Thanks cwbowron, let's test it !

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Edit: Uh, oh...four crash logs whenever I startup now. Ill send them to you.

Those happen as soon as you start foobar2000?

Yep. Actually, the first time I got them was when I first added a new browser panel to my layout and then tried to populate it. After that, it happened whenever I started up foobar until I reverted to the previous foo_browser version.

I will look into it, but I wont be able to get to it until tomorrow at the earliest.

No problem. I appreciate your commitment to this component.

I believe I have discovered a bug when adding a panel through foo_browser's preference tree.


--

When the [Add] button is pressed, foo_browser creates a "New" entry in the panel list, however activates a configuration window for an existing panel instead of he "New" panel.


--

At this point the user can press [OK] and save the settings for whatever existing panel was opened, the existing panel will remain and the "New" panel will need to be [Edit]'ed.


--
However, if the user selects [Cancel] (which was my natural instinct, seeing a config for something other than what I wanted to edit) the "New" panel is created but the existing panel is deleted entirely.


--

I discovered this bug while running foo_browser v1.2.2 [Jul 3 2006 - 13:21:45] on Foobar v0.9.2, however I updated to foo_browser v1.2.2b [Jul 5 2006 - 08:48:38] and the bug persists. This is not a high priority to fix considering it doesnt affect the normal day to day use of the browser panels however if a user is not careful it is very easy to unexpectedly delete panels during configuration.

How can I prevent, that when I start my foobar the last used playlist is on top instead of the *Browser* Playlist?

Not sure if this has been mentionend yet. After a foobar restart, the browser doesn't remember its last position. It would be great if the browser could jump to the last played item in database after a restart.

It may already work with only 1 browser active, but not for 2 or more. I have the browsers set to "genre" and "artist".

Anyways, best plugin for foobar much better than albumlist.

Is it just me, or is anyone else not able to get the multiple tag support to work? I am using the "tag" format (with no %) with tags delimited by "\" and I am just seeing them as one long tag rather than multiple tags. I tried using %tag% also with comma delimited tags and that wouldnt work either.

try %<tag>%

That did it, thanks. Im still having a bit of trouble with multiple tagging, though. It seems that foobar doesnt always detect delimited tags. Ill go into the properties page and add a delimited ("\") tag, and often it doesnt split it into multiple values. Is there something I need to be doing to get it to detect that?

I wonder if this is possible. I'm not very good at foobar... I would like it so that when you play something from the Browser playlist, the whole playlist would go to another playlist, like a Now Playing playlist and play there. This way I can carry on browsing and loading up new playlists in the Browser playlist without it messing up the Now Playlist.

Thanks in advance, great plugin by the way!

Setting the precedence level of the panels in ColunsUI is a feature that is not going to come as already mentioned by Chris. I think i have an idea how this could be simulated:

Filtered Panels list in context menu (shift&rightclick)

Once a panel is defined its precedence level is also known. It would make sense to have an option to filter the list of available panels so that only these panels are shown that belong to the same level.

That feature would have two advantages:

1. I can create for each %tag% more than just one panel wich have different levels. So the different panels are shown in different lists. You avoid a list where you have f.e. 4 entries for artist

2. It could not happen again that you accidentally put an panel left from a panel with lower level.

Side effects

- defining an empty panel: to avoid the complete list on the beginning all the panels could be organized in submenus of its level. Or the first context menu of an empty panel opens a menu from 0 till 9 to check the level which panels are then shown when you right click again

- possibility to clear a panel so that you have an empty panel again: the level then could be changed


What do you think?

would it be possible to get a 0.8.3 version ? I'm not planing to move to 0.9.x...

Have you explored:
File> Preferences> Media Library> Browser> Browser Playlist

You can use this option to define the name of the playlist that browser creates and it does seem to support TAGZ. For example I set it to %artist% and it started creating all my browser results into a playlist named after the first artist in the list.

I think that, as by now we can dynamically change the reference of a panel (artist, album etc) with just a couple of clicks, we should be able to do the same with the precedence level independently from the refererence tag.
Especially now that foo_uie_tabs has come to life again.
I'm imagining a layout with, say... four foo_uie_tabs panels, each with many (all?) different browser panels. So I could load a reference tag just clicking on a tab instead of having to use both hands. Each tabs panel should let me select its precedence level on the spot - with a text box maybe.
This would lead to performance problems because you would end up with about 20 or 30 browser panels and, for now, all of them will try to refresh after every selection.
It would be required that only the visible browser panels should refresh.
But probably this would mean re-code everything from scratch, so....

