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[bean_counter]

Which web browser are you using? If you're using Safari, try a different web browser.

Yes, Safari.  Any recommendation for a different browser?  I'm very new to the Apple universe, have always been a PC kinda guy (oh, for the days of MS DOS 3.1).

[DavidMW]

Wow, that was surprisingly easy.

[JimH]

Wow, that was surprisingly easy.

What?

[michmartin]

Will you be coming out with a new version of Gizmo in the upcoming MC 23 builds?

Thanks

- Martin

[JimH]

Probably not.  Panel is the main focus for our development for remotes at this time.

Maybe you mean WebGizmo though.  Panel is replacing WebGizmo.

[michmartin]

I like the interface of the new Panel....although I miss not having the ability to assign a song as next to play, or play the file only as you can with webgizmo, creating a song list on the fly,....do you believe you will add this feature into panel in the future?

[JimH]

We will add some more features, but not too many.

[bean_counter]

Which web browser are you using? If you're using Safari, try a different web browser.

Tried Chrome; same issue

[Weyeswon]

Tried Chrome; same issue

I tried Firefox for iPad - same issue as well.

[BradATIMA]

Yes, works perfectly for me as well, both on local network and from the web. Thanks.

Does MCWS support Read-Only Authentication? If so, that might allow me to share Panel without giving out my "root" MC Authentication info.

Otherwise, sharing a Panel link with friends family gives access to system settings like shutdown and restart.

Perhaps Read Only login to Panel could limit playback to the Panel and not control MC Zones as well. Thanks for considering these suggestions!

There is one more important note I wanted to add to this. If this instance of Media Center has the address of an Engen server, read-only authenticated users will still be able to access the Engen server if it's running. If you're allowing others to access Panel, I would suggest making sure the instance of Media Center does not have the address of the Engen server.

[DavidMW]

What?

Sorry, I was not clear. I was referring to the ease of use of Panel. I just plugged in the URL, enter my access key, and Bam!, there it is. I've been using JRemote, but Panel shows real promise.

I will need to explore further.

[JimH]

Ok.  Thanks.  Good to hear.

[dtc]

There is one more important note I wanted to add to this. If this instance of Media Center has the address of an Engen server, read-only authenticated users will still be able to access the Engen server if it's running. If you're allowing others to access Panel, I would suggest making sure the instance of Media Center does not have the address of the Engen server.

I would suggest an option where the administrator can simply customize Panel to exclude Engen and/or Car Radio. Everything else is customizable, it seems these options should be also.

[tyler69]

Can a constraint be implemented so that one does not "fall" out of the panel UI when hitting the back arrow "too often"? It happens often that I land on a webpage I used before Panel. There is lag when hitting the arrow, so I'm sometimes not sure if I hit it and end up hitting it more than once.

EDIT: maybe removing the back arrow from the "home" page would be also benefitial in order to avoid this behavior.

[Castius]

Good progress on this UI. Thank!

Video thumb nails is still way to slow. Even over local network.

My other issue is the with the next/previous page design. It just feels way to clunky.
Is it possible to implement a dynamically scroll instead.
https://www.sitepoint.com/jquery-infinite-scrolling-demos/

Thanks

[RayDiant]

I like the interface of the new Panel....although I miss not having the ability to assign a song as next to play, or play the file only as you can with webgizmo, creating a song list on the fly,....do you believe you will add this feature into panel in the future?

I agree. The way I use WebGizmo was to scroll through albums and songs and add them to the current playlist. The fact that i can't do this with Panel makes it almost useless for me.

I really liked how JRemote worked. A mode was set; add, add as next to play; play all; play now... When a song was selected the mode that you are in determines the behaviour. This also prevented the annoying thing of telling it to play when you really just wanted the song added to the current list.

[JimH]

I agree. The way I use WebGizmo was to scroll through albums and songs and add them to the current playlist. The fact that i can't do this with Panel makes it almost useless for me.

I really liked how JRemote worked. A mode was set; add, add as next to play; play all; play now... When a song was selected the mode that you are in determines the behaviour. This also prevented the annoying thing of telling it to play when you really just wanted the song added to the current list.

We may work on this, but have you tried the Car Radio buttons?  You can right click on them in Playing Now in MC and auto fill them.

