Advanced Controls (foo_advancedcontrols), discussion thread for foo_advancedcontrol Options

[niver]

plz update for win 7 !!! this component is for me must have

Sorry, unfortunately the major changes to the taskbar behavior in Windows 7 will make it impossible to update the component for it to work correctly. I'm investigating the possibilities, and the most probable solution is a simple component with several tray icons, which will each do one action (play, stop, next, prev). No trackbar, nothing fancy, something like the basic "Nullsoft Tray Icon" plugin in Winamp, for those who tried it.

N.

[GeSomeone]

.... each do one action (play, stop, next, prev).

If that's how it's gonna be, I hope that play/pause still can be the same button.

[niver]

.... each do one action (play, stop, next, prev).

If that's how it's gonna be, I hope that play/pause still can be the same button.

Yes, of course.

[Nikhoss]

Hello!

I've just installed Advanced Controls and I like very much this plugin!!
However, the buttons are too small... Is it possible to have only 2 buttons: play/pause & previous & next ? and remove the seek bar...

I'd to have something like: (approximately)

Guys, you made a great job, and I'm very happy to use foobar, the best audio player ever!!!

Thx for answering

[niver]

Such a plugin will probably be built for Windows 7 as we didn't find a way to make the current version usable on it.

Stay tuned.

NH

Hello!

I've just installed Advanced Controls and I like very much this plugin!!
However, the buttons are too small... Is it possible to have only 2 buttons: play/pause & previous & next ? and remove the seek bar...

I'd to have something like: (approximately)

Guys, you made a great job, and I'm very happy to use foobar, the best audio player ever!!!

Thx for answering

[Nikhoss]

Such a plugin will probably be built for Windows 7 as we didn't find a way to make the current version usable on it.

Stay tuned.

NH

Okay! I'm waitin for it !

Bye.

[Bassquake]

I think it was mentioned earlier in the thread, but Im wondering if its possible for the Advanced Controls could take over the foobar's system tray icon. It seems a bit wasteful having 3 icons there!

I looked at the DefaultUI, but theres no option to completely hide the icon.

Thanks.

[niver]

Yes, it could. It even did at some point. But FB devs don't want me to mess with their icon, so if I do, even by just offering an option to hide the Foobar2000 icon, thay may ban my component.

You need to talk to them so they modify FB and add an option to completely hide the FB icon. Unfortunately, I'm not free to do what I want with FB.

From the Foobar2000 SDK license:

Usage restrictions:
It is illegal to use this SDK as a part of foobar2000 components that operate outside of legally documented programming interfaces (APIs),

Regards.
NH

I think it was mentioned earlier in the thread, but Im wondering if its possible for the Advanced Controls could take over the foobar's system tray icon. It seems a bit wasteful having 3 icons there!

I looked at the DefaultUI, but theres no option to completely hide the icon.

Thanks.

This post has been edited by niver: Nov 17 2009, 01:13

[Bassquake]

Yes, it could. It even did at some point. But FB devs don't want me to mess with their icon, so if I do, even by just offering an option to hide the Foobar2000 icon, thay may ban my component.

You need to talk to them so they modify FB and add an option to completely hide the FB icon. Unfortunately, I'm not free to do what I want with FB.

Ah ok. Ill have a few words to them! They'll probably say something about keeping a visible icon for branding purposes. I say "the customer is always right so put an option to lose it!".

Cheers

[niver]

Let us know how it goes :-)

Now... what about that crashware tag against this thread again? There's no crash report here for months, nobody sent me crash reports, and I've certainly not been noticed of anything going wrong with my plugin. Someone likes to be rude with component developers, makes me want to get out of here and pull the plug on my component.

Yes, it could. It even did at some point. But FB devs don't want me to mess with their icon, so if I do, even by just offering an option to hide the Foobar2000 icon, thay may ban my component.

You need to talk to them so they modify FB and add an option to completely hide the FB icon. Unfortunately, I'm not free to do what I want with FB.

Ah ok. Ill have a few words to them! They'll probably say something about keeping a visible icon for branding purposes. I say "the customer is always right so put an option to lose it!".

Cheers

[Robertina]

Now... what about that crashware tag against this thread again? There's no crash report here for months, nobody sent me crash reports, and I've certainly not been noticed of anything going wrong with my plugin.

