Hi Simon,
Several years ago, you kindly helped me to refine a MinimServer configuration that met my needs. The current version of that configuration is shown below. I am now trying to generate a document for my own education that explains exactly how this works, but I am struggling to understand the Group\:Work setting at the end of my indexTags, a setting whose origin has now been forgotten.
What exactly does that setting achieve? I would normally have experimented with deleting it to see the effects, but my NAS broke down earlier today!
==========================================
aliasTags=Work:Group
.autoUpdate=true
contentDir=/volume1/music/My Music
displayName=MinimServer[BonzoNAS]
http.port=9790
indexTags=CLASSICALGENRE=Classical:Classical library, NONCLASSICALGENRE=Non-classical:Non-classical library, Sub-Genre, Composer, Artist, DiscType, Group\:Work
itemTags=Genre
.logFile=minimserver.log
.logLevel=info
mergeFolderAlbums=true
ohnet.debug=Default
ohnet.port=9791
showExtras=false
startupScan=true
stream.converter=ffmpeg
stream.transcode=*:wav
tagCustom=Composer.displayRole={artist}
tagFormat=Artist.displayFormat={$composer}, Group.displayFormat={$group^$disctype^ [^]}, Title.displayFormat={$title^$disctype^ [^]}
tagOptions=Album.sortTags={Album, Artist}
tagUpdate=/volume1/music/My Music/MyTagUpdate.txt
.updateReminder=1
writeTagChanges=/volume1/music/My Music/MyMinimServerTags.txt
MyTagUpdate.txt
@GENRE=Classical
+CLASSICALGENRE=Classical
@GENRE=Non-classical
+NONCLASSICALGENRE=Non-classical
I would have said that this would display an Index entry of ‘Work’ for the tag name Group, but the backward slash makes me hesitate.
Is it a special character recognised by Minimserver? If so, i’ll need to be reminded of its significance.
(06-03-2018 00:55)Alandbush Wrote: [ -> ]I would have said that this would display an Index entry of ‘Work’ for the tag name Group, but the backward slash makes me hesitate.
Is it a special character recognised by Minimserver? If so, i’ll need to be reminded of its significance.
It does indeed generate an index entry of Work, but I also struggle to understand the meaning of the backslash. In addition, I’m puzzled why I have to use Group when this has already been aliased to Work. My music files only contain the Work tag, not one called Group.
The minimserver.config file has a special format and this includes backslashes before certain other characters such as a colon.
This file should not be edited in a text editor because it is likely that the user will not understand and preserve the special format when doing this. Also, changing some property values by editing can cause MinimServer to malfunction. Looking at this file, I can see that it has been edited and some of the backslashes added by MinimServer in other places have been removed. In the latest version of MinimServer, editing this file is no longer allowed.
The Work:Group entry in aliasTags makes your Work tags appear to MinimServer as if they are Group tags. The Group\:Work entry in indexTags shows these Group tags under an index entry named Work.
MinimServer treats Group tags specially (see
this section) and by doing the above you are getting this special "Group" treatment for your Work tags without needing to change them to Group tags in your files.
Hi Simon,
I remember you warning me back in Sep 2013 not to modify the MinimServer configuration file in a text editor. At the time, my response was "I have never edited this file directly and have always used your two properties dialogue boxes". That remains the case.
What is it that makes you think I have directly edited the config file? For the sake of argument, let us assume that my memory in Sep 2013 was flawed and I had forgotten some previous brief illicit editing attempt. How would I fix that?
I had checked your User Guide before creating this thread, but failed to find anything to explain the use of backslashes in configuration settings. Why is a backslash required before the colon in Group\:Work, but not before the other colons in my indexTags settings or the colon in my aliasTags setting?
If you are not modifying the configuration file in a text editor, there is no need for you to know anything about the backslash rules. This is why the backslash rules aren't mentioned in the user guide.
There are many indications that the file has been modified using a text editor. For example, there are no spaces either side of the equals sign in aliasTags=Work:Group and CLASSICALGENRE=Classical:Classical library in indexTags doesn't have a backslash before the =.
Fortunately, the file is working despite these modifications and therefore doesn't need to be fixed.
I can't be certain about things I may or may not have done over four years ago, but the addition of CLASSICALGENRE=Classical:Classical library to indexTags was only done a couple of days ago. That change was definitely made using the properties dialogue box.
When you say that I don't need to know anything about the backslash rules, does that mean I don't need to use the backslash in my Group\:Work entry in indexTags? Would Group:Work do the same job?
You should never include backslashes when entering property values. MinimServer automatically adds backslashes to the config file when these are required.
Perhaps I have misunderstood what you posted. Was it a copy-and-paste extract from the config file or was it the output from the props command? If it was the latter, everything is fine except that you should remove the backslash in Group\:Work.
I pasted in the output from the mscript props command.
That pesky backslash in Group\:Work has always puzzled me. If I never need to enter any backslashes in the Properties dialogue boxes then all is clear.
I can't test it at the moment, but after I change that indexTags entry to Group:Work will the props output display an automatically-generated backslash or will that only appear in the actual config file?
You never need to enter backslashes in the dialog fields and you never need to enter them if using the mscript prop command to set a property. I retract my comments about your having edited the config file.
The props command does not add backslashes to what you have entered. Backslashes are only used in the config file.