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[Doof]

Are there any known bugs that we can test for? I've been using this for a while now and it's been running perfectly. I've got it running on my work PC, my home PC, and my HTPC without a hitch.

[Messiahs]

@doof,

Are there any known bugs that we can test for?

thank you for your offer.
At this time i only know the playlist sort bug, but i think i found a solution (i searched for playlist files with mjFiles = mediaCenterRef.search([playlistid]=12345)... and i think i have to use mjFiles = MJPlaylist.GetFiles() (thx to cncb & adamsp70 ) ).

@iPhone & iPod touch users
can the touch series execute flash ?
perhaps someone can check this site: http://www.jeroenwijering.com/?item=JW_FLV_Media_Player
and give some feedback if the flashplayer can run on your iPod/IPhone.

@starmanj
you are added.
Please give some feedback if you have problems.

@surfikus

What a pitty, it would be great to adapt your cool soft in this direction

it's possible, but at this time my focus is on other features (like 'refresh smartlists', more LastFM features (similar songs/artists) and perhaps mp3-streaming).

Cheers,
Markus

[Messiahs]

upps....

[AoXoMoXoA]

Just a note that all has been running smoothly with xpTunes here

[Shasta Mcnasty]

at this time my focus is on other features (like 'refresh smartlists', more LastFM features (similar songs/artists) and perhaps mp3-streaming).

That's great...I am using Oddcast and Shoutcast to stream from my server.  I added a link on playing.html to pull up the stream, but since they're not on the same port I had to hardcode the full URL of my Shoucast server into playing.html (you can't use a regular old relative URL to reference a different port, even if it's on the same physical machine).  So it's not easily portable.  Oddcast can pull metadata from a web page, so I use xpTunes to also generate a stripped down webpage for Oddcast to read.  But Oddcast doesn't get updated when the page contents change, I set it up to poll that page every 30 seconds.  So I've got a working streaming solution but it's kind of clunky--integrating this into xpTunes would get rid of the clunkiness.   

[neFAST]

@iPhone & iPod touch users
can the touch series execute flash ?

Nope, no flash for us ATM

@surfikus
more LastFM features (similar songs/artists)

feel free to steal code from my trackinfo template

[ThoBar]

Out of curiousity, would you consider doing xpTunes as a plugin, rather than a stand alone exe?

[Messiahs]

hi all,

@Shasta Mcnasty
i'm not sure if we talk about the same way of streaming (i hope that i don't disappoint you)...
i plan that if you click on a song the song is streamed to a flash player in your browser

@neFAST

feel free to steal code from my trackinfo template

thanks. i did it today... what lastFM infos you need ? i understand that similar songs and similar artist are interesting for you (both with flags if the song/artist is present in the library)... something else ?

@confishy

Out of curiousity, would you consider doing xpTunes as a plugin, rather than a stand alone exe?

please allow me one question... why ?
you are not the first, who asked this question.
But i see no efforts to release xpTunes as a plugin, perhaps i overlook somethink.
If i release xpTunes as a plugin nothing will changed (i think), only you will not see xpTunes in the taskbar.

Cheers,
Markus

[neFAST]

Similar artist/songs will be a wonderfull start. (BTW the flag could be a play/enqueue button)
Other albums from the same artist could be great to have a quick look at the missing album that one must quickly buy/download

I had a look at your sy,tax for queries. Could you show me an example of imbricated queries?
i.e. list albums from the now playing artist and then for each album, list tracks.

Keep up the good work

[Doof]

@confishy please allow me one question... why ?
you are not the first, who asked this question.
But i see no efforts to release xpTunes as a plugin, perhaps i overlook somethink.
If i release xpTunes as a plugin nothing will changed (i think), only you will not see xpTunes in the taskbar.

I think one benefit (could also be a drawback depending on how you look at it) is that if it's a plugin, you know that if MC is running, so is xpTunes. Currently you have to make sure both are running in order to use it.

Currently if only xpTunes is running, it will start MC if it receives a command, but for me at least (and maybe this is a bug?) it just sort of hangs.

Also, I wonder if the memory footprint would be a little smaller if it was a just a dll loaded into MC rather than a standalone exe?

[maxxsid]

Hi Markus,
can you please add me to the beta list?
thanks!
--max

[ThoBar]

I think one benefit (could also be a drawback depending on how you look at it) is that if it's a plugin, you know that if MC is running, so is xpTunes. Currently you have to make sure both are running in order to use it.

