Topics

1

Plugins / Library Quiz

« on: November 05, 2022, 02:00:53 PM »

Download the plugin from the add-on link here.
NB: Only works with MusicBee 3.5.8338 and later versions.

I came across this thread some time ago and also thought this would be an interesting and fun thing to have in MusicBee.
Probably not exactly what is described there, but it's close.
All comments are welcome. Let the games begin!

Installation

- Download the mb_LibraryQuiz zip file.
- Then locate and select it from MusicBee > Edit > Preferences > Plugins > Add Plugin
- Lastly, dock the "Library Quiz" element to any panel of your choosing in View -> Arrange Panels...

How It Works

- The plugin will pick a random track from your library.
- Then you'll have to type in whatever values you think correspond with the track tags.
- Your answer will only be evaluated once the field is out of focus i.e when you move on to the next field or click anywhere outside the current field.
- After evaluation, the correct answer will get displayed on that specific field and the scores will get incremented accordingly (1 point for each correct answer).
- Clicking on the track's correct album cover will also earn you a point.
- The round artist picture does not do anything; it's only there to jog your memory.
- You are free to make an attempt on any or all of the 6 fields - you won't get penalized for leaving a field unanswered.
- Click on the track title when you're ready to move on to the next round.

Customization

- The colours used by the plugin are that of the current skin.
- If you're not entirely happy with some of them, you can override them from this folder ...MusicBee\AppData\mb_LibraryQuiz\Skins

2

MusicBee API / Enhancement To Existing Artwork API Calls

« on: October 27, 2022, 11:00:18 PM »

Currently, it appears that artwork retrieval functions return a null whenever there isn't any artwork linked to a track file.

Instead of returning nothing, would it be possible to return the "No Artwork" image that is provided by skins?
And in case of artist pictures, returning the "Unknown Artist" image instead?

3

MusicBee API / Set Panel Scrollable Area

« on: October 27, 2022, 10:43:38 PM »

I know it's in the name but can I get clarity on what SetPanelScrollableArea is supposed to do?
Like what should I expect MusicBee to do when I've defined the following?

Code

mbApi.MB_SetPanelScrollableArea(panel, new Size(100, 200), true);

I've been working on a quiz plugin for the past few weeks that's near-ready.
I just need to get some scrolling to take place in there if ever the panel size is too small.
Can I rely on that function to get me the scrollbar that's showing up in the 'Upcoming Tracks' panel below or do I just have to add my own scroll control.

4

Bug Reports / Apparent Conflict Between Lyric Plugins

« on: October 02, 2022, 01:30:22 PM »

Hello Steven.
Coming from: https://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=36952.msg204965#msg204965

It appears that when providers from different lyric plugins are auto-loaded by MusicBee (during plugin activation), there is some cross-association that happens between the plugins.

Scenario:
- I have opened MusicBee with both LyricsReloaded and NeteaseLyrics disabled.
- I then go into Preferences and enable each of them.
- Having done that, MusicBee will automatically load all the different providers that each plugin has to offer.
- After running a lyrics search for a particular track, I then go on to examine the Reloaded log file.
- In it, will be this entry that indicates MusicBee has somehow associated Netease Lyrics (as a provider) with the Reloaded plugin:

Code

02-10-2022 01:11:14 [DEBUG] Lyrics request: Julie Bergan - All Hours - All Hours - Single - Netease Cloud Music(网易云音乐)
02-10-2022 01:11:14 [WARN] The provider Netease Cloud Music(网易云音乐) was not found!

In my testing, I have tried enabling all these lyrics plugins at the same time (Reloaded, Netease, Beenius, Petit), and the conclusion is the same:
For some reason, MusicBee is associating those other providers with Reloaded according to its log file.

These other plugins do not seem to have log files, so there's no way I can verify whether they also get associated with Reloaded providers or not.
And while this doesn't seem to affect the Reloaded providers on my system, it seems to affect them for other users.
Maybe there is more to it than MusicBee just trying to run a lyrics search, from another plugin's provider, on another plugin.

