Re: Changing File Paths For Referenced Files - Issue With MP3s?

On 12/26/2008 22:11:16 bfakoury@xxxxxxxxx wrote:

I would like to direct this inquiry to anyone, but particularly to Bridgete

Eley, since she has addressed this issue a number of times before.

I’m using FMP 9.0v3 on a MacIntosh G4 running Tiger.

I’ve been trying on and off for months to change the file reference
paths of files in container fields when their folder is moved to a
different location, and haven’t been able to do it.

I’m working with a database of MP3 files. Hopefully it works the same
way as with picture, movie or text files, but I’m starting to wonder if
there might be a difference.

The MP3 file’s reference is stored in a container field called
“FILE”..

The MP3 file’s name is stored in a text field called “FILE NAME”

I also have a calculation field called “FILE PATH” that shows me the
file’s path.

The folder of MP3s has now been moved, so of course when I double- click
on the “FILE” field, instead of opening the MP3 file, it says “The
file “[name of the file].mp3” could not be found and is required to
complete this operation.”

I’ve got 1249 of them so obviously I don’t want to re-path them
manually.

When I try to do the procedure you described, I can see from my FILE PATH
field that it does update the file path. However, I end up with the song
going into the “FILE” field as a play strip (with nothing showing in
the field itself). When I double-click on the field, it plays the song
from within Filemaker.

What it’s doing is treating the MP3 file as it is QuickTime file. The
reason I say this is because the results are the same as if I had clicked
on the field, gone to the “Insert” menu and selected “QuickTime”
instead of “File”.

Before the files had been moved to a different location on the hard drive,
the way I had inserted the file references was to go to the “Insert”
menu and select “File”, and check the box that says “Store only a
reference to the file”. The result would be that the file name showed
up in the field. I would not get the play-strip. When I double-clicked
on the field, it opened the song in ITunes and played it there, rather
than playing it from within Filemaker. That is the way I want really like
it to work now.

So, I would appreciate any of your thoughts. Could it just be that the
procedure you suggested can’t be done with MP3s? If not, do you have
any ideas for a workaround?

Just for reference, I did a synopsis below of the steps I took. Thanks
for any help you can offer. Alex

Here is what I did:

- From the File menu, I select “Import Records”. I choose
“Folder…”

- Where it says “Folder Location”, I hit the “Specify” button, and
select the folder of files whose paths I want to update.

- Where it says “File Type”, “Picture and movie files” is selected
(it does not give you an option for MP3 files), and the box for “Import
only a reference to each picture file” is checked. I then hit the blue
“Continue” button.

- In the bottom left of the Import Field Mapping dialog box, I select the
“Update matching records in found set” option.

- On the top of the Import Field Mapping dialog box, I have “Image” on
the left going into my container field named “FILE” on the right. I
have “File Name” on the left matching up with my text field named
“FILE NAME” on the right.

Hi,

What you're doing is reimporting your MP3's.

That's not what you want (or need) to do.

You need to change the path field to reflect the current location of the MP3 folder.

Then you need to compose a new file reference using the new file path and the existing file name, and use that to navigate to your MP3's.

Hans Besjes

.

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