BUG in 3.108- Using ZIP file conversion

[djbrian]

Here we go: I just purchased hoster two weeks ago. I have been using Sax & Dotties for the last year or so. ALL of my discs have been ripped into zip files to save space, (and cuz that's how S&D works!) and I really want to use MTU Hoster, specifically for the songbook features, book ID and all that. Just a better program, overall.

What I want is ability to batch convert the ZIP files. I have over 16,000 songs to convert. I Have already entered all the information once when creating these ZIP files, and know that it is correct. I don't really care if the import utility checks the database/songbook for accuracy or titles by disc id. I just need the header read out and used to fill in the blanks. Since this does not exist yet, I began the task of converting all of them, one by one.

Now, on about the eleventh disc, it encountered an error message "BAD ZIP FILE" on the 2nd to last track in the disc folder, and aborted the conversion. The track remained in the record status, And subsequent attempts to import the last track, and then tracks from another disc resulted in the screen flashing, and then resetting all the tracks to "unchecked" and no further conversions were possible. I restarted the program, and still would not import any further tracks. It requred a restart of the computer to allow me to continue and the next few discs imported fine.

[thebyrds]

I am having the same problem.

[thebyrds]

I even erased the songs from the database to start over, but now I'm not getting the name of the brand in the converting window, it is giving me though the discID. When I type in the brand and go to convert my zip the program tells me to enter a discID when it is already there and is correct.

[MTUSUPPORT]

I can reproduce this problem. This only occurs to be once I have imported 12 full 16 track Discs, that are made up of .zip files. It will be fixed, but it will be at least a week or so before the engineer is free to look at the problem.
This was using the DiscID-Track # Selection.

I imported the following tracks from these discs:
AH2000 16 Tracks
AH2001 16 Tracks
AH2002 17 Tracks
AH2003 16 Tracks
AH2004 16 Tracks
AH2005 16 Tracks
AH2006 16 Tracks
AH2007 16 Tracks
AH2008 16 Tracks
AH2009 16 Tracks
AH2010 16 Tracks
AH2011 16 Tracks
AH2012 16 Track 3 Gave me Bad Zip File Error Message.
NOTE: I can't add this AH2012 Track 3 to the Playlist either, using the MP3G button. It gives me "Bad Zip File" also.

Once I got this error every other file that I tried to Import gave me the Ready Status and then cleared. I could not import any more .zip files.

I then Closed Hoster and then reopened it. It then would allow me to Import .zip files again.

I now started again to get the following:
AH2013 16 Tracks
AH2015 Track 13 gave me Bad Zip File error.
NOTE: I can't add this AH2015 Track 13 to the Playlist either, using the MP3G button. It gives me "Bad Zip File" also. This is the filename for the AH2015 Track 13: ah2015-13_-_somethin'_stupid_-_sinatra,_frank.zip

Closed Hoster again. I now start to import again and get the following:

AH8011 Track 1 gives me This is not a valid MP3G zip file! A file is missing. I opened the .zip file and the .mp3 file and .cdg file are located within the .zip file, with identical names. This file on my HD is named: ah8011-01_these_eyes_the_guess_who.zip. The two files that are in this .zip file are AH801101.mp3 and Ah801101.cdg, noitice the difference in the H in Ah. This is a problem. The files MUST have the Identical names.



So there are issues you guys have found with the .zip import. We will be working on it, but it will be next week before we can get to it.

[lmcmains]

Bryan
I had the same problem and found out it was after I had loaded 10 or 12 sound choice spotlight disc. If I ran into a bad zip file I will then close Hoster and go back to that disc and select all and unselect the track it said was bad and it will import the rest of the songs fine. Once you show a bad zip file you have to close out Hoster and restart it again to get it to import. Other than that I think everything works great.

Importing a disc of 15 songs in about 8 to 10 sec. is pretty darn quick.

Keep up the good work MTU

[mhollyts]

It may not be related but I have noticed that Hoster does not close files that it has opened. If you play a song and then try and move/delete it from the system you can not until you close Hoster. You may want to look at Hoster Closing the Zip Files before moving on and opening the next file.

Just a thought.

[gduns - with the Lord]

Bryan,
If it is not closing the files like mhollyts was just stating. Then that is the problem. I believe if you check there is a limit to the number of open files there can be opened at one time and 12 disks x 16 songs is 192 files plus programs that are open at pnce coming close to 256 files limit.

I may be wrong, but it sounds right.

[MTUSUPPORT]

Originally Posted by mhollyts

It may not be related but I have noticed that Hoster does not close files that it has opened. If you play a song and then try and move/delete it from the system you can not until you close Hoster. You may want to look at Hoster Closing the Zip Files before moving on and opening the next file.
Just a thought.

