Info File General Component (with source!)

Russ · 19th February 2002, 15:41

Right, after three days on-and-off fiddling with the SDK, I've managed to produce a vaguely useful component, which writes the currently playing song info to a file for use with mIRC (a better solution than DDE IMHO), or other things. I'm also releasing it with source, so people don't have to spend hours playing around with the SDK like I did

.

This component shows new component developers how to create a simple windowless plugin with callbacks, and config file attributes, and I try to illustrate the pitfalls I found.

The information the plugin gets can be a bit intermittent at times, and I blame the metadb functions for not supplying me with the info

.

Lastly, thanks to schweitn, pokefreak325, and soundsys for helping me on this one.

Peter_Berre · 22nd February 2002, 10:57

hmm.. i can't get the mirc alias to work.. i can't get it to read the file.
in your example you don't have a path to the txt file. In that case where should winamp save the file?
i've tried changeing $read(playing.txt,1) to $read("full path"\playing.txt,1) but that doesn't work.

Russ · 22nd February 2002, 11:01

I set the info file as playing.txt in my mIRC directory (i.e. C:\mirc\playing.txt) - I'm not sure how $read works outside of there.

Peter_Berre · 22nd February 2002, 11:02

hmm seems as though the $read syntax is wrong .... it's as if you can't specify a line... i've never tried mirc script before, so i'm not sure though..
Found out what the default dir is, mirc's (system) directory

Russ · 22nd February 2002, 11:05

Hmm... $read(file.txt,linenum) is valid syntax on mirc 6.

Peter_Berre · 22nd February 2002, 11:06

ahh i'm not useing mirc 6.. that might be it... i'll continue playing with my alias

Peter_Berre · 22nd February 2002, 11:12

seems that the sytax in the older mirc's is: $read -l# playing.txt
# is the line number

BlindSeer · 22nd February 2002, 22:52

Hey, thanks so much for this plug-in. I've been using a similar one for Winamp2 and was wishing there was one for Winamp3. One question: how do you get it to display "Nothing" when you're not listening to anything? For me, it just keeps the last played song title there.

Also, would you happen to know how I could use server side includes to include only part of the file that Winamp outputs? I only know how to include the whole file, and I'd like to be able to separate artist, title, and album.

Thanks.

Russ · 23rd February 2002, 08:55

Yeh, that's actually in the PHP script I wrote to generate the image. The newer version of my component (at http://russ.garrett.co.uk/wa3) saves a UNIX-style timestamp to the last line of the file, and I do a simple check to see if it's more than 20mins old, which covers most songs. If it is, I output "Nothing".

I suppose I could clear the file at the end of each track as well, but this solution is pretty acceptable (to me anyway

). See the source of my script at http://russ.garrett.co.uk/playing.txt.

I'm pretty sure you can't just use SSI, at least not for this file format. Give me 10mins and I'll knock up one which just outputs artist - title

.

Russ · 23rd February 2002, 09:21

As promised, my new Info File Lite component. This outputs a single-line file with "Artist - Title", which is changed to "Nothing" when the song stops.

Get it here: http://russ.garrett.co.uk/wa3/infofilelite1.wac.

BlindSeer · 23rd February 2002, 12:35

Perfect, thank you.

BlindSeer · 23rd February 2002, 14:27

Ahhh... one more request. *bows down*

I've got the whole PHP deal figured out now... could you possibly add the "nothing" functionality to the non-lite version? Thanks again.

Russ · 23rd February 2002, 20:11

Right, I've modified the info file plugin to clear the file when the playback stops: http://russ.garrett.co.uk/wa3/waInfoFile1.5.zip

It's easy enough to get the recieving script to output "Nothing" - I didn't want to hard-code it in though. The updated php script I use in my sig is at http://russ.garrett.co.uk/playing.txt.

BlindSeer · 23rd February 2002, 20:30

Excellent, now it's perfect.

knole_z · 24th February 2002, 03:19

russ
i had a look at your source, the reason MT_SIZE and MT_LENGTH aren't coming thruogh properly is that they are int types not strings. plug in MDT_INT as your last argument and you should get usable numbers. all the types and fields are defined in common/metatags.h

Rocker · 24th February 2002, 07:45

Russ check your PM's

Russ · 24th February 2002, 09:48

knole_z: I did try MDT_INT I seem to remember - might try again later.

knole_z · 25th February 2002, 00:58

sorry, i had a bit of a better look at it last night, i didnt realise data was always a char*. my guess is it either returns a numeric string or it returns a 4 char string equivilant to an int. i didnt get to compile anything though - im still trying to get attribute callbacks to work. apologies for talking out of my ass

22nd February 2002, 11:01	#3
Russ Mostly Harmless (Alumni) Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: UK Posts: 2,319	I set the info file as playing.txt in my mIRC directory (i.e. C:\mirc\playing.txt) - I'm not sure how $read works outside of there. For long you live and high you fly, but only if you ride the tide, and balanced on the biggest wave you race towards an early grave. \|Musicbrainz\|Audioscrobbler\|last.fm\|

22nd February 2002, 11:05	#5
Russ Mostly Harmless (Alumni) Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: UK Posts: 2,319	Hmm... $read(file.txt,linenum) is valid syntax on mirc 6. For long you live and high you fly, but only if you ride the tide, and balanced on the biggest wave you race towards an early grave. \|Musicbrainz\|Audioscrobbler\|last.fm\|

22nd February 2002, 22:52	#8
BlindSeer Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2001 Posts: 18	Hey, thanks so much for this plug-in. I've been using a similar one for Winamp2 and was wishing there was one for Winamp3. One question: how do you get it to display "Nothing" when you're not listening to anything? For me, it just keeps the last played song title there. Also, would you happen to know how I could use server side includes to include only part of the file that Winamp outputs? I only know how to include the whole file, and I'd like to be able to separate artist, title, and album. Thanks. Last edited by BlindSeer; 22nd February 2002 at 23:10.