The website with the known problematic components has been updated recently:

If you are a developer and one of your components is listed on the troubleshooter, you should contact forum staff to obtain detailed crash report data.

Robertina.

This post has been edited by Robertina: Nov 20 2009, 07:11

[niver]

Ok, I'll do this.

But I still don't get this way of treating people who develop components to enhance their app, maybe that's just me. It's not as if I was making money on they back, or anything. I do that for free, I enjoy doing that, foobar2000 is great, and free. How am I supposed to react quickly to reported crashes if I'm not aware of them? Am I supposed to check the online troubleshooter each day, just in case? And when I don't react quickly enough because no one noticed me, they put [crashware] on my component's thread, making me look like a bad dev to everyone who happens to visit the forums. How hard is it to just drop an email to the dev telling "we received several bug reports about X, you can get the crash reports here" - even a single post in the component thread would be better...

Anyway, sorry for the rant, I'll try to figure out what's going on again and update the component if possible.

NH

Now... what about that crashware tag against this thread again? There's no crash report here for months, nobody sent me crash reports, and I've certainly not been noticed of anything going wrong with my plugin.

The list's content of the known problematic components has been updated recently:

If you are a developer and one of your components is listed on the troubleshooter, you should contact forum staff to obtain detailed crash report data.

Robertina.

[Robertina]

Ok, I'll do this.

But I still don't get this way of treating people who develop components to enhance their app, maybe that's just me.

Maybe my warn level will be raised for that statement but now and again the staff's conduct can hurt in my eyes, I agree with you although I do not use your component.

[niver]

v0.5.12.5 is now available, fixing a crash when a 0-second mp3 is being played.

http://pelit.koillismaa.fi/plugins/show.php?id=138
http://www.niversoft.com/products/fac

[niver]

v0.5.12.5 is now available, fixing a crash when a 0-second mp3 is being played.

http://pelit.koillismaa.fi/plugins/show.php?id=138
http://www.niversoft.com/products/fac

Version updated to 0.5.12.6 - no relevant changes from .5 for users, but this version follows more closely the recommendations from http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....showtopic=76296

[bubi jackson]

Hi niver,

I'm using your plug for a long time without problems and I think it's time to say thank you .

Edit: typo

This post has been edited by bubi jackson: Nov 20 2009, 19:42

[-sanb-]

thanks for update niver

[gleefeld]

v0.5.12.5 is now available, fixing a crash when a 0-second mp3 is being played.

http://pelit.koillismaa.fi/plugins/show.php?id=138
http://www.niversoft.com/products/fac

I suppose you know that Foobar is now 1.0. Advansed Kontrols does not work on 1.0. The .5 series of Advansed kontrols was appriesiated by myself though. Thank you. Should you develop a new version to work with the new Foobar, my suggestion would be to enlarge it by one ikon. Two ikons size was just too krowded.

[niver]

The current version does work with Foobar 1.0, but is not optimized for it. I actually have a version here using the new SDK, almost ready for release, but just didn't have time yet to complete the testing. I will try to make it happen soon.


That new version will unfortunately still be incompatible with Win7.

However, now that our dev machine has been upgraded to Windows 7, we will likely work on creating a version compatible with it. It will not be possible to include a slider at all, so either we remove the slider completely and merge the four tiny buttons on the same icon, or the slider is made inactive and becomes only a display of the current position. I would prefer the former solution, as using only one icon would definitively resolve the icon position problem that's bound to be more present in Win7.

Comments and ideas from everyone are welcome.

gleefeld, I don't see how a 3-icons solution would help or fix anything. The icons are not more or less crowded than before, they use the same layout since the beginning. I'm not sure how you want me to organize 4 controls and 1 slider (for the winxp/vista version) in 3 icons...

v0.5.12.5 is now available, fixing a crash when a 0-second mp3 is being played.

http://pelit.koillismaa.fi/plugins/show.php?id=138
http://www.niversoft.com/products/fac

I suppose you know that Foobar is now 1.0. Advansed Kontrols does not work on 1.0. The .5 series of Advansed kontrols was appriesiated by myself though. Thank you. Should you develop a new version to work with the new Foobar, my suggestion would be to enlarge it by one ikon. Two ikons size was just too krowded.

[niver]

v0.6.0.1 is now available, introducing compatibility with Foobar2000 v1.0.1 and its new preference page features (apply button), as well as beta Windows 7 compatibility.

