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Topic: Biography Discussion (Read 229017 times) previous topic - next topic
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Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #525 –
Hey WilB,

Speaking of cycling artist images, I wonder any chance it might be possible to exclude images - *.PNG, or filename matches, or just an option to only cycle the downloaded ones from this script?

Admittedly this is a problem of my own making, as I moved the save location to the artist folder with the actual music (to cut down on so many extra folders being created, where I could just use existing folders and have everything backed-up along with the music). Recently however I've also been saving downsized thumbnails in the same folder, which would look better if not included in the cycled artist images.

Cheers

Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #526 –
Quote from: WilB on
Two cycle locations are supported.

Just updating for anyone else who may have similar issues. I got it to work in a rather roundabout way.

I installed a new FB and bio panel - the cycling did work fine. I then copied/pasted the working panel into my old layout and it worked. Additionally it cleared up another problem I was having with review downloads.

I'm not sure what gets corrupted in panels, but I've used that method before to fix other panel issues.

YMMV

Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #527 –
Regarding reviews from Allmusic. They are terribly inconsistent with their artist naming.

One consistent issue however are split band names, eg:
https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-beat-of-the-brass-mw0000202341

The bio panel will not grab reviews if only the first artist name is listed. For example above: Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass

Worse still, using the name from AM "Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass / Herb Alpert" will get split by FB also resulting in no review.

One must rename the artist to "Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass & Herb Alpert" to actually get the review to appear, which is quite a terrible artist name tag.
This happens everywhere AM has a split artist name.

Another example: https://www.allmusic.com/album/everybody-loves-the-sunshine-mw0000099169
AM alternates the name order throughout that discography as well.
:(

Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #528 –
The default server setting is to include partial matches:

[MISCELLANEOUS]
...
Search: Include Partial Matches=1

With that enabled plenty of variances worked for me. The results of my tests for AM reviews are below.
Code: [Select]
Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass / Herb Alpert - The Beat of the Brass
Search: Include Partial Matches 0: found
Search: Include Partial Matches 1: found

Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass - The Beat of the Brass
Search: Include Partial Matches 0: not found
Search: Include Partial Matches 1: found

Herb Alpert - The Beat of the Brass
Search: Include Partial Matches 0: not found
Search: Include Partial Matches 1: found

The Tijuana Brass - The Beat of the Brass
Search: Include Partial Matches 0: not found
Search: Include Partial Matches 1: found

Roy Ayers / Roy Ayers Ubiquity - Everybody Loves the Sunshine
Search: Include Partial Matches 0: found
Search: Include Partial Matches 1: found

Roy Ayers - Everybody Loves the Sunshine
Search: Include Partial Matches 0: not found
Search: Include Partial Matches 1: found

Roy Ayers Ubiquity - Everybody Loves the Sunshine
Search: Include Partial Matches 0: not found
Search: Include Partial Matches 1: found
I didn't notice any problem with fb splitting names with " / " on my device. May be that depends on a local setting on your device.

Anyway if partial matching is enabled you should be able to use the name "Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass" etc.

Next version should also allow biography to list missing bios, reviews etc

@anamorphic: requested filter added for the next version.

Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #529 –
Hi Wilb, I followed all your instruction to install foobar darkone 4 but there is something not working. Biography is working erratically when it comes to showing pictures. Sometimes it works perfectly but most of the time not. Where pictures should be appears "no phot" as if the foto related to the artist that is being played were not downloaded in the appropriate folder.  Please look the attached picture.
Hope you can help.
Best,
gsax

Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #530 –
WILB, Maybe this can further help. I am using spider monk panel ver. 1.2.2 e biography ver. 1.1.2. Quite funny if I use the foobar standard interface everything works well but as soon as I start using the "Column UI" and loading darkone, the problem appears again. If I play a track already played with the standard interface then also darkone works well and pictures are cycling and appearing. Actually, it seems that when using darkone skin the pictures are not downloaded from last.fm in the appropriate folder.
Any idea?

Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #531 –
There were a number of site changes a while ago that effected photos and am data. Since the am bio is wrong it points to the possibility that darkone doesn't actually have the latest biography release installed.

Shift + right click biography. Choose configure. Use the File menu to import biography 1.1.2. Hopefully that will get it working. You may want to force update any incorrect am bios & reviews you spot (menu > sources > force update).

If it's still not working:

1) right click > menu > sources > server settings > reset to default.
2) right click > panel properties. Choose export to back up panel properties. Then choose clear to reset panel properties.

HTH
 

Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #532 –
Quote from: WilB on
The default server setting is to include partial matches:

[MISCELLANEOUS]
...
Search: Include Partial Matches=1

Thank you - that was the issue, I had it disabled for previous debugging.   :(
 
Currently bio/review data is coming through great. However I'm not getting artist images - I tried a clean install - clean/default biography.ini.
"update.txt" files are getting written to the "yttm/art-img/_/%artist%" directory but no images. No other errors appear in the console.

Just to confirm - are artist images downloading for others at the moment?

Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #533 –
No way, no option, no photos! The text is ok, but no photos!

Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #534 –
lfm has been erratic and slow for me over the last few days and I can confirm that at times it's not been possible to obtain stuff.

