Try

Edit: you got it.

I cant get this plugin to work. I downloaded and use columsUi...i use the newest version of foobar. I downloaded the mod, extracted it to /foobar/components but my foobar doesnt reconize it. I dont see anywhere were i can edit the plugin in my "prefrences" option in foobar. Can anyone help me out? I also use windows xp pro

Christ, this has to be the most common question since the change. Why doesn't anyone even attempt to look up a few posts...

It's not their fault as long as my plugin page doesn't have installation instructions and the wiki page has an outdated screenshot. I'm in the process of updating the wiki page now.

Well. i have 2 questions.



question1:
The music files are located in
<some path>\album_dir
If i have 3 or 4 pictures in this folder, let them be x1.jpg , x2.jpg and x3.jpg

by deafault, x1.jpg will be displayed
If i want that when i click "Next Source", x2.jpg will be displayed, and click one more time, x3.jpg will be displayed?

the name of these pictures varies from album to album, i.e.these picture are not of fixed names, so the following wont work
$replace(%_path%,%_filename_ext%,)x1.jpg
$replace(%_path%,%_filename_ext%,)x2.jpg
$replace(%_path%,%_filename_ext%,)x3.jpg

what should i do?




question2:
The music files are located in
<some path>\album_dir

but the pictures are located in a folder inside it, say
<some path>\album_dir\xxx
this folder name varies from from album to album, i.e. it is not of fixed name

what should i do?

Regarding question 1:
Just put
$replace(%_path%,%_filename_ext%,)*
That should cover it all.

Regarding question 2:
I am not sure about this solution but it's worth a try to see if it works. Try this:
$replace(%_path%,%_filename_ext%,)*\*
Please let us/me know if the solution for this one worked

Thanks for the quick reply
questions 1 works after i enable wildcard
questions 2 works too

Thank you very much!!

You should clean up your music collection

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Version 0.2.5 (October 7, 2006)
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See the change log for a complete list of changes.

The panel will now display art on empty playlists. Be careful with this, because Album Art Panel still tries to evaluate the source string, and any track-specific variables like %path% and %title% will evaluate to '?'. For example, $replace(%path%,%filename_ext%,)*.jpg evaluates to "*.jpg" because %path% and %filename_ext% both evaluate to '?'. The string "*.jpg" causes the panel to display any image in the foobar2000 program directory. If this isn't what you want, use the string $replace(%path%,%filename_ext%,*.jpg) instead.

edit: the reason why it tries to evaluate the source string is because in the future, I'd like to allow access to variables like %playlist_name% and %lock_name% so that the user can customize what image is displayed on an empty playlist. This is somewhat of a low priority, though.

As requested, the image search is suppressed if it shouldn't be necessary. If the source string, after titleformatting, is the same as the previous formatted source, the image search is skipped and the previous results are used. For example, suppose my source is $replace(%path%,%filename_ext%,)*.jpg and I'm playing a track from the album "Audioslave", located in the folder "E:\Music\Audioslave\Audioslave\". The source will evaluate to "E:\Music\Audioslave\Audioslave\*.jpg". If I then switch to the next track in the album, the source will evaluate to the same string, and so the image search will not occur.

Finally, Album Art Panel can now read images within archives. In general, you should be able to use the string $replace(%path%,%filename_ext%,)folder.jpg to read a file called "folder.jpg" from the same archive that the current track is in. Wildcards are not supported. This string assumes that there's no directory structure inside the archive. You can still build a source that reads images if there is a directory structure; just remember that foobar2000 uses the forward-slash '/' as the directory separator inside archives.

Thank you for the update gfngfgf, especially for adding the feature to read in archived files. Its been along time coming and its seriously appreciated, keep up the great work.

Very important request here.

It would be really really wonderful IF the option was there to be able to drag the image. A lot of us have images stored when we scan cd books as really large resolutions and having it displayed large in the album art window is useless if you can't drag it around with a little hand. A lot of time this resolution is nessesary to read all the fine writing. Currently you have to open in externel viewer like infranview in order to do this... it would be great to not have to open every time you look.

