MMPortable in the Notification Area

[kiwichick]

Hi there, This has happened in all versions of MMPortable so I switched to using the MicroPlayer instead. But now that MicroPlayer has been disabled in MMPortable, I am stuck with this problem again. I'm using Windows 7. I have MMPortable set to 'Close to tray'. I don't have the notification area set to 'Always show all icons and notifications in the taskbar'. I have the MediaMonkey notification area entry set to 'Show icon and notifications'. As long as MM is still running and only closed to the tray, it works fine. But, as soon as I completely exit MM, when I restart MM, it creates a new entry in the Notification Area. So, I have to change the settings for each new entry and, of course, I end up with multiple Media Monkey entries. The screenshot shows how there is one entry for just MediaMonkey and 2 entries for MediaMonkey with song title/artist/length. It's the entries with song details that are re-created.

[Mizery_Made]

Are you sure that you don't have three instances of MM running for your screenshot? One that isn't playing anything, and then two that do have tracks in the player? Even the standard install version of the program will "change" in that window, as the track that is playing changes. I haven't seen this affect whether the setting is remembered or not. Even with the Portable install. I find that changing the setting for my portable install and restarting the program results in the setting being remembered, which is a little unexpected since portable programs aren't supposed to "leave a trace."

[rusty]

kiwichick,

If mizery is right and the root cause is that each instance of MM isn't terminating correctly, please try disabling all your addons, and adding them back 1 by 1 to figure out which might be causing the problem.


Mizery,

I think that the setting a config in Windows for any portable app will work. e.g. you can associate .zip files with a portable version of .7zip. A properly behaved portable app won't do this by default, but if the user configures this to happen via Windows, a portable app can't really prevent it.

-Rusty

[kiwichick]

Thanks guys,

Are you sure that you don't have three instances of MM running?

No I do not have multiple instances of MM running. It shows only once in the Task Manager. Although this happens at seemingly random times, it ALWAYS happens on the first computer startup of the day when NO instances of MM are running. I have just run MM for the first time today and it has created yet another entry for which I have had to change the settings. Portability should not be the problem as I use only portable apps (if I can) and this is the one of a few that doesn't retain its setting in the notification area. Of course this could be a Windows problem and nothing to do with MM at all.

please try disabling all your addons, and adding them back 1 by 1 to figure out which might be causing the problem.

No offense intended but it surprises me how many times people give suggestions but give no instructions for the suggestions (it cannot be assumed that users understand what is being suggested). So please, how do I disable all addons then add them back one at a time?

[nohitter151]

No offense intended but it surprises me how many times people give suggestions but give no instructions for the suggestions (it cannot be assumed that users understand what is being suggested). So please, how do I disable all addons then add them back one at a time?

Move them out of the scripts folder. Add back 1 at a time, and start MM. But again, this was only suggested if the issue was actually multiple instances of MM running at the same time (you should check under the "Processes" tab of the task manager, not the "Applications" tab).

[Mizery_Made]

(you should check under the "Processes" tab of the task manager, not the "Applications" tab

Especially since if you have it "closed to the tray," then it won't show in the "Applications" tab.

[kiwichick]

Sorry guys, I know I didn't mention it but the Processes tab is what I meant. There is only one instance. I shall do some more investigating and see if I can discover anything.

[tommycrock]

I only notice multiple MM icons in the notification area when MM crashes (perhaps because I only unhide at that point) but not because I've started multiple instances of MM. This isn't with MM portable but normal.

[Lowlander]

Hover over the tray icons and they should disappear.

[tommycrock]

Hover over the tray icons and they should disappear.

Thanks. I do, and they do, but it's a bit odd. And I saw last night that it happens when it hasn't crashed too.

[Lowlander]

That's 'normal' Windows behavior, it happens with any crashed application.

[tommycrock]

But as I say, I've seen it with an uncrashed MM.

[kiwichick]

Well I've cleared the notification cache a couple of times to see if that helps but no luck. There is simply no rhyme or reason to it - it happens completely randomly. Sometimes a new MM entry is created, sometimes it isn't. Sometimes the 'show icon and notification' sticks, sometimes it doesn't. It may or may not happen when: restarting MM, restarting computer, exiting MM with a different song in the playlist to the last time it was exited. I can't figure it out at all. All I can say for sure is it has NOTHING whatsoever to do with MM crashing or multiple instances in Task Manager.

[MM user]

Maybe I can join in. I'm not sure if I have exactely the same annoying behaviour here, but I'm pretty sure.

The problem is as follows:

The notification area of Windows 7 seems to recognize MM as a new application as soon as there is another (new) song 'playing' (even if it's stopped). The notification area not just says 'MediaMonkey' as application it says 'MediaMonkey [new line] artist - track | playing time/total track duration'. I honestly think that the programmers of MM just made a mistake with the application information that is sent from MM to the API that is responsible for the notification area.

It's very annoying! And very easy to replicate. Just use 'minimize to tray' (I'm not talking about 'always show icon in tray' or 'close to tray'), play any album and minimize to tray, wait for the next song to be played, maximize and minimize again. Then the tray icon should be 'gone' again (it not really gone but it's in the 'only show nitification' area of the tray) and you have to bring it back by set it to 'show symbal and notifications'. As soon as the next song is played the game starts anew.
That of course only is true if you haven't done that already for that particular song. But be honest, who want's to do that for every single song???

And even if you choose to select 'always show tray icon' the problem stays the same, because Windows 7 is told that if there's a new song playing, it's a new application that has never defined in regards to the notification area.

It's a bug, it's that simple.

[MM user]

Additional info: When testing my hypothesis it might me necessary to click on 'show hidden icons' to "update the notifaction area". When clicking the "button" the MM icon switches into the 'hidden icons selection' if icon of MM with the new song 'active' (playing or stopped doesn't matter, the song info of the new song just has to be listed when entering the configuration windows for the notification area) never has been set to be shown always.