Dynamic Library v1.1 Beta

[TazDevil]

Ditto, 2 years is quite a lot of period.

Dont sweat it jojo, im quite confident that we will sqeeze most of the functionality back in during the beta...

Just need to find Jonas pressure buttons and tweak them

Thankfully Jonas has slowly began coding again, but it seems that DL will have an even higher Winamp requirement, most probably v5.31 where the new winamp database system is expected to kick in...
just need to wait and see how everything develops.

[jojo 544]

Originally posted by AsHopeDies
2 years?
D00d, edit your post before Joonas get's his eyes on it

LOL
i just checked the first post of the first DL threat is from 05-14-2004, and with Joonas having a regular job now and all...
Time flies

Of course i would also be happy testing new beta's soon, but if it will ever come to a new final build (that is the purpose i guesse) i hope not to much functionality will be dropped.
I like DL very much as it is now, only it needs to get working on the newer winamp versions (still havn't updated my winamp since 5.13 just to keep using DL in all its functionality)

[Joonas]

Originally posted by jojo 544
I can't find any crap functionality
Rather than having a new release soon,
i prefer to wait another year or 2 not loosing any functionality

The Play and Enqueue buttons are crap functionality. The repair playlist is a possible candidate. Send to another application is another...and the list goes on

Stuff I never use is considered crap for me :P
Then I am open to suggestions (and donations )

[AsHopeDies]

Originally posted by Joonas
The Play and Enqueue buttons are crap functionality. The repair playlist is a possible candidate. Send to another application is another...and the list goes on

Stuff I never use is considered crap for me :P
Then I am open to suggestions (and donations )

I could not agree more )

[maurits]

Originally posted by Joonas

Stuff I never use is considered crap for me :P
Then I am open to suggestions (and donations )

One more vote here. First the basics, then the extra's.

[Paparazzi]

Originally posted by jojo 544
I like DL very much as it is now, only it needs to get working on the newer winamp versions (still havn't updated my winamp since 5.13 just to keep using DL in all its functionality)

But, I don't get it .... which part of it is not working??? I mean, I'm using mine with the latest 868 build and am having absolutely no problems ... or is it that I'm not using some feature that is actually broken?

[jojo 544]

Originally posted by Paparazzi But, I don't get it .... which part of it is not working??? I mean, I'm using mine with the latest 868 build and am having absolutely no problems ... or is it that I'm not using some feature that is actually broken?

Well, from the pledit menu, the 'find file on disk' doesn't work, and the find file in DL causes winamp to crash f.e. I guesse some other playlist related stuff also could be broken, but only these 2 i know of coz' i use them a lot. If just only these 2 would be fixed, that would do for me.

Originally posted by Joonas
The Play and Enqueue buttons are crap functionality. The repair playlist is a possible candidate. Send to another application is another...and the list goes on

I was already afraid for that one ; for me it's on of the main features of DL since NO OTHER PLUGIN EVER succeeded to do so succesfully as DL until now.
It should become more advanced instead being dropped (looking for replacement file ignoring file extension, showing multiple simular candidates for replacement of a file before going to browsing manualy, loading and fixing multiple playlists, etc...).
Is there any chance you make a seperate plugin for playlist fix using the DL cache some day?

Originally posted by AsHopeDies
I could not agree more

Originally posted by mauritz
One more vote here. First the basics, then the extra's.

Seems like i'll get stucked with the current versions of winamp and DL forever

[Joonas]

I was already afraid for that one ; for me it's on of the main features of DL since NO OTHER PLUGIN EVER succeeded to do so succesfully as DL until now.
It should become more advanced instead being dropped (looking for replacement file ignoring file extension, showing multiple simular candidates for replacement of a file before going to browsing manualy, loading and fixing multiple playlists, etc...).

Well, since I have had ZERO feedback on features like this and since I never use them myself I don't generally see them as important. But sure, I'll work something out when I get around to it. Maybe the feature will be kept then..

[Mouser X]

When I briefly tried out DL 1.03, I did so, because I wanted to keep track of things easier. I downloaded a few plugins that could do playlist repairs, but for the most part (if not all parts), I could do a better job at it than those plugins could. Since then, I've pretty much given up on repairing playlists, and often opt to simply create a new one. Frequently, I have songs that play in Winamp just fine, but don't register in playlists properly. So, any playlist repair stuff actually makes things worse, by removing, or altering the entries of, these files.

