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Topic: Columns UI: how do I display a simple "now playing queue"? (Read 14416 times) previous topic - next topic
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Columns UI: how do I display a simple "now playing queue"?

Hi all,

In Columns UI, I'm using the Album List panel, NG playlist and Playlist switcher.

Since the NG playlist is constantly changing (depending on where I'm browsing in the Album List), I'd like to also have a simple "now playing queue" to just drag/drop some tunes into without creating a playlist.

Thanks

Columns UI: how do I display a simple "now playing queue"?

Reply #1 –
foo_uie_queuemanager + middle click assigned to "Add to playback queue".
Sharing delusions since 1991.

Columns UI: how do I display a simple "now playing queue"?

Reply #4 –
You don't have to install the queuemanager if you only want to get the "Add to playback queue" command. Just assign the middle mouse button under "Preferences>ColumnsUI>Generel>Action to perform when middle click..." to it or put that command in the right click context menu.
fb2k on OSX: flac q8 > rockboxed Sansa e280v1: Vorbis q5.0

Columns UI: how do I display a simple "now playing queue"?

Reply #5 –
I installed foo_uie_queuemanager, but it looks like it still needs work, esp. when it comes to drag/drop which doesn't work from either the Album List panel or the NG Playlist - on my PC, anyway.

Also, it removes each song from the list once it's played (should be optional) and it doesn't seem to support reordering via drag/drop, nor does it reflect what's playing atm, just what's been manually added to the list. In short, it needs a LOT of work, imho.

What I'm looking for is the basic "playing now" queue that is seen in players like Winamp, QMP, Media Player Classic, jetAudio, WMP, etc. that does the following:

1. Shows a list of what songs are queued up to be played
2. Allows for easy adding to that list via drag and drop from other parts of foobar or from Windows Explorer
3. Allows reordering of the list via drag/drop
4. Allows for easy removal of songs from the list.

This is a basic feature of just about every player I've ever used, so I'm really surprised and disappointed that it's been so difficult to find in foobar.

Or am I missing something here?

EDIT: Here's a screenshot of the playback queues of QMP and Winamp to illustrate what I'm talking about.

Columns UI: how do I display a simple "now playing queue"?

Reply #6 –
Quote from: bodhicoyote on
What I'm looking for is the basic "playing now" queue that is seen in players like Winamp, QMP, Media Player Classic, jetAudio, WMP, etc. that does the following:

1. Shows a list of what songs are queued up to be played
2. Allows for easy adding to that list via drag and drop from other parts of foobar or from Windows Explorer
3. Allows reordering of the list via drag/drop
4. Allows for easy removal of songs from the list.

This is a basic feature of just about every player I've ever used, so I'm really surprised and disappointed that it's been so difficult to find in foobar.

Or am I missing something here?

You might want to try using a "playlist."  It plays songs in order according to a list.  It also and has all the functionality you're looking for and more.

Seriously this playback queue nonsense needs to stop.  Use playlists.  If it helps, you can pretend one of them is the playback queue, even renaming it "Playback Queue."

Columns UI: how do I display a simple "now playing queue"?

Reply #7 –
There is nothing in your description (#1-#4) that indicates why you need a queue and not a regular playlist. It sounds like what you actually want is a second playlist to be displayed at all times, which isn't possible in foobar at the moment.

Columns UI: how do I display a simple "now playing queue"?

Reply #8 –
Quote from: Remedial Sound on
Seriously this playback queue nonsense needs to stop.  Use playlists.  If it helps, you can pretend one of them is the playback queue, even renaming it "Playback Queue."

Do me a favor and drop the superior tone, okay? It's unproductive, immature and rude. Seriously, if I wanted attitude from a fanboi, I'd go post in 4chan.
Quote from: Zarkon on
There is nothing in your description (#1-#4) that indicates why you need a queue and not a regular playlist. It sounds like what you actually want is a second playlist to be displayed at all times, which isn't possible in foobar at the moment.