Currently all is working correctly for me. So hopefully all is back to normal.

Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #535 –
In my case, the problem seems to be related to Darkone. I can see bio text and photo when using the standard Foobar interface but pictures are not downloaded and not shown in Column UI interface and darkone skin. See the attached pictures. I clarify that all the components are updated.

Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #536 –
If as you say in an earlier post it works on other layouts, it looks like it's something specific to that set-up.

Shift + right click biography in Darkone & double check the biography version number on line 2 is 1.1.2.

I assume you did the resets as suggested as that would exclude any issues with those: well in fact it doesn't look like you did those as the heading is in the old style format? Resets would exclude things like Image [Artist] Auto-Fetch actually being switched off or inappropriate changes to save paths etc.

Make sure that there isn't an old version of biography lurking in the layout somewhere as it may interfere. Ensure there is enough disc space to save images.

There was also a very old issue whereby foo_lastfm_img.vbs within foobar2000 profile\yttm folder was corrupted. But biography for quite some time should check and correct that automatically. But you could try deleting that and restarting foobar2000.

It looks like the lfm language is Italian. I tried that server for the artist in your pic & it worked here.

Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #537 –
HI WilB, thank you very much. Everything seems to work properly now. As you suggested it was due to an old version of biography interfering.  By the way, wouldn't it be possible to get bio and images from Wikipedia?

Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #538 –
It's possible but I prefer current sources: Wikipedia bios are long for a music player & search disambiguation is awkward. Photo choice seems inferior. So I'll keep it on the reserve list for now.

Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #539 –
Quote from: WilB on
lfm has been erratic and slow for me over the last few days and I can confirm that at times it's not been possible to obtain stuff.

Currently all is working correctly for me. So hopefully all is back to normal.

Just tried again, using a fresh FB 1.5 install/SMP1.2.1/Bio1.1.2

Per the image - no artist image appears or downloads (using install default biography.ini) - the update.txt does get written to directory so write access should be fine?

any ideas?


Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #540 –
I tried a fresh FB 1.5 install/SMP1.2.1/Bio1.1.2

I tried with the artist album in your pic. All worked correctly. Photos were obtained. I tried two lfm languages.

The fact that it created update.txt for you indicates it correctly obtained the image list from lfm. So the download and save failed:
   - try force update
   - may be there are still some issues with lfm servers, as I guess it was all working well for you until recently
   - double check that all settings are at default to absolutely exclude any of the configurable options:
      1) right click > menu > sources > server settings > reset to default.
      2) right click > panel properties. Choose export to back up panel properties. Then choose clear to reset panel properties.
   - I assume that if you go directly to the site you can access the images
   - perhaps there is some local issue with your set-up (seems unlikely: access to fb2k folders should be OK)
   - I assume your internet is working OK
   - you could try deleting foo_lastfm_img.vbs within foobar2000 profile\yttm folder and restarting foobar2000 to make absolutely sure it's not been corrupted.
   - I assume the device has sufficient disc space to save the images

I've sent you a pm with some debug code that you can try if the issue persists.

Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #541 –
New Version: Biography 1.1.3

CHG: New source button
    - Requires FontAwesome. If not installed, the previous button style will be used.
    - Simple size adjustment, if required: ctrl + wheel over button.
    - Further options: "menu > layout > heading > button style", e.g. set previous button style or hide background.

NEW: Heading: always full width option (enable: "menu > layout > heading). Means heading spans image + text rather than just text in left & right style layouts. Image top padding is auto-adjusted.

NEW: Photo filter: cycle from folder now has an option to restrict to lfm artist images [default enabled (menu > sources > photo...)].

FIX: Lfm bios: corrected occasional issue where certain bios weren't obtained.

Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #542 –
^ New features working well. Thank you! 8)

Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #543 –
Hi there!
On the site now the photos of artists are not available for me.
Perhaps that is why the photos also not available for the component.

Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #544 –
https://www.last.fm/home works correctly for me. So it looks like it was a temporary or local issue. mjm716 issue described a few posts above seems to have been a specific machine related problem apparently due to a windows privileges mess up and now solved.

Occasions when lfm itself has issues, like it's down or slow, are outside of my control . Biography normally times out internet calls after about 30 seconds.

It all seems to be working fine for me now. Photos etc are being correctly obtained.

Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #545 –
Thx for the new update! It works perfectly for me.

Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #546 –
Quote from: WilB on
mjm716 issue described a few posts above seems to have been a specific machine related problem

Yes - confirming OS issues on my end - and great patient support from WilB to help me sort it out. All reviews/bio/images have been downloading flawlessly (after new OS install).

One minor issue to report with layout when full-width headline is enabled - image (auto align with text) loses alignment (reverts to bottom when headline option is selected).

Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #547 –
Hi, Wilb It seems there is a problem between the last version of foobar 1.5.1 and the most recent one of foo_spider_monkey_panel.
That's the text reported by foobar crash tool:
Problem caused by: foo_spider_monkey_panel.dll : Spider Monkey Panel
Known buggy component

Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #548 –
Have exactly the same problem since foobar 1.5.1 as described by gsax.
Windows 10 1909, Intel Core i7-2600.

Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #549 –
@gsax: The update to SMP version 1.2.3-beta solves the problem.