Lyric Files path - allow PARENT Folder Path

Feature Requests
1

With every passing month, my HUGE number of Lyrics images grows and grows, in many many folders / subfolders. And [img:ArtistX/SongX/1page.png] syntax is used to point to the folders. But the \LYRICS folder is always in the \Project Liveset folder for each Project (I have many projects).

It would be great to not COPY (duplicate), over and over again, the \LYRIC folder, for each project…because for me, these are re-used across different projects (and Lyric image version control across projects becomes a challenge as well).

Is it (already?..I have not tested this) possible to use any/all O/S File Path supported syntax?
IF not, could this be added ?

like >> [img:C:\Documents\Lyrics\ArtistX\SongX\1page.png]
or better yet, a relative path to a file in a directory starting from the current directory. >>>
like >> [img: .. \ ..\Lyrics\ArtistX/SongX/1page.png]

note: I see that the Ableset path within [img:ArtistX/SongX/1page.png] uses forward slash “/” , and the OS uses backslashes "" for paths. Hmmm.

A possible Preferred solution >> Within AS setup, a “Path to \Lyric folder” option could be added. And if blank, then of course the current AS default is supported. And, when a path is entered into “Path to \Lyric folder” (using back slashes?), AS would of course combine that setup path with the [img: xxxx.png] clip name syntax and adapt it to work for the O/S.

(O/S syntax >>> File path formats on Windows systems - .NET | Microsoft Learn )

2

Hey @nevillewhitemusic,

Please excuse my late reply, and thanks for the detailed write-up and the suggestion!

Right now, the [img:] syntax only supports relative paths inside the Lyrics folder of the current project (e.g. [img:ArtistX/SongX/1page.png] → Lyrics/ArtistX/SongX/1page.png). Subfolders work, but everything has to live under that project’s Lyrics folder. Absolute OS paths and paths pointing outside the project folder aren’t supported at the moment.

And you’re right about the slashes, AbleSet serves these as forward-slash web paths internally rather than OS file paths.

I’ll pass your idea along!

3

@nevillewhitemusic to give you a reason why this isn’t supported yet, AbleSet currently monitors the Lyrics folder in real-time so it can process changes to the files immediately. Important metadata like the size of each image is automatically extracted so when you reference an image in your lyrics, it’s instantly available.

Doing this with the entire hard drive isn’t possible, but I’ll see if I can build a solution that can handle files in other directories, even if that would mean it won’t react to changes to those files in real-time.

1 Like