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Support => Questions => Topic started by: Parallax on August 15, 2014, 07:33:18 PM

Title: [Solved] Theatermode - Now Playing
Post by: Parallax on August 15, 2014, 07:33:18 PM
Hi,

Just started tinkering with the layout of Theatermode:

One thing I cannot find out, is there a parameter to add a "now playing" element, or is a dockable "Now Playing Assistant" the only option?
Title: Re: Theatermode - Now Playing
Post by: redwing on August 15, 2014, 07:37:32 PM
Here it is:

- Now Playing list

i've added support for including the now playing list
http://musicbee.niblseed.com/V2_1/MusicBee_Exe_Patched.zip

in this example i just replaced the album in the Album and Artist example. It also includes a new attribute on child elements so you can format the playlist index
format="#\." puts a . after the number

Code
<element type="Block" x="10" y="210" width="360" height="35" bg="230,5,5,5" />
<element type="NowPlayingList" x="10" y="245" width="360" height="290" font="Arial" style="Regular" size="9.5" bg="180,5,5,5" fg="240,240,240" mouseOverFg="220,10,10" >
    <child width="15" />
    <child id="Speaker" width="23" />
    <child id="#" width="50" format="#\." align="center" />
    <child id="TrackArtistAndTitle" width="230" />
    <child id="Duration" />
</element>

also i have added a row padding attribute (default is 2)
<element type="NowPlayingList" ... rowPadding="5" .../>

But don't use it with "album track list" element together in the same view. Either of the two won't work properly.
Title: Re: Theatermode - Now Playing
Post by: Parallax on August 15, 2014, 11:07:34 PM
Thanks redwing!  :)

That works great for the most part - I have noticed a few oddities, not sure if I should report them as bugs or if this is intended behaviour.
(I guess I should add, I am using the latest 2.4 version of MusicBee)

First a working scenario:
Let's say my "now playing" list is empty. If I add an entire album using "Play with MusicBee", all the songs are displayed as they should be. The problem comes with the below scenarios when I start to add more tracks to the list.

1. When right-clicking one or more files in explorer and selecting "Queue Last in MusicBee", the "now playing" window does not refresh and show the newly added tracks - not until I manually click on a song to play it.

2. If I just choose "Play with MusicBee", the "now playing" window shows for instance only the three last songs. If I manually click on a song to play it again, the list refreshes and shows all songs loaded as it should be.

Here is how my "now playing" code looks at the moment:

Code
<element type="NowPlayingList" xAnchor="Panel.Right" x="-400" y="15" width="400" heightDock="Y:Panel.Bottom" height="-50" font="Segoe UI" style="Regular" size="8" fg="255,255,255" fg2="1,255,255" bg="150,10,10,10">
    <child id="#" width="25" format="#\." align="center" />
    <child id="TrackArtistAndTitle" width="175" />
<child id="Artist" width="175" />
    <child id="Duration" width="35" />
</element>


I am also wondering, is it possible to automatically hide the "now playing" window when the mouse-cursor is not "active" in MusicBee?
Title: Re: Theatermode - Now Playing
Post by: redwing on August 16, 2014, 03:55:59 AM
1. When right-clicking one or more files in explorer and selecting "Queue Last in MusicBee", the "now playing" window does not refresh and show the newly added tracks - not until I manually click on a song to play it.

2. If I just choose "Play with MusicBee", the "now playing" window shows for instance only the three last songs. If I manually click on a song to play it again, the list refreshes and shows all songs loaded as it should be.

I can replicate the issue. Probably such scenario as adding tracks from Windows Explorer was not considered for TM. You will need to ask Steven to fix this.

I am also wondering, is it possible to automatically hide the "now playing" window when the mouse-cursor is not "active" in MusicBee?

I did a test, but this kind of list type elements are not working properly over a mouse-over block. I'd recommend you use autoHide panel or FloatingPanel (http://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=8102.msg72210#msg72210) instead to hide the list.
Title: Re: Theatermode - Now Playing
Post by: Parallax on August 16, 2014, 01:45:08 PM
Thanks again - I submitted a bug report regarding this; going to mark this topic as solved.

I'm using your excellent Artist Frames as a template to learn how the different elements work - and in addition to your Lyrics-icon I now added an icon next to it to open the Now Playing list, using FloatingPanel on both so that they can be open at the same time.

Truely some great posibilities with Theater Mode :)
Title: Re: [Solved] Theatermode - Now Playing
Post by: redwing on August 16, 2014, 05:29:22 PM
Glad you're having fun with TM! I also saw the bug you reported was already fixed by Steven.
Album Frames view could be good for learning, but the code used in that view is old and faulty here and there. You might want to look at more recent views to learn about new elements. I've been working on updating old TM views of mine, but not done yet. So if you're planning to release your view based on that view, then let me know. I'll update the view first.

Title: Re: [Solved] Theatermode - Now Playing
Post by: Parallax on August 16, 2014, 07:18:48 PM
No plans just yet, want to make sure everything is on the up and up first :)
I'm quite a minimalist, so have stripped down a lot of the elements by now, love to have the artist pictures front and center - it's not easy to make sense of the x/y-Anchor names though, is there a topic on this? I'm trying to have the progress bar to the bottom-left corner and outwards from there.

[Edit]I figured it out :)