getmusicbee.com
General => MusicBee Wishlist => Topic started by: Steven on April 09, 2016, 08:41:53 PM
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regarding possible future changes to the playlist manager discussed on pages 194-195
http://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=15050.msg107156#msg107156 and onwards
http://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=15050.msg107182#msg107182 and onwards
i am planning to give this some consideration for what would be done for v3.1
I can see where people are coming from for having it as a standalone panel that just has the list of playlists and i am inclined to do this as an additional thing to the current functionality.
I imagine for many people, organising playlists is done infrequently and on an adhoc basis. So having to choose the panel from the panel arrangement dialog is an extra step that makes it harder, so thats why i wouldnt want to get rid of the existing method. To be honest i have been quite surprised at the confusion the existing functionality has caused.
If it were to also make it available as an element, one thing i dont have clear in my head is how to reconcile the info displayed in the main panel (which would be the contents of the selected playlist) with the node the user has currently selected in the left navigator and what the behavior would be if they clicked another node in the left navigator (probably the main panel would show the contents of the most recent clicked thing where that be a playlist or a node in the left navigator).
If anyone wants to throw in new comments or re-iterate something already said then please do. Also think about it from the perspective of somewho who building a new playlist and also from the perspective of someone who just wants to play from an existing playlist
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If it were to also make it available as an element, one thing i dont have clear in my head is how to reconcile the info displayed in the main panel (which would be the contents of the selected playlist) with the node the user has currently selected in the left navigator and what the behavior would be if they clicked another node in the left navigator (probably the main panel would show the contents of the most recent clicked thing where that be a playlist or a node in the left navigator).
If anyone wants to throw in new comments or re-iterate something already said then please do. Also think about it from the perspective of somewho who building a new playlist and also from the perspective of someone who just wants to play from an existing playlist
I see the conundrum you're talking about, what to show in the main panel. Personally, I would literally treat playlists manager the same as the playlists node in the navigator - somewhat as now, but without the duplication. If the playlist manager is open, force the playlists in the navigator to be hidden. Then, if you select a playlist in the playlist manager, you see the playlist and if you selected a node in the navigator, you see that node, exactly as now. (Either you could only have a selected item in one or the other, or it would be like selecting tracks in the playing tracks list vs the main panel - both items remain "selected" but only the most recent selection is "active".) And of course the playlists manager would remain visible regardless of whether a playlist was selected.
The playlists manager should have ALL the same functionality as the playlists node, at a bare minimum. Collapsible folders, right click menu options, etc. (One thing I've seen the playlist manager doing better is that it puts duplicated playlists right next to the source playlist - definitely keep that!)
Maybe this should be split into a new thread. :)
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Maybe it would be less confusing not to show left navigator and playlist manager at the same time. And no need to make it as another element.
So if you click on playlist manager under playlist section (as now), then left sidebar turns into playlist manager. If you close it down, it turns back to left navigator. Of course it can be also opened as a tab and pinned for easy access (as now).
Then it would need music library node (with filters), audiobooks, inbox, playlist folders, computer, and devices node: all nodes where you can drag and drop files. And make it remember which nodes/folders were collapsed when last used.
If all these get supported, then it could pop out when dragging tracks from main panel in place of the current left navigator.
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Maybe it would be less confusing not to show left navigator and playlist manager at the same time. And no need to make it as another element.
So if you click on playlist manager under playlist section (as now), then left sidebar turns into playlist manager. If you close it down, it turns back to left navigator. Of course it can be also opened as a tab and pinned for easy access (as now).
Then it would need music library node (with filters), audiobooks, inbox, playlist folders, computer, and devices node: all nodes where you can drag and drop files. And make it remember which nodes/folders were collapsed when last used.
I disagree about not needing to make it a separate element. I would probably auto-hide the navigator and have the playlist manager shown, but they need to coexist in any case. Having any other nodes in it reduces the amount of space for the playlists, which is the whole point. I know I'm not the only one who would like to maximize the space for showing playlists. Plus, why duplicate pieces that are already there and working fine?
