Custom AdditionalFields does not work as documented

[scott-lin]

The problem

I'm trying to add custom metadata to my m4b file based on the ATL readme example.

I'm doing the following:

var track = new Track(audioFilePath);

track.AdditionalFields["series"] = value;
track.AdditionalFields["series-title"] = value;
track.AdditionalFields["movement-name"] = value;
track.AdditionalFields["series-part"] = value;
track.AdditionalFields["movement-index"] = value;
track.AdditionalFields["language"] = value;

track.Save();

The ATL log tells me:

Non-standard fields must have a namespace (e.g. namespace:fieldName) Field 'narrator' will be ignored.
Field code fixed length is 4; detected field 'narrator' is 8 characters long and will be ignored

Non-standard fields must have a namespace (e.g. namespace:fieldName) Field 'series' will be ignored.
Field code fixed length is 4; detected field 'series' is 6 characters long and will be ignored

Non-standard fields must have a namespace (e.g. namespace:fieldName) Field 'series-title' will be ignored.
Field code fixed length is 4; detected field 'series-title' is 12 characters long and will be ignored

Non-standard fields must have a namespace (e.g. namespace:fieldName) Field 'movement-name' will be ignored.
Field code fixed length is 4; detected field 'movement-name' is 13 characters long and will be ignored

Non-standard fields must have a namespace (e.g. namespace:fieldName) Field 'series-part' will be ignored.
Field code fixed length is 4; detected field 'series-part' is 11 characters long and will be ignored

Non-standard fields must have a namespace (e.g. namespace:fieldName) Field 'movement-index' will be ignored.
Field code fixed length is 4; detected field 'movement-index' is 14 characters long and will be ignored

Non-standard fields must have a namespace (e.g. namespace:fieldName) Field 'language' will be ignored.
Field code fixed length is 4; detected field 'language' is 8 characters long and will be ignored

Environment

• ATL version (or git revision) that exhibits the issue: 4.13
• Last ATL version that did not exhibit the issue (if applicable):
• OS/version used to run ATL: Windows 10

[Zeugma440]

That one's easy 😉

Two of them are standard :

• Series title =>track.SeriesTitle
• Series part =>track.SeriesPart

For the others, you need to add a namespace before your field or it will be rejected (see https://github.com/Zeugma440/atldotnet/wiki/Focus-on-non-standard-fields).

For instance, one possible implementation could be (with the scott namespace) :

• Series =>track.AdditionalFields["scott:series"]
• Movement name =>track.AdditionalFields["scott:movement-name"]
• Movement index =>track.AdditionalFields["scott:movement-index"]
• Language =>track.AdditionalFields["scott:language"]

[scott-lin]

Thanks! I totally missed that wiki section in my late-night marathon. 🤦

That wiki documentation helped explain the functionality, though, I might recommend updating the front and center AdditionalFields example at the top of the readme to something that won't be ignored. The same example is replicated here in the wiki code snippets too.

Perhaps just throw a namespace on the example for clarity? theTrack.AdditionalFields["customNamespace:customField"] = "fancyValue";

[Zeugma440]

These code snippets are universal and should work with almost every format except MP4/M4A which is very peculiar on its requirements. That's the exception rather than the rule.

[scott-lin]

Got it. I'm very new to this domain, so all of the context you provide is very helpful for my learning. Cheers! 🥂