[seemingly abandonware] Columns UI, alternative user interface Options

[hydroxymoron]

I have just installed this great theme called absolut glass by steric which makes use of Columns UI.
The theme is aesthetically perfect, but the playlist, lyrics, library and so on buttons are tiny, thus uncomfortable to click.

Can one use the keyboard (left/right arrow keys, or ctrl+tab) to switch from Playlist to Library or to Lyrics panel?

[jcoltonj32001]

I am trying to display a list of artists in a playlist and I am having one hell of a time...There are three columns separated vertically, the left most column is Playlist switcher, the next column over I want to display a list of artists within the playlist selected(just like Filter, but I am using filter in a different tab to display all artists in the music colleciton), and the right most column being the albums within the selected artist. I have everything working great except for displaying a list of artists within a given playlist. I have searched high and low and cannot come up with anything helpful! Any help would be greatly appreciated!



This post has been edited by jcoltonj32001: Nov 16 2012, 06:17

[neothe0ne]

I am trying to display a list of artists in a playlist and I am having one hell of a time...There are three columns separated vertically, the left most column is Playlist switcher, the next column over I want to display a list of artists within the playlist selected(just like Filter, but I am using filter in a different tab to display all artists in the music colleciton), and the right most column being the albums within the selected artist. I have everything working great except for displaying a list of artists within a given playlist. I have searched high and low and cannot come up with anything helpful! Any help would be greatly appreciated!

You can do it with Facets in Default UI, although it doesn't work quite like Filter

[jcoltonj32001]

You can do it with Facets in Default UI, although it doesn't work quite like Filter

Thanks for the quick response! I am using Columns UI, so I think it needs to be a panel to go where it needs to...if I am wrong please correct me!

[jcoltonj32001]

Or if anyone knows how to get something like NG Playlist to only show group headers I could set it to group by artist

[slaughter]

.

Hi everyone,

Is there a way to add a playlist or a button that classifies all my songs by creation date, to see the latest that I add to my library?

There is my currently configuration:

[Daeron]

You will need foo_playcount then Library/Playback Statistics/Show recently added will create an autoplaylist for you.

[slaughter]

You will need foo_playcount then Library/Playback Statistics/Show recently added will create an autoplaylist for you.

Thanks a lot! You rocks!

[Ellis]

I wonder if someone here can help me with some grouping that I've been trying to get working.

Basically, I want to have it so that, for albums with multiple discs, I can set the album tag to be the same on all discs, and use the discnumber and totaldiscs tags to differentiate between them.

My plan was to use a group for this, that would group multiple discs seperately and, for albums with only one disc, not display the group at all. I've only managed to do half of this so far, using the group:

CODE

$ifgreater(%totaldiscs%,1,Disc %discnumber% of %totaldiscs%,[%blah%])

This works great for the multiple disc albums like this:



but then when you get to an album that only has one disc, it displays an ugly line. Clearly I can make the line have no text on it, but how can I make the sort just disappear for albums which only have a single disc (so basically when my ifgreater parameter is false). Is this possible?! It's driving me nuts trying to figure it out

This is what it looks like at the minute when there's just one disc, rather annoying:



Thanks in advance.

[Daeron]

You can get rid of the colored line using $tab(). Not the row itself, though. Alternatively you can put the Disc string to the end of the first grouping pattern.

This post has been edited by Daeron: Nov 25 2012, 23:56

[Ellis]

You can get rid of the colored line using $tab(). Not the row itself, though. Alternatively you can put the Disc string to the end of the first grouping pattern.

You're brilliant, the latter works great!




Thanks!

[Mys]

I seem to be having a specific issue to my media library while using columns ui.

Basically, my Music Library doesn't seem to be upating when scanning a NAS/Network Share. If I switch over to Default UI, it updates, and then I can switch over to Column UI and it will be fine again. It could be something else, but I am not sure what is going on or why it isn't updating.

