What does this component do?
Let's start with what it does not do: It does not check for new versions of foobar2000 or any components. It is also not a change log reader. It merely detects available features and reports if some were added or removed compared to the last time you ran foobar2000. The types of features we are talking about here are main and context menu commands, preferences pages, Columns UI panels, advanced settings, and more.
Why would I use it?
You don't want to spend time looking for new features after updating foobar2000 or installing or updating one of your components, and the change log is vague or not available, or you are just not the kind of person who reads these things. Perhaps you are new to foobar2000 and don't have the first clue where to go looking for new features.
So how does it work?
Every time you start foobar2000, the component scans the available features. When it detects that some features have been added or removed, it will display a notification icon on the taskbar to make you aware of that. If you click the balloon tooltip or double-click the icon, the component will open a window with a list of the changes. You can also access this window from the main menu (Help/What's New?).
What are the restrictions?
The component only knows about certain types of features, so it may not recognize everything. Since "feature type" is one of the types of feature it does recognize, you will be informed by the component, if its feature recognition ability is enhanced.
It cannot detect changes in the implementation of a feature, and currently it cannot detect if a feature is renamed.
I want to try it. Where do I get it?
The component can be downloaded from the official components site (http://www.foobar2000.org/components/view/foo_whatsnew). You can also find installation instructions there. Note that you will need Windows XP or better to use it.
Ideas for future improvements
A feature browser that can display all installed features and allows filtering by name and feature type.
On the first run, the component displays all detected features. While this gives an immediate impression of what it does, the displayed list can be a bit overwhelming even on a bare-bones foobar2000 installation. A better idea would be to launch the feature browser on the first run (and change the text on the notification icon accordingly).
Easier access to features.log which is created in the foobar2000 profile directory.
Very nice and useful! Thanks!
It was interesting...
Suggestion: Escape should close the "What's new" window.
Note that you will need Windows XP or better to use it.
It seems to work under Win2000 too.
Thanks for this plugin, im sure it will save a lot of time (and posts ) for many users.
Maybe, an option to have the list in the log file sorted (or have it sorted with no options) could be useful...
you can always surprise me, foosion . thanx for this ...
Version 1.0.1 is out. This release fixes the following issues:
- Entries are sorted before being appended to features.log.
- Escape key closes the "What's new?" window
- Fixed typo in tooltip on notification icon.
Thanks to everyone who provided feedback.
Thanks
foosion, i have one issue with foo_dockable_panels. foo_whatsnew reports dockable panels' main and context menu commands ('activate' and 'collapse' for each dockable panel) as added or removed on random between subsequent starts. seems to me like some kind of timing issue.
foosion, i have one issue with foo_dockable_panels. foo_whatsnew reports dockable panels' main and context menu commands ('activate' and 'collapse' for each dockable panel) as added or removed on random between subsequent starts. seems to me like some kind of timing issue.
Seems foo_scheduler too.
I finally found time to put up version 1.0.2. There should be less erroneous reports about fluctuating configuration dependent features. Still, configuration changes that results in new or removed menu commands will lead to feature change notifications. The only way I see to avoid this is to add some kind of ignore list.
Thanks.
I like this plugin but I had to uninstall it. I frequently change ColumnUI "layouts" to switch between playlist and eye-candy modes. This plugin would trigger every time I was in a different mode from the previous start-up mode.
outstanding plugin.
only comment would be to have the feature browser integrate the features.log. you could make this an optional checkbox that would add history for the component to the display. my guess is you'd add a filter entry box to type in the text to filter on and it would display the current entries that contain that text. You could then check the history checkbox and it would re-filter the output, adding the history of adds/deletes for that feature.
only thing i can think of adding to it would be to list the foo_*.dll that the functioanlity is derived from, if that's possible. you could then filter features based on the plugin. just a thought...
and the big list at first run isn't a problem.
edit: thought of another enhancement request: in the report that pops up when you click the balloon, hot-link the preferences text so you can click it and go right to it; rather than having to dismiss the report and then go into preferences and hunt it down manually...
only thing i can think of adding to it would be to list the foo_*.dll that the functioanlity is derived from, if that's possible. you could then filter features based on the plugin. just a thought...
