getmusicbee.com
General => MusicBee Wishlist => Topic started by: redwing on May 22, 2017, 05:54:44 AM
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I noticed thumbnail browser can now keep a different selected field per tab. Can this happen to column browser too?
For instance, a pinned tab for classical music needs composer for column browser, but the next pinned tab for pop music doesn't. But currently you have to keep changing selected fields for column browser whenever you navigate to another tab.
I know lots of requests have been already made asking for a completely independent layout for each tab. Maybe this could improve one by one.
- selected fields in column browser
- layout of column browser (horizontal, side by side, stacked)
- different panel location of filtering browsers (not just on/off)
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+1
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Could be useful, +1.
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I am prepared to spend some time looking into this as it has been asked in different ways by a number of people but as something that is remembered and restored with a custom view ie. a custom view currently remembers the main panel layout, fields displayed/ width and sorting, and the enhancement would also remember column browser, fields/ width/ sorting, thumb browser field/sorting and library explorer field/sorting.
I think doing it on a per tab basis only works for some people and that i shouldnt have done the thumb browser field on a per tab basis but given i have already done that i will leave it in.
Also a custom view can be applied separately to each tab so it should still be used to meet your wish anyway.
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Incorporating those settings into a custom view would be great. Actually that's one of the oldest wishes of mine which is more than 4 years old now:
https://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=8157.0
Now for v3.1 with almost boundless capability for panel configurations, one important setting is missing in your list
the enhancement would also remember column browser, fields/ width/ sorting, thumb browser field/sorting and library explorer field/sorting.
that is the whole panel configurations including panel location of individual elements and sub-panels configuration.
For instance, you might want to place thumbnail browser to left main panel for some views and to left sidebar for other views, or want to show lyrics in right main panel or hide it for another view, etc.
Maybe not for this time, but that feature would be ultimately needed to utilize full potential of v3. Then it won't be a custom "view" but a custom "layout". So I'd like you to think about that too at this point.
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Then it won't be a custom "view" but a custom "layout". So I'd like you to think about that too at this point.
+1 for custom layouts save-able per tab from me too. (additional wish - Ideally plus being saveable to/load-able from external files, globally as well as locally/on a per tab basis.)
Churs.
c.
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the enhancement would also remember column browser, fields/ width/ sorting, thumb browser field/sorting and library explorer field/sorting.
Hopefully this feature can be included in v3.1
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the enhancement would also remember column browser, fields/ width/ sorting, thumb browser field/sorting and library explorer field/sorting.
Hopefully this feature can be included in v3.1
no, i am near closing off v3.1 with just the windows store support being the main thing left to do
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the enhancement would also remember column browser, fields/ width/ sorting, thumb browser field/sorting and library explorer field/sorting.
Hopefully this feature can be included in v3.1
+1
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I noticed thumbnail browser can now keep a different selected field per tab. Can this happen to column browser too?
For instance, a pinned tab for classical music needs composer for column browser, but the next pinned tab for pop music doesn't. But currently you have to keep changing selected fields for column browser whenever you navigate to another tab.
I know lots of requests have been already made asking for a completely independent layout for each tab. Maybe this could improve one by one.
+1 for this. Can't wait!
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Posted something almost identical to this not long ago. Would love to have this option.
+1
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For v3.2, the column browser fields now save with a custom view. Its just the fields and not the column browser orientation in order to be consistent with the other information a custom view controls.
I will look at implementing a custom layout that can be saved/ assigned to a tab but not promising until i see how much is involved
See the following post. Customised column browsers can now be set in a custom tab layout and are not saved with a view
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For v3.2, i have now implemented the ability to save and load a custom layout that can be applied to a tab. The layout only applies to elements within the tab panels ie. left sidebar; left main panel; main panel; right main panel and right sidebar.
So that means you could have say a classical music tab where the track info panel shows different information, column browser only shows composer and arranged vertically, etc
I guess this functionality starting to border on getting potentially confusing between what a layout is and what a view is:
- the layout applies to which panel elements are shown, where, how wide and settings within the displayed panels.
