xTopPicks v1.6

[Marbles_00]

Just a note on the update issue, it does work if and only if you are not connecting to a xnet server.

Thanks for the info, unfortunately I am running Xnet but oh well you can't have everything

Sorry to hijack, and since I haven't a clue as to what you are trying to do, as I haven't tried this plugin...yet, I could be totally off in left field, but...Scott, since I'm turning into a "XSend/XReceive junkie" as of late, maybe you could set an event to XSend a manual refresh.

Just a XSend thought that my XReceive brain is plugin>XReceive>received

[scottw]

Thanks for jumping in Marbles.

I still don't think it's possible. Basically for me, the plugin looks at the tags on my MP3's and make a seperate DB (xTopPicks-Music) with the last 50 songs that were added to my music DB. It looks at the track.added.sort tag that was created thanks to the xMusic plugin. So basically I have a button for importing music that will run:

Refresh:Music
xMusic:database.add.extra.fields (which will add the extra tags to the new mp3's)
xtopPicks:Refresh All (which will created the xTopPicks-Music DB which will contain 50 (configurable to any number) entries sorted by date starting with the most recently added tracks.

The problem is with getting the DB to refresh without a restart of XL as described and I believe fixed for the "pay" version here:
http://www.xlobby.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6061

Everything works now, I just have to restart XL each time I add new music.


This is a very sweet plugin, I can't believe more people are not using it.

Give it a try Marbles I think you will like it. I plan to also add a "Most Played" section once Defrag gets the Multi-Filter working. This combined with xMusic is AWESOME!!!!

[defrag]

If you do give it a try Marbles then grab the last one mentioned in this thread as I haven't updated the main link yet - I was waiting to hear back from Scott - which I now have - so I'll get it updated soon. Just to warn you!!!!

[Marbles_00]

Refresh:Music
xMusic:database.add.extra.fields (which will add the extra tags to the new mp3's)
xtopPicks:Refresh All (which will created the xTopPicks-Music DB which will contain 50 (configurable to any number) entries sorted by date starting with the most recently added tracks.

Your refresh:music event would contain two XSend commands. Seperate them with a short wait state if need be. They will both be os:execute commands pointing at your XSend.exe.

For the first command, under Arguements, add the line:

Code: Select all

"plugin:command:xMusic:database.add.extra.fields" "PORT#" "IP ADDRESS"

The second command, under Arguements, add the line:

Code: Select all

"plugin:command:xtopPicks:Refresh All" "PORT#" "IP ADDRESS"

PORT# and IP ADDRESS are the computer you want to command. That computer, of course requires the XReceive plugin, and its config file (plugins/XReceive/config.ini) defines the IP/Port. By default it is 127.0.0.1/8000 and will accept XSend commands on its own machine.

A good way of checking is to goto any computer that has XSend.exe on it, and open a command prompt. Type in the commands above (starting with Xsend of course), and you should be able to perform your exact task on the server, without even performing the function on the server itself.

I would like to see the ability to run multiple commands per XSend.exe. This would open up options in Mirage to perform multiple tasks when selecting a menu item...say to change my play icon to a stop icon, stop any music, close a thin client shell, then exit xlobby. Now that would be really . To let you know also, I'm sending XSend>plugin commands to control the PervTalk/kXd from one machine to the music server. Its basically how I described above...especially looking at the source control, as I slide the mixer settings min, then slide the particular mixer setting of the source I want to max. In all, I'm sending 5 consecutive XSend commands per source selection. That Event Group is huge, and a royal PITA to set up...thank God for TextPad/Notepad, and copy/paste

If I get a chance...mainly to get caught up to speed on both xMusic, and xtopPicks, which...the way I operate...will be later this year , I will give it a whirl myself. I'm just now starting to try xMusic, as I never tried it with ZoneSkin4 as I recall the issue of it only being 1 zone friendly. Though Mirage is a different entity with which I could greatly utilize this plugin. XtopPicks I just have to try as anything from Defrag is pretty stuff, and well worth while.

[S Pittaway]

Also try adding a small delay after calling xMusic:database.add.extra.fields...

[scottw]

Sorry but I may not have explained this properly but the xtopPicks:Refresh All does not work, period, due to a problem with the free copy of XL. I think Steven fixed it in the pay version.

[Marbles_00]

I thought defrag indicated it did:

Just a note on the update issue, it does work if and only if you are not connecting to a xnet server. If you plan to use the plugin in a non-client stand-alone scenario then the manual db updates will work. I have tested this on both latest freelobby and v2.

I guess I mis-understood. Or is it the fact that if XNET is even running...it doesn't matter if you use it or not...if it is even running, the refresh command won't work on that particular computer you set up as the XNET server. I thought you were trying to run the refresh from the client computer via XNET server/client, and the command just wasn't doing anything on the server...but it is a much deeper root problem from that.

[scottw]

I thought defrag indicated it did:

Just a note on the update issue, it does work if and only if you are not connecting to a xnet server. If you plan to use the plugin in a non-client stand-alone scenario then the manual db updates will work. I have tested this on both latest freelobby and v2.

I guess I mis-understood. Or is it the fact that if XNET is even running...it doesn't matter if you use it or not...if it is even running, the refresh command won't work on that particular computer you set up as the XNET server. I thought you were trying to run the refresh from the client computer via XNET server/client, and the command just wasn't doing anything on the server...but it is a much deeper root problem from that.

