Resolve Phase 8 open question 0.3 — TrackDto gets a nested Release (ReleaseDto); flat release fields removed, all consumers updated as part of §8.0 (flat read-model rejected). Add §0.6 implementation sequencing: five mergeable waves with Waves 1+2 as a single deployment unit and Waves 3+4 parallelizable. Update PLAN.md §8.0 Shape to match.
51 KiB
Phase 8 — CMS Track Browser
Status: spec / one VM, three views. Review decisions folded in 2026-06-11 (waveform-in-grid,
DI-scoped VM, BatchEdit extraction confirmed). A data-model normalization (§0) is now a hard
pre-requisite — it must land before any Phase 8 UI work, sequenced as five mergeable waves
(§0.6). Open Q3 resolved 2026-06-11: TrackDto gets a nested Release (ReleaseDto), flat
release fields removed, all consumers updated as part of §8.0. Author: product-designer.
Date: 2026-06-11.
Plan only — no code edits made by this doc.
Cross-references: PLAN.md §8 (the concise phase entry, with §8.0 the normalization gate),
PLAN.md §6.2 (the deferred "card-contextual filtering" item this phase supersedes), memory
One source, multiple views.
0. Pre-requisite: Phase 8.0 — TrackEntity Normalization
This must land before any of §8.1–§8.5 UI work. It is a breaking data-model change, not a UI change, and every UI section below assumes the normalized schema. Daniel required this gate during review on 2026-06-11.
0.1 What
Split the current flat TrackEntity into two normalized tables.
ReleaseEntity (new) — release-cardinal data (the "header" shared across all tracks in a
release):
| Field | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|
Id |
long |
PK |
Title |
string |
the album/release name (currently TrackEntity.Album) |
Artist |
string |
|
Genre? |
string |
|
ReleaseDate? |
DateOnly |
|
ImagePath? |
string |
cover art |
ReleaseType |
ReleaseType enum |
|
CreatedByUserId? |
long |
TrackEntity (updated) — track-cardinal data only:
| Field | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|
Id |
long |
PK |
ReleaseId |
long (FK → ReleaseEntity.Id) |
nullable — see open question (1) |
Release |
navigation property | |
EntryKey |
string |
FileDatabase link (immutable) |
TrackName |
string |
|
TrackNumber |
int |
1-based |
OriginalFileName? |
string |
Removed from TrackEntity: Artist, Album, Genre, ReleaseDate, ImagePath,
ReleaseType, CreatedByUserId — these now live on the Release.
0.2 Why
The current flat schema duplicates release-level metadata (artist, album, genre, release date, cover art) on every track row. This was fine at launch but creates consistency hazards: updating an album's cover art or artist name means rewriting every track row. Phase 8 introduces album-mode editing (Batch Edit, album-scoped delete), so the data model should match the domain — a Release is a first-class entity; Tracks belong to a Release.
The normalization also collapses several open questions in the UI spec below:
AlbumSummaryDtobecomes a simplifiedReleaseDto(query the Release table, notGROUP BY).CmsAlbumBrowserparent rows map directly toReleaseEntityrows — no derivation needed.- The
AlbumSummaryDtowidening question (old §6 option ii / §12.3) dissolves entirely — the Release table just has all the fields. - Batch Edit's "header" = the Release record; "track list" = the Track records.
0.3 Shape (direction, not implementation prescription)
Migration path (breaking):
- Create
releasestable (fromReleaseEntity). - Populate
releasesfrom the distinct albums intracks— one release row per distinct(album, artist)identity (see open question 5). Tracks with a null album get a nullable FK or a synthetic "Uncategorized" release (open question 1). - Add
release_idFK column totracks; populate from the newly created release rows. - Drop the now-redundant columns from
tracks(artist,album,genre,release_date,image_path,release_type,created_by_user_id). This step is the breaking part.
DTO impact:
- New
ReleaseDtomirroringReleaseEntity. TrackDtoslims down: removeArtist,Album,Genre,ReleaseDate,ImagePath,ReleaseType,CreatedByUserId. AddReleaseId(long) and a nestedRelease(ReleaseDto) property — populated on reads, ignored on writes where only the FK matters. (Open question 3 RESOLVED 2026-06-11: nestedReleaseDto, not a flat read model. See §0.3 below.)AlbumSummaryDtois retired / collapsed intoReleaseDto(open question 4).
Consumer-impact list (the most consumer-visible part of this change):
The existing GET api/track/page response shape changes. Callers that read TrackDto.Artist /
.Album / .Genre / .ReleaseDate / .ImagePath / .ReleaseType must adjust to read those from
the nested Release: TrackDto.Release.Artist, .Release.Title (was .Album), .Release.Genre,
.Release.ReleaseDate, .Release.ImagePath, .Release.ReleaseType. This is not a "keep the flat
fields populated" no-op — the flat fields are removed and every reader is updated. Known consumers
(full per-file enumeration in §0.6 below):
DeepDrftPublic.Client— the public track gallery (TrackCard,TrackDetail,TrackMetaLabel,NowPlayingCard) readsArtist,Album,Genre,ReleaseDate,ImagePathfor display. This is the highest-risk consumer — a public-facing surface, a different host, not part of the CMS phase otherwise. Updated in Wave 3 (§0.6).DeepDrftManager— the CMS (this phase's surface). The existingTrackEdit/TrackNew/BatchUploadforms read/write the flat fields. Updated in Wave 4 (§0.6).
Service / repository impact (list, not prescription):
TrackRepository— queries gain joins /Includes to load the Release.TrackManager.GetPaged— sorting by release fields (artist, album, genre, date) needs a join.UnifiedTrackService.UploadAsync— must find-or-create the Release before inserting the Track.TrackContentService.AddTrackAsync/ the BatchUpload flow — accepts a Release (or release id) rather than embedding album/artist/etc. on the track upload form.- The upload API endpoint form fields split: separate "release" fields from "track" fields, or the upload auto-creates the Release on first track and links subsequent tracks (open question 2).
