INTERACT FORUM

Windows => Third Party Plug-ins, Programs, and Skins => Topic started by: RhinoBanga on October 07, 2003, 04:04:33 am

Title: Playing Now with Popups v2
Post by: RhinoBanga on October 07, 2003, 04:04:33 am
Guys,

I'm going to start v2 soon and want to know if there are any features you want me to consider while I'm in the design phase.

From the feedback I have received so far the areas are:

1)  Other player2 support, e.g. WMP
2)  Easier skin designing
3)  A UI for configuring the options, including hotkeys



Anything else?
Title: Re: Playing Now with Popups v2
Post by: Deivit on October 07, 2003, 09:33:15 am
Hi Rhino,

Would it be possible to "autoexpand" the track name and the album name so that longer fields do not get cut but instead fill a second line if needed?

By the way, thanks again for this very useful plug-in  :)

-----
Listening to: 'As the Years Go Passing By (Live with Boz Scaggs)' from 'The Best of Columbia Records Radio Hour, Vol. 2' by 'Booker T. & the MG's' on Media Center 9.0
Title: Re: Playing Now with Popups v2
Post by: RhinoBanga on October 07, 2003, 09:49:34 am
Yes, that would be possible providing the skin doesn't have a background.

I'll add it to the list.
Title: Re: Playing Now with Popups v2
Post by: Valissystem on October 08, 2003, 01:40:52 am
Hi there,

Would it be possible to have it easily enabled/disabled by a GUI - preferably something in the System Tray. There are times when I am working that I don't want to be distracted by popups - however other times it is fine.
Title: Re: Playing Now with Popups v2
Post by: RhinoBanga on October 08, 2003, 02:33:03 am
That will definately be there ... although for now you could just use the enable/disable popup hotkey which is Ctrl+Alt+F7 iirc.
Title: Re: Playing Now with Popups v2
Post by: LonWar on October 08, 2003, 04:18:52 am
Hey Rhino, Any way that you can make a option to have a Always show?

When a song is playing I thought it would be kinda neat to always see the track info and art.

Thanks,
Title: Re: Playing Now with Popups v2
Post by: RhinoBanga on October 08, 2003, 04:29:40 am
Why not just make the TimeToStay value to some astronomical value, e.g. 86400000 milliseconds which is one day?
Title: Re: Playing Now with Popups v2
Post by: bjsolem on October 08, 2003, 08:24:59 am
Quote
Why not just make the TimeToStay value to some astronomical value, e.g. 86400000 milliseconds which is one day?


I love the plugin but I'm still a plugin newbie.

Where can I configure the settings?  I haven't been able to find any 'options' screen, and I haven't found the thread yet that explains where to change settings.
Title: Re: Playing Now with Popups v2
Post by: RhinoBanga on October 08, 2003, 08:27:34 am
You'll find links to the config files at Start/Programs/James Dickson/...


You may want to hold off changing anything as I am about to release 1.0.0.7.
Title: Re:Playing Now with Popups v2
Post by: kiwi on October 10, 2003, 03:51:08 am
I would like some way to easily rate the songs, if that's possible.  Having the window pop up with the ability to rate the song would be awesome...  I don't rate nearly as many songs as I should because it's not just one click on a window.  

I know that there are some small apps that will run separately that will set ratings, however, it's another step that I probably wouldn't be as likely to do.

kiwi
Title: Re:Playing Now with Popups v2
Post by: RhinoBanga on October 10, 2003, 08:22:06 am
1.0.0.8 contains the ability to rate a track :)
Title: Re:Playing Now with Popups v2
Post by: Hugo_Elbuho on October 10, 2003, 01:56:47 pm
Hi Rhino, i've just posted a question at this thread http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?board=5;action=display;threadid=15275 which perhaps also could be considered as a request.

Well, my friend, what i find is also a personal need to have some sort of "conditional language" at field display, let me explain this:

Perhaps a 30% of my library hasn't it's year fields filled, so... as i included <Year> as a display text, those which are not tagged show "0"...

Well... it's just a suggestion, and in any case: congratulations!.

