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Author Topic: DOSCab/WinCab Jukebox - Designing skin format  (Read 6844 times)

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Chris

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DOSCab/WinCab Jukebox - Designing skin format
« on: September 04, 2002, 10:25:30 am »
I'm getting ready to update DOSCab Jukebox and WinCab Jukebox ( http://mywebpages.comcast.net/celamantia/jukebox ) to allow for skinnability.  I've set up the following skin format; I'm interested in the opinions of those who are likely to modify the skin or create their own as to whether or not I've covered all of the bases you need.

This will allow you to:

- Set the resolution: if the horizontal is higher than vertical, the monitor will be assumed to be vertical and everything will be rotated 90 degrees
- Set the background image
- Place decals on top of the background image, which can have transparency; this allows you to easily add, say, a logo, a control panel layout graphic, or a price card to an existing skin without editing the background image
- Set the existence, location, and size of the four displays
- Set the label image(s);
- Set the number of columns of labels (1 or 2)
- Set the number of labels per column (up to 4)
- Set the column locations (sizes determined by the label sizes)
- Set the fonts used (if you want to override the internal fonts)
- Set the selection characters used (for example, if you have a dual Neo-Geo layout and both sets of buttons are labelled A, B, C, and D, you may want selections such as AA, AB, BC instead of A1, A2, B3)

Does this cover everything you may want to tinker with?

Code: [Select]

; Horizontal and vertical resolution
HRes = 1024
VRes = 768

; Background image
Background = bgimage.bmp

; Decals on top of background image
Decal0.Image = decal.pcx
Decal0.X = 700
Decal0.Y = 452
Decal1.Image = decal1.tif
Decal1.X = 400
Decal1.Y = 320

; Label images - a random selection from this list will be used
LabelImage0 = labels\label0.pcx
LabelImage1 = labels\label1.pcx
LabelImage2 = labels\label2.pcx

; Show displays - Setting any of these to 0 will prevent the corresponding display from appearing
ShowCredits = 1
ShowComing = 1
ShowSelection = 1
ShowCurrent=1

; Display locations and sizes
CurrentDisplay.X =
CurrentDisplay.Y =
CurrentDisplay.W =
CurrentDisplay.H =

ComingDisplay.X =
ComingDisplay.Y =
ComingDisplay.W =
ComingDisplay.H =

CreditsDisplay.X =
CreditsDisplay.Y =
CreditsDisplay.W =
CreditsDisplay.H =

SelectionDisplay.X =
SelectionDisplay.Y =
SelectionDisplay.W =
SelectionDisplay.H =

; Label configuration - Width and depth are calculated from the label image size
LabelsPerColumn = 4 ; Max 4, Min 1
LabelColumns = 2 ; Max 2, Min 1
Col1.X =
Col1.Y =
Col2.X =
Col2.Y =

; Selection Characters - in case you want to use letter/letter or number/number instead of letter/number
SelectionChar1 = -ABCD
SelectionChar2 = -1234

; Use optional external TrueType fonts
DisplayFont=dotmat.ttf
DisplayFontSize=10
LabelFont=futura.ttf
LabelFontSize=14
LabelFontSmallSize=10

--Chris
DOSCab/WinCab Jukebox: http://www.dwjukebox.com

Mameham

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Re:DOSCab/WinCab Jukebox - Designing skin format
« Reply #1 on: September 26, 2002, 11:14:15 am »
Very nice! Can't wait. :)

Hmmm... can't really tell if you've included a way to exclude the background image entirely... could be useful for someone who's putting the program in an actual jukebox.............

( pictures to come! )

- Eric
« Last Edit: September 26, 2002, 11:17:56 am by Mameham »

Chris

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Re:DOSCab/WinCab Jukebox - Designing skin format
« Reply #2 on: September 26, 2002, 11:19:38 am »
If you were to exclude the Background = bgimage.bmp line, the background would be plain black.  One could increase the label area to fill the screen instead...
--Chris
DOSCab/WinCab Jukebox: http://www.dwjukebox.com

Dink

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Re:DOSCab/WinCab Jukebox - Designing skin format
« Reply #3 on: September 26, 2002, 12:22:44 pm »
Maybe I didn't understand how to setup WinCab Jukebox correctly...

But it needed to be in your MP3 directory to run and scan for MP3's.  Please make it so it doesn't have to be in your MP3 directory.

Please make it so you can pick only the directories you want to scan/use MP3's.  IE: only scan selected directories not all directories.  Thank you.

Chris

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Re:DOSCab/WinCab Jukebox - Designing skin format
« Reply #4 on: September 26, 2002, 12:43:02 pm »

Please make it so you can pick only the directories you want to scan/use MP3's.  IE: only scan selected directories not all directories.  Thank you.


For WinCab Jukebox, I can add that.... for the DOS version, it could be done by manipulating songlist.ini.