0.4 Open questions (need Daniel before this lands)
- Tracks with no album. Nullable
ReleaseId(a "standalone track" concept), or does every track require a Release (a release with null/empty title)? Recommend nullable FK — some tracks genuinely have no album context. - Upload flow change. Does uploading now require the caller to first create/identify a Release,
or does the endpoint auto-create a Release if none exists for the given album name?
Recommend auto-create-or-find (upsert on
(title, artist)) — keeps upload-form ergonomics close to today's. — RESOLVED 2026-06-11.TrackDtoshape for the public API.TrackDtogets a nestedRelease(ReleaseDto) property; the release-cardinal flat fields (Artist,Album,Genre,ReleaseDate,ImagePath,ReleaseType,CreatedByUserId) are removed fromTrackDtoand live only onReleaseDto. The flat read-model alternative is rejected — denormalizing the release fields back onto everyTrackDtowould re-introduce exactly the duplication §0 normalizes away, just at the contract layer instead of the table layer. All consumers that read the flat fields are updated as part of §8.0 (Waves 3 + 4, §0.6) — this is mandatory, not follow-on. This is the most consumer-visible impact of the phase; the consumer enumeration is §0.6.AlbumSummaryDtofate. With a Release table,GetAlbumSummariesAsyncbecomesGetReleasesAsyncreturningList<ReleaseDto>. Recommend retiringAlbumSummaryDtoin favor ofReleaseDto— a direct replacement.- Migration release identity. Existing tracks are flat. The migration derives Release rows from
them. If two tracks share an album name but different artists, they'd map to two releases (or one
ambiguous one). Recommend grouping by
(album, artist)as the release identity key — flag this edge case explicitly in the migration.
0.5 Impact on the Phase 8 UI sections below
With normalization landed:
CmsAlbumBrowserparent rows are Release rows — the Release table has all the fields, so the old §6 "derive artist/genre/date/type" problem and the §12(3) "widen the DTO" question both disappear.- Batch Edit's "header" is a
ReleaseDtoform; its "track list" isList<TrackDto>(slim). - The
GetPagedAsyncalbum/genre filter still works — it joins through thereleasestable.
The UI sections (§1–§13) below are written against the pre-normalization vocabulary in places;
where they mention AlbumSummaryDto widening or deriving release fields from children, read that
as resolved by §0 — the Release table supplies those fields directly. Net of §0, those UI
sections get simpler, not harder.
0.6 Implementation sequencing — appropriately sized waves
§8.0 is a breaking data-model change with a wide consumer blast radius, so it is sequenced into
independently-mergeable waves. The unit of mergeability is: can this wave land on dev without
breaking the next wave's prerequisites? Two waves (1 + 2) are a forced exception — flagged below.
Wave 1 — Data model layer (no app-code changes yet). Touches only DeepDrftData.
ReleaseEntity(new).TrackEntityupdated: addReleaseIdFK +Releasenavigation property, remove the release-cardinal fields (Artist,Album,Genre,ReleaseDate,ImagePath,ReleaseType,CreatedByUserId).ReleaseConfiguration(EF CoreIEntityTypeConfiguration): table name, column names, FK relationship, indexes.TrackConfigurationupdated for the FK + removed columns.- EF Core migration: create
releasestable; addrelease_idFK totracks; data migration — populatereleasesfrom distinct(album, artist)groups in existingtracksrows, then assign the FK back to each track; finally drop the now-redundant columns fromtracks. - CRITICAL — Wave 1 + Wave 2 are a single deployment unit. Removing the entity fields breaks
every DTO mapper, repository projection, and service that reads them — the solution will not
compile at the end of Wave 1 alone. Wave 1 and Wave 2 must be developed and merged to
devtogether (one PR, or a short-lived branch merged as a unit) before anything is built or run. Do not attempt to land Wave 1 on its own.
Wave 2 — DTOs, services, repositories, API layer. DeepDrftModels, DeepDrftData,
DeepDrftContent, DeepDrftAPI. Deploys together with Wave 1.
- New
ReleaseDto(mirrorsReleaseEntity). TrackDto: remove flat release fields; addReleaseId(long) +Release(ReleaseDto, populated on reads, ignored on writes where only the FK matters).TrackRepository(GetPaged/GetById/Update/ etc.): queries JOINreleasesand project into the updatedTrackDtowith nestedRelease. Sort-by-release-field (artist/album/genre/date) now sorts through the join.TrackManager/ITrackService: signature updates where the changed fields surface.UnifiedTrackService.UploadAsync: resolve a Release (find-or-create by title + artist) before inserting the Track. The upload form still sends album/artist at the top level; the service layer resolves the Release FK. (This is open question 2's recommended upsert, now committed.)TrackControllerendpoints: request/response shapes updated where they touch the changed fields.AlbumSummaryDtoretired;GetAlbumSummariesAsyncreturnsList<ReleaseDto>(rename toGetReleasesAsync).ICmsTrackService.GetAlbumSummariesAsyncreplaced (or aliased) accordingly.
Wave 3 — Consumer updates: DeepDrftPublic.Client (public site). Can run in parallel with
Wave 4. Read off the nested Release everywhere the flat fields were read. Files verified against
source 2026-06-11:
| File | Flat fields read today | Change |
|---|---|---|
Controls/TrackCard.razor |
Artist, Album, Genre, ReleaseDate, ImagePath (grid + row modes) |
→ TrackModel.Release.Artist / .Release.Title / .Release.Genre / .Release.ReleaseDate / .Release.ImagePath |
Pages/TrackDetail.razor |
Artist, Album, Genre, ReleaseDate, ImagePath (masthead, cover, meta block, hasMeta guard) |
same nested re-pointing |
Controls/AudioPlayerBar/TrackMetaLabel.razor |
Artist, Genre, ReleaseDate (player-bar label) |
→ Track.Release.* |
Controls/NowPlayingCard.razor |
CurrentTrack.Artist, CurrentTrack.Album |
→ CurrentTrack.Release.Artist / .Release.Title |
TrackCard.razor.cs,TracksGallery.razor.cs,TrackDetailViewModel.cs,TrackDetail.razor.cs: passTrackDtothrough but do not read the flat fields — no change needed beyond recompiling against the new contract. Listed so the implementer confirms rather than assumes.- Not flat-field consumers (do not confuse):
Pages/AlbumsView.razorreadsAlbumSummaryDto.AlbumandPages/GenresView.razorreadsGenreSummaryDto.Genre— these are summary DTOs, affected by theAlbumSummaryDtoretirement in Wave 2, not by theTrackDtoflat-field removal. Reconcile them when Wave 2 settles the summary-DTO shape.