Thanks!

Jonathan

I use Directory Opus as a replacement for Windows Explorer and up until now, foo_uie_albumart always opened Opus when I used the Open directory option. But the latest version (0.2.5) has started opening Explorer instead of Opus.

Has the routine to Open directory been altered?

Yes, as I noted in the changelog. I made some changes at version 0.2.4, but lots of people were having serious problems (crashes). Rather than going back to the way it used to be (which didn't crash and opened your replacement file browser), I did something different. In 0.2.5, foo_uie_albumart's "Open Directory" feature should run the same command that is run when you right-click a track in your playlist and select "Open Directory". (To get technical, I'm using the standard_commands::context_file_open_directory function). I'm guessing that if you right-click a track in the playlist and select "Open Directory", it will also open Explorer and not Opus. I don't see this being a big enough issue to change the way it is now.

True, not a big issue, but, in my case, annoying.

I suppose since you're using the RMB Open Directory command, then the 'fault' lies with foobar, really.

I'm using directory opus, too. But both commands work correctly here. There must be something wrong with your Directory Opus installation.

Concerning the "image cache": I'd propose not only to cache the last image (which is completely useless if you cycle throught images), but rather use a associative array and cache the last 20-50 results.

Weird. Since I read your comment, I've been through Dopus' settings a few times trying the different Explorer Replacement options, and I can't get Foobar to open a directory using it. I'll have to try a re-install.

Big Thanks for pics' show when playlist is empty! I wanted it for a long time.

Thanks a lot for fixing the resizing bug

I have a feature request here which i would die for. The option in the preferences to have it only load the images when a track is PLAYED and not just added to the play list. the reason i ask is because a lot of us play music off a network hard drive because of massive collections and when doing so you have to wait forever for the image to load, which is quite alright if you have the ability to still start the music but the cursor locks up until its loaded. so if the option were there you could play a track and then wait on the image which is fine by me.

is this possible??? or a way to free up the cursor/program in order to still start stop music while its loading?????

thanks so much

Jonathan

EDIT: Also i was wondering if you could tell me why in technical terms it takes so long to load anyways. I checked the transmission and i can load a 30 meg picture in a snap, does the plugin que them all up or something??

correction. why does it take so long for the wildcard search?? could anyone point me to the implementation in the source?? to search a directory with 5 pngs in it and return the one that starts with a shouldn't take a minute and half on a 100 megabit lan. I would like to help test/write can someone point me on my way?

take a look at albumart_helpers.cpp. I don't have a LAN to test on, so I have no idea if there are specific problems with the method used. I can imagine that it would take a while, though, because for each image found, the entire image is loaded to check whether it really is a valid image (rather than, say, a text file with a ".jpg" extension). If each of your images is 30 megabytes, it can indeed take a long time to load them all.

oh ok sorry for the reply i just sent you then. this makes sense. This is a feature that i do not need... is there anyway you could add the option for this checking as a toggle? i am quite certain each of these images i put there is valid... would it not be faster anyways to avoid this and have it display error if they couldn't load and then let people turn the option on if they want the long check? other than that it seems quite fast enough... kudos there =)

*whisper* any chance of a quick compile without the option for a grateful user =D

I upgraded to 0.9.4.1 today... and my album art doesnt change smoothly anymore... Just jumps from one image to the next with tranisiton set to 300ms... With transistion set to 10000 ms it appears that there is a jump to a certain part in the fade then it fades from there.

My System has more than enough usable power to handle it and it didnt happen until i updated to 0.9.4.1

Yes, I've been thinking about the same thing, too. Probably next version, it won't load every image that it tests just to make sure it is a valid image. That does seem kind of silly now that I think about it

vader897: I just upgraded to 0.9.4.1 right now, and I haven't noticed any issues with the fading.

