Using version 4.5.2 NGS, Build 1104, Date: 9/12/11
Problem:
I select File\Add Folder\browse to my target BASE FOLDER but after loading the “Base Folder” column includes all the subfolders aswell while the “Sub Folder” column is empty.
Is this a bug?
Base Folder column contains all subfolders
It shouldnt do that, but then it doesnt do that for me, can you email me a screenshot ?
Have emailed screenshots.
You are right after all, this change has been in for a while I think.
Jaikoz used to split the base folder/subfolder by taking the folder you selected and then splitting at x points up from this folder. Then when I added support for selecting mutiple folders in the Add/Open dialog this changed to split at x points up from the full folder path, so x needs to be larger but in retrospect this change doesnt make any sense.
I was considering counting downwards instead from folder root, but it would be difficult for a user to work out how many folder paths there are so I will go back to the original method. But longer term I would prefer it if Jaikoz just automagically did this by comparing the filepath with the metadata, and splitting the Base Folder/SubFolder at the point where the path represents actual metadata.
However this has problems, if you grouped your songs as follows:
/Music/AD/Abba
/Music/AD/Air
…
Music/EF/Echo and the Bunnymen
…
Should the AD/EF part be part of Base Folder or SubFolder, it depends if you handle this part in the Jaikoz rename subfolder mask or not.
But I would like to resolve a more common scenerio:
When select all your Music by selecting your /Music folder you want x to be zero, so that Music goes into Base Folder, but when you select a particular arrtist by selecting /Music/Abba you now want x to be 1 otherwise the Abba component will also go into the Base folder field. So if you do both things there is no way you can keep x the same and have jaikoz work at its optimum
Perhaps it would make more sense to be able to define the Base Folder as a filename instead of using a count but would need to support multiple base folders. On first use of Jaikoz, would just guess what the base folder is, but you could edit the value in the list if the guess wasn’t to your liking.
Ideas and Comment welcome
Thanks for your comprehensive reply.
Perhaps the way to decide the best option is to consider the SCENARIOS where people use this.
SCENARIO 1: Source folder is RAW (requires tagging & organising into subfolders)
In this scenario the original way Jaikoz used to do it is best (ie User sets the base folder) since the RAW source will usually be in various levels of subfolders and the User will want to set the base and use Jaikoz to create a consistent subfolder structure.
SCENARIO 2: Source folder is PROCESSED (Jaikoz has organised it)
In this scenario the original way is still the best (ie User sets the base folder) since by using Jaikoz you now have a base folder and subfolder structure created by Jaikoz. However as explained below this does NOT mean that you always have a consistent DEPTH of subfolders due to unavailability of some metadata eg ALBUM.
PROBLEM WITH CURRENT\NEW METHOD
I’ve tried working with the current (new) method of setting the base folder by using the “Specify the number of folders above this selection to set the Base Folder to” option when you add a source folder but the problem is the base folder is set inconsistently since my music subfolders are organised based on their metadata as follows: C:\MUSIC\ARTIST\ALBUM
However these days you tend to get alot of remixes that don’t have any metadata for ALBUM and hence these songs don’t have a ALBUM subfolder ie they are kept in the ARTIST subfolder instead.
This means that when I set the “Specify the number of folders above this selection to set the Base Folder to” option to “2” the songs that don’t have an ALBUM subfolder end up with C:\ as the base folder rather than the desired C:\MUSIC.
Phew I hope that makes sense.
SUMMARY
In summary my vote is to return to the old way of setting the Base Folder so that when I load music with various levels of subfolders I will get a consistent Base Folder.
Regards
Nigel
Paul’s comments above help me understand why I have been struggling with the Base Folder and Sub-Folder.
When I see the term “Base Folder”, my perception is that the property “Base Folder” refers to a static, semi-permanent property that defines the root of my music repository, regardless of which sub-folder it is that I happen to be working with at any one point in time. This is consistent to the way that the other preferences on the General tab of Preferences are treated.
What makes sense to me, is that Base Folder is the absolute location where Jaikoz will apply the pattern that I have defined in sub-folder preferences, just as Database Folder remains an absolute.
However, I believe that the current implementation of Jaikoz assumes that Base Folder is a dynamic property that is primarily useful for selectively applying Meta-Data changes, and that the user changes this every time that they switch to a new set of music tracks.
IMHO, this capability is better handled in the definition of the pattern for the sub-folder in Preferences. The preferences allow for conditionally including or excluding the nodes of the renamed path, so there doesn’t seem to be a critical need to update the sub-folders by redefining the base folder.
In my case, I have only defined two levels of sub-folders:
BaseFolder/Artist/Album.