Basically, I'm very unlikely to use any "repair playlist" feature that DL implements. The reason I bring it up at all, is because you said you rarely recieve feedback on some of the features of DL. So, I'm providing feedback.

What I'd like to see in DL (and probably will, once it's out), is the ability to scan for ALL file types that Winamp is currently registered to. 1.03 doesn't do that, for some reason. As I mentioned earlier, I have roughly 100-150 filetypes registered to Winamp. Less than 1/2 of those were scanned/picked up by DL 1.03. I actually think it might be an OS limitation, in the way that you've implemented it (just a guess, really). I think this, becaus many people have complained that when you click the "eject" button, and the "open" box comes up, that many of their files aren't displayed when "Display All Winamp files" (or whatever it is) is selected. The reason there's files missing is not Winamp's fault, but is in fact a limitation on the OS, because it can't handle more than 260 characters (DrO is more familiar with this than I, I believe). As I said, it is my opinion that this OS limitation might be what caused the issue I mentioned earlier (feel free to look it up further back in the thread. It wasn't to long ago, I think).

Really, I just want to use DL to organize my files more easily. My audio collection is a horribly disorganized mess, with 4 (or more?) copies of the same albums sometimes. DL would be useful because I could use it to narrow down, and hopefully eliminate, all that excess stuff that I don't need, and frankly don't want. It'd also be nice, because it'd make things a ton easier to find, when I'm looking for something to listen to that I haven't heard in awhile (I found songs in my ML that I hadn't listened to in over 2 years).

Good luck on this plugin. I certainly look forward to trying it out when it's available. Though, I'm not really sure how many of its features I would use. Since 1.03 didn't work for me as I'd hoped, I didn't explore it very much. Hopefully, things will work better in the next version. Mouser X over and out.

[jojo 544]

Originally posted by Joonas
I'll work something out when I get around to it. Maybe the feature will be kept then..

Thanks; Your're the best

@mouser:
I also tried a number of playlist repair tools and i agree with you that non of them do what they should properly.
That's why i us the DL feature, it works fine for me.
I think a lot of people using DL don't even know about that feature or how it works, but it can't be i'm the only one using it
But getting your files, folders, & tags organized is realy the first thing you should do.

[Lion12]

Phew - nearly missed this discussion!

My two cents:
I'm one of those still stick with an installation of Winamp 5.13 just because of DL as well.
For me the playlist features are the most important amenities of DL. I prefer to do all my ratings and classification using playlists and the DL send to root playlist feature. One big pro of DL is the playlist repair action. Whatever the folder structure of your mediafiles looks like the playlist links stay up to date with just one click.
There are three situations i use the repair action:
-> changes to the folder structure outside of winamp
-> Keeping absolute playlist links up to date using an usb drive on diffrent systems or usb player
-> Transfering playlists to other systems with a different folder structure

I totally agree with jojo that this feature is one of the best features of DL and there is no plugin around which is a thousandth part as good as DL. I would be very sad if this one will be dropped.

Just one sentence which sums up what i wanted to say:
Playlist repair provides dynamic use of playlists.


Thanks that youre working on dl again

[Paparazzi]

Originally posted by jojo 544
Well, from the pledit menu, the 'find file on disk' doesn't work, and the find file in DL causes winamp to crash f.e. I guesse some other playlist related stuff also could be broken, but only these 2 i know of coz' i use them a lot. If just only these 2 would be fixed, that would do for me.

Ah! ok ... just took a look at them and yeah, they are broken .... BUT, fact was that I never used the option to "Find in DL" and as for the "Find on Disc" option ... it kept working ... every time I hit Ctrl+F, my explorer opened up with the exact file I looked for highlighted!

After you pointed the problem, I tested it again and true enough it took me to the right file! However, this time I noticed something aditional! There was extra explorer window opened in the background with the wrong file high-lighted as well! A little research revealed that the wrong file in explorer was opened by DL while the correct file in explorer was opened by DrO's gen_find_on_disk.

So, now I know why the problem with "Find on Disc" in the DL did not really affect me! ... Joonas ... maybe DrO could guide you to the correct code to correct this problem and there will then be no need to take this feature off (I mean if it can be corrected easily with a lil help, why take it off?)