I hear what you're saying, but I respectfully disagree. There is a very good reason that play queues are a part of just about every player out there:

1. it makes it very easy to play some songs on-the-fly, as the mood strikes you, without having to take the time to create, build and save a permanent playlist. Playlist files have their function, but sometimes a person just wants to throw some songs together, ya know?

2. The other way it's helpful is to tell you what's lined up to be played right now, be it from some files you've added from Explorer or the CD you've just inserted OR from an actual .mru or .pls file.

I've been using fb2k for about two weeks and so far it's a pretty awesome player. My ONLY complaint is that it's very easy to get lost in it. A simple queue panel would be extremely helpful. Even just a "second playlist to be displayed at all times" would help.

Columns UI: how do I display a simple "now playing queue"?

Reply #9 –
Actually those screenshots from Winamp and QMP are playlists. Foobar2000 uses different approach and that may be confusing.

First. Playback queue (in foobar2000) works in first in first out maner. The first to enter it gets played first and leaves it. So it's not a static list. And yes, you can't drag'n'drop things into queue manager, that's why I referred to middle click CUI function. Sorry if I confused you.
Second. To display what is currently playing one may use foo_osd, foo_popupplus, titlebar string, foo_trackinfo etc.
Third. If you want static list - you'll need to switch between playlists for now. Maybe later things will change.

You can use "Edit/Send to playlist" and "Edit/Insert into playlist" functionality from foosion Utilities. Though you'll need to bind particular playlist to keyboard shortcut to avoid selecting particular playlist from menu every time. Also there is possible solution with specific tag and autoplaylist.

PS: Don't take my thought for granted. Maybe there are less obvious (for me) solutions.
Sharing delusions since 1991.

Columns UI: how do I display a simple "now playing queue"?

Reply #10 –
Quote from: Slotos on
Actually those screenshots from Winamp and QMP are playlists. Foobar2000 uses different approach and that may be confusing.

First. Playback queue (in foobar2000) works in first in first out maner. The first to enter it gets played first and leaves it. So it's not a static list. And yes, you can't drag'n'drop things into queue manager, that's why I referred to middle click CUI function. Sorry if I confused you.
Second. To display what is currently playing one may use foo_osd, foo_popupplus, titlebar string, foo_trackinfo etc.
Third. If you want static list - you'll need to switch between playlists for now. Maybe later things will change.

You can use "Edit/Send to playlist" and "Edit/Insert into playlist" functionality from foosion Utilities. Though you'll need to bind particular playlist to keyboard shortcut to avoid selecting particular playlist from menu every time. Also there is possible solution with specific tag and autoplaylist.

PS: Don't take my thought for granted. Maybe there are less obvious (for me) solutions.


Actually, the confusion arises from the mixing of the terms. Most players call it the "playlist" window, although it's really just displaying what's queued up to play atm. It of course has nothing to do with actual playlist files (mru, pls, etc.).

Meh, I give up. I really can't believe there's no way to have a window/panel show me a list of what's lined up to be played.

Columns UI: how do I display a simple "now playing queue"?

Reply #11 –
Quote from: bodhicoyote on
I hear what you're saying, but I respectfully disagree. There is a very good reason that play queues are a part of just about every player out there:

1. it makes it very easy to play some songs on-the-fly, as the mood strikes you, without having to take the time to create, build and save a permanent playlist. Playlist files have their function, but sometimes a person just wants to throw some songs together, ya know?

2. The other way it's helpful is to tell you what's lined up to be played right now, be it from some files you've added from Explorer or the CD you've just inserted OR from an actual .mru or .pls file.

I've been using fb2k for about two weeks and so far it's a pretty awesome player. My ONLY complaint is that it's very easy to get lost in it. A simple queue panel would be extremely helpful. Even just a "second playlist to be displayed at all times" would help.

The tone you are inferring is because you're complaining that foobar can't/doesn't do something that it most certainly does.

