Grateful Dead Plugin

[arods.island]

I've written a media library plugin that allows users to stream Grateful Dead shows from archive.org's enormous collection of user-uploaded audience recordings.

It's very simple. It randomly chooses a show, streams it, and when it's done, randomly chooses another. It displays some basic information about the show currently playing; and if psilo.com has an uploaded ticket or backstage pass for the show, it displays that too. It also keeps a history of shows you've listened to, and lets you tag your favorites.

So, if you're into the Grateful Dead, grab the attached plugin and give me some feedback.

Anthony Rod


http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs771.snc4/67160_1766014674557_1364860907_1946519_767761_n.jpg

[arods.island]

Well, I should've expected as much... not a whole lot of overlap between plugin developers and Deadheads. :)

So, if any of you have friends who are fans of the Grateful Dead, please pass this plugin on, and tell them to send comments and suggestions to arods.island<at>gmail<dot>com. I could really use some good feedback before submitting.

A.Rod

[arods.island]

OK, I got some great feedback via email--thanks to those who helped out. Attached is the version I just submitted, packed up in its installer.

I'd still love comments and suggestions for future submissions. If you have any, feel free to post them here, or on the ARod’s Island Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/ARods-Island/160932870610751).

A.Rod
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[arods.island]

I submitted my plugin last week, but never got any confirmation like "we've received your submission", or "we've now started reviewing your plugin" or anything.

Can someone verify that Winamp indeed received my submission?

And how long does it generally take to get approved or rejected?

A.Rod

[DrO]

And how long does it generally take to get approved or rejected?it's in there and it all depends on when the volunteers who review the plug-ins, etc can get around to doing it. can be from a few hours to a few months (depending on the system also working). when it's reviewed, you'll generally get an email to say so (unless it's blocked from getting to you).

-daz

[arods.island]

My plugin is marked as still in review.

Any word on its progress? Has someone begun reviewing it? I'm very excited for its official release on the Winamp plug-ins page. It'll make the hippies dance with glee.

A.Rod

[arods.island]

I just received my REJECTION. I'm not sure who to address comments and questions to, so I'll make my reply here.

I'm really happy to see that someone actually carefully reviewed it--I was worried that nobody cared. :-)

Here is the rejection email, with my comments in pink.

Hi arods.island ,

Your submission has been rejected by our reviewers. Please read the notes below regarding your submission

Reviewer Notes: REJECTED - Issues with plug-in

First issue - the plugin breaks Winamp's unicode taskbar support - requires SetWindowLongPtrW(..) usage if the main Winamp window returns success for IsWindowUnicode(..).
Yep, easy fix.

Second issue - it's not obvious that it's going to wipe the current playlist editor contents. Thankfully i had the undo plug-in present - other users probably won't and will be annoyed to have their playlist blindly cleared. It at least needs some indication or prompt when starting to play things.
Yeah, it *is* supposed to kinda "take over" your playlist. But you're right--it should make that clear to the user. Is it enough to bring up a messagebox explaining this, offering an OK/Cancel option?

Third issue - when playing, it kills access to the playlist editor window for some reason. Would suggest checking that the main window subclassing (and any other subclassing) is being done correctly.
Yeah, that's deliberate--also in the name of "taking over" the user's playlist. It's really supposed to load a show, and have the plugin take control of the playlist editor. It's supposed to play the show, without the tracks being re-ordered, or deleted, or other tracks being dragged in there. In fact, if you try to drag a file into the playlist, I think I display a messagebox explaining how "DeadHead as taken over your playlist". Is it enough to make that clear before the user starts a show?

Forth issue - mainly a cosmetic thing but the gap between the start and config button when not doing anything doesn't look right. I realize it's where a hidden button is, but might be an idea to dynamically move buttons around so it's more together.
Yeah, I thought about that, but it ended up getting pushed to my "do it for the next version" list, along with a bunch of other cosmetic issues I'd like to address. I assume this isn't a "must fix" issue, right?

As such, am rejecting this until the issues are resolved as this will otherwise be panned by people trying it out in its current state. Revise your submission based on the following comments and re-submit.

--
Team Nullsoft


Thanks again for your consideration. I'll get these things fixed up and re-submit.

A.Rod

[blo]

Awesome plugin! A Rod, I can help you get it in the gallery...lemme know when you have re-submitted the update and I'll help get it reviewed quickly.

[arods.island]

Alright, I've just re-submitted my plugin (version 1.1).

I fixed the first issue by using Unicode-appropriate subclassing functions.

I addressed the second and third issues by displaying a message box when a show is started. It explains how Deadhead affects the playlist editor, and allows the user to cancel and save the playlist before it's wiped out.

And I followed the suggestion about dynamically moving the config button to get rid of that awkward-looking gap.

I should note that I made two additional minor changes. Previously, when Deadhead was active, its tree item icon would become colorized. I've since grown to think it looks stupid, so I got rid of that "feature". Second, some of my friends complained that they didn't realize the deadhead tree item could be expanded to reveal the "show history" item. So I now automatically expand the Deadhead tree item on init.

Let me know if there are further issues.

A.Rod

[DrO]

reviewed and will be live at some point later. am happy with how things are now - main issue was not knowing that it was going to wipe the playlist (some users are very particular about such things and will do things to small kittens if something messes with it :) ).

only thing that bugged me but is minor is the config page tabs not being correctly themed on XP and higher - IPC_USE_UXTHEME_FUNC can be used to resolve that but that's just from me going through and ensuring all of Winamp's pages were correctly themed :)

otherwise, i think you've got a fan with blo ;)

-daz

[arods.island]

Great to hear about it going live!

