Smart PlayLists (aka Smart Views) Plugin - Enables querying of your music library

tejesh83 · 07-21-2007, 02:44 AM

I've created a plugin to support Smart Playlist, also known as Smart Views in Winamp. It uses Winamp5's medialibrary and allows you to query Winamp5's database for songs by genre, artist, date added, etc.

Requirements:
Winamp5 (download)
activewinamp plugin (download)
After installing Winamp5, make sure to load up its media library. It can take some time if you got a large library. Also, configure RR to use the new winamp5 if not already pointing to the right winamp path.

Plugin Download (Also Attached):
http://rapidshare.com/files/44129471...tsRRPlugin.zip

I've also included a very ugly mod to the default road runner skin, BMV2, to use the new smart playlists. See the readme files in the zip above on how to install everything. Hopefully, if you guys like it, someone will make a real skin or modify their existing ones to take advantage of this feature. Its pretty simple to use, just map the command to a button on the skin.

Lets call this a beta release for now. If you have any issues or feedback, let me know.

Update: Patch for Moahdib's FSR skin (download)

EL CAMINO · 07-21-2007, 02:50 AM

sounds great, downloading now. thanks.

tejesh83 · 07-22-2007, 07:40 PM

Here's another skin patch for Moahdib's FSR Skin. This is the skin I use in my car. It's pretty slick, but resource heavy too.

Patch file (download)
FSR Skin (link)

After installing his skin, just replace the menu.txt file in the skin's folder. This will modify the existing audio sidebar buttons to point to smart playlists instead. Modify the menu.txt file to use your own custom queries and/or restore some of the original quick links to GPS/weather/etc.

JohnWPB · 07-23-2007, 02:47 AM

Thank You, Thank You, THANK YOU!

This is the best thing to hit RR in a LONG time! I have always wanted a database based search in Road Runner!

I took it one step further. I added some code to a button, that pop's up the On Screen Keyboard. You can then type a search string such as a portion of a song name ect.

It is Soooooo much faster than the crappy Hard Drive search! Searching for a song with RR's standard search took like 30 seconds or longer to scan my 25,000 MP3's. This does it in like a second flat!

Fantastic work on implementing this in Road Runner!

kbreeden · 07-23-2007, 07:51 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by JohnWPB

Thank You, Thank You, THANK YOU!

This is the best thing to hit RR in a LONG time! I have always wanted a database based search in Road Runner!

I took it one step further. I added some code to a button, that pop's up the On Screen Keyboard. You can then type a search string such as a portion of a song name ect.

It is Soooooo much faster than the crappy Hard Drive search! Searching for a song with RR's standard search took like 30 seconds or longer to scan the 17,000 MP3's. This does it in like a second flat!

Fantastic work on implementing this in Road Runner!

John,

It's nice to have you active in the forum again.

Does this mean that we can expect a DigitalFX patch in the near future?

kbreeden · 07-23-2007, 07:52 AM

TJ,

Some of us have trouble with Winamp 5 in RR. Do you know if this will work with 2.95?

Sonicxtacy02 · 07-23-2007, 09:26 AM

i dont believe there is a media library for 2.95. Could be wrong though.

Sonicxtacy02 · 07-23-2007, 09:28 AM

somebody please send me the file off of rapidshare so i can host it. I'm having trouble accessing it.

kbreeden · 07-23-2007, 10:42 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Sonicxtacy02

somebody please send me the file off of rapidshare so i can host it. I'm having trouble accessing it.

Here you go.

Sonicxtacy02 · 07-23-2007, 11:00 AM

thanks man.. didnt realize it was small enough to be hosted by mp3car. good things

tejesh83 · 07-23-2007, 01:01 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by JohnWPB

I took it one step further. I added some code to a button, that pop's up the On Screen Keyboard. You can then type a search string such as a portion of a song name ect.

Excellent idea! Can you post the relevant commands or a patch file?

If I get some more time, I'd like to take that even further and do something like DJIK's Jump 2 File Plugin. I really miss the "j" function of winamp and would love to have an easy way to query the entire medialibrary to find and play or enqueue any mp3 using an OSK.

Quote: Originally Posted by kbreeden

Some of us have trouble with Winamp 5 in RR. Do you know if this will work with 2.95?