Also, having it be an element will be the simplest for new users. I was disoriented by the fact that once I opened it and had the playlists shown, trying to go to the music node to find things to add to the playlists caused it to close again (unless the playlist manager has nodes, in which case see above). If it walks like an element and talks like an element...
If all these get supported, then it could pop out when dragging tracks from main panel in place of the current left navigator.
This could be handy, yes. Although I imagine it could be tricky figuring out which one to have pop out. Maybe go with wherever the playlists are.
Edit:
I imagine for many people, organising playlists is done infrequently and on an adhoc basis. So having to choose the panel from the panel arrangement dialog is an extra step that makes it harder, so thats why i wouldnt want to get rid of the existing method. To be honest i have been quite surprised at the confusion the existing functionality has caused.
I've been thinking about this, and I think what happened is that people (me, for sure) expected more of a playlist manager than just organization. The name "manager" suggests... well, management. All the current tools, and maybe more. You stumbled on an unmet desire that was bigger than you first imagined. :)
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I disagree about not needing to make it a separate element. I would probably auto-hide the navigator and have the playlist manager shown, but they need to coexist in any case.
When do you think you would need both of left navigator and playlist manager shown if playlist manager supports all source nodes?
Having any other nodes in it reduces the amount of space for the playlists, which is the whole point. I know I'm not the only one who would like to maximize the space for showing playlists.
Lots of people are dragging source files from computer folders rather than from music node or filters. Also why not support dragging files to devices as it's basically the same function as dragging to playlists?
Plus, why duplicate pieces that are already there and working fine?
You can say that about playlists as well.
Also, having it be an element will be the simplest for new users. I was disoriented by the fact that once I opened it and had the playlists shown, trying to go to the music node to find things to add to the playlists caused it to close again (unless the playlist manager has nodes, in which case see above). If it walks like an element and talks like an element...
I'm not strictly against making it as an element. Just thought making it as a different mode of left navigator would work simpler as then it won't show up along with left navigator. Also I don't see any reason why it would be more difficult for new users to use.
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When do you think you would need both of left navigator and playlist manager shown if playlist manager supports all source nodes?
See comments about maximizing space for playlists.
Lots of people are dragging source files from computer folders rather than from music node or filters. Also why not support dragging files to devices as it's basically the same function as dragging to playlists?
All of the above would work exactly as they do now, although I could see dragging to a navigator node running into a conflict of whether to pop it out or not. But if they're going to be doing that a lot, the user would probably close the playlist manager anyway.
You can say that about playlists as well.
Did you see my comment about hiding the playlists node? The result would be having more space for playlists AND for other navigator elements.
I'm not strictly against making it as an element. Just thought making it as a different mode of left navigator would work simpler as then it won't show up along with left navigator. Also I don't see any reason why it would be more difficult for new users to use.
That's always an option if the panels are stackable.
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People would have different preferences about what nodes should be available on the playlist manager. It could have a setting where each kind of nodes (library filters, computer, devices, etc.) is tickable to show up.
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I can see where people are coming from for having it as a standalone panel that just has the list of playlists and i am inclined to do this as an additional thing to the current functionality.
I guess that would be similar to the way iTunes handles playlists now, as seen here:
http://core0.staticworld.net/images/article/2012/12/playlists-view-100017934-orig.png
I'm wondering how the playlist manager will deal with library filters, for instance will it inherit its filter from the left navigator?
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Forgot to mention one thing. Sometimes it's hard to show both a source node and a target node (say a playlist) on the same screen without scrolling especially when both are nested deeply in folders. So it would be great if it has separate panels - source nodes (library, inbox, computer, etc.) at the top & target nodes (playlists, devices) at the bottom. Of course the height of each panel need to be adjustable, and it won't be separated unless at least one from both nodes are activated. Again, I am against the idea of showing left navigator and playlist manager side by side (as now) as it's waste of space.
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Again, I am against the idea of showing left navigator and playlist manager side by side (as now) as it's waste of space.
