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Messages - rizlaw

16
Quentin & VastOne,

Again, many thanks for your help on the widget.

After spending considerable time reading the layout wiki (I won't divulge how long  :-X :-[) and experimenting with code splicing of your respective versions, I've gotten this far:

[nowplaying_timeslider_rizlaw]
Type=D
DefaultFont=8
Window = size=240x240,transparent=1
VBmain= _Cover(forceratio=1,hover_delay=1,hover_layout=nowplaying_screenlet2_popup) -HBtime Title(xalign=.5) Artist(xalign=.5) Album(xalign=.5)
HBtime= Length(markup="$length",initsize="XX:XX",xalign=0) _TimeSlider(direct_mode=1) PlayingTime(markup="%s",initsize="XX:XX",xalign=1)


I've attached a snapshot of what it looks like (minus the popup buttons which appear over the bottom text area when the cover art is moused over).

I still can't figure out how to get the timeslider above the text and below the cover art.

Also, VastOne, you mentioned:

QuoteThat white triangle is from a Gnome 3 issue that I recall from using Gnome Shell on Fedora 15..  There is a fix for it ...  Has to do with a corner move settings hat you can tweak.  I think I may have even discussed it with squentin on these forums somewhere

I did a search but couldn't find any post in the forum about it. I'm using Ubuntu 11.10 Unity and Gnome Shell. Is it possible for you to be more specific on how to fix the white triangle issue?
17
VastOne,

O.K. finally got the top versions to work. Here's a screen shot of both:
(top shot) nowplaying_screenlet2_vastone
(bottom)  nowplaying_screenlet_vastone2

I think the top is better, however, as you will notice, the remaining time on the far right is obscured by the white triangle in the right lower corner. Otherwise, nice work. :) As a matter of personal preference I do prefer the text info on the bottom along with the time info the way Quentin did it. But I do prefer your time slider visually, particularly because the transport button are easier to visualize without them being superimposed over the text. I guess, for now, it's a trade-off with the popup buttons: text on top makes the buttons easier to see on the bottom and text and slider on the bottom makes the buttons a little harder to see.
18
VastOne,

I did slightly rename the popup version of the file so as not to be confused with Quentin's popup work. BTW, I'm only interested in the code for the hidden popup transport buttons version.  Adding all the versions together is a bit confusing. :) I'll try again with your naming convenion and see what happens.

Edit: O.K., since what I said above, I've tried it again with the same results. I've attached both files with your recommended filenames.
19
VastOne,

Sorry but I couldn't get your version of the code to work. The text layout file I put the code in "nowplaying2b_popup.layout" is not seen by GMB in the list of available widgets to add. Not sure why.


[nowplaying_screenlet2b_popup]
Window = transparent=1
HBmain= 7Prev 7Play 7Next 7BMSettings
BMSettings = (icon=gtk-preferences,size=menu) MainMenuItem PSortItem SMLibrary LayoutItem QueueItem PFilterItem SeparatorMenuItem01 MenuItem14(command=OpenPref,label=_"Settings",icon="gtk-preferences") MenuItem05(command=Quit,label=_"Quit",icon="gtk-quit")
SMLibrary = (label=_"Library") MenuItem00(command="RunPerlCode(::ChooseAddPath(0,1))",label=_"Add Music",icon="gtk-add") MenuItem32(command="RunPerlCode(::IdleScan)",label=_"Rescan Collection",icon="gtk-refresh")

20
Quote from: Quentin Sculo on January 11, 2012, 21:04:48

nowplaying_screenlet2 pops-up a layout (nowplaying_screenlet2_popup) with prev/stop/play/next buttons when the mouse is over the cover, unfortunately currently there is no way to configure where the popup appear, it is positioned below the cover (or above/next to it, if there is no place below) Maybe I'll add options to change this.

O.K., I'm impressed. ;D  My personal preference is for "nowplaying_screenlet2 popup". I've attached another screenshot of all 3 variations you just coded. You can't see the popup transport controls in the first image; they appear over the area where the Title, Artist, Album text is located. They are a little hard to see until you mouse over each button and then the white outline box that appears helps visualize the selected button. Perhaps the outline color could be changed from "white" to match the color of the scrolling time bar which, in my case, is Ubuntu orange? 

QuoteAbout the playing bar, these simply shows a progress bar with the minimal height, that may depends on your gtk theme. It is possible to skin the time bar, but currently only when using a handle, so it won't help for what you want.

The time playing bar is fine, but I just had a thought - could you include the numeric time "time remaining/total time"  within the time playing bar in small, but visible type? "Time remaining" on far left of bar and "Total time" on far right.

Quote
With gstreamer, selecting the gap-less mode option might help (though it's possible it doesn't make any difference when using a random mode)

I tried gapless mode, it's only a little better. The downside to GMB gapless, is that it seems to clip off the end of too many tracks I play.