Wave 4 — Consumer updates: DeepDrftManager (existing CMS surfaces). Can run in parallel with
Wave 3. These must work against the normalized model before the Phase 8 UI work (Wave 5) starts.
| File | Today | Change |
|---|---|---|
Components/Pages/Tracks/TrackEdit.razor |
TrackEditForm.From(track) reads track.Artist/.Album/.Genre/.ImagePath/.ReleaseDate/.ReleaseType; SaveAsync calls UpdateAsync with the flat args |
read from track.Release.*; UpdateAsync path follows Wave 2's signature (still passes album/artist, service resolves the Release) |
Components/Pages/Tracks/TrackNew.razor |
binds _album/_artist/_genre/_releaseDate, calls UploadTrackAsync + cover-link UpdateAsync |
form fields can stay; the upload service now auto-resolves the Release (Wave 2). Binding unchanged externally, resolution changes internally |
Components/Pages/Tracks/BatchUpload.razor |
album-header flat fields sent on upload | same — service auto-creates/finds the Release; form fields stay, internal binding adjusts |
Components/Pages/Tracks/TrackList.razor |
the MudTable<TrackDto> columns bind Artist/Album/Genre/ReleaseDate |
re-point to .Release.*. Note: this grid is superseded by §8.2 CmsTrackGrid in Wave 5 — update it minimally in Wave 4 only to keep dev green, since Wave 5 rebuilds it |
- Most CMS surfaces touched here are rebuilt in Wave 5 (Phase 8 UI). Wave 4's job is the minimum to keep the existing CMS compiling and functional on the normalized model — not to polish surfaces that Phase 8 replaces. Flag in each PR which edits are throwaway-pending-Wave-5 vs. durable.
Wave 5 — Phase 8 UI (the original §8.1–§8.5). Begins only after Waves 1–4 are merged and the
normalized model is stable on dev. CmsTrackGrid, CmsAlbumBrowser, CmsGenreBrowser,
BatchEdit, the mode toggle, and routing — all the UI work specced in §1–§13 below. The internal
sequencing within Wave 5 is §13.
Dependency summary: [1 + 2 together] → {3, 4 in parallel} → 5.
1. Summary
The CMS /tracks page today is a single MudTable<TrackDto> (the "Tracks" tab) plus a
"Waveform Pre-Processing" tab, both inside one MudTabs. This phase keeps that page and adds
three browse modes for the catalogue — Track, Album, Genre — selected by a
toggle, each addressable by a distinct URL so the public home page can deep-link into a given
mode.
Pre-requisite gate: all UI work in this phase sits on top of §0 — the TrackEntity
normalization (split into ReleaseEntity + slimmed TrackEntity). §0 is a breaking data-model
change that must land first; it also dissolves several of the open questions this spec originally
carried (notably the AlbumSummaryDto widening question — the Release table supplies those fields
directly). Read the UI sections below as written against the post-normalization schema.
The Waveform Pre-Processing tab is removed (§9): waveform-profile status becomes an in-grid
status column on CmsTrackGrid, with per-row "Generate" actions and a page-level "Generate All
Missing" button replacing the old tab.
The architectural spine is one view-model feeding three renderings. This matches Daniel's
standing preference (memory: One source, multiple views — "same data, different uses and
ergonomics"): the divergence lives in layout, not in data paths. All three modes read from the
same ICmsTrackService.GetPagedAsync path; Album and Genre modes add summary calls
(GetAlbumSummariesAsync / GetGenreSummariesAsync) for their parent rows but reuse the same
paged-tracks call for their detail rows. No new API endpoint is introduced.
This phase also supersedes the deferred §6.2 ("card-contextual filtering"). §6.2 was deferred
precisely because filtering needed an intermediate browse surface (a list of albums, a list of
genres) for the admin to pick from — "a CMS analogue of the public AlbumsView/GenresView."
Album Mode and Genre Mode are that surface. §6.2 should be marked superseded-by-§8, not left
dangling.
It also introduces one new page — Batch Edit (/tracks/album/{albumName}/edit) — reached
from an Album-Mode row's Edit action. This is BatchUpload.razor's master-detail mechanics with
existing data preloaded and the submit path swapped from upload to metadata update.
What this is NOT
- Not a public-site feature. This is CMS-only (
DeepDrftManager, InteractiveServer). The public home page only links in; it renders nothing from this phase. Caveat: §0's normalization changes the sharedTrackDtocontract, which does touch the public client — see §0.3 consumer impact. The browse-mode UI is CMS-only; the data-model change is not. - Is a data-model change — §0 introduces
ReleaseEntityand slimsTrackEntity. (The browse modes introduce no new model; the pre-requisite does.) - Not a replacement for the existing single-track edit page (
/tracks/{id}) — that survives, reached from Track Mode's per-row Edit. Batch Edit is a second, album-scoped editor. - The Waveform Pre-Processing tab is removed — its function moves into the grid (§9).
2. Grounding — what exists today (verified, not paraphrased)
Read against the live source on 2026-06-11. Two facts diverge from the brief and are load-bearing:
-
ICmsTrackService.GetPagedAsyncdoes NOT currently take album/genre filter parameters. Its signature isGetPagedAsync(int page, int pageSize, string? sortColumn, bool sortDescending, CancellationToken ct). The underlyingGET api/track/pageendpoint acceptsalbum=/genre=query filters, andCmsTrackService(the impl) could pass them — but the interface does not expose them today. This phase requires extending that signature (see §6, data contracts). This is the one real contract change. Flag it as the first implementation prerequisite. -
An existing single-track edit page already lives at
/tracks/{id}. Track Mode's per-row Edit button (Href="/tracks/{context.Id}") goes there. Album Mode's batch Edit is a separate page. Do not conflate them; do not route the album edit through/tracks/{id}.
