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Topic: Biography Discussion (Read 225081 times) previous topic - next topic
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Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #75
Thanks for your work! I still have to test the new version, but the previous one was already great.

This is probably not off-topic (sorry if I crossed the line  :-* ), but  I was wondering if there was a way to tweak the scrip in order to retrieve "genre/style" informations associated with the artist from LastFM or (even better) from AllMusic,? LastFM is not very reliabble for "genre" information, but Allmusic is much better.
If there was a way to extract these informations in .txt files, it would become quite easy to batch tag a complete music collection with "Genre/style" tags (for exemple using mp3Tag). I'm hoplessly searching for software or a script that would be able to do that kind of task (I tried many things (scripts for Foobar, Picard, script for MP3tag,...), but, so far, I found nothing).

PS : I'm aware Marc2003 created a script in order to display LastFM "genre" informations . But, beside the point LastFM isn't the best source availlable, I noticed the .txt files created by this script can't be used with a tagger software (these .txt files are NOT in plain text).


Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #76
^ Sounds like that should be in a tagger program & outside the scope of JScript Biography.

New Version: JScript Biography 0.5.1 beta

CHANGELOG

Fix for change at last.fm

Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #77

^ I agree it's outside the intended scope of your script.

Yet, the method I suggested is very efficient :
I applied it with a Marc2003's Discography WScript which generates for each artist one .txt file with the MusicBrainz ID number (e.g : "83d91898-7763-47d7-b03b-b92132375c47" for Pink Floyd).

With these .txt files, I could batch tag my whole collection (+7000 artists) using MP3tag. It only took 2-3 hours to generate for each track in my collection, a MUSICBRAINZ_ID tag. This is insanely fast ! (with only a tagger program + a "web source" script, it would have take ages to do the same thing).

I'm aware your script wasn't designed to solve tagging issues ; on the other hand, even if your sole purpose is to display artist informations, it wouldn't be irrelevant to display "genre/style" informations...

Anyway, even if you don't want to add this feature, you're script is great and I'm happy to use it.

Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #78
Hi Wilb
I'm really enjoying your script. Well done and thanks.

I'd like to ask you if it would be possible to include a panel property to switch the panel between preferring the playing track and the selected/focused track. My idea would be to use two biography panels, one for the playing track and one for my focused track.

Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #79
Thanks much for the great script - nice to see data flowing once again into my new albums.

One question/suggestion:

Is it possible to get both bio sources automatically?
e.g. the "Sources" options are actually toggles/check boxes instead of either/or. The user could turn both on or off and display would default to which ever is available and cycle on click?


Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #80
Quote
Is it possible to get both bio sources automatically?
Both sources are obtained automatically if auto-fetch is enabled for them, which is the default.

Quote
...display would default to which ever is available...
Sources is the preferred source; if first source is not available it tries the other source - so that is the above behaviour.  If I haven't understood your point then please be more explicit. You can set which sources are auto-fetched in biography.ini.

I have already added a text heading that can be clicked to toggle the preferred source that will be in the next version + other requests.

Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #81
fantastic work - thanks much for the clarification!

The only other item on my wish list would be other layout options (such as text over image) but I'm probably on my own for that. ;)


Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #82
Hello!

This is so confusing.
Read through this thread about fixing the lost Biography.
I also don't have any of the mentioned/required paths and folders on my computer Win7 Ultimate.
I don't have a biograph.ini file anywhere.
foobar2000 is installed to: C:\Program Files (x86)\foobar2000 (not portable) and it's working perfectly.
The only thing I have looking anything like biography is:
C:\Users\***\AppData\Roaming\foobar2000\user-components\foo_uie_biography
Using tedgo's DarkOne v4 theme (I love that theme!) but as already said the Biography won't work at the moment.

@WilB
Maybe it's a big task to get the Biography working on my PC but if you or anyone has time to put in an effort to guide me I'd be really happy.
I really miss the Biography so hoping for a solution.

Also, could anyone show a screendump on how WilB script looks like when active?
Is anyone using tedgo's DarkOne v4 theme it would be nice to see how that looks.