And again, some of us WANT the extra space. If it was two panels, they could be stacked. I'll leave that alone, now. :)
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For me the issue has always been organization and space. Originally I saw the library nodes in the PM as unneccessary because there are other ways to bring tracks into a playlist, but I understand that some people prefer to drag/drop tracks directly into the PM. Maybe dragging a track into the playlist tab could open the PM? Anyway the way I see it, the most important feature here is collapsable folders, which will create a more organized and spacious manager. I wouldn't mind the library nodes in the manager if they are located in a single collapsible Library folder.
I don't mind the element idea. This might sound dumb, but I would LOVE to be able to stack multiple managers. So that selecting a stacked tab in the PM header would display another category/group of playlists, the same way different elements are selected/displayed in a panel. Playlists are a powerful tool in MB, so having a hundred of them really isn't far-fetched. I recently created my podcast's archives as playlists, so I would love to have a tab just for those. I also like to create a "top-rated" playlist for many of the artists in my library, so another tab just for those would be fantastic, etc... Combined with the collapsible folders, it would make storing and retreiving playlists a dream.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to whatever improvements are decided.
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Heya,
great topic, as playlist management (for Serato/Traktor/Rekordbox via iTuns.xml & m3u for local organising) is one of the main reasons I adopted MusicBee.
The one thing I found most confusing, and haven't seen a good explanation as to why - what is/was the purpose of the Playlist Manager (which the navigator-playlist way couldn't supply) ?
As for general things around playlists, I scribbled some down here:
http://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=15050.msg107269#msg107269
mostly about inconsistencies between the 2 that confused me as a new user.
Additionally, when talking about playlists in general, these would be most welcome changes/features (imo):
MusicBee playlists & iTunes export should be in sync (organizational folders from MusicBee's playlists aren't exported into iTunes .xml ):
http://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=15165.msg106668#msg106668
UFT formatting (as user options ?) - iTunes xml & m3u files - some programs need these to be UTF-8 (Without BOM) as natively written by iTunes, whereas MusicBee writes both in UTF-8 With BOM encoding:
http://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=17948.msg107446#msg107446
Playlist - persistent/static VS dynamic (as a user setting):
Not sure where this was, but Steven changed this for static playlists to allow dead entries for static/persistent playlists (Thanks for that btw!)
I still have to work more with MusicBee's playlists... I'm still in the process of re-organizing my library (first in 8 years... had a good system, but could be improved, so doing that now...)... but next will be a huge playlist re-linking task, for which I'll use MusicBee extensively.
Cheers.
c.
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i think what i will do is provide some way in which the Playlists section of the left navigator can be moved to the left main panel (and back again).
When that is done, the left navigator would only contain a single "Playlists" node and you would be able to navigate to other nodes in the left navigator and the Playlists section would remain in the left navigator.
I havent figured out the mechanism by which the user indicates the Playlists node should split out. I dont think drag/drop would suffice - it needs to be something more obvious for someone who hasnt read this post. And it would not be done via the Panel Arrangement dialog.
For users who have the left navigator hidden (the default for new users), the Playlists when docked in the left main panel would also include Library, Audiobooks, etc nodes as now with the existing Playlist Manager so they can drag files from the library into playlist(s)
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When that is done, the left navigator would only contain a single "Playlists" node and you would be able to navigate to other nodes in the left navigator and the Playlists section would remain in the left navigator.
You meant left main panel there, right?
I havent figured out the mechanism by which the user indicates the Playlists node should split out. I dont think drag/drop would suffice - it needs to be something more obvious for someone who hasnt read this post. And it would not be done via the Panel Arrangement dialog.
Current playlist manager node would work fine. If the user clicks on it, playlist node on the left navigator would only contain Auto-DJ node, and the rest of playlist node would move to the left main panel.
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When that is done, the left navigator would only contain a single "Playlists" node and you would be able to navigate to other nodes in the left navigator and the Playlists section would remain in the left navigator.
You meant left main panel there, right?
yes thats right, although i am having seconds thoughts about doing it because I think "Edit Playlists" as described following should mean the Playlist Manager panel wouldnt need to be locked in the left main panel.
