Yate Release Notes

Version 7.0.0.2 (12110.12098)

      Bug Fixes

• While not really a bug, in the past Yate did not load malformed FLAC files which had a STREAMINFO block incorrectly placed. The files are now loaded and repaired when saved.
• The Database Viewer was not correctly analyzing runtime settings when determining eligible actions for the Run Action menu.

Version 7.0.0.1 (12109.12098)

      Bug Fix

• One of the additional components installed in v7.0 was not being referenced in the correct location. This could cause some of the new MPEG-4 property extraction code to fail.

Version 7.0 (12108.12098)

      Additional Components

• This release will install new or updated additional components.

      Main Window Configuration.

• The Window>Move File Browser to the Right/Left and Window>Swap File List and Edit Panels menu items have been removed.
• There is a new item on the Window menu named Window Panel Layout. The item lets you choose from six possible layouts for the main windows three possible panels: File Browser, file list and edit panel. Note that you are selecting the order for the panels (displayed or not).
  
  
• The edit panels can now be detached and displayed in a separate window (via the Window menu).
• When a detached edit panel window is closed, it can be restored via Window>Show Main Window or by clicking on the dock icon.
• If the edit panels are detached and a batch process is started, the window will be closed and restored when the process finishes.
• The detached edit panel window has its own dark mode setting in Settings - General - Dark Mode.

      Resource Actions Installer

• There is a new Yate menu item named Resource Actions Installer. The Resource Actions Installer is a form of the Action Updater which displays all actions available on the web resources page in the Actions section. You can use this process to install actions without the need to manually download them.
• All actions will be displayed: Those that can be updated, those installed and up to date, those available to be installed and those which require a newer version of Yate. An explanation for the displayed status codes can be displayed by hovering on the Status column header.
• The panel's help button displays a document which describes the new functionality.

      The Multi Field Editor

• There is a new Rename function which can be used to rename files without the use of a rename template.
  • This can be useful when doing quick on-the-fly renaming.
  • Note that this function can only be used to rename files (not folders) based on the entered text and escape sequences. All valid escape sequences are available on the text field's context menu. The ability to enter padded values for fields such as Track and Disc are available on the Insert Escape Sequences>Padded Field Values menu.
  • A duplicate sequence is automatically generated if required.
  • A full description of the functionality is in the Multi Field Editor help.
• There is also a new Insert Sequence function which is described in the next section.
• The Credits tab now lets you move items between Involved People and Musician Credits by specifying credits or people. All items can be specified.

      Inserting Sequential Integers

• The Multi Field Editor has a new Insert Sequence function which is used to insert sequential integer values.
  • You can insert
    • before or after a matched pattern. Searching from the beginning or end of a field.
    • at the beginning or end of a field.
    • at a fixed index from the beginning or end of a field.
  • The integer value can optionally be padded to 2, 3 or 4 characters.
  • The inserted integer can optionally be preceded and/or followed by specified text.
  • The sequence can be incremented by any integer value greater than or equal to 1.
  • Redundant spaces can be removed on modified fields.
  
  
• You can also insert sequences in actions.
  • The \1 escape sequence reads named variable Integer to Insert which is formatted as: next{,pad{,inc}}. next is the next integer to be inserted. pad is an optional pad factor (0, 2, 3, 4). inc is the integer added after each insertion. After inserting the integer, the value is incremented and written back to the named variable.
  • If the Integer to Insert named variable is initially empty 1,0,1 is assumed.
  • The \1 sequence can also be used in the Multi Field Editor's Set and Rename panels. The parameters are taken from those displayed in the Insert Sequence panel.

      The Actions Menu

• All menu items which perform specific batch processes have been moved to a Batch Processes submenu.

      MPEG-4 Audio Properties

• Quite a bit of work was done on the extraction of MPEG-4 audio properties.
• Yate now attempts to directly extract properties for E-AC-3 streams.
• A new scheme has been implemented to extract the audio properties for any stream types not directly extracted (AAC, ALAC and E-AC-3). There are new settings in Settings - Audio - MPEG-4. You have to enable the settings as they are initially disabled.
• While audio properties for various stream types, such as Dolby, may have been incorrect or missing in the past, it in no way affected the files when tagging. The audio properties read are not not used for other than display purposes. This new scheme simply strives to display the correct information.