QuoteNowadays you really should be able to play multiple streams at the same time, why do you use "ALSA, hw:0.1" exactly ?

Pulse audio (which I'm not alone in disliking) down samples ALL hi-res audio to 16/44.1 or 48. It either doesn't have the ability to switch audio bitrate and depth on the fly or none of the distros (Ubuntu, Red Hat, Debian, etc., care enough to code this into their distributions. Removing Pulse Audio, as you've noted, seems to screw up everything and make things worse.

I have invested in quite a few hi-rez 24/96 and 24/192 albums purchased from HDTracks. The only way to play these hi-rez tracks at their correct resolution, intermixed in playlists with standard CD res tracks, is to set GMB to ALSA and advanced settings to hw:0,1 .  This way I bypass Pulse Audio and the software mixer and I get bit perfect output from my Asus Xonar STX digital output to my external DAC digital input. Everything plays the way it should (minus the intermittent GMB alsa sink crash). My other alternative, is to use Quod Libet as a player set up for ALSA hw:0,1 just like GMB. It works flawlessly. Unfortunately, Quod Libet while very good, isn't GMB in terms of features I need and want from a music player.
21
Quentin,

Thanks for the code. I wasn't expecting that. It's very good. Since you're on a roll here. I thought I should point out that the "Screenlets" NowPlaying widget is more functional than the snapshot I included in my prior post: it contains a hidden set of control buttons that only appear when you mouse over the cover art area. Unfortunately, those transport control buttons only include back, play/pause, forward. There is no stop button and for me that is critical, so that when using ALSA, hw:0.1, I can stop playback and answer a Skype call. I believe "stop" temporarily disconnects "exclusive" audio control from the media player. In "pause" mode exclusive control of the audio is retained by the media player and I can't answer the call with Skype audio functioning properly. This is one of many reasons I prefer GMB and your widget to all other Linux based music players. ;D

So now the question becomes, is it possible for you to modify the code above so that your modified NowPlaying widget has the last track, stop, pause, next track buttons either invisible until you mouse over the cover art, or visible on top of the cover art and the track title, artist, album and play time beneath the cover art. One last suggestion, instead of showing the time in numbers, how about a thin (2 pixel?) bright green line between the bottom edge of the cover art and the track title which slowly progresses across the width of the cover art to depict the playing time. I think that would look more elegant than numbers and still provide good time feedback.

On a down note, I'm still occasionally seeing an ALSA playback error where the program stops playing between tracks saying its lost ALSA sink. Clicking play usually starts playback. I have no idea why this is happening. Screenshot of error attached, if it helps. I'm using the GMB RC.

Lou Rizzo

22
Quentin,

After reading your answers, my brain exploded. :'(
I feel like the old man in the film "Moonstruck" when he says "I'm confused". Great film if you haven't seen it.

I think the attached screenshot of the "nowplaying" screenlet in the "Screenlets" package of widgets best illustrates the text size I am hoping for in the GMB widget, in contrast to the snapshot of GMB's widget. In the Screenlet's widge the text appears to be half the size, I'm guessing the first line of text is about 10pt bold and the remaining 2 lines are 8 point italic and bold. All the lines automatically scroll to show everything on each line - something a snapshot can't show. But, that's irrelevant to my point about the size of text in GB being too large. It's too bad the Screenlets developers don't include GMB in their list of supported music players.

As for your suggestion to make your widget larger to get more text, I can't do that because the overall size of your widget is constrained by the overall size (width) of my Conky data column, which is about 240 pixels wide. I need them to line up along the right side of my screen.
23
Gmusicbrowser 1.1.8 RC. Ubuntu 11.10 64 bit (Gnome Shell & Unity)

Question 1: when changing the default text font size, the entire widget gets proportionately larger or smaller (including the cover art), but the number of characters in the Title, Artist & Album fields does not increase or decrease. The number of characters remains constant regardless of the font size chosen. For example, I would expect that reducing the font size from say Sans 13 to Sans 10 would result in more characters fitting on each line, but that's not the case. Is there a reason for the behavior?

Question 2: Is there a way to keep the cover size from changing when altering the default text font size?

Question 3: What is the purpose of the "Minimum Size" option which is set at 1 x 1. It seems to increment in steps of 10: 1,11, 21, 31, 41, but nothing changes in the desktop widget?

Thanks. Happy New Year.
24
Quentin, thanks again. I promise to be silent for awhile. :-X
25
Again, many thanks Quentin. It works quite nicely.  ;D

Without trying to be difficult, can the time be placed below the cover art instead of above?
26
Quote from: Quentin Sculo on November 25, 2011, 16:46:13
QuoteThis may have been asked before, but is there any way to display the "remaining time" in the widget for each track being played?

