Requesting help with CSV export

[KleinAFFE]

Hello friends,

I'm not entirely satisfied with exporting the database as a list/table via CSV or SQLite CSV.

A)
The field separator in MediaMonkey cannot be set individually ;-( ... However, exporting with special characters is possible.

B)
All special characters are lost in SQLite, but the separator is adjustable ;-(

Oh man,

Does anyone have a solution for A?

[Peke]

I use LibreOffice to import MM export and then Export to CSV as I want.

[KleinAFFE]

Hi Peke,
Which format do you export to? What are the advantages? Are special characters read in correctly?

Regards


P.S.
I don't understand why MM5Beta still outputs commas as delimiters. The Windows 11 setting is `|`, just like in SQLite. MM5 has made great progress in so many areas, but in this regard, it's disastrous.

[Peke]

Hi,
I use File -> reports -> File list -> CSV (You can edit script to change delimiter), No issues even on Cyrillic track names.

[KleinAFFE]

Hi,
Could you please provide a script for me that changes the separator? Directly within MediaMonkey?

Regards

[Peke]

Hi,
Could you please provide a script for me that changes the separator? Directly within MediaMonkey?

Regards

There is no GUI script you need to dig in script source.

[KleinAFFE]

A real shame.

Thanks again.

Regards.

[MattTown]

I regularly export to CSV for transporting MM music info to an excel tool that assembles show content for me. I use the reporting function:
File > Reports > File List > [select required columns - I export 33 including most of the custom fields that I have set] > at the File Explorer dialog, select CSV > Save.
MM saves the file with commas as delimiters, and that isn't a problem at all. All text-based content that might have commas in it is escaped between quote marks and they come in fine without affecting field interpretation by the Excel induction process.

[KleinAFFE]

Hello MattTown,
The CSV export is poor, the comma as a delimiter, in particular, is an insurmountable obstacle for my collection.

[KleinAFFE]

Hello,
Has anyone successfully imported the MM2027 into MS Access?

[IanRTaylorUK]

Yes as per Matt's message and then:

External Data / From File / Text File

New Table (1st use) [or Append Table for subsequent use AFTER DELETING TABLE CONTENTS]

Delimited / Comma / First Row Contain Field Names / Double Quotes for Text Qualifier

You will likely get some import error e.g. truncation. Just modify the design of the table e.g. Short Text to Long Text

Consider using Database Tools / Compact after deleting the contents of an entire table.

The specific import errors will depend on you particular data, but I have found it useful to have the Comment, Extended Tags, Filesize, Path and Subtitle fields as Long text / Large Number

[KleinAFFE]

Hello Ian Taylor,
I am familiar with that method, but unfortunately, the results aren't satisfactory. I was thinking of a full database import into MS Access—bringing in all the raw data via "External Data", SQL import, specifically the entire MM5.DB file.
That would be great.

[fetzenschaedl]

Hi,
Could you please provide a script for me that changes the separator? Directly within MediaMonkey?

Regards

Hi,

close Mediamonkey, navigate to your Mediamonkey install directory, then to scripts\export\actions_add.js, open the file with an editor. Search for

Code: Select all

arr.join(',')

there will be two occurrences, replace both with

Code: Select all

arr.join(';')

then save the file. That should get you the ";" separators for the .csv export. I am not sure if the file will be replaced upon an update of Mediamonkey, so maybe leave a copy of the file there.

[KleinAFFE]

Hi fetzenschaedl,

Man, vielen Dank! Danach habe ich die ganze Zeit gesucht:-)

[IanRTaylorUK]

Hello Ian Taylor,
I am familiar with that method, but unfortunately, the results aren't satisfactory. I was thinking of a full database import into MS Access—bringing in all the raw data via "External Data", SQL import, specifically the entire MM5.DB file.
That would be great.

Hi,

Using a backup copy of the MM5.DB SQLite database is certainly possible. Microsoft Access cannot directly work with SQLite databases out of the box, but there are several approaches:

Install a SQLite ODBC driver and use External Data → ODBC Database in Access to link or import tables.
Import the SQLite tables directly into Access via ODBC for reporting and analysis.
Export selected tables from the SQLite database to CSV and then import them into Access (a bit tedious).
Use a dedicated SQLite management tool to browse the database, explore relationships, run SQL queries, and export only the data you need.

Some popular SQLite tools include:

DB Browser for SQLite (free, open source)
SQLiteStudio (free, open source)
DBeaver Community Edition (free)
Navicat for SQLite (commercial)

For most users, DB Browser for SQLite is probably the easiest place to start. It lets you open a copy of MM5.DB directly, inspect all tables and indexes, execute SQL queries, and export data for use in Access.

My recommendation would be to always work from a backup copy of MM5.DB rather than the live database. That way there's no risk of database locks or accidental changes to your active MediaMonkey library.

Personally, I've dabbled with several of these approaches over the years. While importing data into Access can be useful for building custom reports and forms, I often find that I can answer most of my questions directly in DB Browser for SQLite with a few SQL queries, without the extra step of moving the data into Access.

I also use the Custom Nodes add-on and SQL Editor add-on. I do have an "Media Monkey SQL Deep Dive" document that I can send if useful. There is also some great AI assisted add-on development going on that may address some of your "queries" e.g. Top List Monitor.

Hope this helps.