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 Post subject: Re: So, what's next after v18.1?
PostPosted: Mon Mar 26, 2018 1:19 am 
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Wow the alarm manager looks magnificent. All the work paid off.
Also agree on the "media player" icon being a good idea.


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 Post subject: Re: So, what's next after v18.1?
PostPosted: Mon Mar 26, 2018 8:18 am 
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Thanks, and it was indeed a lot of work! :)

We have to thank Chris for his bezels, not only were they put to good use, as it was his ideas that eventually prompted me to include the different skins for the Alarm Reminder window.

I would actually use the Media Player IC myself too. :)

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 Post subject: Re: So, what's next after v18.1?
PostPosted: Mon Mar 26, 2018 12:45 pm 
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winstep wrote:
Also, it just occurred to me that we could use the already available playlist functionality in the alarms to implement a small 'Media Player' icon/internal command. It would have its own settings, so you could select a playlist for it to use from those defined in the Alarm Manager. Click on the IC, it starts playing the pre-selected music (and the icon plays the attention effect while music is being played), click on it again, it stops. Perhaps I could even add some media controls (Play/Pause, Prev Track, Next Track, Settings) that would pop up below the icon when mousing over it.


Ok, been thinking about this a bit more and I think it's something I can add quickly before the official release.

However, functioning would be a bit different to make it easier to implement: instead of clicking the icon to start/stop the music, the click would pop up a media control bar right below the icon.

This media control bar would have icons for Stop, Prev, Play/Pause, Next and Settings. So basically starting/stopping music would become a two click process: one click on the icon to open the media control bar, another to start/stop the music.

The Settings icon in the media bar would also allow quick access to the settings dialog of this IC (a bit quicker than right click -> selecting Media Player Settings from the context menu).

The settings dialog in turn would have a copy of the Playlist Editor found in the Audio tab of the Alarm Manager window, for convenience, so you don't have to jump around between the Alarm Manager and the Media Player. Obviously any changes you make in one list are also reflected in the other, since they are one and the same.

Besides this, it would also have a combo box holding the file/playlist you want the Media Player to play, together with a Shuffle option.

If you click on the Media Player IC/icon without having any audio associated to it yet, the settings panel opens instead of the media control bar.

And if I have the time, I could perhaps also show a volume icon and a current volume level at the left side of the media bar. If I do add this, clicking the volume icon would slide the other controls out and temporarily replace them with a volume slider. Once you've finished setting the volume, you click on the volume icon again to close the volume slider and slide the other controls back in.

Eventually I could even add this method to the Alarm Reminder window itself (for volume, brightness and even snooze duration) basically doing away with having to open a separate 'Current Alarm Settings' dialog (but I would still keep that option available).

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 Post subject: Re: So, what's next after v18.1?
PostPosted: Mon Mar 26, 2018 7:26 pm 
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What you have in mind for the MPlayer Icon sounds great! Thank you Jorge for your endless bag of goodies! This is one piece of software that it is in good hands!


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 Post subject: Re: So, what's next after v18.1?
PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 2018 3:58 pm 
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Any issues with the latest beta?

Have you guys tried the different LCD skins and background/foreground color combinations? Any recommendations? Don't be shy, now is the time to speak! :wink:

Did any of you actually notice that everything is just a little bit faster (10-15%) than in relation to v18.1? Less CPU load when mousing over the dock, etc...?

As for the new Media Player IC, just implemented the thing but still working on it. It's when you get your hands dirty and put things in practice that details start coming together and how everything should work becomes clearer, of course.

So, first of all: I mentioned Stop, Previous, Play/Pause, Next and Settings control buttons. Well, turns out that a Pause function doesn't make much sense here IMO, so I might as well remove the individual stop button and toggle the Play button between Play and Stop - unless someone here thinks otherwise. But you better speak now! :)

Second: if the Media Player is already associated to a playlist/audio file, then I think clicking on it should make it start playing immediately if it isn't doing so already. A *second* click (i.e.; a click when it is already playing) is the time when the media control bar pops up. From the control bar you can then stop the music (which also unloads the bar), skip to the next or previous tracks, and change settings (playlist, volume).

When you click on the Media Player for the first time (i.e.; when it has no audio or playlist associated to it yet) then the Media Player Settings dialog should open automatically, so you can set it up.