I've got a whole list of things to address for version 2; I'll add the config tab XP theme issue to my list.

Glad to hear I've got a fan on the inside. :-)

A.Rod

[arods.island]

I'm making a few minor changes to my plugin -- fixing some things that annoy me, and adding the option of listening to a few other Dead-related bands like Ratdog and Furthur.

One additional thing I'd like to add is some small text at the bottom of my display, showing the number of fans who have downloaded my plugin. So my question is this: when I submit my update, will it end up at the same URL as the original plugin? (http://www.winamp.com/plugin/deadhead/222488) And if so, will the "downloads" number include all those who've downloaded all versions?

Thanks!
A.Rod

[DrO]

using http://www.winamp.com/plugin//222488 as the url should work no matter what the title changes too (as newer versions get numbers appended to them) so that should work. as for the download count, it's a cumulative total for as long as that submission has been valid on the main site.

though personally, i don't think it's worth the time / effort in implementing something like that but then again it is your plug-in :)

-daz

[arods.island]

Are you sure that's right? That link doesn't seem to work.

A.Rod

[DrO]

oops, should have put http://www.winamp.com/plugin/_/222488 (really had thought it worked before just as //

-daz

[arods.island]

Sweet -- thanks!

A.Rod

[MrSinatra]

very nice plugin, i really really like it.

one small glitch. when winamp is maximized, and you go into the plugin config, and then open the pref buffers, you can't get the config dialog back "on top" without dropping winamp out of a maximized state.

one suggestion: make all the bands at the website available, and allow randomization of both what bands playlists are done in, and even allow for pure random song selection.

[arods.island]

Hey MrSinatra. Yeah, that is indeed a glitch; I should probably keep that config dialog on top of Winamp, and the pref buffer dialog on top of it.

As for other bands... yeah, that'd crossed my mind. But being a Dead fan, I wanted to keep this pretty Dead-centric. I'll soon be submitting an update that lets users mix in a few other bands related to the Dead: Further, Phil Lesh and Friends, and Ratdog.

I've had a ton of Phish fans ask me to make a Phish version; but that band doesn't allow its music on archive.org.

If anything, I'd make a seperate, new plugin that allows all bands. Let me ask you this: if there was a plugin like that, what bands would you be listening to?

A.Rod

[MrSinatra]

Hey MrSinatra. Yeah, that is indeed a glitch; I should probably keep that config dialog on top of Winamp, and the pref buffer dialog on top of it.

As for other bands... yeah, that'd crossed my mind. But being a Dead fan, I wanted to keep this pretty Dead-centric. I'll soon be submitting an update that lets users mix in a few other bands related to the Dead: Further, Phil Lesh and Friends, and Ratdog.

mickeys drum projects too, trichromes, heart of golf band, the tribute bands, etc, there's a lot that would qualify to kick in to a "mainly jam based" plugin.

my suggestions for both plugins, is allow the user to decide via checkboxs which acts to include or not.

I've had a ton of Phish fans ask me to make a Phish version; but that band doesn't allow its music on archive.org.

If anything, I'd make a seperate, new plugin that allows all bands. Let me ask you this: if there was a plugin like that, what bands would you be listening to?

A.Rod

what i would like to see above and beyond what it currently does, is a plugin that allows ALL bands to play, with checks to deselect those bands u don't want to hear. further, i'd like two modes of play, 1. would be random shows (either between bands or not) and 2. would be full on random play between all selected bands, or just any given one band.

i think you understand me. just think of it as playing modes, and then envision all the differing kinds between so many bands,

[arods.island]

"mickeys drum projects too, trichromes, heart of golf band, the tribute bands, etc..."

Great suggestions. The Mickey Hart Band is definitely getting added to the mix. Unfortunately Trichromes and Heart of Gold aren't available on archive.org. And I think of tribute bands as more something you see locally when you can't hear the real thing. But I dunno... a lot of folks are into Dark Star Orchestra.


"my suggestions for both plugins, is allow the user to decide via checkboxs which acts to include or not."

Definitely. I don't want to make anyone listen to Ratdog if they're just into the Dead.


"what i would like to see above and beyond what it currently does, is a plugin that allows ALL bands to play, with checks to deselect those bands u don't want to hear. further, i'd like two modes of play, 1. would be random shows (either between bands or not) and 2. would be full on random play between all selected bands, or just any given one band."

That wasn't the original idea, but you're not the first to suggest this. I'm going to give it some serious thought--it wouldn't be that hard.


Thanks a ton for the input!

If you're on FB, feel free to share your input here:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Deadhead-The-Grateful-Dead-Plugin-for-Winamp/160932870610751

A.Rod

[arods.island]

I'll be ready to submit an update to my Deadhead plugin this week.
Should I submit the update exactly like I submitted the first version, as if it's a new plugin? Or is there a different process?

A.Rod

[DrO]

if it's an update, you probably should submit as an update of the existing submission instead of making a new submission.

-daz

[arods.island]

"if it's an update, you probably should submit as an update of the existing submission instead of making a new submission."

Sure. I'd originally thought this was done through the <EDIT> button on the "my add-ons" page; but at a glance it looked like it was just for updating the name and description and screenshots. But I'm assuming it'll take me on to a page that'll let me re-upload my plugin(?)

A.Rod