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Topic: Album Art Downloader XUI (Read 2036605 times) previous topic - next topic
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Album Art Downloader XUI

Reply #1425
Album Art Downloader XUI v0.36 Released

This release adds much requested support for reading tag-embedded images. It does not support saving results into embedded tags (and isn't likely to in the near future), but being able to show images already embedded in tags is useful functionality that has been requested. This is available in the File Browser, and in the Local Files source.

In the File Browser, if you have it set to read ID3 tags (the default) then when it reads the tags it will also read the embedded image tag, if present. This will show up in the Artwork Status column as "Present", and the path to the image 'file' will be the path to the music file it is embedded within, suffixed by <n>, where n is a number indicating which embedded image was found. This will usually be 0, the first embedded image, but if there are multiple images and one of them is tagged as the Front Cover image, then that's the one which will be used. For example, "music.mp3<0>" indicates the first embedded image in the file "music.mp3". To view the image, right click on the link and choose "Preview".

The Local Files source is also now embedded-image aware. The default search string for this is now: %folder%\%filename%|%folder%\*<*>
The first part is the same as before, but the second alternate (separated by a |) instructs it to look in the default folder the image will be saved to (usually the album folder, as it would be saved there as folder.jpg), then look for any file (the \* bit), then within each file found, look for any embedded images (the <*> bit). If you are upgrading from a previous version of AAD, then you might want to copy and paste the above string into your local files "Path to find images" box (click the ... button in the Local Files source box to get to it) to get the new default behaviour.

Of course, you don't have to use the default. If you want it to search for just mp3 files, and just the first embedded image within them, then you could use %folder%\*.mp3<0>, for example.

The other change you might notice in this release is that in the search results, the type of the cover (Unknown, Front, Back, Inside, CD) can now be clicked on to manually correct. This can be useful if your filename pattern includes the type, but the source has got it wrong or left it set as Unknown. You can now manually correct the type before saving so that it is saved with the right name, rather than needing to edit the filename directly.

Finally, a /fetchAll parameter has been added to the command line version (aad.exe). This comes from a [a href='index.php?act=findpost&pid=716037']contribution made by mondalaci[/a]. The idea is that if you use this parameter, and a %sequence% substitution in the filename, you can save every result found from a search, not just one of them.

Other minor changes:
  • Added script for VGMdb, a Video Game Music site
  • Fixed up scripts that had stopped working (note FreeCovers have not yet restored their API, and at the time of writing the AllCdCovers server is inaccessible. These may be temporary issues, so I've left those scripts in)
  • Command line version now only hides the cursor during script compilation
  • Added support for Alternates (separated by |) to local files source path pattern

Download:
AlbumArtDownloaderXUI.exe (Installer. Recommended)
AlbumArtDownloaderXUI.zip (zip archive for those who don't like installers)
.NET Framework 3.5 SP1 (required, except for Windows 7)

Album Art Downloader XUI

Reply #1426
Thank you for this new version!
I still have a little problem with "unallowed" signs under Windows:
Just search for this cover:
Artist: BRAD
Album: Best Friends?
You will get an brown album with a dog on the cover in some 3D-Style

If you like to save this cover with a right-click and "Save" you get the error:
---------------------------
Album Art Downloader
---------------------------
Could not save image 'd:\temp\BRAD (Best Friends?).jpg':

Illegales Zeichen im Pfad. *
---------------------------
OK 
---------------------------
* translated something like 'Illegal char in the path" - the '?'-sign isn't a valid character in windows-file-name.

Could you please remove/replace such impossible windows file-name-characters by default?
Please have a look here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa...28VS.85%29.aspx

Thanks again for you wonderful program!

Album Art Downloader XUI

Reply #1427
Could you please remove/replace such impossible windows file-name-characters by default?
These characters are supposed to be automatically replaced by _ marks whenever they are substituted into the filename. So, if you have the path to save images to as %album%, and the album name is "Best Friends?", the filename should appear as "Best Friends_".

If this isn't happening for you, please could you let me know what the path pattern you are using is? From your example, I would expect it to be "d:\temp\%artist% (%album%).%extension%", but I've tested this with the album you suggested and it works fine for me.

Alex

Album Art Downloader XUI

Reply #1428
Thank you for your fast answer!
I use your AAD together with Mp3tag. In Mp3tag I have added your great tool with this parameters:
/artist "%artist%" /album "%album%" /path "d:\temp\%artist% (%album%).jpg"

It seems, that Mp3tag passes this parameter like in the above example like this:
Artist: BRAD
Album: Best Friends?
Save images to: d:\temp\BRAD (Best Friends?).jpg

After a few tests, I think, I have to replace the /path-Parameter with something like this:
/artist "%artist%" /album "%album%" /path "d:\temp\$validate(%artist%,) ($validate(%album%,)).jpg"

According to the help-file '$validate' should
"Remove invalid characters from file name/file paths

Command: $validate(filename,to)
Example: $validate(%artist% - %album% - %track% - %title%,-)
This example replaces all invalid characters (/?*"<>| to dashes. "

Maybe this could help other users too.

