.NET is not necessary. Try gdiplus.dll, otherwise download Dependancy Walker and see what it says.

That's the ticket. I had a feeling it was gdi+ after perusing your source code. Sadly I was searching for a libgdi+. Thanks a bunch.

Hi, first of all, thanks for continue updating this great plugin.
I have found a small issue:
When "follow cursor" is not activated, and I play an album without covers, the "default cover" doesn't change anymore, even if I play albums with covers. I have to manually correct this with "right button - first source"

I have found a temporal fix, activating "follow cursor".

Could anyone make it so it's possible to use 2 album art panels? I want to use one because of how it is now and then add one to just make me able to add a new pic to the interface so it looks better.

The second album art could be used for this:

Then add a normal album art panel there.

I found this bug a few days ago and have fixed it (I think...I'll go back and double-check ). Thanks for reporting.


Multiple instances is on my "to-do" list, but it's at a lower priority than everything else. I do plan on getting to it at some point, though.

Thats one sexy layout can you share the code for the status bar & the playlist?

Also what font are you using?

-----
Version 0.175 (May 26, 2006)
Plugin homepage

Download
Change log
Source

Known bugs and planned features:

• BUG: display is blank on startup if image path is relative (i.e., "components\default.*")
  
• BUG: when switching to a playlist with no items, display is blank
• CTRL+drag to copy image
  
• allow multiple instances (very low on the priority list)

-----

Please be aware that your "transition time" setting will be reset to 300ms when you upgrade to this version.

I added automatic cycling of sources during playback in this version. If you don't like the automatic cycling, it's easy enough to disable on the "Behaviour" tab. Another feature I added was that Album Art Panel now responds to items being added to the playlist. The main benefit is that now, if you have "Auto send to playlist" enabled in Album List Panel, the album art will be updated as you browse the Album List. It's not exactly the same as the old "external control" option from 0.8.3, but I think it's a pretty good approximation.

I've been making a lot of tweaks to how the album art changes when you change tracks or use "Next Source" and "Previous Source", so any kind of unexpected behaviour you see, please let me know and I'll take a look at it. I'm probably going to make the location of the "No Cover" art separate from the regular sources list in the next version, and that should take care of a few of the lingering bugs that I'm seeing.

Not sure what exactly you're thinking as far as splitting the source list up, but you should consider (if you aren't already) that some people have set-ups that allow for separate 'no cover' images. (e.g., i have a different 'no cover' image for audio CDs and HTTP streams than for regular cover-less albums.)

Good job!, it seems to work pretty good!
I found two little bugs

1) The "cicle source" feature only works if "follow cursor" is deactivated.
2) Imagine this situation: I'm playing an album with more than one image (front.jpg and back.jpg) and I click on the panel to see the second source (back.jpg)... When I change to another album with more than one image, I see the second source (back.jpg) for that new album, not the first one.

A bug: Using "Copy sources list to clipboard" does not include the last character of the sources list.

My sugession to new version:

Curent cover arts list replace with two list of cover art sourses -

1. Cover art Images

2. No cover arts images


If cover arts exist - its cycles only from firs list, and if not exist - its cycles only frm second list.

I don't wont cycle covert art with 'no cover' images.

This has probably been addressed already somewhere (either here or in the other thread), but will there be support for finding the album art in the audio file in addition to external files?

agreed, especially if the author said something about a timer to change the art. i probably wouldnt use a timer anyway, but having a no cover art image would definatly ruin it.

Just took the plunge and changed to 0.9.2 b3. Biggest reason for holding out was amount of plugins in general and album art specifically. Well, I installed 0.750 with column_ui 1.3 beta 1v5. Dll is in the correct component directory and I can access configuration in 'preferences'. However, albumart won't display in the side panel. Windows installation has NET Framework 1.1 as well as 2.0.

Any tips?


Cheers

What I was thinking was that I would have a single text box where you could enter one "No Cover" image, and if none of the sources in the source list matched, the "No Cover" image would be displayed. Having multiple 'no cover' images would still be possible using a '-' in the source list. It's only a suggestion, and I'm not even sure if anyone else is bothered by the way it is now.

