database problems

[rpmzzz]

I have a dell laptop and external drive. However, I only use hoster for 464 songs because of importing problems and these are multiplex which hoster can handle and the other programs can't. Also if someone comes in with a cdg I use hoster to import that. Here is the problem. I use the c drive of my laptop for hoster songs and database. The other 52000 songs are on my external. I had 462 of these files in the songs folder in the kma format. I deleted two songs out of my songs folder because of a problem with the import, big surprise. Because of this I did a database rebuild. I deleted the songs file and songs backup file from the database folder and then rebooted the hoster program which should automatically do the rebuild. I think I have this correct so far. When I went to the dropdown to check what was there it said only 99, however all the files are in the songs folder of the c drive where everything points to, unless I missed something. Can anyone help with this. Also is there any way to get around the import of only 99 files at a time as I have 444 of them and the range from THM2005-01 to THM2005-444. thanks for your help

[mindonstrike]

This is a bit confusing.

Are you saying that when you rebuild your database only 99 of your 464 kma's are in the database?

Or are you saying you can only import 99 tracks to diskid THM2005 ?

Or are these two separate questions comingleded in one thread?

BTW you can only get 99 tracks per rootid/diskid

Sam

[rpmzzz]

I'm saying that I have 464 files in my songs folder of the hoster folder on drive c of which 444 are THM2005 -01 to THM 2005 -444. These are in my songs folder. When I get in the program and try and search for them they are there until a rebuild. I imported them 99 at time but used the same id THM2005, and they all show up and work until I rebuild database then all but 99 of the 444 don't show up.... but are still in the songs folder. I tried deleting the songs and songs backup in the database folder and restarting to rebuild and the paths are correctly showing the right folder on c drive. This will be the third time I have had to reimport. Thanks and happy 4th

[bobcox- with the Lord]

go to tools and rebuild songs database.

[rpmzzz]

bobcox, I'm sure that you are trying to help and thanks, but rebuilding my database is what is causing the problem, it is fine until I do that. Last night I deleted the kma's and reimported. It will now be fine until I rebuild the database and then even though the kma's are there it will only show 99 in my search, or if I go to the dropdown

[mindonstrike]

Hard to say without seeing exactly what you are doing .

But one real possibility is an excessively long artist name or song title. For some reason the input fields 3.310 were shortened by a few characters and can cause the rebuild to stop prematurely.
Theoreticly it shouldn't let you import them in the first place, but you never know.

Sam

[rpmzzz]

This is step by step what I did. I took a folder of 444 mp3 +g and put it into five folders of 99 mp3+g each. I then went to import hard drive file and imported them one folder at a time. I set the brand drop down for each one as Top Hit's Monthly, and the disc ID drop down as THM2005 for all five folders. It would not let me change the disc ID to say THM2005a it would just switch back to THM2005, however they all imported and I had 444 kma's in my hoster songs folder. Actually, only 442 because two would not import. I then load hoster and they are all there, and remain there unless I use the rebuild database option. When I do this, and then I do a search using hoster or go to the dropdowns, they say there is only 00 to 99. When I look in the hoster song folder, all of the kma's are still there. if I try and play one from the songs file it plays fine. I don't understand how if my path is correct and it points to the hoster songs file that has 442 files in it when I check it, yet the dropdown and search only produce 99 files. I don't think that I can make it any clearer than that. Thanks for your help

[ddouglass]

If all of them are importing as "THM2005" then you will only see the first 99. Instead of trying to add a letter after it try THM2005-1, THM2005-2, etc.

What is an example of your MP3+G file names? This may be the problem if you don't select the right format then they won't import and create the header right either.

[rpmzzz]

I don't understand though, does that mean I have to change the id on each one of the individual files to read THM2005-1, or -2. Is the database rebuild and merge kma functions just for the songbook

[ddouglass]

Under each DiskID there is a limitation of 99 songs, as you have done by placing only 99 files in each folder. So when you import the files you need to import the first folder as THM2005-1, the second folder as THM2005-2, etc. Thus what you are creating is a series of DiskIDs like the Chartbuster Essentials.

And no the database rebuild and merge are for the database used by Hoster when you add songs to the playlist not for the songbook.

[mindonstrike]

This is step by step what I did. I took a folder of 444 mp3 +g and put it into five folders of 99 mp3+g each. I then went to import hard drive file and imported them one folder at a time. I set the brand drop down for each one as Top Hit's Monthly, and the disc ID drop down as THM2005 for all five folders. It would not let me change the disc ID to say THM2005a it would just switch back to THM2005, however they all imported and I had 444 kma's in my hoster songs folder. Actually, only 442 because two would not import. I then load hoster and they are all there, and remain there unless I use the rebuild database option. When I do this, and then I do a search using hoster or go to the dropdowns, they say there is only 00 to 99. When I look in the hoster song folder, all of the kma's are still there. if I try and play one from the songs file it plays fine. I don't understand how if my path is correct and it points to the hoster songs file that has 442 files in it when I check it, yet the dropdown and search only produce 99 files. I don't think that I can make it any clearer than that. Thanks for your help
I don't understand why all 444 songs are there untill the database is rebuilt since theoreticly the second set of 99 songs would overwrite the first set...etc. So that when you were done all that would be left is the last set of 99 songs you imported.