Album Art Downloader XUI

Reply #1429
It seems, that Mp3tag passes this parameter like in the above example like this:
Artist: BRAD
Album: Best Friends?
Save images to: d:\temp\BRAD (Best Friends?).jpg

After a few tests, I think, I have to replace the /path-Parameter with something like this:
/artist "%artist%" /album "%album%" /path "d:\temp\$validate(%artist%,) ($validate(%album%,)).jpg"

Yes, that does the job. Alternatively, you can get Album Art Downloader to perform the substitution instead by using:

/artist "%artist%" /album "%album%" /path "d:\temp\%%artist%% (%%album%%).jpg"

The double %% makes it pass literally "%artist%" to AAD, rather than substituting in the name of the artist before passing it. AAD will then replace that with the name of the artist, automatically removing invalid characters as it does so.

Either way works, so thanks for letting me know.

Alex

Album Art Downloader XUI

Reply #1430

[blockquote]





[/blockquote]
AlbumArtDownloader XUI - You know you want it...

This project is a rewrite of the Album Art Downloader code, using .NET Framework 3.5.

Features:
  • Dynamically resizeable thumbnails
  • Thumbnail information
  • Sort by Name, Size or Source
  • Filter results under or over a specified size, or by maximum results for each source
  • Substitution syntax path to save images
  • Local files search that matches save pattern
  • Enable or disable scripts from the command line
  • New strongly typed interface-based script model; write compiled scripts in any .net language
  • Backwards compatible with existing scripts
  • Backwards compatible with existing command line parameters, including old CoverDownloader parameters.
  • Analyse files to find Artists and Albums from tags, and check if album art is already present.
  • Analyse folder and file names to find Artist and Album names based on a path pattern, and check for album art.
  • Read your foobar2000 media library or playlists to find Artists and Albums, and check for album art.
For the graphically-minded out there, although this app isn't skinnable, the UI is all created in XAML, so if you want to grab the source and start editing the UI, please feel free. It is under the XUI folder in the SVN Repository

Links:
SourceForge project page
Wiki and reference guide (incomplete)

Download:
AlbumArtDownloaderXUI.exe (Installer. Recommended)
AlbumArtDownloaderXUI.zip (zip archive for those who don't like installers)
.NET Framework 3.5 SP1 (required, except for Windows 7)
Looks like a nice software. Preferably I would rather just rip the cover art from itunes using bitmap rip. I can trust the quality more and the dimensions are 600X600 which is very nice for file viewing on a PS3 or any big screen file viewing device. If I re sized the images on your software they'd be a little blurry. Other than that I think it's nice!

Album Art Downloader XUI

Reply #1431
Does the Discogs problem happen with specific search terms, or is it completely random? If there are search terms that trigger it I can try and reproduce it here, and see if I can fix it.

Just noticed for the 1st time the same problem. Just now I made a "von hertzen brothers / experience" (w/o quotes) search and the Discogs script hangs, it gets no results and it seems that it would take 100% CPU & spin the search ticker to the end of the world if not stopped manually. I tried the search about 5 times and same thing every time. Then I made a "von hertzen brothers / love remains" (w/o quotes) search and Discogs found 1 cover and didn't hung. Tried this 2 times. Then back to the 1st search, it hangs again, this time the search ticker doesn't even play the "animation", i.e. I can't see the green bars at all. HTH.

Album Art Downloader XUI

Reply #1432
Just noticed for the 1st time the same problem.
Yes, that absolutely helps, thanks. I've pushed up an updated discogs.boo that should resolve the issue. I took the opportunity to add in thumbnails and info-url support for the script as well, don't know why it didn't have them before. I guess it's just a very old script.

Album Art Downloader XUI

Reply #1433
Already!? Man you're fast.. again! Every time! Humble thanks again for the lightning fast support.

So it was related to search not finding anything from a source? If yes, maybe you should check the amazon scripts too for this; now when I do "von hertzen brothers / love remains" (w/o quotes) search, the amazon scripts take 100% CPU at some point for a while and makes using the PC choppy (even maximizing/minimizing a measly notepad window is very choppy during that time). It seems that when they do not find anything, they do something CPU intensive stuff, and when all of the amazon scripts are used*, the effect is multiplied resulting to a 100% CPU and choppy performance (at least in my "old" P4 2.80GHz PC). When I search for the "experience" album, I don't see any freezes/abnormal CPU usage. With this search, all amazon sources except .fr returns 1 image.

* Why use all? Well, I haven't noticed a problem before this.. and sometimes some of the amazon scripts do not return results while others do.