The reason that the file stays Open when you use the MP3G button on the Playlist is that the file is Open, until you close Hoster or close that Playlist. This is not the case with this problem of Importing the files.

[MTUSUPPORT]

Here is the Fix to the Bad Zip File error message.

Remove any commas from the Filenames. This includes in the song names in the .mp3 and .cdg files within the .zip file. If you only remove the ,'s from the .zip file it will still give you the error message.

Such as:
ah2012-03_-_grant,_eddy_-_electric_avenue.zip
Rename the file to:
ah2012-03_-_grant_eddy_-_electric_avenue.zip it will now play.

ah2015-13_-_somethin'_stupid_-_sinatra,_frank.zip
Rename the file to:
ah2015-13_-_somethin'_stupid_-_sinatra_frank.zip it will now play.

Here is the Fix to the This is not a valid MP3G zip file! A file is missing. error. This is only the case, if your .zip file has the .cdg and .mp3 files both in the .zip file.

Make sure the names are Identical in the .zip file. Such as stated below:
Name of .zip File is: ah8011-01_these_eyes_the_guess_who.zip
Name of .mp3 file is: AH801101.mp3
Name of .cdg file is: Ah801101.cdg

The difference of the lowercase h in the .cdg file made the files different. This is what caused the error stating that the file was missing, because as it sees it, it is.

So if you have any of these errors, then make the correct changes to your .zip files or the files within and this will fix the problems.

[DJYale]

Also make sure you remove all .'s (periods)

Was beating my head against the wall not being able to import a few songs and realized it was the . that was in the name I didn't see (Hank Williams Jr. was one ... T.G. Sheppard the other)

Wasn't on the zip files, but on MP3+G's. Was getting the "This file does not have an associated .cdg" error and the .'s I wasn't catching was the cause. Also caused problems with a few ZIP imports.

[thebyrds]

Will the ,'s even have to be taken out for 3.109? Plus on my zip file I can rename it. But if I open the zip file to the mp3 and cdg file I don't get a rename option for them individually. Just for the main file.

[thebyrds]

What about the Brand window and the discID window? I've got all my mp3+g zip files in folders by first the brand then by discID. Before this error started occuring when I tried to convert zip I clicked on the first song of the cdg and clicked open, it had the Brand window filled and the discID. Now nothing comes up in the Brand window but the discID is there. I type in the brand such as CHARTBUSTER then the right discID is still there. I go and select all then process. A window pops up to tell me that this is a invalid discID. Is there something need to fix on my end or will 3.109 take care of this problem?

[admin]

Originally Posted by mhollyts

It may not be related but I have noticed that Hoster does not close files that it has opened. If you play a song and then try and move/delete it from the system you can not until you close Hoster. You may want to look at Hoster Closing the Zip Files before moving on and opening the next file.

Just a thought.

This on the PLAY side. This thread is discussing a problem on the IMPORT side. No, they are not related.

If I am correct, we hold open the files to play to insure they don't get moved or damaged WHILE they are in Hoster's Playlist. If not, our error checking would be bypassed and Hoster could crash. This is not a problem while playing a show.

[admin]

Originally Posted by DJYale

Also make sure you remove all .'s (periods)

Was beating my head against the wall not being able to import a few songs and realized it was the . that was in the name I didn't see (Hank Williams Jr. was one ... T.G. Sheppard the other)

Wasn't on the zip files, but on MP3+G's. Was getting the "This file does not have an associated .cdg" error and the .'s I wasn't catching was the cause. Also caused problems with a few ZIP imports.

The period ( . ) is what we use as the delimiter for the end of ALL the fields embedded in the filename. It starts the filename extension, like .mp3 or .cdg. I don't think we can prevent this problem. We spent weeks of time defining how to "parse" the filenames into fields. It is bordering on artificial intelligence to do more than we have done. I'm not expecting we can do any better for a while. Any suggestions how we can overcome this are welcome!!! Who knows, we may just be missing the real key that one of you can define for us.

The delimiters that are normally used within the filename to end one "field" an start another, we thought we had done a bang-up job on. We even allow you to change the delimiters to any string with pretty much any characters... except the period.

I'll discuss this with our programer tomorrow, if his sinuses allow him to work again. It's Pine Tree and Oak Tree pollen season and the "yellow cloud" plagues are upon us now.


MTUSUPPORT's definition and work-around for the current problem above blows my mind! He never ceases to amaze me.

[admin]

Originally Posted by thebyrds

What about the Brand window and the discID window? I've got all my mp3+g zip files in folders by first the brand then by discID. Before this error started occuring when I tried to convert zip I clicked on the first song of the cdg and clicked open, it had the Brand window filled and the discID. Now nothing comes up in the Brand window but the discID is there. I type in the brand such as CHARTBUSTER then the right discID is still there. I go and select all then process. A window pops up to tell me that this is a invalid discID. Is there something need to fix on my end or will 3.109 take care of this problem?

