GUI For Creating Virtual Tags

[Mr.man1093]

I recently started to use virtual tags and while they are very simple in concept can be difficult to learn how to write them and figure out what you messed up when writing them. I believe that they would be much easier to use if they had a GUI that could be used while creating them, similar to the GUI used when creating a smart playlist or using the "Highlighting Rules Editor".

[Zak]

Playlists and highlighting rules are a different kettle o' fish, since they only have to check a single value (from a tag) against a known list of conditions (equals, less than, starts with etc.).
A virtual tag can consist of any number of functions, in any order, on any number of values.
I can't imagine a GUI design that would cater to more than the simplest examples.

A virtual tag is essentially a mini programming language, so will always require some typing.
Even Visual Studio, with all of Microsoft's resources behind it, is essentially still a text editor after almost 25 years of continuous development.

There are definitely things that could (should?) be done to make it easier to create and edit virtual tags though.
That probably warrants a separate thread, but I'm thinking of things that would be easy to implement, like built-in help text to describe the syntax and use of the different functions with a couple of short examples...


tldr;
If you get stuck creating your own virtual tags, ask for help on the forum. There are lots of regular forum members (many with ridiculously long and complicated virtual tags) who will help.

[hiccup]

…

All very true.

There is a tool that may be helpful though. It is a so-called User Defined Language file for Notepad++
It will apply some useful highlighting that should help in making the virtual tags easier to read, and possibly spot some errors:
https://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=30727.0

[psychoadept]

Yes, if I'm struggling with finding an error or just working through a long virtual tag, I will copy it into Notepad++ where I can see the whole thing better, compare the parentheses, etc.

[Steven]

I recently started to use virtual tags and while they are very simple in concept can be difficult to learn how to write them and figure out what you messed up when writing them. I believe that they would be much easier to use if they had a GUI that could be used while creating them, similar to the GUI used when creating a smart playlist or using the "Highlighting Rules Editor".

if you click the ... button on the right of the virtual tag text a basic editor opens and has the ability to preview the results. I doubt i would agree to anything more sophisticated