Xion Community

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:
r2 Studios Server -> http://www.r2.com.au/downloads/files/beta/qa-xion_v1.0b66.exe
OR
Xion Server -> http://xion.r2.com.au/download/beta/qa-xion_v1.0b66.exe

Changelist:

• Fix Save States not correctly loading
  
• Fix crash due to old format Save State files. Added extra checking for correct version
  
• Fix buffer overrun when massive URL is added to Open URL text box
  
• Limit URL Entry box to Max Path size
  
• Ensure Year text entry is limited to 4 Numbers only
  
• Ensure that when you press F5, Xion doesn't ask to install the skin if its in another directory
  
• Fix Sliderbit alignment problem that would offset the sliderbit causing it to appear off centre
  
• Fix Play/Pause States when using indicators to hide and show them at the same location. Buttons now correctly show and hide as well as mouse overs
  
• Add support for netbuffer bar

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.

This version appears to be nearing Public Release quality as the only bug fixes have been minor. Please make an extra effort to test this build out and let me know of any bugs or issues that you find. If everything goes well, there will be a new Public Release soon!

Enjoy!

Cliff

Man that netbufferlr is nice - WAAAAYY smoother. Nice job.

Would it be reasonable to ask for the VU to have this feature before Public Release or is that something that'll stay in the beta builds for a while?

pickle Wrote:Man that netbufferlr is nice - WAAAAYY smoother. Nice job.

Would it be reasonable to ask for the VU to have this feature before Public Release or is that something that'll stay in the beta builds for a while?

Thanks

Sure, I can probably add the VU to do something similar. Is there anything else while I'm at it?

Cliff

cool stuff Cliff

Fix Sliderbit alignment problem that would offset the sliderbit causing it to appear off centre

think that may have upset the vertical version as both sliderbits are off centre in vertical mode to the right, unless its properly fixed for both orientations and i need to move mine in gbx?

play2pause rocking

will try and check some things over but its looking good

oh the only other thing i mentioned a while back was widening the balance slider in cfg, its not 100% stickable at the 0 mark so balance could be slightly off centre but the user wouldnt know as there is no value shown but only value saved to the settings file
the midway point 0 that the slider sticks too would work best if not widened, would be best anyways imo then the user is assured that the balance is centred

SLoB Wrote:cool stuff Cliff

Fix Sliderbit alignment problem that would offset the sliderbit causing it to appear off centre

think that may have upset the vertical version as both sliderbits are off centre in vertical mode to the right, unless its properly fixed for both orientations and i need to move mine in gbx?

Hmm not sure, I tested it here and it looks ok, do you have an example of what you mean?

SLoB Wrote:oh the only other thing i mentioned a while back was widening the balance slider in cfg, its not 100% stickable at the 0 mark so balance could be slightly off centre but the user wouldnt know as there is no value shown but only value saved to the settings file
the midway point 0 that the slider sticks too would work best if not widened, would be best anyways imo then the user is assured that the balance is centred

Yup, will look into adding this.

Cliff

just to tidy a few bits up with the pl, library

possible to add extremely large string into search in pl, should restrict to max 255 chars, if it cant find it within that then thers summit wrong, any more than say 30 chars is not gonna do much anyways

possible to crash xion in pl if no songs are in the pl but song is still in buffer ready to play, open pl, goto edit & select view song info or ctl+i(default shortcutkeys) and xion crashes
if you right click in pl with no tracks then those options are greyed out, should be for menu also, that would be the quickest way to stop the crash but not the best solution

pl min size should be approx W=232 H=182
this fits in everything in the menu and 4 lines, atm the min size doesnt look good as parts of the ui are all over the place, seek showing only half, only halfish of a pl song line

same goes for the library, atm the min height is too high considering the default only has 12 entries

those sizes as minimum look reasonable without being too big, if both library & playlist are kept to the same min dimensions makes for a bit more consistency with the ui


couple of ideas for future

Cliff have you thought anymore on allowing us skinning of the pl, library & eq?
snap points would also be needed so that we could snap together different parts

how about allowing section(s) to be controlled by the components, for example we could create a full screen version with sections having pl, library, eq with possibly the option to show any component within that space, checkout the 1010 series on the sc forum for the idea
or by having a dedicated area to add the pl in for example we wouldnt need to skin any of the frame as that could be incorporated into the skin, all that would need to be added is the list and menu, which means we should also be able to put glass/other layers over the top aswell as images/layers underneath the list

for the above we could say put this in a hidden drawer which is then toggled with a button to show the pl in a skinned part of the skin

also the ability to add custom images, for example to create a skin with either different backgrounds or images so users can add their own images to the skin parts that are allowed this functionality

both sliderbits are offset to the right, where they were originally centred in 65, if the new centre for vertical sliders is now correct in 66 then i'll move them in the skin, no biggie, just thought as you've fixed it for horizontal it may have had a knock on effect

