Winamp Backup Tool (v3.6.4 available, released on 19-12-2022)

[Koopa]

No worries, I see your point and all comments, suggestions are welcome and I'm trying my best to explain things.

It's true, blindly backing up the unmodified MilkDropp presets, which are shipped in Winamp's installer isn't ideal.

But how can I decide between .milk files, which were part of Winamp's installer and .milk files, which were saved by the user? Even if I would only backup modified files, I cannot decide between standard and user presets.

Or shall I include an exclusion list for about 200+ files?

Some things are a bit tricky.

Will have a look at the xml stuff and try to implement it. But I still think, like discussed outside this thread, that we have a Backup Tool, no Winamp Profile Repair Tool. :P

I guess I've fixed your backup issue for a user set skin dir. Hopefully I see you later to give you a test build. If things works well then, I roll out a Beta 5 today.

[DrO]

I guess I've fixed your backup issue for a user set skin dir

that sounds good and i've just found a bug with the handling of the Bento skins when not in the default directory from messing around with the backup tool - nothing on your side causing it so no need to worry

-daz

[Koopa]

At a guess, if you change the skin dir, it doesn't copy the files to the new dir?

After I played with that option, to workaround your issue I was surprised, that there was no prompt asking, if I want to move all my skins to the new dir.

Enough Off Topic now, hehe.

[DrO]

that's not the issue (though that's a good idea if it was able to do the migration of the skins & folders...) but in notifier.xml, there's a reference to @[email protected] which is meant to the skins directory - this is hard coded to the winamp.exe directory and so would make the loading of the bento skins throw an error that the notifier couldn't be found.

-daz

[Koopa]

Winamp Backup Tool v1.0 Beta 5 available

[Koopa]

Allow user to change the backup destination dir was planned for future, but we decided to provide that feature now.

It required massive code changes, so we need testers!

[MrSinatra]

ok, some feedback

it really is nice. i am happy to have this tool, and i think it will make replicating installs on other machines SO much easier!

i was going to suggest that a preset to backup everything EXCEPT visualizations would get around the milkdrop issue, BUT since it now remembers "Previous" backup/restore options i think it would be superfluous.

however, i would suggest adding "Previous" as a third option. so it would be:

Automatic
--
Custom
--
Previous

having to pick custom, then previous from the drop down is kinda roundabout imo.

******

when a backup is done, adding an "open folder to backup file" button would be a nice touch, instead of just "close" so that a user could copy it, move it, manipulate it etc... once made.

******

is there a version checker yet? you guys were talking about problems when trying to restore older settings to a newer winamp install. i think it would be good if the backup tool was aware of what ver winamp you had installed, and what ver the backup file represented.

******

any thought given to duplicating the backup file? what i mean is perhaps the tool should create the backup file to the "hidden" default roaming folder location, and then simply copy that backup once made to the user specified dir. this would automate a backup of the backup, which would help allay fears koopa had about the user specifying the backup dir.

******

instead of saying "choose backup folder" i think its more precise to say "choose backup file's folder location" it was a bit confusing when doing a restore.

******

hopefully someone creates the plugin trigger, so automating a backup everytime you close winamp becomes routine, and if that happens it would be nice if a silent mode using previous settings could run, (optionally of course), without user input.

******

once again, great job!

[Koopa]

Wow, thanks for your great feedback, much appreciated!

having to pick custom, then previous from the drop down is kinda roundabout imo.

You must use custom mode and make selections for the previous mode. This is limited by design.

Will think about a possible 'Previous Mode' option. But no promise.

when a backup is done, adding an "open folder to backup file" button would be a nice touch, instead of just "close" so that a user could copy it, move it, manipulate it etc... once made.

Sounds interesting, will think about the best solution to provide this feature.

is there a version checker yet? you guys were talking about problems when trying to restore older settings to a newer winamp install. i think it would be good if the backup tool was aware of what ver winamp you had installed, and what ver the backup file represented.

Not yet and not for 1.0. It's on the ToDo list in my first postings. But we've already implemented much more features, than we originally have planned for 1.0.

It will come, but not for the first version.

any thought given to duplicating the backup file? what i mean is perhaps the tool should create the backup file to the "hidden" default roaming folder location, and then simply copy that backup once made to the user specified dir. this would automate a backup of the backup, which would help allay fears koopa had about the user specifying the backup dir

User specific path selection is done in a pretty secure way. So I don't fear it anymore.

In future, when we *may* implement zip file support, it will be worked on it again. But for now, we won't touch that code again.

No End user could expect, how many code is needed for such a simple 'Let the user decide where to put stuff' thing.

instead of saying "choose backup folder" i think its more precise to say "choose backup file's folder location" it was a bit confusing when doing a restore.

I'm already reviewing the English language file.

There are other parts, which need some fine tuning.

