Directory / File Name Problem

[Scroobius]

Hi Peter,

Recently I have started to appreciate the advantages of using "Galleries". But I have come across a problem.

I have some directories where file names (actually the total path spec including directory names) have exceeded the maximum length allowed by Microsoft. It took me some time to find out the cause but it is down to excessively long "path spec". It is strange because in Windows this sometimes causes a problem and other times not (so somewhat unpredictable) but for sure the problem detailed below is caused by "illegally" long file names.

So what happens in XX when there is an excessively long path spec? - well sometimes its a problem and sometimes not just like W10 so not surprising. The problem is, however, that lets say in directory "CLASSICAL" there are a few sub directories that have excessive long file names. In XX those directories it is not possible to play the files. OK so to sort the problem reduce the length of the file name yea? well partly but then XX seems to remember the old file names and still displays them and I cannot find a way to delete them.

So very simply I had problems with my "CLASSICAL" directory due to long path names. Having fixed the file name lengths XX still continues to display the old files so lets call them "phantom files" because now they do not exist.

So for example I deleted the "CLASSICAL" directory created another by a different name and moved over all files (having corrected file name lengths). No problems with the new directory it works fine.

So now I have a new directory called lets say "CLASS" and everything works fine. BUT if I now create a new directory called "CLASSICAL" (i.e. the same name that had the problem files before) but with nothing in it then XX displays all the music that had excessively long path specs previously.

It would be easy to say "well you have fixed the problem by creating the new directory" but actually it is not that simple and to say why would take forever. So very simply how do I delete the "history or memory" that XX seems to have of the old file /directory.

Maybe XX creates a file somewhere whose filename in turn is longer than MSoft allows and can't be deleted?

** OK Maybe I have sorted this by deleting everything in the XXData folder **

Durrgh  - will leave this post just in case anyone else has same problem.

Cheers

Paul

[PeterSt]

Hi Paul,

** OK Maybe I have sorted this by deleting everything in the XXData folder **

Oh, OK, now you will have problems by guarantee. Unless proven otherwise of course.

I think I can state generally that with problems like too long file names, you're kind of lost. Or will lose or something. It just should never happen ...

What's a downside in a workflow like first not using Galleries and then much later using them, is that you won't notice for a long time what you should have taken precautions for - reserve some space for the additional length a Gallery path will consume.

I don't have the experience whether it would have helped you with the problems you face today, but do notice that it is not ever allowed to manipulate Gallery folders manually. So yes, it is full with redundancy. This is not in a database as such, but in the various (meta) data files you will find in the "Original Location" folders as well as in the Gallery folders themselves. This is about file names but also about the contents of them.
In other words : always use XXHighEnd for whatever you do with them (rightclick on Items in the Library Area and the various functions in there). This includes Renaming (click on the Item title = folder name).

What you currently best can do (I think) is rename all back to how you had it, reverting everything you did as exact as possible. Then hopefully all works as bad as how you started out when discovering this problem. Now use the functions for it and hope something can be done to it. But it is likely not.
A remedy could be to delete the Gallery entry (via XXHighEnd !) and check whether there's something left of it in the Gallery folder. If yes, delete that now manually. Now make thje Original Location folder sufficiently short, and obtain it in the Gallery again.

Only helpful for the future :
I face the same problem of course. But it never is a problem, because I work with Galleries from the start and 100% obtain everything in a Gallery. I thus notice right away when errors occur and solve it right there. So in the end I don't have a problem and all is clean.

Sorry to be unable of any real help !
Peter