...mmmmmmmmmmmmm...

While re-reading my post and yours, it dawned on me this other thought:

Why not just create this kind of presets:



and so on for all the tags we like.

Then, in each of our four or five (or... 25) browser panels we can easily choose on the spot the reference tag and the precedence level. I didn't try it yet but if this work and if it would let us save different column ui layouts with different browser panels settings it would be quite useful.

I think.

Even if you don't check the "replace previous browser playlist" it could happen that your playing browser playlist would be replaced by one with same name. Another disadvantage: you will create a huge amount of playlists in the pl switcher you don't need anymore. I would prefer fabiosparks idea of having a browser selection playlist and a browser playing list (the same for PT as well


@fabiospark

I alrerady tested foo_uie_tabs in combination with the browser and i also created a layout where i don't need to change any panel more. On the other hand i created other layouts for other purposes where i use the browser without panels.

Indeed i am not sure how this point of the browser could be solved. my dream is still that what i posted one or two times: presets for layouts (combination of several panels) and a quick access to them instead of changing each panel on its own.

@cbowron

How are sorted the entries in the preset list?
By now it seems (to me) that they are sorted with precedence first and creation order second.

Would you consider to make it: precedence first and alphabetical order second?

Thanks.

I'd rather like the ability to change my mind on the single panels than having to change a whole layout just to have situation in the middle instead of rating or whatever else. I think this would be the most dynamic system to select the music you'd like to listen to. I'm thinking mostly on wives (well, as Foobar users, of course). To change a layout you'll have to think twice the way you'd like to use to make your selection: once to figure out which layout you will need and second when you select the keys. In the other way you can think step by step.


Good night, for now.

(Maybe all this is a bit too much for just listening to music.......)

Thanks, I didn't think of that. I will have to play around but i'm not sure it gives exactly what I want.


Yeah, that's what I mean. I wonder if there is a way to do that just by naming the browser playlist with TAGZ.

No, foo_browser was started as a 0.9 component.

Playlist tree prior to 2.0 had a built in browsing component that is less sophisticated, but that is available from my website: http://foobar.bowron.us/oldversions/foo_pl..._tree_1.7.9.zip

@fabiospark

I did some further testing with the newest version of foo_uie_tabs and i must say that the integration of the tabbed panels stacks in ColumnsUi layout let me forget my dream. The possibilities in combination with the browser are just incredible:

a) just a normal panel like before foo_uie_tabs
b) you put some panels in the tab mode like in foobar 0.8
c) now you also can put tabs in a tab too
d) or you can use a splitter to put more than one panel in a tab

Once you have organized all your fields in a sophisticated layout you will not need predefined layout shemes because playing around with layout and precedence level gives you almost all possibilities and quick access.
The only problem you have already mentioned: The more panels you have the lower the speed. I remarked in PT that tabbed panels of playlist tree are redrawn (i see a flicker) when activated by tab: perhaps it is not such a hard task to refresh only visible panels because a component can be aware of if a tab is open or not. Perhaps Chris is going to say something to that.

But to come back to my request of the filtered panel list: i still think that they would be helpful for panels outside of tabs.

I was just wondering where the famous <%tag%> should go... have tested it all now (label, format, sort)
And if genre should it be <%genre%> then?
(sorry for being such an idiot but I don't get it)

EDIT: AAAAH! realized my fault =P it's %<tag>%, doh...

Hmm, I can't seem to get this working, there just isn't an option under columns ui to "Insert panel > panels > Browser"
Downloaded the latest version, its showing up under Media Library, and the options are accessible, so its definitely there, *browser* playlist is created, but I can't seem to add the panels themselves.


Any ideas? :|

Same problem here. Are we the only ones with this problem??

I'm guessing yes. Did you update your columns UI to the latest version? Also, how is it that the two posters who ask this question sign up on the same day, with a single year interval? Is it an alternate account? 'Cause it's the kind of posting that looks like it...

