GUI changes for v3.0

[ankor]

- when any panel is sorted by Year, or the Album Covers panel is grouped by Year or Decade, then the A-Z bar changes to show decades

Could this be broadened to include any field with the Date type, including Custom and Virtual tags?

yes thats done for the next update

wow!

[ankor]

Music explorer is beautiful

One downside of it imo is is you can't use it as a stand alone layout, you need to first play an artist and then refresh it. (in another tab). Maybe integrate artist view and music explorer into each other? Love it though and it can only get better.

Also how does it know what similar artists are in your library? Does it get it from the internet or from tags? It doesn't seem reliable.

+1, I would love to be able to use music explorer with any artist at any time.

just type the artist name in the search box

whataya know

[Steven]

http://musicbee.niblseed.com/V3_0/MusicBee3_Patched.zip

unzip into the musicbee application folder and run MusicBee3.exe
- fixes and changes for the items stated as fixed above

[psychoadept]

+1, I would love to be able to use music explorer with any artist at any time.

just type the artist name in the search box

O_O

Always something new. 

Could this be broadened to include any field with the Date type, including Custom and Virtual tags?

yes thats done for the next update

This seems to be working for the main library, but not in playlists?

[redwing]

I haven't seen much discussion about the Music Explorer, are there any plans for it going forward?

At the moment all albums by an artist are sorted alphabetically (IMHO doesn't make much sense), can they be sorted chronologically instead?

i have change the sorting to use year then album in descending order ie. most recent first

Can you support ascending order as an option?

Also Music Explorer tab only recognizes first artist for tracks with multiple artists (artist biography element does the same). Why not offer artist selector box like last.fm tab on playing track panel of v2.5?

Track Info panel works worse. It can't find any artists for multi-artist tracks:

[KissCool]

Maybe integrate artist view and music explorer into each other?

+1. Was about to ask for it!

I really like the Music Explorer layout (asked for it a long time ago here). But we can't use it as a regular "browsing" layout.
Displaying this layout when double clicking an artist picture in the artist view would make sense, imho (maybe by replacing "use Artwork layout to show albums for an artist" old option by "use Music Explorer layout to show albums for an artist").

I like the Artists view, but, for now, i can't figure out a nice (and usefull way) to use it:
(-> = double click // <- = navigate back mouse button // "show the tracks for the selected album" option unticked)
 - Artists view (group by 1st letter) -> Album Covers view: no group header!
Better to use my Albums tab: Album Covers view (with goup header) + Thumbnail Browser (Album Artists)
 - MB v2.5: Artists view -> Album Covers view -> Album & Tracks view <- Album covers view <- Artists view -- Repeat
In v3.0, you can do it (I mean, MB allows to do it) but you have to do this:
Artists view -> Album Covers view -> Album Cover view -- click Album & Tracks view <- Album Cover view -- drop down menu, click Artist -- You can't repeat because clicking again an Artist picture bring you to the Album&Tracks view, not the Album Covers view (so, drop down menu; click Album Covers view and so on).
Not really easy browsing nor intuitive. Again, better to use my Albums tab: Album Covers view (with goup header) + Thumbnail Browser (Album Artists) -> Album&Tracks view

So, bring some love to the Artists view, please! (Don't get me wrong, just kidding. Just switched to v3.0 from v2.4, and as usual, great job!)

About Music Explorer, few wishes:
 - An artist bio tab would make sense here, imo (Albums & Stats - Bio - More Albums... - Similar Artists)
 - Now Playing tab: enable music explorer in the drop down menu (Artist Picture / Album Color Mix / Large Album / Music Explorer / ...). Would make sense imo, since Music Explorer is more a Now Playing Track feature (and I could save a tab space!).
 - a drop down menu to sort albums by Most Played/Top Rated/Recently Added...
 - maybe a little less Top Tracks (it looks more like a "All Tracks" than a "Top Tracks")

[h0m3r]

3 little things

1.
Whenever I open a new tab opens column browser and thumbnail browser.
Can I change this somehow?
I want open a new Tab without column browser and thumbnail browser.
Especially with the "locked" Tab function.

2.
When I use the Search and then change the view in, for example, cover or title details the search discarded.
can I change this?

3.
Sometimes when I start MusicBee comes following startup error.
I cant reproduce this. it happens randomly.

Code

08.03.2016 14:16:36 - 10.0.10586.0 - 3.0.5909.35119 - System.InvalidOperationException: The applet must be connected to call this method.
   bei GammaJul.LgLcd.LcdApplet.VerifyConnected()
   bei GammaJul.LgLcd.LcdApplet.OpenDeviceByType(LcdDeviceType deviceType)
   bei MusicBeePlugin.Plugin.applet_DeviceArrival(Object sender, LcdDeviceTypeEventArgs e)
   bei GammaJul.LgLcd.LcdApplet.OnDeviceArrival(LcdDeviceType deviceType)
   bei GammaJul.LgLcd.LcdApplet.NotificationCallback(Int32 connection, IntPtr context, NotificationCode notificationCode, Int32 param1, Int32 param2, Int32 param3, Int32 param4)