We do NOT detect folder names to establish your Brand and DiscID. We only use the Filename "field" contents. It would be a very different algorithm to key off the "path" the filenames are in. It may be possible and I'll add that to our spec for discussion.

The reason SOME files you are importing capture the Brand (which is not embedded as a field in your filenames that we look at), is that our code takes the DiscID, looks for it in the Import Database, then the Songs Database and if we find it, we can add the Brand in its field. Also, if your Title and Artist are not defined in a file, but the DiscID is in our Databases, we will automatically provide the Title and Artist for each track.

If your DiscID is not in our Databases, you must type in the Brand field.

As to the DiscID being reported missing when it is there, that sounds like a bug. If you can give us as much info as you can, so we can duplicate the problem, then we can solve the problem. For example:

1. Post the entire path name to a folder holding files you are having a problem with.

2. Post a typical entire filename so we can see what field-delimiter-field-delimiter-field etc. format you are using. Make sure you post a TYPICAL filename. We found in some cases while we were developing and debugging that if TRACK 1 failed, weird things happened. We thought we solve that, but maybe there is another bug our Beta Testers didn't activate.

It happens. These are new and extremely complex features we have added. I'm sure you folks will discover bugs. I commit that we will work on the bugs you find until they are fixed, or we realize there is no fix and the filenames must be edited. The variable nature of unknown and varying filenames is something that is very hard to work with. Since we KNOW the filename structure and the delimiters that (you define it in the Template dialog, we may be able to add logic to ignore all symbols (, . etc) that appear between the delimiters.

Keep in mind that bug/problem reports can stretch out over several weeks or months with a new release like 3.108. We'll try to get out a new release as soon as we fix currently identified bugs.

It is important to identify work-arounds for each reported problem to keep everyone importing, until we can duplicate the problem and create a permanent solution.

[thebyrds]

Here is exactly what I've got going on with file a try.
Convert ZIP
discID - Track - Artist - Title Open
F:\2005-Updates\CB60324-01 - Chesney,Kenny - I Go Back Open
Manufacturer Brand name for this discID could not be found. Please provide it.
Brand: discID CB60324
The track list appears.

The thing is, is that it doesn't matter which file I open. I still get the same error message.

The first time I tried imported this zipped cd. The Brand name appeared in the Brand window and the conversion processed up to Track 7. On Track 7 the conversion got stuck on record, then failed. Since then I have had this problem.
I hope this has been help. I'll keep trying

[djbrian]

REQUEST FOR FEATURE RELATED TO IMPORTING ZIP FILES:

Since the program tries to locate the DiscID in the database and then requires you to enter it if it is not found, can you please give me the option of setting a default of "do not ask for disc ID if not found" so that I can import my zip files (which have the discid - track - artist - title format already entered and correct) without having to drop down and find the manufacturer in the list? Since there is no batch import as of yet, it still takes quite a while to import all of my files to kma. I am not sure how your software creates the songbooks, but I am asuming from the creation of the song.mdb file, that they are in there. So custom the zip files could be treated as "custom discs" on import if the discid does not match the database, so that it gets added to the song database. Finally, How does one apply to be a beta tester?

[DJYale]

thebyrds:

Chartbuster Pro CDG-60000+

[DJYale]

Admin, here is a thought:

Any suggestions how we can overcome this are welcome!!! Who knows, we may just be missing the real key that one of you can define for us.

Instead of using the . as an ending delimiter as you are now, read each filename in to a string, rtrim the trailing spaces, then parse the last 4 chars.

This would leave you with .cdg, .zip, .bin, etc. Then you wouldn't need the . in the "template". each file read would be automatically parsed and the final 4 chars removed, so the only thing being taken from the user would be the template ...

That would give you fileNameVariable = (Template) + (last four parsed) to feed back to directory services.

You could set it up in a case as: (yes this is kind of VB pseudo code, but can do the same with c++)

Select case lastFour:
Case ".bin" : Call handleer for .bin file
Case ".zip" : Call handler for zip
Case ".mp3": Find matching CDG and Call handler for mp3+g
End select

[DJYale]

(which have the discid - track - artist - title format already entered and correct)

If they are actually correct then the import will automatically get the correct Manufacturer ID ...

I've done about 400+ songs so far and only had trouble with 3 disks, and that was because I screwed up on the import.

Giving examples helps .. .what ones is it saying are not found?

The only ones I've had a headache with were Charbuster Essential Pro .. cause it uses the format CBEP51-1-1 ... brand - disk - track.