Just thought I'd report this and you'd have a look.

5

Plugins / LyricsReloaded (Latest)

« on: July 30, 2022, 04:34:00 PM »

Download the new plugin version from the add-on link here.

What started out last weekend as a quest to learn the general workings of regular expressions has somehow led to me finding my way around the Lyrics Reloaded plugin. I am not really someone who knows what they're doing, but I figured since I could make sense of some of the code, I might as well make one or two enhancements...and that is exactly what I have done. I have received permission from frankz - the forum hero member who revived the then-abandoned plugin and kept it alive ever since - to publish my version of this plugin and essentially take over the responsibilities associated with it and its userbase.

Changes:

-   The plugin appears to have originally been designed to make use of three lyrics loaders or retrieval methods (static, search and API)
    But only one was ever implemented from what I can tell - the static loader which requires websites to have straightforward, predictable URLs.
    Users can now make use of a search loader which is capable of retrieving lyrics from URLs with unique IDs for every track.

-   The log file has now been programmed to reset every ten MusicBee sessions (startups, to be precise) in order to keep its length at a reasonable range.

-   Genius, Musixmatch and Deezer have been added as built-in providers.  

-    Added a non-UI setting that allows you to either enable or disable the line that shows where retrieved lyrics are from.
     There's also another setting to accompany it that allows you to position the displayed source at the top or bottom.

Credits:

-   @quick_wango (created this invaluable plugin)
-   @frankz (resuscitated the plugin)
-   @Steven (no MusicBee, no plugin)
-   Every other MusicBee user who contributed towards this project (such as providing regex fixes, etc.)

How to use the new loader:

The search loader functions more or less the same as the static loader. The difference lies in the definition of the config section.

identity url           refers to the site address where the song search is conducted.
identity pattern   refers to the pattern that extracts the unique ID for the song (if it exists).
lyrics url               refers to the previous url's homepage which will be auto-concatenated with the unique ID previously extracted.
lyrics pattern       refers to the pattern that extracts the lyric content.

Example:

Code

name: Lyrics Freak
loader: search

variables:
    artist:
        type: artist
        filters:
        - lowercase

    title:
        type: title
        filters: artist
        
config:
    identity url: "https://www.lyricsfreak.com/search.php?q={artist}+{title}"
    identity pattern: ['[^a]\shref="(?<identity>.*?)"', 's']
    lyrics url: "https://www.lyricsfreak.com"
    lyrics pattern: ['data-title=".*">(?<lyrics>.*)<div class="lf-marker\s', 's']
    
post-filters:
- strip_html
- utf8_encode
- entity_decode
- [regex, '\[.*?\].*?(\w)', '$1', s]
- [regex, '\(feat\..*?\)', '', s]
- [regex, '.*?(\w.*)', '$1', s]
- trim

6

Questions / Keep Tracks In Sequence When Shuffling (Setting)

« on: July 21, 2022, 12:12:47 PM »

I almost wrote a bug report thinking that this setting was not working.
I ended up, by chance, realizing that it is reserved for album tracks only. Is there a reason behind this restriction?
All along, my expectation of this setting was that it would allow me to link ANY files together when in shuffle mode.

I've got a lot of song covers and remixes which I usually discover from Soundcloud and I'd like to keep them in sequence with their original counterparts, but I can't find a way to do so.
There are also scenarios where I just want to link totally unrelated tracks, simply because I've always enjoyed them more when they're in sequence.

So is there any way I can do this right now or I would just have to try the wishlist board? (to have the restriction on this setting removed)

7

Skins / A Completely Skinned Lyrics Panel (Now Playing Tab)

« on: July 11, 2022, 06:40:17 PM »

I've been using this a lot recently and can't help but think it would blend a lot better with skin colours everywhere. In its current state, it looks half done and sorta stands out.
There wouldn't be any need to create new elements for it - I believe the Right Sidebar colours (bg and fg) should look just fine on it.

