MPBlue PPC client release 0.0.4 (1 Viewer)

[zombiepig]

mrsensitive - i'm just trying the new version now

here's my comments as i go:

- can you remove the thumbs.db file from the archive in the client\skin folder? it won't copy across to the ppc, and when i first installed i didn't realize it had stopped copying files after hitting that thumbs.db one. had me really confused with a bizarre error message till i realized i only had 4 files in my skin folder

(spend ages fixing a stupid firewall problem with this network - nothing to do with mpblue...)

- so far everything seems to be working great with now playing screen... having coverart is awesome (although i wouldn't mind it being a little bigger on the screen)
- something funny happening wrt various artist albums, but you already know that
- if i'm playing a song in mp, THEN load up mpblue and switch to the now playing screen, i'm missing all details except the current track position. on song change everything refreshes.

that's all i've got so far
THE COVERART FEATURE IS AWESOME

 

[ZetaVu]

Thanks MrSensitive. If I didn't say it enough before, great work! the latest version is by far the best and really impressive. When I get a chance I'll play around with the skin xml file before and send you anything I make, I want to put some more detail back into the now playing.

I like the size of the album art, it may be small but it loads quickly. I might add some navigation buttons to the now playing area. What would also help is maybe a reload button, one that can update information if you turn MPBlue on after starting a song on MP or in case of standby. That's a function you'd prbably have to arrange in the server, but it might address those issues.

 

[ZetaVu]

Ok, MrSensitive I emailed you some skin changes to look at. The only issue I ran into was that MPBlue will not seem to display a now playing detail more than once (I was trying to put references on multiple pages, you can use each reference once, the second time it is blank)

Also, I noticed that the mediacontrol app (similar to yours) also has the same issue with unknown albums, it does not populate the songs under an unknown album, and you cannot play them from the unknown album, you have to play them from artist.

Also, I like the fact that when you play songs with MPBlue, it adds them to playlist. This is useful if you want to go back in the program and rearrange or if you restart mpblue. Now, If I could just figure out a way to send a shuffle command from MPBlue, that does not seem to be makked to a number.

 

[MrSensitive]

ahh, ofcourse.. the update routine looks for a tag to update, and when it finds one it returns. I should be looking further for antoher tag..
that's an easy fix..

unknown albums is going to be a though one.. how is Mediaportal doing this (on screen, I mean)

shuffle requires a new method in the server... will investigate this..
I probably also have to write a togglebutton class, that can be used for Play/Pause, mute/unmute and shuffle/unshuffle (probably continues play also)

I'm now trying to figure out how mediaportal handles playlists, and how I can tap into the Methods MediaPortall exposes..

for playlists, I would like to revive the existing listview code that was written by scrappy adn Asidie a long time ago..

In the mean tim eI'm working on a caching mechanism that would allow me to use different fonts without too much performance loss..
the images are also going to be cached so that every image file is in memory only once..

how about some visual feedback that a button is pushed? would that be interesting?

maybe you can post your skin changes here? so that other people can benefit from them also?

My motivation is back... now all i need is time

 

[zombiepig]

My motivation is back... now all i need is time

great news! sounds like this plugin is definitely in capable hands

 

[ZetaVu]

Ok, is there an easy way to post xml/png or zip files? if not it might be quicker if you just put the zip I sent you on your space and link here.

It looks like the unknown album issue might bog down development, I may try playing artificially naming an album and see how that works.

If I had to prioritize the bugs I see, first would be the loss in connection on standby, we really need a way to recover as well as refreshing data if you open MPBLue after starting a playlist. Next is loss of now playing info when visualizations are fullscreen, followed by the duplicate tag issue, then the shuffle button, then they're all minor (the glitch on expanding music database, and unknown albums mainly since it seems difficult to attack)

I am not sure how MP handles these created unknown albums, it is frustrating.

I don't know if you need a special toggle for play/pause, the pause button seems to work but the visual change would be cool. Same with any button response (pressed button). Now with cache, I assume that is on the server and not pda, hate to hog memory there. Also another thought, show next track info in now playing, never got that to work, haven't tried with the newest version though.

Anyway, keep up the good work, let me knwo where I can help.

 

[MrSensitive]

not sure about posting files here..
I will make it available

about the next track;
just add a label field and set the caption to #Play.Next......"
I have to check the exact naming... but it looks very similar to the #play.Current.... just replace Current with Next.

the caching of fonts an graphics needs to be done on the client, and it should reduce memory usage instead of increasing it...really

the priorities look right, only the issue with events not being fired when MP is in the Nowplayingscreen is out of my hands... MP issue..

 

[fathead]

are there any plans to rap this development into an easy installer package for windows mobile?

I keep meaning to give it ago, but just felt from a user point of view a nice little installer would work well. I download a lot of software for my Ipaq, and its just far simpler this way.

Keep up the great work!

 

[ZetaVu]

Is the Nowplaingscreen what I've been calling fullscreen visuals? That one is irritating, I like to throw the visuals on and control the music through the PDA, but there really needs to be a way to see the now plaing info in the pda. At leaste with the media library now expanding to show individual songs, that makes it a little easier to get around this. Putting in a view that reads and displays the playlist from MP would also be a plus, but again, how does that get effected by full screen visuals.

If you are referring to something else, let me know.

 

[MrSensitive]

I'm afraid so...

i determined that the info does not update when MP is in fullscreen visuals, Now playing screen (Bluetwo skin) or minimized..
this needs to be sorted by the MP developers..

MPblue progress report:

• the skin engine now allows you to specify the FontFamily, type, size and color for buttons and labels. this should enable you to create more attreactive screens
• a MP tag (#...) can now be used in more than one screen.
• implementing stuff from opennetCF to handle reconnects after the device resumes from standby.