- what doesnt get saved with the layout is view information ie. view information applies to the main panel fields that are displayed, how they are sorted and the type of layout (album and tracks, track details, artwork etc)
- also in the mix is you can show/ hide elements on a per tab basis, which again is not saved with the layout settings
Lastly i have added the ability to export and import a snapshot of the entire application layout settings at that point in time, so that includes the top/ bottom panels, music explorer, podcasts panel, radio panel, compact player, popup notification layout, etc
If anyone is keen to try it out let me know otherwise i might leave this a while before making it available
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Lastly i have added the ability to export and import the entire application layout settings, so that includes the top/ bottom panels, music explorer, podcasts panel, radio panel, compact player, popup notification layout, etc
-This- is what many folks, including myself, have been waiting for.
Perhaps once it's available a new forum child-board should be created under 'Customization' so that users can exchange layouts.
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So that means you could have say a classical music tab where the track info panel shows different information, column browser only shows composer and arranged vertically, etc
Thank you so much! Sounds like you've fixed the one thing that was keeping my musicbee from being perfect, and I can't wait to see it released.
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That's awesome news.
I'd love to try it out at some point but no rush!
My 2 cents - It would also be great to have a more holistic approach where panels as well as views are save-/load-able to/from a single (layout) file (i.e. a file where both can be written to, so one could save a layout file that only holds view info, as well as panel info only, as well as both to restore / share a full layout of MB).
Churs.
c.
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Currently "layouts" are used referring to different things: custom tab layouts and exportable entire layouts, two of which save quite different things.
What people would want to share one another the most would be custom tab layouts that are shown by screenshots they post. Entire layouts would be used mostly by the user alone for backup and restore purpose. Maybe different terms are needed to avoid confusions?
[edit] I can see custom tab layout won't save player location, menu settings, etc., but at the same time people won't care about the configurations of other nodes or maybe they want to keep their own settings for other nodes.
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Currently "layouts" are used referring to different things: custom tab layouts and exportable entire layouts, two of which save quite different things.
What people would want to share one another the most would be custom tab layouts that are shown by screenshots they post. Entire layouts would be used mostly by the user alone for backup and restore purpose. Maybe different terms are needed to avoid confusions?
[edit] I can see custom tab layout won't save player location, menu settings, etc., but at the same time people won't care about the configurations of other nodes or maybe they want to keep their own settings for other nodes.
i agree the names need to be different.
There are many variations on what the user might want to save. So just having two levels (current tab or everything) seems to me to be a good compromise
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There are many variations on what the user might want to save. So just having two levels (current tab or everything) seems to me to be a good compromise
How about adding one more level in between the two that will allow to emulate what's SHOWN in a screenshot excluding other nodes' layouts?
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There are many variations on what the user might want to save. So just having two levels (current tab or everything) seems to me to be a good compromise
How about adding one more level in between the two that will allow to emulate what's SHOWN in a screenshot excluding other nodes' layouts?
I would rather not as it seems to me to be adding complexity to the user, especially as I also intend to include the ability to save a snapshot of all settings (layout + everything else).
I will wait for further feedback before deciding what to do but perhaps the View/ Saved Layouts command would only save the current screenshot instead of saving all layout related settings. And perhaps the tab save layout will not be that useful to most people so could be removed.
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And perhaps the tab save layout will not be that useful to most people so could be removed.
It's essential to keep different layouts applied to different tabs.
Don't be confused about what's useful to the user himself with what's useful for sharing layout settings.
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i think what i will do is
- save/ restore main panels for the current tab (already done)
- save/ restore all panels as seen for the current screen (as suggested by redwing) ie. change the current behavior of saving all layout settings
- and instead save/ restore all settings (layout + everything else)
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Yep, I think that would be much more useful especially for those (mainly new users) who want to emulate layouts from other users' screenshots.
- and instead save/ restore all settings (layout + everything else)
So it's like making a copy of the current settings file for backup purpose?
Then can you consider adding auto-save option for both settings and database (https://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=14992.0)?
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i think what i will do is
- save/ restore main panels for the current tab (already done)
- save/ restore all panels as seen for the current screen (as suggested by redwing) ie. change the current behavior of saving all layout settings
- and instead save/ restore all settings (layout + everything else)
One aspect of (re)installing MusicBee that can be very cumbersome and take a lot of time is setting up the custom- and virtual tags.
