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[lepa]

it returns the content of the playlist

[zybex]

I edited my reply, sorry. Can you please check the logfile to see if there's an Exception logged?

[lepa]

UI proof... 

[lepa]

No errors in the log

21.53.02.333  Detected MC install folder: D:\audio\MC30\
21.53.25.024  Connecting to JRiver
21.53.25.025  Checking connection
21.53.25.025  Connect: getting existing MediaCenter instance
21.53.25.027  Checking connection
21.53.25.029  MediaCenter version 30.0.87, APILevel=2
21.53.25.029  MediaCenter library is 'Main Library', path=C:\Users\xxxxxxx\AppData\Roaming\J River\Media Center 30\Library\
21.53.25.030  getFields: loading 707 fields
21.53.25.705  getPlaylists: loading 260 playlists
21.53.25.832  getPlaylists: finished

[zybex]

Do you have something in Settings -> Preferences -> Playlist Filter ?

[lepa]

attached

[zybex]

I'm going to walk the dog now, see if I can think of something...

[lepa]

No worries. I can use automation object just fine. Just thought I report my finding

[zybex]

Version 1.5.2 is now published with a fix. Thanks Lepa for testing it!
The issue was caused by negative playlists IDs, which I forgot existed.

[lepa]

there seems to be some refresh issues though. If I remove/add some items to my test playlist it confuses Zelda and reloading doesn't solve the issue

[zybex]

Can't reproduce that. It works for me both with Automation and MCWS - I added files to a playlist, hit reload, and the files showed up on the list.

[Moe]

I really love Zelda, it's made my life so much easier when creating complex expressions.

That said, there is one feature I would like.  I would love to be able to copy and paste from the wiki preview.  I am not sure if it's possible, but it would be a huge QOL improvement for me as I've lost count the number of times that I've tried to do it 

Thanks

[markf2748]

I really love Zelda, it's made my life so much easier when creating complex expressions.

That said, there is one feature I would like...

Agreed nice to have, but even more important for me is to add copy/paste from the right hand output window.
Use case:  Documentation, especially for posting MC error reports to the Interact forum.  Currently I have to hand copy the error output, which can be painful and error prone itself.

Update:  I just discovered Copy/Paste is in fact available from the Text output window.  It is only not available in the Rendered Output window, even though Zelda highlights mouse selections there, as if for copy.  So a little misleading.

Another documentation-related, ease-of-use issue:  closed parenthesis within a comment line cause Zelda to omit the word from its right-side output window.
Example:
!* broken swap() *!  ==> !* broken *!

As always, thanks for a really great utility.

Win 11 64-bit  MC 31.0.32  Zelda v1.5.2

[blgentry]

Sadly I can't try Zelda because it only runs on Windows.  I have no Windows machines in my inventory at home or at work.

That said, this is an exciting project.  Years ago I talked about the idea of developing a "toolbox" of expressions.  Things you would use for various purposes inside of MC and be able to share with others.

Does Zelda allow you to save your expressions locally?  Is there a concept of developing libraries of MC expressions, or at least "modules" which you could share with others?

MC's saved views has some of what I'm discussing, but the mechanics of saving and sharing views are very difficult for those that are not deeply familiar with MC.  I'm hoping that Zelda might fill some of the functionality of collaborating and sharing MC expressions.

There's a tiny possibility that I might get an x86 emulator working on one of my Macs just to try this.  Maybe....

Really neat project Zybex. 
Brian.

[zybex]

Agreed nice to have, but even more important for me is to add copy/paste from the right hand output window.
(...) It is only not available in the Rendered Output window, even though Zelda highlights mouse selections there, as if for copy.  So a little misleading.

I'll enable copy/paste in the documentation and rendered output panels.

Another documentation-related, ease-of-use issue:  closed parenthesis within a comment line cause Zelda to omit the word from its right-side output window.
Example:
!* broken swap() *!  ==> !* broken *!

AFAIK, MC does not have a way to comment out an expression line. Where is this !* escaping from?
What's happening there is that the swap() is a valid function, so it gets executed and replaced with its blank output (so swap() is removed from the output). This is done by MC, not Zelda.

I could add these type of comment lines in MC, but they would need to be stripped before using in MC. There's actually a silly workaround to add comments to MC that is recognized by Zelda:
I forgot I had added a way to comment lines in Zelda - just start a line with ##. Commented lines are ignored, not shown on the output.

## this is a comment, and is highlighted by Zelda

As always, thanks for a really great utility.

You're welcome.

[zybex]

Sadly I can't try Zelda because it only runs on Windows.  I have no Windows machines in my inventory at home or at work.