Thanks for your time
Title: Re:Playing Now with Popups v2
Post by: RhinoBanga on October 10, 2003, 02:09:32 pm
Try using the MC database field <"Date"> which should return an empty string on an undefined year.
Title: Re:Playing Now with Popups v2
Post by: sraymond on October 10, 2003, 02:39:06 pm
Try using the MC database field <"Date"> which should return an empty string on an undefined year.

Rhino,

You wouldn't happen to know what the format for the "Date" field is when exported in an MPL?  It's an integer - but how it relates to a date, I don't know.

Scott-
Title: Re:Playing Now with Popups v2
Post by: RhinoBanga on October 10, 2003, 02:47:03 pm
I have no idea dude ... I don't even know what MPL stands for.
Title: Re:Playing Now with Popups v2
Post by: kiwi on October 10, 2003, 07:39:15 pm
1.0.0.8 contains the ability to rate a track :)

Awesome!

I'll download it right now.

Great plug-in...
Title: Re:Playing Now with Popups v2
Post by: fretwalker on October 13, 2003, 11:23:50 am
Hi Rhino,
what about an option to just let it show up if MC is in minimized mode?
It would also be cool if one could set different desktop-coordinates wether MC is in Mini- or Mega-ME or minimized mode...
Btw, I really like this Plug-In!

Regards,
Eric

Title: Re:Playing Now with Popups v2
Post by: mhwlng on October 15, 2003, 02:29:55 am
Hello,

How about a way to show artist bios and lyrics of the currently playing track (maybe viaa tray icon and a menu)


Regards,

Marcel Houweling
Title: Re:Playing Now with Popups v2
Post by: nila on October 20, 2003, 06:22:56 am
Here's what I'd LOVE to see:


A TINY basic little player - with buttons for:  pause/play, next, previous

one button for: Display info - makes popup appear - possible a button for: Lyrics, Bios, too so we could click it to make those appear as well.

The player will just be something like this (http://www.hostrus.co.uk/tmp/playa.jpg) but more elegant (maybe skinable). (reason to make a player even though there is mini me is so it can be designed to show the pop-up's.
Title: Re:Playing Now with Popups v2
Post by: RhinoBanga on October 20, 2003, 06:30:35 am
I can't see why you would want that when all the controls are already in the system tray menu for MC?
Title: Re:Playing Now with Popups v2
Post by: nila on October 20, 2003, 06:42:24 am
Permenant one click controls are always nicer than having to deal with menu's :)

The plugin is great thou! - Was dyin to get back to my computer to test it out! :)
Title: Re:Playing Now with Popups v2
Post by: RhinoBanga on October 20, 2003, 07:06:48 am
Version 1.1.0.4 is even better for example you now no longer have to create a background image.   You can just specify the width/height of the canvas you want.
Title: Re:Playing Now with Popups v2
Post by: nila on October 20, 2003, 08:28:02 am
Just worked out what I'd LOVE.

I like to rate songs AFTER I've heard them and like to know what song I just listened to - I'd LOVE to be able to do either of these:

Set the pop-up to display the last song instead of the current one so I can set the rating for the last song.

OR

Be able to toggle the display between:  Last/Current song :)


v1.1.4 sounds cool! :)
Title: Re:Playing Now with Popups v2
Post by: wickesy on October 20, 2003, 12:39:46 pm
I would love to see a line at the bottom stating what will be the next track to play.
Title: Re:Playing Now with Popups v2
Post by: Doof on October 20, 2003, 02:05:55 pm
Have you considered doing an IncludeExtensions instead of an ExcludeExtensions?  

For the most part, all I want to pop up are music files.  I've added many filetypes to the exclude list; however, there are no ways to add some things.  Specifically, the TV tuner triggers Popup events.  I've added "tvlb" (which is listed as the filetype in the tag info), but it doesn't seem to make a difference.  Also, although MOV files are in my exclude list, quicktime files that stream via MC still pop up.

I would much rather be able to add the few files I would want to popup....mp3, ape, ogg, and so on.  The list would be shorter.

I couldn't agree more.
Title: Re:Playing Now with Popups v2
Post by: RhinoBanga on October 20, 2003, 04:05:11 pm
Done.
Title: Re:Playing Now with Popups v2
Post by: graham131 on October 21, 2003, 01:06:48 pm
Hi Rhino

What is the current latest version? V1.1.0.2?

