Building Hour Templates, Choosing Specific Files

This post regards building hour templates. Within a specific rotation (folder), I’m trying to play a specific file rather than allowing the scheduler to choose the file.

I’ve placed the folder as ‘fixed’ and I believe that I choose the file by setting ‘attribute’ for the specific file. So far this has not worked. Without doubt, this problem is operator error. Could someone please point me in the right direction? My hair is already thin and I can’t tolerate pulling more out :smiley:

Thanks and best regards… Alec

Almost 100% wrong on all counts, but I see where you’re coming from!

To force a specific file to be scheduled, the easiest way is to create a virtual folder and place ONLY that one file in the virtual folder. In the hour template, you then add that virtual folder as an item. Simples! >squeak< :wink:
I use this technique for my Ad Break in/out sting.

‘Fixed’ means that the position of the item is fixed in the generated playlist: non-‘fixed’ items are ‘shuffled’ after generation. So if you want a template where each item is generated in the sequence you specify, as in most other music schedulers, make EVERY item in the template ‘fixed.’ If you don’t mind some/all items being ‘shuffled’ in sequence, make them NOT ‘fixed.’ Note that any ‘fixed’ items WILL still be generated in that exact position in the generated playlist.

Attribute filters are used to limit the files chosen to files with those attributes. Only Attributes which exist in the Attributes node of the database can be used. For example, if your music files all have a Year attribute, you could limit the files chosen to those of a specific year such as 1967 or 1984.

Finally, ‘optional’ means that the item will only be included in the generated playlist if the total duration of the items chosen and generated so far is less than 60 minutes. So, ‘optional’ items are useful to ‘fill out’ hours without any generated hour ever being more than a very few minutes (or one track) longer than 60 minutes’ duration.

Does that help?

BFN
CAD

Cad-

I’m not surprised that I was almost 100% wrong on each count :wink:

Yes, thanks for the clarification. Your suggestion to use one file in it’s own virtual folder is perfect–and I will definitely do that. Yes, simple :wink:

That is interesting how setting an attribute can limit the choices, such as by year as you mentioned. I’m curious; how does one create an attribute in the Attribute Node, if you don’t mind? I’m not going to do so at this point, but I’m curious how it’s done.

Thanks again for all your help in this post and the others.

Kindest Regards, Alec M

Some Attributes are ‘picked up’ from tagged files (Genre, Album, Track [Number], and Year are examples), so if your MP3/OGG files are correctly tagged to start with, those Attributes will be added automatically by mAirList.

If you want to add other Attributes, you do so manually. If you want to set up Attributes with a ‘suggested/fixed’ set of values that you can later choose from a dropdown, go into Config, Miscellaneous, Attributes and create your Attributes and lists of values there (just TYPE!).

You can however add ANY Attribute you like (including ones not in the Config list) by opening an item’s Properties dialog and typing the Attributes on the Attributes tab of the dialog. If you set up ‘pre-set’ Attributes in Config, then adding the name of one of those to Properties displays a dropdown with the choices you specified in Config.

Finally, mAirListDB automatically recognises all Attributes and automatically adds them to the Attrbiutes node of the Library tab tree. I daresay that your mAirListDB aleady contains several Attributes, which will usually have come from the tags in your files.

Personally, I always make sure that ALL files I import already have the correct album name, track number, and year (of the TRACK, not the album ;)) in their tags, to save me time and effort later.

BFN
CAD

Cad-

Thank you for that explanation. I learn a thing or two (or 3,4,5) each day and each post. This program is so powerful and so configurable that it is sometimes hard to see all of the features (in a good way, though) :).

Thank you again…

Best Regards, Alec M

The Proper Manual will be available Real Soon Now … :wink:

BFN
CAD

Excellent! The manual will be VERY helpful, especially to us “newbies” ;D

Best Regards, Alec M…

Cad-

I’ve experimented with the Attributes Filter and am, once again, amazed at the power of mAirList. I would say that the ‘Mini-Scheduler’ is actually quite comprehensive (in contrast to its name).

Under the Attribute Tab, I see two sections: Name & Attribute Filter. Am I correct that the ‘Attribute Filter’ identifies the specific file when building hours and the ‘Name’ is merely a memorable identifier of the Attribute Filter? If I’m correct, then the ‘Name’ could well be the same as the ‘Attribute Filter?’

Thank You so much…

Best Regards, Alec M.

I’m not sure I completely understand what you mean by that, but basically yes: IF you add an Attribute Filter to an item in an Hour Template, it limits the items eligible to be chosen (at playlist generation time) to items whose Attributes match those you specify in the Attribute Filter. So it does NOT repeat NOT identify one specific file (or correctly: one database item); rather, it identifies an attribute value (or set of values) which any selected file must match.