Have you tried running it with Mono under KDE or Gnome?
I'll look into porting it to .Net7 + MAUI which should run on Linux, but that may be too much work.

That said, this is an exciting project.  Years ago I talked about the idea of developing a "toolbox" of expressions.  Things you would use for various purposes inside of MC and be able to share with others.

Does Zelda allow you to save your expressions locally?  Is there a concept of developing libraries of MC expressions, or at least "modules" which you could share with others?

I proposed this Modules feature to MC team, but there's no traction:
https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,124543.msg877195.html#msg877195
Update: That was an old proposal, I've since updated it with a simpler solution (Beta members only):
https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,135200.0.html

Zelda saves the expressions locally only. I've thought several times of using some MC forum thread to collect snippets and functions, but what would really work was that solution I highlighted on that thread.

[zybex]

Published Zelda v1.5.5 (04.11.2023):
- Allow CTRL+C and ContextMenu in Wiki and Rendered output panels
- Detect and highlight saved variable names
- Tweak color scheme
- minor bug fixes

https://github.com/zybexXL/Zelda/releases/tag/v1.5.5

Reminder: Zelda has an auto-upgrade feature, just click the red "new version" notification on the lower-left corner.

[lepa]

Hi zybex,
If could suggest couple keyboard shortcuts:
- ctrl-w to close tab
 - perhaps also some shortcut to create new tab

- ctrl-shift-z to undo in addition to ctrl-y
  - background for this that I sometimes mess up my undo history when going for ctrl-shift-z which many programs support

[zybex]

Sure. Ctrl+W to close, CTRL+N to open.

Ctrl+Z iand Ctrl+Y are already there - do you want Ctrl+Shift+Z to do the same as Ctrl+Z ?

[lepa]

do you want Ctrl+Shift+Z to do the same as Ctrl+Z ?

Ctrl+Shift+Z is redo like ctrl-y in many apps so i have it on my muscle memory.

so ctrl-z undo and ctrl-shift-z/ctrl-y redo

E: made it bit more clear 

[zybex]

Published Zelda v1.6.0:
- Fix: Shift+Click on the wiki browser opens a link on the default browser
- Added FileExtension function
- Added several keyboard shortcuts:
  - Ctrl+N to open new tab, Ctrl+W to close tab
  - Ctrl+B/I/U to insert bold/italic/underline tag
  - Ctrl+Shift+Z for Redo (same as Ctrl+Y)
  - F1 for Help/About
  - F2 to rename a tab
  - F3/F4 to open the Insert Field/Function dialogs
  - F5 to pause/resume automatic execution
  - F9 to open settings
  - F11 to toggle Maximized window

https://github.com/zybexXL/Zelda/releases/tag/v1.6.0

[lepa]

My muscles thank you 

[zybex]

Published Zelda v1.7.0:
- New: Linked Fields - load/save directly to MC calculated field
- New: Highlight all instances of selected word (double-click)
- New: Drag expression tabs to reorder them
- New: keyboard shortcuts for linked tabs (CTRL+L/S/R)
- New: keyboard shortcuts to change current file (ALT+Left/Right)
- New: Colorize tab headers to indicate status
- Change: Enlarge toolbar buttons, use new icons
- Change: Tweak highlight colors
- Fix: Apply current Wrap/EOL setting to new tabs
- Fix: prevent scroll position jumps when word-wrap enabled

https://github.com/zybexXL/Zelda/releases/tag/v1.7.0


Finally linked Zelda directly to MC Fields
This works only with MC 32.0.18 and above, and it must be connected with MCWS, not Automation mode (change in Settings). You must provide a valid user/password to be able to save the field back to MC.

[mvandyke]

Thanks for all of your hard work on this project.  It really does help out a lot !

Will install over the weekend and look forward to using it.

[lepa]

Very nice update, thanks zybex

[zybex]

Thanks guys, enjoy.
Minor cosmetic update:

Published Zelda v1.7.2:
- Fix cropped toolbar icons with some DPI settings
- Sharper icons, no resizing
- Add CTRL+1 to 9 shortcuts to change tabs
- Don't open same field multiple times (unless CTRL pressed)
- Workaround for text-wrap bugs causing occasional full color lines

[lepa]

If it is possible could you try to update align zelda's vertical spacing rendering with MC32?
https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,135179.msg958746.html#msg958746

Thanks for consideration

[zybex]

Hi Lepa,
I was following that discussion and thinking about it. The problem so far is that there's no clear ruleset of how valign is applied, it depends on context. What rules should it follow then? Zelda basically converts the code into standard HTML tags. It was difficult to get it (sort of) right the first time, because MC does NOT follow standard HTML/CSS rules.

