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Index Artwork
31-10-2020, 22:15 (This post was last modified: 31-10-2020 22:19 by DavidHB.)
Post: #1
Index Artwork
Update 173 has been out two whole days and we haven't had any comments on the new Index Artwork feature (details here) yet. Shame on us! Smile

I'm experimenting with this (IMO) important new feature, just with the auto setting as yet, on my test instance of MinimServer. I can report that the feature works with BubbleDS (and therefore presumably also with BubbleUPnP), Linn Kazoo and Asset Control. The first two of these helpfully lay out browsing indexes with artwork in grid form, greatly improving the use of screen real estate on my tablet and computer screen. Control point responsiveness is acceptable on my devices (and my gigabit/ AC wifi network).

A question. Can artwork be specified for all index entries? On auto, I note that the nnn Albums and nnn Items lines are populated with artwork, but not the remainder of the entries in the top level index. Can the remainder of this menu, and also the 'letter' menus generated by alphaGroup, be populated in some way? If not, could these ideas be added to the list of possible enhancements?

Another idea would be, when IndexArtwork is set to "folder", to allow the user to specify a default.jpg or default.png image to populate entries that have no image specified? Control points usually provide some sort of default image, but they are typically pretty boring.

You will gather that I am quite enthusiastic about this new feature, because I think that it can greatly improve the look and feel of a compatible control point working with MinimServer. If this is an example of the enhancements we can expect in future, I'm very glad I bought my MinimServer 2 licence!

David
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01-11-2020, 19:09
Post: #2
RE: Index Artwork
I also looked into it yesterday as it was one of the features I'd been looking forward to, but I came away a little disappointed (not necessarily because of MinimServer through).

I had the same query as you about other index selections; I'd tried Genre but had no joy and ended up preferring 'indexArtwork=folder' as I didn't like the inheritance of images from using auto/all e.g. having an arbitrary artist displayed alongside 'NN items'.

From the control point (BubbleUPnP) I was hoping that once I selected 'AlbumArtist' as the index selection, and then subsequently selected an artist I'd see the artist image at the top of the screen with the available album selections below (a little like the album view), but currently it's just for the index entries. Maybe if enough people think this would be worth it we could ask bubbleguuum if he'd consider it.

Given that it's going to be quite a lot of work to get images for every Album Artist, unless BubbleUPnP can make more use of them I don't think it's worth it for me, which is a shame.
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02-11-2020, 11:45
Post: #3
RE: Index Artwork
(31-10-2020 22:15)DavidHB Wrote:  A question. Can artwork be specified for all index entries? On auto, I note that the nnn Albums and nnn Items lines are populated with artwork, but not the remainder of the entries in the top level index. Can the remainder of this menu, and also the 'letter' menus generated by alphaGroup, be populated in some way? If not, could these ideas be added to the list of possible enhancements?

Doing this for the "letter" menus makes sense and I will look into adding this. For top-level etries such as Artist and Composer, the auto option doesn't really make sense. Each of these top-level entries contains a complete list of files, so an "auto" image for these could be any image in the library. I suppose it might look pretty but it provides no useful information. Also, because of how the image is selected, it would be the same image for Artist, Date, Genre, etc.

An alternative would be to extend the "folder" setting so that the user could provide different generic images such as Artist.jpg, Composer.png, Date.jpg, etc. to be used for these index entries. I would be interested to hear comments on this.

Quote:Another idea would be, when IndexArtwork is set to "folder", to allow the user to specify a default.jpg or default.png image to populate entries that have no image specified? Control points usually provide some sort of default image, but they are typically pretty boring.

This would be possible. Perhaps instead of a single default, there should be defaults for album, track, group, playlist, etc.

Quote:You will gather that I am quite enthusiastic about this new feature, because I think that it can greatly improve the look and feel of a compatible control point working with MinimServer. If this is an example of the enhancements we can expect in future, I'm very glad I bought my MinimServer 2 licence!

David

I hope there will be many more reasons to make you and other users glad in the future!
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02-11-2020, 14:09 (This post was last modified: 02-11-2020 14:12 by haggis999.)
Post: #4
RE: Index Artwork
After upgrading to MinimServer 2 yesterday, I've just given indexArtwork=folder a trial run by storing images of almost all my composers whose name begins with a B.