For a true cabinet jukebox (which is what it was designed for), it shouldn't be an issue, but it is an easy change for Windows.

--Chris
--Chris
DOSCab/WinCab Jukebox: http://www.dwjukebox.com

Mameham

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Re:DOSCab/WinCab Jukebox - Designing skin format
« Reply #5 on: September 26, 2002, 10:36:49 pm »

If you were to exclude the Background = bgimage.bmp line, the background would be plain black.  One could increase the label area to fill the screen instead...


Cool... now I just need it! :) hehe.

Oh, and, here's a long term goal - external lcd support... though I have yet to fork over the money for the hardware myself anyway, so, like I said, _long term_ goal... hehe.

Oh, btw, how are the mp3 files sorted?

Chris

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Re:DOSCab/WinCab Jukebox - Designing skin format
« Reply #6 on: September 26, 2002, 10:52:00 pm »
Right now, they are sorted randomly, as they would be on a real 45-style jukebox.  I have had requests for a CD-style jukebox layout option, where all songs in a folder appear together so they can be grouped by album, so I'll probably add this, along with a way to turn off  the random sort for 45-style labels.

As far as driving an external display: Mouser Electronics carries 20x4 LCD Seiko displays; backlit are $35.00 and non-backlit are $25.12.  (See http://www.mouser.com/index.cfm?handler=fra_pdfset&pdffile=175)  Two of these would cover the current song and coming song displays.  They include controller circuits, so theoretically I should be able to send a display to them through the parallel or serial ports....
--Chris
DOSCab/WinCab Jukebox: http://www.dwjukebox.com

Mameham

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Re:DOSCab/WinCab Jukebox - Designing skin format
« Reply #7 on: September 27, 2002, 09:34:48 am »
 Yeah, I could definately use the non-randomness, esp if I end up going with a hand written display card... :)

The LCDs are cool. :) Might take away from the retro look I'm trying to create, but I'm sure it'd be cool for other purposes...

Any idea why my P133 laptop gets a blue screen of death after about 6 songs with the jukebox? Does your mp3 decoder support VBR Mp3s?

Chris

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Re:DOSCab/WinCab Jukebox - Designing skin format
« Reply #8 on: September 27, 2002, 09:43:59 am »
If all you want is a display to show the selection numbers (the two-digit display that shows which buttons you've pressed), that's easy.  Again, not retro, but any display would be non-retro...

I've never tried a VBR MP3.  The decoder I'm using is based on MPG123 (http://www.mpg123.com/).  I used to use Amp, but songs would suddenly die for no reason every now and then, and Amp gave me no way of finding the song length.

What OS are you using?  I've played MP3s for hours with the DOS version, but since I don't use the Windows version on a regular basis, I could have some sort of leak there...

(In fact, all of the reported problems have been in the Windows version... almost makes me want to abandon Windows and concentrate on DOS again...)

--Chris
--Chris
DOSCab/WinCab Jukebox: http://www.dwjukebox.com

Mameham

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Re:DOSCab/WinCab Jukebox - Designing skin format
« Reply #9 on: September 28, 2002, 10:09:05 am »
Well I love DOS myself, but the flakey laptop only loves Windows... hehe... 98 to be exact. The odd thing is, using the same setup (software wise anyway...) on my desktop machine doesn't crash... It's okay though, I'm very much looking at the possibility of dumping the laptop all together... cheaper, larger, hard drives and faster, cheaper, processors... just gotta find a mb on ebay with something like a 200mhz cpu and audio & video built in...

- Eric

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Re:DOSCab/WinCab Jukebox - Designing skin format
« Reply #10 on: October 01, 2002, 12:05:34 pm »
Eric - we MUST see the pictures!

Let us know when and where -- you're sly description of your project sounds VERY interesting...

Dying to see it...  How about just a description? :-X

Chris
Chris LeMasters
San Diego

Mameham

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Re:DOSCab/WinCab Jukebox - Designing skin format
« Reply #11 on: October 01, 2002, 03:58:11 pm »
The other Chris saw a very very very early development shot of it... hell, even my wfie thinks it's going to be cool when its done... but I want it to look at least a little presentable before I show pictures... which is mostly waiting for Chris's skinning of the interface...

I found 2.5 hard drives aren't as bad as I thought... 20 gigs for less than $100... looks like I might be back to the laptop again... :)

- Eric

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Re: DOSCab/WinCab Jukebox - Designing skin format
« Reply #12 on: May 31, 2005, 09:15:23 am »
Just found this old thread.
« Last Edit: May 31, 2005, 09:17:15 am by Chris »
--Chris
DOSCab/WinCab Jukebox: http://www.dwjukebox.com

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Re: DOSCab/WinCab Jukebox - Designing skin format
« Reply #13 on: February 06, 2006, 03:37:29 pm »
it is posibble to build my own skin?
how can i do it?