Basic instructions - Basic syntax

[simbun]

(17-02-2021 03:51)mbussolo Wrote:  1) is there a more basic set of instructions, syntax really for dummies?

Not that I'm aware of. The documentation is very extensive, but what I think people need is an entry point into the documentation e.g. the sections related to changing the sort order. I did produce a summary of sorts for a friend, and I keep meaning to clean it up and send it on just in case it's of use to others.

(17-02-2021 03:51)mbussolo Wrote:  2) I have just tried to change something which should be simple, but have not succeeded. I would like to have the names of the composers in my control point shown as surname first, first name second. In other words I would like to see in the control point (Kinsky) when I select composer: Vivaldi Antonio, but now I see Antonio Vivaldi.

Do you have a tag that holds the value "lastname, firstname"? If you don't then MinimServer can't really help, as it would be impossible to know which Artists/Composers to reverse e.g. "Daft Punk" shouldn't be "Punk, Daft".

ReverseName supports the automatic reversal of the "lastname(s), firstname(s)" format, but it obviously can't go the other way.

If there were only a few that you wanted reversed, you could code them in to MinimServer using tagUpdate, but it would probably be best to hold this data in the files themselves, in a ComposerSort tag.

(17-02-2021 03:51)mbussolo Wrote:  3) I have also a hard time understanding some other basics, such as how does one use the property itemTags; I kind of understand that indexTags is a list of Tag names that is used by the server to sort the audio files and present them in a given order in the control point, but I have no idea of what itemTags does.

indexTags holds the tags you want to use for your browse tree and itemTags should contain every other tag that you want to reference in the MinimServer config, be it for sorting, or for use in building up a display for another tag. If you use a tag anywhere in MinimServer's configuration and it's not in indexTags or itemTags then you'll receive an error. As mentioned in the documentation you can also specify a default sort order here e.g. -DateAdded.

(17-02-2021 03:51)mbussolo Wrote:  4) and finally, how does one inspect (see, read, discover) all of the tags (and specifically the names of these tags) that are available in the audio files and that can be used in minimserver to sort and explore one's own library of audio files?

Use the writeAlltags option to output all your music tags to a file.
MinimServer also makes available some special tags which I don't think will be output by writeAllTags, so bear those in mind too.


I hope that's of some help.