2 Qs: How to Place Bento Mini-bar at BOTTOM and Roll UP; Way to Batch Edit Metatags

[willdao3]

Hi,

Thanks in advance for any help. I'd like to place the cool Bento mini-bar at the bottom, just above my taskbar, and have it expand upward when clicked. There is a "roll up" feature in one of the Appearance menus, but this doesn't function as I want.

Also, I have a bunch of music from myriad sources. all with crazy metatags; I have my music filed in Artist folders, and Album subfolders (almost all whole albums). I'd like to be able to batch edit all the crazy tags so they reflect this simple filing system, and therefore make my media library coherent, rather than having multiple versions of albums and artists and songs all ove the place. Otherwise, the media library is too clunky to use, and I find myself just using Windows Explorer to select music. Thanks!

[JonnyMac]

1) .Try docked toolbar mode (http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=223112#post1744329)

2) .You can batch/mass edit metadata within the Library by selecting mulitple files > right click and select 'Edit selected items' (or use Ctrl+E) -- Make sure that 'Update file tag(s) if supported' is checkmarked

You can consecutively edit files by selecting multiple files (from playlist editor or ML) > right click and select 'View file info' (or use Alt+3)

Or, use a batch/mass tag editor. MP3tag (http://www.mp3tag.de/en/) is highly suggested in Winamp Forums.

[willdao3]

Thanks for the info./advice, JonnyMac, I'll give it a try...

:)

[JonnyMac]

You're welcome :D

[willdao3]

Hi, JonnyMac (or new mod),

I tried the "dock to bottom" mode, but this is problematic, as it covers up the bottom half of the taskbar; is there any way to "dock" the Bento skin not at the VERY bottom, but at just above the taskbar?

(I can't imagine anyone actually docking it while covering up the taskbar--surely there's a way to do this!)

Thanks, again,

Will

[JonnyMac]

Try unckecking 'Auto-Hide' and 'Always On Top' in the Docked Toolbar options.

[willdao3]

O.K., JonnyMac, we're gettin' there! :)

I've got the windowshade collapsed at the bottom--just ABOVE the taskbar, as desired. However, when I click on the rightmost "expansion" button, beside the CLOSE/EXIT button (called "Windowshade mode), the shade doesn't unroll (upwards).

I CAN hit the "Maximize" button, to absolutely fill the whole screen, but this won't work, because then all the text-menu options in winamp (among other items) are hidden by my icon dock at the top of the screen. (I can put the shade near the top of the screen, under the icon dock to have it unroll downwards, but not only does this look janky, it interferes somewhat--triggering expansion of my docklet icons when I'm mousing to Winamp options, for example.

All I wanna do is put the windowshaded Bento at the bottom, above the taskbar, and have it "uproll" to a desired point I define, as if the window were in a "normal" mode when opened, with expandable/contractable/definable borders--NOT maximized to fill the whole screen.

Can this be done? :igor:

Thanks, man--not least for wading through all the chapters of this little novel I've written! (Wait till I get to all my Media Library Questions: Book-fo-the-Month Club, lol)

:-{)

Will

[JonnyMac]

When Winamp is in "normal" (resizable) view set the window to the desired position, width & length (etc.) then click the button for WindowShade to put it in Docked Toolbar. Upon clicking the WindowShade button to return to normal view, the position and size of Winamp should be remembered. If I am understanding your post correctly, that is close as you can get to the desired effect.

[willdao3]

Hi, JonnyMac,

Yeah, that's what I hoped would happen, but it doessn't.

When I put Winamp in Normal mode, I can get the "double arrow" to pull up the top of the window to the desired position, and when I click on the Windowshade button, it collapses to the bottom...

...but when I then try to click on the windowshade button again to restore it to the (Normal) position I want, it "expands" DOWNWARD, i.e. lower than the taskbar, into areas I can't see. It doesn't restore to the upper areas of my screen to the desired position I just set.

[Edit: This is exactly the problem I had before I learned to dock the skin, with your help. I.e. it doesn't seem to matter whether the skin is docked at the bottom or not, it still won't expand upward into the usable areas of the screen.]

I can then pull the top of the window up again with the oduble-arrow tool, but this is not at all what I wanna be doing all the time.

Any sugestions? Can you re-create my scenario and play around with it, to see my prob.?

Thanks, again, for your time.

This is such a great skin--so cool that Winamp has broken a bit from its slavish devotion to the old component-style skin model (although it still can kinda work that way, just not so much appearance-wise. A kudos to the dsigners!).