@gfngfgf

can you add option to run external program ( for exemple coverdownload) when double or middle click ?

thank for your work

you could use foo_run to create a hotkey for coverdownloader. check the coverdownloader thread on the first post for instructions

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Version 0.2.5.1 (October 15, 2006)
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The only difference between this version and 0.2.5 is the change I mentioned a few posts up. The panel no longer loads every image that matches a wildcard pattern just to make sure it's a valid image. I wasn't planning on making a minor release, but when I tested this fix, the improvement in search time was very significant. You might still notice a long pause if the cycle order is set to "Random" while the panel randomizes the search results. I'm working on improving that, but in the meantime, if speed is your main concern, use "Alphabetical" order.

If the panel encounters a file that isn't a valid image, the display will be blank and an error is output to the console. The same is true if a file can't be found (for instance, if you move a file after the panel has completed a search). I understand that most people would want the panel to continue to the next image if an error occurs. Look for that in the next version.


I'm planning on expanding the available user actions in the next version.

ok thanks!
do you think it is possible run external program when no album art ( only one time...)
regards, melomane

Just so you know, i think the option to not change source on track change is broken now. It used to be able to stay on what ever picture you were cycling through (with wildcards) for the whole album, now it always reverts to the first. Thanks for the release!!

Jonathan

Hi gfngfgf and thank you for your work on this plug in.

I noticed that sometimes (I've been unable to find a pattern) it doesn't refresh the selected item. For example, I have 4 tracks (the first 3 have no album art, the 4th has it): when I select track 1, then 2, then 3 it displays one of the nocover images, when I select the 4th it doesn't change until I Refresh or Toggle follow cursor on and off.

Regards.

Alessandro

PS: also, all drop-down controls in preferences don't work correctly on Win2k: only one row is displayed and I have to use arrows to change selection.

Thanks for the update gfngfgf, and i was wondering if wildcard support for the archive reading is planned or added ?

Hmm, I'll try to address that in the next version.


First, what is your setting for "On track change, revert to first source"? Can you paste your sources list, please?


Does anyone else have this problem? Is it just with this latest version? Unfornuately, I don't have a Win2k machine to test on, but I'll double-check to make sure I'm not doing anything that only works on XP.


It's a low priority, but I think it's a reasonable feature request.


PS, I also found a bug. If you have "Output preformatted sources to console" enabled, you might get a message "Randomizing order of matches...", even if "Cycle all wildcard matches" is disabled. Just giving a heads up.

It was set as Only if display would change: changing it to Always I'm unable to reproduce the problem.
Sources:FWIW, this is a recurring problem: happened (happens) with other plug-ins as well but has been fixed in the past, so I guess it's an implementation detail.

HTH.

Alessandro

Change that last source to:


note the extra hyphen at the beginning. That indicates that it's a no-cover source, and you should be okay. What's happening with your current sources list is (I think):

1) The panel is currently displaying a no-cover image
2) You switch to a track that has "%artist%_%album%.*", but NOT "%album%.*".
3) The panel first checks the current source group, which means it looks for "[%album%].*". Since it is not found, the panel displays the next source, which is your no-cover image.
4) The display did not change (still showing the no-cover), so there is no reset. The first source (which exists) is never even checked.

If you use two hyphens for the no-cover source, though, a reset will be forced in these situations.

edit: typo

Right on the mark!

Thank you for your time.

Alessandro

It has always been that way with foo_uie_albumart on my win2k machine.

wopps, well after trying with an older version it always on track change resorts to the first image in a source. So really this is track art not album art =)

I guess what i said before is a feature request then, to have it be able, while your cycling wildcards, to stay where ever you left it for a whole album (that is to say, folder). Then it would truely be album art where one could look around at that folders pictures for a whole album.

There's this niggling bug when I use AlbumArt with Visual Task Tips and TaskSwitchXP Pro. See the following screenshots:

Bug with Visual Task Tips: Bug with TaskSwitchXP Pro:

With both, the AlbumArt shows as a floating image on the screen, instead of part of the window-capture of VTT and TSXP.