Other verified facts:
/tracks(TrackList.razor) is@attribute [Authorize], InteractiveServer, twoMudTabPanels inside oneMudTabs: "Tracks" (theMudTable<TrackDto>withServerData=LoadServerData,RowsPerPage=20) and "Waveform Pre-Processing".- Current Track table columns: Track Name, Artist, Album, Genre, Release Date (
yyyy-MM-dd), Entry Key (monospace caption), File Name (monospace caption), Actions (Edit→/tracks/{id}, Delete→confirm dialog →DeleteTrackAsync). BatchUpload.razor(/tracks/upload): album-header fields (Album Name, Artist, Genre, Release Date asYYYY-MM-DDstring, Release TypeMudSelect, Cover ArtInputFile), then a master list ofBatchTrackRow(WavFile, TrackName, Status) with move-up/down/remove + a detail pane editing the selected row. Submit: optional one-shot cover-art upload (UploadImageAsync) → per-rowUploadTrackAsync→ per-rowUpdateAsyncto link the image (the upload endpoint takes no imagePath).TrackNumberis the 1-based list position (i + 1).ICmsTrackServicealready has:GetPagedAsync,GetByIdAsync,UploadTrackAsync,UpdateAsync(id, trackName, artist, album, genre, releaseDate, imagePath?, releaseType?, trackNumber?),DeleteTrackAsync(id),UploadImageAsync,GetAlbumSummariesAsync,GetGenreSummariesAsync,GetTrackCountAsync, plus the waveform pair.TrackDtofields:Id, EntryKey, TrackName, Artist, Album?, Genre?, ReleaseDate? (DateOnly), ImagePath?, OriginalFileName?, ReleaseType, TrackNumber (int, 1-based).AlbumSummaryDto:Album (string), TrackCount (int), CoverImageKey (string?).GenreSummaryDto:Genre (string), TrackCount (int).- Image URL pattern (from public
TrackCard.razor): ifImagePathnon-empty,background-image: url('api/image/{Uri.EscapeDataString(imagePath)}'); else a CSS fallback swatch. Images served unauthenticated atapi/image/{entryKey}.
3. URL scheme — RECOMMENDATION: route segments, not query params
Recommend: /tracks (Track, default), /tracks/albums, /tracks/genres as route segments,
with /tracks?mode=… accepted as a tolerated alias if cheap.
Three options considered:
| Option | Form | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| A. Query param | /tracks?mode=albums |
Single @page "/tracks", read mode from query. Simplest routing. |
| B. Route segment | /tracks/albums |
Multiple @page directives on one component, or sub-routes. Cleanest URL, best deep-link target. |
| C. Separate pages | /tracks, /albums, /genres |
Three components. Defeats the one-VM spine. Rejected. |
Why B over A. The brief's load-bearing requirement is that the public home page hard-codes
these URLs. A hard-coded link wants to be a stable, clean, semantically-obvious path. A route
segment (/tracks/albums) reads as a permanent address; a query param (?mode=albums) reads as
transient view state. Route segments are also the convention already in this app — /tracks,
/tracks/upload, /tracks/{id} are all segment-based, none use query params for navigation
state. Matching that convention keeps the URL space coherent.
Why tolerate A as an alias. Blazor lets one component carry multiple @page directives.
Adding @page "/tracks", @page "/tracks/albums", @page "/tracks/genres" to the one
TrackList component (the toggle just sets which mode renders) costs nothing and lets the
existing ?mode= form (if any external link already uses it) keep working. If no such link
exists, drop the alias — don't carry dead surface.
Concrete routing:
@page "/tracks"
@page "/tracks/albums"
@page "/tracks/genres"
The component reads which segment routed it (via NavigationManager.Uri parse, or three thin
wrapper pages each setting an initial-mode parameter — see §10.1 for which). The toggle switches
mode and pushes the corresponding URL (NavigationManager.NavigateTo("/tracks/albums")) so the
address bar always reflects the current mode and deep-links round-trip.
Decision needed (§10.1): one multi-@page component reading the segment, vs. three trivial
wrapper pages passing an InitialMode enum into a shared body component. Recommend the latter
for clarity (each wrapper is two lines; the body owns the VM) — but it's a small call.
4. View-model design — CmsTrackBrowserViewModel
Registered in DI as a scoped service and injected into the page — matching the established
project pattern (TracksViewModel in DeepDrftPublic.Client is registered scoped in
Startup.ConfigureDomainServices and injected into TracksView.razor). The reason is dependency
hygiene: backend service dependencies (ICmsTrackService and the waveform service) live on the VM,
not in the component's @inject chain. The component injects only the VM; the VM holds the
services. It owns mode state and the load logic for all three modes. The views are dumb; the VM is
the single source of truth.
(This resolves the earlier open question that floated a page-owned @code object — see §12.5. The
DI-scoped VM is the decided pattern, not the alternative.)
4a. State
enum BrowseMode { Tracks, Albums, Genres }
class CmsTrackBrowserViewModel
{
BrowseMode Mode { get; private set; } // current mode (drives which view renders)
// Track mode: the MudTable owns its own ServerData paging; the VM only holds the
// active filter (null for plain Track mode).
string? ActiveAlbumFilter { get; private set; } // set by Album-mode child expansion? No —
string? ActiveGenreFilter { get; private set; } // filters belong to CmsTrackGrid params, not VM state. See note.
// Album mode:
IReadOnlyList<AlbumSummaryDto> Albums { get; } // parent rows, loaded once on entering Albums mode
bool AlbumsLoading { get; }
// child tracks are NOT held in VM; each expanded album row owns its own lazy GetPagedAsync(album:) call.
