BUG: ML search doesn't search comment field

[MrSinatra]

technically speaking, this may not be a bug per se, however i do think it is not desired:

when you search your media library, winamp will not return results for search terms that only appear the the comment field of a tag.

this raises the question of what fields are in fact searched, and which ones are not?

[DJ Egg]

This is a feature, by design, not a bug.
A search for plain words will only return results from the Artist, Album & Title fields.
For other fields you would need to use the correct syntax, ie.

?comment has "awesome"
?comment = *****
?year => 2000 AND genre has rock AND comment has *****
etc etc

Refer to the Query Language Documentation in the Advanced view of the Smart View editor for more info.

[MrSinatra]

well actually, search works for the composer field as well, and i like that, (please don't change it!) i think it also does albumartist.

i don't understand why it wouldn't do the comment field tho. why not? how is it a feature that that field would be ignored by a search?

i realize smartviews could be made, but they aren't always appropriate for subbing the function of a search.

[osmosis]

artist, albumartist, album, title, filepath and composer are searched actually.. though I've always thought comment should be included in this as well to make it easier to group items.

[Batter Pudding]

The filepath search is very valuable to me...

I assume comments (and other fields) are not searched as there would be a big jump in the processing time of the search.

Remember how we used to use Steam Powered PCs back in the past... Using the search syntax means all options can be covered.

[MrSinatra]

thats only true if you have entries in the comment field. and i don't think adding one more field that is useful for putting terms you want to use to create search results lists that don't fit properly in the other fields, (like "mdw faves" or "cd 1990" or whatever), is outside the normal scope of what one would expect.

EDIT: also, my limited testing seems to indicate that the genre field IS included in search results

[Batter Pudding]

Many of my ripped CDs have details filled into the comments field from Gracenote. Sometimes these are useful, but other times I have seen huge reviews of the album plonked in there. I don't always bother to clean these out, but would not want them searched.

We are all different.

[MrSinatra]

BP, i agree with you on differences, but you could say that about other fields. the bottom line for winamp design shouldn't revolve around a given users tagging habits. winamp can't account for garbage in any tag field.

the real solution would be to include some prefs for search, and / or include an advanced search. imo, more anal users ...like me should have a way to simply include the comment field in searches.

[Batter Pudding]

First time I have seen it discussed, but what you are asking for is a dialog box in the preferences to choose what gets searched. This would then need to be translated to more complex search routines.

As an ex-programmer myself I can see the work involved there and how it will still slow down the main search. (The logic of the search will have to get filled up with "if" statements checking all the options that are in the dialog)


I also would assume that this search is not actually opening every single MP3 file, but using winamp's own media library database and searching that. If comments were to be added to that database, this could mean a huge leap in storage requirements. (And there are enough people who get upset when Winamp uses memory as it is )


Have you used the syntax DJ Egg has suggested? It looks to me like Winamp can already do what you are asking. Learning the syntax of searches is always extremely handy. Look at Google Search - that can be hopeless for many things if the advanced syntax is not used.

[MrSinatra]

First time I have seen it discussed, but what you are asking for is a dialog box in the preferences to choose what gets searched. This would then need to be translated to more complex search routines.

As an ex-programmer myself I can see the work involved there and how it will still slow down the main search. (The logic of the search will have to get filled up with "if" statements checking all the options that are in the dialog)

i don't think its that complex. the pref would allow a user to simply specify which fields are searched, on/off. the data itself is already in the winamp DB. such a pref could lead to faster searches for users who don't need "Genre" or "Filepath" searched for example. as you said, to each his own. winamp right now searches at least 6 different items. all i'm asking is that the user be granted control over what gets searched in prefs.

I also would assume that this search is not actually opening every single MP3 file, but using winamp's own media library database and searching that.

thats my understanding.

If comments were to be added to that database, this could mean a huge leap in storage requirements. (And there are enough people who get upset when Winamp uses memory as it is )

and again, its why a pref would be appropriate.

afaik, comments and many other fields are in the DB. you can tell this b/c all the ML info is still there even when the music files aren't, (like when disconnecting a USB drive).

along the same lines, you could add prefs for what you want as a user scanned into the ML. i'm perfectly happy with it importing everything, but i would not begrudge a user who wouldn't want "Publisher" or "Category" imported for example.

Have you used the syntax DJ Egg has suggested? It looks to me like Winamp can already do what you are asking. Learning the syntax of searches is always extremely handy. Look at Google Search - that can be hopeless for many things if the advanced syntax is not used.

it can, but learning the syntax and/or having to use it does not interest me at all. i think its rather awkward and kinda silly. winamp has prefs for every little possible permutation on so many things, it seems like this is a rather obvious one.

[Batter Pudding]

The search syntax is there as it shows the true roots of this program. It's not silly and looks fairly standard to me. Unlike the limited GUI based programs like iTunes, the guts of Winamp are there for people to customise it to exactly suit their needs.

I'd whack your idea into the wishlist as it is not really a bug, but an extension of a feature. True, it shouldn't be too complex, but it would still eat up a lot of valuable programming time for the devs.

(Though I'd leave your import suggestion out as I think that adds a little too much complication for the potential gain. Especially for the pluggins that expect data in certain fields)

[MrSinatra]

The search syntax is there as it shows the true roots of this program. It's not silly and looks fairly standard to me. Unlike the limited GUI based programs like iTunes, the guts of Winamp are there for people to customise it to exactly suit their needs.

i didn't mean search syntax is itself silly, i just find it silly for winamp users to be expected to learn it and use it to be able to search a universal (and useful!) field like "comments." i do LOTS of multiple searches on a 50k library. i want it to "just work," not make me work.

I'd whack your idea into the wishlist as it is not really a bug, but an extension of a feature. True, it shouldn't be too complex, but it would still eat up a lot of valuable programming time for the devs.

(Though I'd leave your import suggestion out as I think that adds a little too much complication for the potential gain. Especially for the pluggins that expect data in certain fields)

yeah, like i said to start it might not be a bug in the true sense of the word, but i def do think its bad behavior.

its still an open question, everything appears to be imported, but what actually is searched?

appears to be:
filepath
genre
artist
albumartist
title
album
composer

appears not to be:
year
comment

shouldn't:
disc #
track #

unknown:
publisher
category
director
producer

any others?

my main question is how and why was it determined that "comments" shouldn't be, while genre and filepath should be? seems arbitrary and inconsistent.

i agree with you, the devs have more pressing things to do, as per my sig. but i did want to document this. (and its pretty relevant, since smart view creation is currently broken)

[osmosis]

It is pretty arbitrary considering it's all saved in the ML DB as metadata anyway..

Publisher is searched.
Category, Director and Producer (ML Metadata) are not.
Orig. Artist, Copyright, Encoded, BPM (ID3v2) are also not.

(Check out the request/wish/suggestion in my sig. as well; it's a few ideas I had that would make the Smart View builder much better.)

[ron2112]

?comment has "awesome"

Every time I try this, Winamp crashes as soon as I type the first quotation mark. I only have one file with anything in the Comment field, as I'm testing the practicality of using this field for certain metadata. I type ?comment has " and a second later I'm looking at this:



I'm running Winamp 5.621 on Win7 Starter 32-bit.

ron

[MrSinatra]

no crash here. i suspect u have a 3rd party plugin causing it.