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ModArchive helper functions

Source: R/10ModArchiveHelpers.r
modArchive.Rd

https://ModArchive.org is on of the largest online archive of module files. These functions will assist in accessing this archive.

Usage

modArchive.info(mod.id, api.key)

modArchive.download(mod.id, ...)

modArchive.search.mod(
  search.text,
  search.where = c("filename_or_songtitle", "filename_and_songtitle", "filename",
    "songtitle", "module_instruments", "module_comments"),
  format.filter = c("unset", "669", "AHX", "DMF", "HVL", "IT", "MED", "MO3", "MOD",
    "MTM", "OCT", "OKT", "S3M", "STM", "XM"),
  size.filter = c("unset", "0-99", "100-299", "300-599", "600-1025", "1025-2999",
    "3072-6999", "7168-100000"),
  genre.filter = "deprecated",
  page,
  api.key
)

modArchive.request.count(api.key)

modArchive.max.requests(api.key)

modArchive.view.by(
  view.query,
  view.by = c("view_by_list", "view_by_rating_comments", "view_by_rating_reviews",
    "view_modules_by_artistid", "view_modules_by_guessed_artist"),
  format.filter = c("unset", "669", "AHX", "DMF", "HVL", "IT", "MED", "MO3", "MOD",
    "MTM", "OCT", "OKT", "S3M", "STM", "XM"),
  size.filter = c("unset", "0-99", "100-299", "300-599", "600-1025", "1025-2999",
    "3072-6999", "7168-100000"),
  page,
  api.key
)

modArchive.search.genre(
  genre.filter = c("unset", "Alternative", "Gothic", "Grunge", "Metal - Extreme",
    "Metal (general)", "Punk", "Chiptune", "Demo Style", "One Hour Compo", "Chillout",
    "Electronic - Ambient", "Electronic - Breakbeat", "Electronic - Dance",
    "Electronic - Drum and Bass", "Electronic - Gabber", "Electronic - Hardcore",
    "Electronic - House", "Electronic - IDM", "Electronic - Industrial",
    "Electronic - Jungle", "Electronic - Minimal", "Electronic - Other",
    "Electronic - Progressive", "Electronic - Rave", "Electronic - Techno", 
    
    "Electronic (general)", "Trance - Acid", "Trance - Dream", "Trance - Goa",
    "Trance - Hard", "Trance - Progressive", "Trance - Tribal", "Trance (general)",
    "Big Band", "Blues", "Jazz - Acid", "Jazz - Modern", "Jazz (general)", "Swing",
    "Bluegrass", "Classical", "Comedy", "Country", "Experimental", "Fantasy", "Folk",
    "Fusion", "Medieval", "New Ages", "Orchestral", "Other", "Piano", "Religious",
    "Soundtrack", "Spiritual", "Video Game", "Vocal Montage", "World", "Ballad", "Disco",
    "Easy Listening", 
     "Funk", "Pop - Soft", "Pop - Synth", "Pop (general)",
    "Rock - Hard", "Rock - Soft", "Rock (general)", "Christmas", "Halloween", "Hip-Hop",
    "R and B", "Reggae", "Ska", "Soul"),
  format.filter = c("unset", "669", "AHX", "DMF", "HVL", "IT", "MED", "MO3", "MOD",
    "MTM", "OCT", "OKT", "S3M", "STM", "XM"),
  size.filter = c("unset", "0-99", "100-299", "300-599", "600-1025", "1025-2999",
    "3072-6999", "7168-100000"),
  page,
  api.key
)

modArchive.search.artist(search.artist, page, api.key)

modArchive.search.hash(search.hash, api.key)