I was having a look at the latest iTunes and how it does things generally and for playlists. I have to say generally i didnt like it at all except for the "Edit Playlists" button which i think i will do the same ie. click Edit Playlist, and the playlist moves to the right sidebar and the music library (or whatever left navigator node you select) shows in the main panel. So you can easily drag tracks into the playlist. That way i can get rid of the 3 library nodes that currently display at the bottom of the Playlist Manager
For those of you who wanted the Playlist Manager as a separate element, given what i just said, is there a strong reason for still having that?
To be clear, while I am not opposed to this and can see ways it increases flexibility, i do think having it as an element will create some confusion, so i want to be sure there is a genuine need thats not covered by whats already there now or proposed above.
Just to recap what i am currently thinking:
- click on Playlist Manager moves the playlist nodes into the left main panel (differs from the current behavior which has the playlists in two places)
- click on any other node in the left navigator closes the Playlist Manager panel and the playlists move back into the left sidebar. I am not completely comfortable which these first two points but its the best i can think of for now.
- new Edit Playlists button as described above
- remove the library nodes from the Playlist Manager panel
- probably make the Playlist Manager panel also available as an element
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I was having a look at the latest iTunes and how it does things generally and for playlists. I have to say generally i didnt like it at all except for the "Edit Playlists" button which i think i will do the same ie. click Edit Playlist, and the playlist moves to the right sidebar and the music library (or whatever left navigator node you select) shows in the main panel. So you can easily drag tracks into the playlist. That way i can get rid of the 3 library nodes that currently display at the bottom of the Playlist Manager
For those of you who wanted the Playlist Manager as a separate element, given what i just said, is there a strong reason for still having that?
To be clear, while I am not opposed to this and can see ways it increases flexibility, i do think having it as an element will create some confusion, so i want to be sure there is a genuine need thats not covered by whats already there now or proposed above.
Just to recap what i am currently thinking:
- click on Playlist Manager moves the playlist nodes into the left main panel (differs from the current behavior which has the playlists in two places)
- click on any other node in the left navigator closes the Playlist Manager panel and the playlists move back into the left sidebar. I am not completely comfortable which these first two points but its the best i can think of for now.
- new Edit Playlists button as described above
- remove the library nodes from the Playlist Manager panel
- probably make the Playlist Manager panel also available as an element
I love the outlines of your idea, although I think I'll have to see it in action to give concrete feedback. The key thing I like is only having the playlists in one place at a time.
Regarding this question: "For those of you who wanted the Playlist Manager as a separate element, given what i just said, is there a strong reason for still having that?"
I think it's a matter of predictability. If it looks like a panel element and occupies the same space as panel elements, it should behave like a panel element.
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click Edit Playlist, and the playlist moves to the right sidebar and the music library (or whatever left navigator node you select) shows in the main panel. So you can easily drag tracks into the playlist. That way i can get rid of the 3 library nodes that currently display at the bottom of the Playlist Manager
- click on any other node in the left navigator closes the Playlist Manager panel and the playlists move back into the left sidebar. I am not completely comfortable which these first two points but its the best i can think of for now.
Not quite sure about this part. Then are you gonna allow drag-and-drop to a playlist only on Edit Playlist mode? That's not consistent with what's already possible now.
When both left navigator and playlist manager are shown, if the user clicks on any node from left navigator, just show the content in the main panel and still allow drag and drop to any playlist even on non-Edit Playlist mode. Then Edit-Playlist mode would be just optional if the user wants to look into its content or compare it with other nodes.
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click Edit Playlist, and the playlist moves to the right sidebar and the music library (or whatever left navigator node you select) shows in the main panel. So you can easily drag tracks into the playlist. That way i can get rid of the 3 library nodes that currently display at the bottom of the Playlist Manager
- click on any other node in the left navigator closes the Playlist Manager panel and the playlists move back into the left sidebar. I am not completely comfortable which these first two points but its the best i can think of for now.
Not quite sure about this part. Then are you gonna allow drag-and-drop to a playlist only on Edit Playlist mode? That's not consistent with what's already possible now.
When both left navigator and playlist manager are shown, if the user clicks on any node from left navigator, just show the content in the main panel and still allow drag and drop to any playlist even on non-Edit Playlist mode. Then Edit-Playlist mode would be just optional if the user wants to look into its content or compare it with other nodes.
