Announce: Title Switcher for switching texts on player display

[erland]

I've made a new plugin called Title Switcher which is now available in a 1.0 version. The purpose of the plugin is to make it possible to use the limited space on the Squeezebox Classic/Transport player display a bit better.

It only works together with Michaels excellent MusicInfoSCR plugin and it makes it possible to create custom title formats that can be used together with the MusicInfoSCR plugin.

You can create a new title format that consists of several normal title format strings, for example:
ALBUMARTIST=ALBUM:10,ARTIST:5

The result is that when you add TITLESWITCHERALBUMARTIST in the MusicInfoSCR configuration you will get a string that shows the current album during 10 seconds and then the current artist for 5 seconds and then starts over again.

Please post any comments in this thread or as separate thread in the 3rd party plugins section of the forum.

As usual the plugins are available from my download page:

http://erland.homeip.net/download

The documentation about the plugins on my wiki will be updated when the final versions of the plugins are released. But until then you will find the old plugin documentation here:

http://wiki.erland.homeip.net/index.php/Category:SlimServer

[schiegl]

one more promising plugin i can play with - presented again by erland :-))

Probably especially useful on my boom with the smaller display - instead of (long) scrolling textlines rotate shorter parts...

I like it, that you take advantage of one of my other favorite plugins (MIS).

[kidstypike]

BRILLIANT!!!

kidstypike

[Philip Meyer]

Announce: Title Switcher for switchingtexts on player display

Sounds like you've produced just what I was thinking of producing myself.

One question though about the timing values: for long string items, is the time started from the moment that the item is initially displayed, or after it has stopped scrolling? eg. If I have set ARTIST:5,ALBUM:5, I could have an artist name or an album name that is too long to display, and it will take a few extra seconds to fully scroll into view.

Also, if I want to display "Album: <album name>" is this possible to do in the title string?

[adamslim]

Erland, you are an evil genius

Evil, as you make your plugins flexible enough that I break them all the time (my recent switch of HD broke them all). You alone have caused me to spend hours putting custom tags and stuff into my music.

But this is genius. I was considering buying a couple of SB3s just as displays, but this should work to the same effect. Great stuff!

Bah, no chance to try it before the weekend

[erland]

One question though about the timing values: for long string items, is the time started from the moment that the item is initially displayed, or after it has stopped scrolling? eg. If I have set ARTIST:5,ALBUM:5, I could have an artist name or an album name that is too long to display, and it will take a few extra seconds to fully scroll into view.

Good point, I hadn't thought about that.
I'm not sure it's possible to detect when it has finished scrolling since I'm not in control of the display and doesn't even know where on the screen it is displayed, I just produce the strings for MusicInfoSCR to display. However, it might be possible to enhance it so long strings are shown longer time than short strings.

I'll have to think about this a bit to try to find the best solution.

Also, if I want to display "Album: <album name>" is this possible to do in the title string?

It's not possible today, but it's a good idea.

[MeSue]

Awesome. Can't wait to try it, but must meet weekly deadlines before I can play...

[mherger]

Announce: Title Switcher for switchingtexts on player display

> It only works together with Michaels excellent MusicInfoSCR plugin and
> it makes it possible to create custom title formats that can be used
> together with the MusicInfoSCR plugin.

Wow... a plugin to my plugin :-). Thanks a lot for your work!

Michael

[mherger]

Announce: Title Switcher for switchingtexts on player display

> I've made a new plugin called Title Switcher which is now available in a

Two comments:

- imho you're initializing stuff which isn't needed in this plugin:

use Slim::Buttons::Home;
use File::Spec::Functions qw(:ALL);
use DBI qw(:sql_types);
use FindBin qw($Bin);
my @pluginDirs = ();

removing them would probably help save a few bytes

- couldn't you use

$client->pluginData($format)

instead of

$clientFormats->{$client->id}->{$format}

This again would help us save a few bytes, especially in cases where
players are shut down or only temporarily connected.

Michael

[erland]

- imho you're initializing stuff which isn't needed in this plugin:

use Slim::Buttons::Home;
use File::Spec::Functions qw(:ALL);
use DBI qw(:sql_types);
use FindBin qw($Bin);
my @pluginDirs = ();

removing them would probably help save a few bytes

Thanks, some leftovers from the plugin skeleton I started with, will be removed in next release.

- couldn't you use

$client->pluginData($format)

instead of

$clientFormats->{$client->id}->{$format}

Thanks again, this feels a lot cleaner, there are probably other places in my plugins where I should use this.

[Craig]

Hi Erland,
Thanks for another great plugin but can I make a little suggestion?
Your example uses Album and Artist, quite often this will fit on one line. Would it be possible to check the length of the string and only use switching if the full string won't fit on the display?

Just a thought
Craig

[erland]

Your example uses Album and Artist, quite often this will fit on one line. Would it be possible to check the length of the string and only use switching if the full string won't fit on the display?

Are you saying you like them to be displayed after each other if they fit on the display and only switch between them if they doesn't ?

[Craig]

Yes that's what I was trying to say :-)

Craig

[MillmoorRon]

Is it possible to switch between:

'ARTIST - TITLE' & 'ALBUM - TRACK'

If so, what is the syntax?

Tried several things but keep getting "Invalid format"!

[atlslim]

Very nice integration with MusicInfoSCR. I'm switching all sorts of info here. ;-)

I would like to display Album: <album name> as Philip suggested.

Also, I had to change the install.xml min version to 7.0+ to make the plugin compatible with SC7.1. Seems to be working as advertised on local library music. Doesn't display correctly for me with remote streamed sources (e.g., Lastfm , Pandora). Is that a known limitation?

Thanks again!!