Artist Reference Database

This document represents version 7.0 of these actions. After updating if there are any actions in the Artist Reference Database folder remaining with a version number less than 7.x they may be deleted.

Way back in 2015 we thought it would be neat to maintain an Artist database which would allow us to lookup various information about artists in our collection.

This document describes a variety of actions which were written to build the databases, manage them as part of your new album workflow and to provide the query functionality.

In order to use this suite of actions you will require an Album Database which describes the albums in your collection. For the purposes of this suite the database only has to have an Album, Folder Path and Yate Album ID field. However, you may as well throw other columns in there, as Album databases are really useful. Personally we keep Album and Track databases updated at all times.

A word on Yate Album IDs. A Yate Album ID is simply a unique value. Every database, including iTunes/Music/TV uses unique IDs. We have Yate Album IDs and Yate Track IDs in all of our tracks to maximize the database capability.

If you do not already have an Album database you will have to create one. Further, you have to construct the Artist Reference database. There are three actions provided to do so. The actions must be run through the Batch Processor. Make sure that you enable Auto-Saving of files. If you enable the Preferences - Actions -Enable Batch Processor auto start from Stop Action and Run Batch Processor setting, the actions will start immediately without a security warning.

Creating the Databases

While the three supplied build actions will still work it is far better to create the databases via the Create Database Utility action. It allows more to by done on a single pass through the batch processor.

ARDB: Build Album Database

This action will construct an Album database. Yate Album IDs will be created if required. The action uses an export set called ARDB: Album DB. This export set may or may not contain all the columns you want to be present and will be overwritten whenever this suite is updated. This is another reason to use the Create Database Utility action which allows the use of any appropriate export set.

ARDB: Build Artist Ref DB

This action will construct an Artist Reference database. Yate Album IDs will be created if required. When building the database, fields are decomposed with knowledge of their associated preference list, if any. Any item in a field which is contained in the associated preference list is not decomposed. If you are using separator characters other than the multi value delimiter and you have items which contain the separators, it is a good idea to make sure that name is in the appropriate list. For example, if you are using commas as delimiters for multiple artists, having Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young in the Artist list will ensure that it is not decomposed.

ARDB: Build both Databases

This action will construct both databases. Yate Album IDs will be created if required.

Workflow

There are three actions provided which you can call as part of your new album workflow. They are intended to be run from the UI.

Add to Artist Ref DB

This action evaluates all loaded tracks and adds or updates their artist information to the Artist Reference database. Yate Album IDs will be created if required. Note that this action effectively calls Remove from Artist Ref DB before adding or updating.

Remove from Artist Ref DB

This action removes the artist information for all loaded tracks. Note that all information associated with any of the Yate Album Ids present in any of the tracks will be removed.

Update Album DB

This action opens and updates the Album database with information from all loaded tracks. Yate Album IDs will be created if required.

Helper Actions

There are helper helper actions which are called in a variety of places. They are not intended to be directly called. These actions all have a name starting with Helper:

Configuration

All of the above actions validate the configuration settings by calling an action named ARDB: Configure. The action can be directly run at any time. If you want to force the configuration wizard to run when not running it directly, hold down the Options key when starting any of the previous actions. The panel looks like the following image:

Per setting help is available in the configuration panel by selecting a row and then pressing the spacebar.

The configuration panel provides support for creating, saving and deleting profiles of settings. All of the actions in the suite work with the settings currently displayed in the configuration panel.

Note that this configuration can be run from the Create Database Utility action. If run this way, the panel will have a Discard & Exit button as opposed to a Cancel button.

Querys

And now for the fun part. The Query Artist Reference DB action. The action performs a query and displays the results in the Log Viewer or the Album database specified in the configuration.

The Query type setting describes which query will be performed. The Query text field, which is always case insensitive, contains the text submitted to the query. The menu displayed by the dropdown control to the right of the query text field will display a list of artists. The possible query types are:

Find albums containing all specified artists

Albums which credit all artists listed in the query text field will be displayed in the Log Viewer or the associated Album database. Artist names can be separated by commas or the multi value delimiter. Selecting a menu item will append it to the current content using a multi value delimiter. Note that the multi value delimiter is used as artist names can contain commas. When manually entering names you can avoid issues by using the multi value delimiter (typically ;;;) as opposed to a comma.

Find artists matching fuzzy query text

A list of artists fuzzy matching the single artist listed in the query text field will be displayed in the Log Viewer. The fuzzy threshold for a match is by default 80% but can be overwritten in the displayed panel. Fuzzy matches are not ideal for single names which are typically short but they do have the advantage of being diacritic insensitive. The Query text field's menu will insert a single artist overwriting the current contents.

Find artists containing query text

A list of artists whose names contain the query text will be returned in the Log Viewer. The Query text field's menu will insert a single artist overwriting the current contents.

Find artists containing query text on word boundaries

A list of artists whose names contain the query text will be returned in the Log Viewer. The specified query text must be on a leading and trailing word boundary in order to match. The Query text field's menu will insert a single artist overwriting the current contents.

Find artists who are credited on any album with the specified artist

A list of all artists that appear on any album with the specfied artist will be listed in the Log Viewer. The Query text field's menu will insert a single artist overwriting the current contents.

Find artists with mixed diacritic representations

A list of all artists which differ only by the use of diacritic marks will be listed in the Log Viewer. Note that there is no query text required for this query type.

When you first start the action if the loaded tracks have a consistent Album Artist or Artist name, that name will automatically be displayed in the query field.

Content List:

Actions:

Folder: Artist Reference Database

Add to Artist Ref DB

ARDB: Build Album Database

ARDB: Build Artist Ref DB

ARDB: Build both Databases

ARDB: Configure

Helper: Apply Reference Artist List

Helper: Build Reference Artist List

Helper: Initialize Config Container

Helper: Remove Reference Artist List

Query Artist Reference DB

Remove from Artist Ref DB

Update Album DB

Export Sets:

ARDB: Album DB

ARDB: Artist DB

Requirements:

Yate v6.18

History:

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