modArchive.random.pick(
  genre.filter = c("Alternative", "Gothic", "Grunge", "Metal - Extreme",
    "Metal (general)", "Punk", "Chiptune", "Demo Style", "One Hour Compo", "Chillout",
    "Electronic - Ambient", "Electronic - Breakbeat", "Electronic - Dance",
    "Electronic - Drum and Bass", "Electronic - Gabber", "Electronic - Hardcore",
    "Electronic - House", "Electronic - IDM", "Electronic - Industrial",
    "Electronic - Jungle", "Electronic - Minimal", "Electronic - Other",
    "Electronic - Progressive", "Electronic - Rave", "Electronic - Techno",
    "Electronic (general)", 
     "Trance - Acid", "Trance - Dream", "Trance - Goa",
    "Trance - Hard", "Trance - Progressive", "Trance - Tribal", "Trance (general)",
    "Big Band", "Blues", "Jazz - Acid", "Jazz - Modern", "Jazz (general)", "Swing",
    "Bluegrass", "Classical", "Comedy", "Country", "Experimental", "Fantasy", "Folk",
    "Fusion", "Medieval", "New Ages", "Orchestral", "Other", "Piano", "Religious",
    "Soundtrack", "Spiritual", "Video Game", "Vocal Montage", "World", "Ballad", "Disco",
    "Easy Listening", "Funk", "Pop - Soft", 
     "Pop - Synth", "Pop (general)",
    "Rock - Hard", "Rock - Soft", "Rock (general)", "Christmas", "Halloween", "Hip-Hop",
    "R and B", "Reggae", "Ska", "Soul"),
  format.filter = c("unset", "669", "AHX", "DMF", "HVL", "IT", "MED", "MO3", "MOD",
    "MTM", "OCT", "OKT", "S3M", "STM", "XM"),
  size.filter = c("unset", "0-99", "100-299", "300-599", "600-1025", "1025-2999",
    "3072-6999", "7168-100000"),
  api.key
)

Arguments

mod.id

An integer code used as module identifier in the ModArchive database. A mod.id can be obtained by performing a search with modArchive.search.mod. When downloading a module, make sure that the identifier represents a MOD file, as other types will result in an error.

api.key

Most ModArchive functions require a personal secret API key. This key can be obtained from the ModArchive forum. See `ModArchive API Key' section below for instructions on how to obtain such a key.

...

arguments that are passed on to read.module.

search.text

A character string to be used as terms to search in the ModArchive.

search.where

A character string indicating where in the module files to search for the search.text. See usage section for the available options.

format.filter

File format filter to be used in a search in the ModArchive. See the usage section for all possible options. Default is "unset" (meaning that it will search for any file format). Note that only the `MOD' format is supported by this package.

size.filter

File size filter to be used in a search in the ModArchive. Needs to be a character string representation of a file size category as specified on ModArchive.org. See the usage section for all possible options. Default is "unset" (meaning that it will search for any file size). Note that the maximum file size of a module is approximately 4068 kilobytes, meaning that the largest file size category is irrelevant for `MOD' files. Also note that the category names are inconsistant, these are the literal catagories used by ModArchive

genre.filter

Genre filter to be used in some of the overviews from the ModArchive. Needs to be a character string representation of a genre as specified on ModArchive.org. See the usage section for all possible options. This argument is deprecated in the function modArchive.search since ProTrackR version 0.3.4, other functions will still accept this argument.

page

Many of the ModArchive returns paginated tables. When this argument is omitted, the first page is returned. Use an integer value to return a specific page. The total number of pages of a search or view is returned as an attribute to the returned base::data.frame.

view.query

A query to be used in combination with the view.by argument. Use the queries in combination with view.by as follows:

  • view_by_list: Use a single capital starting letter to browse modules by name

  • view_by_rating_comments: Provide a (user) rating by which you wish to browse the modules

  • view_by_rating_reviews: Provide a (reviewer) rating by which you wish to browse the modules

  • view_modules_by_artistid: Provide an artist id number for whom you wish to browse his/her modules

  • view_modules_by_guessed_artist: Provide an artist guessed name for whom you wish to browser his/her modules

view.by

Indicate how the modArchive.view.by function should sort the overview tables of modules. See `usage' section for the possible options.

search.artist

A character string representing the (guessed) artist name or id number that you ar looking for in the archive.

search.hash

The MD5 hash code of the specific module you are looking for. See https://modarchive.org/?xml-api-usage-level3 for details.

Value

modArchive.info, modArchive.search.genre, modArchive.search.hash, modArchive.random.pick and modArchive.view.by will return a data.frame

containing information on modules in the ModArchive. Note that this data.frame is formatted differently since ProTrackR 0.3.4, which may cause backward compatibility issues.

modArchive.download will download a module and return it as a PTModule object.

modArchive.search.artist will return a data.frame

containing information on artists on the ModArchive.

modArchive.request.count returns the number of ModArchive API request that are left for this month, for the provided key.

modArchive.max.requests returns the maximum monthly requests for the provided key.