Anyway, here is a screenshot of the Media Player in action. I'm using the LCD Alarm settings for the media control bar (except for the bezel, which is always the most thin), not sure if it looks good or not, let me know please! The advantage is that it will automatically use the colors currently set for LCD alarms:

Attachment:
MediaPlayer.jpg
MediaPlayer.jpg [ 38.12 KiB | Viewed 19583 times ]


And here is the Media Player Settings window:

Attachment:
MediaPlayerSettings.jpg
MediaPlayerSettings.jpg [ 105.76 KiB | Viewed 19583 times ]


I actually like that icon, and it also looks great when the music is playing and the icon is 'beating to the rhythm' through the 'ghost' effect (it's not, actually, it's just playing the normal ghost animation).

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 Post subject: Re: So, what's next after v18.1?
PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 2018 8:09 pm 
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workshelf seems to be taking 3-5% of CPU even when idle now(even with modules hidden)

also had a graphical glitch with individual docks becoming black until interacted with

as for media player, leave play/pause in case someone wants to listen to audiobooks. those tend to have long files

and i would suggest ether having a separate play/pause ic for one click control or an option to have the control dock float on top while playback isnt stopped


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 Post subject: Re: So, what's next after v18.1?
PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 2018 9:13 pm 
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seeker wrote:
workshelf seems to be taking 3-5% of CPU even when idle now(even with modules hidden)


So there instead of using less it's using more? lol figures

That's not normal anyway. Did this happen with the latest beta or it comes from before that? Could it be something you changed?

seeker wrote:
also had a graphical glitch with individual docks becoming black until interacted with


Exactly how did that happen?

seeker wrote:
as for media player, leave play/pause in case someone wants to listen to audiobooks. those tend to have long files


True enough. Pause is going to stay.

seeker wrote:
and i would suggest ether having a separate play/pause ic for one click control or an option to have the control dock float on top while playback isnt stopped


Errr... that might look like a dock, but it's not. It's a static bar - and, like the alarm windows, it's always on top. It does go away if you click somewhere else (or the Media Player icon again).

But your suggestion made me realize the bar needs keyboard control as well (ESC already closes the media control bar, but it needs navigation with arrow keys and execution with Enter key).

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 Post subject: Re: So, what's next after v18.1?
PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 2018 11:14 pm 
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winstep wrote:
seeker wrote:
workshelf seems to be taking 3-5% of CPU even when idle now(even with modules hidden)


So there instead of using less it's using more? lol figures

That's not normal anyway. Did this happen with the latest beta or it comes from before that? Could it be something you changed?

im not 100% but i dont think it did. and i havent changed anything except maybe added a new shortcut somewhere

winstep wrote:
seeker wrote:
also had a graphical glitch with individual docks becoming black until interacted with


Exactly how did that happen?

not sure, maybe when i switched my media player from fullscren and back. ill try to be on the lookout if it happens again

winstep wrote:
seeker wrote:
and i would suggest ether having a separate play/pause ic for one click control or an option to have the control dock float on top while playback isnt stopped


Errr... that might look like a dock, but it's not. It's a static bar - and, like the alarm windows, it's always on top. It does go away if you click somewhere else (or the Media Player icon again).


would it be possible to ad an option to make it stay put somehow? or, for those that use nextstart maybe add something like this?

http://prntscr.com/ixahjn
(image location adress is ti long to work with tags ;/)


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 Post subject: Re: So, what's next after v18.1?
PostPosted: Wed Mar 28, 2018 5:22 am 
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winstep wrote:

Quote:
So, first of all: I mentioned Stop, Previous, Play/Pause, Next and Settings control buttons. Well, turns out that a Pause function doesn't make much sense here IMO, so I might as well remove the individual stop button and toggle the Play button between Play and Stop - unless someone here thinks otherwise. But you better speak now! :)



I can think of a situation (common one) when you would need to pause: when something elese is demanding silence or your full attention, like a phone call.
I have also 2 questions related to MPlayer implementation:
- the icons look nice, I wonder if the control bar can be made to pick the OS accent color?
- the MPlayer control icon will respond to the media control keys on the keyboard if user has such a thing?


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 Post subject: Re: So, what's next after v18.1?
PostPosted: Wed Mar 28, 2018 7:42 am 
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seeker wrote:
im not 100% but i dont think it did. and i havent changed anything except maybe added a new shortcut somewhere


Seeker, I am not seeing that here and so far nobody else has complained, so you will have to do some quick tests of your own and we really don't have much time.