I concur. I hadn't caught that point the first time around. Part of my objection to the playlist manager in the first place was that behavior of closing when you move to another node, which is unlike the behavior of any other node or element. I DO like the idea of being able to see the main panel and the contents of a playlist at the same time.
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- One way to close playlist manager panel is make playlist manager node in left navigator toggling to show/close the panel with some visual indicator. Some people would prefer to hide left navigator, so playlist manager panel could have "Close panel" context menu on its header.
- What would happen if the user clicks on a tab with playlist manager open? How about keeping the panel show regardless of the selected tab? Then pinned tabs could substitute hidden left navigator, allowing the user to drag tracks from the main panel (for a selected tab) to a playlist in playlist manager panel.
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Another thing to consider is how to handle an existing element in left main panel. Many people would use filtering browser in there and that would be useful for locating tracks to drag to playlists. But if the user has to move it to the main panel manually and then move it back afterwards, that would be really tiresome. How about auto-moving a filtering browser in the left main panel to the main panel when playlist manager shows and then moving it back to the original left main panel when playlist manager closes?
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Another thing to consider is how to handle an existing element in left main panel. Many people would use filtering browser in there and that would be useful for locating tracks to drag to playlists. But if the user has to move it to the main panel manually and then move it back afterwards, that would be really tiresome. How about auto-moving a filtering browser in the left main panel to the main panel when playlist manager shows and then moving it back to the original left main panel when playlist manager closes?
This is another good reason for it to just be its own element. No messing with these behind-the-scenes adjustments.
- What would happen if the user clicks on a tab with playlist manager open? How about keeping the panel show regardless of the selected tab? Then pinned tabs could substitute hidden left navigator, allowing the user to drag tracks from the main panel (for a selected tab) to a playlist in playlist manager panel.
Seems like it would need to be another of the elements that you can show/hide per tab.
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No, that's why the process should be automated and that can't be an element.
Playlist manager will be used only temporarily, but the user has to configure and reconfigure layout per every tab just to use it?
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I would want the playlist manager to be the permanent part. I think; it depends on how it ends up working. But in theory I'd rather have that than the whole navigator, most of the time.
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My idea is it would be a special element. It should keep open with whatever node or tab selected, and won't close unless the user chooses to close it. But if it is a normal element, then the user has to reconfigure whole layout for every pinned tab before and after using it, which is unthinkable.
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This is done now for v3.1
- a "playlist manager" element can now be included in the layout/ stacked etc
- the playlist manager panel now displays playlists as a tree structure now and behaves the same as the playlists in the left navigator
- i decided to keep the current behavior when the Playlist Manager node is selected in the left navigator, the playlists remain in the left navigator and are duplicated to the Playlist Manager panel. The reason being i can image use cases where people would want both. You can collapse the left navigator playlists node if you want, or for most people using the default settings wont even see the left navigator.
- edit playlist (for static playlists) now behaves like iTunes/ WMP in that the edited playlist is displayed in the right sidebar and the left navigator/ main panel shows the music library and you are free to navigate to any node in the left navigator and drag files into the playlist
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Cool! I can't wait to try this out.
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Given playlists was probably the thing that most needed addressing, i am starting the v3.1 release focused on that aspect, although it includes any other changes i have previously mentioned as being done
http://musicbee.niblseed.com/V3_1/MusicBee31_Patched.zip
I have tweaked things since originally posted:
- a "playlist directory" element can now be included in the layout/ stacked etc
- the playlist directory panel now displays playlists as a tree structure and behaves the same as the playlists in the left navigator. It can be located on the left panels like any element. When its displayed, the individual playlists are no longer displayed the left navigator. This is so two sets of the same playlist files are not normally displayed.
- the "Playlist Manager" node on the left navigator is renamed to "Playlist Explorer". When clicked, the behavior is slightly changed in that playlists are no longer displayed in the left navigator - the reason is to reduce confusion of having two sets of playlists displayed.
