gfreaky:
Assuming you get the basic idea behind columns (and, you know, assuming you have Columns UI installed...), it's actually pretty simple:
You create one column for your artist/album/date/whatever you want to put there. In the formatting for it, you need code to do the following things:
(1) Check to see if it's an album as opposed to a single track. (This is optional depending on how your library is set up. Some people just use separate play lists for single tracks, et cetera.)
(2) Get the track number from the files.
(3) Write the information to the column according to track number. Track 01 = artist, track 02 = album, that kind of thing.
So, for example, in my artist/album/codec column i have this:
CODE
// if it's a single...
$if($stricmp($get_global(single),1),
// just put the artist (if it exists)
$meta(artist,0))
// else...
$if($stricmp($get_global(single),0),
$select($tracknumber(),
// if the artist exists, put that
$if($meta(artist,0),
$if($meta(album artist,0),
$puts(artistdisplay,$meta(album artist,0)),
$puts(artistdisplay,$meta(artist,0)))
$if($stricmp($get(artistdisplay),various artists),
$get_global(c_dim2)|$get_global(c_dim2)'various artists',
$get(artistdisplay))),
// if the album exists, put that
[%album%],
// get the codec information
// MP3
$if($stricmp($info(codec),mp3),
$puts(v_codec,$info(codec)':')
$puts(v_compression,
$if($stricmp(%__extrainfo%,vbr),
VBR
$if($stricmp(%__lame_profile%,aps),' (--alt-preset standard)')
$if($stricmp(%__lame_profile%,r3mix),' (--r3mix)')
$if($stricmp(%__lame_profile%,ape),' (--alt-preset extreme)')
$if($stricmp(%__lame_profile%,apfs),' (--alt-preset fast standard)')
$if($stricmp(%__lame_profile%,apfe),' (--alt-preset fast extreme)')
$if($stricmp(%__lame_profile%,api),' (--alt-preset insane)')
,%__bitrate%' kbps (CBR)')),)
// Vorbis
$if($stricmp($info(codec),vorbis),
$puts(v_codec,$info(codec):)
$puts(v_compression,%__bitrate_nominal%' kbps (nominal)'),)
// AAC
$if($stricmp($info(codec),AAC),
$puts(v_codec,$info(codec))
$puts(v_compression,%__bitrate%kbps),)
// FLAC
$if($stricmp($info(codec),FLAC),
$puts(v_codec,$info(codec)),)
// APE
$if($stricmp($info(codec),monkey''s audio),
$puts(v_codec,$info(codec))
$puts(v_version,$info(version))
$puts(v_compression,$caps($info(compression))),)
// MPC
$if($stricmp($info(codec),musepack),
$puts(v_codec,$caps($info(codec)))
$puts(v_version,$info(mpc_encoder))
$puts(v_compression,$info(mpc_profile)))
// display it
$get_global(c_dim2)|$get_global(c_dim2)$get(v_codec)[' '$get(v_version)][' '$get(v_compression)]
)
)
I borrowed a lot of this code from my 0.8 formatting, and i didn't get rid of things that didn't break the columns, so some of that stuff (like the LAME profile) doesn't really work in 0.9. And i probably have some stuff that's specific to my library and won't work for yours without some changes. But you get the idea.
edit:
Or you could do it his way i guess. :(