Best regards redorb
What is the opposite of music?

Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #83
I believe that tedgo's DarkOne v4 uses foo_uie_biography. That component no longer works properly, as acknowledged by tedgo the themes author. Development of foo_uie_biography appears to have ceased.

You have posted in the JScript Biography thread, which offers a replacement. To use you would have to replace the foo_uie_biography panel in DarkOne v4 with a JScript panel. You will have to work out how to do that as I am not familiar with DarkOne v4. But in general... Ensure you have installed JScript panel. Go to preferences\columns ui\layout, locate foo_uie_biography panel, add a JScript panel to the same parent panel stack splitter, ensure the name & all settings for JScript panel are identical in the panel stack splitter to those used by foo_uie_biography. Click OK to load the columns ui layout. Go back to the parent panel stack splitter. Ensure it has retained all the names & settings (sometimes they don't stick). When all is OK remove foo_uie_biography from the panel stack splitter. It's then a simple matter of importing the JScript Biography script into the new JScript panel as per the first post of this thread. JScript biography looks much the same as foo_uie_biography.

HTH

Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #84
@ WilB

Thanks for your reply, appreciate that!

I'm stuck at installing JScript panel, it totally messes up things and I can't get pass from there.
The really annoying thing is it's impossible to undo settings in foobar to what is was before.
Luckily it's easy to restore C: drive from an OS image I keep updating regullary.
I think I give up on this, for now at least.
Putting my hopes to tedgo and fixing Biography for DarkOne v4.

Best regards
What is the opposite of music?

Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #85
Hi,
I just uploaded a customized JScript Biography script, you can grab it here http://www.mediafire.com/file/lyqhqzqh76q6yxm/WSHartist_bio_release.js

it add a little bit better looking layout, with a blurred album art as background, titles for the biography and album review, ability to select lastfm prefered server, ability to enlarge the image with one click or on mouse over.

But i won't update it / do support so it's more for WilB, if he want to pick some ideas.

Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #86
Luckily it's easy to restore C: drive from an OS image I keep updating regullary.

That's crazy. If you're messing around with the DarkOne theme, all you have to do is re-import the .fcl file like you did when you first installed the theme. That will reset everything back to how it was originally.

Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #87
@ marc2003
I know that! Made a lot of tweaks on the theme and couldn't find that specific backup .flc
Usually I'm very organized... :-[  Yesterday I exported settings to a new .flc
But thanks for the heads up.

Best regards
What is the opposite of music?

Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #88
@colagen Thanks for the script.  I've imported to the "Foobar Mnlt2 Plus 2.0" setup.  It displays bio, review, and art but crashes on every other launch with this message: 

JScript Panel (biography v0.5.1 beta by Wilb)
JavaScript runtime error:
Unable to get property 'GetColorScheme' of undefined or null reference
File: <main>
Line: 4014, Col: 2
<source text only available at compile time>

How do I remedy it?

Thanks again,

obs

Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #89
There will be a new version of JScript biography shortly that implements the nice ideas of colagen in a fully working way - its actually done - just testing all is working...

Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #90
@WilB Great!  Thank you.

obs

Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #91
New Version: JScript Biography 0.6 beta

Thanks for the feedback and colagen for the ideas.