Here is the console log:
Watching: Y:\
Columns UI/Tab stack: Warning: Playlist Organizer panel was visible on creation! This usually indicates a bug in this panel.
Custom Database: Initialize
Custom Database: table quicktag already exists (1)
Custom Database: table database_version already exists (1)
Custom Database: index url_idx already exists (1)
Custom Database: Completed
Album list panel: initialised in 0.247 s
WSH Panel Mod (Last.fm Playcount Sync by marc2003): Parsing file "C:\Users\andrew\AppData\Roaming\foobar2000\marc2003\common4.js"
WSH Panel Mod (Last.fm Playcount Sync by marc2003): Parsing file "C:\Users\andrew\AppData\Roaming\foobar2000\marc2003\tooltip_buttons.js"
WSH Panel Mod (Last.fm Playcount Sync by marc2003): initialized in 49 ms
WSH Panel Mod ({218C5EF4-75BD-4BFA-8CFE-F55A0B8AE805}): initialized in 0 ms
WSH Panel Mod ({E30B1BD2-91F4-44AA-AADC-C5B5415E1EAD}): initialized in 1 ms
WSH Panel Mod (Selection Statistics by Elevory): initialized in 317 ms
WSH Panel Mod (Playback Buttons by marc2003): Parsing file "C:\Users\andrew\AppData\Roaming\foobar2000\marc2003\common4.js"
WSH Panel Mod (Playback Buttons by marc2003): Parsing file "C:\Users\andrew\AppData\Roaming\foobar2000\marc2003\tooltip_buttons.js"
WSH Panel Mod (Playback Buttons by marc2003): initialized in 5 ms
WSH Panel Mod (Generic Divider by Elevory): initialized in 0 ms
Seekbar: taking Direct3D9 path.
Seekbar: Frontend initialized.
Location not parsable: "Y:\Justice\Justice - Audio, Video, Disco 3202", reason: Access denied
Location not parsable: "Y:\Justice\†", reason: Access denied
Startup time : 0:02.718669
Location not parsable: "Y:\Audio Test\2L-050_tr01_multi_DXD.zip", reason: bad allocation
Autobackup: Backed up 48 items to autobackup.20130121-174143.zip
Opening track for playback: "Y:\Porcupine Tree\Porcupine Tree - Voyage 34 - The Complete Trip (320)\03 Phase III.mp3"
Audioscrobbler: Handshake successful.
Opening track for playback: "Y:\The Vapors\The Vapors - Turning Japanese - The Best of the Vapors - what\10 - America.mp3"
Wave cache: finished analysis of "Y:\The Vapors\The Vapors - Turning Japanese - The Best of the Vapors - what\10 - America.mp3"
Last.fm Playcount Sync: Contacting Last.fm....
Last.fm Playcount Sync: Last.fm responded 'OK'
Opening track for playback: "Y:\Dangermuffin\Dangermuffin - Olly Oxen Free (2012) [V0]\05 - Homestead.mp3"
Audioscrobbler: Submitting 2 cached tracks...
Audioscrobbler: Submission succeeded.
Wave cache: finished analysis of "Y:\Dangermuffin\Dangermuffin - Olly Oxen Free (2012) [V0]\05 - Homestead.mp3"
Last.fm Playcount Sync: Contacting Last.fm....
Last.fm Playcount Sync: Last.fm responded 'OK'

I see the two Justice entries, which I am not worried about as that is because the folders are no longer linking correctly, but there are other things like I just added Channel Orange, and a couple of Electro House albums, and they aren't appearing. Any way I can figure out what is the cause of this?

[BenB]

This post is in response to inquiries I've seen in various threads in regards to the displayed background row colors in NG Playlist. It is intended for those using the default Columns UI.

In Prefererences > Display > Columns UI > Playlist View > Globals tab > Style tab, you will see this script:

CODE

$if(%_themed%,,$if($and(%isplaying%,$not(%_is_group%)),

$puts(back,$offset_colour(%_back%,$offset_colour($calculate_blend_target(%_back%),ff0000,20),25))
$puts(back-selected,$offset_colour(%_selected_back%,$offset_colour($calculate_blend_target(%_selected_back%),ff0000,20),25))
$puts(back-selected-no-focus,$offset_colour(%_selected_back_no_focus%,$offset_colour($calculate_blend_target(%_selected_back_no_focus%),ff0000,20),25))

,

$ifequal($mod($if2(%_display_index%,%list_index%),2),0,
$puts(back,$offset_colour(%_back%,$calculate_blend_target(%_back%),25))
$puts(back-selected,%_selected_back%)
$puts(back-selected-no-focus,%_selected_back_no_focus%)

,
$puts(back-selected,$offset_colour(%_selected_back%,$calculate_blend_target(%_selected_back%),7))
$puts(back-selected-no-focus,$offset_colour(%_selected_back_no_focus%,$calculate_blend_target(%_selected_back_no_focus%),7))
$puts(back,%_back%)
)

)
$set_style(back,$get(back),$get(back-selected),$get(back-selected-no-focus)))

which I will try to explain the relevant parts in terms of the most often asked questions I've noticed. The script only effects the background color of the rows. It only has an effect on the color if you have System or Custom selected as the Mode under Preferences > Display > Columns UI > Colours and Fonts > Colours tab. It obviously uses the colors you have set under Colours and Fonts. Also note that other scripts added in various places might override this script.

Before I begin, allow me to say that I've only been able to find vague references to how $offset_colour() and $calculate_blend_target() affect the color, so I won't try to explain them. I will elaborate a little more on the effect they have in a moment. (If anyone can add anything meaningful about them, feel free to do so because I'd like to know, lol).

