pfpbatchtag.exe overrides Media Type

[789 FM]

Hi Berndt

I seem to have found a bug with the pfpbatchtag.exe program.

My Import Format does not specify any media type, however the media type is always overwritten to "Music" when running pfpbatchtag.exe on a file.

You can test this by using my format, setting a file to "Jingle" (or any other media type) and running the pfpbatchtag.exe on the tsv file. You will see that the file will get the "Music" media type.

This is my format for reference:

Code: Select all

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<formats>
	<format name="RadioTools" type="CSV" extension=".tsv" delimiter="TAB" useHeader="True" quote="" quoteEsc="" quoteHeader="True" trim="False" comment="#" encoding="UTF-8" internal="RADIOTOOLS" import="MetaData">
		<fields>
			<field name="filename" start="0" length="0" align="left" pad=" ">${X}</field>
			<field name="title" start="0" length="0" align="left" pad=" ">${X}</field>
			<field name="artist" start="0" length="0" align="left" pad=" ">${X}</field>
			<field name="album" start="0" length="0" align="left" pad=" ">${X}</field>
			<field name="albumArtist" start="0" length="0" align="left" pad=" ">${X}</field>
			<field name="year" start="0" length="0" align="left" pad=" ">${X}</field>
			<field name="durationMS" start="0" length="0" align="left" pad=" ">${X}</field>
			<field name="cueInMS" start="0" length="0" align="left" pad=" ">${X}</field>
			<field name="rampMS" start="0" length="0" align="left" pad=" ">${X}</field>
			<field name="ramp2MS" start="0" length="0" align="left" pad=" ">${X}</field>
			<field name="nextMS" start="0" length="0" align="left" pad=" ">${X}</field>
			<field name="outroMS" start="0" length="0" align="left" pad=" ">${X}</field>
			<field name="fadeOutMS" start="0" length="0" align="left" pad=" ">${X}</field>
			<field name="cueOutMS" start="0" length="0" align="left" pad=" ">${X}</field>
		</fields>
	</format>
</formats>

[radio42]

What command-line format are you using, i.e. which -f option do you use?

And how do you test this? I.e. within ProppFrexx each entry has a media entry type. If non is defined in the file it still falls back to the default. For a media library you can define the default media entry type.
If you just drag an audio file (even with no meta data set) into a playlist, it still receives a default media entry type 'Music'.

Furthermore, there is no media entry type 'None' - each track when using the TAG data must have a media entry type.

So how do you validate, that pfpbatchtag.exe has a bug?

[789 FM]

What command-line format are you using, i.e. which -f option do you use?

I am using these command-line arguments:

Code: Select all

-f=generictxt RadioTools -i="path-to-tsv-file.tsv"

And how do you test this? I.e. within ProppFrexx each entry has a media entry type

These files already have a previously set Media Type (e.g. our jingles, advertising files, sweeps, ...). These have been set using "ProppFrexx Tagger" in the past and are part of the physical music file (ProppFrexx Tag in that file; not used in any media library). The pfpbatchtag.exe should only update the tags present in the import format. All other tags should remain to how they were set in the past.

I want to use pfpbatchtag.exe to only update the tags in the importformat. All other tags should remain as they were before.

[radio42]

Now I understand the misunderstanding.

The pfpbatchtag.exe is designed to initially take over TAG data from an external system during e.g. an initial migration of data.
I.e. the pfpbatchtag.exe creates empty/fresh meta data entries according to the given data.

But pfpbatchtag.exe is currently not designed to modify and change only specific meta data and preserve all others. For example today you would also loose many other meta data (if existing), like volume points, hook cue points etc.
So today, pfpbatchtag.exe works as designed.

So what you need/demand is a rather drastic change/enhancement - you want an app, which can modify any meta data value via a command-line tool - similar to pfpbatchtag.exe.
So I need to take a deeper look, if modifying pfpbatchtag.exe so that it preserves and keeps any existing data, but only updates specific meta data values. For the standard TAG data it is already doing so, but not for all the enhances meta data.

I put this on the wish list, but it will need some time to carefully look into it, to ensure it doesn't break the workflow of other users.

[789 FM]

Thanks Berndt for looking into this.

Can you confirm that currently pfpbatchtag only overrides the ProppFrexx specific tags (cue points, media type, …)? Or does pfpbatchtag.exe also touch ID3 tags. (for example, if I don’t specify the “genre” or “comment”, will those be deleted currently?)

With ProppFrexx tag I mean the actual XML tag in the music file.

[radio42]

No, ID3 Tags are only modified when needed (e.g. title, artist, year etc.), but never deleted.

The issue you face only relate to ProppFrexx specific meta data, e.g. the Media Entry Type or Cue-Points.

[radio42]

Here is a version to test with, which should keep all TAGs and meta data, if already present:

https://proppfrexx.radio42.com/download/pfpbatchtag.zip

Just unzip it to the installation folder of ProppFrexx...

[radio42]

Is the new version working as expected?

[789 FM]

Hi Berndt

Thanks for the new version! I have been sick for a couple of days so I couldn’t try it out yet. I will get back to you this weekend!

[radio42]

All the best, get well soon