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[cba]

Hi There.  I am a new user of JRiver MC (v 21.0.50), am trying to learn how to set it up, and have a question. 

Under Panes view, how do you customize the widths of the columns on the top window?  I can easily do this for the bottom window by moving the cursor over the lines separating the column headers triggering the appearance of an arrow which I can move right or left thereby increasing or decreasing the width of the column.  When I do this on the top window, no arrow appears and the column widths seem to be locked.  I have looked under Tools-Options-Tree and View-List and “Auto size columns” is not checked (I checked and unchecked it and it does not appear to effect the top window at all - only the bottom window).  Any help would be appreciated.  Thanks in advance!

- cba

[Arindelle]

I'm almost positive this can't be done for a pane type view. If I'm wrong someone correct me please,  as this would be an interesting thing to be able to do. You can reorder them of course, but other than the far right column it auto sizes its self, more or less.

The column options are for the main panel, and do not affect the top one.

What I do to get the max screen real estate, is set the tree to toggle on and off. You can even add an Icon to a menu bar to do this. If you set up shortcuts (favorites) correctly you should rarely need the tree anyways (my opinion hehe). Excet when you are tagging and doing admin related stuff.

PS - You might want to create new panes views for tagging, and another for playback/searches though. The out-of-the-box views are a bit limiting and are really just examples of what you can do.

[cba]

Thanks for the Reply.  Can you explain what you mean by "other than the far right column."  I can't seem to resize any of the top columns.  Thanks again.

[glynor]

First, I need to clarify some things. Some basic terminology might help. The Content Panel in Standard View is typically displayed with two individual sub-panels, as shown in the screenshot on the wiki article for Standard View:
http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Standard_View

When looking at a Media View, the top half is the Categories and Panes panel, where you see either Categories like this:


or Panes like this:


The Categories and Panes are used to filter your view to show only the files you want. Below the Categories and Panes panel is the File List panel that you use to actually play and manage the individual files in your Library. The File List panel can also be viewed in a few different List Styles.

You can view the File List in Details List Style:


Or Thumbnails List Style:


Or Album Thumbnails List Style (this is the same View as before, toggled to Album Thumbnails):


Or even the oddly huge Tiles Style (that I don't really understand):


These are separated by a Divider Bar that can be moved up and down. It can also be "docked" up and down so that the View only shows the Categories and Panes panel, or the File Listing Panel, but you can still find the Divider bar (at the top or bottom) and show the other hidden panel.

Some types of Views in Media Center lack the Categories and Panes entirely (such as Smartlists and Playlists), and a few other oddball Views for statistics show no File Listing at all (though these are quite rare).

That should clear up the terminology.

[glynor]

If you mean the separation between the Panes (up top in the Categories and Panes panel) then no. They are auto-sized.

You can put them in different places if you want. Top is the default (and shown in my screenshot above) but you can also do Left, Right, and show them only as Dropdown menus if you want.

But they auto-size depending on the number of Categories you have added to the View (and the width of Media Center's UI itself).

[glynor]

If you mean instead the width of the data columns in a Details Style File Listing, then yes. You can resize them, and it will automatically remember the widths of each column.

However, you can set Media Center to auto-size these as well. If you want to always set these sizes manually, then disable Tools > Options > Tree & View > List > Auto size columns.

[cba]

glynor, thanks very much for the clarifications and explanations - much appreciated! 

I am, it seems, referring to the Panes in the Categories and Panes Panel (like your second example).  So it seems the width is auto fixed.

Arindelle, however, wrote the following:

You can reorder them of course, but other than the far right column it auto sizes its self, more or less.

This sounded like the far right column (or pane) may be an exception?  But as I can't get it to resize either, perhaps this means something else.

Thanks again to you both.

[glynor]

I'm not sure what Arindelle was talking about there. Panes always auto-size, to my knowledge.

[glynor]

If it is the width of a particular View's Panes that is bothering you, because you can't see enough of particular long values in one of the Panes, you should really try making it show the Panes on the Left (particularly if you have a Laptop screen with relatively small vertical real-estate).

When you do this, the Panes still auto-size. However, they now auto-size vertically, instead of horizontally. This limits the number of values each category can show. But, the Divider Bar separating the Categories and Panes panel from the File List panel now lets you adjust the width of all of the Panes (which lets you see more of long values in a particular pane). You can even "dock" the Divider Bar over and cover up the File List panel entirely, and have the full width of MC to display those values in the Panes.

This is easy to do and try out. For any Standard Media View, simply right-click on the View in the Tree and choose Customize View. In the dialog that appears, under Settings on the right-hand side, set View Details > Panes to Left (or Right) and click OK.*

I don't usually prefer this style, but it does come in handy for some of my views with particularly "big" values (like browsing by file location, for example).

* Note: If the View is locked (which you can also turn on and off in the same dialog), it will prompt you to overwrite the existing view or save the changes instead as a new copy of the View.

[Arindelle]

I'm not sure what Arindelle was talking about there. Panes always auto-size, to my knowledge.

euh Arindelle doesn't know or remember what Arindelle was talking about.  Frankly I don't know why I said that, why would only one column not auto-size .... synapse melt-down I guess.

[CAMERA RIGHT: poster, head down,  goes obediently to sit in the dunce's chair.]

[glynor]

euh Arindelle doesn't know or remember what Arindelle was talking about.

Chin up, buddy. I'm bumbling about in a haze most of the time myself. 

[cba]

glynor, thanks again for the detailed information!  I appreciate the option to put the panes on the left.  Although I probably won't settle on this view, I also see a "drop-down" option based on your directions, which I'm now experimenting with.  Although it would be nice if we could resize the panes when they are on the top, nothing is perfect and overall JRiver sure seems to be a pretty powerful program.  Your posts are very detailed and extremely helpful - especially for "noobs" like me.

Arindelle, no worries, I can be pretty hazy myself, and I appreciate your responses.

Again, thank you both.  I truly appreciate the help!!!   

[cba]

Some changes have happened since these posts and I’d like to follow up on this question regarding the width of the columns in the top right window, called the Categories and Panes panel.  It now seems that in one of my libraries, the width of the last column is a little wider than the others, which, as it happens, is essentially the way I would like it to display.  HOWEVER, my much larger (main) library still seems to automatically make all columns the same width, and I cannot get it to display in the same manner as my other library even though all settings appear to be the same. 

I've attached a screenshot of each library to show the difference.  Can anyone help?  Thanks in advance!

[cba]

Any help here would be great!   

[cba]

Is this is a mystery that no one knows the answer to or is my post just getting lost at the end of this thread... 

I would greatly appreciate any help.  Glynor?  Arindelle?  Anyone?

[blgentry]

I think the columns auto size based on the largest item in that column.  I'm guessing your widest entry is wider in the second example.

I'm not 100% sure what determines the column widths exactly.  I'm pretty sure that items in those columns are one of the determining factors.

Brian.

[cba]

Brian, thanks very much for the reply.  Unfortunately, it's the reverse.  The entries in the smaller library are not as wide; the main library has many more entries, including the longest I could create in a Windows file system.

There is something else going on here.  The main library auto sizes so that each column is exactly the same width, even though the last column clearly has more information/digits.  The smaller library seems to auto size similarly when the window is a moderate portion of the screen, but when I increase the window's size, the first few columns stop expanding while the last one keeps getting wider.  This does not occur in the main library, even though it contains even more information for that column.

What's going on here???