ...<auto organize dialog>... Remaining features to be implemented: 1. Add 'Unorganized tracks' node. Please assign to Petr if we are in agreement now. |
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Sounds good--assigning to Petr. Just keep in mind the following previously raised suggestions: -When the user clicks the Genre textbox, a Genre picker appears (users should be able to check multiple checkboxes, or all checkboxes) -When the user click a directory textbox, a Directory browser should appear -When the user clicks a track format textbox, the box should be editable and the Mask dropdown described in bug 0002370 should appear. |
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I'm suggested to add checkbox named : [ ] Auto delete old directory, if empty When auto-organize in background is enabled. Some tracks may be moved into other new folder and old folder can stay empty. |
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I agree, except that we should just use the existing string 'Delete emptied folders'. This option should be placed sub to 'Automatically organize tracks....' |
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auto-organization is now fully available for testing |
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Assigning to Rusty for a feedback on the implementation. Jiri's comments: 1. In 'Unorganized tracks' tree node user should have an easy way to get to Options and configure masks. This can be achieved by a right-click menu item 'Auto-Organize configuration' (?) (and later if we implement a context Toolbar, there could appear this command). 2. Genre pop-up window doesn't have any border. 3. Add not only 'Exclude folders', but also something like 'Apply to folders' where user would only specify folders to auto-organize, e.g. C:\Downloads could be set up and tracks would be automatically renamed when detected by File Monitor. It's just an idea, it could be possibly achieved by other means too, but we should consider it. 4. The history for Track Format dropdown is strange, masks seem to continue on new lines when they include ' ' (space)? |
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1. Agreed. We need to add 'Set Auto-Organize rules...' as a context menu for 'Unorganized tracks'. 2. This issue isn't that critical because the workflow needs to change. i.e. when the user clicks 'Add Auto-Organize rule', a _new dialog_ needs to appear since the current approach is very confusing--it's unclear what the user needs to do to set a rule. i.e. this should function in the same manner as the Advanced search, or Auto-conversion dialogs. The dialog should appear like: Track criteria: Use __________________^ (Filters, Genres, Playlists) Criteria: ________________ (shows available filters, genres, playlists depending on selection) Directory and format: <use config for masks that is used everywhere else> note: I don't think that it's critical that we support Filters/Genres/Playlists for this release, but it would certainly be better if we did so that: a) users aren't forced to redo criteria that they've already created elsewhere b) users have more granular control over the criteria 3. I think that this isn't critical, especially if we have finer control through the use of Filters/Playlists 4. I expect that this issue would be resolved via the new dialog described in (2) 5. 'Add Mask' button should be changed to '<Add Auto-Organize rule...>' and it should appear in the rules window (i.e. get rid of the buttons so that it works in the same way as other similar dialogs in MM). Also, add a [delete] icon next to the arrows. 6. Auto-Organize entry in the menu should be moved into the Library section, just below the File Monitor 7. 'Organize Tracks according to the following rules' should appear above the list of rules |
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done. Will be in 1037, also organizing using filters will be working after Ludek finishes his update in function for in memory compare if track satisfies defined filter |
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finished. Will be in build 1037. |
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Notes: -[] Filters should have the filters icon (just like Genres does). |
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Done. Will be in 1042. |