FYI, TSXP says - in its documentation - that it uses the PrintWindow API; I think VTT likewise (documentation does not say).

It's not showstopping, but surely nice if the incompatibility is resolved

taken from http://www.ntwind.com/software/taskswitchxp/faq.html:


I've found a lot of pages while googling that support the fact that the PrintWindow API is less than perfect. I probably won't spend much time on this issue.

Great plugin, i've just installed and used it in my UI. Looks sweet with the now playing mod.

I have one request though - could you make the option to oversize the picture by an X amount of pixels?
Many of my front covers have jagged/diagonal/blurry edges - instead of editing every cover by hand (which i am not going to do) - it would be awesome to oversize the picture just about 2/3 pixels to make it looks a lot cleaner.

Thanks in advance hope this request will be taken into account. Else just flame me

Yeah, v0.2.5.1 is works really fine - the probs with v0.2.5 are history.

Thanks you gfngfgf!

A new request: How about an option to display the filename of the picture displayed? I use albumart to cycle through artists, composers and (for classical) conductors, but sometimes I haven't a clue who I'm looking at when you're unfamiliar with them.

The info could be displayed above or below the pic, or maybe overlayed.

Another option might be to display the title or comment from the pic's file properties. This would be handy in my case where filenames are %artist sort% (Bloggs, Fred), but the title in file properties could read 'Fred Bloggs'.

Well, problem is, foobar2000 is captured okay (see screencap). If it's only the AlbumArt area that's blank, then I won't report (I've read the FAQ after all). But the "Floating AlbumArt" (see bottom left corner of the screencaps) is very distracting. Other UIE panels shows properly (trackinfo, visualization, etc), only AlbumArt behaves like this.

Well, anyways, like I said, it's not showstopping. Guess I'll just have to live with it then

I have two feature requests. Well, one is anyway. The other I see as a bug or oversight.

First, when resizing the image, it does not subtract the padding from the finished width when "center album art in panel" is NOT enabled. So the picture will be cut off on the right side.

Second, configurable pixel border size please.

Thanks in advance, and great job. =]

Which version of foo_uie_albumart are you using?

I'll definitely take a look at it. I think there may be some other resizing issues I need to look at, too.


Do you mean the "pixel border"?

I think that should be a user definable width of a "frame" around the image,
and if so I support that request.

Additionally I like to request a checkbox for "Background" like it exists for "Draw pixel border".
When hooked, there wouldn't be NO background color, so the color of the underlying Windows element would be visible.

Yes, I meant the pixel border width be configurable. I just wanted one pixel more. ;]

Since, I've just thought of it, how about multiple image display? Since I now have artist images appearing, I've noticed that a lot of them are wider than they are tall, so it'd be nice to use the extra vertical space for more pictures. Yeah, that's the ticket...

Sorry to bother you again, but I have a problem with the following sources:Works fine when the panel is set to "Selected Track", but when I switch to "Now Playing" (middle-click) also the no cover images are shown after the specified Cycle time (even if the currently playing song has album art). And changing Album cover art follows cursor even when playing doesn't seem to make a difference.

Is this a bug in my code or in the plug-in?

Alessandro

Well, while we're on the subject, here's mine:


1. adding "--" before "C:\#pix2\CD Covers\NOCOVER.jpg" actually removes the image. This is why I got rid of the "--"

2. "D:\#Download2\#Internet\#Radio\#LastFM\LastFM Desktop\cache\[*%album artist%*%title%.*]" --
Naturally, most entries have no "album artist" code. On the other hand (and as I mentioned before) many tracks have multiple artists (, which are translated by the component to a comma seperated list. This is why I added this option.

Unfortunately, it doesn't really do anything, as I guess I have some sort of an error in the way I add the parenthesis.

How can I make a code line be optional ( i.e., when there's an actual value in the stated tag)? What am I doing wrong?

i know it sounds like a noob question. Sorry about that.