[lepa]

Yeah understood, no worries. It is still close enough

[zybex]

Send me the code you used here and I'll try to reproduce it in Zelda. Or even a simpler example.

[lepa]

Images are actually quite fine. only scaling sometimes reveals tears. it is the font thingy MC 31 (upper image) vs MC32 (below image) here https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,135179.msg958488.html#msg958488

[lepa]

hmm.. i can't reproduce it anymore even with text...
<font bgcolor="DD00DD">test<//font>
<font bgcolor="DDDDDD">test<//font>

looks like MC32 to me

[lepa]

altgr+8, altgr+9 has started to do some strange things for me. Zelda will insert [ or ] but also jumps to different tab....
E: It stopped doing that when I closed some tabs

[zybex]

That's due to the new Ctrl+Number shortcuts that switch directly to a given tab number. Because AltGr = CTRL+ALT, it's being wrongly captured. If you have less than 8 tabs then AltGr+8 works fine

Fixed here, will publish in the weekend. Thanks for the report.

[zybex]

Published v1.7.4 with the fix for AltGr+Digit triggering the tab switch:
https://github.com/zybexXL/Zelda/releases/tag/v1.7.4

[comox]

Windows 11 reports serious security threat in 1.7.4.  Warning is strong enough that I would not override. Prior Zelda versions were ok.

[zybex]

Hi comox,
I don't really care anymore. Even MC is having trouble lately:
https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,138245.msg958966.html#msg958966

It's an industry wide problem at this point, and there are no good solutions. I can't force you to trust me. You can always pull the code from Github and compile yourself, that's what open source is for.

For what it's worth, here's the online scan for v1.7.4 - it's [still] relatively clean:
https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/c7c68073ac181f8cdf015e21580e4c35e76b8ca188b95ee4a866c15b283cd2ba

Here's ZRatings - I got Microsoft to declare it clean, but I'm not about to contact all other 46 vendors...
https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/645227677ef4a20c16071f94ee1145a9909c79f1585a2018679977d7121c5ddb

[comox]

Sorry, I did not mean to imply I did not trust you.
I see a lot of these warnings and usually override them.
Just wanted to let you know this one was a little unusual.

[zybex]

My answer came off a bit strong, please don't take it personally. It's just that there's not much we can do anymore :-/
PS: and in my opinion, you should be wary of trusting strangers on the internet. Better safe than sorry. There's a whole reputation problem that no one has figured out yet how to solve.

[comox]

Yes, and I suppose it's possible but not likely that you were deceived by an unsafe library you are using.

[zybex]

Yes, that can happen. Though it's rare, as most libs come from nuget (microsoft hosted) or compiled from source (peer reviewed). Still happens occasionally, more in the Linux world.

[zybex]

Hi guys,
What about a menu item in Zelda to copy syntax-highlighted code to the Clipboard in the BBCode forum format? Any feedback welcome 
(Red warnings appear only if needed)

Warning: HTML tags mangled for forum display, please re-type <​b>/<​u>/<​i> tags
Warning: ## comment lines included, remove before use

## normal text, numbers, escaped blocks and chars
escaped: // /, /a /b /c /( /)
numbers: 12345, hex number: #80FF00

## functions + symbols, math functions, variables
Isrange(Find(replace(regex([Lyrics],/(\w+/),-2),;,), replace(regex([Name],/(\w+/),-2),;,)),0-10)
math(int([duration])/3600)

## saved variable
save(convertdate(25//01//2010),_date1)
replace([_Date1],2010,2024)

## HTML
<font size="200" color="#00F0FF"><​b>[Name]<//b>

## escaped block
/*char(34)/*
replace(listmix(/#CompareDates([d1],[d2],[L1])#/,0,a;c;d;y;yd),;,char(13))

Or a different style without [​quote]:

ZELDA code snippet:Warning: HTML tags mangled for forum display, please re-type <​b>/<​u>/<​i> tags
Warning: ## comment lines included, remove before use

## normal text, numbers, escaped blocks and chars
escaped: // /, /a /b /c /( /)
numbers: 12345, hex number: #80FF00

## functions + symbols, math functions, variables
Isrange(Find(replace(regex([Lyrics],/(\w+/),-2),;,), replace(regex([Name],/(\w+/),-2),;,)),0-10)
math(int([duration])/3600)

## saved variable
save(convertdate(25//01//2010),_date1)
replace([_Date1],2010,2024)

## HTML
<font size="200" color="#00F0FF"><​b>[Name]<//b>

## escaped block
/*char(34)/*
replace(listmix(/#CompareDates([d1],[d2],[L1])#/,0,a;c;d;y;yd),;,char(13))

For this to work, I'm inserting zero-width spaces after some <> HTML symbols. For direct copy/paste from the Forum it's still better to use a [​code] block as the HTML entities are not mangled there, but OTOH this makes code readability much better. Colored code snippets can always be attached as an image too, so this is perhaps redundant.