Will

[JonnyMac]

menubar Options > Window Sizing > uncheck 'Link shade and player width'

[willdao3]

You be too hot, JonnyMac! Ow, my eyeballs be smolderin' jes bein' in your so illustrious virtual presence!

:D

Wow. At every step, before asking for your help, I played around with many of the settings. But it seems the ones you ended up tweaking didn't always have a "logical" relationship to what I was trying to accomplish. Case in point, this last tweak that finally worked: why this should have the desired impact is not clear.

Perhaps in an update, someone can write a script that'll integrate this process with a one-click-able option...

Meanwhile, I'm set!

(But, again, I'll have other Q's, you know it! I'm stroked that I can come here and get fast, reliable, effective answers. I can't remember the last time I actually got this level of attention--and on-point answers that REALLY WORKED--on a product forum. Not including the (generic) A/V Science Forums, where all members work hard for everybody with questions about Audio-Video-Home Theater hardware tech. Come around 'n' visit! http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/ )

Will

[willdao3]

I've recently reinstalled all my software after a catastrophic OS failure--including Winamp (this time with v. 5.55.1 instead of 5.55.2).

I'm trying to (re-)figure out how to get Winamp to look/work like it did before the crash...

Man. I'm having trouble even FINDING the options/preferences alluded to in this forum post from a couple of months ago, and don't even know if this updated version of Winamp allows me to tweak things according to the instructions above, or if I'm just crazily not seeing the options (it's been a long and frustrating day!.

How do I dock the windowshade at the bottom--and then have it roll upwards when expanding; heck, how do I even move the windowshade (it's fixed near the top of the screen); where are the preferences to uncheck always on top, etc., per the post from March?

I can't find any of this stuff...maybe it's just me!

Can someone please read the instructions in the above posts and guide me to where I find these options?

I still have v. 5.55.1 if necessary...

Thanks!

[JonnyMac]

Try this thread (http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=304977&highlight=toolbar). Click on the link in that thread for instructions on enabling/using docked toolbar, also see the extra tip if using the Bento skin.

[willdao3]

Hi, JonnyMac,

Nice to hear from you again!

I finally ifgured it out--I'd copied the above string of posts to Notepad and saved it in a folder so I could remember the instructions in the future--but your link on getting the docked toolbar mode popup didn't survive (of course) the text-only change...so, I didn't remember to hit "ctrl" when I was right-clicking. I finally found it by right clicking in some "blank space" in the main window and pulling it off another pop-up menu. And, searched this original post and saw the "ctrl" + "rt. Click" instructions on the other post, finally.

So, it's working as before--except now I have a new problem that hasn't happened before:

When the windowshade expands upwards (as desired) to full-mode, it "squishes" all open windows to the top of the screen (actually, even windows minimized to the taskbar subsequently open this way)--also, all icons on the desktop (even when hidden by a third-party app and supposedly "locked" in place) get moved to the top of the screen.

Please see this post and see if you have any ideas, thanks:

http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=2517467#post2517467



Repsectfully,

willdao3

[JonnyMac]

You're welcome, I am glad you got the first problem resolved.

As for the second issue, did you see my reply just under your post (http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=2517467#post2517467)?

[willdao3]

No, I missed that reply, as last night's session was restored in my browser this morning, and I forgot to refresh the page.

THANKS! Worked wonders; everything is as I like it, now.

BTW: this whole "separate docked toolbar/not-docked toolbar WHEN IN NORMAL AND MAXIMIZED VIEWS" is totally freaky, non-intuitive, confusing, etc. I mean, "Docked toolbar" means "when in docked toolbar mode," not "normal" or maximized" mode, right? One would think?

Also, having to remember to CTRL + Rt. Click to get to a menu (or even to Rt. click in some "dead space," to get to a menu and then hunt for the docked toolbar submenu popup) is crazy, too. Why not have it embedded in one of the normal Options menus in the top left, where everyone would expect it to be, and not have to make users (ahem, let's be real, I mean ME!, lol) tear their hair out looking for some "secret key combo" all over the freakin' window for a couple of ours over two days; ergonomically, the Bento skin still needs some work to make its myriad and complex "features" (not "bugs," of course) more comprehensible to users...

...I'm done rantin'...just some food for thought, eh?

Thanks, JonnyMac. You do good work, and it's appreciated. My experience on these Winamp boards has been uniformly great, thanks to you--not usually the case with application forums, in my long experience with 'em. Great product and great support from the dedicated community.

Now I'll go update that .txt file with the new instructions; hopefully, I won't have to bother you again with questions on these subjects...but, of course, that's what I thought three months ago, hah...

Peace,


willdao3