Remove From Collection - Mixed functionality under same terminology ?

[alec.tron]

Heya,
while trying to find some dead links, this seemed at odds and has some dangerous/destructive potential (as it can alter user data, i.e. playlists, without clearly communicating this):

- MB's start up file scan picks up missing files from the collection and produces a pop up (once) to remove the dead links/files from collection
- the above can not be retriggered by the user, but Tools -> Tagging Tools -> Other 'Files To Edit' Filters ->  Show Dead Links can be used to achieve something similar., i.e. show all missing files from the MB music collection.

- On the other side, this:
Tools -> Advanced -> Scan All Files
once it has finished the scan, creates a very similar (if not exactly the same GUI/window) pop up to the start-up scan, BUT, and this imo is dangerous - it also includes dead file links from playlists, which the User Confirm dialogue offers to remove (i.e. remove dead file links in Collection as well as all playlists...).
For me this is fundamentally different, and should be either its' own trigger, i.e.
Tools -> Advanced -> Scan All Files
Tools -> Advanced -> Scan All Playlists

OR

it's own report window (i.e. 2, or 1 with 2 parts - clearly showing what is 'dead links in collection' and what is 'dead links in playlists'), which can not be confused / has a clear syntax.

Cheers.
c.

[hiccup]

It's probably a good issue raised and well explained.
Yet, I am not sure this qualifies to be under 'bugs'?
Perhaps you are able to point out more precisely what the bug here is.
Or perhaps this would better be moved to the wishlist board?
(if you would like that, I can do it for you)

[Steven]

the files arent actually removed from the playlists - they are only removed from the library.
I think the wording on the prompt is already quite clear the files are being removed from the library

[alec.tron]

This is what I thought as well Steven - but why does Tools -> Advanced -> Scan All Files report list files from Playlists, which are NOT inside the MB music collection at all then ?!
Let me explain:

I'll double check again if wanted - but I'm pretty certain, as this is what made me notice this at all, that the
Tools -> Advanced -> Scan All Files report,
which is asking/offering to 'Remove Files From Collection' listed afterwards, was also listing tracks that only and exclusively live in a playlist, and not in the MB music collection (as they are dead playlist entries by intend - i.e. tracks I had as digital promos, which I played on the radio, then removed/deleted it later from the collection as they were interesting at the time, but did not warrant keeping for me... but, I still am keeping the record for the file/track I played in the playlists that document what I played...).
Hope this makes sense.

Would be great if anyone could test & confirm this, as this would be a bug, if Steven also thinks this additional "functionality", to remove dead entries from playlists, is not meant to be here...

One issue - which makes testing this hard - I did not go through with the removal obviously - as:
- by what the window lists (although it is a bit hard to navigate & get all the info as it only lists the file name) this would destroy/alter my historic playlist files (and there's 100 of those intentionally dead entries in 10+ years of m3u playlists...).
- and, there's no way to 'work' with the  'Remove Files From Collection' window - i.e. try removing a few/subset and see what it does to the files - there's only a binary option, remove all, or none... and in that case, all is not an option for me...

Any ideas / suggestions ?

Cheers.
c.

ps. I just realized, I could test this again, by removing all my actual .m3u playlists, and starting MB with just a few dummy playlists which can be altered... I might do that on the weekend to see if the dead files which exclusively live in a p[laylist, are actually removed from the playlist as well if one were to go ahead with the removal process...

[alec.tron]

Finally found time to test this.
So after removing all my playlists and only adding a dummy playlist with 2 valid & 2 invalid files inside, turns out we both are partially correct:


If I trigger 'Rescan All Files', I indeed get a pop up that also lists missing files from playlist, which exclusively live in a playlist and not in MB collection:


(What you see is Tracks from said dummy playlist in the background... and the Rescan result window, offering to remove the missing playlist-only files...)


But, when going through with the "removal", i.e. 'Yes' on the pop up, the 'Remove Them From The Library' functionality, although it is listing the playlist only files (which imo it should not to avoid confusion), are not removed from the playlist where it lives in... which is great, but confusing.

Cheers.
c.