what is the proper format/nomenclature to use ignoreDirRE: in the prefs server file ?

[michaelday]

I could not find a guide for how to do this.

With using Windows 7, I've set my iTunes Music library to be used as my media library for Logitech Media Server v7.7.2. I only want to have the music of my iTunes library show up on my squeezebox server and player - thus I want to exclude / ignore the Audiobooks, Podcasts, and TV shows folders in my iTunes, during the Logitech media scan. I searched the Squeezebox Community Forums and found this and other posts about the subject :
http://forums.slimdevices.com/showth...ht=ignoreDirRE

Following the format as given by the Squeezebox Community Forums expert : mherger, I included the following line
ignoreDirRE: (F:Audio Books|Podcasts|TV Shows)
into my server.perfs file, to have these 3 directories be ignored during the Logitech Media library scan:
/Audio Books , /Podcasts , /TV Shows ; that are within my media directory F:\MUSIC\ITUNES\ITUNES MUSIC

My above coding of this ignoreDirRE line in the server.perfs file did not work. For Logitech Media server running on windows, what is the correct format / nomenclature to use to specify the directories in the ignoreDirRE: line, to give the directories that I wish to be ignored during the library scan ?

Ideally, this preference control should be made available within the UI of server settings, to make it much simpler & easier control for all Logitech Squeezebox users ... as I'm sure there are many others like me with Squeezeboxes who use iTunes to manage their music etc., and will need this feature.

Kind Regards,
Michael Day

[michaelday]

Hello regular expression experts
Can someone please help me. I didn't get replies of assistant to my original request to this forum below. I'm new to how to code regular expressions, and having trouble making it do what I want. I simply want to have all the non-music files within my iTunes music folder to NOT to show up within the My Music of my Logitech Media Server. During a library scan, I want the Logitech media server to ignore all my podcasts and video files that are within the \Podcasts and \TV Shows subdirectories. Following the example of coding the appropriate regular expression - as shown in previous threads about the ignoreDirRE preference option, I added the following to my server.prefs file :

ignoreDirRE: '(?:Podcasts|TV Shows)'

This above code didn't work, and didn't stop having my podcasts etc. from appearing with my music. Help ! What do I need to tweak in this regular expression of ignoreDirRE, in order to get the server to properly skip these subdirectories during the library scan ?

Thanks
Michael Day

[mherger]

> ignoreDirRE: '(?:Podcasts|TV Shows)'

Looking good to me. Verifying the code I do see it's not case insensitive.
Maybe you want to extend the regex to do this yourself ([pP]odcast etc.).

> This above code didn't work, and didn't stop having my podcasts etc.
> from appearing with my music. Help ! What do I need to tweak in this

Did you disable the video/picture scan for the main folder? ignoreDirRE is
only respected by the music scanner.

--

Michael

[michaelday]

I still don't have the ignoreDirRE work'n right to ignore my podcasts, audio books, etc. files in the server scans. I don't know what I've done wrong
I do have video and pictures disabled in the scan, as you asked. Plus as you suggested, the regex is adjusted for case sensitivity.

Now this is the strange part :
After I start a scan with the Logitech Media Server Control Panel, I'll watch the media scan progress step details during the scan, where you see it go through the steps of the scan. i.e. 1. Discoverying files / directories Following this I will see it do the step : 2. removing deleted files, where it does quick displays of some references of podcasts to be deleted, with the progress bar moving across, as it should. So it seems the above ignoreDirRE code is being used OK. It then does the remaining steps of the scan 3. scanning mew music files, 5. iTunes import, 7. iTunes playlists, etc. until complete.
But !! .... after all the scan is complete, I then open web control and look at i.e. New Music, and see podcasts that I have in iTunes, which should've been ignored in the scan and not appear in My Music. *&^%$# frustrating ! I've done both types of scans to clear library and rescan everything, or look for new and changed media files, with the same results.

Do ya have any ideas what could be going wrong with this ?

Thanks
Mike Day

[mherger]

> should. So it seems the above ignoreDirRE code is being used OK. It
> then does the remaining steps of the scan 3. scanning mew music files,
> 5. iTunes import, 7. iTunes playlists, etc. until complete.
> But !! .... after all the scan is complete, I then open web control and
> look at i.e. New Music, and see podcasts that I have in iTunes, which
> should've been ignored in the scan and not appear in My Music. *&^%$#
> frustrating ! I've done both types of scans to clear library and
> rescan everything, or look for new and changed media files, with the
> same results.

If you're using iTunes, then you should flag those tracks as "inactive" or
similar in iTunes. The regex only works for the folder based search, but
not for any of the other importers.

--

Michael

[michaelday]

Hello Michael,
Gotcha ! Thanks ! I now understand, and I've got the ignoreDirRE work'n right to ignore my podcasts etc. I've simply deselected the 'use iTunes' option in the server settings, and now all my iTunes podcasts, audiobooks, etc. do not appear in my squeezebox music. Yeah !!

My use of the 'use iTunes' option was to get access to playlists that I've made in iTunes. < plus having the server ignore songs that I'd unchecked in iTunes > I like making playlilsts in iTunes, so that I can use these playlists from both my squeezebox and my iPods.

A work-around solution for me to get access to my iTunes playlists is to import the playists manually. That is go through the steps of : select the 'use iTunes' option in the server settings, rescan, open web control - to choose the corresponding playlist created in iTunes that I want, then select to save the playlist(s) under a different name in the Squeezebox playlists folder. Then after I deselect the use iTunes option, I have access to these new renamed playlists with my squeezebox.

This idea works OK while I infrequently create and modify my playlists in iTunes, and probably works out to be the best and easiest solution to give me what I want.

Thank you again for your good help.

Cheers!
Michael Day

[rayman1701]

A work-around solution for me to get access to my iTunes playlists is to import the playists manually. That is go through the steps of : select the 'use iTunes' option in the server settings, rescan, open web control - to choose the corresponding playlist created in iTunes that I want, then select to save the playlist(s) under a different name in the Squeezebox playlists folder. Then after I deselect the use iTunes option, I have access to these new renamed playlists with my squeezebox.

This idea works OK while I infrequently create and modify my playlists in iTunes, and probably works out to be the best and easiest solution to give me what I want.

Thank you again for your good help.

Cheers!
Michael Day

Why don't you just export the iTunes playlists to M3U files to your LMS playlist folder? That's how I use iTunes for playlist making and it is really quick and easy. Just right click and choose export, then choose M3U.

[michaelday]

Excellent !! Thank you ! I didn't know about this iTunes playlist exporting to M3U. I tried it and it works great, and is a simplier & better way to get my iT playlists to my squeezebox, than my crazy idea. Life is good

Cheers!
Mike

[rayman1701]

Glad I could help. Your idea did seem like the hard way