The same for setting those up for friends and family. (who might want 'your' tagging scheme as a starting point)
For those purposes it would be very nice to be able to separately export/import all custom- and virtual tag settings.
Another object that comes to mind (but I don't have a strong feeling about at this moment), are the toolbar buttons.
Maybe that's a candidate for a separate im/export function too? (including the icon files)
I would certainly use it, but it could very well be of low interest to others?
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One aspect of (re)installing MusicBee that can be very cumbersome and take a lot of time is setting up the custom- and virtual tags.
The same for setting those up for friends and family. (who might want 'your' tagging scheme as a starting point)
For those purposes it would be very nice to be able to separately export/import all custom- and virtual tag settings.
+1
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i think what i will do is
- save/ restore main panels for the current tab (already done)
- save/ restore all panels as seen for the current screen (as suggested by redwing) ie. change the current behavior of saving all layout settings
- and instead save/ restore all settings (layout + everything else)
this is now done for v3.2
for the 2nd point, only the panel layout and active skin is saved and does not include panel height/ width or content. Height and width because everyone will have different screens resolutions so i dont it will work well generally to import that information. Content (fields/ field widths/ fonts etc) because i think that will be better set by the end-user. I dont want to get into having settings to fine-tune what is exported
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if you want to try this out:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/uoyqusdsqprxg1h/MusicBeeTestCustomImage.zip?dl=1
I suggest you take a copy of MusicBee3Settings.ini first in case something doesnt work as expected
- the current tab layout is set from the right click context menu for the tab header
- all settings snapshot and panel layout only is available from the main menu/ View/ Settings...
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- Loading custom tab layout no longer works. It doesn't change anything.
- How about adding tab layout menus too under View menu (in addition to the current place)? Right clicking on tab header won't be obvious at all to most users.
- And settings snapshot menus may be better placed just below Edit> Preferences menu as that will inform users of what the feature is about.
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- Loading custom tab layout no longer works. It doesn't change anything.
could you reconfirm that please as i tested it yesterday and trying now its working fine. Its possible it wont work with an old saved layout.
If none of that is the case, could you let me know the steps you did
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Sorry. Just tried again with more different layouts, and now I see it's working.
- also in the mix is you can show/ hide elements on a per tab basis, which again is not saved with the layout settings
This was what I missed: show/hide status of sidebars and column/thumbnail browser.
Also it's not saving thumbnail browser's selected field (like composer or album artist) which I think was saved in previous version. Wouldn't it be more consistent to save it too like column browser's displayed fields?
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Also it's not saving thumbnail browser's selected field (like composer or album artist) which I think was saved in previous version. Wouldn't it be more consistent to save it too like column browser's displayed fields?
i am surprised that would have been/ is the case. The filter panel values (filter field such as Album Artist and selected values if any) are saved per tab and not saved with a layout
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Only column browser fields are saved for tab layouts.
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so i am clear, are you referring to exporting the panel layouts for other others or to the per tab layouts (which is what i thought you were referring to)
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per tab layouts.
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ok, i will change it so the thumb browser behaves the same. Its because i implemented thumb browsers a bit inconsistently with other panels in the past
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Thanks!
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How about saving show/hide status of sidebars and column/thumbnail browser too for per tab layouts?
Because they too are important part of configuration. For instance, you may want to always show left navigator for some tabs and not for other tabs. The saved column browser column width also only makes sense with show/hide status of both sidebars.
As per tab layouts will be used mostly by the user himself, resolution or DPI won't matter either.
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the per tab saved layout now includes the following "current tab" settings
- show/ hide panel overrides from left sidebar to right sidebar
- hide overrides for the thumbnail browser, column browser and library explorer
- active display field for the thumnail browser
https://www.dropbox.com/s/uoyqusdsqprxg1h/MusicBeeTestCustomImage.zip?dl=1
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Thanks, but it doesn't work properly.
I deleted all my existing tab layouts and created three new ones with different settings.