You don't have to create/build/save a playlist at all, in fact in all my time of using foobar I don't think I've even saved a .pls file.  You can use the default playlist (or any other temporary playlist you wish to instantiate) effectively as your "playback queue."  Throw whatever songs you want at it on the fly.  Files can be enqueued from explorer via right click.  CDs can be enqueued.  Proper .pls playlists can be appended to this default playlist (queue) as well.

Columns UI: how do I display a simple "now playing queue"?

Reply #12 –
Quote from: bodhicoyote on
Meh, I give up. I really can't believe there's no way to have a window/panel show me a list of what's lined up to be played.

Seriously, you should use the utilities for what they are meant!

You would really have to accept if you want to use the queue to play a song right ahead or use a small playlist. Most library viewers will create intermediate playlists, which could be interpreted as a "queue", but don't call it that.

The queue are available out of the box - Rightclick a song and "Add to playback queue". Use foo_queuepanel if you want to show what's lined up to be played. In addition to this, you might want to try foo_history that keeps a track of what's been played, and are able to create a playlist based on that, or you could create an autoplaylist that shows songs played within last xxx hours/days sorted by playback time.

I see no way to improve the way queue works in foobar - It works perfectly, and are very similar to the queue from Winamp.
Can't wait for a HD-AAC encoder :P

Columns UI: how do I display a simple "now playing queue"?

Reply #13 –
I know exactly what you mean. I am using the playlists 'as they are intended' I believe: but I also am missing the simple functionality of seeing what foobar is planning to play next. The concept of the 'queue' is something different - it seems to be parallel to the actual now-playing stack.

It should be possible, at any stage, regardless of what playlists are in use, and what songs have been separately 'queued', to see simply what songs are coming up (and perhaps also what songs have just been played).

Rob.

Quote from: bodhicoyote on
I installed foo_uie_queuemanager, but it looks like it still needs work, esp. when it comes to drag/drop which doesn't work from either the Album List panel or the NG Playlist - on my PC, anyway.

Also, it removes each song from the list once it's played (should be optional) and it doesn't seem to support reordering via drag/drop, nor does it reflect what's playing atm, just what's been manually added to the list. In short, it needs a LOT of work, imho.

What I'm looking for is the basic "playing now" queue that is seen in players like Winamp, QMP, Media Player Classic, jetAudio, WMP, etc. that does the following:

1. Shows a list of what songs are queued up to be played
2. Allows for easy adding to that list via drag and drop from other parts of foobar or from Windows Explorer
3. Allows reordering of the list via drag/drop
4. Allows for easy removal of songs from the list.

This is a basic feature of just about every player I've ever used, so I'm really surprised and disappointed that it's been so difficult to find in foobar.

Or am I missing something here?

EDIT: Here's a screenshot of the playback queues of QMP and Winamp to illustrate what I'm talking about.

Columns UI: how do I display a simple "now playing queue"?

Reply #14 –
I too am looking for something that might go towards replacing foo_uie_queuemanager since it currently does not seem to be compatible with the current build of foobar and as Yirkha pointed out, it doesn't seem as though it will be continued. But i really miss the functionality of it.

I know this thread seemed to turn into a debate about the distinctions and uses of a playlist and a queue, but i think it's fairly obvious that there are some glaring fundamental functional differences between them both.

To start with, a playlist in foobar functions basically as a hard filter for your entire music library. you set what it displays and it displays that and nothing more. It would be given a title and listed in, for instance, the contents of a panel like the "playlist switcher". Selecting it will display its contents in whatever "playlist" panel that the user uses, for so long as that playlist is selected in the playlist switcher.

The queue that i believe people (myself included) are looking for, on the other hand, provides a separate functionality altogether. Firstly, It is a separate panel altogether that constantly and consistently shows the list of items that foobar will play in turn (most likely on a session to session basis); irrelevant of what is being selected in the playlist switcher. The reason that this is useful is that it allows a user to browse the rest of their library or playlists, whilst always being able to see what is coming up next.

This functionality was previously provided by foo_uie_queuemanager (though skeletal in some ways) but as i previously said, it is no longer being developed.