There is no column captioned Name in the Attribute Filter dialog or in the Edit Hour Template dialog. Whatever you mean by Name, it has nothing to do with Attribute Filters. The only thing I can imagine you mean is the name of the Attribute (Year, Genre, etc.). In the Attribute Filter dialog, that column is captioned Attribute. There is no means to give an Attribute Filter a ‘name’ of any sort: it’s just a set of values which must match the corresponding Attributes. The only places in mAirList where there is a Name column for Attributes are 1) on an item’s Properties dialog and 2) in Config, Miscellaneous, Attributes.

Think of an ‘Attribute’ as a kind of ‘custom field’ on an item’s database record, or within its MMD file. When you import an audio file, mAirList will automatically add Attributes for things like Genre, Year, and Album. You can also manually add any Attribute you want to any item. If you want to add an Attribute named ZZ25abc to an item, and give it the value 502TJ43, then no problem. Equally, you can set up ‘attribute lists’ in Config, with arbitrary Attribute names; and pre-define a set of Values which will appear in a pop-up when you manually add that Attribute to an item. So if you had a new Attribute set up in Config, named Tempo, and set up the values Fast;Medium;Slow in Config—then if you open any item’s properties, go to the Attribute tab and add a Tempo attribute, you will see a dropdown beside it, containing the values Fast, Medium, and Slow which you set up in Config.

Is that what you were meaning, or not?

BFN
CAD

I don’t think I fully understand the concept of “Fixed” in the Clock templates. Surely, when I define a PROMO to be the 3rd item in a Clock Hour, it always is the 3rd item regardless? True, it may not play at exactly the same time across the day due to the length of the 2 tracks before it, but being 3rd is where I want it - in the same way that I may always want 6 songs before my first Ad Break.

Cad-

Sorry, I meant ‘Attribute’ when I wrote ‘Name’ (sitting at computer redfaced :-[). Thank you for the detailed explanation.

Charlie-

You’re saying that the promo folder remains fixed regardless of the fixed setting. Interesting, I was under the impression that the folders would shuffle to different sequences unless ‘fixed’ was specified.

Best Regards, Alec M.

Alec - My “i dont geddit” issue is what the Fixed (or not) actually does/mean :slight_smile: I’m just trying to work out why you would want to shuffle the order of folders within a Clock template. It also took me a while to figure out how the Penalty options worked!

The folder content is always shuffled before the scheduler picks the requested amount of items from each folder. (The shuffling algorithm used at this point is not fully randomized - it also considers the time a track was last used, so you get some sort of rotation.)

When a suitable item has been picked for each slot, the green (non-fixed) items are shuffled again. The red (fixed) ones remain in place.

This is very useful when you only want to specify the number of items to pick from each folder, but not their particular order.

Ah - I see, makes sense now… Thanks :slight_smile:

Charlie and Torben, thank you both.

Torben, I believe that there is (was) a misunderstanding of what ‘Fixed’ actually means. My understanding was that ‘Fixed’ set the folder in its position and prevented the folder from being shuffled among other folders within the hour. But, actually, ‘Fixed’ means that it sets the content of the folder in a fixed order and prevents the content from shuffling within the folder.

I totally missed that one ???.

Best Regards, Alec M

Uhm… No, I think your first interpretation was right. Read again what I wrote above.

OK, someone has to ask this:

Does the Mini Scheduler do the title/artist separation check BEFORE or AFTER the ‘non-fixed’ items in a template are shuffled?

If the answer is (as I suspect) ‘before,’ then I’ll need to point out in the manual that the separation is less accurate for non-fixed template items. :wink:

Thanks in advance.

PS: I still think a more precise caption than fixed? would avoid the confusion others have with the meaning of this setting, but apart from fixed position? or maybe just position (clicked or ‘on’ items would still show fixed in the cell in any case), I can’t think of anything better. :-\

BFN
CAD

Yes, and please also re-read what I wrote above: http://forum.mairlist.com/index.php/topic,4760.msg33912.html#msg33912.

The description of the fixed? column I gave in that post is correct, and closely resembles the explanation which will be in the manual. :wink:

BFN
CAD

Torben and Cad-

Thank you both. For once, I was right the first time :smiley:

Cad, I think ‘fixed’ is okay, but if a change were to be made, then perhaps ‘fixed sequence’?

That’s far too wide for a column heading. I think “fixed” is ok - and actually, the text displayed in a fixed row should rather be a plain “x” than the same text “fixed” again, but I tried that, and it didn’t look so good.