Say I have A, B, C layouts. If I change from A to B or C, often active thumb field doesn't change.
Also when I open a new tab and load layout A, it shows B or C instead. Open another tab and load a different layout and again it's showing another layout.
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Say I have A, B, C layouts. If I change from A to B or C, often active thumb field doesn't change.
Also when I open a new tab and load layout A, it shows B or C instead. Open another tab and load a different layout and again it's showing another layout.
Testing again the first issue works fine for me. Are you absolutely sure when setting it up that A, B and C do have different values? Its very easy to forget that when changing a value, it will be saved with the current active custom layout so its best to first revert to the default layout when making a change for this type of test and then copy to a new custom layout.
I havent really tested your second point but i did notice a bug when opening a new tab that it gets set to the default layout but is using the old tabs' custom layout so i will fix that
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If you fix the bug, then I'll test again. Currently all strange things happen, not just thumb active field.
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The only bug i can find is when adding a new tab, it was copying the current tab settings but not the fact that it was a custom layout and hence overwriting the default layout settings. Thats fixed for the next update.
Before I make it available I dont want to waste your time with this, so apart from that bug do you think the other issues might be related to the way you configured the test layouts? eg. change the layout/ copy to new layout without realizing the last layout change will get saved to the custom-name active before the subsequent copy to new layout command. The key thing to remember is the first thing to do is copy to a new layout and then make the changes
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I think the bug may be related to the way I create, save and load the custom layouts because I'm doing this switching around multiple locked tabs. Say, I saved A layout from "a" tab, and then moved to b tab that has its own B layout. If I load A layout from b tab, B layout doesn't change at all. Then I move to c tab and load A layout and it loads B layout instead. So somehow A layout has changed to B layout. Also this kind of behavior is not consistent.
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ok i can reproduce some weirdness with that setup so i will solve that before making it available
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Also I think I will need to create a unique layout for each locked tab.
Say, you have 10 tabs opened, and load A layout from 5 tabs. Now whenever you make some layout changes from any of the five tabs, the A layout will constantly change. And when you get back to the first tab, it will be no longer looking like what you had when you left.
So the current auto-save behavior is useful because you don't have to remember to save it again every time you make some changes. But the problem is it changes not just the tab you're currently at but other tabs with the same layout.
Maybe tabs could work like playlists with just two options - default and custom. Export function is still useful because you can copy it to another tab easily, but it doesn't have to require a unique name for every custom layout.
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I think i have fixed the bug you are reporting but will do more testing.
If I understand what you are saying, then i dont plan to have unique settings for a locked tab ie. a named custom layout will be the same irrespective of whether a tab is locked or not. Things are already potentially confusing enough re: some settings overriding current tab settings, without adding more complexity
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actually i will upload it as it should be better than yesterday's buggy version, but i havent tested all the scenarios i want to test
https://www.dropbox.com/s/uoyqusdsqprxg1h/MusicBeeTestCustomImage.zip?dl=1
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Whenever selecting another locked tab, getting this error:
MusicBee v3.2.6507.39540 (Win10.0)
System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
at MusicBee.MusicBeeMain.#=q$fHPpM0AOfcWwqFlo2PIFA==(String #=qMhli0EdOAakuuht$f4UYsA==)
at MusicBee.MusicBeeMain.#=qHmK4RLa4l3XDQQDUyiW97Aq5NMS_kflNrZBj5vaB3XI=(Boolean #=qvh3kdxfwCAJ6d99FAsq39VjJdVc6yIQ$hT4LU1YjA_Q=)
at MusicBee.MusicBeeMain.NavigationHeader.#=qann93IAZsILLd6Ni0ZnuuA==(Int32 #=qh_ke4EkL9HiF4P4M8Kg9FA==, Boolean #=qo25YdRlR3Mdqm5BXo26ceVP9nHb7fGHP31aSz3jqHzk=)
at MusicBee.MusicBeeMain.NavigationHeader.#=qKm9hltViMwqomswylDCx_Q==(MouseEventArgs #=qf4HILfMcNej_quGLHXHhpg==)
at MusicBee.MusicBeeMain.OnMouseClick(MouseEventArgs #=q1ixBabNoDK0dCTS6itJgdw==)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmMouseUp(Message& m, MouseButtons button, Int32 clicks)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ScrollableControl.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Form.WndProc(Message& m)
at #=qKD7k$H$sbdQ61kdogPkMfSCHhl1wwT2Hed1tydS6S18=.WndProc(Message& #=qKdqcgdUML6v$gl5T0IoiKQ==)
at MusicBee.MusicBeeMain.WndProc(Message& #=qCgdkyRL_RSs3BhCOEyxBLg==)
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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Not just locked tabs but any tabs including new tabs. Can't switch to another tab.