Lol, yeah.. That's an odd coincidence. I'm too lazy to have bothered waiting so long before creating an alternate account, though.

It's been a while since I updated columns_UI so that might be it. It usually goes 2-3 months between each time I make changes in foobar so it's not unusual that some of the components are out of date. Thanks for the suggestion.

EDIT: Yup, that did the trick!

I have installed foo browser, but it really doesn't works. Am I mistaking anything?
This is what appears:


Latest version of foobar, and latest version of foo browser.

Hello cwbowron,

I am not sure whether you are the right adress for this question or foo_uie_explorer developer :

will it possible to make foo_browser work with foo_uie_explorer in addition to foo_playlist_tree ?


Amit.

add columns browsers under columns ui layout editor. If that doesn't work, update columnsUi.

It would have to be done in foo_uie_explorer. foo_browser allows its contents to be modified by other plugins by using callings its context menu command "Browse...", which is how playlist tree communicates with it.

I solved the problem...

Now my view is so:


I have one more question.
Is possible to have a winamp-like playlist?

If on winamp I double click on an album or an artist I put all the song of the album/artist in the playlist, and I play it. Even if I browse other artist/album in the library, untill I double click on them, winamp continues playing the old playlist.
In foobar with foo_browser if I browse the library when listening something, when the song ends Foobar starts playing what I am browsing.

Image to explain clearly:



Bye.

how do you do that?

RTFFAQ. It's a Columns UI Panel, so guess? IN THE COLUMNSUI CONFIGURATION PAGE! WOW!

WOW! Its clear why the most popular player in the world is fb2k - the wonderful userbase support. I have previously looked in both the columsui config page and the browser config and could not see anything as straight forward as check boxes or something I needed to check or options I needed to change. Im not at home right now to work on my fb2k but I was thinking there must be something a bit more complicated -as is the nature of fb2k.

I think I have mine working they way you want, if I'm understanding you correctly.

I think the secret is to blank out the "Browser Playlist" field in the Browser config. I set my double-click action to "Edit/Send to Current Playlist and Play", which replaces the playlist when I double click. I think you would want to set it to "Edit/Add to Current Playlist" or something like that (you also might need foo_utils for these options). By blanking out the "Browser Playlist" field, the playlist isn't changed when you're just single clicking in the browser.

Hope this helps.

(I would really like to see Middle Click options in addition to the double click options, so I could middle click to add files to the playlist. Any chance of getting this added to the feature request list?)

Thank you very much for the screen shot.

Did you try updating ColumnsUI and foo_browser? Tell us how it works out.

First: thanks for your excellent plugins! Secondly, I have two small feature requests for the browser plugin:

1) Customize default left-click action
2) Option to automatically "Browse" the currently activated playlist

The reason for this is that when combined with foo_utils, the browser could be used to rapidly locate things within large playlists by setting the left click to "Edit/Highlight in Current Playlist" and the "Browser Playlist" to blank. Having the automatic browse upon playlist change would just keep the browser panel in sync with the playlist panel much in the way that playlist_tree does. It would be the same as right clicking on a playlist and choosing browse, and then double clicking on a browser entry, but with two fifths of the clicks, and 60% more awesomeness.

In fact, I'd really prefer to use playlist tree if it could activate, create, and destroy playlists. The ability to set icons on playlists is a cool feature that the columnsui playlist switcher could really use.

I added these to the browser feature request list.



Why not just use playlist tree for all your playlist management and stop using the foobar2000 playlists for management?

Playlist Tree gives you just advantages: You have more possibilities than with Album List or Autoplaylists. And for me one of the most important features: Static Folders for static playlists that are readen recursively. I just use the Foobar playlists for special playlists (Search Results from foo_uie_quicksearch,...) or as quick access for something i am going to hear more frequently in future.

I want to report a rather small bug in the display of panels. The panels do not fully expand to the total width of the given panel, and there is a little space at the furthest right portion of each panel. I can manually adjust the panels so that they fully expand to the total width of the panel, but each time I refresh the panels they go back to not fully expanding to the total width of the given panel.

