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Perhaps I am missing something but I could not find an option for this:
Upon importing a song e.g. from dropbox I can let the app a) guess the song name from filename or b) take the filename as Song Name. That is a reasonable approch when batch importing many songs.
I would nonetheless like a third option c) Enter a songname (where I can freely fill in any name I like - perhaps with the filename of the song prefilled and marked so as to modify If I like)
Currently what I do is I import the song with guessing and after that have to edit the song again to change the Name to my liking.... Not optimal If most of the time I import single songs.
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Good idea.
I have the same problem. My naming scheme for files is not completely the same as the naming scheme for song titles. So I edit the meta data of every song after importing it.
My proposal: instead of a third selection I would prefer an additional option (e.g. a checkbox) "reopen song editor after import". So I can decide using "Guess Title From Filename" or "Use Filename As Title" first and fine tune all meta data when the import is done.
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Perhaps I misunderstood your suggestion but why would anyone import a song with a name that is not correct and then again open the song editor to refine if it could be done in the first dialogue already? In the import window all necessary entries can be made so an option to choose the Song-Name seems better to me and not any harder to implement than the checkbox (I might be wrong though...)
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You are both making recommendations that only make sense when a single file is being imported. If you select multiple files to import, providing an option to choose a name makes no sense, nor does providing an option to edit the song after it is created. So at the very least, I would have to hide those options when the files being imported will result in more than one song being created. To this end, perhaps I should also have a setting to join all of the imported files into one song as this can be confusing for users that want to import multiple images that aren't named in such a way that MobileSheetsPro will join them into one song. This adds more annoying error checking with chord pro files though, as those can't be joined (so if any chord pro files are selected, I probably shouldn't show this option).
Mike
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An example might clarify my naming convention:
I import e.g. the file AllOfMe_C_DFB.pdf
"Guess Title From File Name" does a good job and creates the title "All Of Me C DFB"
I want to keep "All Of Me" as title, the key "C" goes to Keys:, DFB should become Album: Django Fakebook 2008
Other users might have different naming schemes and even mine is not exactly the same for all my songs.
It's more convenient because with my proposed solution I don't have to type the song title. There are many titles that are longer than just "All Of Me".
I assume that a meaningful file name is close to the song name anyway, so one of "Use File Name..." or "Guess Title..." should be almost correct and require only a minimum of tweaking.
I assume implementing a checkbox and reopening the song editor is not too difficult.
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11-16-2018, 02:10 AM
(This post was last modified: 11-16-2018, 02:13 AM by McConnor.)
As long as the Name field is pre-filled say with the filename OR the guessed Title (in marked condition) you could
a) Type away whatever you like and thereby automatically erease whatever has been pre-filled or
b) set the cursor where you need to make an adjustment and edit was has been pre-filled or
c) just hit "OK" if the pre-filled content is already to your liking...
should not consume too much time per song.
I agree that upon importing multiple files that would not work good unless they are supposed to be joined. If the checkbox for "Join files to one song" is checked the third option should be available - otherwise (and also if the filetype is not compatible) the checkbox would not be available (or only if the number of imported files is under a certain value e.g. "5" in which case you would have to be prompted for each song individually....)
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@Mike: I agree to open the song editor only once.
In case the import results in multiple songs it would be difficult to implement editing for all of them and pretty confusing for the user anyway.
But opening the song editor for only the first (or the last) of the imported songs seems to be useful in all cases that you mentioned.
The user should be able to choose if he wants to edit after import.
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I'm not that involved here but I just thought that if you open the editor for the last imported song it would make sense to let MSP assume it's in the most recent tab so you can cycle back or forward to the previously imported songs with next and previous.
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Sorry, I had memorized the sequence of steps wrongly how they are today. I should have tried what's going on before writing.
Now my opinion is much closer to McConnor's, please allow a new try:
- the user selects Import - Local File
- MSP shows a file selection dialog
- the user selects one or more files
- MSP shows the dialog "Import Settings" which is pretty similar to the first page of the song editor
very useful:
If the import was started from a group (Albums, Setlists, Collections) the according field is set to the current group
- the user is able to edit the new songs meta data, select from lists or edit fields
- the user chooses between "Guess Title From Filename" and "Use Filename As Title"
- MSP sets the song title(s) according to the "Guess Title..." or "Use Filename..." choice
- "Guess Title..." does an excellent job with inserting blanks, replacing special characters and so on
The problems with the song name we are discussing:
- the user cannot see and/or edit the song title(s)
- the only relevant action is pressing "OK" (Cancel is not relevant here)
- the "Import Settings" dialog is closed
In case editing of the song title is required, the song editor has to be opened again.
It might be difficult to find the new songs because
- the newly imported song(s) are sorted between the existing songs of the list where we started
- if that current list contains already many songs, the new song(s) are hidden between the existing songs
- it's even harder to find the newly imported songs in case "Guess Title From Filename" has modified a song title
Good news: I just noticed that the newly imported songs can be found easily on top of the "Recent" list!
What could be improved?
When the user has chosen the files to be imported and the "Import Settings" dialog is shown, MSP knows the filename(s) and can decide if the import result will be one song or several songs.
In case several songs will be imported, the current implementation is fine.
In case only one song will be imported a different "Import Settings" dialog could be displayed:
- provide an edit field for the song title
- populate that song title field according to the last used "Guess Title..." or "Use Filename..." setting
- allow changing the "Guess Title..." or "Use Filename..." setting, if it is changed re-populate the song title
- allow editing the song title
- as soon as OK is clicked save everything in the DB and close the dialog
What do you think?
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Sounds reasonable to me. I'll look into making that change in one of the next updates.
Thanks,
Mike