If that was possible without problems, I would have added it for the very first version.
only thing i can think of adding to it would be to list the foo_*.dll that the functioanlity is derived from, if that's possible. you could then filter features based on the plugin. just a thought...
If that was possible without problems, I would have added it for the very first version.
yeah, figured as much but thought i'd ask. while i have you, i have a q about the pq_viewer. i finally upgraded to 9.2 from 8.3 this week and can't figure out what this playback queue thing is. i don't remember it from 8.3. how is this different from the regular playlist - is it some sort of temporary queue priority override or somesuch?
Yes, the playback queue is a new feature in foobar2000 0.9, but discussion about that doesn't really belong in here.
foo_whatsnew 1.0.4Requires foobar2000 0.9.5 and Windows XP.
Changes:
- Added detection of UI Elements.
foo_whatsnew 1.0.3 should have contained the changes in 1.0.4 already, but due to a mistake it did not. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Download (http://htttp://foosion.foobar200/0.9.5/)
foo_whatsnew 1.0.4
Requires foobar2000 0.9.5 and Windows XP.
Changes:- Added detection of UI Elements.
foo_whatsnew 1.0.3 should have contained the changes in 1.0.4 already, but due to a mistake it did not. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Download (http://htttp://foosion.foobar200/0.9.5/)
You made a typo in the hyperlink "http://htttp://foosion.foobar200/0.9.5/"
thanks for this plugin. Its nice to see what components have tried/used, too bad it doesn't tell you what version the plugins were. This plugin works fine in the latest release in case anyone was curious.
I just noticed that this plugin has been updated to version 1.0.6!
Thanks! :-)
I didn't find any changelog in the components page. So, just out of curiosity, what are the changes?
:-P
With new foobar seems don't work. It's a pity, is a very nice plugin. It doesn't show any change.
Which version specifically do you mean by "new foobar", what kind of changes don't seem to be reported and are you using the latest version of foo_whatsnew?
Which version specifically do you mean by "new foobar"
foobar2000 v0.9.6.5
what kind of changes don't seem to be reported and are you using the latest version of foo_whatsnew?
change in configuration; add or remove playlists and the other things that i saw in the windows
and are you using the latest version of foo_whatsnew?
of course
thanks for your replay
add or remove playlists
These aren't "events" reported by foo_whatsnew.
But I know foo_menu_addons creates menu commands playlist-depending and these changes are shown by foo_whatsnew simply because a menu has been changed.
As you see it's working for me.
(http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/142/immaginexvs.jpg)
I have only the window without the informations.
Strange things ...
Thanks for reply!
Same thing here: just a blank page. Is it a known problem with one of the latest F2K version? I have v1.1.5.
(The plugin worked fine with previous versions. I don't remember exactly what version worked...)
This doesn't seem to be working for me - and just me - with either portable or standard installations, clean or otherwise.
features.dat and features.log are generated in the foobar2000 dir and are not empty, and the balloon tip is triggered on adding/removing things, but the window that displays features is entirely empty.
Foobar 1.1.7, Windoze 7 x64, fully updated. Thanks to IRC lurkers for help btw
Unfortunately, I have not been able to reproduce this issue so far.
I also have a blank page.
I have a thought, that it might be connected to the coding in the username's profile's path. I have non-English characters (Russian in my case).
Same problem here, without foreign characters in the paths.
I'm also running Win7 X64.
Hi foosion,
there are some UI extensions out there like, foo_uie_sql_tree or foo_uie_tagger_mod, which return NULL from ui_extension::window service instantiation if they fail to initialize and it crashes foo_whatsnew. Easy to reproduce in portable install with just foo_whatsnew, foo_uie_sql_tree and no foo_ui_columns.
Also I noticed foo_whatsnew is apparently built with /Od. The infamous MSVC project importer having a bad day again?
foo_whatsnew 1.0.7This is a bug fix release.