Album Art Downloader XUI

Reply #1434
So it was related to search not finding anything from a source? If yes, maybe you should check the amazon scripts too for this;
Yes, sort of. It's related to the regular expression that searches the results html failing to match (as there were no results), but failing to match in a catastrophic way that meant that it was backtracking excessively. In essence, it was trying too hard and ending up going round in circles desperately trying to complete a partial match that was never going to happen. I've modified the regex to avoid this.

For amazon, it's not so obvious. I *think* I've located the offending part of the regex, but it's not such a bad case as the discogs one. Could you give this updated amazon-common.boo a try on your old P4 and let me know if it helps at all? My PC is fast enough to just rip through even the original without measurable pause, so I've used a regex debugger to give an indication of expected performance - but it would be good to get real-world results too!

 

Album Art Downloader XUI

Reply #1435
My real-world moped of a computer says that it is totally fixed and thanks you kindly for taking a load off of her.

Album Art Downloader XUI

Reply #1436
My real-world moped of a computer says that it is totally fixed and thanks you kindly for taking a load off of her.
Cool, thanks for letting me know, I've stuck it up on the auto-updater. If anyone has any trouble with the updated version, please let me know. I think it will match the exact same things the old one did, but it's always a risk.

Album Art Downloader XUI

Reply #1437

Hi all,

First off let me say a big thanks to the people responsible for Album Art Downloader.  A brill little utility and free as well!!!!

Second I know zip about computers/techie stuff so in advance please forgive very basic and stupid questions.   

Ok so I've been using Album Art Downloader for a while.  When I first started one of the sources it used to retreive art from was Album Art Exchange.  The quality of the artwork there was generally fantastic.  For a little while I had no computer but when I recently got a new laptop I downloaded Album Art Downloader again.  Album Art Exchange is still listed as one of the source "stores",  but no matter what I search for there are never any returns from that source; even well known big selling artists never mind obscure stuff.  Just to check I went to the Album Art Exchange website and found particular pieces of artwork (that I had searched for in Album Art Downloader) there but when I do a search in Album Art Dowloader they don't turn up.  Anyone any idea as to why this is??

Also when I get an album cover from Album Art Downloader what I do is highlight the tracks in ITunes then copy the album art from Album Art Downloader into the little box in ITunes and the artwork attaches itself to the tracks. Am I doing it right or should I be also saving the artwork somewhere?

Real basic stuff I know compared to some of the high tech questions on here, and apologies again for that, but any help would be appreciated.

Cheers


Album Art Downloader XUI

Reply #1438
Anyone any idea as to why this is??
Site owner made some changes that prevent this (and I suppose others as well) tool to retrieve art from AAE. You'll have to manually search from their web page.
Am I doing it right or should I be also saving the artwork somewhere?
Not sure I understand this question, sorry. AAD does NOT embed the artwork in your audio files, but can save it in a folder of your choice; don't know what iTunes does (and what you're trying to achieve).

HTH.

Alessandro

Album Art Downloader XUI

Reply #1439
Also when I get an album cover from Album Art Downloader what I do is highlight the tracks in ITunes then copy the album art from Album Art Downloader into the little box in ITunes and the artwork attaches itself to the tracks. Am I doing it right or should I be also saving the artwork somewhere?

Mobyduck is correct, Album Art Exchange was disabled by the site owner, who no longer wanted Album Art Downloader to be able to access it. To answer your other question, your method of getting artwork into iTunes is fine. Whether you want to save the art as a file as well is up to you; if you're happy with what iTunes is doing with it then you can just leave it stored there.

You might also want to check out [a href='index.php?showtopic=51708']iTunes Store File Validator[/a] which can automate some of this stuff for you, but again, that's completely up to you.

Album Art Downloader XUI

Reply #1440
Does this program download Amazon's very high quality covers? The ones you normally cannot download with a web browser but just zoom? The quality of the zooms is awesome.

Album Art Downloader XUI

Reply #1441
Does this program download Amazon's very high quality covers? The ones you normally cannot download with a web browser but just zoom? The quality of the zooms is awesome.
No, it doesn't. I haven't seen that feature on any albums I've recently looked at, I thought maybe they'd removed it. Anyway, I think they've put considerable effort into making sure that other software can't download them, so I don't think it's worth getting into an arms race for it.

Album Art Downloader XUI

Reply #1442
Wow, just stumbled across this, I remember using the original way back when but I had no idea it'd have come this far. I've just given it a whirl and I love it; thanks!

A couple of points of feedback: first, it doesn't deal well with tags that contain invalid characters; if there's a track with say a '?' or '...' or ':' in its title, the program will try to guess the path, but always seems to get it wrong. Perhaps some setting to specify how these characters map to path characters would be useful? Or perhaps the search could replace these with wildcards, though I think that'll get expensive quickly.