CHANGELOG

ADD: Biographies & album reviews now contain extra artist & album related info (last.fm album reviews unchanged).
ADD: "Prefer Now Playing" to menu > sources. If disabled, the selected track is followed. Operates on a per panel basis.
ADD: "Heading" for text. Enable: menu > layout. Displays artist/album names, info type, info source & rating stars where available. Clickable > toggles preferred source, displaying if available. There are plenty of options in panel properties if required, e.g. font size, metrics, items to display, font colour[set with text highlight], fine tuning etc
ADD: Rating, if available, can now be displayed in the heading, on own line or embedded in the text as before (set in panel properties "Rating...").
ADD: Dark and light theme options. Enable: menu > layout. These pick image colours for the background and synchronise with the image.
ADD: Option to enlarge images on mouse over. Enable: menu > layout. Note that enlarge/shrink both of images and text is still available through single click using mouse middle button as before.
CHG: Outer padding can now be set independently for all image & text borders (panel properties).
ADD: Shortcut for "Server Setting": menu > sources. For example, use to change the last.fm language by setting a different server.
ADD: Option for last.fm server to fall back to trying www.last.fm (English), if the set server is different & no results (set in biography.ini as above).
ADD: Option to lock dual mode as image + text rather than using auto display (panel properties "Layout Dual Style Auto).
ADD: Option to top align images when on left or right of text (panel properties "Layout Dual Style...)
FIX: Regression. Auto resize image cache wasn't always being used.
CHG: Various optimizations

Ensure comma "," separators are retained where used in panel properties.

Some panel properties have changed & redundant removed. This may affect image and text positioning (default unchanged). Export panel properties, before updating, if you need a record.

Due to the new requested features, biography.ini will be reset. The previous version will be backed up in the same location.

Click the link below for a picture showing dark theme with heading displayed (both can be enabled on layout menu)



Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #92
Thank you for the great plugin.

I have a suggestion. Now, mouse click on the panel switches between 'Artist' and "album" mode.
While I read 'biography or album review', sometimes I mis-click on the panel, and it resulted in the unwanted switching.
So,to prevent that, it would be nice if the click area was limited in the album & artist image area.

Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #93
Thanks. The issue came up once before and resulted in the option: "Mouse Left Button Click: Map To Double-Click" (biography.ini [miscellaneous heading]). This will prevent single mis-clicks. The setting is in biography.ini.

HTH

Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #94
Hi,

FYI the 0.6.2 script version seems to require JSPanel 1.2 component.

I was running JSPanel 1.1.1 and got the following error:
JScript Panel (biography v0.6.2 beta by Wilb): Microsoft JScript runtime error:
Object doesn't support this property or method
File: <main>
Line: 1058, Col: 133
<source text only available at compile time>


Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #95
IMO the lastfm/allmusic buttons are a bit confusing - it seems that clicking should toggle the source (only if it is available)?

btw, really like the new formatting options - your hard work is appreciated!


Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #96
It was Date.now() not being supported by the JScript engine in JSPanel 1.1.1 (it was OK with the JScript9) engine. I'll add a workaround shim as I think even 1.2 can default back to the JScript engine unless at least IE9 is installed. Regarding the toggle button I don't really understand what you mean. Please be explicit, although perhaps by now you have got used to it. I thought it worked well and automatically - showing what's actually displayed -  I also tried what I think you mean and that seemed fine as well.

Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #97
Regarding the toggle button I don't really understand what you mean. Please be explicit,

I think my confusion is that the button seems to be used as a setting (which data source does the user prefer?) instead of an action (switch the data source if available).
 
For example, if I have an album review panel, and there is an "allmusic *****" button, when I click it, I see a "lastfm" button, but the actual review data remains the same except for ">> Album rating: X.X <<" at the beginning.

I would expect to get a completely different review from lastfm if there was one to display? If there is no 2nd review, I would not expect anything to happen on click.

Similarly with the bio, if I see "allmusic" information, when I click the button, the data did not change (in my test case), but the button state did (switches to "lastfm"). I would expect that button state change to happen only if there was secondary information to display.

Am I missing something?

The disconnect is that if it is a preference setting, how would I access an alternate data source? would I have to change my preferred source and then force reload?

Re: Biography Discussion

Reply #98
I can't reproduce that behaviour (except for rare occasions when last.fm have the other review on their site). The button should work as you expect & synchronise with the source.

Have you changed the save [PATHS] in biography.ini? It sounds like you haven't got unique save paths and one review is overwriting the other, which I think would give the behaviour you describe. Ensure that the two biographies are saved in different folders. Similarly ensure that the two album reviews are saved in different folders. Restart foobar2000 after changing biography.ini. Check the save locations of a few files to validate all is working properly.