(after reading the other comments regarding 'no cover' images, I probably won't do it like above. But I definitely think there should be a way to distinguish a 'no cover' image from an alternate source)


Confirmed and intended (kind of). It doesn't make sense to me to cycle covers of tracks that aren't currently playing. I also haven't figured out yet how to check whether the currently selected track is the same as the currently playing track.


Is "revert to first source when current source would result in a different display" on the "behaviour" tab enabled? (Note: right now there's no way to have it always revert to the first source)


I thought I had checked for that. Thanks for pointing it out.


Interesting suggestion. I'll see what I can do with this. I don't think I'll make a second list, because, IMO, that will just clutter up an already cluttered Preferences page, but I'll definitely look into skipping 'no cover' images while automatically cycling.


It's not on my to-do list at all. Check the top of page 16; I think I responded to this question in more detail. (edit: it was this post)


.NET should not be required at all. If you're using Windows2000, do you have gdiplus.dll? There's a link on my plugin homepage.

Also, the new version of Columns UI has no "Sidebar" like in 0.8.3. It's been replaced by the Layout system, so you need to go to Preferences -> Display -> Columns UI -> Layout and right-click on a splitter to add the Album Art Panel.

I want to get it to use the first the first 6 letters of the album and then look for in my cover directory for the cover with a filename that has the first 6 letters of the album at the start of the file name.

eg. Album - GTA San Andreas KJah

looks for GTA San*.jpg

D:\My Mp3s\Album Cover\$substr(%album%,1,6)*.jpg

Hoping it would pick up
GTA San Andreas.jpg


Also how come this component has no "About" dialog box i.e. to get the version number?.

EDIT: ITS WORKING NOW I WAS USING AN OLD VERISON OF ALBUM ART. Probably because when I tried Foobar 0.9 on my test machine. The newer dll wasn't loading up.

Thanks for your time gfngfgf

great plug-in

Yes I have this problem now if a song that has no cover is played the default.png cover is shown. Then when a song has a cover is played the default.png is still shown. This basically goes against the objective of this component.

Why cant it go to the first source when a new song is played, and work its way down the source list. I thought that was the primary goal in an ordered source-list?

Can someone post last working version when this bug/feature didn't exist.

You are right, it was my fault, "revert to first source..." was deactivated

As gfngfgf said... do you have "revert to first source..." activated? Activate it

You can chek ALL version numbers in Preferences - Components

Keep the good work!

Yeah I do in the console it just has:

searching album art, preprocessed pattern: "components\default.png"
searching album art, preprocessed pattern: "components\default.png"
searching album art, preprocessed pattern: "components\default.png"
searching album art, preprocessed pattern: "components\default.png"
searching album art, preprocessed pattern: "components\default.png"
searching album art, preprocessed pattern: "components\default.png"
searching album art, preprocessed pattern: "components\default.png"
searching album art, preprocessed pattern: "components\default.png"
searching album art, preprocessed pattern: "components\default.png"

i.e. its not going to the top of the source list.
It seems to be a bug then.

Make sure you're using my latest version, since this is one bug I've been trying to address. If the problem still occurs, could you copy and paste your source list, please? (If you have version 0.175, you can use the "copy sources to clipboard" feature, except it will cut off the last character of the last source)

edit: added link to my plugin page

-----
Version 0.176 (May 27, 2006)
Plugin homepage

Download
Change log
Source

Known bugs and planned features:

• BUG: display is blank on startup if image path is relative (i.e., "components\default.*")
• BUG: when switching to a playlist with no items, display is blank
• when cycling sources, "no cover" art should be skipped
• CTRL+drag to copy image
• allow multiple instances (very low on the priority list)

-----

Minor update to fix some issues. The "Copy sources to clipboard" button no longer cuts off the last character. Cycling sources should work if you have "Follow cursor" enabled and you select the currently playing track. Finally, I added a help button to the "Sources" tab which takes you to the wiki page on Album Art Panel.

edit: added "cycling sources should skip 'no cover' art" to planned features list

Ok I tried 0.176 and the problem happened again:

Here is my source list:
D:\Top Mp3s\Album Cover\%album%.jpg
D:\Top Mp3s\Album Cover\Artist\%artist%.jpg
D:\Top Mp3s\Album Cover\$substr(%album%,1,10)*.jpg
D:\Top Mp3s\Album Cover\Artist\$substr(%artist%,1,6)*.jpg
D:\Top Mp3s\Album Cover\Artist\$substr(%artist%,1,3)*.jpg
components\default.png

Here is the console
searching album art, preprocessed pattern: "components\default.png"
searching album art, preprocessed pattern: "components\default.png"
searching album art, preprocessed pattern: "components\default.png"
searching album art, preprocessed pattern: "D:\Top Mp3s\Album Cover\?.jpg"
searching album art, preprocessed pattern: "D:\Top Mp3s\Album Cover\Artist\Dido.jpg"
searching album art, preprocessed pattern: "D:\Top Mp3s\Album Cover\?*.jpg"

The last three were when I chose preferences. i.e. it some triggers the right code.

Also when a track has no album why does it search for ?.jpg.

Thanks

parive3: Try making that last source "-components\default.png" (note the hyphen at the beginning).

edit: come to think of it, the solution I gave may or may not work. Basically, right now there's no way to distinguish a "no cover" art from a regular source. I'm going to try and address that in 0.180.

The reason album art panel searches for "?.jpg" is that in foobar2000's titleformatting system, if a tag can't be found, "?" is returned. You can use this instead:


which will search for ".jpg" if there's no album.

With the dash the problem exist but it now goes to the above source rather than the first source.

searching album art, preprocessed pattern: "D:\Top Mp3s\Album Cover\Artist\Blo*.jpg"
searching album art, preprocessed pattern: "components\default.png"
searching album art, preprocessed pattern: "D:\Top Mp3s\Album Cover\Artist\Den*.jpg"
searching album art, preprocessed pattern: "components\default.png"
searching album art, preprocessed pattern: "D:\Top Mp3s\Album Cover\Artist\Way*.jpg"
searching album art, preprocessed pattern: "components\default.png"

So when I change my source list to all dashed it works fine.
D:\Top Mp3s\Album Cover\[%album%].jpg
-D:\Top Mp3s\Album Cover\Artist\[%artist%].jpg
-D:\Top Mp3s\Album Cover\$substr([%album%],1,10)*.jpg
-D:\Top Mp3s\Album Cover\Artist\$substr([%artist%],1,6)*.jpg
-D:\Top Mp3s\Album Cover\Artist\$substr([%artist%],1,3)*.jpg
-components\default.png

So I am not sure maybe that was what you intended.


Thanks for your help.

I just uploaded version 0.176a, same download address (here, clear your browser cache if necessary). There was a small bug with the "Help" button, and I think I was able to stop Album Art from flooding the console whenever you enter preferences.

parive3: if you haven't already, you should read the wiki article to understand what the hyphen does. When the track changes, Album Art Panel will always start by searching from the first source in the current group, then if the image has changed, the panel searches from the first source (assuming that option is enabled). In that regard, Album Art is working as intended, because (I'm guessing) "Blo*.jpg" doesn't exist, the "no cover" art is being shown anyway when you switch tracks. I do consider it a bug, though, and I think the changes I make in the next version will fix this undesired behavior.

edit: I'll also add an option to always revert to the first source, since I can see when that might be useful.

Just a quick feature request, Would it be possible to disable the fade animation when foobar is being used remotely?

You can use GetSystemMetrics(SM_REMOTECONTROL) to check for this condition, it will return non-zero if Remote Desktop is being used.

Since you told me exactly how to do it, and I see no good reason not to do it, sure

Too funny .... didn't even realize there was an index in that screen but did wonder why version seems so ....ehm....neutered.
Thanks a bunch, plugin works fine.

Thanks that would be great.

just wanted to say thx
fabulous work on one of my favourite components gfngfgf
looking forward to even more features

gfngfgf, thanks for working on this plugin!

i have feature request though. i would really like tooltip-like cover popup on mouse hover over the album art. i have it set rather small in my layout (under 100 x 100px), so quick build-in popup feature would be great to have. i think it would be nice to have options for maximal popup window's size and maybe the hover delay. it could disappear on mouse move (or mouse move away from the popup, or maybe on click).

what do you think?