Sorry, this will not work with 2.95, since it does not have the medialibrary (music database) feature that was introduced with Winamp3. What trouble are you having with Winamp5? I may be able to help diagnose or post a patch.

Other future work for those with VB skills:
It's possible to rewrite Road Runner's winamp control module to use the activewinamp plugin exclusively. This should give RR more control over winamp (access to more APIs like medialibrary calls) and make it more responsive (e.g. you could manipulate the playlist in memory instead of the playlist .m3u files on disk). It may break a few skins or plugins that don't use the RR winamp API exclusively, but a VB expert could knock it out in a few hours most likely. It would make querying the library even quicker and may even help those that are having problems with winamp5 out.

Unfortunately, I don't know much about VB or windows programming in general (thanks Georgia Tech

), so I haven't attempted it. I got a couple more weeks to take a stab at it before classes pick back up, but anyone else want to volunteer?

kbreeden · 07-23-2007, 01:12 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by tejesh83

If I get some more time, I'd like to take that even further and do something like DJIK's Jump 2 File Plugin. I really miss the "j" function of winamp and would love to have an easy way to query the entire medialibrary to find and play or enqueue any mp3 using an OSK.

I'm with you. That capability would make you a hero around these parts.

Quote: Originally Posted by tejesh83

Sorry, this will not work with 2.95, since it does not have the medialibrary (music database) feature that was introduced with Winamp3. What trouble are you having with Winamp5? I may be able to help diagnose or post a patch.

For some reason, in my carputer I get random lockups of RR when using Winamp 5. It's all the more perplexing because it doesn't happen on my desktop. I appreciate your offer to do a patch, but I can't imagine what the patch would be because I don't know what's causing the problem. I think I'll try 5.13 again and see what happens.

Quote: Originally Posted by tejesh83

Other future work for those with VB skills:
It's possible to rewrite Road Runner's winamp control module to use the activewinamp plugin exclusively. This should give RR more control over winamp (access to more APIs like medialibrary calls) and make it more responsive (e.g. you could manipulate the playlist in memory instead of the playlist .m3u files on disk). It may break a few skins or plugins that don't use the RR winamp API exclusively, but a VB expert could knock it out in a few hours most likely. It would make querying the library even quicker and may even help those that are having problems with winamp5 out.

Unfortunately, I don't know much about VB or windows programming in general (thanks Georgia Tech

), so I haven't attempted it. I got a couple more weeks to take a stab at it before classes pick back up, but anyone else want to volunteer?

Sounds great. Unfortunately, that work is way above my skill level.

tejesh83 · 07-23-2007, 02:42 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by kbreeden

For some reason, in my carputer I get random lockups of RR when using Winamp 5. It's all the more perplexing because it doesn't happen on my desktop. I appreciate your offer to do a patch, but I can't imagine what the patch would be because I don't know what's causing the problem. I think I'll try 5.13 again and see what happens.

Here are some things you can try if you still have issues with 5.13:

Uninstall winamp and delete the winamp directory in Program Files.
When installing winamp, uncheck all the extra features except the bare necessities like media library and directsound. This will install less plugins, and hopefully make your winamp more stable.
Finally, in the plugins output menu, select directsound, and try turning off H/W acceleration, since its buggy with some sound card drivers.

You can also try the winamp forums. There may be a way to enable debugging and have one of their developers help you out. I found a lot of good info their when working on this plugin.

I just started using winamp5 in my carpc, so I can't vouch for its stability yet. I'll keep you posted and hope you do the same.

Enforcer · 07-23-2007, 03:06 PM

12th man

kbreeden · 07-23-2007, 05:40 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by tejesh83

Here are some things you can try if you still have issues with 5.13:

Uninstall winamp and delete the winamp directory in Program Files.
When installing winamp, uncheck all the extra features except the bare necessities like media library and directsound. This will install less plugins, and hopefully make your winamp more stable.
Finally, in the plugins output menu, select directsound, and try turning off H/W acceleration, since its buggy with some sound card drivers.

You can also try the winamp forums. There may be a way to enable debugging and have one of their developers help you out. I found a lot of good info their when working on this plugin.

I just started using winamp5 in my carpc, so I can't vouch for its stability yet. I'll keep you posted and hope you do the same.

Thanks for the advice. I'll give it a try.