Xion 1.0 build 121 Beta Release

[Cliff Cawley]

WARNING:
This is a Beta Build. That means it has fixes and features that are NEW. It is also possible it has bugs that are NEW! If you are looking for stability, please don't expect this build to be perfectly stable. It may have issues. If on the other hand you are happy to try this build out and post any bugs back in this thread, then please do!

Download Installer Version:
r2 Studios Server -> http://www.r2.com.au/downloads/files/beta/qa-xion_v1.0b121.exe
OR
Xion Server -> http://xion.r2.com.au/download/beta/qa-xion_v1.0b121.exe

NOTE: Runtimes are now statically linked. You shouldn't need any external libraries! Let me know if it complains for you!

Changelist:

• Added support for a crossfade button
  
• Added support for a crossfade indicator
  
• Fixed the display of the Window Title in the main Container when using a Taskbar button
  
• Fixed the Default interface loading when you cancel the Default Interface Config window - Thanks djinn2!
  
• Converted HashString messages to pre-calculated Enums
  
• Fixed an issue with Formatting a XionFixedString
  
• Fixed a bug on new installs that would mean you'd keep getting asked if you wanted to perform an Auto Update - Thanks Alexandra!
  
• Reimplemented support for using a Windows hook for multimedia keyboard controls
  
• Added support for ComponentJoint which automatically binds to its own RigidBody. Can then be bound to another RigidBody
  
• Added a new Editor Property type 'Component' to allow choosing of Components
  
• Added a new Component Chooser Window to aid in the selection of Components
  
• Updated existing Components to be aware of the EntityManager they should load into
  
• Forward Declared Entity and fixed up the linking issues
  
• Added better Wheel mouse scroll support (Fixes slow scrolling in Windows 7) and also added page scroll support
  
• Added variable increment increase/decrease for volume and mapped it to the wheel mouse so that you can scroll the volume much smoother
  
• Changed the behaviour of the hit detection for Text objects so that you are always able to toggle/scroll them, even if you click on a transparent position. Fixes issues with being unable to toggle/scroll them all the time
  
• Added code to force ourselves to the foreground when showing the Install Skin and Install Plugin dialogs - Thanks dragoon!
  
• Fixed issue when dropping audio files onto the main interface and nothing playing due to recent message changes - Thanks djinn2!
  
• Added better error messages if you attempt to load a CMYK color mode PSD, or a 16 Bit Channel PSD
  
• Fixed the update of the Volume bar in the Config window so that its immediately updated instead of after the first refresh
  
• Modified the behaviour when you are assigning Hotkeys, so that if you click on the Hotkey list, it cancels the assignment for you
  
• Modified the Xion Update check so that its threaded and doesn't freeze the GUI if you manually check, or the startup process
  
• Renamed 'Pause' to 'Pause/Play' to better reflect that it can toggle between both - Thanks Davyd
  
• Modified the Playlist to Close when you press Cancel (Usually Escape)
  
• Modified the Track Title Help dialog to be non-modal
  
• Fixed the Recent Playlist menu from sometimes gaining duplicate items
  
• Renamed the Playlist Control->Pause to Pause/Play
  
• Added indi_repeatoff in order to represent when the repeat state is off
  
• Modified the way that the _over, _down and _normal states set their transparency so that dragging a slider with a full button doesn't cause issues
  
• Modified the About window
  
• Updated the Default skin with Lance's new Skin
  
• Updated the Xion icon - Thanks Lance!

If you find bugs specifically related to this build, please post them here instead of the Bug reporting forum. Any feedback positive or negative should also go in here, no new threads. This way all feedback, etc related to this build will be in the one place.


KNOWN ISSUES:
The new Default skin's Vis Left/Right buttons aren't finished yet, so won't currently do anything. Also, the Playlist Title text won't resize with the playlist. This will need some more code changes to fix properly and will be ready for build 122.