[BigCat]

In Panel, on the home screen, is there a way to add text labels to the big icons? When I look at Panel all the other sub-menus have text labels. I found I can modify the sub-menus and their labels in JRiver's options as well. But I want to add text labels to the main icons.

[JimH]

In Panel, on the home screen, is there a way to add text labels to the big icons? When I look at Panel all the other sub-menus have text labels. I found I can modify the sub-menus and their labels in JRiver's options as well. But I want to add text labels to the main icons.

No.  Sorry.  They should be easy to learn though.

[Weyeswon]

While browsing albums or artists in Panel, you are always returned back to the first page after looking at an album/artist and subsequently closing that view. Could you return us back to where we left off while browsing?

And the scrolling through search results does not work on an iPad using Safari OR Firefox. I never saw an acknowledgment from another member's post about this.

Thank you.

[BigCat]

No.  Sorry.  They should be easy to learn though.

Thanks for the response, Jim. Then let me request this ability (being able to add text to the main icons) be added to Panel. When I was trying to show other "less technically minded" folk here this new great way they could control the music/media, the unnamed (and unnameable) icons were an "impediment" to my argument. It also seems inconsistent with the overall design of this great interface.

I understand and agree that with repeated use one can "learn" what they mean. However; the initial confusion (and the perceived lack of user friendliness that comes with the confusion) when a non-techie is introduced to Panel introduces unnecessary doubt, especially when they might not use it enough at first to memorize it. In fact, sadly, it may have been a deal killer. 

[BradATIMA]

While browsing albums or artists in Panel, you are always returned back to the first page after looking at an album/artist and subsequently closing that view. Could you return us back to where we left off while browsing?

And the scrolling through search results does not work on an iPad using Safari OR Firefox. I never saw an acknowledgment from another member's post about this.

Thank you.

Which version of Media Center are you using?

[Weyeswon]

Which version of Media Center are you using?

Whatever the latest update for the Id Pi is - MC22 think. I just received the hardware 3 weeks ago and update it every week.

[BradATIMA]

Whatever the latest update for the Id Pi is - MC22 think. I just received the hardware 3 weeks ago and update it every week.

The IdPi is running a slightly older version of Panel at the moment. When the next update is available, it should resolve the problems you're seeing.

[Weyeswon]

The IdPi is running a slightly older version of Panel at the moment. When the next update is available, it should resolve the problems you're seeing.

Excellent! Thank you for the explanation! 

[michmartin]

We may work on this, but have you tried the Car Radio buttons?  You can right click on them in Playing Now in MC and auto fill them.

Are you referring to the car radio buttons in Panel or on the main MC screen?  If there is a method to configure the car radio buttons in Panel to add as next to play for example that might work for me...if not MC 23 is useless since I need to log in from a remote note book accross the room from my Win 10 server

[mattkhan]

not sure if this is expected to work or not but it doesn't (in Chrome on both Win10 and Linux)

video seek does not work instead it resets playback back to the start of the file

the behaviour reminds me of linux video playback at some point in the past (https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=108688.0)

[EarEar]

Continuous play has stopped working in Google Chrome

Now when using Chrome only the first track plays when selecting an album. Same issue from another computer (Mac) using Chrome. Works fine with Firefox on either system.

This happened immediately after updating to the latest (Stable) build

[EarEar]

Just updated to 23.0.100 and the problem persists.

[RD James]

Since Panel is apparently the future of Media Center remotes/mobile clients, I decided to give it another try.
There's a lot of feedback I could give, as it's functionally a lot more basic than JRemote, but there is one major sticking point right now, which leaves Panel unusable for me:

It doesn't support background audio (or controls) on iOS.
As soon as you switch away from Panel, playback stops. Note: this is with Panel added as an "app" via Safari's "Add to homescreen" option.
I'm having a difficult time finding out whether this is a thing that developers even have control over on iOS, if it's a web app.

[JimH]

That could be a browser thing.  Maybe a browser setting?

I don't think this is the case on Android.

