MinimServer Forum

Hi Simon,

I would find it handy to produce a list of all multichannel albums that I have in my library as a text file. Even exporting names of all albums (i.e. including stereo and mono) would be a big help. Can Minimserver/watch do that?

MinimServer cannot do this, only show you the albums when browsing. I believe some tagging programs have this capability.

(12-07-2021 17:12)Veganfloyd Wrote: [ -> ]Hi Simon,

I would find it handy to produce a list of all multichannel albums that I have in my library as a text file. Even exporting names of all albums (i.e. including stereo and mono) would be a big help. Can Minimserver/watch do that?

If you have a Mac, I have an AppleScript that does this. It writes directly to a desktop file you name.

(12-07-2021 20:15)aspaceintime Wrote: [ -> ]If you have a Mac, I have an AppleScript that does this. It writes directly to a desktop file you name.

Sounds very useful. Would be much appreciated if you could share this with other MinimServer users.

I've used a long-winded process for this and store the database on my iPhone:

How to Extract an Artist / Album Artist and Album database from iTunes

1. iTunes
Drag all the tracks of a genre to create a playlist for the desired genre, after deleting contents of an existing playlist of that name.
Set up the view options for this playlist using the ‘View>Show View Options’ menu item. In the ‘Songs’ view un-tick all the viewing options apart from the 2 (?) columns required to be exported for the database; normally this will be ‘Album’ and ‘Artist’ or ‘Album Artist’.
Click on a row in this view and then select all using the ‘Edit>Select All’ menu item.
Copy this text data using the ‘Edit>Copy’ menu item.

2. Excel
Open a blank worksheet and highlight the first cell in the first row i.e. A1.
Paste the data copied in the iTunes playlist here.
Delete the first column (Track title).
Insert a header row before the first record with the iTunes headings (Album, Artist etc).
Select all the records in the spreadsheet (scroll down while holding ‘shift’). Use the Advanced filter command from the Excel drop-down menu: ‘Data>Filter>Advanced filter’ and click the ‘Unique records only’ box. Click ‘OK’
Copy the resulting columns to another worksheet because the original spreadsheet still contains all the records: the repeated rows are merely hidden.
If necessary, sort this spreadsheet. Edit the list to remove all but one entry for multi-part albums, and save the spreadsheet.

3. Tap Forms Mac
Import the saved worksheet into the database program.
Make any necessary changes to display fields and sort as required.
Note the modified set of databases will only appear in the form list when Tap Forms Mac is restarted.

(12-07-2021 21:56)DavidL Wrote: [ -> ]

(12-07-2021 20:15)aspaceintime Wrote: [ -> ]If you have a Mac, I have an AppleScript that does this. It writes directly to a desktop file you name.

Sounds very useful. Would be much appreciated if you could share this with other MinimServer users.

I've used a long-winded process for this and store the database on my iPhone:

How to Extract an Artist / Album Artist and Album database from iTunes

1. iTunes
Drag all the tracks of a genre to create a playlist for the desired genre, after deleting contents of an existing playlist of that name.
Set up the view options for this playlist using the ‘View>Show View Options’ menu item. In the ‘Songs’ view un-tick all the viewing options apart from the 2 (?) columns required to be exported for the database; normally this will be ‘Album’ and ‘Artist’ or ‘Album Artist’.
Click on a row in this view and then select all using the ‘Edit>Select All’ menu item.
Copy this text data using the ‘Edit>Copy’ menu item.

2. Excel
Open a blank worksheet and highlight the first cell in the first row i.e. A1.
Paste the data copied in the iTunes playlist here.
Delete the first column (Track title).
Insert a header row before the first record with the iTunes headings (Album, Artist etc).
Select all the records in the spreadsheet (scroll down while holding ‘shift’). Use the Advanced filter command from the Excel drop-down menu: ‘Data>Filter>Advanced filter’ and click the ‘Unique records only’ box. Click ‘OK’
Copy the resulting columns to another worksheet because the original spreadsheet still contains all the records: the repeated rows are merely hidden.
If necessary, sort this spreadsheet. Edit the list to remove all but one entry for multi-part albums, and save the spreadsheet.

3. Tap Forms Mac
Import the saved worksheet into the database program.
Make any necessary changes to display fields and sort as required.
Note the modified set of databases will only appear in the form list when Tap Forms Mac is restarted.

This script will only output the artist name and the albums they have. My folder structure is as follows; Who, The then Who's Next, Who by Numbers... Etc. I will be happy to provide the script. I also use Metadatics as my tagging program and it has an export function that will export the entire library with the metadata as a csvfile.

(12-07-2021 17:12)Veganfloyd Wrote: [ -> ]I would find it handy to produce a list of all multichannel albums that I have in my library as a text file. Even exporting names of all albums (i.e. including stereo and mono) would be a big help. Can Minimserver/watch do that?

Minimserver can indeed produce a list of multichannel albums using the tag update facility, all be it with caveats. There are many better ways to achieve this.

Requirements

Create a tag update text file in an appropriate location.
Add the following code
tagUpdate property: set to above location
writeTagChanges property: set as appropriate but perhaps in same location as the tag update file
itemTags property: add
Set Minimserver to rescan and then view the resultant writeTagChanges text file.

Contents may be similar to the following
it is certainly not ideal but may be useful as a quick(!) and dirty check.

Sorry, I was offline for a few day...
I have attached a simple folder extract for AppleScript. To use, copy and paste contents of file into Script Editor, compile the file and then run it. It will ask you to choose a directory to get contents of, then it will display contents in a text file, save as you wish. Let me know if you have ?...