Cheers

gRaham
Title: Re:Playing Now with Popups v2
Post by: LonWar on October 21, 2003, 01:10:03 pm
I am no Rhino but here is the answer

http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?board=5;action=display;threadid=16104
Title: Re:Playing Now with Popups v2
Post by: graham131 on October 21, 2003, 01:30:59 pm
Thanks - i must be blind, i could not see that anywhere
Title: Re:Playing Now with Popups v2
Post by: RhinoBanga on October 21, 2003, 01:36:43 pm
I have just uploaded 1.1.0.4:

http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?board=5;action=display;threadid=16208
Title: Re:Playing Now with Popups v2
Post by: loug on October 21, 2003, 06:34:15 pm
I am a newbie here and maybe this functionality already exists...

I want the ability to hide the pop-up from a hot key.

I have found how to configure a hot key to display the pop-up in the config, but not hide it.  I am using a remote (w/girder) and want the ability to quickly see the track info and hide it (not wait for the timer).

If this is already there please let me know.

Another feature I would like would to be able to display a different skin for different media types.

Thanks for a great plugin!
Title: Re:Playing Now with Popups v2
Post by: BlueGlow on October 22, 2003, 12:32:13 am
Cross post for convenience:

Feature request: Last played fields so we can "back-announce" the song that just played in the Playing Now box.  All fields would be duplicated, just put "Prev" before name, as in Text=Last Played: <PrevLastPlayed>

Example of PN content using
Last Played: Hey Ya by OutKast
Now Playing: My Favorite Things by John Coltrane
Title: Re:Playing Now with Popups v2
Post by: RhinoBanga on October 22, 2003, 02:10:50 pm
I want the ability to hide the pop-up from a hot key.

Ooooo ... never thought of that ... I'll add it in the next version.

Quote
Another feature I would like would to be able to display a different skin for different media types.

That should be simple to do (famous last words).   How about if you have your skin in a directory with the extension you want?   For example you use the Adaptive skin which is the default then I could check for Adaptive.mp3 for an mp3 file and if that directory does not exist then just use the main Adaptive directory.

How does that sound?

Quote
Thanks for a great plugin!

You're welcome.
Title: Re:Playing Now with Popups v2
Post by: RhinoBanga on October 22, 2003, 02:13:41 pm
Cross post for convenience:

Feature request: Last played fields so we can "back-announce" the song that just played in the Playing Now box.  All fields would be duplicated, just put "Prev" before name, as in Text=Last Played: <PrevLastPlayed>

Example of PN content using
Last Played: Hey Ya by OutKast
Now Playing: My Favorite Things by John Coltrane


Check v1.1.0.6
Title: Re:Playing Now with Popups v2
Post by: loug on October 22, 2003, 03:08:20 pm
I want the ability to hide the pop-up from a hot key.

Ooooo ... never thought of that ... I'll add it in the next version.

Thanks!

Another feature I would like would to be able to display a different skin for different media types.

That should be simple to do (famous last words).   How about if you have your skin in a directory with the extension you want?   For example you use the Adaptive skin which is the default then I could check for Adaptive.mp3 for an mp3 file and if that directory does not exist then just use the main Adaptive directory.

How does that sound?

Sounds like it would be easy to configure and work well for my needs. Unless someone else has any other thoughts?

Thanks for a great plugin!

You're welcome.
Title: Re:Playing Now with Popups v2
Post by: nila on October 22, 2003, 03:09:13 pm
Any chance of being able to navigate through the songs in playing now (basically just want to be able to 'go back' to the last song playing and rate it)?
Title: Re:Playing Now with Popups v2
Post by: RhinoBanga on October 22, 2003, 03:15:02 pm
For you Nila ... anything :D

I'll add hotkeys so you can define previous/next/play and pause.   But doesn't your keyboard have multimedia keys?   That's what I use and MC works with them just fine without any software.
Title: Re:Playing Now with Popups v2
Post by: Doof on October 22, 2003, 03:47:26 pm
I want the ability to hide the pop-up from a hot key.

Ooooo ... never thought of that ... I'll add it in the next version.

Quote
Another feature I would like would to be able to display a different skin for different media types.