As for the visualizations. Originally, I even won't add Skins to the Tool, but a good Backup Tool should be able to save all custom stuff, including color themes, icon packs and presets.

Especially MilkDrop presets. You can rate MilkDrop presets via +/- keys. But he rating is stored in the preset file. So everytime you upgrade Winamp, all ratings are lost.

The Backup Tool is a good solution to keep the ratings.

[lostinsound]

Wow. Love this plugin. I've been wanting something like this for a while. I'm pretty particular about my winamp setup so anytime I had to do a clean install it was kind of a pain to get it set up how I wanted it. I tested it out and noticed it didn't back up the playlists.xml file. It backed up the actual playlists fine. Also it didn't back up the settings for the win7 taskbar integration (win7shell.ini). Other than that it worked beautifully for me. Great plugin.

EDIT: I should add that I'm running windows 7 on a 64-bit machine.

[Koopa]

lostinsound:

thanks for your feedback. I've fixed the Win7 Taskbar bug, thanks.

[DrO]

...and noticed it didn't back up the playlists.xml file.

am seeing that as well. just making sure it's noted as no comment about it with the Win7Shell settings fix.

-daz

[MrSinatra]

Thanks for your feedback. We need more
I like 3 mode idea (1 - automatic (backup all data), 2 - Custom (user can decide what he want to backup), 3 - Previous (backuping last used settings, via components page).

awesome!

i am testing on vista ult 32bit btw.

Also, I think I will implement some verbosing level, for backup/restore logging process...

Also, about opening the backup folder after backup process... I thought about creating special page, that will let user open that dir, run winamp and maybe show short statistics, like "copied 3 skins, 34 milkdrop presets etc...).
How do you think guys?
-Pawel

Edit:
Something like this:

http://meggamusic.co.uk/shup/1270800398/options.png

http://meggamusic.co.uk/shup/1270800411/s.png

i love these changes / suggestions!

questions:

the "show full log on backp/restore process" checkbox ...is that to show you what you currently see now when executing the app? b/c if so, i think it should be checked by default. (i think it would also be good to have it create a log txt file in the backup apps folder, so it could be used/checked later to see if there were any problems)

also, i'd rewrite this: "Backup/Restore depends on last used settings" to say "Backup/Restore uses last used settings" or "Backup/Restore uses last user specified settings"

i love the stats screen, and the two checkboxes are good options, however you could add the 'save location' to the stats screen, and i would rather just have three buttons:

1. open backup folder (and close)
2. close and start winamp
3. close

maybe reverse two and three, but 3 buttons would mean just one click needed, (i'm into reducing clicks).

*****

also, when releasing the final ver, i think it would be smart to match the backup app's ver number to match the winamp release version. so assuming this comes out of beta soon, i'd call it "winamp backup tool ver 5.572c" and there would be no doubt as to what ver of winamp the tool was meant to work with.

the "c" would serve as a way for you guys to make changes within the same winamp release. so when it is out of beta, call it ver 5.572c, and then if you make bugfixes or add version checking or whatever, increment the letter, 5.572d, 5.572e etc... [avoid a and b to avoid alpha/beta confusion, unless they are alphas or betas]

*****

this thing has come a long way fast! i think it will be the #1 download for any hardcore winamp user.

[Koopa]

am seeing that as well. just making sure it's noted as no comment about it with the Win7Shell settings fix.

-daz

Will fix the playlist.xml file issue. Pawel told me, that someone in forum wrote, that Win7 plugin backup isn't working, so I fixed it quickly before I was out. Haven't seen the playlist issue before.

Mr.Sinatra:

What Pawel showed on the screenshots is at it's current state nothing more than an idea.

We will see, if it's possible to make the previous mode works, like you would expect from the screenshots. Maybe their are limitations.

Same for the finish page, nothing more than an idea yet. Don't get me wrong, I like both ideas, but all is a matter of time.

As for the version scheme, you suggested. I won't release a newer Backup Tool for each Winamp release. Updates will be provided, if they're needed, but not any new Winamp version requires automatically a new Winamp Backup Tool.

One of your requests I've already added last night, you're able now to open the backup dir after backup/restoration:

[lostinsound]

I've tested it on my laptop which has Windows XP SP3 and I'm finding that not all of the files are backed up whenever it needs to create a new directory to copy files into. For example, if the Plugins/ml directory doesn't already exist when I run the tool, it creates the directory, but main.dat, main.idx, and the art* files do not get backed up in that directory, and everything else does. And some directories don't get created at all (Gracenote and ombrowser). If all of the directories are already there before I run it, everything seems to back up fine (except playlists.xml still doesn't). Hope this makes sense. If you want more details on what doesn't get backed up in other folders let me know.

[Koopa]

Will setup a XP VM and test, if I can reproduce your issue.

Playlists.xml and Win7 Taskbar plugin backup/restoration is already fixed internal, but you have to wait for next public beta.