Assume I want to use (at least) two different layouts and MusicBee settings.
Okay.
That means I have to use 2 different "MusicBeeLibrarySettings.ini" files.
It doesn't. If you look at the
MusicBeeLibrarySettings.ini file in a text editor, you'll see it only includes the settings that appear on the
Library tab of the
Preferences dialog.
It doesn't store anything about the layout or general program settings.
Can I somehow pass the corresponding settings file (with relative path from installation dir) from command line like:
MusicBee.exe -settings =".\Library\MusicBeeLibrarySettingsStandard.ini"
and
MusicBee.exe -settings =".\Library\MusicBeeLibrarySettingsSlim.ini"
I read somewhere about a StartupSettings.ini (in older MB versions).
Can this be used?
Claudia
Still nope. Command line parameters are listed here:
https://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=6885.msg39599That's very old, but to my knowledge there haven't been any parameters added since that affect anything other than what MusicBee does when it starts up.
It has never supported starting up with different settings or a different layout.
I've never seen
StartupSettings.ini and I don't even have that file so it can't be anything useful.
Are you sure that's a MusicBee file - searching on the forum shows no results for that name.
Theoretically, you could write some kind of script to swap between copies of the file
MusicBee3Settings.ini which does store wider program settings. However, it currently runs to almost 5000 lines and there are also other configuration files that MusicBee uses, not all of which are user-editable. I would describe the expected results of attempting to do this as "undefined".
Since you can have two portable installations (or one portable and one installer) on the same PC (in different directories) you might be able to accomplish what you're trying to do. Create desktop shortcuts named 'MB Slim' and 'MB Standard' or something that works for you.
I'm sure someone else will chime in with confirmation that my suggestion will work. Or won't work. Or have another suggestion.
I've just tested this very quickly, and it appears to work fine.
I'd suggest two portable installations to make sure they didn't interfere with each other.
Set up a library in the first copy of MusicBee the way you want it.
In the second copy of MusicBee select
File > Library > Create New Library and select the last option
choose an existing library... and then point it to the same library.
The two different copies of MusicBee can be configured to appear differently but still share the same library of music and playcounts etc.
-edit-
After testing this, it appears that when running the first version of MusicBee again some of the library settings (monitored folders) were reset. I'm not going to set it up and test it again to work out exactly what's going on, but it's something to be aware of.