mAirList 1.5.44 released

English General
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Hi.

Finally: mAirList 1.5.44. Involving some notable changes.

layout.ini and skin.ini

There are two INI files for visual customization now. layout.ini is now only responsible for the position of the screen elements, i.e., the Left, Top, Width and Height settings. All of the other settings (colors, fonts, internal dimensions like the heigh of the player progress bars, etc.) must be placed into the newly introduced file skin.ini.

This separation makes the “load from layout.ini” options in the main config file obsolete. The purpose of those settings was to tell mAirList whether it should switch into “custom layout” mode, in which all screen elements are detached from their auto-layout containers. Now, mAirList will automatically look for the layout.ini file and - in case it exists - switch into custom layout mode. The skin.ini settings work in both modes, however.

The skin.ini file does now support new [Player] and [Playlist] sections in which you can place default settings for all players and all playlists, respectively. There’s also the new [ExtraPFL] section for customization of the Extra PFL player.

Player Buttons

The Start/Stop/… buttons inside the players (and also in the playlist toolbar) are now implemented through bitmaps. There is a default button set compiled into mAirList (generously provided by Cad, thank you!), but you can replace the images with custom bitmaps if you like: Create a new folder “PlayerButtons” inside the mAirList folder and copy your bitmaps (in BMP format) to that folder. There are six buttons (PFL, Close, Stop, Pause, Play, Next), and each button comes in four different sizes (16x16, 24x24, 32x32, 64x64). The files must be named “pfl16.bmp”, “pfl32.bmp”, …, “start16.bmp” and so on. Use magenta (#FF00FF) as the transparent color. I will post an alternative button set (also created by Cad) soon, which you can use as a template.

mAirList Meta Data (.mmd) files

As announced in this thread, mAirList now supports another way of storing meta data (cue points, …): “mAirList Meta Data files”. These are small XML files saved as a separate file along with the audio file. There’s a new save button in the Properties dialog, the one in the Extra PFL dialog is still missing but will be added soon.

New Scripting Functions

  • IPlaybackControl: New method “PlayerAutoLoad” which loads the next available item into a player
  • IDatabase: LoadCurrentPlaylist and LoadNextPlaylist implemented for radioDB and eldoDB
  • downloadable help file has been updated to reflect the changes

Other Changes

  • Support for Windows XP themes.
  • As coloring the toolbar is not possible when using XP themes, the cartwall PFL mode will now make the cart players turn yellow instead. The color can be changed trough the [CartWall]->PFLModeColor setting in skin.ini.
  • New command: CARTWALL LOAD SET
  • Various minor bugfixes and improvements.

Torben

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There is a default button set compiled into mAirList (generously provided by Cad, thank you!)
You're welcome! I hope everyone likes them, but as Torben says, you can now create your own icons if you don't… ;).
There's a new save button in the Properties dialog, the one in the Extra PFL dialog is still missing but will be added soon.
It needs a [b]Save to Database[/b] button as well. :)

Actually, there also needs to be a Save to MMD button (and a Save to Database button) added to the standard ‘small’ PFL dialog (the dialog which opens when you click the PFL button in a loaded Player).

cartwall PFL mode will now make the cart players turn yellow instead. The color can be changed trough the [CartWall]->PFLModeColor setting in skin.ini.
Torben, I don't understand this choice. The default colour for PFL in a 'normal' Player is cyan (#00FFFF), so why did you choose to make the default Cartwall Player PFL colour [i]yellow[/i]?!! Maybe this is related to the bug I posted about Cartwall Players not 'inheriting' settings in the [Players] section… -- BFN CAD
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cartwall PFL mode will now make the cart players turn yellow instead. The color can be changed trough the [CartWall]->PFLModeColor setting in skin.ini.
Torben, I don't understand this choice. The default colour for PFL in a 'normal' Player is cyan (#00FFFF), so why did you choose to make the default Cartwall Player PFL colour [i]yellow[/i]?!!

Ah, a little bit of confusion here. Perhaps the term “PFL mode” is overloaded.