And here's a quick color reference to bear in mind in my explanations:
The red values are a color in hex, think of the green values as saturation and think of the purple values as lightness/brightness/intensity (depending upon your perception of the context. I will just reference it as intensity for simplicity's sake). Saturation and intensity values use a range of 0 to 255.

This part affects the background row color of a playing track/item:

$puts(back,$offset_colour(%_back%,$offset_colour($calculate_blend_target(%_back%),ff0000,20),25))
$puts(back-selected,$offset_colour(%_selected_back%,$offset_colour($calculate_blend_target(%_selected_back%),ff0000,20),25))
$puts(back-selected-no-focus,$offset_colour(%_selected_back_no_focus%,$offset_colour($calculate_blend_target(%_selected_back_no_focus%),ff0000,20),25))

,

It's rather self-explanatory under what condition how each line affects the background, bearing in mind that they only apply during playback..

The default color stipulated here (ff0000) is red, yet you will notice that the color returned is blue. This is due to the aforementioned $offset_colour() and/or $calculate_blend_target() to the best of my knowledge. If you decide to change the color and it doesn't return the color you stipulate, generally speaking you can change the value to the color that is returned to obtain the color that you do want, e.g. if you want red returned, change the value to 0000ff (blue). You may have to play around a bit with it to get what you want. Some colors do return true, however.

If you want the background of the playing track to be more noticeable, increasing the "saturation" value if your color scheme is dark or increasing the "intensity" value if your color scheme is light, generally speaking, will achieve this. You might, however, find that you will want or need to adjust both of the values.

As a quick side note, those of you who do not want to change the background color in any way, but would like the text color of the entire row to be different for the playing track, you can add a line such as the following into the part of the script quoted above. Just insert it between the last text line and the comma (the colors stipulated will return true):

CODE

$set_style(text,ff0000,ff0000,ff0000)

On to the next part. The (seemingly often disliked, lol) alternate row color:

$ifequal($mod($if2(%_display_index%,%list_index%),2),0,
$puts(back,$offset_colour(%_back%,$calculate_blend_target(%_back%),25))
$puts(back-selected,%_selected_back%)
$puts(back-selected-no-focus,%_selected_back_no_focus%)

,

Again, it's rather self-explanatory under what condition how each line affects the background. The magic here is the first line, as it specifies to display the background color in all even-numbered rows differently, but you'll notice in the lines that follow the first that it is only when a row or rows are not selected that this script modifies the background differently to what is stipulated under Colours and Fonts. There are no color settings here as those you have set under Colours and Fonts are used.

Those of you who do not want the alternate row color or want it to be more subtle will need to lower this "intensity" value if your color scheme is dark or raise it if your color scheme is light (and will obviously need to do the opposite if you want the alternate row color to be more pronounced).


This next part sets how the background row color of the odd-numbered rows is affected.

$puts(back-selected,$offset_colour(%_selected_back%,$calculate_blend_target(%_selected_back%),7))
$puts(back-selected-no-focus,$offset_colour(%_selected_back_no_focus%,$calculate_blend_target(%_selected_back_no_focus%),7))
$puts(back,%_back%)
)

As you can see, this affects how the background color is shown only for selected tracks. The background for unselected tracks is shown as stipulated under Colours and Fonts.

The default values of 7 seem to work well for most people so I suggest not modifying them; however, if you decide to change them, the "intensity" values here work opposite to how they work for even-numbered rows. That is, if you have a dark color scheme, you'll want to raise the value for the selection color to be more subtle and, if your color scheme is light, you'll want to lower the value to make the selection color more subtle. Pay attention while adjusting these values as you might make your the text in these rows difficult if not impossible to read. It bears repeating: I suggest not modifying them.


As a final comment, you'll notice that the "intensity" values are mostly consistent throughout the default script. Keep that in mind.

Hopefully this post will help someone.

This post has been edited by db1989: Mar 20 2013, 20:44

Reason for edit: correcting as below

[BenB]

This part of my post above

This next part sets how the background row color of the even-numbered rows is affected.

$puts(back-selected,$offset_colour(%_selected_back%,$calculate_blend_target(%_selected_back%),7))
$puts(back-selected-no-focus,$offset_colour(%_selected_back_no_focus%,$calculate_blend_target(%_selected_back_no_focus%),7))
$puts(back,%_back%)
)

should have said:

This next part sets how the background row color of the odd-numbered rows is affected.

I apologize if that confused anyone.

[justonce01]

Is there a way to have different columns for the NG playlist and the columns playlist panels? I want the columns playlist (labeled in the picture) to only show the artist name and song name, but I haven't found a way to change it independently from the NG playlist.
Is this even possible and if yes, how?