I hope this clears up some of the confusion.

Also, if I have been completely missing something that foobar does already provide then by all means post it here. I know that many people would like to know how to provide this functionality in Columns UI.

Columns UI: how do I display a simple "now playing queue"?

Reply #15 –
I haven't read most of this thread, but I would like to point out, foobar doesn't have just one list of tracks that is about to be played, all playlists are on an equal footing in that regard, as any playlist can be the list of tracks about to be played. Unlike other media players, where you have to send from 'a' playlist to 'The' Playlist in order to play it.

The way I got round this was to treat all playlists like queues, and to not have my library in playlists, it's all just in facets. I never use the queue. So I only have one playlist that I play stuff in my library from. May I ask, what is in your playlists, that stops you from doing that? I guess I am helped by only ever wanting to play whole albums at a time.

Columns UI: how do I display a simple "now playing queue"?

Reply #16 –
I think most people which are complaining about a missing playback queue actually missed that playlists are actually the functionality they are seeking. But they seem to use them instead to represent their library with huge playlists named "Rock" or even "All music".

When you instead use the different ML viewers (Facets, ML Search or Album list) for browsing/searching and then create only temporary playlists (just like internet browser tabs) for what you want to listen to, the wish for an extra queue disappears.

Picture > 1000 words: For special purposes, I have some resident autoplaylists (last played, unrated and "new", which watches my incoming folder), others are manually created (double click action of Facets is set to "add to new playlist") and edited (middle click action adds to current playlist) when I want to listen to something.

Columns UI: how do I display a simple "now playing queue"?

Reply #17 –
Hi ojdo, yeah i think there is a greater potential in the playlists than most people, myself included, are accustomed to using. however i still think that there is a miscommunication here about what functionality people are looking for when they speak of queues. I'm unfortunately on a work laptop atm so I'm not really in the right position to make a proper screenshot of what im talking about since i dont have my proper foobar, but i shall attempt nonetheless.

anyway a basic setup currently it looks like this, where:-
1: is the list of playlists. the filter results obviously relates to the filter panes and thats mainly what i use.
and 2: is the area showing the information retrieved from the selected playlist in the playlist switcher (1); be that a filter pane or an actual user created playlist.


Now what the queue would do is that make it look a bit like this (excuse the rushed editing):
1: same as above
2: same as above
3: an area showing what is currently in the queue to be played


this has two benefits that other systems, as far as i can tell, do not:

1. if, for instance, i was playing from the 'Stuff' playlist, i could drag new items into the playing queue or reorder it, with out it affecting the actual playlist itself.

2. also it means that i can browse the library (which would visually change the contents of area 2) whilst still being able to see whats actually going to be played by virtue of this 3rd area. thus if i started playing from a playlist i could then drag and drop songs from the library directly into the right position in the queue.

As i say, im at work at the mo and will have to experiment with those components you quoted later, and if they provide that kind of functionality then thank you, but judging by the screen shots it doesnt seem to look as though they do.

Its a shame that foo_uie_queuemanager doesnt currently work or i could more accurately show what I mean.

Columns UI: how do I display a simple "now playing queue"?

Reply #18 –
pauljh5

I see what you are saying, but:

why do you use a single playlist view element and not a tabbed one; say with just two tabs. One is controlling the currently playing music, the "queue". The other are letting you browse through deep in your library or could be used to start up another future set of music or whatever.  Would not that work? I realize that at the current moment, only one of the tabbed playlist views are visible. But both are easy to access and to add to or delete tracks.

I think a confounding issue here in peoples confusion over just what /when queue is not equal to playlist is lack of info provided by the various user posts as to HOW they are using Foobar.

Are they still in window shell / file manager / explorer / mode and send to tracks to foobar.

