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[gappie]

i really like the new way zones can be linked and where you manage the zones. but there is one thing that got lost on the way. recently the locked views were introduced. and i think most people use that to lock playing now. before the playing now changed, although locked, to the active zone (not necessarily, but you could set it that way). this was easy because you could see which zone you are in and when you switched to a zone because that was where you wanted to add or do something, the playing now from that zone was there to. now the locked view can only be locked to one zone.

for me zones are like work spaces. when i go to an other zone having the playing from an other zone at the side is confusing and takes away all the advantages of split views. it would be really nice if there could be a way to set a view to playing now where the view shows playing now from the active zone.

thanks
 
gab

[gappie]

it happens enough that i need to open two different playing nows because the playing now in the second split view does not follow the zone as it used to do. this is a waste of space, looks confusing and leads to a crash when closing mc.

 
gab

[jeffspl311]

Yes, the new behavior is absolutely dreadful.

I'm a DJ and have used Media Center forever. I LOVE the way zones USED TO work, since I would have one zone for the house and one zone for my preview headphones. I also have two views... top is my library in which I'm searching, and the bottom view has two tabs, playing now FOR THE CURRRENT ZONE, and the current playlist that I'm accruing.

From my Preview zone, I could locate and preview a song, and then CTL-T to flip to the Live zone, and drag located song into the playing now (and the playlist).

I tried to use 15 (stable) last night for the first time, and this new behavior almost killed me. When I would toggle, the Preview playing now failed to become the Live zone... it stayed stuck on the Preview playing now. I thought to myself that this is maybe just a refresh problem, so I clicked on the Preview playing now tab (in the Live zone) expecting it to refresh to reflect my current (Live) zone, but instead it warped my whole interface back to the Preview zone!! AWFUL!!!

I can't even imagine a scenario in which this new behavior is the desired behavior.

Can you guys PLEASE change it back to the way it was? Or at least make it an option somewhere?

Thanks for an otherwise fantastic piece of software!

Cheers,
Jeff

[Matt]

The catch is that we think it's complicated to have:

1: a view that tracks the current zone
and
2: a view for each zone.

Older versions only supported viewing the current zone (#1).  But then zones got added to the tree and it became possible to view multiple zones (#2).

For a while we had a hybrid of #1 and #2, but it got confusing (for users and also for us to program).

We're open to suggestions.

[gappie]

I can't even imagine a scenario in which this new behavior is the desired behavior.

since 4 weeks ive been breaking my head on this question. im still blank. i miss it still. but that is how it goes. one morning you wake up and something that works great is gone.
but never loose hope.. 

[jeffspl311]

The catch is that we think it's complicated to have:

1: a view that tracks the current zone
and
2: a view for each zone.

Older versions only supported viewing the current zone (#1).  But then zones got added to the tree and it became possible to view multiple zones (#2).

For a while we had a hybrid of #1 and #2, but it got confusing (for users and also for us to program).

We're open to suggestions.

Here are a couple...

Allow a property on playing now panes, the value of which is either "reflect current zone" or "lock to specified zone"

OR

Let the playing now float to reflect the current zone automatically if there is only one playing now in a view. If there are more than one, its VERY likely the user intended them to stay locked on to the specified zone.



Oh, and either way you slice it, the current (stable version) implementation is buggy since the playing now tab DOES flip to reflect the current zone IF it is the active tab at the time of the zone toggle... or is this what you meant by the "hybrid" you had for a while?

Cheers,
Jeff

[Matt]

Let the playing now float to reflect the current zone automatically if there is only one playing now in a view. If there are more than one, its VERY likely the user intended them to stay locked on to the specified zone.

When switching zones, if the old zone is showing in the active view, that view is automatically switched to the new zone.

If you use a complicated split view setup (it sounds like you do), only one part of the split is active at a time.  I suppose it could search all views (but not tabs?) for a playing now, although this might cause the reverse problem.

How about using two tabs: one for each zone?

[Alex B]

I have tried to understand this problem. Does it exist only when the view is locked?

I have used a setup in which I have a library view in the top split and more than one Playing Now Zones in separate tabs in the bottom split. I don't use the lock. If I accidentally happen to change the view away from one of the Playing Nows I just quickly press the Back button that I have on the top toolbar or the Backspace key.