... in the mean time, I continue to use DL with the latest WA

Cheers!

[Joonas]

Originally posted by Paparazzi
Ah! ok ... just took a look at them and yeah, they are broken .... BUT, fact was that I never used the option to "Find in DL" and as for the "Find on Disc" option ... it kept working ... every time I hit Ctrl+F, my explorer opened up with the exact file I looked for highlighted!

After you pointed the problem, I tested it again and true enough it took me to the right file! However, this time I noticed something aditional! There was extra explorer window opened in the background with the wrong file high-lighted as well! A little research revealed that the wrong file in explorer was opened by DL while the correct file in explorer was opened by DrO's gen_find_on_disk.

So, now I know why the problem with "Find on Disc" in the DL did not really affect me! ... Joonas ... maybe DrO could guide you to the correct code to correct this problem and there will then be no need to take this feature off (I mean if it can be corrected easily with a lil help, why take it off?)

... in the mean time, I continue to use DL with the latest WA

Cheers!

That is another feature that will be dropped as you can use DrOs plugin anyway. It won't be fixed

[djpete]

Can someone pls advise which versions of Winamp and Dynamic Library match the best with least amount of bugs.
1000 thanks...

[Mouser X]

Does DL use any cache? I tried out 1.03 again for kicks. It took a very long time to scan for files. I read the warning, but I had set DL's root as the root to one of my hard drives. anyway. Because of the general lack of organization, it is easiest to do that because then I can garantee that I can find the files I'm looking for. However, everytime that I've changed views, DL has rescanned everything. This is bothersome because it really cuts back on useablity, since I'm waiting so long for results. Perhaps an option could be added that's something like "Scan once, then use cache." Or, "Don't rescan unless specifically told to do so." It's possible that this option already exists, but I didn't notice it (I've used DL for less than 10 minutes, exluding scan time).

Also, does DL save its cache to the HDD? I don't want to have to rescan everything everytime I start Winamp back up.

I'm probably beating a dead horse with this, but I'll talk about the file selection bug I've encountered again. In DL's preferences, in the "General" tab, you can select which formats DL will scan for. Of 134 selectable formats in my current installation of Winamp, I can only select 56. So, less than half the formats that Winamp recognizes can be scanned for by the DL. The reason I bring this up again, is because I've cut down my format selection to the formats I have the most of. When running through the DL browser, I noticed that many formats it scanned for, it didn't have proper support for. Meaning, when I passed those file formats, it showed no information other than filename, and filepath. I of course don't expect you to write specific support for some obscure format that you many never use. However, I recall Winamp's ML supporting some of these formats (example: OGG files) just fine. Not being a coder, I don't know if this applies, but perhaps there's a limitation in Winamp's SDK that prevents you from obtaining title, album, comment, ect. data from these obscure formats? One thing I've noticed is that the DL scans for ID3 information. Is it feasabily possible to expand tag support a little further (PSF tag support, ID666 (SPC files), OGG tags, ect.)? Also, what about "guessing" tag information based on filename and path?

I think that's all I have to add/ask/say at this time. Even though DL's functionality is limited (for me, it seems), it looks like it will be great, once 2.0 comes out. Hopefully these are helpful ideas and questions. Good luck on DL 2.0. Again, I look forward to seeing the results. Mouser X over and out.

[Joonas]

Originally posted by Mouser X
[B]Does DL use any cache? I tried out 1.03 again for kicks. It took a very long time to scan for files. I read the warning, but I had set DL's root as the root to one of my hard drives. anyway. Because of the general lack of organization, it is easiest to do that because then I can garantee that I can find the files I'm looking for. However, everytime that I've changed views, DL has rescanned everything. This is bothersome because it really cuts back on useablity, since I'm waiting so long for results. Perhaps an option could be added that's something like "Scan once, then use cache." Or, "Don't rescan unless specifically told to do so." It's possible that this option already exists, but I didn't notice it (I've used DL for less than 10 minutes, exluding scan time).

You should really never add an entire drive since any change on that disc will cause a re-scan of the entire thing (at least in 1.03 it will. This is how DL works; dynamically show the contents of the drive.

Also, does DL save its cache to the HDD? I don't want to have to rescan everything everytime I start Winamp back up.

Again, this is how DL works.