- I realise some people like that behavior of having two sets of playlists displayed, but you can achieve the same effect by including the "playlist directory" panel in the left navigator and clicking the "Playlist Explorer" node
- edit playlist (for static playlists) now behaves like iTunes/ WMP in that the edited playlist is displayed in the right sidebar and the left navigator/ main panel shows the music library and you are free to navigate to any node in the left navigator and drag files into the playlist
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If you use mixer playlists, make sure you have a back-up of these before you apply the above patch, as it will delete all mixer lists info
Sorry - false alarm - not deleting.
Just not reading - bug report posted
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Heya.
I saw this in the morning and was looking forward to try this out all day, but only got home now & have MusicBee infront of me now, yay.
Folder collapse/expand all works, even with multiple nested folders (i.e. /name/name/playlistA.m3u). Thanks for that!
Parent-folder content 'aggregation' (that it shows' all child playlists combined contents) seeems to work through multiple nested folders too. Just waiting for it to finish 'compiling' some of the larger ones (where/how is this stored btw ?)
There seems to be one small issue with nested folders though, but unsure what was off here & I can't reproduce it...:
When accessing a nested folder I did get MB to error and to get stuck / only displaying a single message continuously, saying:
"Unable to access: C:\Programs\MediaPlayers\MusicBee\Library\Playlists\RadioArchive\2008\.xautopf"
This was not an issue if I 'unparented' it from the nested folder, also, if I created a new folder and chucked all its' playlists in the new folder, the error was gone (no write-protection on the folder with the issue though...), and re-parenting the recreated folder with the same playlist did not show the same issue.
I added one large playlist for testing, holding 50k songs in in a 5mb .m3u file, which takes the parent folder to take a long time to show the aggregate (10 minutes in now and still nothing so far - as is I have no idea if it is stuck / errored / is still processing - the only way to tell [=that it hasn't finished] was to click between folders, the previously processed ones would display [=change view to the contents of the child-playlists combined content] whereas the currently being processed one would then show the previous' selections contents.
Would be great again to have some sort of (optional & continuous) error/console/'what is MB doing' read-out.
ps. it now finished, about 15 minutes in, but refresh is laggy now - i.e. if I click the folder that holds the contents of the huge playlist, the track-list refresh/rerender takes about 2-3 seconds. I'll test around with this some more.
Cheers.
c.
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If you use mixer playlists, make sure you have a back-up of these before you apply the above patch, as it will delete all mixer lists info
Sorry - false alarm - not deleting.
Just not reading - bug report posted
this should address the radio playlists not being loaded:
http://musicbee.niblseed.com/V3_1/MusicBee31_Patched.zip
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Playlist Explorer
- If you open playlist explorer from a pinned playlist tab, that tab changes to playlist explorer tab instead of opening a new tab. Then you have to re-pin the playlist to a tab.
- Would be useful if clicking on playlist explorer from left navigator toggles to show and hide it in the left main panel. Currently you have to click on another node to hide it.
Edit list on the right
- When the edit list opens, the main panel always changes to Music node, but is it necessary? Also if you open it from a pinned tab, it opens a new "Music" tab. Why not allow it to edit from the pinned tab? Anyway, at that point, go back to the original tab and try adjusting the width of list panel on the right, then the UI crashes between right sidebar elements of the tab and the list panel.
- There's not much you can do with the current limited functionality of the list panel if the playlist contains hundreds of tracks. Hard to figure out which songs from which artists are included. Would be great if it can behave like the artwork view list on the right you recently improved with its own group-by, sort-by settings and multiple layouts. Also add playlist # at the beginning by default. Filtering bar would work great as well just like the one for playing tracks list.
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- Would be useful if clicking on playlist explorer from left navigator toggles to show and hide it in the left main panel. Currently you have to click on another node to hide it.
if i changed it to do that and the Playlist Explorer node is active, then MB wouldnt have anything to show in the main panel.
But i do agree with the point about it not being obvious how to get the playlists back so as a compromise i could have MB select the auto-dj node just below so something is still showing in the main panel
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as a compromise i could have MB select the auto-dj node just below so something is still showing in the main panel
When Playlist Explorer node is active I think showing Music node would work better because then focus could just stay on playlist explorer node. To show Auto-DJ node, focus should immediately move down to Auto-DJ node when the user closes the panel by clicking on playlist explorer node and this whole thing could look confusing.