Details

The modArchive.info function will retrieve info on a specific module from the ModArchive. The modArchive.search.mod, modArchive.search.genre and modArchive.search.hash functions can be used to find specific modules in the archive. Use modArchive.random.pick to get module info on a random module in the archive.

Use the modArchive.view.by function to browse the archive by specific aspects. Note that the ModArchive also contains file formats other than ProTracker's MOD format. This package can only handle the MOD format.

The modArchive.download function will download a module from the archive.

Use modArchive.search.artist to find artist details in the archive.

Use modArchive.request.count to determine how many request you have made in the current month with the specified key (see ModArchive API key' section for details). Use modArchive.max.requeststo determine how many request you are allowed to make each month with the provided key (seeModArchive API key' section for details).

ModArchive API key

Since ProTrackR 0.3.4, the ModArchive helper functions have changed. In earlier version, a labile html scraper was used, in 0.3.4 and later, this is replaced by functions that more robustly use the Application Programming Interface (API) provided by ModArchive. There are some downsides to this new approach: a personal API key needs to be obtained from the ModArchive team; and the ProTrackR package relies on yet another package (XML) to parse the XML files that are returned by the API.

So why is this switch? Well, first of all, this approach is better supported by ModArchive. The personal API key is used to avoid excessive access by imposing a monthly request limit (keep in mind that ModArchive provides free services and is run by volunteers). The upside is that the XML files are a lot lighter than the html files returned by the regular website. Therefore, the new functions are faster, and they reduce the load on the ModArchive servers. The XML files also allow for easier access to more of the ModArchive functionality as implemented in the ModArchive helper functions described here.

So how do you get your personal API key? First, you need to register at the ModArchive Forums. Then follow the instructions provided in this topic on the forum. For more info, see also the API page on ModArchive.

If you want to search for module files without an API key, one could make use of to the modLand collection instead.

Author

Pepijn de Vries

Examples

if (FALSE) {
## most of the example below will fail as they require a
## real modArchive API key. The key used in these example
## is just a dummy. See details on how to get a key
## in the section 'ModArchive API Key' in the manual.

## Search for the module that is also used as
## an example in this package:
search.results <- modArchive.search.mod("*_-_intro.mod",
                                        size.filter = "0-99",
                                        format.filter = "MOD",
                                        api.key = "<your key here>")

## apparently there are multiple modules in
## database that have '_-_intro' in their
## file name or title. Select the wanted
## module from the list (the one with the
## word 'protrackr' in the instrument names):
search.select <- subset(search.results,
                        grepl("protrackr", search.results$instruments))

## get the same details, but now only for
## the specific module based on its ModArchive ID:
modArchive.info(search.select$id, api.key = "<your key here>")

## download the selected module from ModArchive.org:
mod <- modArchive.download(search.select$id)

## here's a randomly picked module from the ModArchive:
info.random <- modArchive.random.pick(api.key = "<your key here>")

## use modArchive.view.by to list the 2nd page
## of MOD files that start with the letter 'A'
info.list  <- modArchive.view.by("A", "view_by_list", "MOD",
                                 page = 2,
                                 api.key = "<your key here>")

## list the modules of the artist with id number 89200:
artist.mods <- modArchive.view.by("89200", "view_modules_by_artistid",
                                  format.filter = "MOD",
                                  api.key = "<your key here>")

## here's how you can list MOD files of a
## specific genre:
list.genre  <- modArchive.search.genre("Chiptune", "MOD",
                                       api.key = "<your key here>")

## get module info for a specific hash code
mod.hash    <- modArchive.search.hash("8f80bcab909f700619025bd7f2975749",
                                      "<your key here>")

## find modarchive artist info, search for artist name
## or artist id:
artist.list <- modArchive.search.artist("89200",
                                        api.key = "<your key here>")

## How many requests did I make this month?:
modArchive.request.count("<your key here>")

## How many requests am I allowed to make each month?:
modArchive.max.requests("<your key here>")
}