Author Topic: Enable multiline in virtual tags  (Read 1140 times)

Fox63

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hi

It would be nice to have the . (multilines)
For example:
Artist: <artist> cr/
Title: <title> cr/
Song length: <length> Year: <year> cr/
Etc. etc.
With a single field you could create a set of information that currently requires many virtual tags.
This could be placed in a panel, for example, the track information. You could create entire information masks with a single virtual tag.

Mayibongwe

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Came into this one with a strong will to +1 it, but thinking more about it:

Unless there are other panels or areas in MusicBee besides the Track Information panel where you'd like to make use of these line breaks, I think what you want is already possible. I can't find it right now but I swear hiccup has a thread somewhere on this forum where he gave tips on how to simulate line breaks in the Track Info panel though the use of semi-colons and the option to "split multi-value tags into multiple rows".

Hoping he'll be able to assist with a link to that thread when he comes across this.
Favourite song at the moment:   Decode by Paramore

hiccup

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I can't find it right now but I swear hiccup has a thread somewhere on this forum where he gave tips on how to simulate line breaks in the Track Info panel though the use of semi-colons and the option to "split multi-value tags into multiple rows".
I can't find it either, but you explained it perfectly:
For the track details panel, activate 'split multi-value tags into rows', and semicolons will function as line breaks.


karbock

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aktor

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What about multi-lines in artwork field in the artwork and tracks view.

Mayibongwe

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Just in case, a related post by hiccup (maybe the one Mayibongwe had in mind):
It's actually the bottom section of this post that I had in mind.
The one you linked has the same gist as well - so that's appreciated too.

What about multi-lines in artwork field in the artwork and tracks view.
Yeah, I guess that would be where the request you raised would be considered valid.
I don't see myself having to use it anytime soon, but if it's not gonna be a hassle for Steven, I'm pledging my support for this wish. +1
Favourite song at the moment:   Decode by Paramore

Fox63

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Came into this one with a strong will to +1 it, but thinking more about it:

Unless there are other panels or areas in MusicBee besides the Track Information panel where you'd like to make use of these line breaks, I think what you want is already possible. I can't find it right now but I swear hiccup has a thread somewhere on this forum where he gave tips on how to simulate line breaks in the Track Info panel though the use of semi-colons and the option to "split multi-value tags into multiple rows".

Hoping he'll be able to assist with a link to that thread when he comes across this.

I, too, remember somewhere in the forum someone had mentioned this and suggested control characters for going to a carriage return in a virtual tag but I haven't found it since.
I remember something like this /n/.

Fox63

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Found the thread where this was discussed: https://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=17632.0
At least in the track info panel there is a way to head.
Just add between fields or even between text ";" and enable multiline.
It doesn't work in the main panel, though.
But, if I remember correctly, from reading in another thread that Steve wanted to implement the same info track panel entry system for the main panel as well.
Hopefully!!!

Zak

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It doesn't work in the main panel, though.
How do you see it working in the main panel?
Details in the main panel are displayed - in one way or another - in a grid or list.
In each of the following examples, it wouldn't make sense for any of the selected items to have a variable number of rows.





I guess it could work in the little details row below the album title in the first example, but I can't see it being useful for displaying albums or tracks.

(Besides any other reason, .NET list controls won't let you use items with variable heights)

But, if I remember correctly, from reading in another thread that Steve wanted to implement the same info track panel entry system for the main panel as well.
Hopefully!!!
That was this:

for v3.6 i am planning to make fields in the album and tracks view and the artwork view editable templates like with the track information panel fields
If implemented, this would allow much more flexibility in what is displayed but I wouldn't count on it allowing multi-row entries, for the reasons given above.
Bee excellent to each other...

Fox63

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It doesn't work in the main panel, though.
How do you see it working in the main panel?
Details in the main panel are displayed - in one way or another - in a grid or list.
In each of the following examples, it wouldn't make sense for any of the selected items to have a variable number of rows.

Why could it not be useful?
I often find that the title plus the author, who often has many collaborations, does not fit in the line.
You could put a condition that if the number of characters is greater than e.g. 10 put the text in the next line.
For example: this visualization has very long titles.

And there is no author because it is always the same for the whole album but if each track had it different at the end it would be cut off.

See how it is displayed on this panel?




By the way, the possibility has been given to change the size, bold, italics, color, of the font in the virtual tag, as I did in the example I put in the image, so I think it is limiting to use MB only as a mere dot matrix printer printout.
You see there are users who use applications for 10% of their possibilities, because that is enough for them and they don't feel like exploring them for other possibilities.
I didn't know that by putting a ; to head in the headers of the info tracks panel. Now that I have learned about this possibility I have created an info track as I wanted.
So if it is not too complex, why not add this feature?

hiccup

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So if it is not too complex, why not add this feature?

Because it is very complex, and likely to create lots of problems.
The lines that you are referring to are not singular line elements, but are constructed of different columns. (or grids, as Zak explained)
Track #, Title, Bitrate, etc.

It would be very messy to allow one of the fields dictating the vertical layout of the whole.

Fox63

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So if it is not too complex, why not add this feature?

Because it is very complex, and likely to create lots of problems.
The lines that you are referring to are not singular line elements, but are constructed of different columns. (or grids, as Zak explained)
Track #, Title, Bitrate, etc.

It would be very messy to allow one of the fields dictating the vertical layout of the whole.

I put an image with the title display and underneath the author.
.
So MB already has a multi-line display.
It doesn't seem to me that this display is so cluttered!!!
The author of music bee has given the possibility with an internal proprietary language that allows to change the visualizations of songs with different colors and fonts.
I, for example, for the display of songs in the main panel use a single virtual tag with all the information I want to enter and some even based on conditions that occur for each song. The title has one color and one size, while the author has a smaller size, a different color and is italicized as well.
I apologize if I sound argumentative but I think the philosophy of MB is really that you can change the views as you like. If you have to keep a tabular view you may as well use other programs.
Obviously if a user creates a piece of crap he will either realize it himself and modify it or he will like it that way and keep it.

hiccup

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So MB already has a multi-line display.
It doesn't seem to me that this display is so cluttered!!!
You still don't seem to get the point that there is a difference between 'single line' elements and 'gridded' line elements, where MusicBee uses which one, and how they can be set.

The Incredible Boom Boom

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Even in the your screenshot above, you can see that MusicBee is using grids, not "lines."
While allowing the grid to expand might not be a difficult task outside the context of an already built program, I imagine it would break many other things to allow expansion at this point.
This is now where - if you want your layout and View to perform in a certain manner - it's on you to figure out if/how MB can be molded to what you desire.