ABOUT THIS BUILD:

This build features Lance's new Default skin! Make sure you check it out and give feedback! The skin is a Release Candidate, and has 1 or 2 missing things. Namely the Vis Left and Right Arrows currently don't do anything, but will in the next release.

There are also a ton of bug fixes and some modifications. Thanks for everyone who's been testing and letting me know the errors you've found, things are really shaping up!

Again, let me know if you get any crashes, please give details about how to reproduce! This is a build without the Crash reporter so you won't be prompted to send me any details.

Any questions or bugs related to this build should be posted here only!

Enjoy!

Cliff

[Lance]

Excelent stuff! Really great release here.

On a side note, I want to sincerely appologize to everybody for such a huge wait for this skin. I'm not going to go into the many reasons for this, but I am truly sorry for letting you all down for so long.
Anyways, I do hope that the skin has been worth the wait. I've put a lot of focus and effort into the PSD files themselves, making it as accessible and easy to navigate as possible for all first-time skinners and seasoned skinner alike.

I'll be around the forums again from now on to answer any questions and read your feedback. There is a currently a very small to-do list before the public release but everything is 99.9% in place.

Hope you all enjoy it

Peace, Lance

[dragoon]

Yay! My refresh button is still working (I alternate between F5 and actually pressing Refresh =D)

Downloading now..

I love the new skins' looks, but to me it feels awkward since the "bar" mode is *nearly* 2x longer than the original.. Maybe if there was a way to kind of "slide" some of the options out of view.. that would be neat. I also liked how the Pause/Play/Stop |</>| buttons were on the right side. The new playlist also looks awesome, but I like the playlist to be as small as it can go, and this one feels like there is a lot less room for the playlist list items. I just added the old playlist into the default.zip file) I also like how the old one was dark, since everything on my PC is dark (Custom windows theme/Taskbar/wallpaper, cursor).

In normal player mode, it does indeed look cool. I like the reddish color (And Hue selector), and the bouncing bars make me feel fuzzy inside. The buttons and sliders are all very easily accessible. It all looks very professional

These are just my thoughts, I'm not trying to offend anyone!! We're all different

Thanks for the great release and great work on the new skin, will post with any problems I encounter!

[Lance]

Thanks very much for you feedback dragon

It's been mentioned already about the bar mode buttons being awkward on the left. I designed it that way though to match the main player. If more people don't think they could get used to this way, I will switch them around, no problem.

As for the bar mode being longer, that's just how the design turned out. If it is too long for some people, I could perhaps create a second bar mode with lesser elements. Let me know what you think and what should be/not be on it. Or if you like how it is, say so too.

The playlist is a little more bulky, yes, but the old PL had very little graphical detail and surroundings so that was probably the smallest you could get it. I may as well throw in my own opinion of liking the PL as it is. More feedback welcome on this issue.

I'm glad you like the main player I never use bar modes myself seen as I have screen space to waste. So a good main player is essential for me personally.

Thanks again man!

Peace, Lance

[AphexMonkey]

Thanks for the new beta Cliff, and thanks for getting the xion going better and better.



Greetings. AM³.

[djinn2]

All seems good so far, no bugs found yet anyway

Love the new skin Lance, this is a default skin I'll actually be using, especially with the Hue selector. The only issue with it is that the toggle equalizer button is brighter than the other buttons in the display. Design choice or oversight?

The bar mode is very nice but it doesn't quite feel like part of the same skin. Maybe because it doesn't have the same "chunky" design as the main and playlist windows. or maybe because the display area is a different colour. It'd be perfect if the hue selector effected the bar mode and playlist too.

[SLoB]

Default skin
no savestate on hue change
prg, pan, vol labels could be sharper
album art is not taking advantage of the space available, make slider wider and therefore increase album art size within the frame, can easily get another 20pixels out of it and still look ok.

Any reason why the library can't use the pl frame now Cliff?

