MusicAlbum Plugin Source Code available

[tieke]

Hi All,

Just to let you know that I contacted Tobias, and he has kindly provided the source code to the MusicAlbum plugin, which I have put up on the wiki and have also started putting up an html-ised version of his pdf manual there too.

For those who don't know it, the plugin is an alternative to the built-in music module. As the name suggests, it is a much improved way of handling Albums - browsing them, queuing entire albums or just single songs etc.

As recursive folder scanning is not yet operational, the best way to use this plugin is to have a base directory with M3U playlists for all the albums you want included, and to deselect “allow directories” but select “allow playlists” in the config options.

It is mostly functional as it stands - the major remaining first revision requests/bugs are:

• you sometimes get an "Object reference not set to an instance of an object" error when exiting from the plugin to the main directory.
  
• recursive directory scanning is not yet supported
  
• full skinning not yet supported.
  

Random play had also been requested, but Tobias didn't want to set up a database akin to that used by the Jukebox plugin - he was toying with the idea of randomising the playlist by temporarily saving the current playlist, randomising it, then reading it back, but hadn't really progressed with this. (See the last Music Albums thread for details.)

Tobias can no longer work on the plugin, but if anyone wants to pick this one up, they are free to do so - as I said, I have copied the source files to the wiki. Tobias also used the Windows Media Format SDK, which I didn't put up on the wiki, because it is quite big and you can download it from Microsoft anyway (currently up to v9.5, although I think Tobias used v9). The links for this are also on the wiki, next to the source-code link.

cheers,

tieke

[paulg]

No promises, but I have picked up the source and made some initial changes. I like the simplicity of this player. I have recdursive folders working no problem. I am working on some basic changes in the way the user navigates. I will look to making it fully skinable after I make some of these basic changes. I will be guided by major WAF so it will be simple and may have some Tivo like feeling. I suspect it will never be great for large collections since it builds the list of available albums on the fly (ie no database) but that keeps it simple also.

Let me know if you have requests.

paulg

[jorm]

Tieke,
Excellent work getting the source code.

paulg,
Glad to here that you have decided to enhance it (at least for now). I have used the plugin briefly but always was waiting until the recursive folders were working. I had requested the source at one point I never got it. Which is good since I have enough on my plate as is.

A database is pretty easy to do, I agree I would not try to introduce one at least not until you here users complaining. If you need any help let me know.

one suggestion to support multiple paths instead one. You can combine the list of albums into one list but sometimes this is helpful. If you want I have some code to read a list of values from the config. Pretty easy.

XmlDocument configuration = PluginHelperFactory.getPluginHelper().GetConfiguration();
listOfDirectories = new ArrayList();
int i = 1;
while ( true )
{
Logger.Info("Reading path XVideoPath" + i );
XmlNode node = configuration.SelectSingleNode("/settings/PluginSettings/xrecord/PathElement[@name=\"XVideoPath" + i + "\"]");
i++;
if ( node == null )
{
break;
}
else
{
string path = node.InnerText;
Logger.Info("\tpath " + path );
if ( path.Length != 0 )
listOfDirectories.Add( path );
}
}
}

[paulg]

thanks jorm. I will add multiple directories. Its just another loop :o

so far I have done some basic cleanup of the code. Simple things like:

Left the layout the same with Album box, song file box and summary of queue.

removed navigation using the colored buttons. All navigation is through the r/l/u/n buttons and select.

The plugin always starts with the album list and the associated song list. right button moves you from the album list to the song list. another right shows you the summary of the song queue. Left buton goes back the other way all the way back to main menu. select will add the album or song that is under the cursor.

recursive directories will start at the configured main directory and add all M3U playlists and album files that it finds to the album list. M3Us can be anywhere. The show M3u and show directory configuration options still work so you can select which you want or both.

When you scroll through the albums, the song box is updated with the songs for that album.

Thats all for now. I will test it and then look for volunteers. I will likely post it as a new plugin so as not to overlay the existing musicalbum plugin. I need to test it a little more before I do that and get the install script working.

Paulg

[jorm]

what are you using for the installer? I am using nullsoft (freeware) for XRecord. Works pretty good. If you need help let me know. There is an example script on the xrecord wiki page

[tieke]

Sounds great - Just two things I thought of:
I remember that the initial reason for the song box not immediately updating when the album was selected was primarily a speed issue (perhaps MVP-related?) Someone had suggested that to keep the scrolling speed relatively high, the song box need not be shown unless the album had been selected for more than a second or two. Don't know if you have an MVP, so this may not be an issue for you.

Your new navigation sounds good, but when you say that you have removed all colour-button navigation, do you include the page up/down controls? On my PC-based unit I can just use page-up/down, but on the MVP it takes quite some time to scroll through 800-odd albums one-by-one. Jumping to an initial letter or a percentage would of course be even better, but if a colour-button page up/down could be left in even as an a option, that would be great.

Thanks for picking this one up - the original already does almost everything I need for playing albums (I use myVideos for browsing my random collections), but I know quite a few people were waiting on recursive folders, so that should be a big improvement.

cheers,

tieke

[paulg]

thanks, its actually been fun. I have left the code in for page up/dn. I am looking to use the channel up/dn to do the same. I have to deal with the use of OFA 6131 remote that does not have the colored buttons. In the mean time the old colored buttons will continue to work.

Paulg

[johnburton]

The Music Album plugin is the only one that I use apart from sub's standard plugins and skins.
The current version has been doing the job for me - apart from the "object reference etc" error and the fact that after using the plug in the MVP goes into lala land and needs to be rebooted sometimes - probably memory related or something.

My simple single music directory structure works fine and so have not hit any constarints there.

The only enhancement I would like is an undo when you accidentally add the wrong album to the playing queue there is no simple way of reversing the selection.

I would be happy to trial any enhancements on this.

[paulg]

Thanks for the input. I am trying to keep it simple and have cleaned up a number of issues. I do not have an MVP so I will need help testing that. I have been looking at the "undo" or remove from queue capability. Its not straight forward the way the code is set up today. Hoping that I will run across an AH HA at some point. Have a basic install package working so I should be able to post something soon.

I am finishing up the multiple music directory feature. Struggling a little with config.xml file but should have it working in the next day or two.

Paulg

[Jeff]

You might take a look at the wather plug-in source code. it uses the CommonGBPVRUtilities.dll library to manage the config.xml file. it only takes one line of code to read a property and one to write it.

Jeff