// Genre mode:
IReadOnlyList<GenreSummaryDto> Genres { get; } // cards, loaded once on entering Genres mode
bool GenresLoading { get; }
string? ExpandedGenre { get; } // accordion: at most one expanded at a time
}
Note on filters as VM state vs. component params. There is a real design choice here. Two readings:
- VM-as-truth (heavier): the VM holds
ActiveGenreFilter, andCmsTrackGridreads it. Then the accordion's expansion is VM state. - Param-as-truth (lighter, recommended):
CmsTrackGridtakesAlbumFilter/GenreFilteras[Parameter]s; the view passes the expanded genre/album down. The VM holds onlyMode, the summary lists, andExpandedGenre(which genre card is open). The grid filter is derived fromExpandedGenre, not stored separately.
Recommend param-as-truth. It keeps the VM small and keeps CmsTrackGrid genuinely reusable
(its filter is an input, not a read of ambient VM state). The VM owns mode + summaries + which
thing is expanded; the grid owns its own paging given a filter. This is the cleanest expression
of "one source, multiple views" — the source is GetPagedAsync, and the grid is the one view
component, parameterised.
4b. Which service calls happen where
| Trigger | Call | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| Enter Track mode | none up-front; MudTable.ServerData pages on demand |
CmsTrackGrid |
| Track-mode page/sort | GetPagedAsync(page, size, sort, desc) |
CmsTrackGrid.LoadServerData |
| Enter Album mode | GetAlbumSummariesAsync() once |
VM |
| Expand an album row | GetPagedAsync(album: name, …) lazily, first expansion only |
the album row (cached after first load) |
| Album row Edit | navigate to /tracks/album/{name}/edit |
view |
| Album row Delete | confirm → N× DeleteTrackAsync (the album's track ids) |
VM/view |
| Enter Genre mode | GetGenreSummariesAsync() once |
VM |
| Expand a genre card | CmsTrackGrid mounts with GenreFilter=name → GetPagedAsync(genre: name, …) |
CmsTrackGrid |
State transitions: mode change → push URL → if entering Albums/Genres and the summary list is unloaded, fire the summary call; collapse any expanded child/genre. Re-entering a mode reuses the already-loaded summaries (cache for the page lifetime; a fresh page nav reloads).
5. Component tree
TrackList.razor (@page "/tracks" + "/tracks/albums" + "/tracks/genres")
│ owns: (injects) CmsTrackBrowserViewModel [DI-scoped], the mode toggle, page header
│
├── page header
│ ├── mode toggle (Track | Album | Genre) — MudToggleGroup
│ └── "Generate All Missing" button (Track mode only) ← §9
│
├── [Track mode] CmsTrackGrid (no filter) ← DEFAULT
│ └── per-row: status icon + Generate (if no profile) + Edit/Delete/Info ← §9
├── [Album mode] CmsAlbumBrowser (parent rows + lazy children)
└── [Genre mode] CmsGenreBrowser (card grid + accordion → CmsTrackGrid)
(navigates to) BatchEdit.razor (/tracks/album/{albumName}/edit)
The old MudTabs / "Waveform Pre-Processing" MudTabPanel is gone (§9). Whether a MudTabs shell
survives at all depends on whether any other panel needs it — likely not.
New components:
5a. CmsTrackGrid.razor — the single reusable flat track table (THE DRY core)
The extracted Track-mode MudTable<TrackDto>. Single source of truth for the track-table layout.
| Parameter | Type | Default | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
AlbumFilter |
string? |
null |
When set, passed to GetPagedAsync(album:). |
GenreFilter |
string? |
null |
When set, passed to GetPagedAsync(genre:). |
ShowAddButton |
bool |
true |
The "Add Track" button. Off when embedded under a genre. |
PageSize |
int |
20 |
Mirrors today's RowsPerPage. |
OnTracksChanged |
EventCallback |
— | Raised after a delete, so a parent can refresh a count. |
Owns its own MudTable + LoadServerData + delete-confirm dialog (lifted verbatim from today's
TrackList). When AlbumFilter/GenreFilter is set, LoadServerData passes it through. This is
the component consumed by both Track mode (no filter) and Genre mode (GenreFilter set) — no
duplicated table markup, exactly the brief's DRY requirement.
Columns (new layout, §8 for detail): Track # | Art (40×40) | Track Name | Artist | Album |
Genre | Release Date (d MMMM, yyyy) | Waveform Status | Actions (Edit, Delete, per-row
Generate when no profile, Info tooltip carrying Entry Key + File Name). Entry Key and File
Name columns are removed from the grid and moved into the Info tooltip.
5b. CmsAlbumBrowser.razor — Album mode
Parent album rows (from AlbumSummaryDto) that expand to child track rows (lazy GetPagedAsync).
See §6 for the data flow. Uses an expandable MudTable with a RowTemplate + per-row child
content, not MudTreeView (see §10.2 recommendation). Each parent row: art thumb, album name,
artist (derived), track count, genre (derived), earliest release date, release-type chip, Edit +
Delete actions. Child rows: track # + track name only (a minimal inline template, not a full
CmsTrackGrid — the brief is explicit that album children are simpler).
5c. CmsGenreBrowser.razor — Genre mode
Responsive MudCard grid, one card per GenreSummaryDto (genre name + track count). Accordion:
clicking a card expands it (and collapses any other) to reveal a CmsTrackGrid with
GenreFilter=genre, ShowAddButton=false beneath/within. See §7.
5d. BatchEdit.razor — new page (§ batch edit below)
Reached from CmsAlbumBrowser row Edit. See dedicated section.
6. Album mode data flow — parent eager, children lazy
Parent rows (eager): on entering Album mode, the VM calls GetAlbumSummariesAsync() once.
Each AlbumSummaryDto renders one parent row. The cover thumb uses CoverImageKey with the same
api/image/{Uri.EscapeDataString(key)} fallback pattern.
Derived parent-row fields. AlbumSummaryDto gives only Album, TrackCount, CoverImageKey.