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for the 2nd point, only the panel layout and active skin is saved
I think skin can be left to the end-user's choice, though I tested that a non-existing skin don't affect the importing process.
Also
(https://i.imgur.com/yXcyNQb.png)
the menu name could include "import" too (Export / Import) as I wondered where import option is for a second.
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If I understand what you are saying, then i dont plan to have unique settings for a locked tab ie. a named custom layout will be the same irrespective of whether a tab is locked or not. Things are already potentially confusing enough re: some settings overriding current tab settings, without adding more complexity
If you think including show/hide status of sidebars and filtering browsers makes it too complicated, then disregard the request.
As for my suggestion of default / custom layout for tabs, each tab already keeps its own layout in 3.1. What's not saved currently is column browsers settings and other panel/elements configuration. If you can simply add those, then users won't need to save each tab into a custom layout. Then each tab will keep its own custom layout while a new tab will still take a default layout.
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i updated the link that might stop the crashing when changing tabs but its not solved
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Thanks! Now I can switch to other tabs.
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The new version works well. One thing I noticed is it seems to update the saved custom layout when you switch to a tab in another layout. So if the same custom layout is loaded in multiple tabs, the changes you made in one tab get lost when you switch to another tab in the same custom layout.
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The new version works well. One thing I noticed is it seems to update the saved custom layout when you switch to a tab in another layout. So if the same custom layout is loaded in multiple tabs, the changes you made in one tab get lost when you switch to another tab in the same custom layout.
thats fixed for the next update
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Thanks! That issue was addressed.
Another one. When opening a new tab, it takes the layout from the last stayed tab. Shouldn't a new tab always use default layout?
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Another one. When opening a new tab, it takes the layout from the last stayed tab. Shouldn't a new tab always use default layout?
its intentional. I dont think there is right or wrong way with that so i will see how others react
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I think the issue here is the notion of "default" layout. Current behavior could be useful if users intentionally open a new tab while staying in a tab with a desired layout for the new tab. Then they don't have to select a layout for the tab. But it also means they can't expect a certain "unified" layout for a new tab because it depends on the tab they were at when opening - and that's what "default" layout is about.
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Here's another issue - Search Results tab. I tried global search from custom layout tabs, and each search results tab took the same layout as its original tab. How about making it keep its own layout since "global" search doesn't really have a lot do with original tabs and it could be more useful with its own search-oriented layout?
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I think the issue here is the notion of "default" layout. Current behavior could be useful if users intentionally open a new tab while staying in a tab with a desired layout for the new tab. Then they don't have to select a layout for the tab. But it also means they can't expect a certain "unified" layout for a new tab because it depends on the tab they were at when opening - and that's what "default" layout is about.
I second this
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Here's another issue - Search Results tab. I tried global search from custom layout tabs, and each search results tab took the same layout as its original tab. How about making it keep its own layout since "global" search doesn't really have a lot do with original tabs and it could be more useful with its own search-oriented layout?
+1
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I think the issue here is the notion of "default" layout. Current behavior could be useful if users intentionally open a new tab while staying in a tab with a desired layout for the new tab. Then they don't have to select a layout for the tab. But it also means they can't expect a certain "unified" layout for a new tab because it depends on the tab they were at when opening - and that's what "default" layout is about.
for the next update i have changed the new tab to revert to default settings
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Thanks!
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The latest 3.2 version has a bug that returns to the default layout when restarted.
When MB was restarted with a hotkey, it shows the default five tabs and default settings for filtering browser, losing all existing layout settings.