Other issues:
- When playlist explorer opens in a new session, the first playlist folder gets selected. This is no good because "New Playlist" command from the header or dragging tracks from the main panel will create a new playlist inside the folder rather than inside the root playlist folder. Instead the first (auto) playlist in the root folder should be selected so that users don't have to select it additionally just to change folder selection.
- If you drag tracks to playlist explorer, it creates a new playlist and focus goes to the playlist's naming box properly. But if you drag tracks to the playlist section header in left navigator, it just creates a "Playlist (counter)" named playlist. I think it used to work properly just as playlist explorer does, but it no longer gives a chance to name the playlist.
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as a compromise i could have MB select the auto-dj node just below so something is still showing in the main panel
When Playlist Explorer node is active I think showing Music node would work better because then focus could just stay on playlist explorer node. To show Auto-DJ node, focus should immediately move down to Auto-DJ node when the user closes the panel by clicking on playlist explorer node and this whole thing could look confusing.
after i wrote that it occured to me that all that needs to happen is MB selects the current active playlist from the playlist explorer
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You're right.
BTW there may be still some people who fail to notice the toggling function. You might want to consider adding close command to the header too.
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- If you open playlist explorer from a pinned playlist tab, that tab changes to playlist explorer tab instead of opening a new tab. Then you have to re-pin the playlist to a tab.
Trying this now, i cant reproduce the issue (I assume you also had Full Navigation lock enabled).
However what i do find is if a playlist has full navigation lock, the act of pinning that tab changes the type of lock to partial, so i will fix that.
Do you think thats what happened for you?
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fixed for the above:
http://musicbee.niblseed.com/V3_1/MusicBee31_Patched.zip
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What I meant was when you have a pinned playlist tab with partial lock. If you open playlist explorer from that tab, the tab now becomes playlist explorer tab with no way going back. You might say it still allows to navigate to a different playlist in that pinned tab, but the layout I want to use is different as I don't want playlist explorer opened in that pinned tab. So if the user opens playlist explorer from a partial-lock playlist tab, I think it should open it in a new tab.
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If you open playlist explorer from that tab, the tab now becomes playlist explorer tab with no way going back.
thats no longer the case though (unless i am misunderstanding you). You can simply click the Playlist Explorer node again to close it or click "Close Panel" from the header menu
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That works. But I still think it would work better if any pinned tab could open playlist explorer in a new tab. Then you don't have to worry about keeping your pinned tab unchanged. Currently if you open playlist explorer from a partial-locked playlist tab and then click on a library node, the pinned tab ends up changing to playlist explorer tab.
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Edit list on the right
- When the edit list opens, the main panel always changes to Music node, but is it necessary? Also if you open it from a pinned tab, it opens a new "Music" tab. Why not allow it to edit from the pinned tab? Anyway, at that point, go back to the original tab and try adjusting the width of list panel on the right, then the UI crashes between right sidebar elements of the tab and the list panel.
- There's not much you can do with the current limited functionality of the list panel if the playlist contains hundreds of tracks. Hard to figure out which songs from which artists are included. Would be great if it can behave like the artwork view list on the right you recently improved with its own group-by, sort-by settings and multiple layouts. Also add playlist # at the beginning by default. Filtering bar would work great as well just like the one for playing tracks list.
