TagBox Tag Editing Plugin, UI Element Options

[Arash]

Hello Everyone,

Here comes version 0.150, comments and ideas are welcome as always.

TagBox download page

New in this version:
* Standalone TagBox window accessible through context menu.
* Auto Complete.
* UI element configuration becomes per-instance. From now on settings in preferences page only affects the stand alone window.
* Again some color changes.
* Bug Fix: You couldn't type # in edit boxes.

@muzack: I tried to fix the problem with keyboard shortcuts without modifiers but when I tried to define one of those foobar gave me a big warning that this may conflict with program's normal functionality. So now I'm not quite sure if I should go into trouble of working around that. More experienced foobar developer's advice on this is welcome.

@Yirkha: library_meta_autocomplete (that I'm using right now) provides data for a very limited number of tags. Do you know if this is gonna expand to other tags and custom tags in future? or should I go on an make my own "remember the last n values entered" kind of implementation as a supplement to library_meta_autocomplete?

[watercolor]

I want to use this in cui panel.

[Andreasvb]

It says it's missing some file.

The file is also smaller, so it seems to be some dependency that's missing.

[Arash]

My development environment is somewhat different from the previous release: WinXP 32bit -> Win7 64bit, VS2009 -> VS2010. I thought the smaller file size might be due to new VS2010 optimizations.

The plugin is not generating any error messages on my Win7 machine, are you using XP?

[marc2003]

not working for me either. i'm running windows 7...

Failed to load DLL: foo_tagbox.dll, reason: This component is missing a required dependency, or was made for different version of foobar2000.

BTW, i have the .net4 runtimes installed.

This post has been edited by marc2003: Aug 2 2010, 14:44

[muzack]

keyboard shortcuts doesn't interfere anymore. thanks for new version!

This post has been edited by muzack: Aug 2 2010, 15:55

[Arash]

Those with missing file problem please try the new ~130KB zip file I just uploaded, see if that solves the problem. Please check the file size after downloading to make sure your browser is not giving you the old cached file.

[marc2003]

new version works on XP and windows 7.

however, the combo boxes do look a bit off....

XP


7

[Yirkha]

@muzack: I tried to fix the problem with keyboard shortcuts without modifiers but when I tried to define one of those foobar gave me a big warning that this may conflict with program's normal functionality. So now I'm not quite sure if I should go into trouble of working around that. More experienced foobar developer's advice on this is welcome.

See CTypableWindowScope, it utilizes an API to limit handling of such keyboard shortcuts in scenarios like this. I think, I've never used it.

@Yirkha: library_meta_autocomplete (that I'm using right now) provides data for a very limited number of tags. Do you know if this is gonna expand to other tags and custom tags in future? or should I go on an make my own "remember the last n values entered" kind of implementation as a supplement to library_meta_autocomplete?

It uses configuration from Preferences > Advanced > Display/Autocomplete fields (syntax should be self-explanatory).

[Arash]

new version works on XP and windows 7.

however, the combo boxes do look a bit off....

XP


7

That's because as you can see the font size in XP is smaller so the vertical space available between fields is smaller, I did spend a lot of time trying to style the comboboxes to make them look better in such small spaces but this was the best I could come up with. again any suggestion is welcome.

@muzack: I tried to fix the problem with keyboard shortcuts without modifiers but when I tried to define one of those foobar gave me a big warning that this may conflict with program's normal functionality. So now I'm not quite sure if I should go into trouble of working around that. More experienced foobar developer's advice on this is welcome.

See CTypableWindowScope, it utilizes an API to limit handling of such keyboard shortcuts in scenarios like this. I think, I've never used it.

Thanks for the technical info. What I meant was maybe because foobar2000 officially discourages using hotkeys without modifiers I shouldn't work around the problem. But it wouldn't harm anybody, I'll give it another try later when I have free time.

@Yirkha: library_meta_autocomplete (that I'm using right now) provides data for a very limited number of tags. Do you know if this is gonna expand to other tags and custom tags in future? or should I go on an make my own "remember the last n values entered" kind of implementation as a supplement to library_meta_autocomplete?

It uses configuration from Preferences > Advanced > Display/Autocomplete fields (syntax should be self-explanatory).