      Preserving Ratings

• There are unfortunately no standards as to how ratings get encoded. Yate has long supported the changing of the rating scheme, either manually or based on presets for various players.
• When you change how ratings are encoded to satisfy an audio player, invariably this will mess up the current values of the ratings.
• In the past you could use a Translate Ratings action statement with a described workflow to modify the ratings in all your tracks to represent a newer encoding. This method involved writing an action and was complicated.
• A new scheme has been implemented to make the process of changing your ratings a little easier.
• There is a new Settings - Audio - Common - When writing files setting named Write Preserved Ratings. When enabled, whenever a file is saved, your default rating is written to the file as a UDTI named Preserved Rating. This tag is encoding independent.
• A second new setting is Settings - Audio - Common - When loading files - Mark file as modified if Preserved Rating is not equal to the actual rating. When this option is enabled, Yate checks if the Preserved Rating does not reflect the actual rating. This can happen if you edit a rating in a player. If this is the case the file will initially show as modified when it is loaded. (red indicator). Doing a View>Changes to the Initial State will always display what has changed in a file. In this scenario, Preserved Rating will have a current value reflecting the current rating in the file and will differ from its initial value.
• The Edit menu has a new item named Revert to Preserved Rating.
• The Actions menu has new batch processes named Preserve Current Ratings and Restore Ratings from Preserved Rating
• You would run Preserve Current Ratings to initially set up the Preserved Rating value in all files.
• You would run Restore Ratings from Preserved Rating whenever you change how ratings are represented.
• The actions called by the above two process are preloaded when Yate is installed. If you wish you can do a Settings - Import Built in Items - Import Actions. This is not necessary unless you manually want to run the actions. Whenever the batch processes are run, you will be given the option of importing them if missing.
• If you have Settings - Audio - Common - When writing files - Write Preserved Ratings enabled and you change any setting which effects how ratings are represented (including by the import mechanism), you will be warned and asked if you want to disable the option. This is so you do not overwrite the current Preserved Rating value before you run the batch process to update your files.
• The Ratings field's function button has a new Revert to Preserved Rating item on its context menu.

      Ratings

• Some audio players do not interpret no rating as zero stars and reuse whatever they had before. This cannot happen with Apple apps.
• There is a new Settings - Audio - Common Always write rating settings. When enabled, a tag for the default rating is always written to the file.

      Fields and Application Lists

• The Language field is now a list aware field, much as Artist, Genre, etc.
• The Language field does not have a dedicated list of the same name but can be associated with any list including the ten custom ones.

      Application Presets

• Swinsian is now available as an application preset on the Settings - Audio - Common panel.
• Swinsian is also available on the Configure Full Rating Mapping panel as a preset.

      Metadata State Changes

• All metadata state menu items are now on the Edit menu. Revert has been moved to the Edit menu from the File menu and is now called Revert to Initial State.
• The action editor window category Editing State has been renamed to Metadata States and now includes all statements which interact with the various metadata states.

      Notifications

• Yate has long had options in Settings - General - Notifications to control visual prompts when a window is not activate.
• You can now also specify that you want to display the main window when a process finishes and the application is active. This will cause a closed or minimized window to display.

      File Maintenance

• The File menu has a new File Maintenance menu item which provides the same functionality as the File Maintenance action statement.

      Copy and Pasting of Column Text

• You can now copy a cell in the main window's file list to the same column in all other selected files. Use the new Copy Cell to Same Column in Selected Rows context menu item.

      The Snapshot Editor

• There is a new setting to specify that only properties are to be displayed.

      The Discogs Wizard

• Twenty-nine additional metadata items can be imported corresponding to Company related information.

      Help>Quick Reference

• The menu has a new Special Named Variables item. The item displays a table of all special named variables.