[mattkhan]

speaking of "add to homescreen", panel isn't currently providing any icons here so it gets a default system provided icon

There's a basic example of how to do this in https://github.com/3ll3d00d/ezmote/tree/master/public (manifest.json for https://developers.google.com/web/fundamentals/web-app-manifest/ ,  apple-touch-icon in the html as per https://developer.apple.com/library/content/documentation/AppleApplications/Reference/SafariWebContent/ConfiguringWebApplications/ConfiguringWebApplications.html and browserconfig.xml for ms). There are sites that generate this stuff for you, e.g. https://realfavicongenerator.net/

[mattkhan]

I also notice that it now makes you login multiple times, it presents a basic auth challenge (via the browser login dialog) and then presents the application login screen anyway. It behaves like the app is sending a request that requires auth before it even gets to presenting you with a login (and then the app is not realising that a token has been provided already).

[Hendrik]

If you access Panel right through http://...:52199/Panel/ (ie. straight to the Panel folder) then it should not be prompting the browser credentials. Only if you access the root it may ask that. We should probably exclude that, since its just redirecting to Panel anyway.

[mattkhan]

If you access Panel right through http://...:52199/Panel/ (ie. straight to the Panel folder) then it should not be prompting the browser credentials. Only if you access the root it may ask that. We should probably exclude that, since its just redirecting to Panel anyway.

it requests basic auth if I hit http://...:51299/ or if I hit http://...:52199/Panel/

devtools says it hits

MCWS/v1/Authenticate?Token=null
MCWS/v1/Playback/Zones?Token=null
MCWS/v1/Playback/Info?Zone=10009&Token=null

alongside the page itself (which presents the login panel)

[RD James]

That could be a browser thing.  Maybe a browser setting?
I don't think this is the case on Android.

iOS is notorious for only allowing applications to run in the background if they are a special application class, and the app must declare this; e.g. audio application, voip app, background fetch etc.
I don't know if web apps like Panel can do this.
 
What might be possible would be a 'native' app that specifies this, but loads panel via a webview. I really don't know, as I'm not an iOS developer.
But without background audio working, it can't replace something like JRemote.

[JimH]

We're not proposing that it replace JRemote.

Did you try another browser?  Or search the browser settings?

It isn't Panel that is doing the playback.  It's the browser.

[RD James]

We're not proposing that it replace JRemote.

Sorry, you had posted a message a few weeks ago saying something to the effect of: the original developer of JRemote having left, leaving you with a codebase that you aren't familiar with.
There haven't been any updates to JRemote for a long time, except for fixes for serious bugs, so it seemed like Panel was being built to replace it.
I've recently been having a lot of issues with playback via JRemote so I thought I would give Panel a serious try, but this is a dealbreaker out of the gate.

Did you try another browser?  Or search the browser settings?
It isn't Panel that is doing the playback.  It's the browser.

Everything on iOS is just a shell for Safari, and it doesn't have any settings which affect this.
Using the "add to homescreen" option in Safari is the only way to display Panel fullscreen like an 'app' rather than the viewport being cut down significantly by all the browser UI.
I see that in Safari itself I can switch to another app and the current song will continue - though it stops after one track. With it added to the homescreen, playback stops immediately.
JRemote, being a native app, allows indefinite background audio playback (when it's working).

[Hendrik]

it requests basic auth if I hit http://...:51299/ or if I hit http://...:52199/Panel/

Doesn't for me, if I hit /Panel/ directly, there is no Auth request. Make sure to fully clear your caches, so that no old Panel version is stuck somewhere? Of course also running the latest MC is required, the auth was changed quite recently.

[JimH]

I also notice that it now makes you login multiple times, it presents a basic auth challenge (via the browser login dialog) and then presents the application login screen anyway. It behaves like the app is sending a request that requires auth before it even gets to presenting you with a login (and then the app is not realising that a token has been provided already).

I've seen that and I think it's a bug.  Once you log in, it will remain connected until you log out.

This login / logout isn't right yet.  We're trying to move it so that it protects things like shutting down a machine, but doesn't get in the way of normal use.  Expect changes.

[tyler69]

I was using Panel just now for a few minutes and would like to share 2 thoughts:
1. When I scroll through my library (albums) and click on an album, the view changes to track view. Then if I hit the "back" button, I am brought back to the album view. However: the view does not remember where I left it. That can become tiresome to the user, since one has to scroll from the top to where-one-left. Especially in large libraries. Can the behavior be changed?
2. Scrolling through libraries might benefit from a vertical scrollbar "thingy" on the side of the screen that has a clickable alphabet on it.

[Bohemian]

Well, after much work I have Idpi working and serving music up to dsd64 to my dac. I have found, however, that JRemote is extremely unresponsive in selecting albums and then starting to play music.
I have changed to Panel, which is much more responsive, although there are problems with track order sometimes.  I am also able to shut down MC from the remote.
Question: Is it possible to restart MC without physically rebooting the pi? Certainly Panel is not accomplishing this. It cannot log in because MC is not running.

The help on this forum is awesome.

[JimH]

MC will restart on its own.  It takes about a minute.

[Bohemian]

MC will restart on its own.  It takes about a minute.

Thanks Jim, but it doesn't happen for me.  When I shut down MC, the pi keeps powered but will not connect to vnc viewer of pc, nor to Panel or JRemote.
Or should I not be pressing the "shutdown" button in power options on Panel?

There is also a reboot option to headless text only, but I am loth to do this as I don't know where it would leave me.
Still these options are unavailable if I have shutdown power, as I cannot connect to MC nor to the pi unless I physically remove the power lead and reattach it. Then it automatically reboots.
I am sure I am doing something wrong!

On another matter, I cannot find assets nor lyrics on Panel. Is this planned for the future?
Thanks for your help.

[JimH]

Shutdown turns the IdPi off.  It could take a few minutes.

There's no reason to shut it down though.  It uses very little power.

The Raspberry Pi has no power switch so you'd have to unplug the power after shutdown.  You could put a switch in front of it though.

[rrr]

I've seen that and I think it's a bug.  Once you log in, it will remain connected until you log out.

This login / logout isn't right yet.  We're trying to move it so that it protects things like shutting down a machine, but doesn't get in the way of normal use.  Expect changes.

I am very new to Panel and the IdPi, maybe a whole 24 hours so far, somewhere along the way I lost the ability manage the Settings through Panel. I no longer see any options for shutting down or restarting on the Panel Settings menu.
I do have the Enable Full Authentication button in the Panel, get prompted for a userid and passwd.
I do not have Authentication turned on, I was only trying to check out basic functionality at this point.
I have ReadOnly Auth... > Everyone

This may have happened when I did the update to   Id:22.0.82 MC:23.0.102
I believe I did try it, set a userid and passwd, but it did not see anything different in Panel.

Do I need to Enable Full Authentication ??
I am just trying to use the local library and media at the moment.

[BradATIMA]

I am very new to Panel and the IdPi, maybe a whole 24 hours so far, somewhere along the way I lost the ability manage the Settings through Panel. I no longer see any options for shutting down or restarting on the Panel Settings menu.
I do have the Enable Full Authentication button in the Panel, get prompted for a userid and passwd.
I do not have Authentication turned on, I was only trying to check out basic functionality at this point.
I have ReadOnly Auth... > Everyone

This may have happened when I did the update to   Id:22.0.82 MC:23.0.102
I believe I did try it, set a userid and passwd, but it did not see anything different in Panel.

Do I need to Enable Full Authentication ??
I am just trying to use the local library and media at the moment.

The system settings part of Panel does require enabling full authentication in Media Center. There were several changes made to the system settings page recently. Before the update, you were probably able to see the system settings page, but most of the options still wouldn't work without full authentication. Aside from the system settings page, the rest of Panel will work with read-only authentication.

[rrr]

I tried enabling Authentication again and it worked ! I must have been doing some wrong the last time, maybe it helped when I cleared the browser cache, maybe it was my meager typing skills. But it does work now. In Panel , once I click on the Enable Full Authentication button, and type the userid and passwd, the new blue System Settings button shows up, It provides a clear and detailed set of functions that appears to be all the stuff I will need. Good job !

[jb82]

video seek does not work instead it resets playback back to the start of the file

Any plans to fix this? I really like panel, but this one issue makes it pretty much useless for streaming videos.

Chapters also don't work as far I can tell.

[JimH]

What type of file?  Are you playing from MC to Panel?