processing order issue between tagValue and tagFormat

[eseb63]

(29-03-2025 22:46)simoncn Wrote:  These individual ballades entries are tagged as Work. My impression (perhaps incorrect) is that you are not including Work in either tagValue/merge or indexFormat, which would explain why these values are not merged into Composer-Work.

No, your impression is incorrect : i wouldn't expect to get individual works (ballades) if work wasn't specified in tagValue neither indexFormat.

My settings for this test are :

• each Ballade track has a WORK tag
• each Ballade track has a WORK_SET "4 ballades" tag
• itemTags : Work_Set, Work, Overall_Work
• indexTags : Composer-Work
• tagValue : Composer-Work.Merge={Work_Set}
• tagFormat: Composer-Work.indexFormat={$composer^^ : $Overall_Work$Work}
  

(29-03-2025 22:46)simoncn Wrote:  The merge option of tagValue merges all source tags specified, whether or not the item already has a value for the source tag. Some of the other tagValue options check for an already existing source tag but the merge option doesn't do this.

So Composer-Work.Merge={Work_Set} merges "4 ballades" in Composer-Work, as expected and indexFormat processing occurs after that ;

The problem was for me to explain why indexFormat didn't add individual Ballades in Composer-Work.

The indexFormat documentation says :
The indexFormat option doesn't replace any existing tags in the item. For example, the setting WorkByTitle.indexFormat={$title$tonality$opusnumber$subtitle} would add a WorkByTitle tag if it doesn't exist in this item. No tag would be added if the item already has a WorkByTitle tag.

Transposed to my test :
1) For example, the setting Composer-Work.indexFormat={$composer^^ : $Overall_Work$Work} would add a Composer-Work tag if it doesn't exist in this item.
2) No tag would be added if the item already has a Composer-Work tag.

Point 1 is verified when specifying nothing in tagValue as there are no Composer-Work when indexFomat processing occurs for each Ballade item, so it adds the individual Ballades.

Point 2 is verified when specifying tagValue : Composer-Work.Merge={Work_Set}, as a "4 ballades" Composer-Work tag already exists when indexFormat processing occurs for each Ballade item, so it doesn't add individual Ballades.

When specifying Composer-Work.Merge={Work_Set, Work}, all Ballades are created by tagValue, indexFormat does nothing again for the same reason, so the Ballades aren't prefixed by composer.

I think I have strictly interpreted the documentation and don't see how to interpret it otherwise?