Multiple Library's

[Twit]

Hi,

I am trying to make multiple music librarys.

My music is 'Full Albums'
'Full Compilations'
'Extra Singles'

I have created 3 different music screens which load their own database.

It all looks and appears fine. I basically copied the music.xml skin and renamed it to 2 other screens. I edited the xml skin to reflect the correct database.

PROBLEM!- If i go into the origional music screen and play a song then go to another music screen, i can add any song to the list. BUT if i first go into one of the other screens and click to play xlobby bombs out. Although the song i clicked is loaded into winamp and is playing.

Am i going about this the wrong way - does anybody have this working and how!!!.

Any help would be appreciated.

My biggest problem is the 'Extra Singles" songs cos they are just extra songs - ie no album covers, so look crap if loaded with all the others.

I know i can make the music screen into a list view, but i like the album view, it just looks cool

Regards
Simon.

[stevenhanna6]

i didnt expect anyone to be doing something like this before I released a tutorial.....so I'll try to explain where I think your going wrong

if you open your music.xml database, you will see that an audio file has to be given a type

<item>
<parameter>\\Ht\music\Aerosmith\A Little South Of Sanity\102-Aerosmith-Love In An Elevator.mp3</parameter>
<display>Love In An Elevator</display>
<type>track</type> <----------- RIGHT HERE
<information> <tracknumber>002</tracknumber>
<trackname>Love In An Elevator</trackname>
<trackfilename>102-Aerosmith-Love In An Elevator.mp3</trackfilename>
</information>
</item>

in your new databases make sure each track has a the proper type tag. Thats where I think everything is getting messed up.

[Twit]

Are you saying both databases are supposed to have the 'track' type or the other database is supposed to be a different type.

I actually got xlobby to create both databases. ie did a full search on one folder, closed xlobby and copied the database and renamed it. Then scanned the other folder. Both databases have 'track' in them.

I thought the problem might be the fact that i created the other music screen by copying the origional music.xml skin screen and renaming it.
i.e not in xlobby but in windows.

It all works as long as i do not try to 'play' a song from the other screen/database. If i 'add' a song then it works.

Later
Simon

[stevenhanna6]

alright you did the database stuff perfectly then, very ingenious.

it has to be your new skin then. The following would have been copied into the new skin. I assume you chanaged the <database> tag, also change the <imagename> to match your database tag. If that doesnt work email me your skin so I can take a look at it.

mailto:steve@xlobby.com

<eventbutton>
<imagename>music</imagename>
<location>4,186,625,439,fill</location>
<navitem>True</navitem>
<font>Arial,1.171875%</font>
<type>category</type>
<database>music</database>
<details>musicviewer</details>
<exe></exe>
<defaultlisting>False</defaultlisting>
<ratio>1:1</ratio>
<columns>5</columns>
<overlay>missing</overlay>
<defaultnav>True</defaultnav>
</eventbutton>

[Twit]

Steven,

I have been playing around and noticed if i go into the default music screen and load the skin editor and highlight the album listing box then change the database in the edit category tab, everything looks as it should but also bombs when i try to play a song.

BTW if i change the imagename tag in the xml file the album viewer on the right stays blank all the time.

Only seems to work if the database is called music.xml.

Am presuming it is a bug - will try x tonight.

I see that i can add tags in the database editor - i.e if i chose an album and add another tag (genre, year etc) called test and tick it then the left right buttons above the albums can now be clicked to include this new filter.

Is there a way to put a single button to jump to perticular filter.
I see the buttons have the xlobby command of category>music>nextsort.

I tried creating a button to do category>music>test & category>music>sort>test. But it does nothing. Is this possible.

I was thinking if i cannot get the multi albums to work then maybe i can add an extra tag to all the albums specifiying what type it is.

Later
Simon.

[Twit]

Bump,

anyone know how to do the button request in previous topic.??

