make EASY_DATE® better experience

[jesus2099]

• keep current loose d/m/y|y/m/d date recognition of EASY_DATE (and use it everywhere #19)
• maybe remove the secret c (copy) date hotkey, or maybe not
• show two larger (than YYY+) unique date fields and brand them (placeholder) EASY_DATE instead
• stop hiding genuine YYYY
• if css possible in the limited AR popup space, show genuine fields
• use a more visible process (less scary, less black box)
  1. store genuine field values
  2. if 1 or 2 dates match in any EASY_DATE field (where 2 dates means setting both begin and end — maybe this requires that we have only one EASY_DATE field to avoid strange behaviours ?)
     1. make it green
     2. assign detected values in genuine fields
  3. if no match
     1. keep it normal uncoloured
     2. (re‐)set original values in genuine fields

[pankkake]

I'm currently only using "MusicBrainz: Paste-A-Date!" because I get a lot of text dates (with month names), and some even have a "1st", "2nd", etc. And unfortunately they seem to conflict: when I paste a date with EASY_DATE enabled, the wrong fields are updated. (OK, I guess there could be an easy fix for P-A-D, it must use the wrong input). But why not import its date parsing?

I think the "c" hotkey can be useful, as well as a button to do the same, as I usually paste with the mouse.

[jesus2099]

Thanks very much for your feedback because it’s always very instructive to receive ideas from the real users. Otherwise I can only do with my limited ideas and needs and it can go in the wrong directions.

1. I am not sure i want to add the complexity that comes with text dates yet (at least maybe not before this ticket). but maybe, i’ll see what i can do with my limited resources. :)
2. 1st, 3rd and 2nd should be no problem as i strip all text but it would not work with either :
   • american dates
   • text month
3. IMO you should not activate EASY_DATE when you use Paste‐a‐date… IIRC I tried not to conflict when I started working on EASY_DATE but am not sure it’s the case any more now.
4. If I remove the “c” it would be for something more intuitive and less secret.

For your usage, i think you are right to disable EASY_DATE (but maybe you could try latest version as I have changes some stuff here and there). Anyway you can if you want and without using EASY_DATE, install ELEPHANT MEMORY which adds the copy dates buttons… it’s made to be compatible with anything (including paste‐a‐date).

I made EASY_DATE mostly for copy MB’s ISO formatted dates and paste them in AR popups which was not possible at the time I used p‐a‐d. If everything that EASY_DATE does is now possible I will probably remove EASY_DATE and re‐install paste‐a‐date instead. I have to check it out again for your conflict.

Thansk again as I made this ticket only not to forget a few things but no decision is made yet so any input is welcome.

[jesus2099]

(still or anew ?) buggy on add alias then back, despite 2e62545aac7d512b20272bbf38c7c4b4c8af6840.

[jesus2099]

Hey, I’ve tried nikki’s script again and now it also works in relationship editor popups and release editor, I’m letting you know that too ! IMO there is eventually absolutely no more need for EASY_DATE ! @pankkake, @zas, do you see any reason why I wouldn’t drop EASY_DATE feature in favour of paste-a-date, now ? I have turned EASY_DATE off for the moment in my own settings, happily using nikki’s greater script again, myself. I don’t exactly know who Keju is… :)

[pankkake]

I did not notice any issue with Paste-A-Date lately.

EASY_DATE has the "c" feature but I don't use it much.

[jesus2099]

My only remaining lacks in it are now end=begin feature indeed, and also I have to click more often because of the usa date format support, that I never use but that is conflicting with many dates. But it's so much better to have one great script, especially now that it is hosted in bit bucket. So as you are ok too, I will close EASY_DATE. :)

[Freso]

Maybe detect whether Paste-A-Date is present and disable EASY_DATE? Paste-A-Date does not work for all date forms, but EASY_DATE seemed to work fine for those that PAD didn't.

[jesus2099]

Detection is not usually trivial as PAD can be ran afterwards SUPER, staying undetected… But probably that « show {…} unique date field(s) » (3rd point of original post) would fix this incompatibility.

[jesus2099]

PAD should be OK now: #40

[jesus2099]

I move the only remaining unimplemented feature Add support for date span (2 dates) pasting to #875 and close this big old mish mash ticket.