Ubuntu SoundMenu

[thorbenb]

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SoundMenu

The sound-menu is pretty handy to use on Ubuntu, and with MPRIS being handled/worked on it shouldn't be too far of a stretch to implement this...

Well, I'd be delighted if this came to be.


at this point all I can add is: thanks for providing the only (to me) truly usable desktop-linux music-library/player.

[Quentin Sculo]

Yes, I think it actually uses the brand new MPRIS v2. So I'll first implement MPRIS v2, then I'll see what is needed to appear in the SoundMenu.

The SoundMenu looks fine, though I personally think a good tray layout is superior:
- easier to use : no click to make it appear
- more functional : the SoundMenu only support functions that are found in every players, no support for gmb's artist/album lock for example
- more customizable : just create a custom layout

But, yes, I'll support it :)

[thorbenb]

Thanks for the quick answer =)

I got to agree with the good tray layout likely beating the sound-menu, but uncluttering that whole area beats the little bit of comfort a normal tray-icon gives (it's just a royal mess, every application behaves differently >.< ) + keyboard navigation through all the menus just rocks ;)

And yeah, it uses mpris v2 from what I read. libsoundindicator just wants some dbus notices, as far as I can see.

[Aeos]

Did you make any progress with this feature? I upgraded to Maverick recently and now I'm curious and want to know how it feels to use the Sound Menu.  :)

[Quentin Sculo]

I haven't begun yet, I plan to work on it after I finish the field-options thing I'm working on.
It shouldn't take too long to get it working.

[Aeos]

I haven't begun yet, I plan to work on it after I finish the field-options thing I'm working on.
It shouldn't take too long to get it working.

No need to hurry, but it would be nice if you could drop a quick note in this thread when it's done.  :)

[Quentin Sculo]

I finally committed the mpris2 plugin, it will not appear in the maverick SoundMenu (as it requires an additional library that has no bindings in perl), but it should work in natty. I haven't tested it myself yet, but ochosi said it was working. Note that it requires an installed gmusicbrowser.desktop file, though it can be an old one.

[ochosi]

for anyone who wants to test this, i provide packages in my ppa for ubuntu natty (they're tested and supposed to work :) ) as well, in the latest version (1.1.6ppa6) the mpris2 plugin is included by default.
keep in mind that you have to activate the plugin manually, i haven't activated it by default yet as it is unclear whether xubuntu will use the soundmenu (and the indicators for that matter) in natty by default.

[mgrubert]

Very nice !
I see Banshee and GMB now in sound menu.
I notice Banshee offer the ability to launch a playlist. Could you make this for GMB ?

[legluondunet]

Works great in natty, but it misses me the ability to add ratings, like in the gmusicbrowser original tray menu.

Fonctionne très bien dans natty, merci!
Par contre, je m'étais habitué à mettre des notes sur mes morceaux préférés lors de leur lecture. Or cette fonctionnalité n'est pas disponible dans le menu "Son" de Ubuntu, c'est prévu ou ce n'est peut-être pas implémentable pour le moment?

[Quentin Sculo]

I don't think it's possible yet to rate the current song in ubuntu's soundmenu, though it seems it is planned, let me know if you see it implemented in another player or if you see the specs to do it, it should be easy to add.

But I recommend using gmusicbrowser's tray popup instead as it's much more powerful and customizable (as it's just another layout). Ubuntu's soundmenu will always be limited to functions that are common to many players.

[ochosi]

i recently thought about the soundmenu-implementation again when i stumbled upon claws-mail's notification plugin that also supports ubuntu's indicators: it has an option to hide the main window completely on minimize.

most people know this functionality as "close to tray". i was playing with this a bit today and a patch for the mpris2 plugin to support the close-to-tray function seems really easy to do (i have a working implementation here), so i'm wondering whether this could/should be added to gmb. the option could remain off by default, but for people who want more traditional trayicon-style behavior (and can't use a traditional trayicon because ubuntu is slowly removing that part of their panel) it could be valuable.

at the moment my implementation is close to tray, not minimize to tray. i'm wondering whether minimizing would make more sense, any opinions/experiences with that?
(personally i found it a bit difficult to get used to minimizing claws instead of closing it...)

[laite]

at the moment my implementation is close to tray, not minimize to tray. i'm wondering whether minimizing would make more sense, any opinions/experiences with that?

I feel that close to tray implies that all activity in gmb is stopped, e.g. playback, when minimize to tray would allow playback/everything else to continue. Just my opinion, though, I don't know how others feel.