aida64 + foobar2000

[rivera]

Looks funny, but I am sure that lots of users would be happy to see some realtime info from foobar2000 on the Sensor Panel - current song's name, album etc, just only for the currently playing track.

 

[Fiery]

We've checked the foobar2000 SDK, but it seems quite complicated to use. For such a minor improvement we simply find it too awkward and complex to deal with. Maybe we're looking at the wrong bits and pieces though, so if you (or someone else) can provide a short source code to detect the information you're looking for, we'd be happy to implement it.

[rivera]

5 minutes ago, Fiery said:

We've checked the foobar2000 SDK, but it seems quite complicated to use. For such a minor improvement we simply find it too awkward and complex to deal with. Maybe we're looking at the wrong bits and pieces though, so if you (or someone else) can provide a short source code to detect the information you're looking for, we'd be happy to implement it.

I will try to contact foobar dev team - may be they can provide this info.

Thanks for feedback!

[rivera]

I tried to find out an easy way to get foobar2000's output to AIDA64, and was advised this possible solution:

http://skipyrich.com/wiki/Foobar2000:Now_Playing_Simple

 

As far as I understood, this plugin:

1. Creates a file in a path and with filename specified by user.

2. Checks a current status - playing, paused, stopped.

3. Writes ANY info from the currently playing song (title, album, bitrate, etc) into this file.

 

So, AIDA64 must check a content of this file and extract strings from it.

Sounds very easy.

I would be very happy if anyone can implement this in AIDA64 ....

[Fiery]

R

12 hours ago, rivera said:

I tried to find out an easy way to get foobar2000's output to AIDA64, and was advised this possible solution:

http://skipyrich.com/wiki/Foobar2000:Now_Playing_Simple

 

As far as I understood, this plugin:

1. Creates a file in a path and with filename specified by user.

2. Checks a current status - playing, paused, stopped.

3. Writes ANY info from the currently playing song (title, album, bitrate, etc) into this file.

 

So, AIDA64 must check a content of this file and extract strings from it.

Sounds very easy.

I would be very happy if anyone can implement this in AIDA64 ....

That solution would imply that we need to start a HTTP client session for the URL you've quoted. That's what I meant about quite complicated and overkill. If you open a new HTTP session once a second, that uses a lot of system resources.

[rivera]

10 hours ago, Fiery said:

That solution would imply that we need to start a HTTP client session for the URL you've quoted.

Why do you need HTTP-session?

1. To enable integration of AIDA with foobar, user must install "NowPlayingSimple" plugin into foobar (or any other similar plugin).

2. In AIDA settings, user must specify:

- path & name of output file generated by "NowPlayingSimple" plugin;

- format of the generated file (to parse).

3. In "NowPlayingSimple" settings in foobar, user must specify:

- required format of output into the generated file (as per the AIDA requirements);

- path & name of generated output file (as per the AIDA requirements).

 

So, how it works:

1. Foobar generates (i.e. "plugin generates") the output file in some specified path with specified name (it's up to the user where to store this file).

2. AIDA knows where this file is stored ("settings").

3. AIDA checks whether this file is changed.

4. If file is changed, AIDA reads data from the file & displays info on SensorPanel.

 

No http-sessions, just a simple file IO operations.

 

Similarly, "NowPlayingSimple" can load info to clipboard, but I do not think it's a good idea to use clipboard for this purpose.

Settings of that plugin displayed in the screenshot attached below.

Output format - just an example.

 

Formatting must be specified according to foobar's requirements:

http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=Foobar2000:Title_Formatting_Reference

It is not necessary to support all the requirements, just a necessary (most commonly used) tags.

 

-----------------------

This could be a universal solution.

Whatever plugin is used, whatever player is used - the idea is the same:

- AIDA reads some file (generated by some player);

- AIDA knows how to parse this file (common tags must be supported like %title%, %artist%, %album%, etc).

 

[Fiery]

You're right, it wouldn't need a http session. However, it would still require hammering the storage device with a new write operation every second or so. In the age of flash memory based devices, it's one of the worst solutions. Foobar needs to put that information into shared memory, it's a way better solution.

[rivera]

7 hours ago, Fiery said:

Foobar needs to put that information into shared memory, it's a way better solution.

I agree with you, it will need sensing every second, it's disturbing.

And using exchange via clipboard (another option provided by the plugin) also seems to be harmful for other software.

 

https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php/topic,113666.msg937607.html#msg937607

Here foobar's developers advised something about interface, but I could not understand what they meant.