I'll think about it, but I can't promise anything. If it does get done, it'll be after I get multiple instances working.

Wonderful! Thank You.

thanks gfngfgf
great works
it's very usefull component

i use source code
$replace(%_path%,%_filename_ext%,)%album%$mod($rand(),10).jpg

when first startup foobar playing (follow cursor mode)
not cycle album art image
then....
Refresh click or another item click .... good work

automatic Refresh possible?

Confirmed. I'll try to fix this in the next version.

apologies if this has been asked before, this is an almighty long thread now ...

I want to add an album art check for the following conditions:

1. If the current playing song has a meta-tag URL = http://www.di.fm
2. I want to display the file 'icons etc\logo-di.gif' which is a relative folder location under fb2k main root

Hope someone can help ...

It's not quite the 129 pages the foo_ui_columns thread has going


Try this:

does not seem to work...
any other ideas?... cause I'dd like this too...

For some reason that doesn't work the way it's supposed to. If you try to put $meta(url) in the trackinfo panel, for example, it doesn't show up, even though URL=http://www.di.fm is clearly listed in the tags. This is a problem with foobar's streaming capability, not with albumart.

The alternative for now seems to be to use %_path% to get the IP of the DI servers. If that doesn't change too much, it should work just as well. Try:

-$if($stricmp($left(%_path%,20),'http://64.236.34.196'),'icons etc\logo-di.gif')

lav-chan u're an officer and a gentleperson! tnx heaps ...

[edit]
I have updated that string to this, which should prove more reliable as it doesn't rely on the server ip:

Doesn't that get over-written by the song title after a few seconds?

I believe so.

Does anybody know where I could find artists' pictures or portraits, please?

I'm not interested in album covers but, listening to a lot of jazz, I'd like using the plugin to show the artist face instead (or even some instruments clipart for classical, maybe).

Thanks.

Have you tried Wikipedia?

Is it possible to use global variables?

Like if my song is playing it shall display the cover, if not it uses the default.png

That way i could make my foobar look way better in an idle state.
I tried to code but it won't work, any suggests?

$if(%isplaying%,$replace(_path%,%_filename_ext%))folder.jpg
-match:$if(%isplaying%,$replace(%_path%,%_filename_ext%))*
-components\default.png

i can't get the cycling to work either.

both pictures are in the directory from which foobar is playing..
folder.jpg and cover.jpg

whats the code to cylce between those?

edit: cycling seams to be bugged right now, guess i'll just wait for the update

A quick update: I'd really like to get multiple instances working before I release the next version, and it's taking some time to do that, so hang tight. I'm still following this thread and all the bug reports and feature requests.


No, special fields related to playback (like "%isplaying%" and "%ispaused%") don't work right now. I think it shouldn't be hard to add that, though. I'll try to get it done in the next version.


Try this out:


edit: and I probably should have explained this better when I introduced the cycling feature, but cycling only works while foobar2000 is playing a track, and only if the currently playing track is selected or "Follow cursor" is turned off.

My music files are stored in a series of folders in the name of the artist with the corresponding album art for the files in the artist folder. As such, these folders have varying number of .jpg files. What I want to do is randomly cycle through all the .jpg files in a given artist folder for a playing track. I cannot figure out how to do this with the $rand() function because the number of .jpg files varies from folder to folder, and therefore, simply appending a random number to end of of a .jpg file name will not work because the number of .jpg files for the maximum random number to be generated varies from folder to folder. Could someone help me with the code for a source that would go to the given folder for the then playing artist and randomly cycle through all the.jpg files in the corresponding artist folder, taking into account that the number of .jpg files in a given folder will vary.

I would like to submit the idea of two checkboxes
'vertical shrink'
'horizontal shrink'
instead of only
'shrink image to fit'

what do you think about it, could it be possible ?

Yeah, but why? Doesn't the 'maintain aspect ratio' pretty much cover it?