[Cliff Cawley]

Thanks for the great comments everyone!

I love the new skins' looks, but to me it feels awkward since the "bar" mode is *nearly* 2x longer than the original..

Actually I've always had people ask me for a longer version of the default

Perhaps Lance could make one more version that Compact? If he was to do so, which controls could you live without on the bar mode, if he needed to cut any?

(I use the bar mode pretty much all of the time when I listen to Xion)

It'd be perfect if the hue selector effected the bar mode and playlist too.

I'll be looking to allow a way for a skin to share values for the same Skin pack so that this will be possible (Lance knows about this and I believe has allowed for future expansion once I get the feature in)

Cliff

[logokas]

I am thoroughly impressed.

Lance, you have done a superb job with this. Whatever your reasons were for this delay, ALL IS FORGIVEN.

I agree however, that some improvements should be made.

I will list some things here, myself.

1. Default hue should be the Xion yellow, for the sake of authentity. Unless Cliff has some new color scheme in mind.
2. Drawer animations have awkward delays. They should be snappier.
3. Bar mode is superb, but perhaps a little too long indeed. However, instead of making a separate mode, just change the design a bit and allow for a drawer type extension. I'm sure you'll think of something good.

And what the top posters have said, regarding some broken buttons, etc.

I really have to say it again, you've done a great job Lance. The future of Xion looks bright with such professional work to show it's potential.

Now, onwards! To the public release!

EDIT: On closer scrutiny i discovered the excellent placement of the vis over the dotted background. However some lines seem unused. Intended? Speaking of the bars vis, Cliff, one of the bars is actually dead, and there's some extra space that is unused. Think you can fix that up real easy?

EDIT 2: Measuring bitrate on streams shows that odd averaging number that counts down until it hits the right bitrate. I know there's a way to determine this without using math, or at least make it look accurate right from the start.

Also, the bar mode should probably have the hue propery attached to it aswell. And the main one should have the option to make it grayscale instead of an actual color.

[WinstonGFX]

Yeah Lance, this interface is BEAUTIFUL, but I have a few quibbles.

The bar mode should have the color changer too.
Or at least there should be the ability for the screen on the main mode to get to grayscale (or that black on the stick mode).

[I like the earlier mentioned idea of having the default screen color as Xion-Yellow.]

Play/Pause button seems much more useful than individual buttons, but again, that's up to you.

Album art should fill the whole height of the drawer, make the drawer come out further.

Timer on stick mode should be centered within it's containing box.

The Vis left and right arrows don't seem to change anything. What's their purpose?

Otherwise, it's really wonderful!

[Lance]

Default skin
no savestate on hue change
prg, pan, vol labels could be sharper
album art is not taking advantage of the space available, make slider wider and therefore increase album art size within the frame, can easily get another 20pixels out of it and still look ok.

Thanks dude.
The hue does have savestate and has done from the start. It's working for me so if any porblems have arrised, it's due to the Xion code not the skin.

I'll see about sharpening the text labels. Thanks for that.

The album art panel is already set to be uploaded. Cliff is also planning on adding some smoothing to it so it's not as pixelated. However, this will likely occur in future as we just want the public release out already. Thanks for the feedback man

@ Logokas:
Thank you also for the feedback! On a personal note straight off, I'm relieved of your fogiveness. I'm not sure why, but I almost feared your comment (ignore that if you must). But thank you for your kind words man, it's very much appreciated.

On to your feedback. The reason for the panel delays is to allow the buttons and particlar layers to fade out before the animation commences. Due to how Xion is currently coded, I had to add the delay otherwise layers were left in mid air fading out, off of the player. I'm sure you understand. I'm sure this can be fixed in the near future though.

The default colour was picked because it looks cool, haha. But on a serious note, the website is getting an overall too, by myself, which will most probably tie in with the new skin. So hold tight with that for the time being, I'll sort something out.