[rpmzzz]

Yeah, but just because the folder is named THM2005-1 etc, doesn't mean the files inside are named thus and will still have the id of THM2005, right. I don't get it, why the 99, what difference does it make if there is 500 with the same id. It doesn't in any other program.

[ddouglass]

When you import, the files get rewritten as KMA files and the header within the file is created. This header contains the brand name, diskid, bookid, etc. So, if when you import the group/folder of 99 files from a folder and you tell Hoster that the brand name is BLAH and the DiskID is THM2005-1, then that is recorded to each file. Then you import the next group/folder of99 with Brand name BLAH and DiskID THM2005-2.

[rpmzzz]

Man, This program is the most expensive program I have and also the most user unfriendly. I am not trying to step on any toes but I am so frustated with this program it is beyond belief. I named my folders THM2005-1 to THM2005-5. When I imported the first folder and I put my Brand as Top hits monthly and I put the disc ID as THM2005-1 it imports them but the disc ID stays as THM2005 once it starts importing, even though I changed it. If this means that I have to go in and change the name of each file to represent THM2005-01-name of file, you got to be kidding me. This is just one more in a long list of importing problems. Can Brian read this post and give me a definitive answer so I don't have to delete my database and reimport once again to try something that doesn't work. Thanks, I do appreciate everyone's answers I am just so frustrated. If I do have to change the name of each file to reflect THM2005-01-0001-name of file from THM2005-0001-name of file, is there an easy way to do this vs manually changing each file individually.

[rpmzzz]

Also, after it is imported the dropdown for track # goes from 01-09 then 100-109 then 11 then 110 to 119 then 12 etc instead of 01-444. And by user unfriendly I only mean as far as importing is concerned, I don't think anyone would deny that..... the rest of the program rocks.

[ddouglass]

Try deleting your song.mdb and the backup, then open Hoster and import again. That should clear out the DiskID. Since you don't have anything else in it should be no problem, right?:g

[rpmzzz]

Already did that about four or five times now to try reimporting the different ways suggested

[ddouglass]

Guess Admin and MTUSupport are going to have to jump in on this one then because I can't think of anything else to try.

How about posting one of the file names here, so we can see how it is setup?

[rpmzzz]

THM2005-0001 - Pat Green - Don't break my heart again.cdg. And then there is a matching mp3 file. These are from my THM SuperCDG that I converted to MP3+G files. As I said I get them to import they are converted succefully to kma's and show up in my songs file. If I start Hoster and look they are there they show up under the Top Hits Monthly 2005 SuperCDG that I entered, and the Disk ID of THM2005. On the track number drop down they are listed wierd but there and I can play them. They list like 01-10 the next number is 100 to 109 then 11 then 110 to 119 then 12 then 120 to 129 13, etc... As far as I know it stays like that unless I rebuild my database. Then the track drop down goes from 00 to 99 and a search of THM2005 only shows up to 99. Do I have to individually name each file as THM2005-01-0001 and file name, if so, that sucks. I still don't understand the 99 rule, I mean the why of it. Do I need to seperate them into five different folders inside my kma folder? And thanks again to everyone for trying to help. I guess what I don't get is how the kma files can be in the folder, but the program can't see them because of some id issue, they are there even when I can't see them when in the program.

[Eric Whitehouse]

I may be a little bit thick here, but would it not be simpler and quicker to re import the original discs using Hosters extensive database. Why convert files from the hard drive if you have the original discs just re import ? :?

[mindonstrike]

This is step by step what I did. I took a folder of 444 mp3 +g and put it into five folders of 99 mp3+g each. I then went to import hard drive file and imported them one folder at a time. I set the brand drop down for each one as Top Hit's Monthly, and the disc ID drop down as THM2005 for all five folders. It would not let me change the disc ID to say THM2005a it would just switch back to THM2005, however they all imported and I had 444 kma's in my hoster songs folder. Actually, only 442 because two would not import. I then load hoster and they are all there, and remain there unless I use the rebuild database option. When I do this, and then I do a search using hoster or go to the dropdowns, they say there is only 00 to 99. When I look in the hoster song folder, all of the kma's are still there. if I try and play one from the songs file it plays fine. I don't understand how if my path is correct and it points to the hoster songs file that has 442 files in it when I check it, yet the dropdown and search only produce 99 files. I don't think that I can make it any clearer than that. Thanks for your helpIt probably would not accept the "A" because the disk id in the file name was contradictory. I think if you set the drop down to "ignore" instead of "disk id" it would accept it

[rpmzzz]

It is a superCDG and has to be converted back to mp3+g first you cannot import direct from the disk.