23rd February 2002, 08:55	#9
Russ Mostly Harmless (Alumni) Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: UK Posts: 2,319	Yeh, that's actually in the PHP script I wrote to generate the image. The newer version of my component (at http://russ.garrett.co.uk/wa3) saves a UNIX-style timestamp to the last line of the file, and I do a simple check to see if it's more than 20mins old, which covers most songs. If it is, I output "Nothing". I suppose I could clear the file at the end of each track as well, but this solution is pretty acceptable (to me anyway ). See the source of my script at http://russ.garrett.co.uk/playing.txt. I'm pretty sure you can't just use SSI, at least not for this file format. Give me 10mins and I'll knock up one which just outputs artist - title . For long you live and high you fly, but only if you ride the tide, and balanced on the biggest wave you race towards an early grave. \|Musicbrainz\|Audioscrobbler\|last.fm\|

23rd February 2002, 09:21	#10
Russ Mostly Harmless (Alumni) Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: UK Posts: 2,319	As promised, my new Info File Lite component. This outputs a single-line file with "Artist - Title", which is changed to "Nothing" when the song stops. Get it here: http://russ.garrett.co.uk/wa3/infofilelite1.wac. For long you live and high you fly, but only if you ride the tide, and balanced on the biggest wave you race towards an early grave. \|Musicbrainz\|Audioscrobbler\|last.fm\|

22nd February 2002, 10:57	#2
Peter_Berre Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2001 Posts: 150	hmm.. i can't get the mirc alias to work.. i can't get it to read the file. in your example you don't have a path to the txt file. In that case where should winamp save the file? i've tried changeing $read(playing.txt,1) to $read("full path"\playing.txt,1) but that doesn't work.

22nd February 2002, 11:02	#4
Peter_Berre Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2001 Posts: 150	hmm seems as though the $read syntax is wrong .... it's as if you can't specify a line... i've never tried mirc script before, so i'm not sure though.. Found out what the default dir is, mirc's (system) directory

22nd February 2002, 11:06	#6
Peter_Berre Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2001 Posts: 150	ahh i'm not useing mirc 6.. that might be it... i'll continue playing with my alias

22nd February 2002, 11:12	#7
Peter_Berre Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2001 Posts: 150	seems that the sytax in the older mirc's is: $read -l# playing.txt # is the line number

23rd February 2002, 12:35	#11
BlindSeer Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2001 Posts: 18	Perfect, thank you.

23rd February 2002, 14:27	#12
BlindSeer Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2001 Posts: 18	Ahhh... one more request. bows down I've got the whole PHP deal figured out now... could you possibly add the "nothing" functionality to the non-lite version? Thanks again.

23rd February 2002, 20:11	#13
Russ Mostly Harmless (Alumni) Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: UK Posts: 2,319	Right, I've modified the info file plugin to clear the file when the playback stops: http://russ.garrett.co.uk/wa3/waInfoFile1.5.zip It's easy enough to get the recieving script to output "Nothing" - I didn't want to hard-code it in though. The updated php script I use in my sig is at http://russ.garrett.co.uk/playing.txt. For long you live and high you fly, but only if you ride the tide, and balanced on the biggest wave you race towards an early grave. \|Musicbrainz\|Audioscrobbler\|last.fm\|

23rd February 2002, 20:30	#14
BlindSeer Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2001 Posts: 18	Excellent, now it's perfect.

24th February 2002, 03:19	#15
knole_z Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 146	russ i had a look at your source, the reason MT_SIZE and MT_LENGTH aren't coming thruogh properly is that they are int types not strings. plug in MDT_INT as your last argument and you should get usable numbers. all the types and fields are defined in common/metatags.h

24th February 2002, 07:45	#16
Rocker Hiding in plain sight (mod) Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 9,910	Russ check your PM's

24th February 2002, 09:48	#17
Russ Mostly Harmless (Alumni) Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: UK Posts: 2,319	knole_z: I did try MDT_INT I seem to remember - might try again later. For long you live and high you fly, but only if you ride the tide, and balanced on the biggest wave you race towards an early grave. \|Musicbrainz\|Audioscrobbler\|last.fm\|

25th February 2002, 00:58	#18
knole_z Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 146	sorry, i had a bit of a better look at it last night, i didnt realise data was always a char*. my guess is it either returns a numeric string or it returns a 4 char string equivilant to an int. i didnt get to compile anything though - im still trying to get attribute callbacks to work. apologies for talking out of my ass

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