That should do it. Thanks, It's interesting after years of using foobar2000 there are still many things it has that I have never noticed, like I just found out that the "position in selection -> track number" functionality that I added to TagBox, foobar already has it in the properties window.

This post has been edited by autumn: Aug 2 2010, 16:49

[marc2003]

That's because as you can see the font size in XP is smaller so the vertical space available between fields is smaller, I did spend a lot of time trying to style the comboboxes to make them look better in such small spaces but this was the best I could come up with. again any suggestion is welcome.

ah no worries. it works fine and that's the main thing.

[Arash]

keyboard shortcuts doesn't interfere anymore. thanks for new version!

you're welcome, but that's interesting, I didn't change anything related to the keyboard shortcut problem!

[muzack]

keyboard shortcuts doesn't interfere anymore. thanks for new version!

you're welcome, but that's interesting, I didn't change anything related to the keyboard shortcut problem!

strange - on my first test, my shortcut actions aren't fired, but now everytime I type an O explorer with current files is openend

maybe you will find a way.
foo_plorg fixed the same behaviour in his version 0.5...

[Arash]

Version 0.170 released:

TagBox Download Page

new features:

* Capitalization Correction: The difference between this and the "capitalize" function in foobar2000's properties window is that TagBox tries to follow the rules like "don't capitialize prepositions (4 letters or less) unless they are the first or last words", etc...
* Get tags from filename.
* Functions that modify tags like the "Correct Capitalization" or "Auto Track Number" are now accessible through tag labels' right click menu.
* Changes made by above functions are no longer immediately applied to file, you need to click the "Apply Changes" button.
* Solved the conflict with keyboard shortcuts without modifiers.
* Standalone window's width is also remembered along with position.
* Bug Fix: When the Standalone window was resized contents were not resized.

Let me know what you think.

[q-stankovic]

Thank you for the update!

There is a fundemental problem i have with Tag Box. While it only makes sense that the uielement of tagbox shows the content of current selection on the other side exactly this drives me crazy in some situations. During my work with tag box i am not able anymore to start manually another track for playback without loosing selection and therefore the content of tagbox. But mainly if during playback options like "cursor follow playback" are enabled you don't even have a chance to avoid automatic change of content. As i requested the standalone tagbox window in post #12 i also expressed my hope that this standalone window would act like properties window: keeping the content on selection on wich "edit tags" command was applied regardless if selection changes. I hope it is clear what i mean.

The comboboxes really look ugly and the vertical space also look uncommon with its little vertical space! I think the vertical space in properties dialogue is ideal: it looks more friendly and doesn't need so much more height ( i think the relation is 7 to 8,5).

By the way: Could you disble the vertical resizing of the window as it doesn't make sense at at all. Either you hide the fields and aren't able to scroll inside the window when you decrease the size or you have a huge are just for the apply button when increasing.

This post has been edited by q-stankovic: Aug 7 2010, 16:49

[muzack]

Version 0.170 released:
* Capitalization Correction: The difference between this and the "capitalize" function in foobar2000's properties window is that TagBox tries to follow the rules like "don't capitialize prepositions (4 letters or less) unless they are the first or last words", etc...

this is awesome and a great improvement beside fixing the shortcut bug!
thank you so much!

[Arash]

Thank you for the update!

There is a fundemental problem i have with Tag Box. While it only makes sense that the uielement of tagbox shows the content of current selection on the other side exactly this drives me crazy in some situations. During my work with tag box i am not able anymore to start manually another track for playback without loosing selection and therefore the content of tagbox. But mainly if during playback options like "cursor follow playback" are enabled you don't even have a chance to avoid automatic change of content. As i requested the standalone tagbox window in post #12 i also expressed my hope that this standalone window would act like properties window: keeping the content on selection on wich "edit tags" command was applied regardless if selection changes. I hope it is clear what i mean.

I personally always have "Cursor Follows Playback" enabled because one important thing that I use TagBox for is to rate tracks so I want TagBox to always show tags of the currently playing track, also as you mentioned making the UI element remember the selection doesn't make sense. But I think it is a good idea to make the standalone window remember the selection in future (as an option, still some people may want TagBox window to update when selection changes).