      Runtime State Stack

• Many actions modified the Editing state in order to have a fallback position. As many users employ the Editing state in various ways in the UI, a new per file Runtime State Stack is now available in each file. This allows actions to save state (multiple times) without overwriting the Editing state.
• The Runtime State Stack is only available via actions and is automatically removed when an action terminates.
• There is a new action statement named Runtime State Stack which has the following functions: Push Current Values, Pop Current Values, Remove Last and Remove All.

      Settings - Rename

• Rename templates have the following new tokens: Classification, Content Advisory, Encoded By, Encoder Settings, Encoding Time, Lyricist, Mood, Original Filename/Title, Purchase Date, Release Time, Seller, Set Subtitle, Tagging Time
• There is a new IfArtistEqualsAlbumArtist token which tests if the Artist field is equal to the Album Artist field. The test ignores leading and trailing spaces and is case insensitive.
• There may be times in complicated templates where sequences have to be duplicated to enforce certain conditions. There is now the concept of a user state which is initially false. The UserStateIsFalse and UserStateIsTrue tokens change the value of the user state. There is a new IfUserState token which conditionally tests if the user state is true.
• The token editor's context menu has been rearranged to better handle the length of the menu due to the added tokens.

      Action Statement Changes

• The Add to Apple Apps statement now has an Ignore errors option.
• The Artwork to Folder statement can now specify a pad factor for the optional appended index. The pad factor is specified in named variable Artwork to Folder Index Pad.
• The Artwork to Icon, Load & Run and Zip/ Unzip statements will now standardize paths before doing a test for being absolute.
• The Call AppleScript Function statement's parameter field can now be displayed in a multi line editor.
• The Combined Credits Functions statement can now output a list encoding the results.
• The Compare Numeric statement now has an Is Unsigned Integer test.
• The Date Functions statement will now correctly parse compressed formats of exactly 8, 12 or 14 digits: YYYYMMDD, YYYYMMDDhhmm, YYYYMMDDhhrrss.
• The Date Functions statement can now optionally compress the output date by removing all characters which are not decimal digits.
• The File Maintenance statement has been extended to remove possible external attributes used by the new MPEG-4 retained audio properties scheme.
• The File Path Manipulate statement has new functions: Copy Filename, Set Filename and Set Last Path Component.
• The Get Info statement can create lists of Boolean Fields and Plain Text Fields Plus Numeric.
• The List Manipulate statement has a new Assign function. Items in the list are assigned to the named variables specified in another list. There is also an immediate mode where the list of named variables can be specified inline.
• The Indexed Artwork statement now has a Resolve Selected UI Index function.
• The Indexed Artwork, Duplicate Artwork and Rearrange Artwork statements now support the \sa escape sequence to interact with a currently selected item on a full artwork control.
• You can now specify a placeholder in the Prompt for Text statement's config.
• New Run External Script statements, set the Run Once option.
• The new Runtime State Stack statement is described above.
• The Save statement has a new if not auto saving option. This option will save modified files if not batch processing or batch processing without Auto save files enabled.
• The Scanner statement now has an only execute if true setting.
• The Set Open Mode statement can now specify the Open Mode at runtime.
• The Supported Fields statement can specify Boolean Fields and Plain Text Fields Plus Numeric.
• New Version statements preset the version to 1.0

      Databases and Restricting Actions

• You can now specify a runtime setting named album only. When set to 1 or true the action will only be accessible in album databases.

      Droplets

• You can now specify that dropped files are not automatically loaded but rather are passed to the action with a list in named variable Droplet Files. The name of the droplet will be in named variable Droplet Name.
• When creating a droplet there is a new option named Suppress opening the main window. If you are using a droplet for automation reasons this setting will start Yate (if not already running) without displaying the main window. All functions and settings which would normally cause the main window to display will be suppressed until one of the following occurs: Yate's dock icon is clicked; Window>Show Main Window is selected; a panel is displayed on top of the main window. Once the main window is displayed, all window functions operate normally. If you close the main window and use another droplet with the option specified, you will re-enter the do not show mode of operations.
• The Droplets creation panel now has an Unregister control which displays a list of all registered droplets. The control is only displayed if there are registered droplets. Selecting an item will unregister it. When a droplet is unregistered and the droplet icon is on the desktop, it will be deleted as well.
• As a convenience you can now create a droplet from the Action Manager's context menu.

