Stations V3-2

[nynaevelan]

Ray:

I've hadn't gotten a chance to send in my input yet but here goes... Although my initial thought was that I would not want to use the toolbar option except for quick ways to get to a playlist, my initial thoughts were incorrect. I really do like it and this option will be perfect for my work computer since I do not have a large monitor and space is limited. And unlike MM3Monkey on my home computer I do prefer to use both. The original stations is my preferred method but the toolbar has its benefits as well. Great job with this update!!

Nyn

[raybeau528]

mm3 monkey - had me there for a minute!

Nyn, glad you like it. As I mentioned previously, I'll add an option to hide/show button/icon shortly.

Ray

[raybeau528]

Just to let you know...v2-6 is available. Includes option setting to hide the Buttons Panel and/or the Toolbar ICON.
It also includes some performance improvements when seeking a node in the tree as well as the right-click and toolbar menus.

Let me know if everything works ok for you. I seem to be getting more of those SDB.IniFile updates not working with 3.1.0.1213 but can't pin point the problem.

Ray

[raybeau528]

Stations V3-0 is now available. Here's the write up in the first post. Several things to be aware of:
1. All options are saved in /scripts/auto/stations.ini rather than MediaMonkey.ini since there still seems to be
issues with the 3.1 implementation.
2. No conversion utility is available to convert the old ini to the new. You can't just copy it as the
implementation has changed to support the new version. I will look at creating one so don't go wild with this yet if you want to preserve your settings but surely give it a test ride and let me know of any issues.
3. V3.1 only




Stations V3-0 is completely rewritten and replaces the buttons panel and the options panel with 3 icon-driven
functions.

Right Click on a Node or PlayList in the Tree then select "Set Station" to associate a Station with a Node or PlayList
- Select New Station to create a new Station
- or select an existing Station to associate
Click Edit/ReSet Station to clear a previously set Station
Click on the Play Station Icon to play the tracks from the associated PlayList or Node

There is no arbitrary limit of 10 stations or 10 node/playlists per stations with V3-0. This was my main
motivation for this implementation. There is no longer any concept of Station A, B, C, etc. The only stations and node/playlists that show up in the menus are those that are defined -ie no empty buckets.

The On-Play-Action is determined from the Options/Player/On-Play action settings rather than the
Options/Stations settings.


Any/all feedback is welcome.

Ray

[MM3 monkey]

Thanks, I like it more and more (and it's been fab for a while already!).

I'm guessing you've been PM-ing Nyn? It looks like you've got rid of the panel; I thought Nyn was very keen to keep that.

Personally I don't want the panel (a bit ugly and clunky and difficult to put somewhere where it can stay, unaffected by opening closing other panels and/or re-sizing them) but that's just me.

Two things:

I wonder if there is meant to be a Stations entry under Tools > Scripts? I can just leave it alone, it's not important.

I've only set two stations, each with only one 'playlist'.
I have "clear tracks and play selected" as my on-play action but only one of the stations makes that happen.
The other one appends the tracks to Now Playing and does not start playing the tracks.
The one that works is an artist node; the one that doesn't work is a playlist.

HTH. Thank you again.

[nynaevelan]

MM3:

Haha, no I was not consulted for the changes. Although I was a little skeptical about giving up the buttons, I am not that adamant about giving them up since I am gaining the possibility of unlimited stations. However, like you I am having trouble getting the new stations to follow the behavior of the previous stations. For me I prefer that they are added to the end of the list but that is not what is happening. They keep replacing what is currently in the now playing panel. So far I have only tried it when tracks have actually been playing and my understanding of the setup means they should be added to the end. All of my stations are built from playlists. Maybe my settings are not setup correct, this is what they look like. Do I have soemthing setup wrong?



Nyn

[raybeau528]

I wonder if there is meant to be a Stations entry under Tools > Scripts? I can just leave it alone, it's not important.

No. Why are you asking? Is there something missing?

I have "clear tracks and play selected" as my on-play action but only one of the stations makes that happen.

I'll take a look at that. Shouldn't be a problem to fix.

Maybe my settings are not setup correct, this is what they look like. Do I have something setup wrong?

Your 'Play-Now' action looks like it would Clear the now playing first. When you select a playlist directly from the tree does it not clear the now playing? Either way it looks like there's a bug in my logic based on MM3's feedback.

I've also already fixed the annoyance of the tree behavior when Setting a Station.

Regarding this V3 implementation. I liked the icon-driven menus of 2.7 but didn't like the fixed 10 stations/substations, and thus the rewrite. V2.7 is still available and if you have issues or it needs minor improvements I'll be happy to work on it. The icon-menu function of v2.7 will not evolve to work like v3.x,
the architecture won't support that.

Thanks for your feedback!

Ray

[nynaevelan]

Your 'Play-Now' action looks like it would Clear the now playing first. When you select a playlist directly from the tree does it not clear the now playing? Either way it looks like there's a bug in my logic based on MM3's feedback.

Ray

Yes it does and that is the problem. I do not want it to clear the np, I want it to add to the end but I do not think there is an option for that natively in MM.

Nyn

[raybeau528]

Ah ha. I was just going through the Now Playing choices (without stations) and when you're working with the tree nodes, which is what Stations does, here's what I observed:

1. Clear tracks and play selected plus subsequent

MM: Clears now playing and copies all tracks to Now Playing and starts playing the first track.

Stations (node): Should do the same

Stations (Playlist): Should do the same

2. Clear Tracks and Play Selected only

Since the selection is a node or playlist this setting should work exactly like in 1 above. Selecting a node
implies selecting all tracks.

3. Play Selected tracks only

MM: Inserts the tracks after the current playing track (not at the end of the now playing track list).

Stations (node): Should do the same

Stations(playlist): Should add tracks to the End of the Now Playing track list. If playing a track then
continues playing. If not playing a track, starts playing.

That's as close as I can get it to the MM method and will make appropriate changes.

Ray

PS if you want MM to add tracks to the end natively, you might want to submit a request in the wish list.
I'm surprised it doesn't do that already. It's certainly easier, from a script, to add it to the end rather in
the middle.

[raybeau528]

V3-1 is now available with changes described in previous post regarding Play-Now action.

Ray

[nynaevelan]

Ray:

I am getting following error in 3.1.1216 when starting MM, it usually happens several times when I start up especially when I have tracks in my now playing list which are saved to the mediamonkey.m3u file. Any way to fix this, I would hate to have to give up my stations or my now playling list?



Nyn

[raybeau528]

Nyn,

Something similar happened to me too! But I think it's something to do with the extraneous MM processes.

I'll look into it some more.

Ray

[antiduplicity]

Please make an option to alphabetize the list of playlists under each station.

Thanks

[raybeau528]

Should the Stations be sorted by alpha as well? Should that just be the default, not an option? I'm trying to avoid an options panel (can you tell?).

Ray

[nynaevelan]

I know you hate options but can you not make this one the default or if you do have it setup so that the user can turn it on/off in the vbs? I do not want my stations or playlists sorted, I want them to appear as I set them up.

Nyn