8

Bug Reports / Inconsistent Setting (Precede With A Blank Line)

« on: June 21, 2022, 03:38:43 PM »

As I was experimenting with layouts and settings from this thread: https://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=36742.0
I noticed the following oddities which may need addressing...

1.
The precede with a blank line setting in the customise panel (Album and Tracks view), is behaving differently for the compact grid and detailed list layouts.
In the compact grid, the fields Disc# and Disc Count do not omit a line when the setting is disabled (expected behaviour).
Whereas in the detailed list, the same fields do not seem to be respecting the setting when it is disabled. Perhaps it's intentional? I'm not sure.


2.
The show settings button appears to be active across this whole region. It is not confined to its boundaries.

9

Skins / Lunar Eclipse

« on: May 28, 2022, 05:52:49 PM »

This is a replica of my Oblivion skin which features warmer colours.
Download it from the add-on link here.
For the progress bar to be displayed as intended, an update to MB 3.5.8121 or higher is needed.

10

Skins / Dedicated Elements For These Arrows

« on: May 27, 2022, 05:51:30 PM »

arrows in the tag inspector

Currently, the default and disabled states of these arrows share the same colour element (Controls.Arrow.Default).
It would be great if the disabled state could get its own element (e.g Controls.Arrow.Disabled).

back/forward navigation arrows

Currently, the default and highlight states of these arrows share the same image element (PanelForward or PanelBack).
It would also be great if the highlight states had their own image elements.

11

General Discussions / Tiny Irregularity Involving The Thumbnail Browser and Playlist Explorer

« on: April 22, 2022, 02:01:41 AM »

Using MusicBee version 3.5.8146 P

Scenario:
- enable the thumbnail browser (TB) on any tab/node that supports it.
- restart MB from that specific tab. Note that on startup, the first row (All <field>) in the TB isn't selected.
- then go to the playlist explorer (in any tab except the one in step 1) and select any playlist from there.
- upon returning to the tab used in step 1, you'll notice that the TB's first row is now selected?

It automatically has a lowlight colour applied to it. Why is that so?
It doesn't appear to be a skin dependent issue since the same behaviour occurs in the default skin.

I don't mind elaborating on the problem with gif's and screenshots if my explanation above isn't reproducible.

12

Skins / Disabled Fields

« on: April 09, 2022, 11:09:31 AM »

1 on the screenshot represents a disabled field...but so does 2.
So I'm wondering if there's a particular reason for why 1 isn't also receiving its colour from Controls.InputControl.Disabled, like 2 is?

I've checked a bunch of other skins and they all have a default grey for that field.
In the Tag Editor, disabled fields also appear in grey instead of using whatever colour is defined in Controls.InputControl.Disabled.

13

Skins / Oblivion (Dark Skin)

« on: April 03, 2022, 01:18:27 PM »

A dark MusicBee skin like any other, with the only exception of the progress bar that somewhat aims to break away from tradition.
Download it from the add-on link here.
For the progress bar to be displayed as intended, an update to MB 3.5.8121 or higher is needed.

14

Skins / Field Highlight Colours In The "Set Displayed Fields" Window

« on: March 29, 2022, 05:01:08 PM »

The (field) highlight on this pop up window is receiving its background colour from Menu.DropDown.Highlight
Wouldn't it be better if it also received its border colour from that element instead of fetching it from InlineMenu.ParentItem.Highlight?

15

Skins / Option To Disable Moving Track Text In The Player Panel

« on: March 27, 2022, 04:27:46 PM »

This would provide for having a much less 'nervous' constantly moving progress bar.

Thanks hiccup. I hadn't looked at it that way at first but looking at it now, this actually gives the skin a purpose.
(I'm now aiming to have as much minimal movement in and around the progress bar as possible)

So with that in mind, it would be nice if we had a skin setting that permitted the disabling of moving track text for songs with long titles.

So instead of this:

I would like for the skin to display this on a permanent basis: