SongShow Plus re-indexes the song database every time - startup / launch /open / rebuild

Applicable SongShow Plus Versions:  
This article applies to all versions of SongShow Plus.

 * Updates correcting this issue may be available. Ensure that you are using the most current build of SongShow Plus from the Download page before proceeding. *  

Symptoms:
SongShow Plus re-indexes the song database every time it is started.  This may occur at startup if the Songs Panel is already selected or it may occur the first time that a song list is generated by selecting "All Songs" or a letter in the alphabetic search of the Songs Panel.  This can also occur when adding or restoring a program with songs in it to the Program panel.

Possible Cause:
This can be caused by a mismatch in the song database and the song folder. 

NOTE: It is not recommended to manually copy any song files into any SSP database folders. This can cause unexpected and undesirable SongShow Plus behavior. The backup/restore utility can be used to move a large number (or all) songs to a different system.

One of the updates in the May 2012 Edition was improvements to the indexing mechanism.  One of these improvements was looking for mismatched or incorrect names and titles.  If it finds an error, it attempts to re-index to correct it.  In some cases, it will not be able to correct it on its own but will find the issue and re-index each re-start of SongShow Plus.

Possible Solution:
There is a new tool in the Database utilities that is included to fix most issues with song files. 

Click on Tools > Database Utilities > SongShow Plus > Fix-up Song Titles to attempt a correction of the database.  This should run the Fix-up tool and then re-index the songs database again.  Close, re-start SSP and select a song to verify the fixes were completed. 

If the above suggestion does not resolve your issue, it is possible that there is a blank or corrupt song file that the tool is unable to fix. 

Browse to the songs folder in Explorer (This should be "*\Documents\R-Technics\SongShow Plus\Songs") and sort by name.  There are a few scenarios that are not currently captured using the Fix-up Tool:

• Song file with no title - ( .sbsong) -- Tip - Searching the songs folder by entering .*. (period - asterisk - period) in the search field should find this type.
• Song file with no collection but period separator - ( .Song Title.sbsong) -- Tip - Searching the songs folder by entering .*. (period - asterisk - period) in the search field should find this type.
• Song file with collection but no title - (Collection..sbsong) -- Tip - Searching the songs folder by entering *.. (asterisk -period - period) in the search field should find this type.
• Song file with several adjacent periods in the file name - (text....sbsong) -- Tip - Searching the songs folder by entering *.. (asterisk -period - period) in the search field should find this type.  This type is similar to the above example but this scenario is added for clarity.
• Song file with correctly formatted title but zero file size -- Tip - Browsing the songs folder and sorting by size should find this type.  When sorting by size, look for a file that shows 0 KB size.
  
  If you find a file that fits any these criteria, select and delete this file.  Close, re-start SSP and select a song to verify the fixes were completed.  A re-index may occur the first time since the content will have changed so you may have to check this twice.
  

Possible Cause:

If the user has previously manually edited file names in the songs folder such as changing song name or collection information or opened the song file in a text editor and tried to modify the contents, this can cause further issues with the indexing mechanism and may need to be repaired manually.

NOTE: Evidence of this may not always appear in the song file name.  If the file contents are corrupted this will still cause the re-indexing issue while avoiding the scans done with the Song Fix-up tool.

Possible Solution:
Run the Fix-up Song Titles tool as described above.  If this does not work, collection tags or other errors may exist on files in the songs folder that do not exist in the Song Show Plus collections listing - this could be the issue.  These may include song files that are in the songs folder but not found in the listing in the Songs Database.  This is the best place to start looking.

The easiest way to figure out if there are songs present that are not being displayed is to temporarily disable the Stock and Christmas songs and leave only the SSP Database.  Once this is done select the "search all songs" button and look at the bottom for the number of songs found.
Then go to the songs folder and see if there is a different number of songs file.  Most likely there is a difference, and this is a giveaway that there is an incorrect file(s) in the songs directory.

In the case of corrupted files, unfortunately the only way to discover these is by brute force process of elimination. After making a backup copy of the songs folder, methodically go through the songs folder.  Eliminate half of the files at a time until you narrow it down to the problem file(s).  This is pretty straight forward if there is only one bad file but can be complicated if there is more than one bad file.  Splitting it into groups may help.

Once you determine which they are, manually remove the incorrect files and only use the tools within SSP to modify song files going forward.

NOTE: The Fix Up Song Titles... tool has been enhanced in SSP 8 to detect and list most problem files and give the user the chance to delete them. 


Possible Cause:
It has been found that some antivirus software can cause SSP to re-index at incorrect times.

Possible Solution:
Disable or remove any antivirus software installed on the system.

Additional Song indexing related help and information on known issues can be found by reviewing the self-help resources and training options for SongShow Plus.

Training Videos - A video walk-through of this process may be available.  Depending on your current subscription level, you can go to the GoFishMedia website training page and log in with the same Customer ID and password that you use to log in to the SongShow Plus site or activate SongShow Plus. - Review this article for more details.

If you have any questions regarding the use of, or issues with, any of the SongShow features related to Songs, please contact the Support Team.

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