The brief asks the parent row to also show artist, genre, earliest release date, and a
release-type chip — none of which are on the summary DTO. Two ways to get them:
- (i) Derive from children on expand only. Parent row shows album name, track count, cover at rest; artist/genre/date/type fill in after the row is expanded and the children load. Cheap, but the parent row is informationally thin until expanded.
- (ii) Widen
AlbumSummaryDto. AddArtist?(or "Various"),Genre?(or null→"—"),EarliestReleaseDate?,ReleaseType?computed server-side in the albums-summary query. The parent row is fully populated without expansion.
Recommend (ii) — widen the summary DTO. The parent row is meant to be a scannable album
catalogue; showing artist/genre/date there is the point of Album mode, and lazy-filling them on
expand makes the resting view feel broken. Computing them in the existing albums-summary SQL is a
modest server change (a GROUP BY album with MIN(release_date), a uniform-artist check, etc.),
and it keeps the parent render synchronous. This is a data-contract change to flag (§ open
questions / §10.3). If Daniel would rather not touch the DTO, fall back to (i) and accept the
thin resting row.
"Various" / "—" derivation rules (wherever they're computed):
- Artist: if all tracks in the album share one artist → that artist; else
"Various". - Genre: if uniform across the album → that genre; else
"—". - Release date: earliest (
MIN) trackReleaseDatein the album. - Release-type chip: the brief says "infer from TrackCount + ReleaseType, or from first track."
Simplest defensible rule: use the album's tracks'
ReleaseTypeif uniform; else fall back toTrackCountheuristic (1 = Single, 2–5 = EP, 6+ = LP). Recommend: trust the storedReleaseTypeof the first track (it's set at upload for the whole release) and only use the count heuristic ifReleaseTypeis absent. Flag as a small decision (§10.4).
Child rows (lazy). On first expansion of an album row, call
GetPagedAsync(album: albumName, page: 1, pageSize: <large enough for one album>, sort: "TrackNumber").
Albums are small (a release is a handful of tracks), so a single page suffices — pick a page size
that comfortably exceeds any real album (e.g. 100) rather than paging within an album. Cache the
result on the row so re-expanding doesn't re-fetch. Child rows render track number + track
name only — no per-track Edit/Delete (the brief: editing is via album-level Batch Edit).
This reuses the same GetPagedAsync path as every other mode — no new endpoint, honouring the
one-source spine. The only new seam is the lazy-on-expand trigger.
7. Genre mode accordion
GetGenreSummariesAsync()once on entering Genre mode → a responsiveMudCardgrid (MudItem xs=12 sm=6 md=4or similar), one card per genre: genre name (Typo.h6), track count (Typo.body2), and a fallback visual (genres have no cover art — use a neutral swatch or a genre glyph).- Accordion, one open at a time. Clicking a card sets
VM.ExpandedGenre = genre(clicking the open card again clears it). When a genre is expanded, render aCmsTrackGridwithGenreFilter=genre, ShowAddButton=falsebelow the card grid (a full-width panel under the expanded card's row), not inside the card (a track table doesn't fit a card cell). The expanded-card visual state (elevation/border) signals which genre's tracks are showing. - Layout pattern borrowed from a master-detail / expanding-panel accordion (cf. macOS Finder
column expand, or MudBlazor's own
MudExpansionPanels— though here the panel hosts a grid, so a manual expand region under the card row reads better than nesting a table insideMudExpansionPanel). Recommend a manual@if (VM.ExpandedGenre == genre)panel rendered after the card grid, keyed to the expanded genre. - The grid inside is the same
CmsTrackGridas Track mode — DRY satisfied: zero duplicated table markup, the genre filter is just a parameter.
8. Track-mode grid changes (the CmsTrackGrid layout)
Applied in CmsTrackGrid (so Genre mode's embedded grid gets them for free):
- Column order (left to right): Track # → Art thumb → Track Name → Artist → Album → Genre → Release Date → Waveform Status → Actions. (Track # is the very first column; thumb second; per the brief. Waveform Status sits just before Actions — see item 7 and §9.)
- Track # column: plain
@context.TrackNumber. Header sortable onTrackNumberis optional (default sort stays Track Name asc to match today). - Art thumb (40×40): reuse the public
TrackCardfallback pattern.- If
ImagePathnon-empty: adiv40×40 withbackground-image: url('api/image/@(Uri.EscapeDataString(context.ImagePath))'); background-size: cover; border-radius: 4px;. - Else: a neutral fallback swatch (mirror the public
deepdrft-track-row-thumb--fallbackclass — a CMS-side equivalent inCmsTrackGrid.razor.css). Do not depend on the public client's CSS; define the CMS fallback locally (the public class lives inDeepDrftPublic.Client, a different host). If the thumb/fallback is genuinely identical to the public one, that's a candidate for a sharedDeepDrftShared.Clientcomponent later — flag, don't force now (§10.6).
- If
- Release Date format: display
@context.ReleaseDate?.ToString("d MMMM, yyyy")(→ "9 June, 2026");"—"when null. Sorting is unchanged — the sort key is the rawDateOnly(SortLabel="ReleaseDate"still maps to the date column server-side); the format is presentation-only and does not touch the sort. - Entry Key + File Name → Info tooltip. Remove both columns. Add an Info icon in the
Actions cell (
Icons.Material.Filled.InfoOutlined,Size.Small) wrapped in aMudTooltipwhose content shows both values monospaced:(Brief offered row-level tooltip or an info icon; recommend the info icon in Actions — a row-wide tooltip fights the existing per-cell<MudTooltip> <TooltipContent> <div style="font-family: monospace; text-align: left;"> <div>Entry: @context.EntryKey</div> <div>File: @(context.OriginalFileName ?? "—")</div> </div> </TooltipContent> <ChildContent> <MudIconButton Icon="@Icons.Material.Filled.InfoOutlined" Size="Size.Small" /> </ChildContent> </MudTooltip>DataLabelhovers and is awkward to trigger precisely. The icon is an explicit, discoverable affordance.) - Unchanged: sort labels, paging (
PageSizeOptions { 10, 20, 50 }), Add Track button (gated byShowAddButton), Edit (→/tracks/{id}) and Delete (confirm dialog) actions. - Waveform Status column (new — replaces the Waveform tab, see §9). A status icon showing
whether a waveform profile exists for the track:
Icons.Material.Filled.CheckCirclecoloredColor.Successwhen present,Icons.Material.Filled.CancelcoloredColor.Warningwhen absent. This maps to the existingHasProfileboolean onWaveformStatusDto. Data-contract decision (flagged): the grid bindsTrackDto, which has no waveform status today. Two options — (a) addHasWaveformProfile(bool) toTrackDto, or (b) the grid does a separate waveform-status lookup and merges byEntryKey. Recommend (a) — one field, keeps the grid a single data source rather than fanning out a second call per page. WhenHasWaveformProfileis false, the Actions cell also shows a per-row Generate action button (only rendered when the profile is missing). See §9.