I like it, so do Bach, Bartok, Bax, Beethoven, Bruch, Bruckner, etc! Smile
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02-11-2020, 15:06 (This post was last modified: 02-11-2020 15:09 by DavidHB.)
Post: #5
RE: Index Artwork
Thank you, Simon

(02-11-2020 11:45)simoncn Wrote:  Doing this for the "letter" menus makes sense and I will look into adding this.

Thank you. That is helpful.

(02-11-2020 11:45)simoncn Wrote:  An alternative would be to extend the "folder" setting so that the user could provide different generic images such as Artist.jpg, Composer.png, Date.jpg, etc. to be used for these index entries. I would be interested to hear comments on this.

I understand your explanation. I was just checking what was and what was not possible with the "auto" setting. My next suggestion (honest!) would have been precisely the same idea as you have put forward, so the suggestion has my strong support.

(02-11-2020 11:45)simoncn Wrote:  Perhaps instead of a single default, there should be defaults for album, track, group, playlist, etc.

This too would be an excellent idea. I had wondered about it, but was a bit reluctant to ask for too much at once.

(02-11-2020 11:45)simoncn Wrote:  I hope there will be many more reasons to make you and other users glad in the future!

That's very good to know!

David
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02-11-2020, 15:55
Post: #6
RE: Index Artwork
I have also been making use of new index artwork feature and I really like it and it works well with Bubbleupnp.

I had previously created specific images for my genres and for numerous other groupings that I create so once I pointed the index folder to those images - it all just worked

A big improvement for my set up

Many thanks

Mike
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02-11-2020, 18:46
Post: #7
RE: Index Artwork
(02-11-2020 15:55)mike963 Wrote:  I had previously created specific images for my genres and for numerous other groupings that I create so once I pointed the index folder to those images - it all just worked.

Presumably the individual genres work as for individual composers and artists; an image named "Classical.jpg" will populate the Classical Genre entry and so on. (I don't yet have the images, so I have to make the assumption.) My question, and Simon's response, related to the top level index/menu, which, for the reason Simon explained, is only populated to a limited extent.

I think that, as this top level menu is the first encounter the new user has with the menu structure generated by MinimServer, it is very helpful if that menu is "twopence coloured" rather than "penny plain", even though the latter is perfectly functional.

David
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02-11-2020, 20:39 (This post was last modified: 02-11-2020 21:10 by entdgc.)
Post: #8
RE: Index Artwork
A great new feature Simon. I echo many of the comments above.

I have just used the auto function so far but it looks fine. I organise my data as Artist/Albums/Tracks. I had already added an image in each artist folder as other CP's seem to use this method. Minimserver SEEMS to be picking these up rather than any images in the album folders which is good. Is this just luck or does Minimserver search down each branch until it finds an image and so finds the image in the Artist sub folder first. I cannot foresee me creating and populating and index image folder (but think this would be useful for special folders such as genres). I personally think my way of organising these images is more logical! So if I have been lucky so far I would ask that an option for this way of working be added.

Thanks again Simon - keep up the good work.

Edit : Having had a further investigation it seems I was lucky as new images added in the Artist folder aren't being picked up in preference to those in the album folder. So my request stands - could this be considered as a further option?
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02-11-2020, 21:12 (This post was last modified: 02-11-2020 21:14 by simoncn.)
Post: #9
RE: Index Artwork
Are you using folder view to browse your library? If so, I would expect the behaviour you are describing (with or without the indexArtwork option).

If you are using tag view, I would not expect this behaviour. Are your artist images different from all the album images for albums by that artist? If so, I am surprised that your artist images are being selected. I would expect MinimServer to use the album image from the first album that it finds for that artist.

Tag view doesn't use folders (except for album art), so it has no concept of an artist folder.
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02-11-2020, 22:14
Post: #10
RE: Index Artwork
(02-11-2020 20:39)entdgc Wrote:  Edit : Having had a further investigation it seems I was lucky as new images added in the Artist folder aren't being picked up in preference to those in the album folder. So my request stands - could this be considered as a further option?

I don't see any reasonable way to do this. MinimServer doesn't know about or assume any relationships between different folders in your library, so it doesn't know that the parent of your album folder is an artist folder.
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