# The Database Viewer

Database Viewer windows are used to display album and track Databases. They may also allow you to interact with files in the main window. While designed to open Yate produced databases, you can also open other CSV (comma separated values) and TSV (tab separated values) files. You open a .csv, .tsv or .tab file via the Yate>Open menu item or by dragging it to the main window.

Note that in order to utilize the full functionality of the Database Viewer an album database must have mapped Album and Folder fields. A track database must have a mapped File Path field. Album databases which have a Yate Album ID field have stronger references to albums. Track databases which have a Yate Track ID field have stronger references to tracks. Databases which are created as standalone have no interaction with tracks open in the main window.

Individual columns can be hidden via the column header's context menu. The font size can be adjusted via the Font menu. Most columns can be moved by simply dragging them to a new position. You can autosize columns or all columns from a column header's context menu. Often columns which become too large are difficult to manage. This is especially true if attempting to resize the rightmost column. From the same context menu, you can downsize a column or all columns. Note that not all columns will be resized.

File>Save saves the contents of the open database. File>Save As allows you to save a copy of the open database. File>Export creates a copy of the open database only saving the records in current display.

When displaying an album or track database Yate can display artwork thumbnails and can interact with the Artwork Viewer. Additional information can be found here.

Files can be sorted by clicking on the column headers. A saved sort capability is available by right clicking on the table header and selecting Configure Saved Sort.... The saved sort can be perfomed at any time by selecting Saved Sort.

You can search for content in rows by entering the data in the search bar at the top of the window and pressing the Enter key. You can search for previous or next matches by clicking on the previous and next buttons to the left of the search bar.

The search bar is also used to filter the list of rows which are displayed. Enter the filter data in the search bar and click on the filter button to the right of the search bar. Only rows which contain the specified data will be displayed. You can filter again by changing the filter data and clicking on the Filter button again. Note that the filter button changes to a filter with a green plus sign so that you know when you are adding to the filter. All filters are removed by clicking on the filter button with the red X.

You can edit the value of any any non special cell inline. All associated tracks currently open in the main window will have their values changed. In album databases, associated tracks must be in the same album which is defined as any track with the same Album and Folder values of the edited row. This is the only method of changing an album's name which will be reflected to currently open tracks. Note that the value ??? used to represent multiple values will not be written.

When editing a Rating, Love or any boolean column (currently Part of a Compilation, Skip When Shuffling and Show Work Name in iTunes), you supply an integer value. The values for Ratings are 0 through 5; for Love 0 for not set, -1 for disliked and 1 for loved; for boolean 0 for false and 1 for true. Note that graphic sequences can be supplied for the display of these fields by setting the appropriate display strings in Preferences-Databases.

All further operations are carried out by means of the table's context menu. Note that some menu items are sensitive to the the column that was click.

The following is a description of the context menu items that can be displayed.

