User Interface Reference

The Add button invokes the standard Windows "add file" dialog. In this dialog you can select multiple files. These are the files that will populate the file list window. After having added files, you can continue to use the add file button to add files from other directories as needed. Mp3Merge remembers the directory you navigated to across executions by storing it in the ini file (yes, I rather loathe the registry). The stored working directory will also be used when you click the browse button.

The Merge button is what actually invokes the merge process. At this point all the files in the list are used in the merge process and are done in the order in which they are displayed. This means that you must get the list the way you want it before using this button. This is done via adding and removing files from the list and via sorting the list in the way you want (see the Order column and experiment with clicking on the column headers).

The View Log button invokes the default text viewer (this can be set in the ini file) to view the log file. Certain actions that are performed while using Mp3Merge are logged in the log file. Via the ini file, you can choose to have the log file overwritten for every execution or choose to append it for every execution.

The Exit button simply exits you from the program (as does the standard "x" button in the upper right-hand corner).

The Output file field is where you put the name of your output file. This file will be overwritten if it exists. If you want the output file of a previous execution used again, you'll need to do a 2-file process where "file1" is the output of "merge process 1" AND the input of "merge process 2". "file2", the output of "merge process 2" could then be used as input and the other as output and so-on and so-forth. This was not a direct need of mine so I did not code for it.

The Browse button lets you browse to select a single file as an output file. It will use the active working directory of the application (stored and kept up to date in the ini file). Add file navigations will change the working directory but browse navigations will not. A technique I use is to pick one of the input files (typically that have an iterative number in their name) as the output file using the Browse button and then remove the iterative portion of the file name in the Output File Field.

The Progress Bar shows progress in the adding of files (where the media info is gathered as the files are added to the list) and in the merge process itself.

The File List is where you see what files you will be working with in the merge process. The manipulation that you can do is to:

· remove files from the list via a right-click context menu option (where all selected lines can be removed...i.e. select one or more lines, right-click, choose the remove option and they're gone)

· order files via right clicking on a line and choosing to edit the order number. Then you must click on the Order column's header to reorder according to the new numbering.

The Order column exists because of some of the limitations of Autoit (not complaining...it's a wonderful and amazing language with a great coding environment) and my own limitations as a programmer. I couldn't get dragging/dropping to work for reordering and there was a feature to facilitate editing of the first column in a list. So with the order column, one can right-click on a row and choose to edit the order column number. Then one must click on the Order column to actually do the re-sorting. This allows a granular level of file sorting if necessary.

Note: as files are added to the file list during a single execution of Mp3Merge, the order number will continue to be incremented by 10. Even if you clear the list, the next added files will have the next highest order numbers. This is only reset at program termination.

The Directory column shows the directory name of the file on that line. It is separate from the file to facilitate different kinds of sorting as necessary.

The Size column comes from the MediaInfo dll that is called as each file is added. It is in bytes (as opposed to Kbytes or Mbytes).

The Duration column comes from the MediaInfo dll that is called as each file is added. It shows the total duration in milliseconds.

The Bitrate column comes from the MediaInfo dll that is called as each file is added. It shows the bitrate file was recorded with in bits (not Kbits). My understanding is that while Mp3Merge will merge any Mp3 files you throw at it, if your bitrates do not match, then you will not be able to play the file.

The Title column comes from the MediaInfo dll that is called as each file is added. It shows the mp3 tag Title field.

The Artist column comes from the MediaInfo dll that is called as each file is added. It shows the mp3 tag Artist field.

The Allow right-click add of folders checkbox facilitates invoking Mp3Merge via a right-click system context menu on a folder in Windows Explorer. If this box is checked, a registry entry is written to add this system context menu item for folders ("open with Mp3Merge"). Then you can right-click on a folder Mp3Merge will be invoked and all the mp3 files in that folder (no sub-folders) will be added to the file list.