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Re: Rename multiple tracks at once

Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2015 5:41 pm
by Steve Bender
Gale Andrews wrote:But what are the renaming requirements exactly? It's not rename all tracks to have the same name is it?
I'll just paste in what I wrote above, as this sums up what I would liek to see, personally:

"It would be AMAZING if I could rename all the tracks in a project in one fell swoop. I think some kind of pop-up interface (existing name in left column - new name in right column, which defaults to whatever the left column is if you don't change anything) would probably be the most useful and intuitive for the "average" user. People could learn how to do that in literally seconds, and get back to working rather than learning a more involved process. But I could also see this working really well as some kind of Nyquist prompt, which would allow users to just dump a track list in from Excel, text file etc."

Re: Rename multiple tracks at once

Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2015 5:55 pm
by steve
Nyquist cannot currently change the track name, but that is something that we hope it will be able to do in a future version of Audacity.

Re: Rename multiple tracks at once

Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2015 2:40 pm
by Gale Andrews
Steve Bender wrote:
Gale Andrews wrote:But what are the renaming requirements exactly? It's not rename all tracks to have the same name is it?
I'll just paste in what I wrote above, as this sums up what I would liek to see, personally:

"It would be AMAZING if I could rename all the tracks in a project in one fell swoop. I think some kind of pop-up interface (existing name in left column - new name in right column, which defaults to whatever the left column is if you don't change anything) would probably be the most useful and intuitive for the "average" user. People could learn how to do that in literally seconds"[...]
No doubt, but renaming all tracks to the same name seems very limited. Export Multiple would add a hyphen and a number to each name, of course.

Or do you mean the interface would be like Labels Editor - one row for the old and new name for each track?


Gale

Re: Rename multiple tracks at once

Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2015 4:01 pm
by steve
Gale Andrews wrote:Or do you mean the interface would be like Labels Editor - one row for the old and new name for each track?
I rather like that idea.

I imagine it as:

A "properties" editor for tracks, in which there is a table, with columns for:
Name, icon, track number, Pan, Gain, Mute, Solo, (Play button)

"Icon" refers to the icon that is shown in the Mixer Board.
Each item in the table would be editable, and the rows sorted by clicking on the column header (default = track number ascending).
There could also be a non-editable "mono/stereo" indication.

As with the Label editor, tracks could be inserted or deleted, and the track properties could be Exported / Imported as a text file (possibly XML), which could be useful for users that create projects with the same layout. When deleting a non-empty track, the user would have to confirm that they want to delete the (non-empty) track.

Importing would have an option to "overwrite" or "merge".
"Overwrite" simply loads the settings as is, and empty values are set to default values.
"Merge" overwrites only those items that are not at default values.

Re: Rename multiple tracks at once

Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2015 4:07 pm
by Edgar
steve wrote: I imagine it as
+1

Re: Rename multiple tracks at once

Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2015 5:59 pm
by Steve Bender
steve wrote:
Gale Andrews wrote:Or do you mean the interface would be like Labels Editor - one row for the old and new name for each track?
I rather like that idea. I imagine it as:
Yes, Steve is definitely envisioning it in the same way that I am, except expanding it to be more inclusive of even more parameters, which is a totally kick a$$ idea.
steve wrote: with columns for:Name, icon, track number, Pan, Gain, Mute, Solo, (Play button)
Yes! Think of how EASY it would be for users to be able to modify all of these things through one single interface!

And if possible, Steve, I would add “track start time” to this list. This would address my request in the “Increased Functionality of Generate Silence” thread.
steve wrote: the track properties could be Exported / Imported as a text file
This would be completely awesome. Super easy interface for “average” users and ad hoc quick edits, importable from a text document/spreadsheet for “super users” to be able to do really sophisticated stuff. Best of both worlds, imo.
steve wrote: Importing would have an option to "overwrite" or "merge".
Good thinking. That way you could edit only those tracks that needed it. And if someone is dealing with 20+ tracks, that is far from a trivial time difference.