Precisely. Also, it would be just a little 'nicer' in terms of modifying settings etc, as it then conforms more to the standard paradigm of centralised management. (i.e. all settings for MC and it's addons are IN MC).

Additionally, if you plan on having a large user uptake -and it's a GREAT 'plugin', and so it should have a large uptake- it makes it easier to distribute via the built in .mjp system.

Please note that I don't mean to criticize, just venturing a suggestion to improve the experience for the casual user. Is there any reason you'd prefer it not to be a plugin? (if there is it could be a good way to squash this discussion ) 

Lastly, I was on the beta team, but dropped off after you had probs with your list. Any chance I could join back in please?

Cheers,
C.

[Shasta Mcnasty]

@Shasta Mcnasty
i'm not sure if we talk about the same way of streaming (i hope that i don't disappoint you)...
i plan that if you click on a song the song is streamed to a flash player in your browser

Markus,

Streaming to a flash player in the browser would be cool.  That's not what my arrangement does. 

I stream to a separate media player.  I've already got the streaming server running on my server PC (I stream to my Roku Soundbridge wireless music player), so I just added a link on playing.html to also stream to a software music player (for example, MC) on any remote PC.  I use that link mostly at work (sure, I could just use the MC Library Server, but it takes a long time to make the connection--it's quick to just pull up MC in Web Media mode though). 

[Messiahs]

hi,

so I just added a link on playing.html to also stream to a software music player (for example, MC) on any remote PC

your link (playing.html) only points to your Shoutcast server (like "http://192.168.0.100:8000"), or did i misunderstand ?

@maxxsid  & confishy
pm sent


@neFAST

I had a look at your sy,tax for queries. Could you show me an example of imbricated queries?
i.e. list albums from the now playing artist and then for each album, list tracks.

yes, sure.
you mean the vb code or the code in the html-page?
if you mean the html queries you should take a look to xpTunes.js too (e.g. function AlbById).

Cheers,
Markus

[Messiahs]

@confishy

Please note that I don't mean to criticize, just venturing a suggestion to improve the experience for the casual user.

be sure, I don't fell criticized ;-) all your points are understandable

Is there any reason you'd prefer it not to be a plugin?

yes, but only some small points.
- perhaps i will xpTunes extend to other software like tvc4 or mediaPortal (but i think that i do not have enough time)
- much easier to debug
- as a plugin xpTunes blocks MC from time to time (i don't know why...perhaps a bug in xpTunes or in the plugin-Interface)
- as a standalone app the performance is better (don't know why)

perhaps a wrapper plugin is a choise... the wrapper starts xpTunes in the background and saves settings in a shared config-file.

Markus

[maxxsid]

Markus,
Nice job on this!
Have a problem, though..
Installed and worked fine on my desktop PC.
However, on my headless server the xpTunes applet window is invisible when I connect to the server with Tight VNC. The applet runs but nothing is on the screen... This is the first time I encountered something like this with VNC. If I hook up a real monitor to the server - the xpTunes is visible - i.e. it works but for some reason VNC doesn't handle it's window correctly..
?
Any idea why and how to workaround?

--max

[ThoBar]

perhaps a wrapper plugin is a choise... the wrapper starts xpTunes in the background and saves settings in a shared config-file.

If you're planning on extending support to other programs (and even given the issues you've noted), then the wrapper does sound like a good solution to me

And thanks for the PM.

[Messiahs]

it works but for some reason VNC doesn't handle it's window correctly..
Any idea why and how to workaround?

hi max,

sorry, i have no idea.  xpTunes uses 'simple' .net forms, so i don't know if this problem is a tightvnc problem or a .net problem.
I use ultraVNC and everything is ok.

[maxxsid]

Thanks! I'll give ultra VNC a try!

hi max,

sorry, i have no idea.  xpTunes uses 'simple' .net forms, so i don't know if this problem is a tightvnc problem or a .net problem.
I use ultraVNC and everything is ok.

[Messiahs]

@Shasta
did you ever try icecast2 with your Roku Soundbridge ?
icecast2 is nearly the same like shoutcast but open source... perhaps i will extend xpTunes to use icecast as streaming server...

[adamsp70]

I'm using xpTunes and Icecast2 (and Oddcast) to stream around the house.

All works a treat - but is quite a lot of software to install and configure for one task!

[Messiahs]

... but is quite a lot of software to install and configure for one task!

that's right. I hope that i can expand xpTunes with some features from oddcast, but i think it make sense to use a specialized streamingserver.
btw. do you hear windows-sounds (like clicking) when you stream something ?