I'm probably beating a dead horse with this, but I'll talk about the file selection bug I've encountered again. In DL's preferences, in the "General" tab, you can select which formats DL will scan for. Of 134 selectable formats in my current installation of Winamp, I can only select 56. So, less than half the formats that Winamp recognizes can be scanned for by the DL. The reason I bring this up again, is because I've cut down my format selection to the formats I have the most of. When running through the DL browser, I noticed that many formats it scanned for, it didn't have proper support for. Meaning, when I passed those file formats, it showed no information other than filename, and filepath. I of course don't expect you to write specific support for some obscure format that you many never use. However, I recall Winamp's ML supporting some of these formats (example: OGG files) just fine. Not being a coder, I don't know if this applies, but perhaps there's a limitation in Winamp's SDK that prevents you from obtaining title, album, comment, ect. data from these obscure formats? One thing I've noticed is that the DL scans for ID3 information. Is it feasabily possible to expand tag support a little further (PSF tag support, ID666 (SPC files), OGG tags, ect.)?

This is entirely up to the decoding plugins. DL doesn't do any tag-reading by itself, it only queries Winamp for the tags and if the decoding plugin doesn't know how to read tags, well then DL can't do it either.

Also, what about "guessing" tag information based on filename and path?

This will probably not be included in DL. This is not a feature I like myself (and this will be a general guideline for the next DL version )

[poisonborz]

Joonas, can you tell us some new features/advantages/functions of the new beta? You mentioned new ML-like cache and mad fantasy-like things earlier :P

[Joonas]

Originally posted by poisonborz
Joonas, can you tell us some new features/advantages/functions of the new beta? You mentioned new ML-like cache and mad fantasy-like things earlier :P

Yeah, there is an SQL database in the bottom now (and it works!) so you will be able to specify your own SQL-search/sort statements and save them for later. It will eventually also be much smarter, so it will only need to re-scan the entire roots at startup, and then detect what parts have been removed and remove/add this from the database.

[mrym]

hi, joonas! it's been awhile.
question about the new dl.
are you going to make new dl compatible with unicode character?
since winamp can handle unicode tag/file (ml doesn't yet though...) now, it would be great if the dl can handle unicode as well.

[Joonas]

That's my intent. Not sure if it will be included in the first releases though.

[cinderfallen]

I downloaded Dynamic Library a couple days ago and it's been a lifesaver--it's been two years since I organized my music files (tags and filenames) and I never would have achieved anything without DL. =)

However, I had a question: Is there any way for DL to organize its files differently? I want to sort by Artist, Album, and then Track, but the way it is now, I can sort only by one of these things. (For example, Artist--and all of their different songs on different albums are just alphabetically listed.) I tried looking in the help file but I couldn't find anything... Did I overlook something to fix this?

[Joonas]

Originally posted by cinderfallen
I downloaded Dynamic Library a couple days ago and it's been a lifesaver--it's been two years since I organized my music files (tags and filenames) and I never would have achieved anything without DL. =)

However, I had a question: Is there any way for DL to organize its files differently? I want to sort by Artist, Album, and then Track, but the way it is now, I can sort only by one of these things. (For example, Artist--and all of their different songs on different albums are just alphabetically listed.) I tried looking in the help file but I couldn't find anything... Did I overlook something to fix this?

I don't think that was possible in the 1.03. It was in the earlier 2.0 releases and it will be when the release I am working on now is done (at least if you use a custom sort)

[Joonas]

Just wanted to give a short update on the rewrite progress. I haven't really gotten around to do anything for the past week or so. I am in the middle of a move to a new apartment and my computer is starting to loose it (but don't worry, I have backed up DL this time ) so I have to get around buying a new one.

I'll try to get some work done this weekend and hopefully even more next week.

The last I did before I moved was changing the base to use unicode. This means that unicode will be supported but it will require a new version of Winamp (and new decoders) which supports getting tags in unicode. This is worth it I think

The major stuff left to implement before a public beta can be released is basically finishing up the unicode transfer and then getting the auto-refresh feature back online. The rest of the core is basically working again

[maurits]

I like the sound of that Joonas!

[siebe83]

Yup, sounds good!

[Stitch 2.0]

First of all, let me say I installed DL 1.03 on monday and it's one of the most usefull WA plugins I have seen so far, IMHO.

BUT: Since yesterday, the listview part of the DL window is missing.

