Just List Albums 2.1 - Updated 17/03/2013

[k_r_eriksson]

@Trixmoto
You have this in the script code

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Dim path : path = Script.ScriptPath&".txt"
Dim fout : Set fout = fso.CreateTextFile(path,True) 

Could that generate the error message?

[trixmoto]

I guess maybe, if you don't have write permission to that folder.

[MMan]

I guess it comes down to permission. When I open Monkey as an Administrator in Vista the script works without the error message. Thanks for steering me in the right direction K_r and thanks for the script Trixmoto!

[fphredd]

I am only looking to use MM for cataloging, and your scripts will make life much easier...thanks!

Two requests:

1) Can this script use ARTISTSORT tag field so that the artists are sorted alphabetically by last name first? I would want it to first look for this tag, and if not present, use ARTIST or ALBUMARTIST, so Eric Clapton is under 'C', but Grateful Dead is still under 'G'

2) Any way to create a csv or xls file using this script? I know I can with your Custom Report script, but I want to list without tracks.

Thanks again for your efforts

[trixmoto]

1) I'm now sure what you mean by the "ArtistSort tag", if this an MM property?

2) If you open the script file in a text editor then you can change the masks, this would allow you to create a CSV file.

[Melloware]

Trix,

First of all thanks for this script!

Second, here comes the long part of the story....

About 5 years ago I wrote my own Java based MP3 Organizer called Jukes. Think of it as a poor man's MM. Anyway all of my friends used it too and we collect only full albums, NO SINGLES. I had a feature in there similar to this Just List Albums script called "Export Catalog" which essentially generated a text file list of albums in order similar to Just List Albums.

About once a month we would all run this report and send to each other so we could see what we needed to "sync up". Basically a "what do I have that you don't have and what did you add that I didn't add". Make sense?

Then I had a another menu option called "Difference Report Generator". It would essentially take one of these Just List Albums text lists and compare it again the current users MM database. It would look for things that I had that they didn't and things that they had that I needed to get from them.

It basically generated a report like this...

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TAKE 10 Years - The Autumn Effect
TAKE 3 Doors Down - Acoustic EP
TAKE Foo Fighters - Live At Wembley Stadium
TAKE Guns N' Roses - Chinese Democracy
TAKE Marah - Angels Of Destruction!
TAKE Ryan Adams - 29
TAKE Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - Mo' Living EP
TAKE Ziggy Marley & The Melody Makers - Dragonfly


GIVE AC/DC - Ac/Dc Live
GIVE Beastie Boys - License To Ill
GIVE Beatles - A Hard Day's Night
GIVE Black Crowes - Live - Disc 1
GIVE Black Crowes - Live - Disc 2
GIVE Coldplay - A Rush Of Blood To The Head
GIVE Cowboy Junkies - Pale Sun Crescent Moon
GIVE Weezer - Green Album

I have seen on these forums many people asking for way to compare two collections. In my Jukes experience I found this way the easiest. I think your script is half way there with the list generation. Any thoughts on taking it further?

Here is a screenshot of the Jukes difference tool where you can do differences, intersection or union....



Let me know any thoughts...

[fphredd]

1) I'm now sure what you mean by the "ArtistSort tag", if this an MM property?

2) If you open the script file in a text editor then you can change the masks, this would allow you to create a CSV file.

1) It doesn't appear ARTISTSORT is a supported tag...some software has, some doesn't. For example, Tag&Rename does not, MP3 Tag does. I use Squeezecenter as my music server and happily it works to sort my music the way I personally prefer. Guess it won't apply here...

2) Being rather programming illiterate, can you point me to the spot in the code and I will attempt to make the change?

Thanks!

[trixmoto]

@Melloware - how well does your program have any kind of fuzzy matching to cope with typos or other variations? It seems to be that creating text files and then comparing those is not making use of the power of the database that the data is in.

@fphredd - MM3 does not have access to this tag, but MM4 should make it possible to access all tags. The lines of code you want at at the top, after the comment...

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Dim Mask : Mask = "<Artist> - <Album> (<Tot>/<Max>)" 'mask for artist albums
Dim TrackMask : TrackMask = "" 'blank mask means no tracks are displayed
Dim CompMask : CompMask = "<Artist> - <Album> (<Tot>/<Max>)" 'mask for compilation albums
Dim FirstMask : FirstMask = "" 'mask for first track in an album

[Melloware]

@Melloware - how well does your program have any kind of fuzzy matching to cope with typos or other variations? It seems to be that creating text files and then comparing those is not making use of the power of the database that the data is in.

It didn't have ANY fuzzy logic it was a straight compare and showed as a difference even if there was a typo. But that is what we wanted because we wanted to know ANY difference between our collections since we were supposed to be synced. Although I supposed adding a "granularity" setting for how strict you want the checking to be would be possible.

[fphredd]

@Melloware - how well does your program have any kind of fuzzy matching to cope with typos or other variations? It seems to be that creating text files and then comparing those is not making use of the power of the database that the data is in.

@fphredd - MM3 does not have access to this tag, but MM4 should make it possible to access all tags. The lines of code you want at at the top, after the comment...

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Dim Mask : Mask = "<Artist> - <Album> (<Tot>/<Max>)" 'mask for artist albums
Dim TrackMask : TrackMask = "" 'blank mask means no tracks are displayed
Dim CompMask : CompMask = "<Artist> - <Album> (<Tot>/<Max>)" 'mask for compilation albums
Dim FirstMask : FirstMask = "" 'mask for first track in an album

That code is already there...?

[trixmoto]

Yes

[fphredd]

Yes

So...Not sure what to do to the code to allow the csv creation

don't ya hate non-programmer types that like to 'fiddle'?

[trixmoto]

A CSV file is a just a text file with commas separating the fields. So set the masks to be "<Field>,<Field>,<Field>" with the fields that you want.

[fphredd]

Great, thanks!

[trixmoto]

New version (1.7) is now available for download from my website. Changes include...

- Removed old MM2 code to improve performance
- Fixed rating value not formatted correctly
- Added <Line> to album masks (adds new line character)
- Added <Line> and <Playcount> to track masks
- Added update server to installation package