Try making a backup and restoring to factory defaults to see if CPU usage remains the same, and/or temporarily going back to the previous beta release, which you should be able to find in Public Documents\Winstep\Versions.

Not sure if this would have any influence or not (I really never thought about that), but Intel processors have built in power saving modes that automatically reduce the clock frequency when the CPU is not under heavy load (e.g.; a 3.5 Ghz CPU goes down to 1.75 Ghz). Wonder if reducing the clock for extended periods would also make CPU usage of a simple application appear to have doubled. Anyway, run CPU-Z to see what is happening.

seeker wrote:
not sure, maybe when i switched my media player from fullscren and back. ill try to be on the lookout if it happens again


Sounds more like a video driver problem than anything else.

seeker wrote:
would it be possible to ad an option to make it stay put somehow? or, for those that use nextstart maybe add something like this?

Image


Vlad wrote:
the MPlayer control icon will respond to the media control keys on the keyboard if user has such a thing?


Glad you guys bought this up.

I'll add media keys support - this, in turn, should allow Seeker to have almost what he wants by adding existing Media ICs (Play, Pause, etc..) to the Quick Launch section of the NextSTART taskbar (or to a dock).

Vlad wrote:
- the icons look nice, I wonder if the control bar can be made to pick the OS accent color?


The control bar uses the same colors as the LCD alarms.

In fact, look at it: it's exactly like a mini-Alarm reminder window, with a thin lip bezel.

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 Post subject: Re: So, what's next after v18.1?
PostPosted: Wed Mar 28, 2018 8:30 am 
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winstep wrote:
seeker wrote:
im not 100% but i dont think it did. and i havent changed anything except maybe added a new shortcut somewhere


Seeker, I am not seeing that here and so far nobody else has complained, so you will have to do some quick tests of your own and we really don't have much time.

Try making a backup and restoring to factory defaults to see if CPU usage remains the same, and/or temporarily going back to the previous beta release, which you should be able to find in Public Documents\Winstep\Versions.

Not sure if this would have any influence or not (I really never thought about that), but Intel processors have built in power saving modes that automatically reduce the clock frequency when the CPU is not under heavy load (e.g.; a 3.5 Ghz CPU goes down to 1.75 Ghz). Wonder if reducing the clock for extended periods would also make CPU usage of a simple application appear to have doubled. Anyway, run CPU-Z to see what is happening.


wellll. despite checking a couple of times and restarting the application and everything (except the settings), once i reset to factory settings the workshelf cpu load disappeared, even when loading my settings back, workshelf doesnt drain my cpu anymore.

unfortunately i did not chec the state BEFORE the reset


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 Post subject: Re: So, what's next after v18.1?
PostPosted: Wed Mar 28, 2018 8:34 am 
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seeker wrote:
unfortunately i did not chec the state BEFORE the reset


Hmmm... keep an eye on memory usage, just in case something is leaking (WorkShelf does monitor for this, though - if memory usage goes beyond a reasonable limit you get a red warning dialog).

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 Post subject: Re: So, what's next after v18.1?
PostPosted: Wed Mar 28, 2018 9:27 am 
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Ok, just added keyboard support *and* media key support to the Media Player IC. About to add media key support to the alarm reminders too.

Not sure if it was clear, but media key support means you can use the media keys on your keyboard *and* the existing Media Player ICs (which can be added to docks, the shelf, menus, NextSTART taskbar, etc...) by clicking on them.

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 Post subject: Re: So, what's next after v18.1?
PostPosted: Wed Mar 28, 2018 9:37 am 
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Oh, another thing I forgot to mention that was added in this last beta: when building the playlists, you can now either select multiple audio files when clicking on the Browse button, or you can simply DRAG & DROP multiple audio files at once into the Audio Files listbox.

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 Post subject: Re: So, what's next after v18.1?
PostPosted: Wed Mar 28, 2018 3:46 pm 
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Do you guys think the media bar would look better like this?

Attachment:
MediaPlayer2.jpg
MediaPlayer2.jpg [ 38.8 KiB | Viewed 19558 times ]


Or even a little more rounded like this?

Attachment:
MediaPlayer3.jpg
MediaPlayer3.jpg [ 34.29 KiB | Viewed 19558 times ]


Or is the first one is perfectly fine?

Attachment:
MediaPlayer.jpg
MediaPlayer.jpg [ 38.12 KiB | Viewed 19558 times ]

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