New Compact Player Layout

[VX]

http://musicbee.niblseed.com/V2_1/MusicBee_Exe_Patched.zip

i have redone the Now Playing Assistant so you can now search any library filters, the inbox, radio stations etc
For the new compact player it now pops open when hovering on the left window edge (i havent provided a way to disable that just yet).
I can be pinned to stay open if required.
I would be interested in any feedback around this and whether it is sufficient to stop the need to go back to the main player window to build/ amend the Now Playing list

Thank you very much for the improvements!  I like the changes.
The only thing I miss for Modern Compact Player layout is Folder View for Now Playing Assistant. Otherwise it's great!

[ma_t14]

http://musicbee.niblseed.com/V2_1/MusicBee_Exe_Patched.zip

i have redone the Now Playing Assistant so you can now search any library filters, the inbox, radio stations etc
For the new compact player it now pops open when hovering on the left window edge (i havent provided a way to disable that just yet).
I can be pinned to stay open if required.
I would be interested in any feedback around this and whether it is sufficient to stop the need to go back to the main player window to build/ amend the Now Playing list

Some observations regarding the new changes,

I would like to see a way to resize the new now playing assistant and then have it pinned side by side with the now playing list on the right. It would be very convenient to be able to drag and drop tracks to the now playing list.

There seems to be bug if you pin the right sidebar and press the alt + J shortcut to bring up the assistant and then pin it, the whole interface freezes on some occasions.

Finally it would be nice to see the same transparency on the assistant as found on the right side bar, for the sake of consistency as well.

[Steven]

there are 3 reasons its on the left:
- so you can drag tracks from the NPA into the now playing list (assumming its displayed on the right) - you wouldnt be able to do that if its another tab on the right
- there isnt enough room for the tab headers if you have a smallish compact player size and have all tabs enabled
- having it on the left is more consistent with having the main player navigation

so i am not planning to change it to the right

[ma_t14]

What I'm saying is basically this. Nowhere did I say I wish to see the now playing assistant on the right though



EDIT

We are saying the same thing basically  

For some reason it was not possible to drag and drop before, now it works  

But it sometime always freezes the whole interface if you make the left and right panels appear side-by-side, as I mentioned before. And I would like to see a way to resize the width of the now playing assistant + some transparency would be nice for the sake of consistency

[Steven]

http://musicbee.niblseed.com/V2_1/MusicBee_Exe_Patched.zip

1. It works for accessing your library effectively, but not so much for browsing (as I imagine a lot of people do). If you don't know exactly what you want and just want a quick overview of your library it's not so effective. Perhaps allowing an artwork view would make this better?

i've added a setting to enable browsing by Album which displays artwork in the same was as when enabled in the right panel now playing list

for the bug where both the left and right panels are pinned, it wasnt my intention that could be done. It now closes the other panel so only one can be open. I accept there is one use case for having both open (if your now playing list is hidden and you want to drag files from the left panel to the right panel)

I will look at resizing the Now Playing Assistant panel and some of the other suggestions

[ma_t14]

Now it doesn't seem possible to drag tracks from the assistant to the right panel 

[Steven]

Now it doesn't seem possible to drag tracks from the assistant to the right panel 

i usually spend quite a bit of time testing things, so its usually some specific setting or way you are doing things that is the problem - "its not working" doesnt give me enough information

[ma_t14]

I mean, now that the two panels can't be set side by side the drag and drop functionality is gone... I hope you change it so it can be done in the future  

I was just repeating what you said, that you changed the behaviour so that only one panel can be open at any time

[9cupsoftea]

http://musicbee.niblseed.com/V2_1/MusicBee_Exe_Patched.zip

1. It works for accessing your library effectively, but not so much for browsing (as I imagine a lot of people do). If you don't know exactly what you want and just want a quick overview of your library it's not so effective. Perhaps allowing an artwork view would make this better?

i've added a setting to enable browsing by Album which displays artwork in the same was as when enabled in the right panel now playing list

for the bug where both the left and right panels are pinned, it wasnt my intention that could be done. It now closes the other panel so only one can be open. I accept there is one use case for having both open (if your now playing list is hidden and you want to drag files from the left panel to the right panel)

I will look at resizing the Now Playing Assistant panel and some of the other suggestions

This works great! I don't have the problem with drag and drop - I'm using the now playing list overlaid onto pictures.

[ma_t14]

This works great! I don't have the problem with drag and drop - I'm using the now playing list overlaid onto pictures.

It only happens when you have the overlay option disabled

[9cupsoftea]

This works great! I don't have the problem with drag and drop - I'm using the now playing list overlaid onto pictures.

It only happens when you have the overlay option disabled

I tried it that way and it still works for me. Do you mean that if you have the right list not displayed, auto open then pin the right now playing list, the left side list doesn't auto open (and vice versa)? Because that's what happens for me.

[ma_t14]

This works great! I don't have the problem with drag and drop - I'm using the now playing list overlaid onto pictures.

It only happens when you have the overlay option disabled

I tried it that way and it still works for me. Do you mean that if you have the right list not displayed, auto open then pin the right now playing list, the left side list doesn't auto open (and vice versa)? Because that's what happens for me.

Yes, exacly

[Alexis]

I think that double-clicking  the artist picture should do something with regards to the size of the player window.

[SimonBRT]

http://musicbee.niblseed.com/V2_1/MusicBee_Exe_Patched.zip

i have redone the Now Playing Assistant so you can now search any library filters, the inbox, radio stations etc
For the new compact player it now pops open when hovering on the left window edge (i havent provided a way to disable that just yet).
I can be pinned to stay open if required.
I would be interested in any feedback around this and whether it is sufficient to stop the need to go back to the main player window to build/ amend the Now Playing list

Finally had chance to play around with this.  I love it!  With this in place I can definitely see myself leaving MB in the gorgeous compact view on a more permanent basis.  Only really need to switch back to main player to tag or do some library management, which is completely fine.

[Steven]

http://musicbee.niblseed.com/V2_1/MusicBee_Exe_Patched.zip

- option in the main General application preferences to automatically switch to the Compact Player after playback has started (set to 5 seconds)
- when auto-switched to the Compact Player this way, on restarting MB the main musicbee application opens
- the Now Playing Assistant (left panel) can now be pinned at the same time as the right-auto hide panels
- the left and right autohide panels should not overlap any more
- fixed a couple of bugs

edit:
just uploaded the new version, so anyone who downloaded it already will need to re download it