Dunno maybe I misunderstood as well...I am sure Defrag will straighten us out

I was under the impression that if you did not have Xnet running at all that it would work. I would love it if I was wrong though

[defrag]

OK, the testing I did whilst communicating with Steven was on both the last free version and the latest V2 (I cannot comment on previous free versions).

I can confirm that the code to pick up manual database changes, which is done on file modification date, only applies to those xlobby setups that are not connected to an xlobby server. i.e. is not a client. I tried restarting xlobby after disabling the xnet connection and all of a sudden the database changes happened. I have not tested this on a server configuration (I tend to leave my server alone!!!) which I probably should do.

I did this testing outside of xTopPicks so my code to refresh may not be correct as I got so frustrated in not being able to do the refresh on a fat client.

So if any of you guys (or gals - just in case) are wanting this on a stand-alone setup or server I am happy to retest the refresh code.

[scottw]

OK, the testing I did whilst communicating with Steven was on both the last free version and the latest V2 (I cannot comment on previous free versions).

I can confirm that the code to pick up manual database changes, which is done on file modification date, only applies to those xlobby setups that are not connected to an xlobby server. i.e. is not a client. I tried restarting xlobby after disabling the xnet connection and all of a sudden the database changes happened. I have not tested this on a server configuration (I tend to leave my server alone!!!) which I probably should do.

I did this testing outside of xTopPicks so my code to refresh may not be correct as I got so frustrated in not being able to do the refresh on a fat client.

So if any of you guys (or gals - just in case) are wanting this on a stand-alone setup or server I am happy to retest the refresh code.

If it does in fact work on a server running Xnet and not a client running thru Xnet then maybe we can just use Xsend like Marbles suggested. If I want to run the refresh thru the thin client instead of running a "xtopPicks:Refresh DB" I cold just run a "plugin:command:xtopPicks:Refresh DB" "PORT#" "IP ADDRESS" which would be fine.

Does that sound doable???

I did just test it again after turning of Xnet and it still does not work so I assume your frustration was correct and the wrong refresh code is in the current release.

If it's not a big deal I would like to see if we can get it working...when you have time.

[defrag]

I'll take a look tonight (or in about 4 hours time ) and see what I can do.

[defrag]

OK Testing done, new version posted. See first post.

The database refresh works fine on a Xnet server and stand alone with no xnet - only client setups will fail. Which is a bit of an arse for me - but hey!! Tested on last free and latest v2. I had to recode the refresh commands - they were definately in a half finished state - so not suprised they didn't work.

For those waiting on v3 - Steven has said he will put something in to force a manual refresh on fat clients so I shall jsut wait and see. In the meantime I'll still provide the facility for you guys.

Scott: I'll be working on the multiple filter next week, gonna be a bigger job than I thought, but I can see the benefit (plus I have a reason to use it too ) so not too long to wait....

trying to get back into skinning again as I'm bored with xpro now (or the wife is anyway!!!) so hopefully some shots coming soon (it's a clear vista style with changeable backgrounds - just to give a hint)

[scottw]

Hate to tell you this Defrag but it still does not seem to work, I tried it on 2 different machines...unless I am doing something wrong. This is an xnet server, not client, and I tried it while not running Xnet as well.

I deleted my old DB and xtoppick config XML file before I added the latest to start over from scratch. I set everything up and restarted XL and my xtoppick-music Db was populated. I deleted one of the entries in that DB so I could try the manual refresh which should have added it back, it did not. I do admit I am not really sure what the 2 refresh commands are supposed to do especially the Refresh All command, do I have to have somethihng in the "Variables" field???
The next command for me says Refresh DB>music (the music part is new to this version), now for this one I am supposed to have xtoppick-music (the name of the DB without the xml extention) in the "Variables" field right???

Sorry for not understanding


It does however refresh on a restart.

[defrag]

This is how I tested...

Setup: xtoppicks cat on front screen, with a refresh button next to it tied to an event. The category is named AND has an ID of the same name (this may be important) My event group has 2 events:
1. Refresh All or Refresh DB>tv (name of my db I am filtering)
2. Category refresh

Then:
1. Disconnected from xnet and closed xlobby.
2. Manually changed db that toppicks uses
3. Started xlobby and it picked up changes in toppicks cat
4. Manually changed db that toppicks uses
5. Clicked button and changes were picked up straight away.
6. Switched event to db sort type instead of all
7. Repeated steps 4 and 5
8. Start xnet and restart and repeat from 2 onwards

Take a look at your category to see if it has an ID - I did notice that unless this was done it would not pick up the changes.

[scottw]

AHHHHH I feel so stupid I wasn't doing the Category:Refresh

It works great and you don't need the ID in the category, for me atleast.

AWESOME work....thanks

Scott: I'll be working on the multiple filter next week, gonna be a bigger job than I thought, but I can see the benefit (plus I have a reason to use it too ) so not too long to wait....

Sounds great...I am glad you want it as well. I would feel bad if you were doing it just for me


One minor thing if it is not too much trouble but if it is just tell me where to go soak my head

Could you give the "folder" you added for me in the DB a name???
What happens is when the xtoppick-music DB is first created or refreshed my CAT looks like this (don't mind the skin...it's an old one on my work computer):



and when I click on the "folder" I get the results like this:



This is all fine but I think my wife will get confused as to what to do when she gets the first screen with a blank button. You could call it anything like xTopPicks or Click Me or you could have it configurable in the setup.
If this is too much it is not a problem and will work fine just the way it is...just let me know.


Fantastic work!!!!