A viable option for DJing is to run two MC instances, as I explained here: http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=50518.msg345477#msg345477

[jeffspl311]

Well, to be honest, I prefer the explicit setting to lock or float rather than having the system guess my intention.

But then again, I would also prefer that the system remember what I had populating each of my 4 tabs (two per view) when I restart the program after a shutdown. This has been an affront to capital "U" Usability forever.

OK, sorry, keeping on subject...

I return back to the bottom line question... In what scenario is the current behavior the most desirable one? And if it exists (it escapes me personally), does it represent the majority of your users?


To answer your question, No, I strongly prefer one tab of Playing Now, not two. When I switch contexts between Live and Preview zones, I FULLY expect that the playing now comes along for the ride, whether or not is the current tab at the time of zone toggle. Seriously, the Playing Now essentially DEFINES the zone. What other attribute is more important to a zone besides what is currently/about to be playing?

Cheers,
Jeff

[Matt]

But then again, I would also prefer that the system remember what I had populating each of my 4 tabs (two per view) when I restart the program after a shutdown. This has been an affront to capital "U" Usability forever.

Are you looking for something other than the long standing Options > Startup > Last location mode?  If so, please start a new thread with details.

Thanks.

[gappie]

I return back to the bottom line question... In what scenario is the current behavior the most desirable one? And if it exists (it escapes me personally), does it represent the majority of your users?

To answer your question, No, I strongly prefer one tab of Playing Now, not two. When I switch contexts between Live and Preview zones, I FULLY expect that the playing now comes along for the ride, whether or not is the current tab at the time of zone toggle. Seriously, the Playing Now essentially DEFINES the zone. What other attribute is more important to a zone besides what is currently/about to be playing?

indeed, and at least for me the behaviour as it is now is much more confusing.

[jeffspl311]

I have tried to understand this problem. Does it exist only when the view is locked?

I have used a setup in which I have a library view in the top split and more than one Playing Now Zones in separate tabs in the bottom split. I don't use the lock. If I accidentally happen to change the view away from one of the Playing Nows I just quickly press the Back button that I have on the top toolbar or the Backspace key.

A viable option for DJing is to run two MC instances, as I explained here: http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=50518.msg345477#msg345477

Oh dear god no... No way to two instances... then I have two positions in my library view to contend with, and I can't "send to" the Live zone from the preview zone (because in your suggestion,  "Instance" replaces "Zone") Having two instances is what losers who DJ from iTunes have to do.

And no, this is completely orthogonal to view locking. I've already dis'ed your implementation of view locking in another thread. Sorry. Check it out though.

Anyway, my setup is similar to yours. I have a library tab and a "Requests" playlist tab in the top view, and my Planing Now tab and current playlist tab (that I accrue as I go) in the bottom view. All of these tabs are Zone independent... except for the Playing Now... which is why I can't fathom anyone wanting it to remain stuck to the previous zone if they toggle to a new zone!

Cheers,
Jeff

[Matt]

In case it's not clear, I agree the current setup isn't right yet.  I'm trying to find a solution.

The old semantics are too obtuse:
* Clicking 'Playing Now' give a view that tracks the active zone
* Clicking a specific zone tracks just that zone

Also, I like that the program now highlites the active zone in the tree when clicking Playing Now.

So how about something as simple as making all visible Playing Now views track the current zone.  Tabs that aren't visible and locked views would not track zone changes.

Another approach would be to make all Playing Now views track the active zone, but then add a new menu command "Lock view to this zone" to the view header of each Playing Now.  This is less magical, but also introduces a command few will find.

[Alex B]

In the attached screenshot I have three PN tabs. The PN tabs can effectively act as a zone selector. Click the tab and the Zone changes. The only problem is the missing keyboard shortcut. You must hit the rather small tab header with the mouse cursor to switch the zone.

Log in to the forum if you can't see the attachment.

[gappie]

In the attached screenshot I have three PN tabs. The PN tabs can effectively act as a zone selector. Click the tab and the Zone changes. The only problem is the missing keyboard shortcut. You must hit the rather small tab header with the mouse cursor to switch the zone.

but the way it was, you could do with one tab. and ctr T would switch the active zone and what is displayed in the playing now tab.

 
gab

[Matt]

Coming in build 106 (and later):

Changed: When switching zones, any Playing Now views on active tabs will switch to the new zone (inactive tabs will not be changed).
NEW: Added Playing Now view header option 'Lock Display To This Zone' to prevent the display from switching with zone changes.