9. Waveform processing — tab removed, folded into the grid
Decision (review, 2026-06-11): the "Waveform Pre-Processing" MudTabPanel is removed entirely.
Its three responsibilities relocate:
- Per-track status → the Waveform Status column in
CmsTrackGrid(§8 item 7). A success/warning icon driven by the profile-exists boolean. Every track's status is visible inline while browsing, instead of behind a separate tab. - Per-track generate → a per-row Generate action in
CmsTrackGrid, rendered only when the track has no profile (!HasWaveformProfile). Generating refreshes the row's status. - Bulk generate → a "Generate All Missing" button in the main tracks-page header area, visible when the user is in Track mode. This replaces the bulk-run button that lived in the Waveform tab.
With the tab gone, the MudTabs shell may collapse to a single surface (the mode toggle + the
rendered mode + the page header). Confirm whether MudTabs is retained for any other panel or
removed outright. The mode toggle and the "Generate All Missing" button both live in the Track-mode
page header.
Because the status + generate affordances live in CmsTrackGrid, Genre mode's embedded grid gets
them for free — a genre's tracks show waveform status and per-row generate identically to Track
mode. The "Generate All Missing" page-level button is Track-mode-scoped (it operates over the whole
catalogue, not a filtered slice); whether it should also appear scoped-to-filter in Genre/Album mode
is a minor follow-up, not required for this phase.
This depends on the §8 item-7 data-contract decision (recommend HasWaveformProfile on TrackDto)
so the grid has the status without a second per-page lookup — which dovetails cleanly with §0's
TrackDto rework (the field can be added as part of the normalization DTO pass).
10. Batch Edit page
@page "/tracks/album/{AlbumName}/edit" (URL-encoded album name as the route param).
Component boundary — CONFIRMED (review, 2026-06-11): a new BatchEdit.razor page that shares
extracted sub-components with BatchUpload.razor, NOT a BatchUpload grown with an isEdit
flag. Sub-components to extract: the album-header fields block (post-§0, edits the ReleaseDto),
the batch track list (master list with move-up/down/remove + status chips), and the track detail
pane. Both pages compose these with their own submit logic.
Why not an isEdit parameter on BatchUpload:
- The two pages diverge in enough places that a flag breeds conditionals: edit preloads header +
rows; edit's track rows have no WAV slot for existing tracks but do allow adding new ones;
edit's submit is per-row
UpdateAsync(existing) +UploadTrackAsync(newly added), where upload is allUploadTrackAsync. A single component with@if (isEdit)scattered through the master list, the detail pane, andSubmitAsyncbecomes hard to read and easy to break. - But the mechanics are highly shareable: the album-header field block, the master list (rows
with move-up/down/remove + status chip), the detail pane, the cover-art picker,
FormatBytes, the row model. Those should be extracted into shared sub-components / a shared partial that bothBatchUploadandBatchEditcompose.
So: extract the reusable pieces (e.g. AlbumHeaderFields.razor, BatchTrackList.razor,
BatchTrackDetail.razor), and have both pages compose them with their own submit logic. This is
the same DRY-by-extraction move as CmsTrackGrid, applied to the editor. Trade-off: more files
and an upfront extraction cost on BatchUpload (which works today). If Daniel wants the smaller
diff, the isEdit-flag route is faster to ship but accrues the conditional-soup debt — call it
out, recommend extraction.
Preload (edit mode):
- Load the album's tracks via
GetPagedAsync(album: albumName, sort: "TrackNumber")(same lazy call Album mode uses). - Header fields pre-filled from the first track: Album, Artist, Genre, Release Date, ReleaseType,
and cover art (
ImagePath→ preview viaapi/image/{key}). - Master list shows existing tracks ordered by
TrackNumber, eachTrackNamepre-filled, each flagged existing (carries itsId,EntryKey; no WAV slot, shows current file name read-only). - Newly added rows (via the same WAV
InputFile) are flagged new and carry a WAV file like today.
Row model (extended):
class BatchEditRow {
long? Id; // null = new track (upload), set = existing (update)
string? EntryKey; // existing only
string? OriginalFileName; // existing only, read-only display
IBrowserFile? WavFile; // new only
string TrackName;
int TrackNumber; // 1-based, reorderable
Status; ErrorMessage;
}
Submit (edit mode): for each row in order, TrackNumber = position:
- Existing row (
Idset):UpdateAsync(Id, TrackName, Artist, Album, Genre, ReleaseDate, imagePath, ReleaseType, TrackNumber). NoteimagePathis tri-state inUpdateAsync(null = unchanged, "" = clear, value = set) — pass the (possibly newly uploaded) cover key to every row so the whole album shares one cover, ornullto leave each unchanged if cover wasn't touched. - New row (
Idnull):UploadTrackAsync(...)then the cover-linkUpdateAsync— exactly today'sBatchUploadpath. - If a new cover image was picked, upload it once first (
UploadImageAsync), then apply its key across all rows'UpdateAsync. Mirrors the existing one-shot-image pattern.
Reorder + delete within the album are natural extensions (the master list already has
move-up/down/remove). Removing an existing row should delete the track (DeleteTrackAsync) —
flag whether remove-in-edit deletes or just detaches (§10.8); recommend an explicit confirm before
deleting an existing track from within the editor.