Are they inside of Foobar and if so; are they using the  DUI, CUI, and which of the different media browsers are they using.
And is their config setup with a single playlist view or a tabbed view.

terry

EDIT: Read again your post....and it seems that it is the "visibility" issue. That is something I can understand. It is something that might be coming in the future. Two playlists visible at the same time. Nevertheless, only one plays at a time....thus I believe you already have your functionality in Foobar...it is just that your queue pane is a foobar playlist - currently playing tracks - in a tab - visible or hidden as per your needs at the time.

EDIT 2:  and now I see original thread is CUI based...so ignore if you like - my bad.

Columns UI: how do I display a simple "now playing queue"?

Reply #19 –
It really does seem that you need two playlists. One for the active and one dedicated to display what you have queued to play. And you want to display the to be played as a playlist.

Just what I'm doing now! BUT you need Elplaylist to do it.

Checkout it's thread in this forum for more details.

Columns UI: how do I display a simple "now playing queue"?

Reply #20 –
Hi tpijag,

your edit1 sounds good to me. the functionality of an actually playing playlist is perfect; i suppose in a way it is a 'visibility' thing as you say.  but with the difference that one queue style playlist automagically updates itself with the list of tasks (i.e. tracks) that foobar is going to tackle whenever its changed by the user (if that makes sense?)

Hi Black_Over_Bills_Mothers,

I believe from what you have written that we are thinking of the same design. im glad to hear that something is in the works. i look forward to checking out the thread when i get home.

Columns UI: how do I display a simple "now playing queue"?

Reply #21 –
Quote from: pauljh5 on
1. if, for instance, i was playing from the 'Stuff' playlist, i could drag new items into the playing queue or reorder it, with out it affecting the actual playlist itself.


This sentence makes no sense at all. The playing "Stuff" playlist IS is your playing queue. On one side i can understand why people have problems with concept of multiple playlists - on other side i could get frustrated that they are not able to understand that multiple playlists ARE  multiple playing queues and to phrase then what they really need. It is not really so complicated as it seems if they would stop to be fixed on one and only playing queue (means: playlist) just because they know that limitation from other players. It is very strange to see how the extension of playlist functionality that is offered by foobars multiple playlists is regarded as concept that misses a feature that in fact is available multiple times.

Columns UI: how do I display a simple "now playing queue"?

Reply #22 –
@g-stankovic
As we all know, foobar can be used in many ways, that's what makes it so popular.

One way is to have one playlist, formatted as you like that you always play from. All other playlists are either auto or are populated from various panels such as Album List or Library Tree or Plalist Tree. These panels mostly have the concept of the current(active) playlist and a named one. If you make the named one your platlist that you always play from and have the active one to browse with. You can then send tracks to either. It's that simple.

Until very recently you havn't been able to display the active playlist at the same time as the now playing playlist. With the latest version of Elplaylist you can now do this. This allows me to browse into any playlist and still have my dedicated playlist playing and all displayed at the same time.

This is my way of using foobar and I suspect it's how pauljh5 wants it setting up.

Columns UI: how do I display a simple "now playing queue"?

Reply #23 –
Quote from: Black_Over_Bills_Mothers on
As we all know, foobar can be used in many ways, that's what makes it so popular.


Sure - but that can't mean that the individual elements of foobar will change their functionality: A queue is a queue and will stay one; a playlist is a playlist and will stay one too.

If you read again this thread you will see that people are confusing things and you are doing the same:

1. foobars playback queue is not the same like winamps playlist editor - it is comparable to (so guess!) to winamps queue
2. foobars playlists are not the same like the tracklisting below the ml panes in winamp - it is comparable to winamps playlist editor but offers not only one playlist but multiple ones.
3. the so-called playlists inside winamps ml doesn't exist so far in foobar beside of what is offered by playlist_tree_mod component

Quote from: Black_Over_Bills_Mothers on
It's that simple.

It should be!

Columns UI: how do I display a simple "now playing queue"?

Reply #24 –
@g-stankovic
You are right.

I don't use the playback queue. I playback directly from a playlist. To me this makes the UI more configurable since I can use CUI NG playlist or Elplaylist. With the playback queue there is very restricted way that this can be displayed.