Really having trouble

[cygnusaa]

Hi all,

I hate asking for help but i just cant find a resolution to this problem.

In short, i simply cannot get a playlist to function properly.

i tried creating a category from the editor named playlist, and gave it the attributes that should work such as

%position%. %display%

database selected is music

etc etc

i cant get my song names to be displayed...alli get is artist and album...i tried all the other variable commands

i also cant figure out how to create a button to add all tracks to a playlist, shuffle it (and shuffle it so i can actually SEE IT shuffled) and play..like a jukebox..


im using a modified heavy metal skin

hope someone can help because im about to give up

[cygnusaa]

bah

cant figure out how you guys get this software working...its totally frustrating me

am i supposed to use the default skin and thats it?

grrr

[S Pittaway]

I will admit that when you first start playing with xlobby its a big steap learning curve, but i think its worth it - you end up with something that does exactly what you want.

If you want to mod the skins i would sugest downloading asmany as you can from the skins section then looking to see if they do what you want, then simply copy it

Also, when i started knocking up my skin i found it easier to edit the "raw" xml files and just cut and patse bits i was interested in...


anyway, back to the playlist

i think your problem is that you are using the wrong catergory, you need to use playlist NOT music. if i remember correctly playlist does not show up as a database, so either get the latest version of xlobby (http://www.xlobby.com/xlobby2.zip) which i think fixes it, or simply edit your playlist screen xml file directly and chane the category to playlist.

Also in the display filed i use

"%position% %trackname% (%artist%/%albumname%)"

this gives me (for example)

"12 Rdaio GaGa (Queen/The Works)


And if its any help, here my "playlist control's xml -


<eventbutton>
<imagename>playlist</imagename>
<location>352,68,910,610</location>
<navitem>True</navitem>
<hashcode>6389804</hashcode>
<fontresource>htpc - playlist</fontresource>
<font>Arial Rounded MT Bold,2.8%,#FFFFFF,regular</font>
<textoffset>5:0</textoffset>
<alignment>middle left</alignment>
<shadow>False</shadow>
<type>category</type>
<database>playlist</database>
<display>%position% %trackname% (%artist%/%albumname%)</display>
<details></details>
<ratio>1:1</ratio>
<columns>1</columns>
<layout>nocover default</layout>
<scroll>Up Down Move</scroll>
<rows>22</rows>
<spacing>0</spacing>
<nocover>xresource-cover-art-missing.png</nocover>
<toplayer></toplayer>
<backlayer></backlayer>
<backlayerfolder></backlayerfolder>
<selected>Menu_area_sleceted.png</selected>
<unselected>menu_area_glass_no_frame.png</unselected>
<selectedabove></selectedabove>
<unselectedabove></unselectedabove>
<playinghighlight>xresource-selector-barhighlight.png</playinghighlight>
<playingicon>now_playing_icon.png</playingicon>
<inlisticon></inlisticon>
<notinlisticon></notinlisticon>
<online></online>
<offline></offline>
<navleft>7835195</navleft>
<keepaspectratio>True</keepaspectratio>
</eventbutton>





Sean.

[cygnusaa]

yes i noticed its much easier to edit the xml files...thats pretty much where ive focused most of my attention

i discovered the issue with category/playlist/database and i thought i fixed it by creating a new database called playlist so that when i add a category box i can chose playlist from the database tab...didnt seem to help....

changing the xml playlist files category to playlist i hadnt thought about so ill give that a whirl...

thanks for posting your xml...i will try it...but i noticed one thing...your variable command %trackname% doesnt exist anywhere in my copy of xlobby...nor is it listed on the variable spreadsheet posted on the site....

its funny because when i was modifying my copy...i intuitively used that command and nothing happens at all...odd

i will noodle more when i get home from work and i appreciate your response....thanks for the help!

ps..normally i excel at using software and xlobby seemed to be pretty easy to manipulate until i run into behaviors that i simply cant explain or workaround....drives me nuts LOL

[S Pittaway]

the playlist isent a real database, so dont create one.

If you look in the music database you will see the following fields for each track
tracknumber
artist
composer
trackfilename

i also cant figure out how to create a button to add all tracks to a playlist, shuffle it (and shuffle it so i can actually SEE IT shuffled) and play..like a jukebox..

I am currently trying to figure out a "smart jukebox" mode, which will allow ratings and lastplayed times but i havent got it working yet

But, if you mean play every track on every album in shuffle mode, use-

category>reset>music
music>shuffle
category>playall>music
xlobby>goto screen>your now playing screen


If you mean play the selected album in shuffle mode its-

music>clear playlist
music>shuffle
category>play>music
xlobby>goto screen>your now playing screen

Remeber that shuffle is a simpel toggle (which is wank) so its not that great - i have a little plugin which remebers its state so i can call shuffle=on, shuffle=off etc.


Sean.