Show Artwork
  Display the artwork viewer with the image in the clicked row. Same as double clicking on a thumbnail image.
Apply Cell Value to Selected Rows
  The value in the cell where you clicked will be applied to the same column in all selected rows.
Apply Database Values to Open Files
  All files open in the main Yate window which are represented in the database, will have their values updated to reflect the values in the database. Note that the value ??? used to represent multiple values will not be written. You cannot use this function to change the name of an album from an album database.
Update Database Values from Open Files
  This function is used to update entries in the database with the values of the currently open files. Any files currently open which cannot be located in the database, will be added. It is not a good idea to perform this operation while the current open mode is Playlist mode.
Add Empty Row
  This function is only valid on standalone databases and while not filtering. It adds an empty row to the end of the database.
Delete Rows
  This function is used to remove entries from the database. The rows affected are determined as in the Finder. If the clicked row is disjoint from the current selection, only the clicked row will be deleted. If the clicked row is in the current selection, the entire selection will be deleted.
Hide Items With Data Equal to Cell
  The value of the data in the cell which is clicked will be used to filter the display. Note that the filter is case insensitive. Those rows have the same column value will be hidden. The rows supplying data to the filter are determined as in the Finder. If the clicked row is disjoint from the current selection, only the clicked row's column data will be applied. If the clicked row is in the current selection, column data will be used from every selected row.
Hide Items with Data not Equal to Cell
  The value of the data in the cell which is clicked will be used to filter the display. Note that the filter is case insensitive. Those rows which do not have the same column value will be hidden. The rows supplying data to the filter are determined as in the Finder. If the clicked row is disjoint from the current selection, only the clicked row's column data will be applied. If the clicked row is in the current selection, column data will be used from every selected row.
Hide Selected Items
  All selected items (rows) will be hidden.
Hide Selected Items
  All selected items (rows) will be hidden.
Hide Items Not Selected
  All items (rows) which are not selected will be hidden.
Hide Items Without Today's Date any Year
  This item allows you to locate all items with a date field in the current column which have today's date (any year). There must be at least yyyy-mm-dd data present in order for the filter to be applied.
Hide Items Not Equal to Cell's Date any Year
  Almost the same as Hide Items Without Today's Date any Year except that the filter date is extracted from the clicked cell.
Advanced Filter...
  This item allows you to configure complex filters to hide files. Additional information can be found in Advanced Filtering.
Hide Items Matching Saved Filter
  This item displays a list of saved advanced filters. A selected filter will be applied and used to hide items matching the filter.
Hide Items Not Matching Saved Filter
  This item displays a list of saved advanced filters. A selected filter will be applied and used to hide items not matching the filter.
Open
  The contents of the folders specified in the Folder or File Path column of all effective rows will be opened in the main window. If you are in Playlist mode, a single track will be opened from a Track database. The effective rows are determined as in the Finder. If the clicked row is disjoint from the current selection, only the clicked row will be applied. If the clicked row is in the current selection, multiple albums will be opened. How these files are opened depends on the current Open Mode. Double clicking on a folder column item will have the same effect as this context menu entry.
Copy
  Copy the contents of the clicked cell to the clipboard.
Show Small/Large Thumbnails
  The Database Viewer can display thumbnails in two sizes. These entries toggle between the two sizes.
Refresh Thumbnails
  If the thumbnail image source is changed or if a folder.jpg file is changed, the thumbnails will not automatically refresh. This item will refresh the thumbnail display.
Show in Finder
  Locate the selected album or tracks in the Finder.
Show in Path Finder
  Locate the first selected album or track in the Path Finder application (when enabled in General Preferences).
Display Folder in File Browser
  Display the folder associated with the first selected album or track in the File Browser.
Show Album in Track DB
  This is only displayed in Album databases containing a Yate Album ID column. If you have specified a default Track database in Preferences - Databases, the database will be loaded if necessary (it must have a Yate Album ID column). If a default Track database has not been specified, and an open database is a Track database containing a Yate Album ID column, it will be used. An attempt will be made to filter the referenced database to display the tracks contained in the selected album. Note that double clicking in a cell in the Yate Album ID column will have the same effect.
Preview
  Play the selected track(s). Only available in Track databases. Hitting the spacebar will have the same effect.
Query...
  Issue a query against the currently displayed items. More information can be found here
Look for Duplicates...
  Start the Duplicate Identification process.
Remove Results Column
  If you've saved a database with a duplicate identification Results column, you can remove it via this item.
Open URL
  Loads the selected URL in a browser. Note that fields containing Discogs and MusicBrainz IDs can be synthesized into URLs.
Discogs Wizard...
  Opens the Discogs Wizard with the selected Master or Release ID
MusicBrainz Wizard...
  Opens the MusicBrainz Wizard with the selected Release ID
Set as Key Column
  Makes the clicked column the key column for the In file mode of the Open Database for Querying statement.
Clear Key Column Status
  Removes the key column status associated with the clicked column. The key column is used for the In file mode of the Open Database for Querying statement.
Create m3u File...
  A prompt will be issued to choose the location of an m3u file. The produced file will contain an entry for every non hidden item in the database regardless of the current selection. When producing the file, Yate will save it with a .m3u extension if the contents of the file can be saved with the Latin1 encoding. If the filenames contain non Latin1 characters, the file will be saved as a UTF8 file with the extension .m3u8. Yate writes the files with relative paths whenever possible and if not uses absolute paths. A produced file will contain all relative or all absolute paths. This option is only applicable in Track databases.
Note...
  You can edit and view a note which is retained in the database's associated plist file.
View Options...
  You can configure the view options for a database. These options include the color and grid type to be used. Note that these options will override the default settings specified in Preferences-Databases.
Make this a standalone/track/album Database
  You can always change a Track or Album database to be Standalone via this menu item. Depending on the fields in the file and their encoding in the sidecar file, you may be able to change a Standalone database to be a Track or Album database. Warning: Standalone databases have no restrictions on editing fields. Any data can be placed into any field. Be careful when changing from a Standalone database to a Track or Album database.

Album databases which do not have a Yate Album ID field associate items items by the Album field and folder path. Track databases which do not have a Yate Track ID field associate items by the file path. If the ID fields are not present and you rename or move your files or if you change the album name you will not be able to associate the files to the database. In this case you can use the file list context menu item Show Files in Database (Original) to locate the associated items in the database by using the original metadata obtained when the tracks were loaded into Yate.

Note that when viewing an Album or Track database, rows can be dragged outside the database: to the Finder to copy the files or folders; to the Yate main window to open the dragged items as if dragged from the Finder; to iTunes to add files and/or add them to playlists, etc.