SLoB Wrote:just to tidy a few bits up with the pl, library

couple of ideas for future

Cliff have you thought anymore on allowing us skinning of the pl, library & eq?
snap points would also be needed so that we could snap together different parts

how about allowing section(s) to be controlled by the components, for example we could create a full screen version with sections having pl, library, eq with possibly the option to show any component within that space, checkout the 1010 series on the sc forum for the idea
or by having a dedicated area to add the pl in for example we wouldnt need to skin any of the frame as that could be incorporated into the skin, all that would need to be added is the list and menu, which means we should also be able to put glass/other layers over the top aswell as images/layers underneath the list

for the above we could say put this in a hidden drawer which is then toggled with a button to show the pl in a skinned part of the skin

also the ability to add custom images, for example to create a skin with either different backgrounds or images so users can add their own images to the skin parts that are allowed this functionality

I think the possibility to skin the other windows will really make Xion a killer app. Even if it means that you have to pack 3 or 4 psd's.

ps. Slob I am mad with you for not telling me about Xion earlier.

anemovatis - heheh we should get some more of your skin ideas into Xion too
i posted Xion up in our SC forum, it really is a great way to get a skin design into a player, by default all my skins will first see Xion as its native to the psd and then the other players

Cliff will at some point be adding some new bits of functionality I hope which will make Xion even better

anemovatis Wrote:I think the possibility to skin the other windows will really make Xion a killer app. Even if it means that you have to pack 3 or 4 psd's.

The problem I have with this at the moment, is how to keep it really simple for the skin designer. Adding playlist support will mean you need ways of specifying bits and pieces that will tile or stretch and the window will have to be resizeable. What would then happen to the Menu system, that would obviously have to be skinnable as well.

This is where it gets more complicated to solve than with just a PSD file.

Cliff

SLoB Wrote:

both sliderbits are offset to the right, where they were originally centred in 65, if the new centre for vertical sliders is now correct in 66 then i'll move them in the skin, no biggie, just thought as you've fixed it for horizontal it may have had a knock on effect

Ah yup, the slider you use is a multiple of 2, however the slider bit isn't and hence will be offset. It worked and looked okay previously because there was an error in the centering calculation which has now been fixed.

Other skins may exhibit the same behaviour, but only if the sliderbit and slider are not both either a multiple of 2, or not a multiple of 2.

So to answer your question, yes, you will have to update your skin

Cliff

pickle Wrote:Would it be reasonable to ask for the VU to have this feature before Public Release or is that something that'll stay in the beta builds for a while?

Done and ready for build 67! (seems to work quite well )

The keywords are as follows:

Left VU Meter:
lvumeterlr
lvumeterrl
lvumetertb
lvumeterbt

Right VU Meter:
rvumeterlr
rvumeterrl
rvumetertb
rvumeterbt

Cliff

You just gave me goosebumbs . This'll make the VUs much smoother as well as cutting down on the size of the skins.

With this addition, I believe you've put pretty much everything into a lr/rl/bt/tb type layer. This is a great step forward in my opinion. Now I just need to go back over my skins & update 'em.

Just because I'm curious - I'm assuming it takes less computing power to run the lr/rl/bt/tb layers that it does to run an animation set?

Another thing I've noticed when I'm installing a new version of Xion is that it always wants to install itself in my C:\Program Files\Xion directory, even though I've always installed it in D:\Xion . Any chance that you could put a registry entry in when the program is installed that records where it was installed to?

Oh, I also like the fix you did regarding F5 & testing skins. That was getting annoying.

Good job once again - you're spoiling us with 3 betas in 2 days

pickle Wrote:You just gave me goosebumbs .

Haha glad to help

pickle Wrote:Just because I'm curious - I'm assuming it takes less computing power to run the lr/rl/bt/tb layers that it does to run an animation set?

Assumedly yes, since there is no animation logic and such, however it is probably minimal. The largest change will be like you say, reducing the size of the PSD and the memory usage used to store the layers that were in the animation. Of course there are still uses for the animation way, especially if you want a more stylised appearance.

pickle Wrote:Another thing I've noticed when I'm installing a new version of Xion is that it always wants to install itself in my C:\Program Files\Xion directory, even though I've always installed it in D:\Xion . Any chance that you could put a registry entry in when the program is installed that records where it was installed to?

Hmm, this should already work. It definately already stores the value in the Registry and I was pretty sure that it recovered this when you Install again. You are installing over the top aren't you, and not uninstalling first? I'll check it out here.

pickle Wrote:Oh, I also like the fix you did regarding F5 & testing skins. That was getting annoying.

Haha no worries. I've found the Refresh key has come in rather handy as well

pickle Wrote:Good job once again - you're spoiling us with 3 betas in 2 days

Cheers!

Cliff

Hi Cliff,

Yes, I'm installing over top & not un-installing before hand.

I'm also having a problem with the new VU meter layers. On my Suave skin, I was converting the VU of course to the new layer types. Initially I got the left channel VUs working, but I couldn't get the right channels to work. Eventually, they both stopped working so now my VUs are just sitting at 100% constantly.

This behaviour can be seen here: http://www.nderson.ca/misc/xion/suave/Suave-nw.xsf.

(DNS has been wonky for my website so the link may or may not work )