19 December 2015

You can define the structure, that is shown in the media tree. This works with so called "Groupings". The default grouping is grouped by the directory structure which just groups the media files by folders and file names.

You have three possible methods to set and change the groupings in the media tree:

choose a predefined Grouping
choose a combination of predefined grouping
define the grouping by using the grouping definition language

The "Grouping" is defined in the text field in the "Group by" View. There are shortcuts to select the most common groupings (predefined groupings) via drop down buttons.

Predefined Groupings

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When you click the popup button "Predefined Groupings" you will see a list with the most common and relevant groupings. Just select one of the groupings and see how the structure in the media tree changes. When you select a grouping, the grouping text box changes and you will see the corresponding expression in terms of the grouping language.

Table 1. Predefined Groupings
Predefined Grouping	Description
Directory Structure	Groups by the directory structure
Duplicate Structure	Groups duplicate files (each duplication into one folder)
Duplicates with directory structure	Groups duplicate files showing also its directory structure
Flat Tag Structure	Groups by tags. The tags are listed in a flat structure
Hierarchical Tag Structure	Groups by tags, where the tags are displayed in their defined tag structure
Hierarchical Tag/Dir Structure	Groups by tags with their tag structure, and as second level by directory structure
by Keywords build from Pathname	Groups by words which are extracted from the path name
by Keywords build from Pathname II	Groups by words which are extracted from the path name
by Keywords build from Pathname III	Groups by words which are extracted from the path name
File size and directory structure	Groups by a categorisation by file size and as second level by directory structure
Rating and directory structure	Groups by rating and as second level by directory structure
Rating/Tag/Dir Structure	Groups by rating, as second level by tag (flat) and as third by directory structure
DB Comparison/Dir Structure	Builds two groups. One which contains all entries which are not in the comparison database and another one with entries which are also in the comparison database. Groups as second level by directory structure
localisation on file system	Builds two groups. One which contains the files which could be found in the file system. The other one with all files which do not exist in the file system.
Exif create date	Groups by exif create date of the files. Builds a structure of year, month and day.

Combinations of Predefined Groupings

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You can select combinations of different groupings. This will result in a structure with sub-structures. The "Predefined Combinations" button contains a tree with possible combinations of individual groupings. You can click on one of the nodes in this tree. As a result, the media tree will build up the structure which is given by the path of all the nodes from the root down to the selected node. E.g. select the sub-node "Rating" of the node "Tag". This builds up the structure of all tags followed by the ratings in the media tree. This way you could freely build own combinations of all given groupings.

Grouping definition language

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The most flexible way to define groupings is by using the grouping definition language. You can input a grouping expression in the editor field. You see an example in the screen shot. It defines a 3 level grouping by the exif create date, then by assigned tags, and afterwards by an own defined categorisation for assigned ratings.

Internally, all groupings are saved with the grouping definition language, as this is the most flexible way to express groupings. If you e.g. select a certain predefined grouping, you can see the identical expression for the selected grouping in terms of the grouping definition language.

Language for self defined groupings

You could define your own group by expression based on all existing media attributes. You do this by inputting an expression in the group by text box. In this editor you could enter a list of grouping statements. The grouping algorithm is very similar to group by expressions in sql. So you will be able to group the result of the filter process by media identifiers or even more by expressions. The Group by language uses the same expression syntax and syntactical elements as for filtering, to get a full list of available elements refer to

Syntax

''GROUPING := (IFSTMT) | GROUPFUNCTION [, (IFSTMT) | GROUPFUNCTION]*''

''IFSTMT :=[IF cond {literal} [elseif cond {literal}]* [else {literal}]]''

''GROUPFUNCTION := <a predefined grouping function name> | <a predefined identifier> | <expression with return type string>''

''cond := the same as in filter expressions''

Examples

Typically you want to group simply by predefined grouping or by some media identifiers:

''rating, tag''

This will e.g. build a nested grouping by the rating attribute and then by the assigned tags.

You could nest groupings as deep as you want by adding additional expressions separated by commata:

''rating, tag, metatag, bookmark, exif_brightness, exif_annotations, directory''

This will e.g. a 8 level nested grouping by all the given attributes

Instead of just group by an attribute, you could group by an expression which returns a string. Such an expression could by any valid expression known from the filter language. It could also contain "if" expressions. Expressions must be enclosed in "(" and ")".

''(if ismov() {"movie"} else {"no movies"})''

This builds a grouping with two nodes: one for all movies, the other one for all non movies.

Of course you could combine expressions and identifiers:

''(if ismov() {"movie"} else {"no movies"}), rating, tag''

Builds the "movie" and "no movies" group, with nested groupings by rating and tags.

You could also use functions and identifiers which return string expressions:

''(if ismov() {title} else {"no movies"}), rating, tag''

You could use groupings to reorganize your collection:

''tag, seq(concat(dir, removedigits(namewithoutsuffix)))''

Groups by tag and a unique sequence number which maps from dir + file name without any digits to a unique number.

Auto completion

The grouping text editor field supports auto completion. If you press Ctrl-Space in the editor field an auto completion box opens which helps you and gives you hints how to complete your current expression part.

Grouping Media Data