- Fixed crash with Columns UI extensions which return NULL from service instantions.
I thought this was a bugfix for the blank window bug, but it's still here.
Same behavior as reported by mazling, foobar 1.1.11, win 7 x64, both standard and portable (full & minimum) installations.
If I had fixed that problem, I would have written about it. Unfortunately I don't know what's causing it at the moment.
gamering, r0lZ, mazling, ChaoScythe, novembre or whoever else affected:
- Does it fail to display anything only when you click the icon in the notification area ("systray") or when you choose the main menu command "Help > What's new?" too?
- Is the window completely empty, as in gray background everywhere, or are there just no entries/changes visible in the list view?
- Are there the three columns labeled Name/Type/Change?
- Is the window title "What's new - foobar2000 v1.x.x" or just "Feature Log"?
- Is anyone of you capable of running fb2k under any debugger? (Just running it and looking for any exceptions thrown when you show the window would be enough.)
gamering, r0lZ, mazling, ChaoScythe, novembre or whoever else affected:
- Does it fail to display anything only when you click the icon in the notification area ("systray") or when you choose the main menu command "Help > What's new?" too?
- Is the window completely empty, as in gray background everywhere, or are there just no entries/changes visible in the list view?
- Are there the three columns labeled Name/Type/Change?
- Is the window title "What's new - foobar2000 v1.x.x" or just "Feature Log"?
- Is anyone of you capable of running fb2k under any debugger? (Just running it and looking for any exceptions thrown when you show the window would be enough.)
1. Both
2. There are just no entries/changes visible in the list view
3. Yes
4. "What's new - foobar2000 v1.x.x"
5. Unfortunatelly, I can't.
Here too exactly as ChaoScythe described: the listbox is present, but empty.
Exactly the same with me (circa at the last 15 stable versions of foobar).
Bye
muxx
gamering, r0lZ, mazling, ChaoScythe, novembre or whoever else affected:
- Does it fail to display anything only when you click the icon in the notification area ("systray") or when you choose the main menu command "Help > What's new?" too?
- Is the window completely empty, as in gray background everywhere, or are there just no entries/changes visible in the list view?
- Are there the three columns labeled Name/Type/Change?
- Is the window title "What's new - foobar2000 v1.x.x" or just "Feature Log"?
- Is anyone of you capable of running fb2k under any debugger? (Just running it and looking for any exceptions thrown when you show the window would be enough.)
1. Same behaviour when using balloon popup, systray '+' icon, and help menu item.
2+3+4 Just two columns for me, http://i.imgur.com/iZtC5.png (http://i.imgur.com/iZtC5.png)
Also: sort column highlight does not change when selecting a new column, though the header does animate when clicked. No blank items to select.
Thanks for replying!
Hi
I don't know how this plugin is intended to work but for me it does holy nothing, except when foobar is updated, it always shows notify icon, clicking on which opens just empty window. I find this component totally useless then
The window should display the added and removed features like menu commands or UI elements. Due to an unresolved defect it only displays a blank window for some people.
The window should display the added and removed features like menu commands or UI elements. Due to an unresolved defect it only displays a blank window for some people.
I have this after moving my portable foobar2000 install from a Windows 7 machine to a Windows 8 machine.
Here's a Yirkha-modified version that works under Windows 8: [attachment=7160:foo_whatsnew.zip].
Thanks for ^ that.
I rarely need this plug-in now that I've more-or-less got a "stable" config, but it's very handy for figuring out *what* a plugin does and where it's features are located.
foo_whatsnew 1.0.8
Fixed the blank window issue. Thanks to Case for reminding me and for testing.
Where is the link to download?
You can download it on the official components site (http://www.foobar2000.org/components/view/foo_whatsnew).
Thank you
It works fine. I deleted a component, just to see
Used on portable version, CUI on Windows 7 64.
Any chance of getting this component updated to support 64-bit Foobar2000?
Since foosion doesn't seem to be around anymore I released a new version with support for 64-bits and dark mode.