      Escape Sequences

• There is a new escape sequence \sc which returns the number of snapshots on a file's Runtime State Stack.
• There is a new escape sequence \ys which inserts the time Yate was started in ms since 1970-01-01T00:00:00
• There is a new escape sequence \yr which inserts the time Yate has been running in ms.
• There is a new escape sequence \1 described above in Inserting Sequential Integers. This escape sequence can be used in the Multi Field Editor's Set and Rename panels if you wish. When used in these panels the first number, padding and increment values are taken from the Insert Sequence panel.
• There are new escape sequences to insert the padded value of the Track (\?2t, \?3t, \?4t), Disc (\?2d, \?3d), Episode (\?2e, \?3e) and Season (\?2s) fields. Where appropriate, these sequences are available on the Insert Escape Sequences>Padded Field Values context menu.

      JSON5 Support

• Wherever JSON can be parsed, Yate now also supports JSON5.
• If a container is saved as JSON, standard JSON notation is output.
• When using the multi line JSON editor and you format or compress the data, standard JSON notation is output.

      Credits Database

• The credits database has been updated to the latest Discogs, MusicBrainz and Roon documented credits.

      Search Yate Help Bookmarks

• Various bookmarks have automatically been created for topics directly relating to new or modified functionality in this release.

      Resources

• The Renaming and Restructuring Files and Folders document has been updated.
• The Yate and the P Word document has been updated.
• Various actions have been updated.

      Big Sur and plist Files

• Big Sur (macOS 11.7.x) has issues with the writing of large complicated plist files.
• If you are getting errors while backup files are saved or when exporting settings or actions, enable the Preferences - General - Advanced - Manually write plist file setting.
• As the name implies, the system APIs are bypassed and the plist file is manually generated. Note this only works for XML based plist files. If you attempt to save as binary in the Container Viewer or via the Read / Write Plist File statement, the system APIs are always used.
• Do not enable this setting unless you are seeing errors.

      Bug Fixes

• A single item on the GEOB editing panel could not always be deleted.
• The Indexed Artwork statement's per file setting was not working for all functions.
• Indexed Artwork was not correctly identifying its track variable usage on an Action Editor window's Find panel.
• The Paste to Column in Selected Rows function, added in v6.20, was not updating the editing panel until the file selection changed.
• The Xattrs property for com.Apple.FinderInfo was not alway displayed. This was OS version dependent.
• The Zip/Unzip statement was not properly zipping when a single application or package was specified.
• The Run Action menu in the database viewer was not always properly restricting which actions were displayed.
• The Prompt from Container statement's JSON insertion menu had a bogus menu item named Item.
• The Move Non Audio Files statement was not checking for : characters in a new name when renaming. The characters are now changed to underscores.
• The function button Multi Field Editor Actions context menu item was using the Multi Field Editor's grouping filter. This was not the correct behaviour.
• Named variable usage for the right list on the List Manipulate statement was not being logged. This only affected the Find panel.
• The Prompt statement's Reset mode was not resetting: Prompt Checkbox Exits and Prompt for Text R/O Menu Reference.
• The Is Database Open statement documented the incorrect named variable for the results. The results are written to the Database Status named variable. Not the Status of Open Databases named variable.
• The IfMultiple token in rename templates was not working on the Album Artist field. The token now works correctly even if your settings are stripping multiple values when renaming.
• The Show in Finder statement, when showing specific items, was taking way to long to execute.
• The Settings - Discogs - Artwork preload choice control was disabled if Settings - MusicBrainz - Discogs - Use Discogs data when available was not enabled.
• Fixed a bug where if the main window was resized down vertically to a minimum; Yate was closed then reopened; the controls on the Info panel world be misplaced.
• If the Notepad could not be saved it was possible that the displayed error panel would not go away.
• When using NFS to access files, it is likely that a creation date is not available. Previously, this was treated as an error. If this now happens, the creation date will be empty.
• The Build Component List statement was not correctly using a specified no list association setting when the source was not a named variable.