Newbie questions (can WinCab do this?)

[RPO R6V]

Hi all,

My "jukebox" is just a PC with its monitor and mouse on an end table, with the PC itself hidden under the table and patched into a stereo receiver on the other side of the room.  I don't want to use anything but the mouse to control it, so I was using Arcade Jukebox 7 quite happily until the last time I added some songs to my collection and the program decided it no longer wanted to recognize the tags for about 1/3 of my songs.  So, I just switched to WinCab and like it a lot.  I want my jukebox to be like an old, "singles based" jukebox, not a modern "CD based" jukebox.

Anyway, I miss some of the features I had with AJ7.  Can WinCab do these too?  I want to be able to click somewhere on the screen and clear the song that's currently playing.  (Sometimes when nobody is picking songs and the program is playing songs at random it plays a song I'm not in the mood for.)  Also, I'd like to be able to click a button on the screen and clear the queue (in case somebody accidentally clicks on the same song three times, etc.).  Lastly, AJ7 let me click on an on-screen volume control.  Can WinCab be set up to do any of these?  I love WinCab otherwise, just curious.  Thanks!

[Chris]

Yes, all of these are possible.  You just need to add icons for your desired functions.  In addition, you can set it so someone can't select the same song three times  (In fact, this is the default setting).

So, presuming you're using default.skn, open default.skn in your favorite text editor and add something like this after the last icon in the file:

[Icon18]
x=0
y=844
w=52
h=52
FocusColor=yellow
ShadowColor=Black
Clickable=True
Action=BTN_SKIP

[Icon19]
x=971
y=844
w=52
h=52
FocusColor=yellow
ShadowColor=Black
Clickable=True
Action=BTN_CLEARQUEUE

This will create two invisible icons; the icon in the bottom left corner clears the current song and the bottom right corner clears the whole queue, presuming you're using the default skin in a horizontal mode.  If you want them visible, you'd need to put them in a more reasonable place and add an OffImage=myimage.jpg to make the button appear.  I presume you want the volume controls to be visible... give me a bit to whip up some icons for that.  The Volume actions are BTN_VOL_MUTE, BTN_VOL_DOWN, BTN_VOL_UP, BTN_VOL_MIN, and BTN_VOL_MAX.  By default it takes ten clicks to go from top to bottom, but that can be changed in jukebox.ini.

--Chris

(Edit: Fixed icon numbers and changed OnImage to the correct OffImage.)

[Chris]

OK, here's a simple volume control:

[Icon20]
x=477
y=783
w=33
h=33
FocusColor=yellow
ShadowColor=Black
Clickable=True
Action=BTN_VOL_DOWN
OffImage=btnvoldn.jpg

[Icon21]
x=514
y=783
w=33
h=33
FocusColor=yellow
ShadowColor=Black
Clickable=True
Action=BTN_VOL_UP
OffImage=btnvolup.jpg

Attached are the button images; drop them in your Skins folder and you're all set!

[RPO R6V]

Thanks Chris!  I'll try your suggestions tonight!  My next question:

I like to have the jukebox continuously playing songs at random (with maybe a 1 second gap between songs) unless somebody pics a certain song.  Is there a way to set up WinCab so that it will not play certain songs at random but will play them if somebody clicks/picks them?

Thanks a lot!!!!!

[RPO R6V]

Okay, the volume control works perfectly.  The "clear current song" button works fine too.  But the "clear queue" button doesn't work on the PC I'm using as a jukebox.  Oddly, it works when I run WinCab on my other PC (the one I'm typing on now).  But even then it doesn't do quite what I had in mind.  It clears the queue, but it also aborts the song currently playing.  The "clear queue" button in AJ7 clears the queue of upcoming songs, but the song currently playing keeps playing.  But these are minor requests.  Please don't get me wrong, I love WinCab so far!

[Chris]

But the "clear queue" button doesn't work on the PC I'm using as a jukebox.

Hm.  Does the button not actually click, or does it click but the function doesn't execute?