I have experienced this twice and PMed you my settings files before and after (the old one is not exactly the one right before this happened but shows my original layout). No error's logged about this.
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i didnt change anything with the custom tabs for the most recent version and not able to reproduce any issues.
I did notice you changed the skin and also a virtual tag formula. As a guess, maybe the virtual tag formula failed to validate somehow and caused MB to not fully load the settings.
Is this issue something that's repeatable for you?
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No, I can't. But about an hour ago I have experienced it third time. That was right after I edited a sort tag value for a file and save it. Also I think I might have touched sort tag values/settings around the time when the previous two incidents occurred. Do you think that could cause that?
caused MB to not fully load the settings.
Does that mean my original layout settings were still retained in the new settings file?
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No, I can't. But about an hour ago I have experienced it third time. That was right after I edited a sort tag value for a file and save it. Also I think I might have touched sort tag values/settings around the time when the previous two incidents occurred. Do you think that could cause that?
it might be when MB has to save the preferences file and the current tab is in some particular state. So it might be as simple as opening the preferences dialog and saving. I will check out that possibility. It completely wiped or corrupted each of your tab settings though so that is a bit of a mystery.
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It was always sorting tab of tag editor, not preferences dialog. It may include opening and updating edit custom sorting values dialog and tick/untick enable custom sorting option in the tab. When restarting MB, it took a bit longer than the usual.
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That was it. I just did it again by opening edit custom sorting values dialog from sorting tab of tag editor, edit value, update, save tag editor, and restart MB. PMed you two settings snapshots.
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Did some more tests. It doesn't happen with v3.1.
With v3.2, it doesn't happen if you use default layout for the tab. It only happens when you do that in a tab with a custom layout.
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i still cant reproduce it so could you send me a zip of the files in the AppData\Layouts folder?
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PMed it. I used Pop layout.
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ok thanks. Lucky you mentioned the Pop layout as the classical one works with no problems but the pop one is throwing an error so hopefully i can solve it now
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thats fixed now. Just FYI, you dont have to edit the sort values to make it happen. Its simply the Pop layout configuration vs. the default was causing issues when MB was saving the settings on exit.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/uoyqusdsqprxg1h/MusicBeeTestCustomImage.zip?dl=1
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Working fine now. Thanks!
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One missing feature is the ability to copy a custom layout to the default layout.
Can you add a menu, something like "Make Current Layout Default", below "Copy Current Layout to..." that will copy the current custom layout to the default layout?
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redwing, +1
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Redwing, +1
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Does it now support different artwork size for albums/artists view for custom layouts?
It looks like it, but doesn't work properly. The size slider position and artwork size don't match in some tabs.
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Does it now support different artwork size for albums/artists view for custom layouts?
It looks like it, but doesn't work properly. The size slider position and artwork size don't match in some tabs.
no that was not intentional and should not change. I will need to fix that
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http://musicbee.niblseed.com/V3_2/MusicBee32_Patched.zip
if the size setting difference is significant then you might reset the artwork cache
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Custom layout tabs still retain their own size, not affected by adjustments made in a default layout tab or another custom layout tab. Restarting MB makes the size uniform in all tabs, but again adjusting size in one tab doesn't change other tabs.
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looking at the code that does appear to be the case and looks like thats been the same behavior at least since 3.0. I wont change that for v3.2, but at least now it wont remain inconsistent between the custom and default view after restart
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Just in case you didn't get the point, I was referring to default/custom tab layouts, not views. All tabs are using the default albums view.
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yes thats what i meant - the last fix means the different custom tab layouts will no longer override the picture scaling ie. there is one global picture scaling value. There remains the long standing behavior of not resizing artwork in other tabs to the new size until restart.
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OK. So for now a restart is required to apply a size change made in one tab to all opened tabs. Hope you fix this for v3.3.
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thats fixed for the next 3.2 patch version
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http://musicbee.niblseed.com/V3_2/MusicBee32_Patched.zip
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Thanks! Now the artwork size in other tabs changes as well without a restart. But the size slider position in some tabs still remains incorrect, which requires a restart to make it correct.
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thats also fixed for the next update