That should be simple to do (famous last words).   How about if you have your skin in a directory with the extension you want?   For example you use the Adaptive skin which is the default then I could check for Adaptive.mp3 for an mp3 file and if that directory does not exist then just use the main Adaptive directory.

How does that sound?

Quote
Thanks for a great plugin!

You're welcome.

The only problem I could see there is if a user wanted a certain skin for .mp3, .ape, .apl, and .wma, and a different skin altogether for .avi, .mpg, and .wmv. Would they then need to have 7 different skin folders?
Title: Re:Playing Now with Popups v2
Post by: BlueGlow on October 22, 2003, 03:51:14 pm
Rhino,
You are a master! I just hacked a quick "BackAnnounce" skin using the new fields. Love it, love it, love it! Thanks!

BTW, please make the hot key to close the pop-up the same as the key to display it so we can just toggle the display with the same key.

Also, I have to dig up my paypal account tonight so I can purchase the Album View plug-in as a thank you for all of this Playing Now pop-up work. I just installed AV last night and it's really slick.

  BG
Title: Re:Playing Now with Popups v2
Post by: nila on October 23, 2003, 03:22:00 am
lol - wahoo thanks.

Except I dont think you quite got what I mean.

My keyboard does have 'next', 'last' etc buttons for controlling the songs and I use them (I have the old MS Natural Keyboard - great hardware!! - one thing MS did VERY right).

I dont want to 'go back' to the previous song - I just want the pop-up to 'refer' to the previous song.


Here's an example of what usually happens:

I listen to music while I work and am playing a full album. Each time a song changes the pop-up comes and tells me the name of the new song and gives me an option to rate it.
I haven't heard the song yet so I cant rate it at that point.
The pop-up then opens again when the next song starts and I'm like: aah - songs finished - it was like a 3 or a 4 - I need to rate it.
Problem is though that the songs just finished and it's playing the next song - I could go back a song, rate it, then come back to this song but that's a PAIN in the ass and really ruins the enjoyment of listening to the music.

I just want to be able to have the pop-up refer to the previous song rather than the current one so I can rate the previous song that just finished playing.


Did that explain it better?
I'd imagine for most people it would make more sense to rate the song they just heard rather than the song they haven't heard yet.

Let me know if I'm chatting garbage :)



oh yeah - and if u make a GUI for skin chosing - can u do a 'random skin on new song' feature - Winamp 2 used to have it so I got a random skin every time it loaded and I loved it - made winamp always a pleasant surprise to see what it was going to be.
Title: Re:Playing Now with Popups v2
Post by: Doof on October 23, 2003, 02:00:13 pm
So, you can't decide what rating the song should be until the very last note has played?
Title: Re:Playing Now with Popups v2
Post by: Deivit on October 23, 2003, 03:23:18 pm
Rhino,

Do you thing it could it be possible to have the popup "floating" instead of having it docked in a permanent position, so that it "moves" when you click and drag with the mouse?

Thank you again,

-----

Listening to: 'Lover, Come Back To Me' from 'Mel Tormé - The Concord Jazz Heritage Series' by 'Mel Tormé' on Media Center 9.1

Title: Re:Playing Now with Popups v2
Post by: nila on October 23, 2003, 05:06:30 pm
Doof - I do this while I'm doing other stuff - ie working and am not to be honest giving it 100% attention - I always forget to rate the song - to me my music is something extra while I work - a pleasant background - I'm not giving it 100% or even 10% attention.

A little pop-up saying basically: I'm finished - what did you think of me? Rate me - reminds me I that I need to rate the song I just heard.


Sure if I was sitting here going through my library one by one rating the songs I'd remember but I dont plan to do that - seems like a waste of my life :) The music is there to add to my life - not take away time from it.
Title: Re:Playing Now with Popups v2
Post by: Tabanacle on October 23, 2003, 07:28:45 pm
how about the ability to show what position in the playlist the song is e.g track 1 of 15

if anyone knows how to do this plz pm me
Title: Re:Playing Now with Popups v2
Post by: RobOK on October 23, 2003, 10:02:18 pm
i must first admit to not playing with the tags much, so this might already exist.

I would like to say:

At <current time> on <current date>,
<song name> etc. was playing.


Since I sometimes go a few days without playing songs, I want to indicate whether it is a fresh reporting of my song or not.

Make sense?