The primary reason is that the playlist tree, as far as I can figure out, only has the ability to work well with query-based (at the very least, query sorted) playlists. As great as that is, I like to sort my smaller playlists by hand (for example, playlists being sent to burninate), and as soon as you browse elsewhere with playlist tree, any manual sorting done overwritten and lost. Also, if you jump around in the tree during playback, whatever is currently playing gets wiped and started from the top of the currently displaying playlist... while I can see these being desired behaviours by some (perhaps even most!), when I really think about it, playlist tree doesn't go too well with my desired workflow. The browser, however, is close enough to feel it breathing.

playlist tree supports static playlists (folders) that you can build playlists by hand by dropping tracks from the playlist or from windows explorer. I set up my playlist tree so that if i double click a node, it starts playing the tracks in the node (folder or query) and no playlists are modified if i just browse around in the tree.

If you havent checked it out, you might want to take a look at the playlist tree tutorial: http://wiki.bowron.us/index.php/Playlist_Tree_Tutorial

I'd seen that page before, but only in searching for some specific things. After going through the whole page though, I'm seeing now that the playlist tree isn't so much a compliment to the standard playlist viewer/switcher, but a superset of them. Instead of creating playlists and organizing them with the default columnsui panels, it can all be done in the playlist tree. The regular track viewer becomes more of a queue viewer and manager of dynamic information, and the tree becomes the primary navigator.

After spending many years with Winamp (just switched to foobar a few weeks ago) where there is usually only one way to accomplish a given task, the near unlimited configurability of foobar is something I've yet to completely wrap my head around. I think I'll stick with just the browser panels for now since I still prefer the regular columnsui playlist/track panels, but I wouldn't be surprised if I find a solid use for the playlist tree in the future.

@random.n

I like your idea! Especially the point that every changing in playlist view is reflected by the browser. The advantages are very clear:

- you don't have to use the context menu for browsing
- every playlist or special playlist from another plugin (foo_ui_explorer, foo_ui_quicksearch, foo_history, ...) are suddenly browsed without the need that the browser is supported by these plugins
- if you are like me you will have more than just album or single display mode for your foobar playlists and could keep these modes while browsing
- the synchronization of browser and playlist: if you add or remove something to/from playlist it is reflected by browser
- the sorting of browsed playlist isn't touched
- a very useful workflow

On the other side i am a little bit sceptical. You also anticipated some problems as you requested the "Highlight in Playlist" feature for leftclick:



Your feature request would not just be an additional feature but would also be incompatible with the concept of browser playlist if you don't like to dispense with the filtering of playlist while selecting rows inside browser panels.

Let me explain that:
If you like that your browser selection gives back a filtered playlist and this selection is sended to browser playlist you would loose the opportunity that browser reflect changes of playlist because you aren't manipulating the source playlist but just the browser playlist. A solution could be foosions suggestion on first page of this thread The browser playlist then only would be neccesary if you browse for example a selection from playlist view or another plugin like database search - in that case the browse command would just send the selection to activated browser playlist and nothing more. All these ends in a decision for one of two possible modes of browsing that has to be made in preferences.

If someday the browser will indeed offer these two modes of browsing i really would decide for the new mode because it would be the best workflow at least for me. On the other side: I can live with the old mode.

@Chris
Isn't it an evil thing that every feature request provokes new requests and that users like to keep developers busy? However: Thanks for your present to have a great library viewer for a great player!

Well, in order to maintain the actual Winamp Library/iTunes style filtering while browsing per-playlist, I think columnsui would have to support the ability to truly hide (not just backup/delete!) tracks from the playlist view while still maintaining the playlist line numbering. The reason for that would be so filtering could result in a display of lines 1,3,6,10, and playing track 3 while leaving filtering enabled would cause the next track to be #6, but disabling filtering during track 6 (ie: Selecting [All]) would cause the next track to be #7, not #4 as it would become when using a backup function.

I see that as a large amount of work for the developers, as it would require a large retooling of both columnsui and browser (and in that case, ideally quicksearch as well). The highlight in playlist idea might not be the original idea behind browser (it becomes more of a jump-to instead of show-only), but it's a significantly shorter alteration.

(and yes; oh, so evil )

I think I requested this feature before, but I want to make sure. It would be great if there was an option to disable populating the playlist when selecting "[All]." It would still populate the other browser panels, but NOT the browser playlist. This would be very useful for setups with really large libraries because we could reset subpanels to show everything without having to wait for a huge playlist to load.