the bug in the first is fixed for the next update. I will consider the 2nd and post any changes i do make
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Also if you try to edit playlist from a pinned playlist tab, you get this error:
10.0.14393.0 - 3.1.6164.37229 - System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
at MusicBee.MusicBeeMain.#=qxFfSxg5eR96FCz6EnYWGoJ7ljy9ZEspP4cYohgGsGmw=(#=qhAnWMhTJ4tM6HpUtcmnNXCLWML8BIIhpDu0ngsOsmQo= #=q7YosK67kamxtkWfG2BO34A==, #=q9RtzrQ$SOLoEUmrd52BArnuViKPlEdSBGhc88NBwU9o= #=qrpfxlnTvv28YjZfF03QP61jKWFMwIfYCUcHFH54Cw_I=)
at MusicBee.MusicBeeMain.#=qILPCaI3ghlSrUDJ$VaeA3HehsvCzNtNfu8JAlg3Pc2M=()
at MusicBee.MusicBeeApplication.#=qVhDJ6pFuJ1Udn1hF6Gpl1A==.#=qS95RSrytbd_CKPisjhHzSA==(ApplicationCommand #=qjsIedVWOHYWDjXgg_FlKIQ==, Object #=qHz_ujOoKQ3vDOJ17qMyx9Q==, IList`1 #=qRDDZi9OjCiIuwqpBb_q6QQ==)
at #=qYyJeK15KJ0ObeZ2i2gLv6xdn727GkEKSIJaO4ayourU=.OnClick(EventArgs #=qCBPoCZcv6U_5hOSYlTmJwg==)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.HandleClick(EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.HandleMouseUp(MouseEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.FireEventInteractive(EventArgs e, ToolStripItemEventType met)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.FireEvent(EventArgs e, ToolStripItemEventType met)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStrip.OnMouseUp(MouseEventArgs mea)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripDropDown.OnMouseUp(MouseEventArgs mea)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmMouseUp(Message& m, MouseButtons button, Int32 clicks)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ScrollableControl.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStrip.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripDropDown.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)
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that sounds like the bug that's fixed and I will make the update available tomorrow
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http://musicbee.niblseed.com/V3_1/MusicBee31_Patched.zip
i also made a change so grouping is done when sorting the edit playlist
i will add in support for a "find" panel later
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Working better.
- Probably grouping by title is not necessary in most cases.
- When grouped by artist or album artist, tracks just get sorted by disc-track # per artist disregarding albums. Would be much useful if they're grouped by album. Or offer sort-by settings to use custom sorting sets.
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http://musicbee.niblseed.com/V3_1/MusicBee31_Patched.zip
includes a text search panel, and some tweaks to the sorting and grouping behaviour
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I might have mentioned this before, but can't find a trace of it, and it came back as something I'd love to see/have in MusicBee.
Ideal would be to see if a playlist has a local/custom view (and with it a 'local' sorting applied on static export) at a glance, i.e. going back to this thread:
https://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=23572.msg143931#msg143931
As an additional/holistic approach for MB, ideal (for me) would be if, in Playlist Explorer tab/UI, we would have additional (optional) columns that could show/indicate features & stats of the playlist at a quick glance; like:
- sorting method (is it custom/local [and which sorting...?] or globally set (this might need an explicit local sorting feature for playlists...)
- view mode (global/local ?)
- file/track count
- play/length of all files combined inside a folder and/or playlist
- lock/unlock (an old re-curring feature request from various users)
[plus maybe even with switch-ability directly inside the Playlist Explorer UI on playlist attributes that make sense to be altered there directly, i.e. lock, sorting method, etc, directly on the column icon (via right/click?) ].
Just some thoughts.
Churs.
c.
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You can already see some details of the playlist if you show the playlist header bar (#tracks, #albums, duration)
I will consider showing some of the other details you request but not promising.
For Lock/ Unlock, what is your definition of Lock?
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Lock playlist is done for v3.4, where Lock disables changing the content of the playlist and also deleting or renaming the playlist, although I would consider changing it so its only changing the content that is disabled when locked
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That's great! I look forward to trying it out. (Personally, I'm good with not being able to delete as well as change...)
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the updated 3.4 alpha, with usual warning to use this on a separate portable install
http://www.mediafire.com/file/rkx9mn38mybdpaa/MusicBee.zip/file
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I happened to skim through the original discussion since I was in this post anyway, and just thought I'd mention: my preferred setup now is to have one pinned tab with partial lock and just the playlist directory at the left side, and a second pinned tab with no lock and the navigator on the left for inbox, computer node, and searches. So the playlist directory worked out really well in the long run.
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Do you have a changelog for the 3.4 beta? Trying to determine what to test.
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Do you have a changelog for the 3.4 beta? Trying to determine what to test.
not yet - if you do a google search for "v3.4" site:getmusicbee.com/forum should give you the info you need