[madoues]

Hi,

I am working on a revamp of my entire chart/mp3 collection for MS and have two ideas I would like to mention to see if there would be any interest.
Implementing these would mean saving a lot of time, in my case anyway.

The first is regarding mp3 file association with songs.
I manage my own directories and for several reasons that I will not go into for the sake of being to the point, all mp3 songs are together in a separate directory. So, my question: Is there a reason why mp3 files need to be in the same sub-directory as the pdf files? If it is for the sake of batch imports being quicker, could this be an option that we could check so that MS could search the entire MS directory structure to associate mp3s? Or is there another reason that I am not aware?

The second is regarding "Guess Title From Filename", let's call it GTFF.
Like several people that use MS, I am waiting for the "Song Versioning" feature that Mike has said he will implement eventually.
In my case, modifying GTFF feature would be as good or better than versioning. From what I understand, GTFF removes underscores and adds/removes spaces from the filenames. Would it be possible to extend that to include a screen that determines a format for the song filename to use on import? I use my own format and sections are separated by characters that I don't use in filenames other than for this purpose.

So, it is exactly like "Song Title Formatting" already implemented in MS for the Library Screen, except it would already be present in the filename and used on import, syntax determined by a screen like the "Song Title Formatting" screen.

I guess it is also a little bit like the "Populate Metadata From Folders", a feature which I have used but found to be too limiting for me, especially since I already have a folder structure that I would like to keep.

In my case, in the "Song Editor", the "Files Tab" always contains only one file. Am I correct in saying that that is because my filenames are already formatted in a specific way before import? I don't see a way to include more than one file from a batch import into the Files Tab unless each version of the song has different formatting, e.g. one version has an underscore, one has no spaces, another has extra spaces, etc.

I am open to all feedback, even in the way I operate, if it this means a quick way to achieve the results I am looking for.

Cheers,
Dan

[Zubersoft]

Hello Dan,

I require the mp3 to be in the same sub-directory for simplicity and speed. I could search the entire MobileSheetsPro storage location and all subdirectories, but I'm not sure how fast that will be. I'll have to review the code, but I don't believe there is an interface on Android where I can recursively search through every sub-directory for a file matching a given name or pattern. I'll probably have to iterate over every file in every folder myself, checking each name. If there aren't too many files, this should be fairly fast I think. It may be much slower on Windows 10 though. I can see why this recursive search would make sense for users who manage their own files and folders, but it makes much less sense for those that use the default storage location (as most users wouldn't know to copy the files to that location). So if I did add support for this, I would probably limit it to those who are using a different storage location than the default.

As for your request to populate metadata based upon filenames using a user provided format string, this is something I do plan on supporting in the future, but it's a fairly advanced feature and not one I think most users would take advantage of. I've only gotten a handful of requests for it over time, so I haven't raised the priority on implementing it higher than other features that are requested more often. It's also a lot more complicated to implement this than the "Populate Metadata From Folders" feature or the song title formatting. The reason is that the user format string can be anything, so figuring out how to break up a title based on that is not a simple task. If the user just puts something like %ARTIST%%TITLE%%ALBUM% with no separators of any kind, how am I supposed to use that to break up the song title? Do I just assume spaces break up the sections? So there is going to have to either be a more restrictive interface for defining the format, or error checking that prevents a format from being used that doesn't make sense. 

There is no way to add multiple files to one song through any of the Import menu options unless you are trying to combine multiple image files. In that case, all files that have identical names except for the number at the end (i.e. MySong1.jpg, MySong2.jpg) will be joined into one song. This is by design and I don't think I see any reason to change this. If you need multiple PDFs added to one song, either combine those PDFs before importing or you will have to use the import options in the song editor itself. 

Mike