auto padding of track numbers

Support
#1

Hi folks,
new here, since most of the program is relatively self explaining.
And it's working mighty fine ... :slight_smile:
Two little detail questions elude me so far.
Maybe somebody has an idea ?

  • I want the %track% number to be padded to a length of 2 ( 01, 02, 03 ... ), always.
    When I retrieve data from freedB they are not.
    I know how to do it via the assistant, but can the field be formatted for auto padding ?
    Any solution ?

Thanks,
susiwong

#2

No, I don't think so.

You do not have to use the numbering assistant as this will also create a sequence of numbers. If you have gaps and want to keep the original number, you shouldn't use the assistant.
But you could create an action of the type "Format tag field" for the field track.
Enter as format string:
$num(%track%,2)
to have the 2 digits for track.
This will only work for track numbers that have not got the total number of tracks stored as well.

#3

Thanks, Ohrenkino !
Works like a charm, and I see the different approach to the assistant.
Cool side effect :
You can now do a complete folder structure in one go. Nice !

Still, an option for a constant padding would be welcome here.
Maybe in a future update ?
Doesn't seem to be too hard to implement, but what do I know ?

Cheers,
susiwong

#4

Thank you for the feedback.
One note on the auto-padding: thankfully MP3tag leaves alone all the fields that have not been modified or only applies modifications if the user says so.
So I think that the track number is displayed as it is. A missing zero would then initially be in the responsibity of the originating tagger.
Any auto-function would mean an additional write which then probably in return would have to be made switch-off-able.
Which brings us more or less back to square one: you have a track and you have to decide whether it should get a leading zero or not.
And this decision lies in applying the padding-action for the selected track(s) or not.

#5

ohrenkino,
while I don't pretend to know anything about the mechanisms involved, I did a test run with a complete folder structure containing tags in different formats including x/yy, xx/yy and even mixed folders - the result was exactly as desired - nice 2 digits. Random sequence also works (as opposed to the assistant) like you pointed out - looks like a winner to me.
Really appreciate all the friendly help here, :slight_smile:
cheers,
susiwong