  Oddly, it works when I run WinCab on my other PC (the one I'm typing on now).  But even then it doesn't do quite what I had in mind.  It clears the queue, but it also aborts the song currently playing.  The "clear queue" button in AJ7 clears the queue of upcoming songs, but the song currently playing keeps playing. 

That particular command is relatively new... I suppose I can make "BTN_CLEARQUEUE" clear only the queue and make a new "BTN_CLEARALL" that clears both the queue and the currently playing song...

[Chris]

That particular command is relatively new... I suppose I can make "BTN_CLEARQUEUE" clear only the queue and make a new "BTN_CLEARALL" that clears both the queue and the currently playing song...

OK, this is exactly what I've done.  Hoping to get a release up tonight.

[RPO R6V]

Looking forward to it!

If it helps: The "clear song" button is invisible until I roll the cursor over it, at which point the white outline of a square appears.  I click that and it works.  Where the "clear queue" button is place, there is always the black outline of a square, and then when I roll the curor over that, the white outline of a square appears within the black square outline.  I click that and nothing happens.

[Chris]

Looking forward to it!

If it helps: The "clear song" button is invisible until I roll the cursor over it, at which point the white outline of a square appears.  I click that and it works.  Where the "clear queue" button is place, there is always the black outline of a square, and then when I roll the curor over that, the white outline of a square appears within the black square outline.  I click that and nothing happens.

Odd.  Can you post your skin file? It works fine for me... something is causing the "selected" state to be forced on it keeping you from clicking it...

[RPO R6V]

Okay, here goes:

# DOSCab/WinCab Jukebox Skin File
# Version 3.0
# By Chris La Mantia

# Notes:
# - Supported image formats at this time are JPG, BMP, LBM, PCX, and TGA.
# - Colors may be specified as hexadecimal RGB codes (FFA0CC) or by name.
#   A reference to named colors can be found in docs/colors.htm.

[skin]
# All of the dimensions of objects in this file are relative to
# this image.

background=bgmain.jpg

# Display definitions
#
# There are four displays: the Now Playing display, the Coming Up/Most
# Popular Songs display, the Selection display, and the Credit display.
# Status messages appear on the Coming Up display.
#
# Displays have the following parameters:
#
# enabled - Set to True to enable the display, False to disable it. 
# You may, for example, want to disable the Credit display if your
# jukebox is not set to accept credits.
#
# x, y, w, and h - The position and size of the display.  These are all
# relative to the skin background image and not the screen resolution.
#
# lines - Sets the number of lines used by the Now Playing and Coming Up
# displays.  The size of the dot-matrix display font will automatically
# be adjusted to fit the specified number of lines in the height of the
# display.  The Selection and Credit displays always show only one line.
#
# color and bgcolor - Sets the color of the font and the color of the
# display background.  See the note on how to specify colors above.

[Selection]

# SelectionMethod: Alphanumeric,Numeric,SingleLetter,SingleNumber
SelectionMethod=Alphanumeric
UseZero=False
HighLetter=D
HighNumber=4
DiscAddress=Relative

[Display1]
# Now Playing display
enabled=True
x=152
y=200
w=292
h=78
lines=4
color=palegreen
bgcolor=202020

[Display2]
# Song List display
enabled=True
x=577
y=200
w=292
h=78
lines=4
color=palegreen
bgcolor=202020

[Display3]
# Selection display
enabled=True
x=485
y=347
w=56
h=24
color=palegreen
bgcolor=202020

[Display4]
# Credit Display
enabled=True
x=485
y=299
w=56
h=24
color=palegreen
bgcolor=202020

[TitleStrips]
# The image file is scaled and stretched to fit the Width and Height below

Background=jb45lb01.jpg

# bgcolor is only seen if no title strip image is specified

bgcolor=white

SongsPerStrip=Double
Font=bluehigh.ttf
FontSize=25
FontColor=black
SmallFont=bluecond.ttf
SmallFontSize=25
Width=301
Height=100
StripCount=8
FontSmoothing=true