When displaying the DL window, all I see is the tree view of my roots, listview is hidden.
Can anyone tell me how to show the listview again?

I've attached a screenshot, in case the problem shouldn't be clear.

Thanks in Advance,
Stitch

[Joonas]

Originally posted by Stitch 2.0
First of all, let me say I installed DL 1.03 on monday and it's one of the most usefull WA plugins I have seen so far, IMHO.

BUT: Since yesterday, the listview part of the DL window is missing.

When displaying the DL window, all I see is the tree view of my roots, listview is hidden.
Can anyone tell me how to show the listview again?

I've attached a screenshot, in case the problem shouldn't be clear.

Thanks in Advance,
Stitch

The treeview is probably just dragged all the way to the right. Move the mouse to the far right of the DL-window and see if you can't drag the treeview back to the left.

[Stitch 2.0]

Originally posted by Joonas
The treeview is probably just dragged all the way to the right. Move the mouse to the far right of the DL-window and see if you can't drag the treeview back to the left.

LOL! That was it. Thanks a lot for the quick help!
I was just confused, because I was looking for a checkbox like "show/hide listview" which, obviously, doesn't exist....

Thanks again!

Stitch

[Cianca]

mmm DL 2.0 RestInPeace?

[Joonas]

Originally posted by Cianca
mmm DL 2.0 RestInPeace?

No, not at all? If you look a bit upwards you'll see that I am currently rewriting it. It just isn't moving with the same pace as it used to..

[Dryden]

Will the new DL have the tag reading option for "don't guess (title is filename)" as the original DL did? I just wanted to make sure.

Thanks

[Joonas]

Yeah. Actually, it probably won't guess at all.

[Dryden]

Great. And thank you for all the time an effort you've put into DL (which I know is a lot).

[Joonas]

I can report that the database part (cache) is almost complete. I have also begun working on the auto-refresh mechanism which I hope will be completed this weekend.

then it is just two thousands small features (but not all of them will make it, and certainly not into the first few betas) before I can release something.

[TazDevil]

exellent news, finally the bottleneck is over, maybe now development will get quicker now the dificult part is done.

[EnsconcE]

Good work Joonas, i really cannot wait until you release the first beta. Will it be open for public testing?

[Joonas]

Originally posted by EnsconcE
Good work Joonas, i really cannot wait until you release the first beta. Will it be open for public testing?

Yeah, as always on your own risk

[edit]
Come to think of it. Maybe I'll make it a more closed testing this time. But it will be open to apply for testing for everyone. A way to ensure that people are using the correct version when they come nagging about bugs
[/edit]

[Mouser X]

Congrats on the big stuff getting taken care of. That's great news. However, about the auto-update thing. Could that be optional? For me, it'd be helpful. I prefer to scan my root directory (and all sub folders, of course) for compatible media. However, doing so isn't very nice to Winamp, because DL is almost continuously scanning the drive. I'd like to have a setting where it only scans when manually told to do so. I realize that, to an extent, this defeats the purpose of having a "dynamic" library. But for me, it'd be extremely useful. Please consider adding it as an option, at least (I of course wouldn't expect it to be default. In fact, hiding it under some "advanced" set of stuff would be fine by me).

Thanks again for the (potentially) excellent plugin. My trials with 1.03 have been haphazard, but it looks like it'll be great when the new version is ready. Mouser X over and out.

[Joonas]

Originally posted by Mouser X
Congrats on the big stuff getting taken care of. That's great news. However, about the auto-update thing. Could that be optional? For me, it'd be helpful. I prefer to scan my root directory (and all sub folders, of course) for compatible media. However, doing so isn't very nice to Winamp, because DL is almost continuously scanning the drive. I'd like to have a setting where it only scans when manually told to do so. I realize that, to an extent, this defeats the purpose of having a "dynamic" library. But for me, it'd be extremely useful. Please consider adding it as an option, at least (I of course wouldn't expect it to be default. In fact, hiding it under some "advanced" set of stuff would be fine by me).

Thanks again for the (potentially) excellent plugin. My trials with 1.03 have been haphazard, but it looks like it'll be great when the new version is ready. Mouser X over and out.

Haven't it always been optional? It was in the earlier 2.0 betas at least...

[Koogle]

is this ever going to be built into the winamp media library window frame like other plugins are?