08.03.2016 14:16:36 - 10.0.10586.0 - 3.0.5909.35119 - System.NullReferenceException: Der Objektverweis wurde nicht auf eine Objektinstanz festgelegt.
   bei MusicBee.MusicBeeMain.NavigationHeader.#=q3vofIUkwzXprLMfV2fruJg==(Rectangle #=qXsfaQCrASjnRW2CnQnIkCA==)
   bei MusicBee.MusicBeeMain.#=q4jgY0tE3akCQWXO2Sv60muXoMbBEA3yYn2QPapenN7c=._Lambda$__0(Graphics #=qhLuABbA4vMCOocqr0VsTPQ==)
   bei #=qNm6KQeLsKUAEyLHbwbhIYQ==.#=qPN_tTFqOal_HWp0X_FumZQ==.#=qi6H_Gp43UfXmXm3aPvyciQ==(Graphics #=qW5tJGlaLFpCO2jE4vhDzpA==, #=qjWz4Jb96QOobZCmxQ1eaNz_Ur_0whoy0v1iHIcrpVq8= #=qi_UjenxOuOaVXEnFyLeCJg==, Rectangle #=qL0Y61oQsXKDPqWE7M$9t_Q==, Rectangle #=qEt23YT7yypekfHiWoci8qA==)
   bei MusicBee.MusicBeeMain.OnPaint(PaintEventArgs #=qoNRMU1B$6RYB2RCDKWKDgw==)
   bei System.Windows.Forms.Control.PaintWithErrorHandling(PaintEventArgs e, Int16 layer)
   bei System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmPaint(Message& m)
   bei System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
   bei System.Windows.Forms.ScrollableControl.WndProc(Message& m)
   bei System.Windows.Forms.Form.WndProc(Message& m)
   bei #=qBUV0xImnww2OIjZCh1$V5plLbzK_awIKKKl63K8CEXE=.WndProc(Message& #=qxoszZsliOkgGz_IRibUwHA==)
   bei MusicBee.MusicBeeMain.WndProc(Message& #=qmZja$IjvIutECzXvcqqPaw==)
   bei System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
   bei System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
   bei System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam) ]/code]

[fabulario]

Regarding Music Explorer.
As said, I also love the layout, but I would go a little further, and this is what I would like:

For me, information about Top Tracks is not a priority. Yes, sometimes I use Track Rating, but never the Play Count. Of course I'm not saying it should be eliminated. I would prefer that this column was optional, that could be used, but not always shown, occupying a space that I would use otherwise.
I imagine the Music Explorer panel as an option to display all the information possible about an album that I have stored in their tags.
I use the right sidebar to show biography and images of the artist, and tracks lyrics.

But I need more
- I have defined custom tags for musicians (musician credits list), album credits (people Involved), and album producer, so I would love to see this information.
- Show the Album editor.
- Show the notes I've added to the album.
- Personal links related to reviews of the album.
In short, any tag that I've added to the album.

And where would this information be shown? Well, I see three options:
- That these tags were available for display in the right sidebar.
- Set the space occupied by the Track Rating as a panel similar to the right sidebar, with the ability to display any tag.
- My favorite: keep the right sidebar and add a new panel (something like the right main panel) and show between the two all the information.

I know it's too much, but these are my dreams. And dreams, perhaps ...

[carloscs]

Two problems with editing album/track pictures:

1) If doing a "Search Internet" and no picture is found the "No picture found" dialog appears twice (already reported, but seems it was missed between all the posts).

2) With two monitors, open the edit track/album dialog in the second monitor (mine is on the right) -> right click on picture -> the popup menu appears on the first monitor.

Note: this also happens with the Rip CD dialog (where I first noticed the problems).

[Steven]

2.
When I use the Search and then change the view in, for example, cover or title details the search discarded.
can I change this?

3.
Sometimes when I start MusicBee comes following startup error.
I cant reproduce this. it happens randomly.

2 & 3a should be fixed for the next update.
The plugin error (logitech keyboard plugin?) should be reported on the appropriate plugin topic

[Steven]

Could this be broadened to include any field with the Date type, including Custom and Virtual tags?

yes thats done for the next update

This seems to be working for the main library, but not in playlists?

thats fixed for the next update

[Steven]

1) If doing a "Search Internet" and no picture is found the "No picture found" dialog appears twice (already reported, but seems it was missed between all the posts).

that should have been fixed around the time it was reported, and i cannot reproduce this now. So make sure you are using the latest version

[Steven]

I like the Artists view, but, for now, i can't figure out a nice (and usefull way) to use it:

What i will do for the next update is maintain and persist separate layout settings for when you drill-down from an artist vs. when you drill-down from an album

[Steven]

At the moment all albums by an artist are sorted alphabetically (IMHO doesn't make much sense), can they be sorted chronologically instead?

Can you support ascending order as an option?

i will add a right click menu to set sort by title; sort by year (asc) and sort by year (desc)

[carloscs]

I like the Artists view, but, for now, i can't figure out a nice (and usefull way) to use it:

What i will do for the next update is maintain and persist separate layout settings for when you drill-down from an artist vs. when you drill-down from an album

Confirm fixed - sorry, should have tried with the _really_ latest version.