Comments?

[Doof]

Hey there, I'm running MC 32.025 and have Zelda connecting to MC through MCWS. Seems to work fine, I can browse playlists and Zelda evaluates expressions as usual, but when I try to open a linked tab, nothing happens. I get the dropdown menu showing the list of all fields, so that seems to also be working, but no matter which field I select, it never opens a new tab. Any ideas?

[zybex]

Hi Doof, found the bug. People that already had Linked tabs open from previous versions would not have the problem.

I'll include the fix in the next release. Meanwhile, try doing CTRL+Click on the field name when opening, it should work.
(CTRL+Click allows opening the same Linked field more than once - I added the bug when adding this feature).

[Doof]

Interesting. Ctrl-Click did work, but I'm not sure about the cause. I didn't have any linked tabs open before this. I only just noticed the feature last night and decided to try it out, and then had to go dig into MC settings to figure out how to enable MCWS.

Either way, I'm glad it works. This is a godsend feature in a godsend utility. Thanks for all the hard work you've done on this.

Edit: Ah, I see what you're saying now. I only ran into the problem because I'd never done it before.

[zybex]

Published Zelda v1.8:
- Add BBCode copy function to paste syntax-highlighted code on Yabb forum (see above)
- Fix opening new Linked tab [thanks Doof]
- Fix some syntax highlight corner cases

https://github.com/zybexXL/Zelda/releases/tag/v1.8.0

To copy syntax-highlighted code in Yabb's forum format, right-click on the expression and select "Copy for Yabb forum".
You can also do CTRL+Click to generate the alternative un-quoted style as seen above.

Important caveat:
If the expression contains some HTML tags such as <B>, <U> and <I>, the pasted code will include some extra non-visible characters to prevent the forum from mangling it. This however results in an invalid expression when copied back into MC, so Zelda will add a warning in red. To fix it, manually delete and re-type the HTML tags after pasting into MC.

Likewise, there's an option to include comments (lines starting with ##, grey highlight). These comments are only valid in Zelda, so a warning will also be shown to remind the user to delete them in MC.

[Doof]

Confirmed it now opens linked tabs for me without having to Ctrl-click.

Unfortunately, I'm now getting an unhandled exception error every time I try to close a tab. It doesn't seem to matter if it's linked or not. When I first ran this version after being prompted for the update, it opened up with a bunch of tabs re-opened that I had closed previously. When I tried re-closing them, I got the unhandled exception error, but I also get it when I try and close recently opened tabs as well.

I also was thinking that now that you're able to link directly to a field and edit it in place like this, is there a possibility of allowing the user to edit the Description field of the library field too?

[zybex]

Can you please paste the exception here? I can't reproduce it.

I also was thinking that now that you're able to link directly to a field and edit it in place like this, is there a possibility of allowing the user to edit the Description field of the library field too?

I thought about adding the creation/editing/deletion of Fields, but that would just be duplicating something that you can already do in MC. These are one-time things, I don't think it needs to be in Zelda. Do you have a specific usecase in mind?

[Doof]

No worries on the exception. I can't reproduce it now either. I do have the text from it from when I did get it, though. I attached it to this reply in case you're still curious.

As for the description field thing, I get what you're saying about not wanting to reproduce existing behavior, and I agree, that would be too much. My use case was that I was editing a field, which referenced another field that I couldn't remember what it did or what it's intention was, so I wanted to check it out. As I was browsing the list of my fields from Zelda's linked tab button, I realized how many I have and how hard it is to remember what each is for, and started wishing it would show the field's description in like a tooltip or something as I hover over them. Then I realized how few of my fields utilize the Description field (even though I requested that feature be added in the first place, embarrassingly enough), and then thought how nice it would be if I could edit the description right there from within Zelda as I was working on the expression itself. It's not crucial by any means, although the tooltip thing would be nice, or if it could alternatively display the description somewhere in the UI for the selected tab.

I also think we need to start petitioning the guys to add an "Edit in Zelda" right click option for fields in the tag window if it detects it's installed. 

[zybex]

I added some defensive code to prevent the exception.
I wanted to add the field Descriptions as tooltips but unfortunately the MCWS API doesn't provide them, so that's a no go.