The comboboxes really look ugly and the vertical space also look uncommon with its little vertical space! I think the vertical space in properties dialogue is ideal: it looks more friendly and doesn't need so much more height ( i think the relation is 7 to 8,5).

Actually I like the look and feel of TagBox (in a UI element) more than the properties window but I agree the standalone window doesn't look that good because of the small DEFAULT_GUI_FONT it uses. Maybe I can change or increase the size of the font later to make it look better.

By the way: Could you disble the vertical resizing of the window as it doesn't make sense at at all. Either you hide the fields and aren't able to scroll inside the window when you decrease the size or you have a huge are just for the apply button when increasing.

I think that is possible but not really necessary, if you close and reopen the window the height will reset to fit the contents.

This post has been edited by autumn: Aug 7 2010, 18:03

[q-stankovic]

But I think it is a good idea to make the standalone window remember the selection in future (as an option, still some people may want TagBox window to update when selection changes).

... but I agree the standalone window doesn't look that good because of the small DEFAULT_GUI_FONT it uses. Maybe I can change or increase the size of the font later to make it look better.

Nice to hear that!

I have a question and a request:
What does the checkbox option "active" means?
Could we have as an alternative to manually entered predefined values the option to have an automatically updating list in dropdown box with all values of a certain field present in library?

Actually I like the look and feel of TagBox (in a UI element) more than the properties window

Maybe it is a good idea to let it look like selection properties. Means: no grid view but alternate colors and column headers - that seems more friendly to me. Also the apply button could be removed out of the background colored area to the bottom.

This post has been edited by q-stankovic: Aug 7 2010, 18:51

[Arash]

What does the checkbox option "active" means?

If you check "active" the change caused by using a predefined value is immediately applied to the file (No need to click "Apply Changes" button).

[stefle]

Thanks for your nice component!

"active" check box may be renamed to "immediately apply"
BTW This option seems to fail on my system (vista32, fb 1.1. beta2).

Some remarks:

I'm looking for a convenient way to fill up my multi value performer tag in my collection of classical music. TagBox's feature of successively appending values to a multi value field could be very useful in such cases. So I agree with q-stankovic's and muzack's requests:

q-stankovic

Could we have as an alternative to manually entered predefined values the option to have an automatically updating list in dropdown box with all values of a certain field present in library?

muzack

I try to access entries from the selectlist with the first letter. Unfortunatly it grabs just the first entry with the letter and the list is closed.

Why did you add a submenu "Edit Tags" to the context menu?

This post has been edited by stefle: Aug 9 2010, 14:42

[wolfsong]

I tried to edit the values in the ratings preset and although they changes were saved, the values still appear in the dropdown list. Thanks.

[Arash]

Just a few changes, If you're not using the standalone window you can skip this update:

Download Page

Version 0.171

* TagBox tries to choose a better font for the standalone window (this should improve the visuals specially in Vista/7).
* Other minor changes and bug fixes.

[Arash]

"active" check box may be renamed to "immediately apply"

Good idea, done.

I'm looking for a convenient way to fill up my multi value performer tag in my collection of classical music. TagBox's feature of successively appending values to a multi value field could be very useful in such cases. So I agree with q-stankovic's and muzack's requests:

q-stankovic

Could we have as an alternative to manually entered predefined values the option to have an automatically updating list in dropdown box with all values of a certain field present in library?

Doesn't the auto-complete feature added in version 0.170 do exactly that?

muzack

I try to access entries from the selectlist with the first letter. Unfortunatly it grabs just the first entry with the letter and the list is closed.

I forgot again to see what I can do about this. Wrote it down for next release

Why did you add a submenu "Edit Tags" to the context menu?

That launches the standalone window.

[Arash]

I tried to edit the values in the ratings preset and although they changes were saved, the values still appear in the dropdown list. Thanks.

That's TagBox's normal behaviour.

[wolfsong]

I tried to edit the values in the ratings preset and although they changes were saved, the values still appear in the dropdown list. Thanks.

That's TagBox's normal behaviour.

Why have an option to edit values that are saved but not reflected in the actual interface? That doesn't make sense. Why even have the configuration screen at all?

This post has been edited by wolfsong: Aug 10 2010, 17:28