[StripGrid]
x=165
y=319
rows=4
cols=2
rowspace=30
colspace=92
order=Horizontal

[Icon1]
x=464
y=193
w=93
h=94
OnImage=bj_coins.jpg
OffImage=bj_cnoff.jpg
Clickable=False
Action=MSG_CREDITS

[Icon2]
x=624
y=281
w=11
h=11
OnImage=r-ledoff.bmp
OffImage=r-ledon.bmp
Clickable=False
Action=MSG_POPULAR

[Icon3]
x=738
y=281
w=11
h=11
OnImage=r-ledon.bmp
OffImage=r-ledoff.bmp
Clickable=False
Action=MSG_POPULAR

[Icon4]
x=477
y=413
w=33
h=33
FocusColor=yellow
ShadowColor=Black
Clickable=True
Action=BTN_A

[Icon5]
x=514
y=413
w=33
h=33
FocusColor=yellow
ShadowColor=Black
Clickable=True
Action=BTN_1

[Icon6]
x=477
y=450
w=33
h=33
FocusColor=yellow
ShadowColor=Black
Clickable=True
Action=BTN_B

[Icon7]
x=514
y=450
w=33
h=33
FocusColor=yellow
ShadowColor=Black
Clickable=True
Action=BTN_2

[Icon8]
x=477
y=487
w=33
h=33
FocusColor=yellow
ShadowColor=Black
Clickable=True
Action=BTN_C

[Icon9]
x=514
y=487
w=33
h=33
FocusColor=yellow
ShadowColor=Black
Clickable=True
Action=BTN_3

[Icon10]
x=477
y=524
w=33
h=33
FocusColor=yellow
ShadowColor=Black
Clickable=True
Action=BTN_D

[Icon11]
x=514
y=524
w=33
h=33
FocusColor=yellow
ShadowColor=Black
Clickable=True
Action=BTN_4

[Icon12]
x=477
y=561
w=70
h=33
FocusColor=yellow
ShadowColor=Black
Clickable=True
Action=BTN_SELECT

[Icon13]
x=477
y=598
w=70
h=33
FocusColor=yellow
ShadowColor=Black
Clickable=True
Action=BTN_CLEAR

[Icon14]
x=477
y=635
w=70
h=33
FocusColor=yellow
ShadowColor=Black
Clickable=True
Action=BTN_POPULAR

[Icon15]
x=477
y=672
w=33
h=70
FocusColor=yellow
ShadowColor=Black
Clickable=True
Action=BTN_PREVPG

[Icon16]
x=514
y=672
w=33
h=70
FocusColor=yellow
ShadowColor=Black
Clickable=True
Action=BTN_NEXTPG

[Icon17]
x=477
y=746
w=70
h=33
FocusColor=yellow
ShadowColor=Black
Clickable=True
Action=BTN_PAUSE

[Icon18]
x=0
y=844
w=52
h=52
FocusColor=yellow
ShadowColor=Black
Clickable=True
Action=BTN_SKIP

[Icon19]
x=971
y=844
w=52
h=52
FocusColor=yellow
ShadowColor=Black
Clickable=True
Action=BTN_CLEARQUEUE

[Icon20]
x=477
y=783
w=33
h=33
FocusColor=yellow
ShadowColor=Black
Clickable=True
Action=BTN_VOL_DOWN
OffImage=btnvoldn.jpg

[Icon21]
x=514
y=783
w=33
h=33
FocusColor=yellow
ShadowColor=Black
Clickable=True
Action=BTN_VOL_UP
OffImage=btnvolup.jpg

[RPO R6V]

Hi Chris,

Any luck with the new "Clear Queue" button?

No biggie; just curious!

[Chris]

Yes, it's in and working... I've been trying to fix some touchscreen issues before a release, and my touchscreen test machine blew a hard drive, so I need to install another one and restore from backup.  I'll see about posting a "preview release" if I can't get the touchscreen fixed soon.

--Chris