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Problem with search engine

Printed From: Deejaysystem Professional Tools
Category: Deejaysystem international
Forum Name: English-speaking forum
Forum Description: Chat, help and support in english on any Deejaysystem related topic
URL: https://www.deejaysystem.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=534
Printed Date: 21-May-2024 at 04:26
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.01 - http://www.webwizforums.com

Topic: Problem with search engine

Posted By: Alan Ross
Subject: Problem with search engine
Date Posted: 23-May-2007 at 09:44

I have my tracks organised into three directories: Audio, Video & Karaoke. I buy new tracks as they are released in both audio format (for discos) and karaoke format (i.e. instrumental)

I regularly have the same song in both audio and in karaoke versions, for example:
(in my "Karaoke" folder) "Christina Aguilera - Candyman.mp3" & "Christina Aguilera - Candyman.cdg", and also
(Audio folder) "Christina Aguilera - Candyman.mp3"

The problem I've discovered is that Deejaysystem won't find two identically named mp3 songs in different directories, it simply picks the first one it finds and doesn't show any further instances of it in the search window. As a result, when I search for a chart song, only the karaoke track or the audio track shows up, not both.

I can work around this, either by renaming the two mp3s with (aud) & (kar) included in the filename, or by searching in windows explorer & dragging the desired file across. -But could this problem be fixed for a future release of DJS?

Replies:

Posted By: Edy
Date Posted: 25-May-2007 at 10:49

Hi Alan,

This is a subject to be studied carefully. The only difference between the audio-only track and the karaoke track is the presence of the CDG file near the mp3.

The database engine assumes that the filename of each file is unique. If a known song is loaded from a different folder then the engine assumes that the file has a new location and discards the old location. In order to avoid duplicates, the playlist will load the mp3 once. The search dialog will load the mp3 according to the last known location, which could be either the audio-only file or the audio+karaoke file.

I've added this problem to the development document. The database engine will be re-designed for a future version, and this issue will be seriously consideered.

Thank you!

-------------
Edy / Deejaysystem Team
http://www.deejaysystem.com -

Posted By: Alan Ross
Date Posted: 27-May-2007 at 11:25

Clubdjpro resolve this problem by showing an icon (Speaker/TV screen/Microphone) to show if the selected track is audio, video or karaoke. Presumably the routine to select & display an icon is similar to the one you use to detect an identically named CDG file!

Posted By: Edy
Date Posted: 31-May-2007 at 15:02

What if you leave the CDG file alone, without MP3? Does ClubDJpro shows it as Karaoke? Can it still be loaded?

-------------
Edy / Deejaysystem Team
http://www.deejaysystem.com -

Posted By: Alan Ross
Date Posted: 31-May-2007 at 19:10

No, if you take away the mp3 file, it doesn't show anything at all.

The CDG file can't be loaded or dragged on: Unrecognised format,
which is why I figured the identification method was the same.

However - on further testing I've noted that the Mic,TV & Speaker icons simply assist in showing the user the file format: Identical filenames in different directories are still overwriting each other the same as in DJS.

Posted By: joe
Date Posted: 31-May-2007 at 21:52

I have not tested the last version, so not sure what it will do.
But one suggestion that might help.
The database has to store files using the entire path.
I would like the search to also search the path.
But I do not want the path shown in the search window results.
For video files I want to see the file name only.
For audio showing info from the track tags is ok.
Currently we do karaoke with a separate player but would like to put the files into the computer.

I like the idea of icons to show the different types of files.

Posted By: Edy
Date Posted: 01-Jun-2007 at 09:44

I think that storing the entire path is not appropiate. One tipically organize his library by creating folders and moving songs to the appropiate folders. Moreover, if the songs are stored in a removable media (i.e. a USB drive) then the drive letter may change when the drive is connected. Even a removable drive could be mounted as a folder in an existing drive!

A better solution would be probably to detect the mp3 track as karaoke and create a specific entry for it in the database. The player should be able to assume that the same file name may be duplicated in the playlist as long as each instance belongs to a different category (audio / karaoke).

This is a very interesting point. I'm adding it to the development document for the future major version, in which we plan to re-design the playlist and database modules. Of course, using a visual "type" indicator such as color and/or icon is already planned.

Thank you!

-------------
Edy / Deejaysystem Team
http://www.deejaysystem.com -

Posted By: Alan Ross
Date Posted: 01-Jun-2007 at 10:57

Some users may also have karaoke tracks ripped from dvd in divx or mpeg formats, which could complicate the "icon" issue; there would be no way that DJS could differentiate the file between a karaoke track or a music video.

-Perhaps if a future database engine is to have a 'mediatype' field, would we be able to have a database editing tool?

Posted By: joe
Date Posted: 01-Jun-2007 at 12:58

I am thinking about video music files. To my knowledge, they do not have track tag information. So today any information we want to search for has to be in the file name. But if the search engine would also search the path, we could put the songs in a search able folder. Example, I store a song in a "Rock" folder for genre. The search engine would find all songs in the "Rock" folder. But would show only the file name in the results window.

Posted By: joe
Date Posted: 01-Jun-2007 at 13:53

Alan's problem of ripping the karaoke into a mpeg file can only be solved by a user input. Presently I do this by a comment in the file name as follows: Artist - Song Name - Comment.vob

Another way is with a comment column stored in the database.

A third way is in the folder name, but this will work only if the search engine looks there, example C:\Karaoke\Artist\Song Name.vob

Another reason for a comment is to tell the DJ that the song he is looking for is on a removable media. Example the search for a song might show: Artist - Song Name - DVD #324 Trk 5 This tells the DJ the song is track 5 on a DVD with the number 324. This will also work with jump drives.

Posted By: Alan Ross
Date Posted: 06-Jun-2007 at 13:40

Hi Joe, I already use the Artist-title-comment.avi format & it works well. But with 7000 karaoke tracks to rename, i was sniffing around for an easier "fix". As it stands, I rename the files whenever I encounter an identical filename in a different folder because DJS will show only one file. The result is that I should rename all my files with comments, i.e. Audio, Video and Karaoke, which will take ages.

This also results in DJS searches reporting unplayable "ghost" files (their filenames prior to the addition of the comment), until I have the opportunity to wipe & re-write the database. I'm finding that Xvid and Divx files can take about 3 seconds each to register when added to the database, which can be a nightmare with 6,000 divx karaoke files! re-writing the database can take several hours!

Posted By: joe
Date Posted: 06-Jun-2007 at 14:53

Yes I would like the search to include the path. Then we could name folders audio, video etc and search for them. But I do not want the path to show in the results window.

Then I could search for the video version of a song. But I only want the filename to appear in the search results window.

I also want deleted files to stay in the database. This way I can search for songs that are on DVD's and not in the hard drive.