Second, it doesn't seem to deal well with multiple disc albums, though I've a feeling I just need to set up the search filters a bit better. For example, some multi-disc albums have a separate cover for each disc (Eric Clapton's Crossroads for example), where I like to put the front cover's artwork inside the disc directory, but some albums share one cover, in which case I put the artwork up one directory, in the album directory. I've got the filter set up to check both of these like so:

"M:/music/%artist%/%album%/%preset%.%extension%|M:/music/%artist%/%album%/Disc %disc%/%preset%.%extension%"

... but that doesn't seem to work, sometimes.

Third, the foobar browser is fantastic, but one tiny thing that would make things clearer is instead of saying "found: inlay.jpg" (or whatever), for it to say which of the presets it has found. As it is, I think it'll accept each album if it has any of the presets at all, but I'd like to know if any albums are missing particular ones.

I appreciate how valuable your free time is so if you like you could point me in the right direction and I could have a look at these bugs/features, I've done a wee smidgen of C# in my time.

Album Art Downloader XUI

Reply #1443

Hello, glad you liked it, and thanks for your comments and feedback.

Invalid path characters in tags: At the moment any invalid characters are mapped to "_". There was a request to make this customisable, but it would still be a replacement of all invalid characters with some other replacement character. Are you talking about having a fully customisable map where you can specify which character every invalid character is replaced be? That sounds a bit like overkill to me...

For Multi-disc albums, your filter looks OK, except there's no %disc% placeholder; try replacing that with * instead. Alternatively, you could try searching for the image relative to the location of the album (defined as the folder in which it finds the music files), so just "%preset%.%extension%|../%preset%.%extension%".

For your comment about the browser, you are right, both the foobar and file browsers will only look for one existing image for each album, once it finds one, it stops looking. I would certainly want this to continue to be the default behaviour, but I'll see if I can come up with any good ideas for allowing a user to check for the presence of multiple existing images too. As a workaround, you could perform the search multiple times, once for each image you want to check (so instead of %preset%, put the actual preset you want to search for in the string)

It's great to hear you'd like to get involved in the code too. The sourceforge page is here, and the source is in SVN. Ignore anything except for the XUI subfolder, the other stuff is the old version that's no longer maintained.

For the specific changes you've mentioned:
Invalid Path Characters: See AlbumArtDownloader/Common.cs/Common.MakeSafeForPath and CommandLineInterface/Program.cs/Program.MakeSafeForPath. Ideally, these two would perform the same operation so that aad.exe is consistent with the main GUI version.

Multiple Image Searching: Trickier, as I don't have a handle on a good design for this at the moment. The best place to start would probably be AlbumArtDownloader/BrowserResults.xaml.cs/ArtFileSearchWorker, BrowserResults is the common control for both file and foobar browser.

If you have any specific questions about the code, please feel free to PM me here, or email me through Sourceforge, or even break in the Developers Forum if you like!

Thanks,

Alex

Album Art Downloader XUI

Reply #1444
Hi,

Albumartdownloader wants to force me to download Net 3.5 although I have 4 alreday installed. Is there a way around it, or can it cause trouble installing the older version over the newer ?

Cheers
Alex

Album Art Downloader XUI

Reply #1445
Hi,

Albumartdownloader wants to force me to download Net 3.5 although I have 4 alreday installed. Is there a way around it, or can it cause trouble installing the older version over the newer ?

Cheers
Alex


Is it holding a gun on you? Never seen software force folks to do something.

All .Net packages are separate. Just install 3.5 and the security updates for it.

Album Art Downloader XUI

Reply #1446
Is there a way to make ADD portable? I download the ZIP file and installed it on my USB device. But when I start ADD the user.config is still saved under \AppData\Local\AlbumArtDownloader.

Album Art Downloader XUI

Reply #1447
Is there a way to make ADD portable?
First of all, it will always require .net 3.5, so it would only ever be portable to systems that already had that installed.

AAD uses the standard .net configuration settings mechanism, and I don't think it's possible (without abandoning that and writing a custom settings mechanism) to prevent it from writing those settings to AppData. What you can do is copy an already-created user.config to the AAD program folder and rename it as AlbumArt.exe.config; that will let you take your settings with you portably. Any new changes you make while running will be saved to AppData, though.

Album Art Downloader XUI

Reply #1448
Don't sure if I'm the right place, but Album Art Downloader doesn't work at all for me, on both Windows Seven 32bits & 64bit systems.

I tried every single version from 0.31 to 0.36, .exe and .zip, I also tried running it as administrator, but it still doesn't launch.

Here are some screenshots of what I've got when I start AAD :





It's kind of weird since I remember having used it perfectly on Windows Seven about 1 year ago.

Album Art Downloader XUI

Reply #1449
.NET Framework 3.5 SP1 (required, except for Windows 7)

Did you remember that