On to the bar mode. There has been a lot of feedback (besides this forum) about it and there will be significant changes made. I will flip the buttons to the oposite side and I'll see how I can shorten the length and as you say, add a possible slide panel. However, I think Cliff is with me on this that the these changes will come along in the builds shortly after the public release. Due to personal schedule and Cliffs eagerness to release, neither of us have the time to change every suggestion before going public. But everything is taken note of non the less.

OK so the vis. Yes, the vis DOES fall short of the actual space it's in. However, I did this deliberately as I studied the vis closely and found out that the size I have chosen makes the vis appear EXACTLY without anti-aliasing, meaning each and every bar is exactly one pixel and nothing tries to stretch. I personally don't see this as a problem as it's hardly noticable. If it's stretched to the full width of the surrounding box, some of the bars randomly blur and look ugly. I chose this size because it had the best visual output.

The hue propertly on the Bar mode is something Cliff and I have discussed. Currently there is no global cross-PSD modification so if such a thing was in place, it wouldn't change throughout. For the time being, the bar mode will remain greyscale but Cliff has already mentioned that he will work on a global solution for colour themes. Again, we just want this released as these suggestions don't affect performance.

Same with the black and white option for the main player. I told Cliff before he posted this build that I inted on adding a B/W button below the hue slider. So yeah, I've already thought of this and it will be implemented very soon

Thank you both for your feedback! I hope I've answered your suggestions. Thanks again Logokas for being cool, means a lot.

Peace, Lance

[Lance]

One more thing, please read the entire first post of this thread as it explains why the "vis" buttons don't work. They are a work in progress and will be functional with the public build.

Peace, Lance

[logokas]

Hey now, i'm not out to get everyone.

...MOST of the time. >_>;

Glad to see you've already worked most of the stuff out. I'll be awaiting the final release then!

[Monkeez]

Nice release Cliff, cant wait for the public release too, hopefully I can shake my laziness and make a skin for once.

I really like the skin Lance, most of my gripes with it have already been said by other people. However, I do like the new length for the bar mode even if everyone else seems to dislike it . The only other thing is the borders on the playlist, I think the borders that hold the sliders are quite thick and probably could be trimmed down while still looking nice, all just personal preference though.

[dragoon]

Perhaps Lance could make one more version that Compact? If he was to do so, which controls could you live without on the bar mode, if he needed to cut any?

Lets see. That's a tough one, heh. For starters, I really only need one progress bar, either on the Playlist or the bar Preferably on the Playlist though, since there is a lot more room to grab and drag the slider accurately.

I could do without the minimize and close buttons (And perhaps the 'Switch' button, but that may confuse a lot of new users =/) on the far right side.

I could do without the Open File button as I would most likely just double click or right-click add to playlist on anything I have a hankering to listen to.

Of course, we need to have the pretty pulsating bars and scrolling text with the countdown/countup timer, for sure.

As someone else said in the thread, the Play button has become obsolete and can be done away with, utilizing only the Play/Pause button.

I did prefer the controls on the right side (Play/pause/stop/back/forward) and the Playlist button and friends on the left. I use my Bar docked to south-east corner of my screen.


And I wish I had the screen space to waste, as downgrading from dual monitors is a life-altering change.. it's so difficult to go back to the 'norm'.
Also, I'm amazed at how well you're both taking all this angry criticism from everyone, I'd be in tears


EDIT: The playlist's new scrolling playlist name stays the same size even when the play list is made quite wide. Should this stretch to the side of the playlist? It looks strange just sitting in the middle between the menu buttons and the side.

EDIT2: I found that using the ShimmerWnd window would cause Xfire to crash when changing the volume in Xion since my program would attempt to change the Xfire status to "Volume:xxx%", causing a crash! Strange, just reset it back to XionWindowClass and all is well again.

Desktop with new skin:

The new skin is growing on me, but if you're offering to do a more compact Bar, I'm not going to complain!