The support for Windows 7 is incomplete. The volume/position slider has been disabled and the four remaining buttons has been merged in a single icon, and there is no visual feedback during the click of one of these buttons.

This is the best I can do in a short period of time. I will evaluate the possibility of enhancing the support, but the odds are against us, and the result would be a hack. Restoring the position slider would likely require either a global mouse hook to be created, or a DLL to be injected in Explorer, both things that can lead to system instability if not done very carefully. Unfortunately I don't have the resources to go that way for now.

I am open to all suggestions regarding Win7 compatibility, including insights from hardcore Win7 GUI/API programmers, if any...

The Advanced Controls icons has been designed when Windows 95 was still cutting edge, and that kind of icon control was, and is, still unique. Many people told me at that time that such control wasn't possible, and I have yet to see another program using the Notification Area the way I do. I managed to keep the icons working from Win95 to Windows Vista, seven different flavours of Windows with small differences in the shell forcing me to adapt the rendering each time. Windows 7 seems to push the challenge further, but, with the lack of mousemove and mousedown events, with the ability to move the icons manually from a spot to another and with the taskbar visual feedback in the way, it's likely the Notification area isn't anymore the best place to put those icons...

You can download the latest version at
http://pelit.koillismaa.fi/plugins/show.php?id=138
http://www.niversoft.com/products/fac

[PfPnl]

I've been using Advanced Controls for quite some time now, and I just love it! Quite an achievement to get this plugin working from W95 all the way thru Vista! It's a pity it won't work the same way in W7, but you earned my respect for all the work done thus far. Thanks for this great plugin, Niver!

[niver]

Great news everyone! A new release of Foobar2000 Advanced Controls, specifically targeting Windows 7 enhancements, is arriving!

I finally managed to get a few ideas to bring back the full features of the component when running Windows 7.

Please note there is still a few differences:

• First, The two icons have to be moved in place manually, as the component can't do that automatically. They usually appear in the Notification Area Overflow only, so you have to drag the two icons out of there and place them where you want them to be, next to each other, and in correct order, otherwise they won't work properly. Windows will then remember their position for the next times you use Foobar2000.
• Second, while the control buttons will react to the LEFT mouse button, the position/volume slider will only react to the RIGHT mouse button, as the left button is reserved by Windows for moving the icons themselves

I am aiming to find the best possible behavior given the limits imposed by Windows 7, so I'm open to any suggestion or comment you may have on this change.

This is not yet an official release, the official download link hasn't been updated to point to that new version. If you want to try it, please use this direct, but temporary link.

I need Windows 7 testers, but also WinXP and Vista testers, to confirm the Windows 7-related changes didn't break the component on other Windows versions. I will likely test it on WinXP later, but I don't have any Vista instance anymore here.

So if you can try it, please report either in this thread or to me directly whether or not it is working, and on which version of Windows.

Thanks for your help!

NH

[niver]

v0.6.5.1 is available, still at the beta temporary link. A few minor cosmetic fixes as I tested the component on Windows XP and Vista.

I would really appreciate some feedback before I release it officially.

NH

This is not yet an official release, the official download link hasn't been updated to point to that new version. If you want to try it, please use this direct, but temporary link.

[Parsi]

I owe you my thanks, I finally decided to install your extension again, since I moved onto W7.
although beta, I am confident with your extension. Feels almost like the same as in XP days.
thanks!


EDIT:
I have to thank you again, please let me explain why.
I love your "side feature": "display song info balloon"

in Windows XP I used foo_prettypop for song title information on a global hotkey.
however prettypop has a very annoying bug since early versions where the micro-window would suddenly not show up anymore until you restart foobar. This happened even quicker in W7, afther few hours the plug in stops working. and it is not being currently developed anymore, so I deinstalled it.
Foo_osd sucked because it is not triggerable via hotkey.

I ended up not having song info in other applications.

I forgot that you had also this side feature...and now everything is fine with foobar again

thanks my friend

This post has been edited by Parsi: Sep 18 2010, 19:10

[niver]

Thanks!

While your using it, if ever you find something that doesn't feel like the previous versions (well, except the bit awkward right-drag I've been forced to use), please let me know.

Regards.
NH

I owe you my thanks, I finally decided to install your extension again, since I moved onto W7.
although beta, I am confident with your extension. Feels almost like the same as in XP days.
thanks!

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