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[Lasse_Lus]

i would like to browse albums, this can be done by using categories, but then i loose the pane functionallity, i can't live without the panes 

isn't possible to mix panes and categories

[rick.ca]

By "mix," do you mean having three panels: panes, category thumbnails and details? That seems like a nice idea, in that you could browse or select using panes or categories at the same time. But the two work quite differently, so it's difficult to imagine how such a thing would/should actually behave. With panes, any category values can be selected in any order, and the results are shown in details. Categories, however, are strictly hierarchical, and one and only one value must be chosen at each level.

If a typical categories view had panes added to it, it would work fine. But the reverse is not true—at least not for the kind of pane views I use. Most of them have categories in the view sequence that would "break" category navigation. Those would be any category for which being forced to select one value would not be logical (e.g., search lists, year, rating). Perhaps a solution to this would be the ability to select which of the categories are to be used in the categories browsing chain. But it's still unclear what the category panel should do when panes are used to change a selection in a category earlier in its browsing sequence. Should it update the current category to reflect the result of that change, or should it jump back to the category that was changed (or to the one after)?

[Lasse_Lus]

Rick, no not break, just to be able to add filters, for example with panes on the left, just like you can do today by filter in the upper right search window..

so by adding searchlists of your choise to be able to filter the stuff first then browse would add a lot of value to me anyway  or a keywordsfield on the left (pane) and albums to browse on the right (categories)

as i said i would like to be able to browse an album, and the best thing that could happend (what i think) is not just to play a album but also see whats behind, you can't do that today with "album thumbnails"..even better if you could group just like albumthumbnail but with custom fields as well and then browse..

[rick.ca]

Rick, no not break, just to be able to add filters, for example with panes on the left, just like you can do today by filter in the upper right search window.

It's still not clear how this would work. "Just to be able to add filters" implies categories and panes would be defined separately and there would be no overlap. In other words, a category used in the browsing chain would not be available as a "filter" in panes. That would avoid the questions I raised, but it isn't a reasonable restriction.

Maybe an example will help. Let's say my primary Audio view is a Genre-Filters-Artist-Year-Album-Rating Panes view ("Filters" being a set of search lists, like single/multiple, recent, duplicates, etc.). I currently have to use a separate Genre-Artist-Album Categories view to browse by thumbnails. You seem to be suggesting a change that would allow me to add Filters, Year and Rating to the Categories view as panes. That would work, but it would just be a Categories view with some filters tacked on. It wouldn't come close to replacing my primary Panes view.

I would prefer a "Panes + Categories" to a "Categories + Panes" solution. That is, the panes would be configured as they are now. There would be an option for each category to "include in browsing chain" that would define the "+ Categories" browsing feature. As to how that behaves when selections are made in the panes, perhaps there could be two options:

1. Independent—Making any changes in the panes will change the results, but the categories panel will remain at the same level in the browsing chain. For example, if it's currently showing the albums of one artist and I change the genre in panes, it will stay at the album level, but will now show all albums for all artists in that genre.

2. Dependent—Making any changes in the panes to a category included in the browsing chain will result in the categories panel jumping to the next category in the chain. Using the same example, it would jump back to Artist—showing thumbnails for all the artists included in the selected genre.

Maybe that choice is pretty much the same as the existing "Filter in both directions."

[Lasse_Lus]

it's quite clear i think..

i would like to browse an album, with the possibility to use a pane selection first
below is album thumbnails in a audio view

this view only let me play the album, so therefore it's only applying to music/audio..i would like
to browse the albums to see the details..

in the categories below

i can do just that, but then i loose the pane functionality..if panes would be added like in the first, i would be happy..today i have no use or know what to do with thumbnails-categories..since i dont find any "order" in it..with possibility to add filter that would change..i do find categories/details really useful though..

so best thing would be , "my request" should be the first pic, but be able to browse down to details one level..i also would like to be able use the "albumthumbnail" but for other fields as well.

[rick.ca]

it's quite clear i think.

The result you're wanting was clear before. How to achieve it was not. I was attempting to comment on how a combined Panes/Categories view might work. If it can be done in way that's not hopelessly confusing, combining the capabilities of the two into one view would be wonderful. But just adding "the possibility to use a pane selection first" is not at all the same as integrating the two in a meaningful way. You may not be interested in that, but do you not see that my suggestion would satisfy your request?

[Alex B]

Lasse, I believe that what you are asking for was shortly possible in one of the early MC13 beta builds.


Panes, album thumbnails and a file list:

It was possible to first filter the displayed albums with panes, then select an album thumbnail. The file list showed only the files that were included in the selection:


Click to enlarge.


Directories, album thumbnails and a file list

The feature made possible to also select directory in the tree and in addition show the thumbnails and the file list:


Click to enlarge.


The screenshots are genuine. I didn't do any photoshopping.

These options would have been very useful for me. Unfortunately the "bug" was fixed in the next build and the feature disappeared.

[Alex B]

Here is my old post from the beta board:

Code: [Select]

Media Center 13.0.9

1. Changed: Reverted library viewing system to be suspiciously similar to Media Center 12.
Hmm...

I liked the following view configurations in 13.0.8:


Disk Location in the tree + Album Thumbnails + file list. (Playing Now is in a separate split.)


Click to enlarge.


Panes On Left + Album Thumbnails + file list. (Playing Now is in a separate split.)


Click to enlarge.

[Lasse_Lus]

thanks alex, i think i remember your posts now...this is what i want 

matt please bring it back, album can contain more then audio 

rick, we leave it here 

[gappie]

this is what i want 

me too... would love it.   

 
gab

[rick.ca]

It was possible to first filter the displayed albums with panes, then select an album thumbnail. The file list showed only the files that were included in the selection...

I don't know if how a previous version worked is relevant (especially since it was killed) or if you remember, but maybe you can comment on you think such a view should work. Would the panes work exactly as they do now (i.e., any number of values in each category can be selected in any order) with the thumbnails adapting to whatever is currently selected? Does that include changing to thumbnails representing the last category selected in the panes, or are they always album covers? For example, if the view shown in the first screen shot were reset, would the thumbnails be of genres (the first category), or just all albums?

rick, we leave it here

Really? Where are we?