Album-row Delete (from CmsAlbumBrowser, not the editor): confirm dialog scoped to the album
("Delete all N tracks in '{album}'? This removes metadata and audio for every track."), then
DeleteTrackAsync for each track id in the album. The brief specifies album-scoped delete; make
the confirm copy unambiguous about the blast radius.
11. Data contracts — summary of what changes
| Contract | Change | Why | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|
TrackEntity / ReleaseEntity (§0) |
Split flat TrackEntity into ReleaseEntity + slim TrackEntity |
normalization; pre-requisite gate | High — breaking migration; see §0 |
TrackDto (§0) |
Slim down (drop release flat fields, add ReleaseId + nested Release (ReleaseDto)) |
follows the entity split; nested not flat (open Q3 resolved 2026-06-11) | High — touches public + CMS consumers; all updated in Waves 3 + 4 (§0.3, §0.6) |
ReleaseDto (§0) |
New, mirrors ReleaseEntity; retires AlbumSummaryDto |
Album mode reads the Release table directly; also the nested read object on TrackDto |
Medium |
ICmsTrackService.GetPagedAsync |
Add string? album = null, string? genre = null params (or an overload) |
All three modes' filtered reads route through here; endpoint already supports the query filters. Post-§0 the filter joins through releases |
Low — additive, default-null keeps callers compiling |
CmsTrackService (impl) |
Pass album/genre through to the api/track/page query string |
wire the above | Low |
TrackDto.HasWaveformProfile (bool) |
Add (recommended over a second lookup, §8 item 7) | in-grid waveform status column without per-page fan-out | Low — additive; fold into the §0 DTO pass |
AlbumSummaryDto |
Dissolved by §0 — replaced by ReleaseDto; GetAlbumSummariesAsync → GetReleasesAsync. (The old "widen the DTO" question is moot — the Release table has all the fields.) |
normalization | — (replaced, not widened) |
New row models (BatchEditRow) |
new, CMS-internal | edit mode | None (internal) |
| Routes | /tracks/albums, /tracks/genres, /tracks/album/{albumName}/edit |
mode deep-links + batch edit | Low |
No new API endpoints (existing endpoints' shapes change per §0). The data-model change does
reach the public client (§0.3) — the browse-mode UI does not, but the TrackDto rework does.
12. Open questions (need Daniel before build)
- (§3) Routing mechanism. Three wrapper pages passing
InitialMode, vs. one multi-@pagecomponent parsing the segment. Recommend wrapper pages. Small call. - (§5b/§10.2) Album expand widget. Recommend an expandable
MudTable(parentRowTemplate- a child-row region toggled per row) over
MudTreeView— the parent rows are tabular (multi-column: thumb, name, artist, count, genre, date, type, actions), which a tree node renders poorly.MudTreeViewsuits hierarchies of like items, not parent-rows-of-different-shape. Confirm.
- a child-row region toggled per row) over
(§6/§11) Widen— DISSOLVED by §0. The normalization gives Album mode a realAlbumSummaryDto?ReleaseEntity/ReleaseDtowith artist/genre/date/type on it directly; there is no summary DTO to widen and no derivation from children. The question is moot once §0 lands.- (§6) Release-type chip derivation. Mostly dissolved by §0 —
ReleaseTypenow lives on the Release record, so the chip readsRelease.ReleaseTypedirectly. The count heuristic is only a migration-time concern (derivingReleaseTypefor legacy releases that had it per-track); flag in the §0 migration, not the UI. (§4/§10.5) VM scoping— RESOLVED. The VM is DI-registered as a scoped service and injected, matching theTracksViewModelpattern inDeepDrftPublic.Client(keeps backend service deps off the component's inject chain). Not page-owned. See §4.- (§8) Shared thumb component. The 40×40 art+fallback thumb is near-identical to the public
TrackCardthumb but in a different host. Define locally inCmsTrackGridnow; flag a futureDeepDrftShared.Clientextraction (Phase 7 territory) rather than coupling the CMS to the public client's CSS. Confirm "local now, share later." (§9) Mode URL vs. tab selection— DISSOLVED. The Waveform tab is removed (§9), so there is no tab/mode independence question left./tracks/albumssimply lands the page in Album mode. If aMudTabsshell survives at all, confirm what (if anything) the second panel is — likely none.- (§10) Remove-in-edit semantics. Does removing an existing track row in Batch Edit delete the track (with confirm), or only detach it from the editing session? Recommend delete-with- confirm (a release editor that can't drop a track is half a tool), but it's a destructive action worth Daniel's explicit nod.
Batch Edit component boundary (§10)— RESOLVED. Confirmed: a newBatchEdit.razorpage sharing extracted sub-components withBatchUpload.razor— not anisEditflag onBatchUpload. Sub-components to extract: the album-header fields block, the batch track list (master list with move-up/down/remove + status chips), and the track detail pane. BothBatchUploadandBatchEditcompose these with their own submit logic. (Post-§0, the "album-header block" edits theReleaseDto.) See §10.- Home-page links. Out of scope for this CMS phase, but: the public home page will hard-code
/tracks,/tracks/albums,/tracks/genres(cross-host links into the Manager app). Confirm the Manager base URL is stable/known to the public site at build time (the URL paths are settled here; the host resolution is a public-site config question, not this phase's).
13. Suggested sequencing (within the phase)
- Extend
GetPagedAsyncwith album/genre filters (unblocks everything). - Extract
CmsTrackGridfrom today'sTrackListtable + apply the §8 layout changes (Track mode reaches parity — shippable on its own). - Add the mode toggle + routing +
CmsGenreBrowser(Genre mode reusesCmsTrackGrid— cheapest second mode). CmsAlbumBrowser+ theAlbumSummaryDtowidening decision (§6) (the heaviest mode).- Extract
BatchUploadsub-components + buildBatchEdit(depends on Album mode's Edit action).
Steps 1–2 deliver visible value (cleaner Track grid) before any mode work lands, and each step is independently mergeable.