'Play All' in Music Library ??

[sub]

A compliment and a request:

This is great - I've been waiting for a long time for the ability to simply hit a few keystrokes and shuffle all the music in a location for parties. (I do know about the plugins but they require colored buttons which, as sub says above, not all of us have)

This shuffle function, however, does not appear to work at the "root" of GBPVRs configured directory structure. For example I have two music locations configured using the config app. We will call them:

[Local] -> c:\Local Music Library\
[Remote] -> \\Network Computer\Shared Music

Each contains multiple nested folders which sub mentions above will be included in the randomized playlist.

I would like to be able to hover over [Remote] which, again, lies at the 'root' of GBPVR's knowledge of the directories it uses for music, and play all the music, randomized, at that top-level location. Pressing "Play" while hovering over [Remote] now kicks me back to the main menu with no other action. I can only randomize all tracks within a subfolder.

weisguy, the attached patch should resolve this scenario.

With this patch users can also specify <AutoShuffleRecursivePlay>false</AutoShuffleRecursivePlay> in config.xml if they'd prefer the auto shuffle doesnt occur.

[weisguy]

This is just brilliant - I actually have no reason to keep my old CD changer attached to my stereo system any more... sub you have accidentally triggered (another) remodeling of my entertainment center.

Is there any way to skip to the next track for now, or is that something that's coming back eventually in pvrx2? The buttons "LIBRARY_AUDIO_FF" and "LIBRARY_AUDIO_RW" I have defined in keymappings do not have any effect on playback, whether or not I use windows media player as defined in config.xml.

[BobAtTorrey]

Susb,
Like the others, and as always, I THANK You for listening to the comments here and responding with the suggested improvements.

The post by reedmikel, which discussed by-artist directory organization of albums, relates somewhat to my one remaining strong wish for Music Library. The long and short of it is, I would very much appreciate it if Music Library would support shortcuts to folders. There are lots of benefits to doing this (provides a hugely powerful ability to categorize music, for which 'genre' is woefully deficient). It’s enough of a different topic that I’ve start a new thread in Wishlist and ask there that others comment and that you PLEASE consider it. That thread is here:
http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...post244134

[sub]

support for shortcuts to folders

Your wish is granted...

[BobAtTorrey]

Sub,

Bless you, bless you, bless you my son. MANY thanks for your willingness to make this change.

HOWEVER I replaced my PVRX2.exe with the one in your posting and Music Library now seems very sick. Via the MVP, I get the Music Library screen but it shows NONE of my library whatsoever. Via the PC, it momentarily flashes the Music Library screen and then returns to the main menu.
???
Attached are the log files.

Thanks ... Bob

[sub]

Sorry, I just realised you'll need this file as well now. Just put it in your gbpvr directory.

[reedmikel]

Thanks for all these enhancements Sub!

[BobAtTorrey]

Sub,
May your goats always bring you milk and may your camels know every oasis.
Shortcuts to folders works perfectly! MANY THANKS!

Cheers ... Bob

[sub]

I've got rid of the need for that extra DLL for the next release.

[BobAtTorrey]

This is a reply to Sub's posting, http://forums.gbpvr.com/showpost.php?p=2...stcount=20 regarding possible use of the FF key in Music Library related to shuffle.

I can't say this I've thoroughly thought this out, but it seems to me there is an opportunity to attack this is in a more general way.
There is a general difficulty in dealing with anything like Music Library (but may apply to other modules as well), that the screen has two 'frames'. In Music Library, on the left is a frame with the vertical list of buttons, and on the right is a frame with the list, table, or matrix of objects (e.g., albums). Some of the buttons on the left, are buttons which you'd like to apply to the object presently selected in the frame on the right. On a PC, you can directly click a button on the left, or even use a keyboard shortcut. However, with a remote control, where there is no key/button which clearly connotes the desired function, and this presents a problem. You can 'steal' a key for your purpose (e.g., Shuffle). You can do this with the color buttons, which aren't universal (and hence Sub's reluctance to rely on them). Or, you can use the up/down and left/right keys to position over to the appropriate menu button in the left frame. The problem with this latter approach is you've lost focus on the object to which you'd like to apply the function of the menu button to which you've moved.

So here's a possible alternative: Pick two keys, such as Fast-Forward and Fast-Reverse, or Replay and Skip, which tend to pictorially depict Left and Right on the remote, or which at least have a general connotation of leftness and rightness to most people. [If absolutely necessary, it could be a single key, which then behaves like a toggle/switch between frames.]

So, if I have just used the remote on the right frame to highlight an album, I could hit, say, the Fast-Reverse key to get to the menu frame on the left, position to the Shuffle button, and click OK on that -- meaning Shuffle the selected object. (Or perhaps it could be a tri-mode button meaning 'Shuffle Henceforth', 'Shuffle-Selected-Object', or 'Shuffle-Off' -- but there would need to be some visual feedback for that.) When I've done with whatever buttons I need, I could hit Fast-Forward and position back to the selected object in the right frame.

Good news and bad news here. Good: It's a more general approach, presumably generalizeable to some other modules (e.g., Video or Recordings?) and is somewhat intuitive. Consistency and intuitive are good.
Bad: It's not a quick implementation. E.g., it suggests you have a mechanism to preserve focus while doing something else, which may not exist now in the code.

Anyway, it clearly requires more thought, but I generally try to avoid one-off non-intuitive tweaks if there is a more generalized and intuitive alternative, and perhaps this is such an opportunity.

Cheers .... Bob