Java front end client

[billf5293]

If anyone might be interested I wrote a java front end for basic music playing functionality. It uses CLI to control and query SqueezeCenter.

A warning, I wrote this in about a week and the only testing it has undergone is me and my intoxicated buddies playing some tuned so expect a lot of bugs It does seem to have some potential though.

Any feedback or problems feel free to let me know. I am currently working on drag and drop functionality and podcast management.

http://www.thejavashop.net/bjjslimserver/index.shtml

Thanks,

Bill

[erland]

It's nice to see that someone finally implements a fat client that can be used on Linux. I've thought about doing this myself a few times, but I never got enough inspiration to actually do it.

I've tried it briefly and found a few small problems:
- Changing players seem to require a restart to take effect
- Swedish characters aren't displayed correctly

The album covers in the "Albums" menu felt a bit large on my 1680x1050 display. When I increased the number of albums shown on one page I think I would prefer to shrink the album covers instead of adding a scrollbar.

If you are using Linux yourself, it would be really great it it was possible to dock in the Gnome upper right tray area and just show the splash screen when a new track starts to play. I'm not sure if this is possible to do from Java, but if it is, it would be a feature I would appreciate.

Anyway, great work, I'm looking forward to future versions.

[billf5293]

Thanks Erland for giving it a try, especially on linux. To be honest I really haven't tested in on linux as all of my linux boxes are headless.

I agree the I should adjust the album cover sizing to be proportional to screen size.

I'll also take care of the multiple player problem and post when I have an update.

Thanks!

[eLR!C]

Just installed version 0.2 today : it told me an upgrade was available (but 0.2 seems latest version) ... bug ?

Btw, clicking on "continue" everything seems working fine. Nice job !

[pichonCalavera]

Hey, this looks very promising... always looking for a better way to control my Squeezebox.

The thing that I have always struggled with other GUI for controlling squeezebox, is the current playlist manipulation, I suppose I got accostumed to the way Winamp handles it. This area is the one I'm most interested of your Java front end client.

P.S. The fade out / fade in effect of Album Art is cool.

[vrobin]

I'm a big fan of "Moose" .Net to control the SBs. I don't know if you use it, but if not, you can take a look at it to find some inspiration.

Do you plan to work more on this program, or do you just plan to fix bugs? According to the screenshots, some reworking of the widget appearance/placement could give a big boost in the program appeal.

Nice work though!
Robin

[billf5293]

Hi eLR!C,

that is definitely a bug. I will check it out when I get home this evening.


Before I fell in love with the SqueezeBox I developed this app to control a musicpd linux server I had running. I grew familiar with the web applications quirks but my guests had a hard time with it so I created an api and converted the mpd code to control Squeezecenter.

I do plan on continued development, so feedback is appreciated.

I will keep everyone posted of updates as they become available.

Thanks,

Bill

[Merlinwerks]

Hi eLR!C,

I do plan on continued development, so feedback is appreciated.

I will keep everyone posted of updates as they become available.

Thanks,

Bill

Good Job! Definitely headed in the right direction. I too like the fade in/out, but having said that, I would still like to see it adjustable/defeatable.

[rksingla]

Forgive the simple-minded question, but is there a macintosh version of your app? If so, how do I install it on the Mac? It sounds very much like something I have been looking for, but I have no idea how to install and execute it on a Mac.

thanks much.

[billf5293]

Released 0.7. Many ui improvements as well as correcting many linux problems.

rksingla,

I do not have a mac for testing. I do know there are people successfully running on a mac. Maybe someone here can lend a hand.

Thanks.