Cheers,
Markus

[neFAST]

Your javascript is so obscure to me!
Here is what I did:

Code: [Select]

<div class="mainfilearea">
<!--[JRMEDIACENTER["getFiles?source=library&sourcekey=audio&searchtyp=fileid&searchobj=artist&value=XPTUNES_CURRENTFILE_GETKEY&template=custom&sort=[album]&htmlcode="
<div class="album_title tr_[track #]">
   <p>[album]</p>
</div>
<div class= "title" onclick="pl('[GetKey]');">
   <p>[track #]. [name] ([duration])</p>
</div>
""]]-->
</div>
plus this css code to hide album titles except for the first track

Code: [Select]

.album_title {
display: none;
}

.tr_1 {
display: block;
font-size : 18px;
}

.title {
color : #aaa;
font-size : 12px;
}

.title:hover {
color : #fff;
cursor: hand;
}
I think I took the worst way to tweak your display

[Messiahs]

hi neFast,

i think you found the only way to do this (at this time).

the correct html should be something like this:

Code: [Select]

<!--[JRMEDIACENTER["getFiles?source=library&sourcekey=audio&searchtyp=fileid&searchobj=artist&value=XPTUNES_CURRENTFILE_GETKEY&template=custom&sort=[album],[track #]&htmlcode="
[collapse_start_on]
<div>
<p class=colAlbum>[album]</p>
[collapse_start_off]
<div class= "title" onclick="pl('[GetKey]');">
   <p>[track #]. [name] ([GetFormattedDuration])</p>
</div>
[collapse_end_on]
</div>
[collapse_end_off]
""]]-->
... but this is only implemented for playlists at this time (see playlists.html)... i will add this as soon as possible for files.

Cheers,
Markus

[neFAST]

Cool!
And what are the tags to display the release date of each album?

I was also trying to figure out how I could mix last.fm top album and library results but I think it's something that has to be done at a higher level that the javascript code. You wrote your project in VB, did ya? Do you think you could open part of it and allow me (and others) to build extra functions? (considering we won't interfere with your code)

[adamsp70]

btw. do you hear windows-sounds (like clicking) when you stream something ?

Hard to tell on the server because i remote control into it, so don't hear its sounds. But definitely don't hear any clicks through the clients, no.

[Messiahs]

And what are the tags to display the release date of each album?

it depends... in what field the release date is stored ?. perhaps [year] ?
You can use nearly all properties from:
http://wiki.jrmediacenter.com/index.php/MJFileAutomation

I was also trying to figure out how I could mix last.fm top album and library results but I think it's something that has to be done at a higher level that the javascript code.

Please don't waste time... this is already done ;-)

You wrote your project in VB, did ya?

Yes vb.net.

Do you think you could open part of it and allow me (and others) to build extra functions? (considering we won't interfere with your code)

i have to think about it... i only can promise that i will add code if it makes sense.

Cheers,
Markus

[neFAST]

Please don't waste time... this is already done ;-)

C'mon! You *must* release an update.

[Messiahs]

C'mon! You *must* release an update.

;-)
http://freenet-homepage.de/Messiahs/files/xptunes/xpTunesDev.zip
... but it's buggy and only a development version.

For a normal use you better wait for a regular version...

Cheers,
Markus

[SomeOneWho]

Pshaw!  I've been waiting with bated breath for you to release the program to the public.  I thought the above link would provide this, but it appears to be only a subset of the functionality (looks nice, though!).

I'd don't think I'd add anything to the beta testing already ongoing, but I'm a custom installer and love to be able to demonstrate different ways to distribute music to my clients.  I have a client coming over Thursday and I thought he might be interested in this.

Thanks very much for all your hard work on this, I'm sure it will be very much appreciated by many people.

Regards...

[Messiahs]

@SomeOneWho
pm sent

[neFAST]

http://freenet-homepage.de/Messiahs/files/xptunes/xpTunesDev.zip

Oh God! It rocks. Wunderbar!
It's just a matter of skinning now.

PS: I would suggest you to pre-load similar song/similar artist in background.

[Messiahs]

Oh god! It rock. Wunderbar!

"Wunderbar!"  i don't find this in google translation 
you gave me the permission to use your trackinfo template.. so i can do something for you.

Cheers,
Markus

[ndhunay]

Markus,

Any more room for a beta tester?  I've got a Nokia N800 Internet tablet that I'd like to test this on.

