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Topic: How to make multiple metadata values appear seperately in lists? (Read 2118 times) previous topic - next topic
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How to make multiple metadata values appear seperately in lists?

When I split multiple metadata values for artist and composer foobar simply replaces the / with a comma.
But all the artists and composers still appear as a string in my overviews (see pictures).
This is especially annoying considering my naming scheme is already: Surname, Forename which makes the whole mess confusing as heck.

I would like the separate values to also appear separately in my overviews with the rest of that artist or composer's works.
How is this possible?

p.s. Is there also a way I can get Foobar to auto-split these values when it detects a certain symbol? And what symbol do you guys suggest I use for splitting values?
Hhhmmmm Croissants.....

Re: How to make multiple metadata values appear seperately in lists?

Reply #1 –
Hey there,

Have a play around with the $meta_sep() function.

Example: $meta_sep(artist,' + ') = "Artist 1 + Artist 2 + Artist 3"

See title formatting reference here.

I just use '+' myself but you could put any fancy character or unicode icon in there.

Cheers ;)

Re: How to make multiple metadata values appear seperately in lists?

Reply #2 –
Quote from: anamorphic on
Have a play around with the $meta_sep() function.
Example: $meta_sep(artist,' + ') = "Artist 1 + Artist 2 + Artist 3"
Forgive the absolute noob question, but where exactly am I supposed to enter this?
When I put it in the split field dialog nothing happens?
Hhhmmmm Croissants.....

Re: How to make multiple metadata values appear seperately in lists?

Reply #3 –
Put it wherever you are displaying artist (or composer) in those two screenshots above. Replace the %artist% part with $meta_sep(artist,' + ') - it will display artists the same but with a custom separator between each artist.

I cannot tell what particular element or component you are using in the screenshots, though...
 

Re: How to make multiple metadata values appear seperately in lists?

Reply #4 –
I do not recognize the component either, and I'm only familiar with the default user interface where you can use this syntax to display each individual composer from a multi value field: %<composer>%

The many commas are indeed hard to read, and reason why I wouldn't use last-first name sorting. I think colored separators would go a long way to visually organize the list, and help distiguish comma, semicolon or ampersand as separator from one that is part of a proper name. The color can be only slightly different. On the default user interface it is not possible to use color in $meta_sep(), but we can insert some unique string and wrap the line with $replace() to change that to a color code.

Code: [Select]
$replace($meta_sep(composer,'C_X1, C_X0'),C_X1,<<,C_X0,>>)
or old style literal color
$replace($meta_sep(composer,'C_X1, C_X0'),C_X1,808080,C_X0,)

Re: How to make multiple metadata values appear seperately in lists?

Reply #5 –
EDIT: Nvm j7n's solution worked perfectly. Thanks guys!

I was using facets BTW.
Hhhmmmm Croissants.....

Re: How to make multiple metadata values appear seperately in lists?

Reply #6 –
Thanks j7n, your solution worked perfectly!
Quote from: j7n on
The many commas are indeed hard to read, and reason why I wouldn't use last-first name sorting.
Not sure whether you meant this or not, but the last-first name thing isn't a sorting method I use. I actually enter the names that way in the metadata.

I'm not sure how you use anything other than last-first name sorting with classical music?
Surely you'd want Johann Sebastian Bach to be sorted as B for Bach, not J for Johann?
Am I missing something?
Hhhmmmm Croissants.....

Re: How to make multiple metadata values appear seperately in lists?

Reply #7 –
Quote from: Le Croissant on
Surely you'd want Johann Sebastian Bach to be sorted as B for Bach, not J for Johann?
Am I missing something?

Only that some think differently, and therefore last name-first name sorting is not a universal preference. I, for one, am fine with JSB residing in the Js. :-)

Re: How to make multiple metadata values appear seperately in lists?

Reply #8 –
I trust that you know better how to organize classical music. Classical authors only appear infrequently on my list in crossover compositions along with other personnel, and follow uniform format within the collection, without distinction between contemporary/classical. Colored separators are similar to clickable blue hyperlinks on music databases. They help, but only so much, to avoid overload of punctuation marks and right-to-left reading, such as in "Parsons, Alan, Project, The" or "Davis, Louis F., Jr." (or any ending with Jr. or article). One still has to enter and read the text in the unformatted Properties dialog or Selection Properties.

Re: How to make multiple metadata values appear seperately in lists?

Reply #9 –
Quote from: Jailhouse on
Only that some think differently, and therefore last name-first name sorting is not a universal preference. I, for one, am fine with JSB residing in the Js. :-)
Well, I suppose that's fine as long as you stick to the mainstream composers. Once you get into obscure composers this will become a nightmare as you'll mostly know them from their surnames. Also keep in mind that music copies from antiquity often don't state the first name so in French they'll say for instance "M. Surname" (M. standing for monsieur). So we don't even know the first names of some if the more enigmatic composers. For instance:
Monsieur de Sainte Colombe
Le Sieur de Machy
Der Mönch von Saltzburg
Hhhmmmm Croissants.....