I was referring to that mode you can put the cartwall into in which clicking a cart player starts PFL rather than on air playback. That mode is activated by the “PFL” button in the cartwall load/save toolbar. Before introducing the XP manifest/theming, the toolbar turned red in order to signalize this mode to the operator. With XP theming, you cannot change the color of the toolbar anymore, so now, the players themself change their color.

Maybe this is related to the bug I posted about Cartwall Players not 'inheriting' settings in the [Players] section…

Oh sure, you’re right. I remember skipping that inheritance on purpose as a “last minute action” shortly before the release, because I thought that it isn’t quite useful after all. Imagine you want to change the appearance of the ordinary players only (think of font sizes, for example), then you would need a [Cartwall] section that puts the cart players all way back into default state. On the other hand, when you want the same appearance for the ordinary players and the cart players, it’s fairly easy to copy the settings from the [Player] section to the [Cartwall] section. I shall update the documentation to reflect this.

Torben

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:slight_smile: That’s what I get for reading and following the docs… (!)

Seriously though: all read and understood.

So… you still didn’t explain why the default ‘Cartwall Players are in PFL mode’ colour is yellow, when the default ‘Player in PFL mode’ colour everywhere else in mAirList is cyan?

I really really think it would be very much clearer to new users to use cyan, esp. if they are not modifying default colours. If I were a new user who had already learned how to use Playlist Players, seeing the Cartwall players go yellow (instead of cyan) would make me think “Oh… did I do something wrong? I thought CYAN meant PFL? Why is it different in this one place?!!”

(Trust me on this one. I’ve delivered quite a lot of user training in my time, and this is exactly the sort of ‘confusing visual cue’ that trainees notice instantly!)

BFN
CAD (The One-Man Campaign For Cyan PFL!)

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Sorry, but my favourite PFL-Color is clearly yellow! :slight_smile: But perhaps Torben can make this configurable…

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So… you still didn't explain why the [i]default[/i] 'Cartwall Players are in PFL mode' colour is yellow, when the default 'Player in PFL mode' colour everywhere else in mAirList is cyan?

There is no ‘Player in PFL mode’ color, because only the cartwall as a ‘PFL mode’.

I’m afraid you’re mixing up two things, namely

  1. an (ordinary or cart) player running in PFL (and turning red or blue or whatever you have configured as the player color in mAirList.ini),
  2. the cartwall being in that special “PFL mode” in which clicking a player causes it to start PFL rather than ordinary on air playback.

I was only referring to the latter. As long as the cartwall is operating in that mode, the user needs some visual feedback to be aware of that mode: The players turn yellow.

Maybe the term “PFL mode” is a little confusing, but I cannot imagine a better word at the moment.

Torben

PS: agent: Any color is configurable. Take a look at the updated online documentation.

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Oh, how wonderful! Or as we say in Germany: wie schön! :smiley:

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Or… Wunderbar…

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To most users and presenters, the function of PFL Mode in the Cartwall is exactly the same as clicking the PFL button on a Player, regardless of its name. They use it to pre-listen to items or carts. Hence, I have already changed the ‘PFL mode’ colour of my Cartwall to cyan to keep it consistent.

Obviously Torben does not mind having to explain the different default PFL colours to every new user of the program…? :wink:

BFN
CAD

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To most users and presenters, the [i]function[/i] of PFL Mode in the Cartwall is [b]exactly[/b] the same as clicking the PFL button on a Player, regardless of its [i]name[/i].

Sorry for being tenacious, but I do see a difference.

“Cartwall PFL mode” is when the cartwall is “armed” to start a player in PFL once you click it. It’s armed, but nothing is playing. “PFL playback” is when the player is finally playing (to the PFL output channel). This is why there are distinct colors. Yellow for the “armed” state, red for the “PFL playing” state.

Of course you don’t really need PFL mode when you have the little player buttons enabled.

Obviously Torben does not mind having to explain the different [i]default[/i] PFL colours to every new user of the program…? ;)

We don’t use the cartwall at eldoradio :wink:

Torben
(suspecting some sort of misunderstanding)