I’m happy to announce that the official English language user manual for mAirList 3.1 is now available. It can be found on the respective download pages in the Professional Users and Home Users sections on the website, or use this direct link to the PDF file: http://www.mairlist.com/download/mAirList/v3.1/doc/en/mAirList-3.1-User-Manual.pdf
The manual was written by Cad Delworth (who did an excellent job!). Some sections are still missing, I believe, but Cad will update the file continuously. If you found any mistakes or have comments, please reply to this forum thread.
I understand that the manual will be updated, modified as suggestions are made and new features are added to mAirList.
This leads to a couple questions: As new information is added, will the original manual be changed or will the new information be made in the form of supplements? If in fact changes are made to the manual, how will we know that the changes have been made and thus it is time to download an updated manual? I would definitely like to stay current with the proper manual (great Info!).
Amendments will be made to the original file, which will be updated on the server.
I believe the revision date is mentioned somewhere in the document, and I suppose Cad will briefly announce each new version he uploads here in the forum. Cad?
I’ll also announce new Revisions here, in this thread. The current Revision Number is shown in the footer of each page of the manual, along with the save date/time.
I don’t keep detailed notes of changes like Torben needs to do, but I’ll try on each announcement to give at least a general idea of what’s changed or is new.
And thanks again for the compliments, Alec: greatly appreciated. If I can make things easier to understand for fellow mAirList users, and make them aware of ALL that mAirList has to offer, then I’m a very happy person.
Ah, very good :)… The manual is indeed nice. I especially like that a term is defined and then the same term is used throughout the manual. As for other manuals, it’s confusing and frustrating to read a defined term only to have the term replaced by synonyms without the reader being told! >:(
I refer the honourable gentleman to the first paragraph in the section Terms Used Throughout This Manual
on page one (PDF page 11 of 125) of the manual.
In other words, Alec: I couldn’t agree more with you! Please DO let me know if I got this wrong ANYwhere in the manual.* As I keep saying, nothing pleases me more than someone learning new things about mAirList from the manual: especially when it’s exactly the bit of information or ‘how-to’ that they were looking for, or when they are wondering ‘can mAirList do such-and-such?’
This Revision adds information about Database External IDs, the new ‘dongle’ licensing method, the new mlpe file ‘exported playlist’ format, custom playlist export strings, and Regionalisation/Regional Containers. And probably a few other ‘new’ things which I’ve forgotten about right now!
There is also the beginnings of an Operator’s Reference, which when complete, will describe every menu and option menu setting, as well as all the standard Player and Cartwall Player controls etc., and all possible operator actions (like the option to drag a Cartwall Player into a main Player or a Playlist) in all parts of the main mAirList program.
Sorry for the delay in producing this Revision: our station (Leith FM) is currently undergoing a complete studio rebuild and re-fit, which is taking up most of my spare ‘brain time’ at the moment!
Please do let me know if you spot any errors, mistakes, or anything else that you feel isn’t adequately explained.
I actually uploaded the manual to Fedex Kinkos who printed it and bound it nicely with a clear cover for under $20. Very happy and easier for me to read chilling out.
One thing struck me, as I opened it up from the envelope last night, the front page does say in nice big print “Draft Version”. Is it time to remove that title?
There are still Big Gaps which I sadly don’t have the time to complete right now (like skin.ini files, all the commands, etc.). Hence to me, that makes it a ‘draft’ version. ;D
Same thought here. Perhaps I’m wrong but “Draft” to me has always meant that the document was under review and not for public release. But the author, Cad, should certainly name it whatever he chooses! ;D
Not quite. The netmask (in this example 255.255.255.0, or 24 “one” bits counted from left to right) must be specified as a “number” suffix of the IP address, not in a separate column.
host all all 192.168.30.0/24 md5
If you’re paranoid, you can also replace the first “all” (allowed databases) by the name of your mAirList database.
OK, so 255.255.255.0 would be (for example) 192.168.30.0/24, correct?
I think I was looking at the PostgreSQL Server 7.3 docs, which does use separate IP address and subnet mask: the format you gave (Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) is its name) does indeed seem to be used in PostGRE Server v9 and possibly v8 as well. So in short, I will need to document both formats and advise readers to compare with the samples given in their PostGRE Server’s config files to determine which format to use.
You know, I think that would be a good idea anyway. You don’t want someone ‘accidentally’ allowing access to all parts of what might be an existing PostgreSQL Server installation! My motto when assigning permissions is always: grant the least permissions necessary.
Hm… Looked at the 7.3 docs again, and in fact, they say that the netmask must be specified separately.
I have only used 8.x and in that version, the netmask must be specified in the / notation.
Only 8.x and newer is supported by mAirList (older versions might work as well, but I haven’t tested them - so not support for them), so I would only mention the newer notation in the manual.
This Revision adds COMPLETE information about the contents of skin.ini (hooray!). The only things missing are a few setting default settings: ALL the settings should be there, so please DO tell me if I have missed any out! I’d also appreciate feedback about how easy you find this section to understand, especially if you are a new mAirList user, or you have not tried to use a skin.ini file yet.
The Operator’s Reference section is also expanded, with most (but not all) of the Main Toolbar buttons now documented. The Operator’s Reference section is now the last section which is largely incomplete; although there are still some gaps in the Scripting section which need to be filled out.
Finally, I’ve ‘tweaked’ the mAirListDB section to mention both subnet mask and CIDR notation when setting up/amending PostgreSQL. (Subnet mask formst is only included in case you have an existing PostgreSQL install which uses that format.)
As always, please do let me know if you spot any errors, mistakes, or anything else in the Manual that you feel is wrong or isn’t adequately explained.
OK. I’m just used to environments where Draft meant “not for publication” ;D