You can make the widgets PlayingTime (old name : LabelTime) and Time display the remaining time by using the remaining=1 option, so you can modify the layout you want and replace for example "PlayingTime" by "PlayingTime(remaining=1)"
Clicking on them toggle the remaining mode, but it is not possible for insensitive desktop widgets.

Or maybe you meant adding a widget that does this, rather than changing the mode of an existing one, then you need to add "PlayingTime(remaining=1)" somewhere in the layout, you'll have to tell me which layout you want to modify if you want more help.

You can also use $left with the widget TimeBar to show it inside the bar : TimeBar(text="time left : $left")

I guess my first question about this is: I don't see the widgets "PlayingTime" or "TimeBar" in the list of 1.1.8 widgets, so where are they to be found (I looked in the development section and didn't notice anything about them). Also, how would either one be installed? Having said that, it sounds like option 1 could be more difficult for me to accomplish if it requires modifying code.

As for option 2, adding a widget, this is a more interesting choice. Perhaps a simple widget that shows both the "remaining track time" and "total track time" for each song as a thin bar that can be placed just below the existing "Button, controls, CoverArt" widget.

As for my player window layout, I'm currently using "Lists, Library & Context".
As for my desktop widget, I'm using "Buttons, Song & Cover"
27
Thank you Quentin. My bad for not reading the other thread more carefully. :-[
I now see the widget plug in controls in the Settings menu area. Excellent work.

This may have been asked before, but is there any way to display the "remaining time" in the widget for each track being played?
28
Thanks Quentin for your usual speedy replies.

Issue:

(2) "Installation/update error" : I used Synaptic for the original install of GMB 1.1.7 and then Gdebi for the install of 1.1.8. At the time, I didn't think it was required to uninstall 1.1.7 before installing 1.1.8 rc. Based on your response, I did a Synaptic complete removal of 1.1.7 and then used Gdebi to install 1.1.8. This still gave me an error at the end of the install, rather than the beginning. I have attached a screenshot of the error for your review. In any event, 1.1.8 did install and seems to work, although I haven't played anything yet.

(1) "Desktop Widget" bug : Based on my experience, the bug is not 100% fixed for the widget in question. There is still no way I can find to move or resize the widget either from the desktop widget itself or from the Settings > Desktop Widgets menu. I find it odd that, in addition to the "Add" button, you don't provide a button like "Adjust or Modify" that opens the control window with the sliders to adjust an existing desktop widget. I ultimately decided to delete the hidden gmusicbrowser configuration folder. This nuked all my settings, including the misbehaving desktop widget. I then added a new, replacement widget and carefully positioned it before closing the adjustment window. However, in version 1.1.8, the new desktop widget still suffers from the same problem of inability to adjust position or size.

(3) "Gstreamer error" bug : I have enabled "gapless" as you suggested. Time will tell if this works better.
29
(1) I just finished a new, clean installation of Ubuntu 11.10 64 bit, and installed gmusicbrowser 1.1.7 from the repositories. In "settings" I checked "Desktop Widgets" and added the "Buttons, Song & Cover" widget. Using the slider bars I moved it to the lower right area of my screen and closed the widget adjustments window. I then realized I needed to move the widget a little lower, but I can't nor can I get back to the slider adjustment window. The documentation page and wiki don't provide any help. Going back to "Settings > Desktop Widgets" only allows me to ADD another widget, there is no button to ADJUST the widget I already have on the screen. If I uncheck "Desktop Widgets" the widget disappears, but it's not really gone, since adding the check back to "Desktop Widgets" just returns the widget to where it was. Right clicking on the widget itself brings up no editing menu to adjust the position or allow me to move it around by holding down the right mouse button. I can add another widget of the same kind, but I can't move or delete the existing widget. Also, left clicking on the white triangle in the lower right corner of the widget and trying to move it just blows the entire widget up to 1/3 the entire right side of the screen (top to bottom) and the only way to fix it is to disable and re-enable the "Desktop Widgets" button. What am I missing?

(2) I can't install the 1.1.8 deb release candidate file I downloaded from the development section. I get an error stating that attempting to install 1.1.8 over 1.1.7 will break the existing package.  Is this a bug? Can 1.1.8 be installed over 1.1.7 in 64 bit 11.10?

(3) When I set gmusicbrowser to "ALSA" and "hw:0,1" in advanced settings, I get a gstreamer error on track changes between albums (mostly) involving 24/96 FLAC files. Playback stops and when I hit play it resumes. I need this setting to by-pass the pulse audio and themixer in order to get bit perfect output to my external DAC. This gstreamer issue didn't happen when I was using Ubuntu 10.04 LTS with the same setting. Any ideas why this could be happening?

I've attached a screenshot of the error message that pops up.

Thanks.