Thanks

[Messiahs]

@ndhunay
pm sent

[lOth]

OK, here is my skin for the iPhone/iTouch; I've included some photos to wet people's appetites who can't try it yet.

http://sgimages.co.uk/itouch-for-xptunes/

Hey Stephen, your skin works great on my iPod Touch. I was wondering if it would be possible to tweak it so that it opens below the safari address bar (like iPhone versions of websites such as google or facebook)?

[rossp]

This is a great piece of s/w. Well done. On the itouch the only thing that isn't quite right is the search results screen being slightly too big. It does not display the right hand icons correctly.

Keep up the great work.

Ross

[gallimore]

This is a great piece of s/w. Well done. On the itouch the only thing that isn't quite right is the search results screen being slightly too big. It does not display the right hand icons correctly.

If you notice, what is happening is the page is zoomed in to the size of the search text box when Safari brings up the keyboard, but it doesn't zoom it back out again when the search is activated. I am unsure, other than making the test boxes the full width of the page (which is a bit ugly) what you can do about that.

-stephen

[gallimore]

Hey Stephen, your skin works great on my iPod Touch. I was wondering if it would be possible to tweak it so that it opens below the safari address bar (like iPhone versions of websites such as google or facebook)?

I assume you mean the hiding of the address bar on Facebook? This is apparently done by using some Javascript to scroll the page after a timeout to let the whole page load; I have played about with various combinations of commands applied to different objects but have had no success. A quick google shows that there is a certain amount of unpredictability about this method.

Anyone out there who knows what they are doing with this stuff is welcome to teach us how it should be done 

[lOth]

I assume you mean the hiding of the address bar on Facebook? This is apparently done by using some Javascript to scroll the page after a timeout to let the whole page load; I have played about with various combinations of commands applied to different objects but have had no success. A quick google shows that there is a certain amount of unpredictability about this method.

Anyone out there who knows what they are doing with this stuff is welcome to teach us how it should be done 

that's exactly what I meant. I didn't suspect it could be that complicated... Doesn't Apple give some guidelines to design websites that play nice on the iPhone. It seems to me that's the kind of thing they would want to get out there to promote usage of that particular platform.

[maxxsid]

Yep.. Ultra VNC works with xpTunes just fine! I'll switch to Ultra from Tough then..
Thanks!

Thanks! I'll give ultra VNC a try!

[maxxsid]

Anyone uses xpTunes with a Pocket PC?
I tried it on Axim X51 (WM5) and all the skins look pretty bad - everything is out of alignment... All the button aligned in columns rather than in rows.
Is there a skin optimized for 480x640 PPC screen?
Thanks!
--max

[Messiahs]

Did you try the great iTouch skin ? I think this is the best skin for a Pocket PC.
http://sgimages.co.uk/itouch-for-xptunes/

If it doesn't fit, then you can tweak the css file.

Cheers
Markus

[maxxsid]

Yes, it's a great skin! but it looks messed up on my Axim PPC (looks fine on PC). I am not a css expert but I try...
Thanks!
--max

Did you try the great iTouch skin ? I think this is the best skin for a Pocket PC.
http://sgimages.co.uk/itouch-for-xptunes/

If it doesn't fit, then you can tweak the css file.

Cheers
Markus

[hobbes487]

Hello,

I would love to be a beta tester as well.  I have a Dell axim and a treo I can test out.

One question, does xpTunes allow specifying which zone to playback music on? 

Thanks.

[Messiahs]

One question, does xpTunes allow specifying which zone to playback music on? 

sry, no zones


... but if anybody is right now active and can test shoutcast:
http://yp.shoutcast.com/directory/index.phtml?sgenre=&maxbitrate=999&numresult=25&s=xpTunes

pls give some feedback if you can hear something ;-) (but the station is only available in the next 10 min)

thx,
Markus

[AoXoMoXoA]

sry, no zones


... but if anybody is right now active and can test shoutcast:
http://yp.shoutcast.com/directory/index.phtml?sgenre=&maxbitrate=999&numresult=25&s=xpTunes

pls give some feedback if you can hear something ;-) (but the station is only available in the next 10 min)

thx,
Markus

I Hear It!   

[Messiahs]

thx for testing ;-)

Quality is Ok ?

[hobbes487]

even with no zones I would love to be a beta tester.   

[Messiahs]

even with no zones I would love to be a beta tester.   

you're welcome ;-)