RubySlim - Ruby SlimServer API

[Luke Redpath]

NOTE: I posted this in the developers forum but then realised that this is probably a more appropriate place to post. Im not able to delete my original post so forgive the cross-post, perhaps a mod would be kind enough to delete my original post, thanks.

A small announcement for any Ruby fans here, I'm working on a Ruby SlimServer API that will eventually allow you to do anything you can do with the SlimServer CLI API but in an object-oriented fashion. Why Ruby? Its a great, expressive language and I have future plans for a RubyOnRails front-end to SlimServer to browse your music collection, control your squeezebox, manage playlists and other features like a music recommendation system for other members of your family who use your Squeezebox.

Why a new front-end? SlimServer is a great piece of software but personally I don't think the interface is very intuitive or user-friendly for non-geeks - my girlfriend doesn't use the Squeezebox that often because she doesn't get on with the web interface and the remote control isn't the easiest way of browsing if you have a large collection. Plus, I work at a RubyOnRails shop and we're planning on getting a Squeezebox for the office shortly so it will be a great project for us to work on. When we get round to working on this, it will be open-source.

If you can program in Ruby, please do check out the source from Subversion and have a play around. Its easy to get up and running:



server = RubySlim::SlimServer.open('localhost')
server.connect('username', 'password')
server.players.first.current_playlist.play


Some more information with some more code samples can be found on my blog:

http://www.lukeredpath.co.uk/index.php/2006/07/03/rubyslim-ruby-api-for-slimserver/

I hope to have the project up on Rubyforge.org soon. All feedback is welcomed either here or on my blog.

Its released under the MIT license.

[outsider]

This is beautifull!
Can you let us know what progress you've made with this (since your first post)?

I'm just getting into RoR and would be interested in working on building a new interface for Slim Server.

[Luke Redpath]

This is beautifull!
Can you let us know what progress you've made with this (since your first post)?

I'm just getting into RoR and would be interested in working on building a new interface for Slim Server.

Hi - not much has been done on it recently as I've had too much going on but the project is certainly not dead - I'll be looking at getting it working with 6.5 in the new year, perhaps moving over to the XMLRPC API instead of the CLI API.

[jmack]

This sounds like it will be a huge improvement over the current server. After being used to Musicmatch, Slimserver leaves a bit to be desired, but what it does, it does very well.
You mention mp3 on your site. I hope you will be optimizing your new server for lossless as well as lossy formats, if there is a difference in streaming. There certainly is in sound quality.

Thanks
Jay

[byKnight]

This sounds like it will be a huge improvement over the current server.
I don't think he's talking about replacing SlimServer, per se, as a server. He's providing a different user interface for managing the server and your players.