[stevenhanna6]

twit i'm sure this is a minor thing I have to fix, I just have to go through and do what your trying to do, I havent forgotten about it....I'm just working on a new skin and its taking up most of my time right now....but I will have an answer for you by monday or tuesday.

[Twit]

Thanks Stephen, you are the best.

Do you ever sleep - With the amount of effort you put into this i can only imagine that you are a rich man who does not have to work and have a sleeping disorder (ie you dont have to). Who obviously works at xlobby 24hours a day.

Regards
Simon (twit)

PS Am outside tanning at the moment - (34 degrees celcius). Greeting from South Africa.

[stevenhanna6]

Man I wish I was rich, I dont even own a freaking car!

I got sick of job hunting and finding dead end jobs so I'm programming xlobby with the idea that it will pay off in the long run. Which I think it will.

Even if xlobby fails in some commercial sense, I will always program it just as a hobby. But then of course I will have to get a real job.

Now I probably do have a sleeping disorder, probably from skipping sleep when I went to university....my record without sleep is 3 days....so thats 2 nights not sleeping. But I sleep everyday now like a normal person

By the way.....its SNOWING HERE!!!!!

[Arthur]

isn't it possible to use some kind of a filter? I would like to have 1 music database, but on the other hand, it would me nice to have different creens for classical or pop music.
So that when I open a screen, a selection is made and only certain files are shown.
Other example is Christmas music, which doesn't have to show up at this moment.
Anyone a suggestion?

[stevenhanna6]

arthur, what is wrong with the filters that are already built in.....just select "genre" then "rock" and all you will see is rock.....or do you mean activating that filter right from a button instead of going through the list?

[Twit]

Stephen,

I think he wants to activate from a button.

Would be cool to have a buttton to activate a filter coz i noticed that we can set our own filters. If i go into the database editor and add a new 'filter' under the year/artist/album part called 'test' it shows up when i click on the filter button. Would be great if we could create buttons to do this then we could have 'My favorites' or such button. And multi librarys would be a sinch.

Also would be nice to set the filter on entering a screen. ie on menu you have 3 button 1- Classical 2-Pop/Rock 3-Compilations where all three take you to the same screen but just filter differently.

Later
Simon

[mattdisaster]

Twit, I'm not sure if this will help you but for my games page I ended up using multiple "libraries". Check it out, when you hit the "Games" tab on the start screen it brings you here:



I accomplised that by creating a page with a database called "games" on there I made an entry for each system. Then set up all the good stuff, Name, coverart, etc. But the turning point is the new feature that steven put into the database, in the parameter box of the database editor you can type

Code: Select all

command:screename

And by clicking that item it will take you to the screen you've named.

So the result of clicking the "SNES" tab is this:

(After, of course, setting up another database called "games-snes" to house the actual rom entries, and then basing the new screen "games-snes.xml" around it.)

Another neat thing is, you can create a button and have the xlobby command be "back" and it will take you back 1 screen.

The reason I post all this is to hopefully shed some light on your delema, I'm not sure how it will play out with the mp3s playing and such. But I dont see why you can't try out what I did with different librarys and see what happens. Two BIG things though - As of now though the only way to setup these things have to be ither done by hand, or by tricking xlobby (which it seems youve done already to get the various databases) and then to update any of the non-default librarys can't be done; but I hear that steven is working on this. Good luck, I'de like to see what you come up with!

-matt

ps- I hope I made some kinda sense, my spelling is terrible these days. heh

[Twit]

Matt,

Thanks for the reply, BUT the problem with xlobby is not having multiple databases but having multi databases with winamp.

IE I create 3 seperate music screens loading 3 seperate databases.

I can go into any and play a song or album - I can pick other songs to play as well.

BUT if i then go into one of the other music screens with music playing from another.

1- Then songs do not show up in the now/next part.(is blank)
2- If i add/play a song xlobby bombs straight away.

I presume the xlobby/winamp interaction is one way.

Later
Simon.

[mattdisaster]

Ahhhhhhhh- I figured that would be the only problem, sorry for the waste fo time. Good luck!

-matt