a public beta version of mAirList 4.4 is now available from the download page.
There are hardly any new features in this version - instead it focuses on the new compiler version (Delphi XE3) I’m using now, which finally brings Unicode support to mAirList. The new compiler made it necessary to make various changes to the existing source code, so please test all functions thoroughly before using this version in production.
Also, please read the changelog, in particular the information about converting the mAirListDB database file from *.db to *.mldb (Unicode) format.
Please reply to this forum thread for all feedback, bug reports etc. Thank you!
When currently using mAirlList version 4.3.x, will we have to convert our database to *.mldb (Unicode) format as well? Version 4.4 will be the future development, I suppose?
Yes, mAirList 4.4 and all future versions will use the *.mldb format.
Technically speaking, the format hasn’t changed at all - it’s just that in v4.3 and below, the strings in the SQLite database are stored in native (ANSI) encoding. For v4.4 they must be in Unicode, and unfortunately there is no way to perform this string conversion directly with SQLite.
So all the “DB Unicode converter” does is dump the DB to a text file, convert all strings to unicode, and restore the text file into a new database file.
To distinguish between database files that are already in Unicode, and those that still need conversion, I decided to introduce the new .mldb file extension for Unicode database files.
Networked mAirListDB is not affected. PostgreSQL has always stored all data in Unicode format, using a realtime translation to/from ANSI when talking to older mAirList versions.
Problem: In the Desktop Playlist, unfolding the comment part of a song, the arrow disappears and can’t be folded back. Does not happen with a short piece of text, only does when having quite a bit of it.
Request: When making a playlist on the Desktop, saving it… then edit some songs in the database (Name, volume) on reload of the desktop (playlist) I have to go into each song individually to do a reload from database command.
A batch option witch reloads all data in one would be welcome.
Just sent a bug report, basically when you’re in the PFL Window (After clicking on the icon in the playlist), song starts playing. Click on “Re-read from Database” in the “export” button, song keeps playing, but cursor stops moving. Hit pause or play, then boom. Anyhow, bug report sent.
Basically, just recorded a Voicetrack, clicked on Mix Editor and then almost immediately clicked on the green check (tick). Poof, spinning wheel. After a while it acknowledged it had frozen and allowed to me to submit the report. Then I clicked on continue and no hope, whole app went light, finally Windows gave me the option to force quit (or keep waiting)>
Beta 4.4 Build 2024. I tried to recreate but no joy. Assumed I clicked on OK when some initialization was still happening.! :’(
I had to recreate the show, (Well dropping the VT files back in etc.), wondering if an option to autosave the playlist when Voicetracking may be an idea? (Well to save sloppy people like me…) .
Hm, looks like a classic deadlock at first glance, two objects waiting for each other, in two different threads. I can see that the main thread is trying to release the audio playback object used in the Mix Editor, but that object seems to be locked from somewhere else. I just cannot see from where.
I wouldn’t say this problem is specific to v4.4. Just wait if it happens again and send another report.
[quote=“Torben, post:11, topic:8934”]Hm, looks like a classic deadlock at first glance, two objects waiting for each other, in two different threads. I can see that the main thread is trying to release the audio playback object used in the Mix Editor, but that object seems to be locked from somewhere else. I just cannot see from where.
I wouldn’t say this problem is specific to v4.4. Just wait if it happens again and send another report.[/quote]
And it did, can’t say I was that fast. Tweaked some segues in Mix Editor and poof. Gonna need that auto-save soon Submitted crash report.
Still no clue what’s causing this. All I can see is that the objects are released in a somewhat unexpected order. Don’t know why though. I’ll keep investigating.
Basically in both times, the audio was playing when I clicked on the green check mark (OK). First time I thought I was too quick as I closed the windows literally after I opened it, this time, had four tracks in the Mix Editor. Tweaked a couple of segues and then just “closed” the window.
Richard, I have found the root cause for the “unexpected order of release” and fixed it - let me know if it should happen again.
Good, the networked DB doesn’t need any change of the database settings. For the local DB, you must convert the database file from non-Unicode (.db) to Unicode (.mldb) first. There’s a button on the “upgrade” tab of the DB config dialog.
If you go into the “database” option in config (assuming you have copied over all the config from that option you show). Open the database shown, it should prompt for an upgrade. Did for me some time ago.
Anyhow, bug report sent. 