[rpmzzz]

I guess, but I don't want it to ignore the disc ID because I like the option of searching just by disc ID for THM2005, for one because it is printed in a different book that I made after I got the original disc and it goes by a number that came with the DVD, if that is the only option.

[MTUSUPPORT]

Ok,
From what it sounds like you have created 5 folders with 99 files in each. From what I can tell, since you are importing the files all under the Same Brand and Disc ID is that you have Imported 444 files as 4 sets of 99. I am guessing that you now have 5 sets of 99 files with the same BookId's. So this is why you are only seeing 99 files.

If you had imported these files with different DiscId's you would now have run into this.

To fix what you have done, take one set of the 99 files in .kma format and copy these to a folder such as \songs.

Then take the other files and copy them to another folder named something such as Songs\New.

Now go into Hoster and build the Songs Database for the \songs folder ONLY.

Once you have done this, go to the Tools Menu\Merge KMA Files. Now set the Song Source Folder on this dialog, at the top, to your \Songs\New folder to merge those other .kma files into the database. Now click the Merge into Songs Database button. This should now re-assign the BookId's for these songs to ones that are not used.

Now once this is finished, see if you can see all your files in Hoster.

[ddouglass]

THM2005-0001 - Pat Green - Don't break my heart again.cdg.

They revert back to THM2005 because it is part of the name. So yes you will have to rename them. Additionally the track numbers can't be any more than 2 digits, hence the 99 limit. Are all of your files converted from SCDGs?

And then there is a matching mp3 file. These are from my THM SuperCDG that I converted to MP3+G files.

Someone else may need to verify this but I believe that those need to be zipped in order to import correctly. :? Otherwise you may get music with no lyrics.

As I said I get them to import they are converted succefully to kma's and show up in my songs file. If I start Hoster and look they are there they show up under the Top Hits Monthly 2005 SuperCDG that I entered, and the Disk ID of THM2005. On the track number drop down they are listed wierd but there and I can play them. They list like 01-10 the next number is 100 to 109 then 11 then 110 to 119 then 12 then 120 to 129 13, etc... As far as I know it stays like that unless I rebuild my database. Then the track drop down goes from 00 to 99 and a search of THM2005 only shows up to 99.

The reason they are out of order is because of windows sort priority. When they are importing the leading zeros get dropped.

Do I have to individually name each file as THM2005-01-0001 and file name, if so, that sucks. I still don't understand the 99 rule, I mean the why of it.

The 99 "rule" as you call it happens to be the way the database was set up to allow for 2 digits/spaces in the database record for the track number. Remember that SCDGs with 1000+ songs can't be imported directly. CDs can't store more than 99 songs, so MTU set it up to only use 2 digits.

Do I need to seperate them into five different folders inside my kma folder? And thanks again to everyone for trying to help. I guess what I don't get is how the kma files can be in the folder, but the program can't see them because of some id issue, they are there even when I can't see them when in the program.

The program doesn't read from the folder and since the rebuild drops to the 99 limit, then all you will be able to see and use in Hoster will be those 99.

To over come those limitations you will need to rename those files to make them import in groups of 99. I know this is a pain but for now that is the only way I can see it working.

[rpmzzz]

Did what you said bryan and it just shows the last kma's that I merged and that is it. Once again they are there in both the song folder and the program search, and they work until I merge or build database. Once I do that I have to clear databases and reimport to get them to show and work. Does anyone know of a program out there that will find and replace in a folder like the word processor function so that I could rename each file as THM2005-1 for the first 99 and then THM2005-2 for the second set etc, then it should work I guess. Too bad you couldn't go to a three digit instead of two to allow these types of discs as a lot of people have them. Kind of discouraging as I put in all the work to change the names so they didn't have things like T.N.T in the title or feat. in the title therefore and would then import.

[ddouglass]

I think it has been suggested in New Requests, but not implimented yet. Maybe MTU will hear our cry. I too have a couple SCDGs that I am going to convert, so I can get some of the songs off of them that we haven't been able to find in CDG.

[rpmzzz]

Well for those of you that care. I eventually broke down after no other way and individually changed the names of the files from THM2005-0001 to THM2005-01-0001 changing the middle number for each batch of 99. Alot of work for 442 files, couldn't find a program that would do a search and replace so did it one at a time. Thanks for trying to help.

[MTUSUPPORT]

There are some batch converting programs out there. Here is one that I have used in the past, found it under Google:http://www.publicspace.net/windows/BetterFileRename/

Here is the Search from Google: http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLG,GGLG:2006-16,GGLG:en&q=batch+file+renaming

[rpmzzz]

I will give that a try when I purchase the THM for 2006, and convert it.